R.I.P. Terriers

Just thought I'd mention how depressed I am about the recent cancellation by the bonehead execs at FX of what I thought was the best new TV show of 2010, Terriers. The show had a breezy Rockford Files vibe, sharp writing, great acting and great chemistry between stars Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James, who play scruffy unlicensed PI's turning up all kinds of trouble in picturesque Ocean Beach (San Diego), California.

That putrid shows like Dancing With the Stars continue to haul in massive ratings while the brilliance of Terriers, not to mention the recent L.A. cop show Southland, get the axe after one season is a crime against my sanity and intelligence. The final episodes of Rescue Me can't come soon enough!

Oh, and if, like me, you can't get the catchy Terriers theme song out of your head, you can get it from iTunes. It's called Gunfight Epiphany.

Edit 12-27-10: There's some rather confusing information available online, but I just saw a preview for a new Southland season on TNT beginning in January.

Seen: In the middle of the street

Sunset near my parents' house in Huntington Beach Dec. 11, 2010

Seen: At the swap meet

Ancient Scott-Atwater outboard motor - beautiful.
Print available soon through my Etsy shop.

Zero to 88 MPH in 1.21 Jigawatts

Went to check out a special screening of the fully restored 25th anniversary edition of Back to the Future in digital projection at a theater in Orange last night. Yes, it was absolutely fantastic - it really is a perfect movie. I don't think I'd seen it on the big screen since it's premier in 1985. The Back to the Future trilogy will be released on Blu-Ray tomorrow - Oct. 27th.

Eric Stolz as Marty McFly with Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown

An interesting factoid I just learned about the movie is that Eric Stolz was originally cast as Marty McFly, and actually completed five weeks of filming before director Robert Zemeckis and producers Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy decided he just wasn't right for the role and replaced him with their first choice, Michael J. Fox, who at the time was having scheduling conflicts with his hit TV show Family Ties.

Check this blog entry [here] for some additional behind the scenes info, as well as some screen caps of Eric Stolz as Marty McFly. Hopefully someday this footage will surface, but it's been 25 years already so I'm not holding my breath. Here's the 25th anniversary release poster:

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

If you're a regular reader of uber-movie-geek site aintitcool.com, you're familiar with the Alamo Drafthouse - the Austin, Texas movie theater notable for offering a unique dining during the movie experience - gotta go there sometime! - and hosting multiple annual film festivals throughout the year.

To promote their 'free screenings of famous movies in famous places' film series they've commissioned illustrator Olly Moss to re-imagine a movie poster for each event. Very cool. Check them out here.

See more of the work of Olly Moss here.

Aria Walkthrough

You may have read my post from last year (link here) documenting the construction progress of the City Center project on the strip in Las Vegas. I just returned from a weekend out there for the final round of the AMA SuperCross series at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium, and the now-open (after more than $8 billion and five years of consruction) City Center complex, which houses the new Aria hotel-casino, was on my must-see list.

After touring the Bodies exhibit at the Luxor - a bit creepy but very interesting and informative - the massive City Center complex was just a short drive north on the strip, crammed between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio. It's all a bit overwhelming as you drive in - tall metal and glass towers packed tightly together just yards off Las Vegas Blvd. Pedestrian and monorail flyovers span the entry to the Aria's spacious circular front entrance, which is ringed by a 25 foot high water-wall and shielded from the oppressive Vegas sun by a massive steel and glass cantilevered covering structure. The Aria's two towers are so tall, however, that this area is entirely in the shade for half the day anyway, so go figure.

Aria towers and entrance canopy - click photos to enlarge

Part of Aria lobby view from mezzanine ( that security guard was eyeballing me snapping pics)

Everything about the place is fresh, modern and impressively designed in a way that says high-end luxury without being stuffy or pretentious about it (Bellagio). This is the direction Vegas should have gone in the 90's instead of its Disneyland-on-steroids (Excalibur, Circus Circus, Treasure Island) and geographically themed developments (Paris Las Vegas, The Venetian, New York NY) that currently dominate the strip. It's good to see Vegas architecture take a stab at competing on the world stage, instead of being the overfunded joke that it's been for the past 20 years.

Elvis Theater - up a long escalator ride from the casino

That curious structure is part of Morton's Ocean Club in the near-deserted Crystals shopping plaza (calling it a 'mall' is just too San Fernando Valley)

The obvious question remains though - can the current economy sustain this, and the several other mega-projects currently underway in Las Vegas? Me-thinks luxury hotel rooms could be cheap in Vegas for the foreseeable future...

Game? It was never meant to be a game. Never!

If you were around my age in the early summer of '75, you probably remember quite well being literally terrified as you sat through 'Jaws' for the first time. I was 11 and it shook me up pretty good - so much so that I went back and saw it again.

Five days after the premier of Steven Spielberg's first blockbuster, another iconic 70's film began its run in theaters: John McTiernan's dystopian future action-drama Rollerball. As a kid enamored with sci-fi, and about to be transported to a galaxy far, far away a mere two summers later, I was too young to see Rollerball, no matter how cool the previews on TV looked, as it was rated R.

Event posters used at the Rollerball venues in the film.
As always, click any image for a larger view.

So Rollerball got filed away in that part of my memory already filled with other cool stuff that I would have access to once I was old enough - like Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, driving a car and Playboy magazine.

My first experience seeing Clockwork Orange was a midnight screening at our little Ramsey, New Jersey town theater while I was in high school, but I don't recall the first time I finally did see Rollerball. Most likely on TV sometime in the 80's. I remember coming away somewhat disappointed, as, outside of the action sequences, the film was slow paced and talky, and I wasn't old enough to process much of the political subtext. Oh but those action sequences - the actual playing of the fictional game of rollerball - are flat-out fantastic even by today's standards. The game as conceived and presented in the film is an entirely legitimate sport, and in fact there were rumors that an actual rollerball league was once under consideration.


A decade or so ago I picked up a DVD release of the original Rollerball - let us just agree that the hideously aweful 2002 remake with LL Cool J never happened - that had the widescreen version on one side and full screen on the other. Unfortunately, the widescreen side refused to play - and I refuse to watch widescreen movies in full screen mode - so, no Rollerball for Austin.

Recently I'd been thinking about Rollerball again, and wondering when the film was slated to be released on Blu-Ray. So I did a little searching about on the interwebs and while there seems to be no information as to when Rollerball will be released in hi-def, I did discover some pretty cool poster art used for the film.

Concept sketch, painting and final poster by Bob Peak.

Legendary illustrator-artist Bob Peak did the artwork for the official Rollerball poster, featuring the iconic spiked glove of helmeted player 'Johnathan E', played in the film by James Caan. How could you not want to watch the film after seeing this poster?

Hey as soon as Rollerball finally comes out on Blu-Ray, I will!

Some international market posters for the film.

Late Addition: Just found this at the swap meet on Saturday. Rollerball on LaserDisc: