Sylvester Stallone

CHICAGO – These are the times that try a film critic’s soul. Right after the awards season, and the lofty artistic films, comes the dump zone of January and the rejected reel orphans of the “industry.” Sylvester Stallone, once an Oscar winner, now “entertains” us with with harsh violence in the ‘Bullet to the Head.’

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated “Bullet to the Head” with Sylvester Stallone!

CHICAGO – My God, “Judge Dredd” is bad. I forgot how bad until I rewatched it in its recent Blu-ray edition, clearly timed to ride the wave of the release of “Dredd 3D” in theaters. The movie has been remastered well in HD but that’s about the last nice thing one can possibly say about it.

CHICAGO – Face it, it is fun to see the major action stars of the 1980s, ‘90s and now – Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger – together again for “The Expendables 2.” Why the hell can’t anyone write a decent story for them?

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 5 free DVDs up for grabs for “The Expendables” in support of the sequel “The Expendables 2,” which hits theatres on Aug. 17, 2012!

CHICAGO – “Zookeeper” is a weird, weird movie. It was heavily advertised as a family film about talking animals but it’s more of a Kevin James romantic comedy and even features some dark material about the treatment of animals. In other words, it’s wildly inconsistent and sometimes just strange. Any movie that can feature a Gorilla getting a brain freeze at TGIFridays next to a standard romantic comedy love triangle next to an abuse subplot straight out of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a weird, weird movie. James and Rosario Dawson are so incredibly likable that they keep it watchable but the movie just never clicks because it never picked an audience and, therefore, satisfies none of them.

CHICAGO – Like most instances in Hollywood these days, one gun-filled, explosive, action-packed film is never enough; not when a sequel can be made that promises the same exciting sequences and macho heroes. That is why it is no surprise that Lionsgate has given the green light to a sequel for the 2010 film “The Expendables,” titled “The Expendables 2,” and two of the biggest action stars of all time will join the fun.

CHICAGO – Not being familiar with the Kevin James filmography really helped in assessing his latest, “Zookeeper.” His appeal is very evident, and the filmmakers do some funny bits with the old “talking animal” routine.

CHICAGO – In our latest action/adventure edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the new film “The Expendables” with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren!

CHICAGO – Seeing them all together was fun. Enduring some macho joshing, even in the form of stiff dialogue, was tolerable. But doing a bad, boring action movie with Sylvester Stallone trying to prop up his “legacy” was sadly too much to bear.