Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
The Expendables Billboards and Posters On Display at Cannes?
Posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Promotional billboards and posters for Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables are on display at the Cannes Film Festival. I have compiled a collection come of the photos and even cleaned some of the images up (like above) for better web presentation. There is some discussion that these photos are fan created, and I understand why people would think that. But I have been sent some of these photos by a publicist from the film, so… who knows? Check out all the photos after the jump.
Jason Statham and Simon West to Remake Charles Bronson’s The Mechanic
Posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Michael Winner’s The Mechanic has been spuriously described as an action classic by Production Weekly today. if you don’t know it, the film was one of a whole heap of Bronson movies in which his character’s main focus is on killing but while many of them featured the man as a supposedly heroic vigilante, this one casting him as a master hitman who dyes his hair.
The reason they mention it at all is that Simon West is apparently in talks to reinvent the film with Jason Statham in the starring role. Okay - I can see that shifting a few DVDs. Maybe it will even give him another action franchise. I think he can probably support a good half dozen running concurrently.
I’m afraid that telling you “If you liked Crank, you’ll like Crank 2” just wouldn’t be good enough. It also wouldn’t necessarily be true. Most of all, it would be somewhat rude - discounting an entire film as nothing more than an echo, or an indulgence for the cult of its predecessor.
The end of the first film seemed to quite clearly rule out any possibility of a sequel and one of the most telling characteristics of Crank: High Voltage is simply that it exists. This is a film that disregards anything like the basic narrative logic of a ‘dead’ character staying dead because the realities of dying are rooted in the rigid actualities of biology, chemistry and physics. These are three things that the film has absolutely no use for. But it does make great play with non-rigid and non-actual cartoon versions of all the above. When the film is at its best, it verges on Tex Avery, and Jason Statham is Screwy Squirrel given permission to cause suffering, pain and offence.
Interview: Corey Haim Talks Crank 2: High Voltage, Corey-Isms, Lost Boys 3, Twitter, and Directing Dramedy!
Posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
The clock is ticking. In minutes, I am scheduled to interview Corey Haim. But I need more time to: find my good sunglasses, make a margarita, and hook up my interview shit poolside at a friend’s house. The publicist agrees to push the interview back half-an-hour. The power of /Film. By-and-by, it all works out and the publicist fulfills a dream. I’m not into doing interviews. Much too often, there is A) a bitchy studio hawk circling, B) a wait-time worthy of a disappointing rap concert/Comcast, or C) the celeb is so glazed-over from blurting the same answers to ‘net middle men on every continent that you feel like hugging them, and then slapping them. And likewise for them, sans the personal contact.
But Corey Haim is Z) reached levels of non-ironic cool that even Steve McQueen (not the Hunger one) and Lee Marvin (the Prime Cut one) could never touch. Like brightly-dyed shorts with displaced geometric patterns, Haim burst onto the scene as the American teenager in the 1980s. For an actor—and for our younger readers—that requires more natural pep than LeBron James has hops. And in my opinion, Haim was the first real, believable and awesome geek on screen (dude, your comic store’s Dewey Decimal System blows) who could get laid. And thus, maybe get you laid. Paul Rudd would come much later. Paul Rudd is also a geek narc. Haim can be seen in theaters this weekend wearing a mullet in Crank: High Voltage.
Excluding the initial actions above, I didn’t prepare for the interview; I know I’ll be interviewing Corey again soon when he gets a major theatrical role. It needs to happen, Hollywood. Our chat was fun, casual, whatever. Haim has the laid back charm over the tele that many of us know so well. Just add a cigarette.
/Film: Hello Corey Haim.
Corey Haim: What’s up Hunter. How you doin’?
Ha. I’m doing fine, sittin’ by the pool. So you have a role in Crank 2. How did you first meet [writer/directors Mark] Neveldine and [Brian] Taylor?
Corey Haim: Actually, a while ago man. I believe. See, I was supposed to be in the first movie. Was it the same character? A character. I just know that in this movie they wanted me to play this character. Randy.
Right.
Corey Haim: Let me give you a description of my character.
Sure.
Update: A Third photo of Stallone has been added after the jump.
The unofficial-looking official blog for Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables has released the first photos from the film. The cropped photo above features Eric Roberts and Stone Cold Steve Austin flying through the air with a giant explosion in the background. Roberts commented on the day of shooting:
Today I was attacked by Jason Statham firing a machine gun from a dive-bombing fighter plane, nearly burned alive by napalm and had to leap into the freezing Bay of Mangaratiba to save my ass. And how was your day???
It looks like this might have been shot on the same dock that Stallone what photographed shooting last week. Check out the full photo after the jump. Also, after the jump, a photo of Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross and Jason Statham as Lee Christmas.
He’s been The Transporter, had his Heart stolen in Crank 2, and now Jason Statham is about to face his biggest battle yet - Diabetes. A sweet summer blockbuster guaranteed to get your blood sugar level rising. Watch the mock trailer from College Humor after the jump.
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Danny Trejo Joins Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables aka Inglourious Old Basterds
Posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
Admit it, the cast for The Expendables is fast becoming the impossible wet dream actioner juggernaut that Quentin Tarantino used to chatter up and chatter up and chatter up for Inglourious Basterds. I’m not hating on IB (of course not! geek treason!), just saying: this is Inglourious Old Basterds. Not only is Arnold Schwarzenegger making a cameo as his state faces economic disaster, but now Machete himself, Danny Trejo, is set to star according to our chums at Latino Review. They speculate that Trejo will play one of the South American goons that Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Li, Lundgren and Co. will set out to destroy in utterly profane PG-13 fashion.
With the recent surprise blockbuster successes of Taken and Gran Torino, it seems that audiences are starving for more tough-guy showdowns that don’t involve capes and canon. Drew McWeeny chimed in on this topic a few days ago, and I couldn’t agree more. I still haven’t experienced the type of cliche united “bro-dom” in a theater as I did last year with Rambo. Let’s hope JVCD kisses some veiny, muscled ass and joins this cast because he’s going to regret that “high road” detour for the rest of his life. Count on it. P.S. Stallone call Cash.
Update: So Gov. Arnold might not be dropping in after all due to the economy’s downturn.
No, this new Audi advertisement is not a commercial for Transporter 4, but it does feature Jason Statham kicking ass in a car (which to us makes it an unofficial Transporter short film). You don’t have to wait for the Superbowl, the commercial can be viewed after the jump.
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Another bad ass actor has been enlisted in Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables. The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke will join Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker and Ben Kingsley in a story about an “expendable” team, hired to do jobs that no one else can or will.
The team is sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator and liberate the country. According to Variety, Rourke will play “an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for the group of mercenaries”. Principal photography is set to begin in Brazil and Louisiana in March.
A promotional movie trailer for Crank 2: High Voltage has hit the web at IntralinkFilm. The trailer is packed to the brim with swears, nudity and all sorts of cool NSFW stuff. Jason Statham is back as Chev Chelios, in the direct sequel to the insane, unstoppable, 2006 action film Crank. In the sequel, Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working. Neveldine/Taylor shot the film using consumer and prosumer digital video cameras, promising to present some of the most insane handheld action ever seen on the big screen. It looks even more insane than the first film, almost like the ultimate B-action movie. Watch the trailer below and leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks to AICN for the tip.
Crank 2: High Voltage is set to hit theaters on April 17th 2009.
What is it about Jason Statham that continues to make men and women alike into Statham apologists, regardless of how crappy his films get? I first remember enjoying Statham in his wise-cracking role in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and have since seen him transformed into an unlikely action hero. Statham’s role choices haven’t been great (e.g.War, The One, Death Race, etc.) but he always manages to embody an everyman quality that is relatable for men and irresistable for women. Additionally, his formidable charisma seems to constantly be crying out that, as an actor, he is better than these roles, that maybe he’s choosing them for fun and not because he has to.
The Transporter series of films represents Statham at his best but also at his most inconsequential. In these films we see Statham as a completely competent actor who can convincingly perform action scenes, but who never quite reaches respectability due to threadbare scripts and ridiculous set pieces. The first two Transporter films were low-budget mindless fun, each one grossing a tidy profit. Is the third one an enjoyable romp too? Or does it suck all the fun out of its basic premise?
Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li to Team Up For The Expendables
Posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Sylvester Stallone will direct a new action film titled The Expendables, which he also wrote. The film will star three action stars from three different countries: Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li. This kind of reminds me of when Quentin Tarantino was originally planning to fill Inglourious Basterds with a team of American action heros. The story follows an “expendable” team, hired to do jobs that no one else can or will, who are sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator and liberate the country. The film is part of a two-picture deal Stallone has with Nu Image/Millennium Films. Principal photography is set to begin in Costa Rica and Louisiana in February 2009.
source: THR
