Sylvester Stallone doesn't just use his cranium for a battering ram. On the red carpet at Tuesday's premiere of Bullet to the Head, the enduring action star — who wrote his ticket to stardom in 1976 with Rocky — told me that he does keep moviegoers in mind when he approaches a project. "The one thing you have to do is try to be creative with the audience but not be so self-serving," Stallone explained. "In other words, [don't] get too goofy too far out there. Y'know, you try to give them what they want but give them a little twist on it." more »
In case you were wondering, action movie cliches are probably public domain. We now know this because a lawsuit alleging that Sylvester Stallone plagiarized a script called The Cordoba Caper for The Expendables has been rejected by federal judge Jed Rakoff, essentially on those grounds.
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Thursday's early look at five top news stories also include a new indie project for Sylvester Stallone. Also, strong Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook changes release strategy and an AFI Fest winner is heading to U.S. theaters.
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Also in a round-up of news briefs on this U.S. election day, Jared Leto is returning to acting with a Matthew McConaughey starrer; Jonathan Demme to be feted by Cinema Audio Society and Virginia Madsen starrer is headed to theaters.
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Also in Friday morning's round-up of news briefs, Sylvester Stallone's son died of 'natural causes.' The Academy sets initial deadlines for awards consideration and more…
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Speaking of old....Dax Shepard deployed one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book on the Conan show on Monday when he diverted attention from the lame box-office performance of his movie Hit and Run by poking fun at the aging action stars who kicked his cinematic ass, the cast of The Expendables 2. more »
Former NFL linebacker-turned-actor (not to mention past and future President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho) Terry Crews took a slightly different journey to action stardom than folks like Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger; his route carved a path through the comedy world, with turns in films including Friday After Next, White Chicks, and Balls of Fury. Cast as the bicep-flexing, quip-happy Hale Caesar in 2010's The Expendables — a role he admits Wesley Snipes might have otherwise played if things had worked out differently — Crews more than earned his spot on the team, backed by Stallone's vote of confidence: "He literally told me, 'I’m going to make you an action star.'”
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To even describe The Expendables 2 as a movie seems to do both the medium and this strange, smirking effort a disservice. It isn't a movie — it's more like the world's most expensive, elaborate viral video, making a detour to the big screen before being broken up into more easily consumable segments to be consumed on YouTube.
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Also in Tuesday morning's round-up of news briefs, John Travolta will receive honors at a Swiss festival this fall. Rebel Wilson heads for a new indie project. And Woody Allen's next film is starting to take shape.
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Some time after turning down a role in 2010’s Expendables (the part he was offered lacked substance, legend has it) Jean-Claude Van Damme thought better of opting out of the Sylvester Stallone throwback, which went onto become a hit. But perhaps things worked out for the best: In this week’s Expendables 2, Van Damme steals away with the spotlight as the eccentric and hilariously disdainful uber-villain Jean Vilain (yes, really) with an over-the-top performance that called for full commitment to character on set.
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The Expendables 2 packs a power-punch of action rough 'em up characters including Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Dame, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Hemsworth. In their second outting, Mr. Church reunites the group for what should be an easy paycheck, but things go wrong when one of their men is murdered on the job. Revenge is on their minds, but that puts them in enemy territory up against an unexpected threat. The film hits theaters later this year, but Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph received some insider impressions of the new pic courtesy of cast members Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture at Comic-Con.
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I'm hugely fond of the headline accompanying this Expendables 2 "Comic-Con poster" (just what the movie needed, seriously, because surely none of the thousands of culture obsessives in San Diego will know anything about it) on Ain't it Cool News: "This EXPENDABLES 2 Comic-Con Poster Has Enough Booms, Badasses, Barrels To Humble Even The Most Uppity Of Geeks!!" Yes, it certainly does. You know what else it has? Hilarity.
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Also in this morning's news briefs: Disney picks an unknown prince for Maleficent, another summer indie hits a specialty box-office milestone, and more...
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One good ammo-riddled torrent of multiplex marketing deserves another, right? Never mind. Ready or not, and on the heels of this afternoon's wild End of Watch spot, behold a new trailer for The Expendables 2. It's got more bullets than brain cells, and someone literally died in one of these explosions (or at least one like them), but who can argue with Arnold Schwarzengger quipping, "I'm back!" or Jason Statham issuing a smirking pronouncement of "man and knife"?
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Now here's an image that could inspire a rebellion: Jennifer Lawrence hit the premiere of The Hunger Games in shiny, glowing gold, joining cast mates Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and more to celebrate the upcoming YA event movie. Well, OK -- that number's not quite bow and arrow, running-through-the-woods killing people-friendly, but JenLaw destroyed everyone else on that black carpet, including guest (and... secret Hunger Games fan?) Sylvester Stallone. Photos after the jump!
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