'The Expendables 2': This Isn't the '80s I Remember

What made the best movies of the '80s the best movie of the '80s was how they balanced violence, humor, and sincerity in a single, enjoyable picture. Die Hard, Rocky III and IV, and Rambo II and III are prime examples.

                                      
Film
    
        The 10 Reasons 'The Expendables' is the Most Important (Action) Film of the 2000s
    
Ben Travers

    14 Aug 2012

Reviews
    
        Sly x 3 = Winning, Yo! 'Stallone: 3-Film Collector's Set'
    
Ben Travers

    13 Aug 2012

Television
    
        No Contract for Old Men: 5 'Old Folks' in Pop Culture That Are 5Xs Tougher Than You
    
Kit MacFarlane

    31 May 2012

Recent

Reviews

'Cop Land' Is Captivating Journey of Self-Realization and Corruption

Sylvester Stallone doesn't do dramas often. Cop Land proves that may be his biggest mistake.

Film

OMG - The 20 Worst Films of 2008

There's bad, and then there's 2008 level bad. You know this list is looking down into a deep dark bottomless pit of cinematic despair when Mike Myers' shameful Love Guru didn't even make the Top 20!

Film

Rambo: In All His Glory

Rambo is constantly portrayed as judge, jury, and executioner in the national and international spheres.

Books

Historian: Interview with Brian Garfield

"I think that, except for its ludicrous violence toward the end, the Death Sentence movie does depict its character's decline and the stupidity of vengeful vigilantism." Death Wish creator Brian Garfield talks to PopMatters about remakes, sequels, writing, and the meaning of vengeance.

Reviews

Rambo

That Rambo is by now too old to recover or start again only underlines the film's ultimate point: no one wins this time.

Reviews

Rocky Balboa (2006)

This may be the most truly independent and heartfelt piece of filmmaking released by a major studio last year.

Brian Holcomb

Reviews

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rocky Balboa traces its own kind of full circle, linking art and populism, politics and dreams.

Film

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)

Fun as it is, demonstrates a little end-of-series fatigue.

Jesse Hassenger

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

Features

29 Black Music Documentaries for Black History Month 2020: #2 'The Apollo'

England's Postwar Paranoia Creeps in the Shadows of Three Film-Noirs

Perfect Harmony: An Interview with Legendary Vocal Group the Waters

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

Pop Ten

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s - Part 1 (100 - 81)

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

29 Black Music Documentaries for Black History Month 2020: #2 'The Apollo'

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

Collapse Expand Pop Ten

'The Expendables 2': This Isn't the '80s I Remember

What made the best movies of the '80s the best movie of the '80s was how they balanced violence, humor, and sincerity in a single, enjoyable picture. Die Hard, Rocky III and IV, and Rambo II and III are prime examples.

Sly x 3 = Winning, Yo! 'Stallone: 3-Film Collector's Set'

No Contract for Old Men: 5 'Old Folks' in Pop Culture That Are 5Xs Tougher Than You

'Cop Land' Is Captivating Journey of Self-Realization and Corruption

Sylvester Stallone doesn't do dramas often. Cop Land proves that may be his biggest mistake.

OMG - The 20 Worst Films of 2008

There's bad, and then there's 2008 level bad. You know this list is looking down into a deep dark bottomless pit of cinematic despair when Mike Myers' shameful Love Guru didn't even make the Top 20!

Rambo: In All His Glory

Rambo is constantly portrayed as judge, jury, and executioner in the national and international spheres.

Historian: Interview with Brian Garfield

"I think that, except for its ludicrous violence toward the end, the Death Sentence movie does depict its character's decline and the stupidity of vengeful vigilantism." Death Wish creator Brian Garfield talks to PopMatters about remakes, sequels, writing, and the meaning of vengeance.

Rambo

That Rambo is by now too old to recover or start again only underlines the film's ultimate point: no one wins this time.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

This may be the most truly independent and heartfelt piece of filmmaking released by a major studio last year.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rocky Balboa traces its own kind of full circle, linking art and populism, politics and dreams.

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)

Fun as it is, demonstrates a little end-of-series fatigue.

Electropop's Caribou Offers Joy Through Unpredictability on 'Suddenly'

Soccer Mommy Aims High on 'color theory'

James Taylor's Standards Album Sounds Exactly Like You Imagine It Does

Yasujiro Ozu on the Arts of Pachinko, Baseball, and Marriage

Ben Seretan Brings on the Catharsis with 'Youth Pastoral'

Cheer-Accident Work Through Their 39-Year History on 'Chicago XX'

Caroline Rose, A 'Superstar' Is What You Are

Racism's Trauma Reverberates Across Generations in 'Your House Will Pay'

The Tortured Mind of Anthony Asquith's Silent British Gem, 'A Cottage on Dartmoor'

Why Everyone Should Read Samra Habib's Queer Muslim Memoir

Even When He's No Longer in Fashion James Bond (Almost) Never Goes Out of Style

England's Postwar Paranoia Creeps in the Shadows of Three Film-Noirs

The New World Will Be Built by Refugees: On Two New Japanese Novellas

Perfect Harmony: An Interview with Legendary Vocal Group the Waters

James Taylor's Standards Album Sounds Exactly Like You Imagine It Does