Review: "The Expendables 2" is Darker, But Still Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 88 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux - support on Patreon.

The Expendables 2 (2012)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence throughout
DIRECTOR: Simon West
WRITERS: Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone; from a story by Ken Kaufman & David Agosto and Richard Wenk (based on characters created by David Callaham)
PRODUCERS: David Lerner, Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, John Thompson, and Les Weldon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shelly Johnson
EDITOR: Todd E. Miller
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

ACTION

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins, Nan Yu, Charisma Carpenter, Chuck Connors, and Terry Crews with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Summer 2010 movie season offered an unexpected treat, The Expendables, an explosive action film co-written, directed, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It was a throwback to the macho, testosterone-fueled, action flicks of the 1980s.

The subject of this movie review is its sequel, The Expendables 2, a 2012 action movie from director Simon West. Like its predecessor, The Expendables 2 is not an homage to or parody of action movie days-gone-by. It is an authentic ass-kicking, ass-stabbing, cap-popped-in-ass action movie, but it is a little darker and more downbeat than the original.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is still the leader of the Expendables, an elite band of mercenaries. Ross and his right-hand man/knife specialist, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li); unstable Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren); demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture); weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews); and the new guy, sniper Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), charge into Nepal on a rescue mission. It is a success, of course, but Ross and the Expendables have a debt to pay. So says secretive CIA agent, “Mr. Church” (Bruce Willis).

Soon, the Expendables are escorting one of Church’s operatives, Maggie Chan (Nan Yu), to a crash site in the Gasak Mountains, Albania. The item that the Expendables are trying to retrieve is also the target of Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), the leader of a large mercenary band called the Sangs. After one of the Expendables is brutally murdered, Ross leads his team into hostile territory on a mission of revenge.

Early in The Expendables 2, even with the crazy opening in Nepal, it is obvious that this is a darker movie. This sequel replaces the cartoonish and stylish violence with more grit. It seems that just as many, if not more people are casually shot and also shot to pieces, but there is something meaner here. Perhaps, it is this film’s chilly shooting locations in Bulgaria, or maybe it’s the story.

More than the original film, The Expendables 2 is a Sylvester Stallone movie, and the theme, or at least emphasis, is that his character, Barney Ross, has come to a morbid conclusion about his life. He’s a tired, old soldier, but this dog still has a lot of fight in him. But Ross is simply determined not to drag any new people into the meat grinder that is his place of work and profession. The other Expendables are largely in the background compared to the first movie, which is hugely disappointing to me. Still, wise-ass Jason Statham gets many opportunities to spread his wings of sarcasm, and he has some cool, solo martial arts fight scenes. That’s worth the price of admission.

Stallone and some of his costars are starting to look real hoary because of plastic surgery. In fact, there is enough plastic surgery between some of them that it would not be too snarky to say that they are starting to look like action figure toys. Anyway, if you liked the first movie, you’ll likely like the second. The Expendables 2 is good enough to make me ready to go on a third mission with Ross and company.

6 of 10
B

Friday, November 23, 2012

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William Joyce Talks "Rise of the Guardians"

Academy Award® Winner William Joyce Shares His Story on DreamWorks Animation’s “Rise of the Guardians” 3D Animated Film

The Guardians -- Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Sandman and Jack Frost Emerge from Print onto the Big Screen in Theatres Across the Globe

SHREVEPORT, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On the opening day of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: DWA) much-anticipated “Rise of the Guardians”, William Joyce, an Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and #1 New York Times best-selling author, today shared why he chose DreamWorks Animation to bring his characters to life, what inspired him to write the epic adventure and his role with the film overall.

“Rise of the Guardians,” which features the voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law Isla Fisher and Hugh Jackman, tells the story of a group of heroes – Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

Joyce began his relationship with DreamWorks Animation several years ago after receiving a tremendous amount of interest from Hollywood studios to adapt his books into a feature film. His choice was easy. The author and the studio shared the same vision: neither wanted a traditional adaptation of the book into a movie form. Rather, they wanted to create a unique story featuring the same characters, but set 200 years after the version of events laid out in Joyce’s best-selling Simon & Schuster Guardians of Childhood book series.

“I wanted to set up the world in the books and then show how they deal with their lives in the movie when their ancient enemy returns in Rise of the Guardians,” said William Joyce, creator of The Guardians series and an executive producer of the film. “I didn’t want to be stuck trying to be true to something we’d already done. No studio in town wanted to do both the books and movies this way. DreamWorks Animation was the only studio who liked the idea of them being separate. They liked the idea that the audience would have a surprise narrative they would be experiencing for the first time. Director Peter Ramsey shared my vision and helped transform the Guardians from books to the big screen.”

“Bill Joyce is a master storyteller and the mythology that he created in his book series has inspired our creative team at DreamWorks Animation,” said Bill Damaschke, chief creative officer at DreamWorks Animation. “There is perhaps no more collaborative medium than the art of animation and we are thrilled to have had the unique opportunity to work closely with Bill Joyce to bring the individual stories of the Guardians together for the first time on the big screen.”

Joyce plans to write 13 books in his series, including picture books and novels that tell the story of these classic childhood heroes. The movie is really just one moment in a much larger narrative that Joyce is shaping. William Joyce’s daughter Mary Katherine inspired him to do the series when she asked if Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny knew each other. This question sparked his creativity which became the common thread of the book series and central theme behind the animated film. He hopes these stories will speak to children of all ages who are trying to make sense of the characters.

Joyce added, “My vision is to explain the mythology for these classic characters in picture, film and story form. This movie is just the beginning.”


About Dreamworks Animation
DreamWorks Animation creates high-quality entertainment, including CG animated feature films, television specials and series and live entertainment properties, meant for audiences around the world. The Company has world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced filmmaking technology and techniques. DreamWorks Animation has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE® Magazine for four consecutive years. In 2012, DreamWorks Animation ranks #14 on the list. All of DreamWorks Animation's feature films are now being produced in 3D. The Company has theatrically released a total of 24 animated feature films, including the franchise properties of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. The Company's theatrical releases for the current year are Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted on June 8, 2012 and Rise of the Guardians on November 21, 2012.

About William Joyce
William Joyce has achieved world-wide recognition as an author, illustrator and pioneer in the digital and animation industry. In February 2012, he won an Academy Award for “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” an animated short film about the curative powers of story. Working with his team at Moonbot Studios, Joyce also created two best-selling, interactive iOS Apps, “Morris Lessmore” and “The Numberlys.” In past two years, he has also written seven hard copy Simon & Schuster children’s books including “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” “The Man in the Moon,” “The Guardians of Childhood,” “The Sandman: Story of Sanderson Mansnoozie, "Toothania: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies," “Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King,” “E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth’s Core!” Named by Newsweek magazine as “One of the 100 people to watch in the new millennium”, Joyce has been heavily involved in the world of digital animation from its full-scale inception at Pixar Animation. His projects have been produced by nearly every major film studio including Disney, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation. His feature films and television shows include the films Robots and Meet the Robinsons and the television series Rolie Polie Olie for which he won three Emmy Awards.

Joyce was an executive producer of the animated feature, “Rise of the Guardians,” for DreamWorks. Additionally, he is the writer, producer, and production designer on the Fox Studios feature film, Epic, based on his book The Leaf Men. Epic is scheduled for a summer 2013 release. The combined box office total of the films he has originated or been an integral part of is close to a billion dollars. All five of his feature films have earned over $100 million worldwide. Both of his television series achieved worldwide status, the rarest and most difficulty level of achievement in broadcast television.

Negromancer's Thankful

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71 Nations Seeks 2012 Foreign Film Oscar Noms

71 Countries Vie for 2012 Foreign Language Film Oscar®


BEVERLY HILLS, CA – A record 71 countries, including first-time entrant Kenya, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®.

The 2012 submissions are:

Afghanistan, "The Patience Stone," Atiq Rahimi, director;

Albania, "Pharmakon," Joni Shanaj, director;

Algeria, "Zabana!" Said Ould Khelifa, director;

Argentina, "Clandestine Childhood," Benjamín Ávila, director;

Armenia, "If Only Everyone," Natalia Belyauskene, director;

Australia, "Lore," Cate Shortland, director;

Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;

Azerbaijan, "Buta," Ilgar Najaf, director;

Bangladesh, "Pleasure Boy Komola," Humayun Ahmed, director;

Belgium, "Our Children," Joachim Lafosse, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Children of Sarajevo," Aida Begic, director;

Brazil, "The Clown," Selton Mello, director;

Bulgaria, "Sneakers," Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov, directors;

Cambodia, "Lost Loves," Chhay Bora, director;

Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director;

Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director;

China, "Caught in the Web," Chen Kaige, director;

Colombia, "The Snitch Cartel," Carlos Moreno, director;

Croatia, "Vegetarian Cannibal," Branko Schmidt, director;

Czech Republic, "In the Shadow," David Ondrícek, director;

Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director;

Dominican Republic, "Jaque Mate," José María Cabral, director;

Estonia, "Mushrooming," Toomas Hussar, director;

Finland, "Purge," Antti J. Jokinen, director;

France, "The Intouchables," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;

Georgia, "Keep Smiling," Rusudan Chkonia, director;

Germany, "Barbara," Christian Petzold, director;

Greece, "Unfair World," Filippos Tsitos, director;

Greenland, "Inuk," Mike Magidson, director;

Hong Kong, "Life without Principle," Johnnie To, director;

Hungary, "Just the Wind," Bence Fliegauf, director;

Iceland, "The Deep," Baltasar Kormákur, director;

India, "Barfi!" Anurag Basu, director;

Indonesia, "The Dancer," Ifa Isfansyah, director;

Israel, "Fill the Void," Rama Burshtein, director;

Italy, "Caesar Must Die," Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, directors;

Japan, "Our Homeland," Yang Yonghi, director;

Kazakhstan, "Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe," Akan Satayev, director;

Kenya, "Nairobi Half Life," David 'Tosh' Gitonga, director;

Kyrgyzstan, "The Empty Home," Nurbek Egen, director;

Latvia, "Gulf Stream under the Iceberg," Yevgeny Pashkevich, director;

Lithuania, "Ramin," Audrius Stonys, director;

Macedonia, "The Third Half," Darko Mitrevski, director;

Malaysia, "Bunohan," Dain Iskandar Said, director;

Mexico, "After Lucia," Michel Franco, director;

Morocco, "Death for Sale," Faouzi Bensaïdi, director;

Netherlands, "Kauwboy," Boudewijn Koole, director;

Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;

Palestine, "When I Saw You," Annemarie Jacir, director;

Peru, "The Bad Intentions," Rosario García-Montero, director;

Philippines, "Bwakaw," Jun Robles Lana, director;

Poland, "80 Million," Waldemar Krzystek, director;

Portugal, "Blood of My Blood," João Canijo, director;

Romania, "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu, director;

Russia, "White Tiger," Karen Shakhnazarov, director;

Serbia, "When Day Breaks," Goran Paskaljevic, director;

Singapore, "Already Famous," Michelle Chong, director;

Slovak Republic, "Made in Ash," Iveta Grófová, director;

Slovenia, "A Trip," Nejc Gazvoda, director;

South Africa, "Little One," Darrell James Roodt, director;

South Korea, "Pieta," Kim Ki-duk, director;

Spain, "Blancanieves," Pablo Berger, director;

Sweden, "The Hypnotist," Lasse Hallström, director;

Switzerland, "Sister," Ursula Meier, director;

Taiwan, "Touch of the Light," Chang Jung-Chi, director;

Thailand, "Headshot," Pen-ek Ratanaruang, director;

Turkey, "Where the Fire Burns," Ismail Gunes, director;

Ukraine, "The Firecrosser," Mykhailo Illienko, director;

Uruguay, "The Delay," Rodrigo Plá, director;

Venezuela, "Rock, Paper, Scissors," Hernán Jabes, director;

Vietnam, "The Scent of Burning Grass," Nguyen Huu Muoi, director.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at The Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

21 Entries Chase 2012 "Best Animated Film" Oscar

21 Animated Features Submitted For 2012 Oscar® Race

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Twenty-one features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®.

The 21 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

"Adventures in Zambezia"

"Brave"

"Delhi Safari"

"Dr. Seuss' The Lorax"

"Frankenweenie"

"From Up on Poppy Hill"

"Hey Krishna"

"Hotel Transylvania"

"Ice Age Continental Drift"

"A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman"

"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted"

"The Mystical Laws"

"The Painting"

"ParaNorman"

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

"The Rabbi's Cat"

"Rise of the Guardians"

"Secret of the Wings"

"Walter & Tandoori's Christmas"

"Wreck-It Ralph"

"Zarafa"

Several of the films listed have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category's other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. At least eight eligible animated features must be theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

BronzeLens Film Festival Announces Fest Awards

Six of the Nations Most Provocative Filmmakers Receive 2012 BronzeLens Film Festival Awards

Top Honors given in Short Film, Documentary and Feature Categories

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The third annual BronzeLens Film Festival (BronzeLens) was host to over 3000 attendees from across the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. During the course of four days 50 films in the Feature, Narrative Fiction, Documentary and Shorts categories November 8th-11th were screened at Georgia Pacific Center, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, World of Coca-Cola, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Power Auditorium. A total of six films received prestigious BronzeLens Awards top honors in the following categories:

Best Documentary Short, Best Overall Film and Winner of the Panavision $50,000 Camera Equipment Prize

Colored My Mind: Diagnosis Director: Nia T. Hill
The synopsis: In this powerful Short Docu-Drama by award-winning writer and director Nia T. Hill, an educator, an actress, a lawyer, a music manager, and a homemaker are our guides as we explore the overlooked world of autism. Intercut in the documentary Nicole Ari Parker and Blair Underwood dramatize how a couple faces the reality of their autistic child.

Best Documentary

The Contradictions of Fair Hope Director: S. Epatha Merkerson and Rockell Metcalf
The synopsis: The documentary sets the stage in rural Alabama, prior to Emancipation, and traces the development, struggles, contributions and gradual loss of tradition of one of the last remaining African American benevolent societies, known as "The Fair Hope Benevolent Society" in Uniontown, Alabama. Through gripping human stories the film provides an unprecedented look at the complex and morally ambiguous world of Fair Hope juxtaposed against the worldly pleasures of what has become known as the annual "Foot Wash" celebration.

Best Feature Film

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty Director: Terence Nance
The synopsis: A quixotic artist explores his life after getting stood up by a mystery girl.

Best Short

Barbasol Director: Ralph K. Scott
The synopsis: A man has a desire to bond with his aging father that is suffering with dementia. He comes to realize he needs to turn that attention toward his own son.

Best International

Otelo Burning Director: Sara Blecher
The synopsis: Based on true events, three teenage friends from a South African township discover freedom through the joy of surfing. Otelo Burning is a strikingly dynamic portrait of hope and growth for a group of proud adolescents and a nation at the end of apartheid.

Audience Award Winner

Kunta Kinteh Island: Coming Home Without Shackles Director: Elvin Ross
The synopsis: Kunta Kinteh Island: Coming Home Without Shackles chronicles the pride, strength and journey of the most celebrated captive African, Kunta Kinteh, who was enslaved and brought to the New World during the West African Slave Trade. Recently Dr. Yahya Abul-Aziz Jemus Junnkung Jammeh, President of the Republic of The Gambia, reclaimed and renamed the old British Fortress from James Island to KUNTA KINTEH ISLAND to honor his legacy during the Roots Festival in February 2011.

Honorable Mentions

Features: Homecoming, Director: Eugene Ashe, Documentary: Color Outside the Lines, Director: Artemus Jenkins and Short: The Christmas Tree, Director: Angel Kristi Williams, International Short Documentary, On Our Land: Being Garifuna in Honduras,

Directors: Neal Dixon, James Frazier, Erica Harding

Other BronzeLens Award honorees were legendary film, television and theater director Kenny Leon who received the BronzeLens Trailblazer Award and television and film producer/director Roger Bobb received the BronzeLens Film Advocate Award. Also noted Atlanta community advocate W. Imara Canady received the BronzeLens Faith Award.


About the BronzeLens Film Festival
Founded in 2009, The BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta as a center for film and film production for people of color. Its mission is twofold: to promote Atlanta as the new film Mecca for people of color; and to showcase films and provide networking opportunities that will develop the next generation of filmmakers. Since its inception the BronzeLens Film Festival has evolved as one of the most comprehensive film festivals for filmmakers of color in the United States. Visit www.bronzelensfilmfestival.com for more information regarding the BronzeLens Film Festival.

Sponsors of the BronzeLens Film Festival are Coca-Cola Company, Georgia Lottery Corp., Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, Turner, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Panavision, Delta Air Lines, HBO Documentary Films, The Levy Group, Georgia Pacific, Macys, AT& T, Morehouse College, France Atlanta 2012, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, The Sai Sai Group, Inc., White Oak Restaurant, Organix Food Lounge Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, MHR International, Movie Magic and Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. Media Partners Include: 11Alive/WXIA-TV, WCLK-FM, Atlanta DAYBOOK, Modern Luxury and Oz Magazine

Original "Red Dawn" Remains an 80s Curio

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 87 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Red Dawn (1984)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: John Milius
WRITERS: John Milius and Kevin Reynolds; from a story by Kevin Reynolds
PRODUCERS: Barry Beckerman and Buzz Feitshans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ric Waite (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Thom Noble
COMPOSER: Basil Poledouris

WAR/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Darren Dalton, Jennifer Grey, Brad Savage, Doug Toby, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O’Neal, William Smith, Powers Boothe, Lane Smith, and Frank McRae

The subject of this movie review is Red Dawn, a 1984 war film from director John Milius (Conan the Barbarian). The film is set in an alternate version of the 1980s and depicts an invasion of the United States launched by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. The story follows a group of American high school students who launch a guerrilla war against the invaders.

World War III begins on a September morning. It arrives in the small town of Calumet, Colorado when paratroopers begin dropping from the sky. These are Russian Airborne Troops, and soon after them, Cuban and Soviet troops begin an occupation of Calumet. Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze) and his teenage brother, Matt (Charlie Sheen), take a small group of Matt’s fellow high school students and flee into the surrounding mountains.

After taking in two teen girls, this group begins an armed resistance against the occupation forces. These young people start calling themselves “Wolverines.” Meanwhile, back in town, Colonel Ernesto Bella (Ron O’Neal) is punishing the townspeople for the Wolverines’ attacks on his troops. Which side will give in first?

When Red Dawn was first released to theatres in 1984, I ignored it, although I knew many people around my age who loved the movie. I recently watched it for the first time, and I found little about it worth loving or hating. Red Dawn is basically a misfire with a lot of good ideas. It is not pro-war and is not so much a war movie as it is a movie about children leading a resistance group during wartime. In fact, I guess that I can best describe Red Dawn as a poorly realized movie about guerrilla warfare and child soldiers.

I cannot say the acting is bad because the actors don’t have much with which to work. The script offers very little character development, and the action scenes that should help to develop the characters or at least help the audience to get to know them better actually make the characters’ motivations increasingly murkier.

Red Dawn essentially has no plot, unless the depiction of a series of skirmishes and battles is the plot. The concept has potential; it simply was not developed nearly 30 years ago when the movie was made. As it stands, Red Dawn is a time capsule movie. It is a piece of pop culture, reflective of the mid-1980s, a time of Ronald Reagan, anti-Soviet Union propaganda, paranoia, and warmongering. At the time, there seemed to be a mood in the U.S., an aching for a fight with someone we could beat, especially if it was a country or entity that could act as a stand-in for the Soviet Union/Russia.

Red Dawn delivered what reality could not. Here, white guys wearing tight jeans, wielding high-powered firearms, and packing lots of military gear get to shoot some Ruskies. Too bad no one thought to shoot a good movie.

4 of 10
C

Sunday, November 18, 2012