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The Expendables 2

When The Expendableswas released a couple of years ago, I proclaimed my unabashed addiction for all things Sylvester Stallone, even when they are bad (as was that movie). I shouted to the movie gods that I wanted a sequel and I wanted that sequel to be better than the sloppy first offering. Not only do we get the sequel … ITHAS CHUCK NORRIS!!! The Expendables 2 learns a lot from the mistakes of the first installment, while capitalizing on the ideas that should’ve made the first installment good fun. It gathers up a bunch of old goons, gives them big guns, and tells them to shoot things. And, this time out, they do it better and with much aplomb. It’s obvious before the opening title credit, in a sequence where many a man is shredded via gunfire from aging American action superstars, that The Expendables 2 is going to get things right and deliver the crazy-gory goods. Much of the credit must go to newly anointed Simon West, who replaces Stallone in the director’s chair. West made the ridiculously enjoyable Con Air, which combined stellar action with funny, dumb dialogue to much success. Unlike Stallone’s effort with the first movie, Expendables 2 gets real laughs from its boneheaded dialogue rather than groans. The action involves some nonsense where Church (Willis) angrily orders Ross (Stallone) and his men to retrieve something from a plane wreck. That something turns out to be a computer containing information about bomb materials that could knock the world on its

ass. On top of these secrets falling into the wrong hands, one of the Expendables is viciously murdered right before their eyes, which kick-starts a nice revenge subplot. The action, in the hands of West, plays much better. Stallone’s effort featured slapdash editing that made the action hard to follow, while this installment’s set pieces get you pumped. And the fake-looking cartoon gore from the first has graduated to better-looking by cartoon gore in the second.Bob Grimm The script calls for a reduction in emphasis bgrimm@ on the Jason Statham character—hooray!— newsreview.com while giving bigger parts to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. They are still bit players, but they do more here than the3 funny cameo in part one. There’s also the aforementioned Norris, known as a “lone wolf,” a nice nod to his unintentionally hilarious 1984 effort, Lone Wolf McQuade. Other new additions include Liam Hemsworth as a sniper, a young handsome gun clearly added for the ladies (the woman I attended a screening with was very happy with the sight of this gentleman). Nan Yu tags along as the first woman to join the Expendables on a mission, and she kicks ass with the best of them. Most notably, Jean-Claude Van Damme, who passed on the first movie, turns up as a sunglasses-wearing bad guy. Van Damme, as the quite obviously named Vilain, is the one stealing lots of uranium and killing Expendable guys. Of course, he and Stallone have an epic smackdown near film’s end that calls for Van Damme to do some rather impressive high kicking. The man still gets lots of air. If box office returns warrant a third chapter, rumor has it that Nicolas Cage is already signed up for it, with Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood being offered gigs. Even if Expendables 2 comes up a little short at the theaters, I have a feeling a second sequel will get a green light if Ford or Eastwood sign on. Getting either of those guys would mean coming up with big bank, because they don’t come cheap. As for Cage, they probably lured him in with a toy duck and a box of crackers. Whether or not they continue the franchise, at least it can be said that one of these Expendables things worked. Things blow up real good this time out—real good. Ω

Did you know Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer? Too bad he’s never cried.

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2The Bourne Legacy When Universal decided to forge ahead with the Bournefranchise after Matt Damon, a.k.a. Jason Bourne, decided to call it quits, they were most assuredly looking for a glorious changing of the guard—something akin to when Daniel Craig took over for Pierce Brosnan as 007. What they get with The Bourne Legacyis something closer to the vibe when Roberto Benigni replaced Peter Sellers in the Pink Pantherfranchise. Jeremy Renner taking over for Damon in this franchise feels like the underwhelming switcheroo that occurred when Andrew Garfield took over for Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. Renner, like Garfield, is a good actor. But he doesn’t command a movie like Damon can, no matter how good The Hurt Lockerwas. Renner isn’t nearly as good as Damon as the Bournecenterpiece. The plot feels like a poor, scrapped together excuse for keeping a franchise alive longer that it should be.

4Brave After the severe misstep that was Cars 2, Pixar gets back to goodness with this, the tale of Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald). Merida is a princess who doesn’t want to conform to tradition, shooting arrows better than any of the boys in or around her kingdom, and not really too keen about marrying any of them under arranged circumstances. When a spell is cast on family members, she must search for a way to restore normalcy, while convincing her mom (Emma Thompson) that she has the right to choose her own destiny. Merida is a fun character, and Macdonald is the perfect voice for her. As for the look of this movie, it is beautiful for its entire running time. While I’ve liked many Pixar films more than this one, that is not a dig on this movie. It might not be one of the best the studio has offered, but it is still a highly entertaining piece of work.

3The Campaign While this falls into the category of weaker Will Ferrell comedies, it’s still funnier than most of the stuff thrown out there with the intent of making us laugh. Ferrell stars as a congressman running for reelection who is surprised by the candidacy of an unknown candidate looking to unseat him (Zach Galifianakis). Ferrell is basically doing a riff on his Ron Burgundy character, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He has a few shining moments, including a profane phone message left for the wrong person and a classic baby punching incident. Galifianakis is funny, but his character’s two dogs, heavy breathing pugs, are funnier. This one is frontloaded, with most of the funny stuff happening in the first half. While it misses out on the opportunity to really skewer the American election process, it does have some good giggles involving refrigerator sex and petting zoos, so it’s got that going for it.

4The Dark Knight Rises Director Christopher Nolan wraps up his Batman trilogy with a rousing, though occasionally clunky, conclusion. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has retired Batman, and is living a reclusive life in his mansion when Gotham is besieged by the masked revolutionary Bane (Tom Hardy). Batman is eventually forced out of retirement, and meets his physical match in Bane while also facing off against a crafty cat burglar (Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, never referred to as Catwoman in the film but obviously playing that part). Hardy makes Bane a great physical adversary, but his performance is marred by a terrible voice dub that makes him sound cartoonish and out of place. Hathaway has a lot of good fun in her role, as does Gary Oldman returning as Jim Gordon. The movie has a lot of good action, and Bale has never been better as Batman. It’s not as good as the previous chapters in the trilogy, but it’s still very good and a fitting conclusion to a great story. 1Ice Age: Continental Drift The animated wooly mammoth (Ray Romano), saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) and sloth (John Leguizamo) take yet another journey to the land of the suck in this fourth, and undoubtedly not last, installment of the popular kiddie adventures. When the continents crack, the mammoth winds up on a floating piece of ice far away from the wife and kid, so he spends the movie trying to get back. Along the way, he does battle with a stupid pirate monkey (Peter Dinklage) that sings the dumbest song you will hear this or any year. Because this is in 3-D, the film offers a lot of action sequences, sacrificing plot for a whole lot of “whoosh.” In a summer that offers the likes of Brave, parents are better off just taking their kids to that movie twice than subjecting their prepubescent eyes to this thing. I actually got tired watching this due to all of the frantic 3-D movement. I fear these Ice Agemovies are going to keep on coming.

4Neil Young Journeys Director Jonathan Demme likes to make movies with Neil Young, and that’s turning out to be a very good thing. In this, their third collaboration, Young returns to the city of his birth in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to perform a solo show at Massey Hall. And when I say solo, I mean solo. Young does it all with the acoustic guitar, powerful electric guitar, harmonica and that wonderful organ. He serves up classics like “Ohio” and “After the Gold Rush” and new ones, like the beautiful “Leia,” with no accompaniment. Demme cuts in footage of Young driving around the city, following his brother Bob’s Cadillac and seeing the sights. As for the way Demme shoots a concert, nobody does it better. He has a camera aimed right under the brim of Young’s hat, so you get Neil’s awesome scowling face punching your eyes. I hope these guys keep making these movies, because they are damn good.

4ParaNorman Here’s a stop-animation movie that isn’t afraid to be creepy for the kids. Norman (voice of Kodi Smit-McPhee) can see dead people and has premonitions, for which he gets picked on at school and yelled at by his parents. As it turns out, he’s the only one who can save the town from a curse involving zombies and witches. Directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell have put together a great-looking movie. And Butler’s script actually pushes the limit of the PG rating to the point where adults might be surprised by what they have taken their kids to see. As for this being too scary for kids, let me tell you that the kids were screaming with delight at my screening. They love this stuff. Also features the voices of John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Casey Affleck and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. One of the year’s best animated films.

2Total Recall Just when I was starting to really like Colin Farrell, he’s become the poster child for pointless remakes of great films. Granted, his turn as a sexy-nasty vampire in the Fright Night remake was fun to watch, but that movie didn’t live up to the original. Now we get this junk, with Farrell occupying the role of Douglas Quaid/Hauser, made famous by a little guy named Arnold Schwarzenegger. This remake jettisons the humor, crazy gore, and Mars locations, resulting in one majorly dull sci-fi chase film. Kate Beckinsale is the best thing in the movie, stepping into the role made famous by Sharon Stone and wearing underwear like a true champ. There are a few nods to the Paul Verhoeven original—a three breasted hooker and a twist on the infamous airport security scene—and they feel unjustified. Wiseman’s film has little nods to the far better original scattered throughout. These nods create a craving to leave the theater and watch the original on Blu-ray.

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