THE EXPENDABLES 3 - Tuesday 19th August 2014.

Reading like a 'Who's Who' of Hollywood heavy hitters, Barney Ross is at it again with his likable gang of mercenaries doing what they do best in 'THE EXPENDABLES 3' - which I saw last night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - just seeing these action stars of yesteryear and this year up on screen together, chewing up the scenery, guns blazing, and clearly having a damn good time during production which is evident on screen - is worth the price of your ticket alone. Screenwriter again for this outing, principle mega star, and leader of 'The Expendables' is Sylvester Stallone playing the lovable rogue Barney Ross. He is one again joined by Jason Statham (Lee Christmas) as his right hand man, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench in his biggest Expendables role to date, Dolph Lundgren as Gunnar Jensen the strong silent type, Jet Li as Yin Yang back for more martial arts mayhem as only he can, Terry Crews as Hale Caesar, and Randy Couture as Toll Road.

Needless to say the opening scene (like every Bond movie before) starts off with a bang as our Expendables crew lift newcomer Wesley Snipes (Doc) from a heavily guarded prison train in between one heavily guarded prison where he has served eight years already and another heavily guarded fortress somewhere in deepest darkest Russia. With the use of an agile helicopter piloted by Ross and lots of impressive weaponry, our boys overcome adversity and Doc is rescued.

 On the way home our intrepid mercenaries have to make a little side trip to some downtrodden third world country to collect a package, where more mayhem ensues, there are big explosions, rapid machine gun fire, impressive vehicle stunts, overhead cranes, shipping containers and more shit going down than you could poke a M16 at! It is here that an unwelcome discovery is made in the form of one Mel Gibson playing villain in the piece, Conrad Stonebanks - former co-founder of The Expendables who has subsequently gone rogue and become a ruthless international arms dealer who is after the same package as Ross and his cohorts. Ross believes that Stonebanks is dead by his own hand many years earlier - but not so it would seem, and as the two eyeball each other we know that revenge and closure for either is on the radar front & centre!

Realising that their new adversary is bigger and mightier than the dwindling and ageing Expendables Ross folds up his crew and tells them to ride off into the sunset and enjoy their new forced retirement - alive at least!

The next set up is Ross catching up with underworld talent scout Kelsey Grammer (Napoleon Bonaparte) to recruit new, younger, tech savvy and disposable blood to The Expendables to capture Stonebanks and deliver him to the CIA alive - represented this time not by Bruce Willis' Church, but by Harrison Ford's Drummer. Along the way recruited to the fold are the new bloods - Antonio Banderas as Galgo, Kellen Lutz at Smilee, Victor Ortiz as Mars, Glen Powell as Thorn and token ass-kickin' female Ronda Rousey as Luna. Watch out for Banderas because he hams it up beautifully, and clearly is having  great time doing so!

After the new gang are recruited they head off to where Stonebanks is holed up - some fictitious eastern European no-hope war torn country where the new Expendables and joined by the old Expendables and Drummer in the sky doing helicopter acrobatics with Trench and Yin Yang riding shotgun . . . or machine gun! This is the climatic ending that sees helicopter and tank assaults on a booby-trapped one-time office tower where the Expendables are housed, close quarter hand to hand combat, more artillery used and abused than you can image, explosions aplenty, a rapidly rising body count, and jaw dropping action backed up by quick quips and one liners that is sure to raise a smile. And then of course there is the final showdown between Ross and Stonebanks!

Having grown up with these guys in the 80's and the action films they made, this is an updated throw back to that era. It's heavy on the fire power, heavy on the body count, heavy on the ego's and heavy on the quips but it's all good fun, and I found myself chuckling and laughing out loud several times. When Arnie shouts 'Get them to the Choppa' you know he's having a blast, and when Ford says of Church (the Bruce Willis character he replaces from the previous two films) - 'he's out of the picture' - you'll understand the double meaning in this comment that I'm sure Stallone wrote in especially when Willis exited stage left!

Directed by only second time helmer Aussie Patrick Hughes - this is good fun, totally over the top, and good on Stallone for pulling such a talent pool for our entertainment and serving up a dose of nostalgia. For the fourth instalment we should expect to see Cage, Segal, and Chan in there too, and maybe Danny Trejo as the villain - now that would be something! There are those that will dismiss this for a host of reasons, but three films in, Hollywood A-listers lining up to star, and a fourth film announced - The Expendables must be doing something right, and clearly there is an audience!

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE EXPENDABLES 2 - archive from 11th September 2012

Saw 'EXPENDABLES 2' last night and loved it! This is great mindless entertainment that combines the best of 80's action movies, star power, fire power, quick witted humour and a body count that does itself proud. If you were brought up on a diet of 'Rocky', 'Rambo', 'Terminator' and 'Die Hard' as I was back in the day then you're gonna love this! 

To see Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis on the big screen together chewing up the scenery and clearly loving it is worth the price of entry alone. Throw in Statham, Lundgren, Norris, JCVD, and Li makes this a priceless outing. The dynamic trio are great together and memorable for their egos, excesses and enduring humour and I laughed out loud more times that I can remember. 

Directed by Simon West and co-written for the screen by Sylvester Stallone, this time around Mr. Church (Willis) enlists Barney Ross (Stallone) and his Expendable Team to retrieve a package from a crashed plane somewhere in the former USSR - seems simple enough and a good ol' paycheque at the end. But of course, things don't go too simply as they had at first thought and one of Barney's men is taken hostage in return for the package . . . or the hostage gets it!

Handing over the package the hostage gets it anyway, and so now revenge is on the agenda and the retrieval of the package which tells of the secret location of a plutonium storage mine deep in the Russian mountains, where the local men are being forced to work and their families persecuted along the way. The lynch-pin of this mob of gangsters, crims and miscreants is aptly named Vilain (JCVD) who must be halted before the plutonium gets into the wrong hands and more widespread damage is caused on a scale even bigger than the Expendables!

Also starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews, this is a winning formula, a huge cast doing what they do best, and a treat for movie geeks remembering the good old days of action yore! They don't make 'em like this anymore . . . unless you're Expendable! Brilliant . . . for all the wrong reasons! Bring on 'E3' . . . and of course they are - out on 14th August 2014 at a big screen new you, and Previewed in 'What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 14th August 2014'

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 14th August 2014.

Last week we had three new releases to tease you out in front of a big stereo surround sound screen, and so it is again this week - but these films could hardly be any different! For the week ahead we have food, family, friends and fanatics - all in some way doing battle with a foe that wants to see them undone! Our first offering is a tale of food across the miles and just across the street as two eateries do battle for custom, reputation and one-up-man-ship. Then we have a tale of youngsters growing up amidst the turmoil of their surroundings and with each other as they battle against everything that bombards and influences the teenage youth of today. And then the third instalment of a balls-out 80's throw back action adventure of epic gun toting proportions as the friendly fanatics do battle with an arch foe from old!

So if it's one of these new releases that tempts you out in the week ahead, or you are catching one or more of the great offerings still out there on general release, then drop me a line in the comments box of this Blog site, and let my other avid reader know that your paying attention, and having something to say about your movie experience. Happy viewing . . . whatever you see!

THE EXPENDABLES 3 (Rated MA15+) - Stallone, Statham, Schwarzenegger, Snipes, Gibson, Ford, Banderas, Lundgren, Li, Crews, Couture, Grammer and token female Ronda Rousey. Many of the cast and stalwarts from the previous two outings are reunited here with the exception of one Bruce Willis who is absent because he wanted a bigger pay cheque, and was refused, so he walked! With a screenplay co-written by Sylvester Stallone, the Director duties this time go to Australian, Patrick Hughes, in only his second feature film outing - but clearly he was thought up to the job and has the US re-make of 'The Raid' to film next.

Seeing all these old 80's action stars on screen has once again gotta be worth the price of a ticket alone! Joined by some younger talent hired to thwart original friend and co-founder of The Expendables - Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson) who in the intervening years became a rogue arms trader and was subsequently dispensed with by Barney Ross (Stallone)  . . . or so Ross thought, until now! Resurfacing  now after all these years, Stonebanks wants revenge and retribution and an end to The Expendables that he helped form. When Ross rounds up the Team he enlists new younger tech-savvy talent to support the older wiser experienced talent to dispense with Stonebanks once and for all. And so what follows is the most personal battle yet for The Expendables, and along the way you can expect big action set pieces, big guns, big explosions, big egos and big one-liners! Bring it on!

THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY (Rated PG) - I read the Richard C. Morais book a couple of years ago, and liked it a lot. Hardly surprising that this should be snapped up and get the big screen treatment given our love of food porn on the silver screen, the compelling story, and this tale of east meets west kitchen rivalry. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Helen Mirren we have here an Indian family forced to flee their homeland only to settle in rural France and open an Indian Restaurant right across the street from a celebrated Michelin starred fine dining eatery much to the disgust and chagrin of acclaimed chef and owner Madam Mallory (Mirren). When the son of the Indian Restauranteur, Hasan Kadan (Manish Dayal), displays some extraordinary culinary talent he is taken under the wing of Madam Mallory to be taught in the ways of the French gastronomic kitchens and so embarks on a journey of life, love and success. Ruby Murray anyone?

PALO ALTO (Rated MA15+) - based on the semi-autobiographical short stories of James Franco and written for the screen and Directed by Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis, and niece to Sofia) this is the telling of four teenagers growing up in the Californian city of Palo Alto as they become bored, troubled, confused and drift from party to party in a daze of sex, drugs, alcohol, fast cars and pressure from their peers. The four teens in question are April (Emma Roberts), Teddy (Jack Kilmer), Fred (Nat Wolff) and Emily (Zoe Levin) who all go from turmoil, to confusion and to deeper angst in their search for love and acceptance. James Franco stars as a seedy soccer coach Mr. B hitting on April, and the other three all have their own challenges and demons to navigate past, and watch out for the brief cameo from Val Kilmer (presumably to keep a watchful eye on son Jack's turn as Teddy!) For her Directorial debut this is described as a worthy start backed up by solid performances albeit with a storyline you have doubtless seen before.

So again, three very different films to get you out amongst it and into your local movie theatre. Whatever you chose to see this week, enjoy the experience!

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-