The Expendables

It’s a summer action flick. Not much else to know about it. It stays in comfortable and predictable territory with lots of big bada-booms and Fire, Fire Fire!

Stallone looks pretty good for a Botox mummy, Statham looks good as always (but no shirtless shots in this for him, boo), Jet Li has a good part, Mickey Rourke as well (growl, what is wrong with me that I like him with the filthy dreads?), Dolph Lundgren looks massive and Thor-ish, I can’t see Terry Crews without seeing Hector “Macho” Camacho, and Steve Austin was pretty much wasted with not much screen time. Bonus of Angel from Dexter as well – so more eye/ear candy.

Worth it for a matinee of pointless explosions and a well worn storyline.

Pajiba’s list of the best movies of 2009. I disagree with a few, but any list of movies like this is interesting to me. I like to see what other people thought was good. And I usually like the reviews on Pajiba even if I don’t agree with them.

These were the best films of the year for the way they moved us, and for the way they seemingly did the impossible by telling very specific stories with universal resonance.

I’ve seen less than half of the list. The one I just don’t get that I have seen is (500) Days of Summer. It’s on a lot of best of lists and it bored the absolute snot out of me.

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Everyone else is doing one. I feel left out. I’m not going to do the top 10 or top 25 of the decade, though. Instead, I’m just going to list movies, in no particular order, but in categories. To get on these lists, the movies had to be movies I watched more than once and enjoyed the second or third time around, movies I bought because they were so impacting to me, or movies that I have recommended highly to other people as worth watching. They don’t necessarily qualify under all 3 of those reasons, though. There are movies I own that were not impacting at all – simply enjoyable for multiple watchings. :)

The lists that follow are long. We don’t do much else for entertainment other than watch movies around here. :) Probably 75% or more of these I didn’t see at the theater though. We do own most of these though and with iTunes making quality downloads available more and more we have moved away from the “may as well buy it since we’ll forget to take a rental back anyway” minset. So more and more if we are buying a movie, it’s one we think we want to lend out, to watch over and over, etc.

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The Others, 2001 Reminded me of Turn of the Screw. Governess type watching 2 children who see more than anyone will believe in a house filled with a dark history. Nicole Kidman stars and looks mighty fine. Good ghost type story. It is long though. And it isn’t an action movie by far. Not much gore – in fact, I don’t remember any.

Exorcist III: Legion, 1990 My favorite in the series. Brad Dourif and George C. Scott. Some of the creepiest scenes ever in the hospital. The imagery was fantastic and the scenes were set masterfully. The interplay between Father Dyer and Kinderman was awesome. Plus, they got the original actor who played Father Damien Karras back for this. It’s almost like you can ignore the 2nd Exorcist and go right to this one. The 2nd wasn’t very good anyway, if I recall correctly.

“I have dreams of a rose. And falling down a long flight of steps.”

The Orphanage, 2007 Guillermo Del Toro was one of the producers. Pretty creepy, good story. Woman opens an orphanage for disabled and ill kids in her old childhood home. When her son makes an imaginary friend, she finds the friend may not be quite so imaginary. It was Spain’s entry in the 2008 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

And if you haven’t, you really should check out Del Toro’s other works. Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, even the animated Hellboys aren’t too shitty. He’s writing and directing The Hobbit and Pinocchio (which I really want to see). Blade II was his direction – which may explain why I kind of liked it. And he apparently has a photographic memory.

Tales from the Crypt Demon Knight, 1995 (poor quality trailer) Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett, CCH Pounder, Thomas Hayden Church. Great soundtrack. If you don’t like the Crypt Keeper, he’s only in the beginning and the very, very end. So you can FF and not miss anything. Billy Zane, William Sadler and Jada Pinkett were just smokin’ hot.

Dog Soldiers, 2002 One of the better werewolf movies to come out since The Howling and American Werewolf in London. A military exercise in Scotland runs awry. I was highly skeptical when it appeared on SciFi. But it exceeded expectations considerably.

Pumpkinhead, 1988 Starring Lance Henrikson, a favorite actor of mine. Never really in starring roles, but his supporting roles were good – Aliens, Appaloosa, The Quick & The Dead, Stone Cold…he’s been around forever. Not necessarily in the best of  movies, I admit.

This movie gets the short end of the stick with my crowd because The One Armed Man made a joke during it and it just escalated from there. But it is really one of the better vengeance horror movies out there. The lighting and creature and the atmosphere were all excellent. Unfortunately, most of the DVD transfers don’t do it justice – mostly they come out too dark.

Oh, and ignore all the sequels. They are all pretty wretched.

Near Dark, 1987 Also featuring Lance Henrikson. And 2 other Aliens cast members, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein (Vasquez – rowr). Starring Adrian Pasdar. The lead female actor, Jenny Wright, always reminded me of the hooker in Pink Floyd the Wall, but it isn’t her. This is only horror because it features vampires. Otherwise, it would be a moderately bloody action flick.

UPDATE: Damn. I wrote this 2 days ago to have to post while I was busy at work and I find Lance is a topic of discussion in the Moronosphere. Now I look like a copycat. /pout

1408, 2007 Stephen King on the screen, generally a toss up as to whether it will be wretched or decent. This actually falls on the better than decent side though I haven’t read the story it is based on. John Cusack is a travel writer who goes to a haunted hotel to disprove the stories. Samuel Jackson in a role as the hotel manager is pretty good. Isiah Whitlock Jr. has one of the best lines in the movie as the hotel maintenance man. If you watched The Wire, you may remember Clay “Sheeee-it” Davis. Same actor, same awesome delivery.

This trailer has been rated moderately safe for Lynn. No blood, no gore, no creepy crawlies. :)

There are a couple of jump-at-a-body moments, though. I didn’t watch it till I got home I was just going from memory of the movie. :)

Okay, watching the Watchmen again tonight while talking to a friend on the phone.

Subject drifts to Dr. Manhattan and the ominpresent presence of big blue penis in the movie (and in the comic).  Seeing cock on the big screen so casually really threw the friend for a loop it seems. And it wasn’t just him. Several guys who saw the movie liked it but were bothered by the casual penis appearances.

Maybe, very mild NSFW content below the fold if you can see through the blue glow.

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FOX News has a fluff piece up about 50 guys over 50 who still have what it takes. Honestly, I’m not sure most of them ever had what it takes for me at least. I’m sure my one reader isn’t a bit interested in this but I’m out of work and out of things to read.

Here are the ones I agree with:

Ed Harris – have always had a thing for him

Andy Garcia

Richard Gere – flamingly left, but easy on the eyes

Tommy Lee Jones – looks good with the facial hair

Ray Liotta

Michael Madsen – in any incarnation he’s always made my list

Dennis Quaid – has gotten better with age

Tom Selleck – same as Quaid. Never appealed to me in the Magnum days, but I like him now

Bruce Willis – king of cool

Jack Nicholson – the man does sexy well, but his looks sure aren’t a part of it anymore

I have always liked Gary Sinise as an actor. I helped organize an effort to support Operation Iraqi Children back in 2004 and we sent 20 boxes of supplies over. I hadn’t heard anything about him since then though.

He was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal last week.

Michael Yon, a Special Forces vet and the pre-eminent war journalist of our time, communicated his admiration in a dispatch from Bahrain: “Gary is a true friend of the American soldier. He does not hesitate to travel into war zones to express his admiration and personal support for those who defend us. He visits wounded soldiers, some of whom I personally know. All love him.

“Soldiers from privates to generals admire Gary for his dedication to a cause greater than any of us. Gary’s dedication went much further. He personally supported sending millions of dollars worth of school and clothing supplies to Iraqi children. I saw this effort with my own eyes. Gary Sinise is a Great American.”

Do read it all. This is what our celebrities should be. Instead, mainly we get puffed up, self-important, attention whores who try to alleviate the guilt they feel over making so much money while having no appreciable real world skills by stumping very publicly for any cause that hinders our military. They think they are doing good by their actions because their actions are the proper and acceptable ones for their social circles. Anything they do is done for self-indulgence – a chance to see themselves in the news. This is the acting set’s version of mandatory volunteerism, I guess. They don’t and probably never will understand that actions undertaken out of a belief that they are right that may never get a headline are far more charitable and laudable than those undertaken where you know you’ll get a sound bite.

Via Hot Air Headlines