The Expendables 3 (2014)

I just finished watching The Expendables 3 on The Movie Channel. What fun!  I didn’t want to see it at that the theatre as I’m thinking “Another guy-type movie” (even though I watched The Expendables 1 & 2) – big mistake. It was a blast – really!!

The story –  Barney (Sylvester Stallone) augments his team with new blood for a personal battle: to take down Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), the Expendables co-founder and notorious arms trader who is hell bent on wiping out Barney and every single one of his associates.

Barney doesn’t want his team to get dead. Caesar (Terry Crews – mmmmmm) is injured during the opening act when they break Doc (Wesley Snipes) out of the prison train. Barney sends the team home. Drummer (Harrison Ford) is Barney’s new Government contact who charges Barney with the responsibility of getting Stonebanks – alive, so he can stand trial as a war criminal. Off Barney goes to Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer) looking for young blood.

Barney and the new kids: Smilee (Kellan Lutz  – Twilight) , Thorn (Glen Powell – The Dark Knight Rises), Luna (Ronda Rousey – women’s MMA ) and Mars (Victor Ortiz – WBC World Welterweight Champion), along with their pilot Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) head off to get Stonebanks but oh, oh – it’s a trap and the kids get caught!  So now who’s going to save them?

Galgo (Antonio Banderas) has no team, no friends and no job. And the old team – Lee (Jason Statham), Gunner (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Doc have no jobs either. So it’s the old guys off to the rescue.

Stonebanks is such a crazy, nut job character (and Gibson IMHO is not a very nice person anyway). He sets the entire Azmanastan army after the team, so now it takes Drummer, Trench and Yin Yang (Jet Li) to ride in to the rescue.

I loved the character of Galgo! Banderas played him so well, a riff on a lot of the characters he’s played – think Puss In Boots meets Zorro. He was constantly talking, like a little kid –  I was giggling most of the time he was on screen.

Lots of explosions, helicopter and tank chases, even a girl fighting. All the requisites for a fun action guy movie that this girl really enjoyed. Looking forward to the next Expendables installment……

Popcorn and A Saddle

Popcorn for dinner, again at the Cineplex – layered butter and my White Cheddar shaker…mmmmmm.  This time it was “A Million Ways To Die In The West” – “Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test. Starring alongside MacFarlane are Oscar (R) winner Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman and Neil Patrick Harris. MacFarlane reunites many of the filmmakers behind Universal and MRC’s hit film Ted including Scott Stuber (Bluegrass Films) and Jason Clark who produce, and Wellesley Wild and Alec Sulkin who co-wrote the script. (c)Universal” – Thanks Rotten Tomatoes.

This has got to be the Blazing Saddles for the new Millennium!   Typical of Seth MacFarlane and the genre, it is full of scatological and sexual jokes, innuendos and one very graphic diarrhea scene involving hats.  I  really liked Albert and felt for him when his girlfriend played by Amanda Seyfried leaves him for the moustache emporium owner, gleefully overplayed by Neil Patrick Harris.  Giovanni Ribisi is Albert’s best friend and boyfriend to “hooker with a heart” Sarah Silverman. The gorgeous Charlize Theron as Anna, wife of the notorious gun slinger is a totally believable character.  Liam Neeson, as her husband Clinch, is brutal and funny at the same time. Even Plugger, the requisite dog in a Western has his moments.

I don’t usually enjoy a movie aimed at 16 year old boys, but I say this one is worth the price of entry.

 

 

 

Popcorn For Dinner

After my workday ended on Friday, we were off to see a movie.  Since there was no time for an actual meal we started our weekend off with movie theatre popcorn (with layered butter!) and Diet Coke for dinner.

Marvel’s X-Men: Days of Future Past in 3D is the ultimate X-Men ensemble movie. They fight a war for the survival of the species across two time periods. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future. The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

That’s the official scoop from Google – in my humble opinion,  it was very, very good. The story was well laid out and leaves the franchise open for new directions. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is a pivotal character in this movie and in typical Jackman style he does it ever so well.  Fans of Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage will be pleased with his performance as Dr. Bolivar Trask – his actions nearly cause the end of the world as we know it.  Jennifer Lawrence rocks in blue and kicks butt – literally – as Raven/Mystique.

Marvel is doing well with the X-Men, Wolverine and Spiderman franchises; the Avengers movies and TV series and now there’s the new Guardians of the Galaxy coming. Congratulations Marvel on your continued success!

2hr 10min‎‎ – Rated PG‎‎ – Action/Adventure/Scifi/Fantasy‎‎ – English‎
Director: Bryan Singer – Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan

Movie & Book: One For The Money

I am a big fan of Janet Evanovich’s book series based on the exploits of Stephanie Plum.  And Notorious Nineteen, the 19th book in the series, will be in stores November 20.

The series began with One For The Money, which introduced the characters and is now a movie.  I recorded it on TV the other night when it was on one of the Movie Channels so I finally got to see it.  Let’s face it – it’s definitely a chick flick.  I don’t think the person who reviewed it for Rotten Tomatoes, where it got a lowly 2%, was female……

Synopsis:  “A proud, born-and-bred Jersey girl, Stephanie Plum’s got plenty of attitude, even if she’s been out of work for the last six months and just lost her car to a debt collector. Desperate for some fast cash, Stephanie turns to her last resort: convincing her sleazy cousin to give her a job at his bail bonding company…as a recovery agent. True, she doesn’t even own a pair of handcuffs and her weapon of choice is pepper spray, but that doesn’t stop Stephanie from taking on Vinny’s biggest bail-jumper: former vice cop and murder suspect Joe Morelli – yup, the same sexy, irresistible Joe Morelli who seduced and dumped her back in high school.”

The recovery agent is a definite Americanism.  Katherine Heigl, formerly of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy, was wonderful as Stephanie –  great attitude.  The two sexy men in her life Detective Joe Morelli, played by Jason O’Mara and Daniel Sunjata’s portrayal of Ranger were done well.  It will take a couple more movies to flesh out the characters but it was a good introduction to them.  Debbie Reynolds’ Grandma Mazur wasn’t quite as I had played her in my head (I had more of a Sophia from Golden Girls) but it was close enough. Sherri Shepherd as Lula – interesting and needs more work.

I know that when I finally read Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich these are the character faces I will now see in my head.

Read the book then check out the movie and make your own decision.