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Expend4bles: A franchise in free fall


One doesn’t so much watch Expend4bles as simply look at it. There are explosions, some bigger than others. There are shoot-outs, some bloodier than others. There are wisecracks, some wheezier than others. And then it’s over … and not a moment too soon.
The first Expendables, released in 2010, was an enjoyable throwback to those testosterone-fueled macho-men action movies that proliferated — on the big screen but particularly on home video — throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. Its success, not surprisingly, prompted inferior but enjoyable follow-ups (2012 and 2014, respectively). Now, after festering in “development hell” for the better part of a decade, the fourth installment comes lumbering and stumbling along.

Sylvester Stallone and producer Jason Statham are back aboard, as are Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture, as those grizzled, chiseled mercenaries who trade weary wisecracks when not dishing out considerable damage and destruction. The original advertisements had Stallone billed last, but more recent ones have upped his billing to second — just beneath Statham’s. Let’s just say that Stallone’s participation here is rather limited, to say the least.
The team is recruited to retrieve some nuclear detonators in Libya, but the mission goes wrong, and the detonators fall into the hands of resident baddie Rahmat (Iko Uwais). Statham’s Lee Christmas is summarily replaced by Megan Fox’s Gina, who also happens to be his on-again/off-again girlfriend, by CIA honcho Marsh (Andy Garcia), which offers a pretty good indication that military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

In addition to Garcia, Fox, and Uwais, newcomers to the fold include Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jacob Scipio, and Levy Tran, who foregoes traditional body armor so that her tattoos are prominently displayed. As always, Fox is eyes on the eyes, but her performance is a whole different matter. Her expression never changes, whether she’s issuing orders, engaging in (weak) banter, or being told an atomic bomb is ticking away. Maybe she’s acting tough or maybe she can’t act. Tony Jaa turns up midway through as what might be called an Expendable “addendum”; he’s not an official member but he lends a hand. To its meager credit, Expend4bles allows Uwais and Jaa more exposure in the American marketplace. The rest of the cast just goes through the motions, and after this and The Meg 2 Statham may do well to steer clear of sequels.
Under the uninspired direction of Scott Waugh, there’s plenty of action for undiscriminating adrenaline junkies. Some sequences are competently handled but others look remarkably cheap, particularly for a film reported to have cost $100 million. Even though the Expendables are betrayed — not once, but twice — and even though failure could result in World War III, nothing ever feels at stake.

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‘I am officially off the market’: When Margot Robbie revealed she made the ‘conscious’ decision of not dating actors


Margot Robbie revealed her decision to not date actors because of the media scrutiny that came with a public relationship of two high-profile actors
Back in 2015, A-lister Margot Robbie made a declaration that she would not be dating any actors. The actress may have alluded to her fiance Tom Ackerley, who she married the following year in 2016. In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire, she revealed that being in a relationship as an actor herself came with its own set of challenges. She believed that dating someone who was popular would add on to the media scrutiny.

Margot Robbie opened up on why she made a conscious decision to not date actorsTalking to Marie Claire, she claimed, “I am officially off the market.” She then shared the reasoning behind her decision and added, “I made a conscious decision not to date actors.” She continued to explain, “But not because I hate actors. That’s a nasty generalization to make, and that’s not the case. People take such an interest in your love life when you have a profile, it puts a lot of stress on a relationship.”
The Barbie actress continued, “So two people with profiles, I figure it’s just double the amount of scrutiny, and I’d like to avoid that at all costs.” This came after reports of her locking lips with Tarzan co-star Alexander Skarsgard started making rounds. It was reported that she was caught kissing the actor during the Sundance Film Festival.

Margot Robbie revealed she opted for a minimal lifestyle even after becoming an actorIn the interview, Robbie also opened up about how she was adapting to fame. She shared, “I have a normal 24-year-old life. If I were a waitress, I’d probably have the exact same lifestyle. I’d go to the same clubs I go to already, live in the same house with the same housemates, hang out with the same people.”
However, Margot Robbie tied the knot with Tom Ackerley who is an English producer and actor. The duo met on the sets of 2013 movie Suite Francaise where Tom was working as an assistant director. Post marriage, both of them launched their production company LuckyChap Entertainment.

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Monica Bellucci and Tin Burton at lunch in the restaurant in Selci Lama


For All Saints’ Day, the Hollywood star from Tiferno returned to his native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and then visit his parentsOn the occasion of the All Saints’ Day celebrations, the Hollywood star of Tiferno origin, Monica Bellucci, returned to her native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and to visit her father Pasquale and her mother Brunella.Flanked by her current partner Tim Burton, she went to lunch, together with about twenty old friends, at the Osteria del Musicista, which has always been her favorite restaurant, in Selci Lama.Menu dedicated to typical dishes of the area, which includes an appetizer with breadsticks lined with coppa, duck in porchetta and grilled pork livers, polenta with wild boar sauce accompanied by the very typical cappelletti in broth.To conclude, a dessert based on fried “ciaccia” with Nutella and roasted chestnuts.
Having paid the bill and greeted the restaurant owner and lifelong friend, Roberto Polchi, Monica brought home cappelletti and broth for a family dinner.

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‘Rocky’ Was Quite Different In His Original Screenplay, Sylvester Stallone Claims


Sylvester Stallone took his friend’s advice on a rewrite of the original screenplay to Rocky. A few tweaks later, he was on his way to major success.
In the new Netflix documentary Sly, Stallone discussed how he initially conceived of the project, which had a much harder edge. In the early version, Rocky was depicted as a “thuggish” character, inspired by Martin Scorsese’s crime drama, Mean Streets.

But Stallone’s perspective changed when a friend read the script and thought the boxer was too cruel for audiences to actually care about him.
Stallone recalled her crying.

“She goes, ‘I hate Rocky. I hate him. He’s cruel. He hits people. He beats them up.’”
Stallone took it to heart, and asked what he could do to soften the character.

“I said, ‘what if you stop short of it?’ Like, maybe he almost did. He could have, that’s his job, but he doesn’t?’ ‘That’d be nice,’” he added. “I said, ‘What if he had a girlfriend or something?’ ‘Yeah, that’s nice.’ So I go back, start writing that: ‘Girlfriend. Nice.’”
$117 million in box office later, a franchise was born.

Stallone also revealed that actor Dolph Lundgren sent him to the hospital during one fight scene in Rocky IV.
“Dolph Lundgren… he pulverized me,” Stallone says in the documentary. “Later that night, my heart started to swell—which happens when the heart hits the chest—and then my blood pressure went up to 260, and they thought I was going to be talking to angels. Next thing I know, I’m in intensive care, where I’m surrounded by nuns, and I thought, ‘OK, that’s curtains.’”
Stallone was in the hospital for nine days following the incident, praying for “one more round.”
“For the first minute of the fight, it is going to be a free-for-all,” Stallone told Lundgren. The Swedish actor joked in a separate interview that all he did was “obey orders,” explaining, “[Stallone] was the boss. I did what he told me.”
Doctors allegedly told Stallone that he received a blow to the ribs that made his heart rattle around in his ribcage, a condition typically seen in head-on collisions. “I did hit a bus, of sorts,” Stallone joked.

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