Die Hard...On a bus

You know with the age of the internet upon us, it seems like print advertising is coming to a close. Thankfully though, in bigger cities like LA or NYC there are still a lot of billboard posters, bus stop ads, etc.

Right now in Los Angeles, there is a poster running on the side of Metro Buses for "Live Free or Die Hard" that may just be the greatest thing ever.

Unfortunately, a google search turned up nothing, and I am not ambidextrous enough to take a picture with my cellphone while trying to drive as these buses go by.

The gist is this.

Long banner poster alongside a bus. It reads:

"YIPPIE KI YAY MO" (the rest gets "cut off" due to the banner not being long enough)

and underneath ala quoted bible verses, it says "John 6:27".

Now, LFODH is rated PG-13, but Bruce has assured us in his aintitcool talkbacking that the line is spoken. Either way, being the die hard nut that I am, that poster really got me excited to see Die Hard 1-3 again. Still not too excited to see 4, but I feel obligated to the franchise to see it. Who knows, maybe Len Wiseman actually pulls it off...

EDIT: Thanks to CHUD.COM we got the ad up now.

JOHN RAMBO...'nuff said

You know, I don't think I need to explain to you guys that there is an upper echelon of action film stars the likes of which we will never see again. I am talking about Arnold, Bruno, and of course Sly Stallone. For whatever reason, Hollywood just doesn't promote these types anymore nor do they greenlight the types of scripts that made those guys famous.

Luckily, someone put a lot of faith in Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" and got that brilliant movie made, giving a fitting end to the Rocky series. Now, I think the fruits of Rocky VI's success is paying off.

What we have here is possibly the greatest promo reel/trailer ever created. And I am not being hyperbolic here.

Sly is at the Cannes film festival showing this promo reel to all the film distributors, who are living it up on the French Riviera right now. I can only imagine that it is blowing people away. At times, this promo reel seems to be evoking a real grindhouse feel...but most importantly it seems like Sly has found the perfect combination of First Blood and Rambo: First Blood part II. Some interesting character work shown off in the beginning, and then of course the gore kicks in. I have never really had a chance to see Stallone direct real action, seeing as how all his non-Rocky action flicks were all directed by others. But judging from this promo, Stallone has picked up a few new tricks.

Without further ado, I give you "John Rambo"...

HUMAN GIANT: 24

MTV and MTV2 have been currently taken over by Human Giant, the next great sketch comedy group.

They are also attempting to get 1,000,000 hits on their website HERE

I suggest you start watching and start surfing RIGHT NOW. The fate of comedy depends on you

No more Skeeting...

After a great finish to the season, we have now been informed by CBS that the fall lineup does not include Jericho Season 2.

I can't even say I would recommend the show as a DVD purchase because of its cliffhanger ending now that we know questions will never be answered.

Oh well. I guess Skeet Ulrich's rise out of mediocrity was a short lived one.

The Day the Punishment Died

It's estimated that about 217 people enjoyed the 2004 version of THE PUNISHER. I'm one of them. I was also one of the few souls who was really looking forward to seeing Thomas Jane get another crack at playing the character in a sequel. It appears as though I'm going to have to find something else to look forward to as Jane himself has stated he's leaving the project.

It wasn't too long ago that I read Kurt Sutter, a writer from "The Shield," was hired to work on the script. This gave me high hopes. I don't know if it was exactly script trouble or just general movie studio bullshit, but whatever the case it has taken its toll on Jane who has been working hard the last 3 years to get a sequel off the ground. Jane really seemed to enjoy playing the character and wanted to give the fans a movie that would make up for the shortcummings of the original (though again, I liked it).

This doesn't exactly mean the sequel itself is dead. HULK is getting a follow-up with a new lead and I gotta believe that a character like THE PUNISHER, who isn't nearly as expensive to portray on screen, will get another chance in front of the camera. The problem now is will they be able to find an actor as psyched to play the part as Jane. Doubtful.

Check out the AICN exclusive where Jane explains the situation in his own words here.

HUMAN GIANT TAKES OVER MTV: May 18th @ NOON

In an unprecedented show of good faith, MTV has apparently given HUMAN GIANT free reign over both MTV and MTV2 for 24 hours starting May 18th at 12 pm. I will go ahead and repost what Aziz Ansari posted on Myspace (i have taken the liberty of bolding some of the bigger names)...

"Last week, MTV told us we could get 24 hours on MTV and MTV2 to do whatever we want. So on Friday, May 18th at noon - we'll take over both channels for a full day and will host live from MTV's Times Square studio. They're literally letting us do whatever we want - we can program whatever shows we want, have guests, bands, music videos, anything! We just have to stay up for 24 hours and get a million hits on our website.

Here are a few of the guests we have coming down, (more bands and guests will be announced later in the week):

Fred Armisen
Will Arnett
Todd Barry
Jon Benjamin
Andy Blitz
Michael Cera
Zach Galifianakis
Jon Glaser
Bill Hader
Nick Kroll
Eugene Mirman
The National
Bob Odenkirk
Rob Riggle
Slovin and Allen
Michael Showalter
Tapes 'n Tapes
Ted Leo
Tegan and Sara

If you are near NY and want FREE tickets to be in the audience, just send an e-mail to battleofthebands@mtvstaff.com and please include the following:

-Name
-Age
-Phone number

Of course, you are not obligated to stay in the audience for the full 24 hours and can stay as long as you want from what I understand. It should be really fun."

This could be something special...

Human Giant: The next great sketch comedy show

Aziz Ansari, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel.

Remember those names. In a couple of years we will be talking about how awesomely famous they have become...or we will be talking about how awesomely famous they could have been if MTV hadn't cancelled their show.

As of now, these three guys along with writer/director Jason Woliner comprise Human Giant. A sketch comedy show born out of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theater. They had gained minor fame over the internet thanks to shorts like "Shutterbugs", "Illusionators", and "Shittiest Mixtape Boombox Blast". After toiling away in late-night comedy theater, they got their shot at sketch comedy on MTV.

The show is amazing. The three previously mentioned skits all make a return, and the wildly original "shutterbugs" has continued the story of the biggest name in tiny talent. I have embedded a couple youtubes of the early "Shutterbugs" stuff and linked to MTV's overdrive site so you can watch their two recent installments, which blew me away. Note: If you are a fan of child actor prodigy Bobbe'J Thompson (the little kid on the short lived Tracy Morgan Show) you will love the most recent installment.

In my opinion, Human Giant is doing some of the best sketch comedy on TV since Comedy Central cancelled Upright Citizens Brigade. We all know that MTV has a poor track record in supporting shows that don't involve 20-somethings getting drunk and sleeping with each other, which is why I am encouraging you all to give this show a couple viewings. You won't be sorry.



here is the link to the most recent installment

Changes on the Horizon

Now that I am back in the states, I figured I gotta couple weeks before I move out to Washington DC so I will be messing around with the look of the blog. It is long overdue for a new look.

But I have to warn you, I have no working knowledge of HTML so hopefully the recent overhaul of Blogger's services offers me some easy to manipulate templates. Let me know what you guys think about the new look(s).

Farewell Mr. Baur

It is with a somewhat sad heart I have to inform you that 24 is no longer holding the number one spot in my Tivo's list of season passes. I was on vacation for the past two weeks, and when I came back I realized I had 4 unwatched episodes sitting on my hard drive, but for the first time in a long time I had no interest in watching them. Sitting through 4 episodes actually felt like a daunting task, not an enjoyment like tv should be.

It was then I realized I am finished with 24. It has become too tedious to watch, especially this season. All the magic bulletts, magic head trauma recovery, Russians with paper thin motives, cookie cutter terrorists, etc finally pushed me over the edge. This show has become more and more shitty with every season...but for whatever reason the rest of the world feels its becoming better? More and more awards are given to it for no good reason.

Anyway, more power to Mr. Sutherland. An iconic character like Jack Baur doesn't come around too often for a lot of actors, and Kiefer is definitely making the most of his second life on fame. But this is where I get off this crazy train.

P.S. And no this doesn't necessarily mean Heroes will be taking a season pass either. I have been keeping up with that show through NBC.com replays...and boy is it a frustrating show to watch (especially for a comic book fan like myself), but more on that after the season finale.

Jericho: AAAAAAAAAH SKEET SKEET SKEET SKEET

So Jericho had its season finale this week...and it was pretty damn good! I think at the beginning of the TV season Jericho was probably the last show I would have thought would be surviving AND renewed for season 2. In retrospect though, the show really came together nicely about halfway through the season. The creative staff built up a ton of questions in the first 6-7 episodes and then proceeded to answer them pretty clearly.

We found out what Jake was up to in his time away from Jericho.

We learn about Hawkins' past.

We learn about the bombs.

By the end, the show was far less about the mysteries of the bombs and more a character study about how people would survive in a post-nuclear holocaust world (minus the super power mutations...which I am fully expecting to see explored in season 2).

Once this show hits DVDs, I would suggest giving it a rent. It is far less sexy (although Ashley Scott always looks smokin' when on screen) a show than Lost, but it is a fun and sometimes poignant diversion.

Android, Psycho, Author?

If there is one actor who has seemingly done it all it would be Rutger Hauer. From roles in genre favorites like BLADE RUNNER and THE HITCHER to appearances in all sorts of cheap DTV films he has stood the test of time. Recently Hauer has popped up in mainstream hits like SIN CITY and BATMAN BEGINS. While he still has many years of acting left in him, Hauer has decided to share a little insight into his life by writing a new book titled "All Those Moments."

I'm looking forward to picking this book up. Hauer has worked with a wide range of actors and directors. Everyone from Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott to Ice-T and Gary Busey. Hopefully Hauer's writing style is as colorful as many of the roles he tends to play.

It appears this book's release was timed for the 25th Anniversary of when BLADE RUNNER first arrived in theaters back in '82. Personally I'd like to think the book is being released to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of NIGHTHAWKS.

You Can't Keep a Good Damme Down

3 years ago Jean-Claude Van Damme showed audiences he wasn’t quite ready to just make crap and appeared in a film called WAKE OF DEATH. It was a tale of brutal revenge and allowed Van Damme to truly emote. Seriously, it was quite good. Since then he’s made a couple of forgettable flicks but now he’s back to flexing his acting chops with UNTIL DEATH which comes to DVD tomorrow. It’s the story of a heroin-addicted cop who winds up in a coma and eventually comes out of it to correct his life’s biggest mistakes.

I haven’t seen UNTIL DEATH but I’m looking forward to it for a couple of reasons. First, I’m a sucker for films about crooked cops. From NARC to TRAINING DAY to even DARK BLUE it’s always fun to watch an actor revel in portraying corruption in law enforcement. In addition to that Van Damme’s nemesis is played by Stephen Rea who’s had memorable roles in THE CRYING GAME and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. I’d say Rea was slumming by doing a Van Damme film but he was in FEAR DOT COM. It’s impossible to slum after that.

Early reviews I’ve read have been positive but they all seem to be shocked at the lack of martial arts on display by Van Damme in this one. I for one welcome his desire to change things up a bit and not rely on his old bag of tricks. Unless of course the movie blows in which case I’ll crucify it for not having enough flying side kicks.

Hot Fuzz In Los Angeles

About two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get tickets to a special triple feature at the Aero in Los Angeles. The headlining feature was Edgar Wright's "Hot Fuzz", followed by "Point Break" and "Hard Boiled". Now, if you are reading this and you haven't seen "Shaun of the Dead" yet, I suggest you go watch it right now. Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost created an instant classic with SotD. They managed to make a spot-on homage to classic Romero zombie flicks that was also a very accessible comedy for regular moviegoer. That was probably one of the most impressive things I remember about SotD. I am not a huge zombie movie fan, but I absolutely loved the movie.

Now, the trio's second effort "Hot Fuzz" tackles a genre that I am very familiar with...the American buddy cop movie. I was a little curious what kind of film this was actually going to be. Was it going to be a total spoof of the genre? A parody? Or a its own self-sufficient movie? It turns out its all 3. I am not even sure how to classify the movie besides calling it a comedy. Obviously, Wright and Co. love the classics e.g. Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, etc but they didn't do the easy thing and just spoof those movies like the underrated "National Lampoons: Loaded Weapon 1".

Simon Pegg plays "Nicolas Angel", a London supercop, who is sent to the countryside because he is making everyone else look bad. He befriends another guy on the force, "Danny Butterman (Frost)" and the hijinx ensue. The plot in itself takes such a ludicrous turn near the climax that I don't want to spoil any of it for you. The movie itself starts out as a slow burn, but covers a lot of the classic story beats from cop movies. There is even some homo-erotic tension between Angel and Butterman that is played up for some good comic effect. You might get a little anxious about an hour in because the action quotient is basically non-existent, but its all building up to one of the wildest finales in movie history. After you see the last 20 minutes, it just makes you love everything about the movie a million times more.

"Hot Fuzz" singles out "Point Break" and "Bad Boys II" most obviously as examples of cliche cop work in movies. I think being familiar with both films before watching Fuzz will make you appreciate it infinitely more. Frankly, I can probably guarantee fans of the action classics from the 80s and 90s will instantly fall in love with this film. But like "Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz" doesn't require any outside film knowledge. It is just a well made film that will have you laughing all the way through the end even if you don't know how "radical a dude" Johnny Utah maybe.

"Hot Fuzz" opens TOMORROW, April 20th!

P.S. After the screening of "Hot Fuzz", we were treated to a Q&A with a panel that included Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Edgar Frost, and Sir Timothy Dalton (who is freaking brilliant in this film as well). We found out some interesting tidbits about how they managed to get such a cavalcade of British TV and Movie stars into the film. We also find out that "Dirty Harry" is probably Edgar Wright's fave cop film, and everyone in the panel thought "Bad Boys II"'s second ending that had them rampaging through Cuba was as ridiculous and stupid as I thought it was.

Stone Cold Mania Begins

Usually if I write about a new DVD it’s a day or two before it’s released. Well I’m going to make an exception to that rule. That exception is STONE COLD.

If you’re not familiar with STONE COLD then your life must be in shambles. Allow me to fill you in. It was former football “star” Brian Bosworth’s major big screen chance at movie stardom. The Boz portrayed Joe Huff, a lawman given the assignment to infiltrate a murderous biker gang named The Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is made up of many colorful characters with colorful names, most notably the gang’s leader Chains (Lance Henriksen) and his right hand man Ice (William Forsythe). Bosworth’s undercover journey is full of many ups and downs and along the way every vehicle you can imagine is destroyed. That’s a lie, no hydrofoils are destroyed.

For years STONE COLD has flown under the digital radar. If someone was inclined, me for instance, they could track down a bootleg but it just wasn’t the same. Finally the folks at MGM have realized the gem they’ve been sitting on and have decided to release this opera of mayhem on June 12th.

I know what you’re saying to yourself. “What are we supposed to do for the next two months while we wait for STONE COLD to come out on DVD?” I’m glad you asked. To pass the time you can visit a site dedicated to appreciating the film. At this site you can access a couple clips from the movie, get a rundown of the main characters, and view a detailed account of the product placement found in the film. Visit the site by clicking here.

So Close!!!

I cannot wait for tonight's episode of "24" to end. No, I'm not really interested in whether Jack Bauer has found more mentally challenged people to help him save the world. But once "24" ends tonight it will be 10 PM. That means we will be within one day until a new season of "The Shield."

The wait for this show has been brutal. Not just because of how great it is but because of the powerful punch in the nuts that they gave the audience in their final episode last year. Obviously they're not going to immediately tie up all the loose ends right off the bat. I wouldn't want that. But it's going to be a real relief to see the gang breaking the rules at the Barn again.

Oh, and if you haven't heard Carl Weathers will make a return appearance as Vic Mackey's former partner at some point this season. Can this show be any better?