Here’s a list of special features you can expect:
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Newly recorded introduction to the film by Sylvester Stallone

A month ago (here), it was said that Sly Stallone would not direct the sequel due to a commitment to the hitman film from The Cooler‘s director Wayne Kramer (here), but that doesn’t seem the case now as LGF has tapped Stallone once more as director.

That’s really good news, if anyone saw the Inferno documentary on the Blu-ray release of The Expendables since that shows in vivid detail that Stallone knows action. Now, can we please confirm JCVD for the sequel?

The Film:

My old school wrestling buddies should know how infinitely bad-ass “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is. Note how I didn’t say was. He might have been underused in The Expendables, but his fight with Stallone was great. It shouldn’t take too much to convince a producer to build an action film around Austin, and that’s what has been happening for a few years now. Damage. The Stranger. Now Hunt to Kill. Low-rent action films for that late night boredom, but Hunt to Kill is barely passable even at 1am.

Sure, the film is derivative of a thousand other derivative action films, but what kind of kills it centers around the lack of bad-assness. Austin really isn’t the film’s focus, despite his lead name and face plastered on the cover. We follow some idiotic robbers who have just “pulled off the perfect heist” yet one of their team members just ripped them off and goes missing in Montana. We see them spout tough guy one-liners (groan-fully) ; we see them bicker and fight (groan-fully); and we see them…well, far too much.

Make them nameless. Make them body count fodder. We just want to see Austin kick some ass, and in Hunt to Kill, there’s a lack of it. Eric Roberts shows up in the opening minutes but his cameo is short and irrelevant. Lame. Such simple requests that go left unfulfilled, really make the movie more of a pass, than a time-waster. Any late minute surge the film does have, doesn’t offer any thrills for even a quick peek. Action junkies look elsewhere, sadly, I’ll add, because what ’90s fan of WWE doesn’t want to see some “Stone Cold” ass whuppings?

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Starz/Anchor Bay offer up a decent DTV HD disc. The film was shot on video and the 1080p looks good but flat. No worries, as the details are high and good blacks and skin tones. The DTS is a bit flat. The music is loud and the dialogue a bit shrill. It does the job it needs to.

A commentary with the director and actor Michael Eklund is very bland. No excitement or quality info to be had. Behind the Scenes of Hunt to Kill is a bit better with some interviews on the making and action fights sequences. The Trailer finishes off the extras. Where’s Austin?

The Film: Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Film:

In a perfect world, we would honor the old-timers, show them respect, listen to their stories. But we’re a fast moving culture. A generation that demand our apps to be fast and our lives faster. We don’t got the time to age. In Hollywood, each actor and actress has an expiration date. Red, based on the DC Comics graphic novel by Warren Ellis, uses this as subtext, that’s shrink-wrapped over its action genre conventions. Red is an action movie that wasn’t allowed to be released in the summer, a great time to simply entertain the popcorn munchers. But like all good things, you can’t put a time table on it, and what Summit Entertainment has on its non-Twilight hands, is an action classic.

It isn’t a homage, but it plays off of the genre-defining high marks like one. It’s a simple “let’s clear our good name” story, mixed with a little political backdrop, but it also has its nose on the concept of age in our culture. The casting is pitch-perfect. Bruce Willis. Helen Mirren. Morgan Freeman. John Malkovich. Ernest Borgnine. Richard Dreyfuss. In a system, that believes younger is better, Red says “f*** you”. It’s tongue-in-cheek and it works. But the casting wasn’t a stunt like in The Expendables, because it was needed as Red stands for “retired: extremely dangerous”. But what ascends this into my bold statement in calling it an action classic – and kids now days throw that term around way too loosely – is the combination of the screenplay by the Hoeber Brothers (Whiteout) and director Richard Schwentke (Flightplan, Time Traveler’s Wife). Huh?

A perfect storm of clever writing, solid direction that has action that isn’t ruined by quick editing, and actors who understand the material and its subtext, makes Red worth every penny. Action can be so monotonous now days, because sometimes we need more than watching bullets fly. We like the characters, plain and simple, which goes a long way. But a film becomes a classic in time and with repeated viewings. Critics don’t make classics, normal people do. Red deserves the spot, I’m just saying. Funny, noisy, clever, Red proves that us 20-somethings still have a lot to learn. Retiring sucks. Old man, my ass.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Summit offers a superb HD presentation. Colors are vibrant, details are sharp, the blacks thick, nary a flaw in this transfer. The DTS track is even better. Loud, crisp, deep, everything you need from an action film in the audio department. I could rave all day on this fine BD disc, but I won’t: it’s just that stellar.

Commentary: Here’s a rather unique track. Foregoing the typical director or actor yaks, Summit allows retired CIA agent Robert Baer to discuss the film from his real-world perspective. He acted as an adviser for the film, offering plenty of real world info that makes watching the film fun. He is often engaging, yet struggles time to time, but you don’t mind.

Access: Red: Here’s your basic behind-the scenes info, with interviews, set footage, and CIA-related info in a picture-in-picture track. It’s a really good PiP track, with a timer, which is great. It lets the viewer know when a new pop-up will occur, aiding their enjoyment of both the film and the extra.

Some ho-hum Deleted Scenes and a VFX featurette (which is an Easter Egg: go to the special features tab on the main menu and press the down arrow key on the remote) round out the extras.

The Film: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

That’s fine. We got Seagal in Machete and fans really wanted JCVD in the first, so for Van Damme fans this is great near-concrete news.

10. Buried

Ryan Reynolds in a box (aka Buried) proved that the man has the chops to not only carry a flick on his own, but do so on one of the smallest sets ever put on film.

9. The Expendables

Stallone and the boys show the world what a real action film looks like. Gets better every time I watch it.

8. Splice

Science fiction for science fiction fans, Splice is the flick I’ve been waiting for. This picture is well written, visually stunning, and challenging. If you haven’t seen it yet, then do yourself a favor and do so….NOW.

7. Kick-Ass

I love the comic, and I loved the flick even more. This flick was everything I could have asked for in a comic book adaptation. Good old fashion violence and fun!

6. The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet’s Nest)

Simply the best book adaptation I’ve ever seen. The best trilogy since the holy trinity (Star Wars).

5. The Town

Ben Affleck proves he’s not just a one trick pony. The Town rises above most of the crap that has graced the screen this year and totally delivers the goods.

4. Frozen

Before Frozen it had been years since I’d been glued to my seat with an unbelievable feeling of helplessness washing over me. Like Jaws, and Alien, Frozen takes a simple premise and kicks your ass with it. Worth watching more times than you can count. A perfect thriller that grabs hold of your balls and doesn’t let go until the credits roll.

3.  Black Swan

Aronofsky knocks another one out of the park. Thrilling, beautiful, and extremely sexy.

2. True Grit

Westerns are amazing when done right and this one was done right. This is one of those few cases when the remake is actually better than the original. Run to the theater to check this one out if you haven’t already.

1. Let Me In

Matt Reeves directed a flick that perfectly captures the feeling of the original without ruining its memory. Like the original flick (Let the Right One In) Let Me In is a haunting testament to how powerful love can be. This is the flick that I can’t stop thinking about.

In an interview with Moviehole, co-star Dolph Lundgren said: “Stallone said something like, “Yeah, I want you to break his fucking neck somehow…”. So, we’ll see what happens!”.

“So, I think that there’s a certain chance he’ll be in it. As a bad guy he would be cool. I think he should play a bad guy. It’s a great way to come back, you know, because people aren’t used to that, doing a whole bunch of evil crap. People will be like, “Woah, he’s killing all these innocent people! Jesus!” That’d make them feel something.”

Somehow this must be done. I mean, if they can get Channing Tatum (here), why not JCVD?

Donny:

10 - Splice

9 -Piranha 3D

8 -The Runaways

7 -Buried

6 – The Expendables

5 - I Spit on your Grave

4 -Kick-Ass

3 - Black Swan

2 – Monsters

1 - Let Me In

Jon:

10 – A Nightmare on Elm Street

9 – The Crazies

8 – Clash of the Titans

7 – Bitch Slap

6 – Best Worst Movie

5 – Kick-Ass

4 – The Human Centipede

3 – Machete

2 – The Last Exorcism

1 – The Wolfman

Agree? Disagree? Comment below with your favorites!

The Film:

There’s a scene at the end of the movie where the all-star cast are just joking around, making fun of each other, playing a game of darts with knifes, that really sums up The Expendables. These old-timers are here just to have fun, and that’s fine with us. It’s like hanging with the old-timers to the wee morning hours listening to them tell tales that we’ve heard before, but go down smooth, tales we never get tired of hearing. That’s The Expendables. It’s the same old song, yet it’s a good tune to listen too, a valid reason that justified all of those Saturday late night runs to Blockbuster to rent their actions flicks. It’s a nostalgic thing, you had to be there.

But if you were there, man, those flicks were something. Times might have changed, but when The Expendables makes good on its action promise, as it’s a heck of a good time. Now, understandably, with the cast they rounded up – Stallone, Willis, Stratham, Li, Rourke, Austin, Lundgren, Schwarzenegger, Couture, Roberts, and Crews – expectations could be unfulfilled. Anyone expecting the action epic of all action epics, would be epically wrong. The script is a sticky note or two of an idea, sadly, just something to string together the mercenaries to take down some money men and a dictator, but thanks to casting directors Mary Tricia Wood and Deborah Aquila, The Expendables is an event picture instead of a direct-to-DVD movie. That’s going to be the main gripe of the film. The story doesn’t give the talent much to do, as it’s the same old trite stuff we’ve seen for decades.

On the contrary, I think that’s sort of the point. For some it’s a nostalgic trip down old action roads, but The Expendables is an ode to a bygone mentality of the genre, we now balk at. In all of its glory, it’s a film that knows its audience, and that audience wants a swan song for these old legends where it’s a shoot-first, ask-questions-later attitude, with tough guy talk and quips, and balls-to-the-wall action. In that regard, The Expendables delivers tenfold. Each action hero gets their time to shine, whether it’s a one-liner or action sequence, fans of a particular action hero will not be disappointed. While things are different now days in the action genre, The Expendables reminds us how much fun we had in the late 1980s going to the theater and browsing the action section at Blockbuster growing up.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: LGF offers up a bombastic HD presentation. Great details, contrast, and blacks compliment the action, as does the overly loud and bass-heavy DTS track. Your neighbors will hate you when you watch this film. Motorcycles rev up. Explosions everywhere. Machine gun fire every other minute. Okay, I’m slightly exaggerating, but you get my point. It’s the best DTS action track I’ve heard this year.

Commentary: Stallone flies solo here, yet he’s quite entertaining and funny. The man knows his film and film-making and what this type of film brings to the table. Nice listen.

Complimenting the commentary is an Ultimate Recon Mode, which is more of a picture-in-picture track with his commentary running.

Inferno: The Making of The Expendables: Much like the stellar production diary on the special edition of Rambo (here), this is even better. In HD, running as long as the film itself, it covers every inch of the film, with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and candid conversations from Stallone. It’s a must-watch.

Comic Con 2010 Panel: All of their SDCC ’10 appearance is here for the ones who could not attend. In HD, runs about 45 minutes. It’s okay, but after that documentary, it’s gets old with everyone praising and the audience hollering.

From the Ashes: In HD, this mini-doc covers the editing of the film. It’s a nice denoument to the Inferno doc.

A silly Gag Reel and one lone Deleted Scene (in SD) featuring Dolph, with some Trailersround out the extras. A separate DVD version and a Digital Copy of the film is included.

The Film: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The plot? “A tough cop (Jason Statham) is hired to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.”

Bring it! Lionsgate is set to release the film sometime in 2011.

Source: Yahoo UK

It isn’t a homage, but it plays off of the genre-defining highmarks like one. It’s a simple “let’s clear our good name” story, mixed with a little political backdrop, but it also has its nose on the concept of age in our culture. The casting is pitch-perfect. Bruce Willis. Helen Mirren. Morgan Freeman. John Malkovich. Ernest Borgnine. Richard Dreyfuss. In a system, that believes younger is better, Red says “f*** you”. It’s tongue-in-cheek and it works. But the casting wasn’t a stunt like in The Expendables, because it was needed as Red stands for “retired: extremely dangerous”. But what ascends this into my bold statement in calling it an action classic – and kids now days throw that term around way too loosely – is the combination of the screenplay by the Hoeber Brothers (Whiteout) and director Richard Schwentke (Flightplan, Time Traveler’s Wife). Huh?

A perfect storm of clever writing, solid direction that has action that isn’t ruined by quick editing, and actors who understand the material and its subtext, makes Red worth every penny. Action can be so monotous now days, because sometimes we need more than watching bullets fly. We like the characters, plain and simple, which goes a long way. But a film becomes a classic in time and with repeated viewings. Critics don’t make classics, normal people do. Red deserves the spot, I’m just saying. Funny, noisy, clever, Red proves that us 20-somethings still have a lot to learn. Retiring sucks. Old man, my ass.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Specs still have yet to be revealed, but the release will be a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and will include: Audio commentary with Sylvester Stallone, From the Ashes: Post-production documentary, deleted scene, gag reel, and marketing archive (including trailers and TV spots).

Blu-ray exclusives include: The Expendables: Ultimate Recon Mode: in-movie BonusView where Stallone and the other Expendables provide a multi-layered, all-access look at the making of the film as it runs, ComicCon 2010 panel, Inferno: feature-length making-of documentary, Metamenu remote and BD Touch enabled, and D-BOX motion control enabled.

Can’t wait!

“Yeah, “The Expendables,” or more like the “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” of horror. I want to get so many horror movie stars that people can’t possibly not see the movie. I want to give them other stuff to do. I want to have Kane Hodder be very particular about what he eats. I want Robert Englund to be a tough guy, like he knows tae kwon do or something. I want to find out the hidden sides of all these people. Some will play themselves, some will play alternate characters as well. I may approach Kane Hodder to play Frankenstein. He could be Kane Hodder himself fighting himself as Frankenstein. It could be crazy. It’s a silly concocted story that we hope to do maybe in a year or so.”

O.M.G.! Or is it, groovy…

Source: Arrow

The Film:

For all with a “y” chromosome: The Line will remind you why you are a man. The action is set in Tijuana, Mexico, a spot of such abject poverty and filth my banker brother in-law promises never to return. The plot here concerns Afghanis trying to break into the illegal drug trade, in order to cross the line into the United States. See, after these lungee-headed bastards begin running opium, they can switch quickly to suitcase nukes. The cast is awash in an “A” list of alpha males. And here, I’m not including those artificial testosterone-riddled brutes in The Expendables. No, real men, like Ray Liotta, Esai Morales, and Danny Trejo. Plenty of fighting where one guy is annihilated, beaten to a blood pulp. Morales hits a guy so hard he has to wave his hand. A nice touch. And firearms. Reflect on your second amendment rights as you see everything from a .45 to an Uzi. Some memorable lines, too. Bruce Davison warns a couple of flunkies, “Watch out for the food. It’s like the girls. It looks good, but you don’t know where it’s been.” Except Davison doesn’t say, “girls.”

As an assassin, Mark Shields (Liotta) thinks too much. He broods like Hamlet. Several times, for seemingly no good reason, he cannot pull the trigger. His flashbacks–just enough frames for the viewer to catch–haunt him. He meets a smoking-hot Olivia (Valerie Cruz) who aids his resurrection. And Pelon (Morales), head of the Salzar cartel, practices an unusual sort of Catholicism. The kingpin attends daily mass and receives the sacraments before murdering. Oh, and like the Sun King in eighteenth century France, he has his own private confessor Padre Antonio (Armand Assante). This DVD works on both the brutal and subtle levels.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Some of the opening scenes at night are a bit too dark. After that, everything looked and sounded fine. The film is sure to appeal to the Latino population. The original title of the film was “La Linea,” and the DVD has Spanish subtitles. In addition to a superabundance of machismo.

Extra features:

Sadly not much. 1) A lukewarm preview, which you should skip. 2) An 18-minute, hit-and-miss “Behind the Scenes” section. The section on the characters is a circle jerk as Bad Boy Esai talks about how great it is to work with “Ray, Andy, and Joe.” Then another character spouts the same drivel about the other characters. On the other hand, the section about “Production” sparkles. The crew discusses their growing expertise on two disparate type of purification: Catholic saints and cocaine production. The dvd-makers save the best for last: stunts and weapons. Learn what it is like to film in Tijuana. Maybe my brother in-law will be interested.

The Film: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

“Had dinner with Bruce Willis last night. I want him in EXPENDABLES II as a super villain. What do you think?”

If he really is asking us, then I think 99.999% of the film’s fans would love this, as Willis’ character was slimy, making him perfect for a villain, and between him and Arnold’s cameo, fans wanted more of these two legends.

Source: CS