The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables is an amazing movie, mostly because of the impressive cast of action stars from past to present. The general idea was to make a really cool action film to reflect those from the 80’s and Stallone’s glory days.

The story isn’t really that important, you’ll be watching this to see the incredible cast kick ass and blow shit up! It’s a lot of fun to watch and you can tell that making the film was even more enjoyable.

The violence is very similar to Rambo 4, another recent Stallone film which was utterly brilliant in my opinion. There’s a huge body count with gallons of CGI blood spraying everywhere. One of the characters wields a massive gun that rips people apart – that has to be seen!!! There’s also tonnes of explosions which would satisfy the likes of Michael Bay.

Both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have cameos, and at the same time. My only criticism is that Arnies bit part isn’t much longer than the clip shown in the trailer. I know he’s a busy guy these days but it would have been nice to see more of him especially in a short flashback action scene. Arnie actually looks like he popped onto the set whilst on the way to pick up his morning paper!

To be honest, Expendables reminds me of the Hulk Hogan/Carl Weathers/Shannon Tweed “Shadow Warriors” action films from the late 90’s more than any one 80’s film. I quite liked the Shadow Warrior films despite them being low budget, cheesy, straight to video productions. Click here for a trailer.

I doubt another film with a similar cast like this will ever happen again so make the most of the opportunity and check Expendables out. If you like action movies you will love this!

Son of Rambow (2007)

'Son of Rambow' is a lovely British comedy, set in the early eighties that pays homage to the original Sylvester Stallone Rambo film, First Blood.

*** SPOILERS ***

The basis of the film is built around the friendship between two very different characters. Will, a member of a very strange religious cult and Carter, the generic schoolboy misfit who causes trouble wherever he goes and has a thing for video piracy.

Will lives a very sheltered life due to his family's religious beliefs, having spent all his young life not seeing a single film or watching TV. He spends most of his time escaping through his sketch book. Carter manages to persuade the innocent and naive Will into bunking off school and takes him back to his strange house (which is on the same site as an old peoples home). Whilst there Will is left on his own when hiding from Carter's older brother, all alone with a dodgy copy of 'First Blood' playing in the background.

First Blood being the only film he's ever watched has a huge impact that totally changes his perception of the world. Will adopts the Rambo persona after having a crazy yet brilliant semi animated dream sequence, spawning new and exiting ideas to be scribbled in his sketch book.



The two friends start making their own film called 'Son of Rambow' using Will's excellent drawings for the storyboard and Carters video camera with brilliant and hilarious results.

*** SPOILER END ***

Its a really lovely story and the cast of kids are superb. I highly recommend it.

P.S; Look out for veteran actor/comedian Eric Sykes cameo.

Film Update

Here's some quick reviews of some of the films I've recently watched at the cinema (in viewing order).


Rambo ; Rambo had some terrible reviews by the press stating it was too violent and gory, totally missing the point that the film is set in bloody war-torn Burma within all the genocide thats currently happening - OK, and its a Rambo sequel and you'd have to be retarded not to expect action.
Rambo doesn't initiate any of the violence without good cause, but when the reason's there the payback is awesome in every sense of the word. To many this sees the return of the violent action films made in the eighties, I honestly don't remember them being quite like this though. With the aid of digital effects and absolutely amazing sound (it really needs to be watched in a cinema with a decent sound system), the action looks and sounds incredibly real. Stallone does a fantastic job resurrecting John Rambo and at 61 still manages to run about and kick ass like he could in the glory days.

Rambo is currently my favourite Film of the Year.



The Bank Job ; This film is 'based' on a true robbery in London during the seventies. It stars Jason Statham and several other recognizable British faces. The film plays out like an ITV or BBC drama special, not truly outstanding for a feature length movie. The dialogue was absolutely awful together with some crappy Dick Van Dyke cockney accents, it became a bit of a comedy. Statham desperate to use his martial arts skills eventually gets to kick ass in one of the final scenes which seemed totally out of character.


Semi-Pro ; Here we have yet another Will Farrell sports comedy! Slated by the reviewers I entered the cinema with extremely low expectations but was pleasantly surprised. To be honest I think most of Will Farrell's movies get awful write ups but I usually enjoy them. While Semi-Pro won't stand out as one of Farrell's better comedies it certainly is packed with funny/crazy moments. Arrested Development's Will Arnett had some great scenes as one of the sports commentators, smoking/drinking/swearing all the time!


Vantage Point ; Vantage Point tells the story of an attempted assassination on the American presidents life whilst in Spain. The points of view from seven (I think!) different characters show angles of the moments leading up to and after the assassination, gaining various pieces of evidence together as the story unfolds towards the ultimate conclusion. Packed with several famous faces such as Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, Forrest Whitaker and Dennis Quaid this gives a different approach to story telling. Each persons point of view gets its own mini film built around the same time period which can get a bit repetitive since some of the characters stories cross (after a few view points the audience started to groan, that made me laugh!). All in all its a pretty good film, if this site had the star rating system I originally intended it to have it would score a 7 out of 10.

Rambo - U.S press reviews

Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times gives Sylvester Stallone's Rambo one of several so-so and/or grudgingly complimentary reviews. "Rambo hits his stride in the film's second half, meting out justice in an unjust world and ultimately the movie works best when warbling its out-of-tune greatest hits." (Indeed, the film has the greatest number of hits of any Rambo movie -- a professor of national security studies at Ohio State counted 236 killings.) Besides, Crust says, "There's something oddly touching about Stallone's march down memory lane." Stallone was the writer and director of the movie, as well as its star, and Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledges that he provides...

"a straight-ahead action film that makes the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan look like a debutante ball. It's 90 minutes of flying, dismembered limbs and explosions of blood, but give the man credit. Stallone can do action. If you want action and nothing but, here it is."

A.O. Scott in the New York Times compares the Rambo character to the "samurais and gunslingers" of classic films and concludes, "Mr. Stallone is smart enough -- or maybe dumb enough, though I tend to think not -- to present the mythic dimensions of the character without apology or irony. His face looks like a misshapen chunk of granite, and his acting is only slightly more expressive, but the man gets the job done. Welcome back."

But Kyle Smith in the New York Post headlines his review "RAMBOLONEY!" and concludes: "Needlessly violent? No, Rambo is needfully violent. Johnny R. is a man constructed of violence. He can no more do without firing arrows into skulls than a lady poet can do without her yoga. The psychological effects of his métier might be worth considering, but Stallone isn't interested in anything but the next explosion." Several critics predict that the movie should perform well at the box office.


The Los Angeles Daily News's Glenn Whipp writes, "Interestingly, the relative absence of this kind of action movie in recent years makes the new Rambo something of a curio that will satisfy genre enthusiasts whose taste for (first) blood cannot be quenched by costumed pansies like Spider-Man." But Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer predicts that modern-day audiences are likely to be disappointed. Calling it a "slab of action porn," she advises that anyone interested in such stuff should "buy the video game. With its first-person-shooter perspective and gun-and-run narrative, this one's for the PlayStation crowd."

* Taken from IMDb, 25/01/2008

John Rambo / Rambo 4 (2008)

Here's the second trailer. Looks like a worthy contender for 2008's 'Best Use of Jam' award!

John Rambo (2008)

Bring on the pain... again... for one last time!!!