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Expendables 2 poster online

November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The biggest action film of 2012 is soon to be heading our way, and while we wait with baited breath for that first trailer in which we can see new recruits Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme the poster below should get testosterone levels rising.

As far as action posters go it could be the best yet, well I personally think so! All the regulars are back, with the exception of Jet Li who doesn’t look like he has made this one sheeter? And Randy Couture has also missed out, but then with all that muscle it might have been hard to fit them all in.

Norris and Van Damme look pretty badass, but the biggest delight has got to be Arnold Schwarzenegger back with a more deeper role this time along with Bruce Willis who will play the resident bad guy.

Another new boy to join the cast is Liam Hemsworth, star of Knowing and the upcoming The Hunger Games.

As to the plot, well we’ll have to wait a little longer for that one as well but one thing is 100%confirmed…it is surely going to be bigger and better than the last.

Check back here for more news surrounding The Expendables 2 

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Chuck Norris and John Travolta join Expendables 2

August 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
How does one top last years The Expendables? Well adding as much action muscle as possible to a cast list that is already bulging with testosterone would be one start.
So news out today throws a few more names into the ring with Chuck Norris and John Travolta joining up with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke.

This believe it or not rumour comes from the head of a Bulgarian film studio where The Expendables 2 is to start shooting in September, so take it as you wish.

Simon West of Con Air fame will be directing this one and according to David Varod, CEO at Nu Boyana Studios he has already arrived and is working on the film.
Varod went onto say that he believes that the sequel is going to be better than the first. Coors ad comedian Jean-Claude Van Damme is reported to be playing baddie number two paving the way for Bruce Willis to take the helm at the front of the villain list.
We’re not quite sure where Travolta or even Norris fit into this but we’d expect Norris to join up with Stallone and co and Travolta take a villain role in the same guise as maybe Face/Off or Broken Arrow.
Source: Total Film
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Classic Review: Universal Soldier – 1992

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott are soldiers who were killed in Vietnam, but the army has a secret project for reanimating dead people as near-perfect soldiers.

Directed: Roland Emmerich

Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and Ally Walker

What we think: It’s always hard to pick an era when action films were so raw and stripped to basics, but the 90′s for me had it all.

Leading the way for the early part of it was a young Belgium martial arts fighter who’d exploded onto the scene in early films such as Bloodsport and Kickboxer. Jean Claude Van Damme or the muscles from Brussels as he was so aptly named had the world at his feet, and at this point in his career he was on a bit of a roll.

In this he was teamed with another action hero, or villain depending which films you saw him in. Having made his name against Stallone in Rocky VI Dolph Ludgren was turning into another household name.

Universal Soldier was for the pair of them a very successful venture, directed by Roland Emmerich, who would go on to helm the likes of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow it pitted the muscle ripped stars against each other as Vietnam war veterans brought back from the dead as part of a Government project.

It was an explosive action film, that much was for sure and while the acting was hardly up to much the script laid out a credible plot line that would hold the viewer’s attention for the most part.

What sets these  films apart from ones of the new millennium were advances in special effects, now its’s all CGI and 3D, the 90s were limited, there was not much on offer and why most of what you see is as real as it gets.

Granted the many sequels that followed this one, they’re in post-production for Universal Soldier: A New Dimension, were no where near as good as the ageing stars returned to do battle once more. That in itself should be enough to note that the franchise does not have the legs any more despite them carrying on.

For the original however it had all the character traits of a classic action flick and one that will be forever remembered as one of Van Damme and Ludgren’s best, they certainly don’t make em like this any more!

View the trailer

Rating: (4/5)

Visit the IMDb page for Universal Soldier

Please feel free to leave a comment about this film, we would love to know what you think and we’ll do our best to respond!

 

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Top 5 Mismatched Film Fights

October 12, 2010 By 1 Comment

1. Gabe Walker Vs Eric Qualen – Cliffhanger (1993)

This was hardly going to be a fair fight, but Qualen (John Lithgow) certainly got his quota of body shots in to rattle the big man. Cliffhanger was one of the best action films of the early 90s, and a thrill ride of a film was completed with a climactic fight on top of a dangling helicopter.

Sylvester Stallone’s Gabe Walker always had the edge but Lithgow was going to fight dirty, however it didn’t do him any good in the end as he plummeted to his death.

Best Bit: Lithgow’s dumbfounded expression as he watches the rocky floor rise to meet him from within the falling chopper

2. Luke Skywalker Vs The Emperor – Return of the Jedi (1983)

As if fighting your greatest nemesis was bad enough, finding out that he was your father could have real traumatic repercussions. Young Skywalker (Mark Hamill) fresh from escaping the clutches of evil went back into the lions den to confront a 70 year old Man in a robe.

Not even a his quick glancing light saber could help Luke here as he was pummeled to the floor by vicious bolts of lighting from the aging finger tips of the Sith Lord (Ian McDiarmid).

It was at this point that Daddy had to step in and chuck the old man to his death.

Best Bit: Vader disposing of the Sith Lord with ease

3. Apollo Creed Vs Ivan Drago – Rocky IV (1985)

Fresh from a narrow defeat by young Rocky Balboa Creed (Carl Weathers) tucked his tail between his legs and stuck out the olive branch to his arch rival.

Now the best of friends Creed set about trash talking his way into a battering at the hands of 7ft Russian Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).

The fight would have lived up to any pre match hype, James Brown singing, a dancing chours line and a pair of stars and stripes shorts. However this was only going to end one way, with Creed flat out on the canvas…dead.

Best Bit: “I’ll be back in a minute, alright”

4. Paul Sheldon Vs Annie Wilkes - Misery (1990)

When a sweet, innocent woman rescues you from a car crash in the middle of winter all you can expect is a nice warm bed and lots of TLC on the way to recovery.

For Paul Sheldon (James Caan) this is how it started but ended up having his ankles savagely broken…again, with a sledge hammer “it’s for the best!”

Sheldon now even worse off than he was before, engages in a wheelchair bound training regime that includes lifting an old school typewriter over his head, ready for the showdown with the all smiling psycho Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates)

Wilkes put up a brilliant fight but was no match for a cripple, and even after she comes back  from the dead she wasn’t coming back from a solid statue to the face.

Best Bit: Sheldon ramming part of the charred manuscript into her mouth “eat it you sick, twisted fuck!”

5. Butch and Sundance Vs The Entire Bolivian Army – Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)

One of the greatest Westerns ever made climaxed with one of the most memorable endings in film history.

Having spent a large amount of time on the run and living the life robbing banks in Bolivia, the pair’s time from jumping off cliffs and avoiding capture seemed about up.

Wounded and cornered Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) have time to discuss one more plan “Australia, I figured secretly you’d want to know”

The pairs on screen chemistry was brilliant, helping place guns in each of their bloodied hands they race out into the towns’ courtyard.

We don’t see the final fight but as the end credits role we hear the sound of the Bolivian army unleashing on them.

Best Bit: “You didn’t see La Fores out there did you?, good, for a minute I thought we were in trouble!”

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The Expendables – 2010

August 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

This film should come with a government health warning, for excessive amounts of testosterone! This is probably the pinnacle of action; can it get bigger than this? Well I really hope so, fingers crossed there’s a sequel.

Not everyone will of course share my enthusiasm for this film, many people will call it over the top, and some will say that most of the action heroes look far too old to be jumping around. And to be fair you’d be right when the average age of the cast ranges between 45 and 65. I however, call it one of the best action films of the last decade.

Now that might sound like a big statement to make, but I stand by it, and here’s why. I love action, from Predator to Rocky, Die Hard to Romeo Must Die I always wanted to see all the big stars on the same screen together.

Stallone is my action Jim’ll fix it! He managed to get himself and two of the biggest action legends together on screen for the first time, and although it was only for a few minutes, I had a smile from ear to ear. Not to mention the others he rounded up. Li, Statham, Austin, Couture, Lundgren.

It’s a simple plot; a group of mercenaries each with different backgrounds are hired to take down a vicious dictator (David Zayas) and his rogue CIA connection (Eric Roberts). Stallone’s screen play is not the best, but his direction of explosions, car chases, and fight scenes is pretty breathtaking.

When things aren’t exploding and South-American soldiers aren’t getting cut to pieces by machine gun fire the film follows certain personal anguishes. Statham has women trouble, Lundgren has trust issues, Rourke relives past battles and Li simply would like to be taller with a bigger slice of the pay cheque.

Stallone acts like some kind of agony aunt, always popping up in the right place to offer his advice and support where he can. But all this acts as padding before the films big climax….which is big!! Just when you think it is calming down it suddenly ramps itself up another notch.

At the end of the day the film does exactly what it was intended to do, entertain us! Action fans everywhere are going to love it, for there isn’t much to hate about it. It’s not there to win any Oscars but it certainly is there to answer a few lingering questions.

Just who would win a fight between Lundgren and Li or Stallone and Austin?

View the Trailer

Rating: (3.5/5)

Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin

Visit the IMDb page for The Expendables

Please feel free to leave a comment about this film, I would love to know what you think and I will do my best to respond!

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