THE EXPENDABLES (Sylvester Stallone, 2010)

[Jox]

Another German TV report

[Jox]

So 773,121 admissions (~€5 million?) for first week in France!

[Jox]

The Japanese site http://www.expendables.jp/ has been revamped and it's pretty sweet, there's a new trailer too.

[Jox]

It’s the ex-Expendables who have the most personality, whether it’s Lundgren as psychotic Gunnar, who launches a one-man war against his old friends, or Mickey Rourke as Tool, who’s happy to lend a hand to his pals in the U.S., but prefers to stay out of combat.

http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/201 ... action-fl/

Eric Roberts makes for an ample (if not physically diminutive villain) but the real surprise is Dolph Lundgren, who finds a believable sense of vengeful distress as Gunner. I would never have expected to be writing this about any movie, but hell, in “The Expendables” Dolph Lundgren probably gives the most polished performance.

http://www.atnzone.com/nz/2010/08/25/re ... pendables/

[Jox]

Metro UK interview

[Mosquito]

Jox, thanks for posting all the positive quotes about Dolph. I'm happy to add another one. Germany's "Der Spiegel" (most important and highest selling political magazine) has devoted a complete page to an Expendables review, and to my total surprise the guy really liked it. Usually I distrust their reviews because they tend to diss action movies and praise drama / art. Not this time! Under the headline "Good Old Testosterone" the critic writes:

Lead by "Rocky" and "Rambo" veteran Sylvester Stallone, 64, they fight with missionary zeal against the digital effeminacy of the action hero.
There is the Swedish warrior Dolph Lundgren, 52, who gave his director and co-star Stallone a bloody nose as a Russian star boxer in 1985 in "Rocky IV" but for the next two decades had to fight through all kinds of B-, C- and D-movies and now looks like preserved in vodka; there's the Chinese hopper Jet Li, 47, once in his homeland a huge cinema and martial arts star, bit by bit degraded by Hollywood to a punching bag.

and

"The Expendables" is a must-see for all moviegoers whose heart broke at Robert Aldrich's action movie classic "The Dirty Dozen" (1967).

The only other co-stars he honors with a few sentences are Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke, and he briefly mentions Eric Roberts, Steve Austin and Giselle Itie. Which means that the critic saved the second best spot after Sly for Dolph. Very nice.

Oh and I watched the movie yesterday. Went to the "CineMen" preview (ticket includes a bottle of beer). Well, of course I loved the movie, of course I think Dolph needs MUCH more screen time for the sequel and I think I will write a real paper letter to Sly begging him to use slower cuts and no shaky cam for the fight scenes of the next movie. From what I was able to catch, the fights in the catacombs must have been excellent. The scenes where really good, but man, how mind blowing they would have been if I would have been able to grasp more than a lot of hands and elbows and a face here and there. Sly said on every press conference that he wanted to go back to the 80s action movie style. Well, maybe next time he includes the filming technique. And at least one not so helpless female co-star would be nice. I'm thinking of a character like Catherine Bell in Men of War.

Oh yeah, Terry Crews's big gun was absolutely awesome, loved that film shot from the side catacomb showing the men he just shot. Also a few spectacular fight moves with Steve Austin and a) Sly and b) Randy Couture. Yahoo!

Well, tonight I'll go and watch the movie again, this time with the gang. Tom, I don't think I can keep my promise and go 20 times because they don't show the original version. But at least twice, and if I see an OV someplace nearby then I'll go again!

[Nathan]

I saw this for the 2nd time yesterday, allbeit on my own, thanks to some fucking useless people, but I won't go into that. I did actually enjoy the movie better a second time, you get to see things you didn't notice before and for me I was able to concentrate more on the fights this time and they are actually very well choreographed and shot, still a little fast as a some points I had to really concentrate to see what was going on in the Li/Stath/Daniels fight but it was definately a blast. I hope Dolph gets to turn bad again in the sequel if he's cast, I can't imagine him playing it good like he did at the end.

[Jox]

'Expendables' nabs No. 1 from 'Inception' o'seas
China debut helps Stallone film earn $31.6 mil on weekend

Thanks to hefty opening grosses registered in the U.K. and France -- plus a massive debut in China -- Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables" decisively muscled its way to the No. 1 spot over the weekend on the foreign theatrical circuit .

With 17 offshore markets reporting, the Milennium Films /Nu Image Films super-octane action vehicle costarring Stallone, Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke has compiled a weekend gross of $31.6 million from about 2,700 screens.

Putting "Expendables" firmly on top was the weekend boxoffice result from China, a huge $10.2 million from an undisclosed number of screens. China is a notoriously difficult market in terms of extracting figures on a timely basis, and the smash weekend result did not surface until Wednesday morning.

(Disclosures of key weekend returns for "Expendables" in general were delayed due to a complicated and not-especially-timely reporting process involving myriad regional film distributors handling the film overseas.)

The action title on the weekend opened via Lionsgate No. 1 in the U.K., commanding an estimated $6.1 million from 453 screens. In France via Metropolitan Filmexport, the first-place gross was $5.3 million from 445 locations. In Korea via Sidus FNH, "Expendables" opened in the No. 5 spot with an estimated $1.55 million elicited from 236 screens.

In Australia, "Expendables," No. 3 in its second round via Roadshow, lured $1.5 million from 224 sites for a market cume of $5.3 million. Universal reports that in Spain, the film drew a second-weekend gross of $773,000 from 337 dates for a 10-day market cume of $3.9 million. In its second Mexico round via Zima, "Expendables" grossed $682,526 from 276 venues for a market cume of $2.28 million.

In its second Russia round (via Central Partnership), "Expendables" generated an estimated $2.1 million, raising its market cume to $9.8 million. In its second stanza in Brazil, the action title grossed $969,000 from 175 locations for a cume of $2.9 million. It also opened No. 1 in Singapore and No. 2 in Poland on the weekend.

Over two rounds on the foreign circuit, "Expendables" has amassed an estimated $56 million total gross.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... 132e96bd80

[bomaz2]

Dolph is 7th on Imdb pro star meter

[Jox]

Sweet! I was curious to know actually but I'm not subscribed to IMDB pro.

[bomaz]

Sweet! I was curious to know actually but I'm not subscribed to IMDB pro.

I'm not neither, but the top 10 appears when you click "see other box office results on the front page". You have starmeter and movie meter.

[MFS]

I hope Dolph gets to turn bad again in the sequel if he's cast, I can't imagine him playing it good like he did at the end.

Wouldn't it be funny if they did two sequels or more, and in each one of them Dolph turned bad for most of the time and then good at the end? And in every movie he'd show up in the closing scene and they would all just sit around and laugh about it. Like "Oh that Gunnar."

[Jox]

German interview for Filmstarts

[Nathan]

I hope Dolph gets to turn bad again in the sequel if he's cast, I can't imagine him playing it good like he did at the end.

Wouldn't it be funny if they did two sequels or more, and in each one of them Dolph turned bad for most of the time and then good at the end? And in every movie he'd show up in the closing scene and they would all just sit around and laugh about it. Like "Oh that Gunnar."

Hahahahahaha, yeah he's mutilated half the team throughout the course of the movie and he's just sitting on his bike at the end as usual winking at them and saying "sorry guys "

[MFS]

Hahahahahaha, yeah he's mutilated half the team throughout the course of the movie and he's just sitting on his bike at the end as usual winking at them and saying "sorry guys "

Seriously though, it'll be interesting to see how Sly will portray Gunnar in the sequel(s). I agree that he should be atleast partially antagonistic (especially against Yin Yang), and he should constantly try to "go his own way", creating conflict in the team. Perhaps we will get hints of a tragic past, making him into an anti-hero of some sort ...