To celebrate the release of Momentum Pictures’ movie, Skyline on 21st March, we’ve been given five copies to give away. Remember, whatever you do, don’t look up!

SKYLINE is a terrifying journey into our fear of the unknown, a high-velocity, special effects bonanza that resonates with feelings of urban panic in these dangerous times. Visual-effects masters The Brothers Strause (AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator—Requiem)—whose company Hydraulx has imagined visual effects for Avatar, 2012, Iron Man 2, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 300—have directed, produced and financed a spectacular and chilling independent film of epic proportions.

A group of friends are awakened in the dead of the night by a strange, eerie light beaming through their apartment window. Like moths to a flame, a disturbing blue light is throwing the people of Los Angeles into a trance, drawing them outside before a terrifying extraterrestrial force swallows them off the face of the earth. The city streets are empty, the phones are down and TV stations broadcast HD news feeds of nothing but empty chairs. In a matter of hours, we will all be gone.

For Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson), a simple weekend away to visit friends Terry (Donald Faison) and Candice (Brittany Daniel) becomes a nightmare. As they watch in terror from Terry’s penthouse windows, people across the city are swallowed into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline: life as they know it is finished. With the military struggling to keep the aliens at bay, now it will take every survival instinct they have to elude capture from the thousands of monstrous creatures that are sweeping the city and searching for all humans in their path. From tankers to drones and hydra-like extraterrestrials, the aliens are inescapable and seemingly indestructible.

Eric Balfour (24, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) stars alongside David Zayas (Dexter, The Expendables), Donald Faison (Scrubs), Brittany Daniel (Sweet Valley High), Neil Hopkins (Lost) and newcomers Scottie Thompson (Star Trek) and Crystal Reed (Crazy, Stupid, Love). SKYLINE is directed by brothers Colin Strause and Greg Strause, written by Liam O’Donnell and Joshua Cordes and producer Kristian Andreson.

DVD & BLU-RAY EXTRAS

Deleted and Extended Scenes  (6:56 min)

Commentary by Directors Greg and Colin Strause, Co-Writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell, and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes [On/Off]

• Oliver in Lobby
• Terry & Candice in Closet
• Jarrod & Elaine Paintings
• Extended Cache
• Ray Extended Party Scene
• Painting Scene
• Candice & Oliver in Kitchen

Alternate Scenes  (2:34)

Commentary by Directors Greg and Colin Strause, Co-Writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell, and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes [On/Off]

• Play All
• Candice Sorry
• Oliver’s Backstory

Pre-Visualization (10:03)

Commentary by Co-Director Colin Strause, Co-Writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell, and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes [On/Off]

• Play All
• Pool Escape
• Rooftop Rescue

Trailers

Commentary by Co-Director Colin Strause, Co-Writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell, and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes [On/Off]

• Play All
• Teaser Trailer (1:34)
• Theatrical Trailer  (2:21)

Audio Bonus via ftp:

• Feature Commentary with Directors Greg and Colin Strause
• Feature Commentary with Co-Writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes

To be in with a chance of winning Skyline on Blu-ray, all you need to do is answer the following question using the form below:

Who plays the character Jarrod in the movie, Skyline?

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 21st March 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

(C) 2010 BLACK MONDAY FILM SERVICES, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

80s action legend Chuck Norris is on a “wish list” for the sequel to The Expendables according to one of the film’s stars.

The 2010 summer blockbuster starred Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren and took over $103 million at the box office worldwide. Inevitably, a sequel is already in the works.

Dolph told Upbeat Productions:

Chuck Norris is on my wish list. He’d be great as a General or something like that.

I’m not privy to who didn’t sign for the first one and for what reason and all of that because Stallone was the one who hired people but Jean Claude (Van Damme), who I have worked with before and is a nice guy, was asked and (Steven) Seagal didn’t want to do it but maybe he’ll be in the sequel.

The action star’s also told Upbeat that The Expendables is one of the few films he’s made that he feels naturally deserves a sequel. Dolph explained,

The Expendables lends itself to a sequel or sequels very nicely. Back in the 80s when I did action movies like The Punisher and all that they didn’t lend themselves to sequels very well.

He added jokingly,

The Expendables is now a trademark, a franchise and so the best thing about doing a sequel is that now I can ask for more money!

The Expendables is out on rent and buy on Blu Ray and DVD. We’ve got a video interview with Dolph Lundgren coming soon on the site so check back to hear more about the epic action movie.

Reported by Simon Thompson.

I’ve just come back from watching Skyline and I’m afraid the experience was not good people! Since I’m tuned in today Twitter all day everyday, I’d heard that it was bad but after seeing it tonight, I have come to the conclusion that it’s worse than that!

Please note, this review is going to contain spoilers. This movie is so bad that I think I’m just going to tell you what happens for my own sanity but if this is a movie you’d like to see, please don’t read on……

—————————–

Directed by the Brothers Strause, Skyline follows two main characters Jarrod & Elaine (Eric Balfour & Scottie Thompson) who go to see a friend Terry (Donald Faison) for his birthday and, in a nutshell, he’s rich. They sort of explain how he’s rich but to be honest, I didn’t really understand it and it’s not really crucial to the story. Jarrod isn’t there too long before Terry asks him to stay in LA to work with him. This annoys Elaine as she hates LA, she probably doesn’t realise how much she hates as little does she know but during her first night in the city, it’s about to be invaded but big blue light beams that we’ve seen in the posters and trailers. You quite frankly don’t care about Terry as he’s a rich showoff who likes cheating on his girlfriend which leaves you with only Jarred and Ealine to worry about. Very early on, we discover that Elaine is pregnant which I think is supposed to be the catalyst for you to care about her but the problem is, you never really do!

‘Day 1′ begins and upon waking up there’s a whole, sequence where we see our would be hero, Jarrod looking out of the window, about to get sucked into the ball of blue light which is resonating from the sky (by the end of the movie, you wish he had been!). After going rather veiny, the curtains get pulled and he’s cut off from the blue beam (which from this moment on will be called BB). Now I’ll tell you here, this is the point where you might as well get used to our ‘heroes’ being pulled into BB as it must happen 4 or 5 times to each character before they actually get sucked in. This seems odd considering we see shots of entire cities being pulled up into the spaceships which at this point have now dropped out of the sky and are hovering over the city in true Independence Day style.

After being trapped in their penthouse apartment for a night, our characters decide it’s time to make a run for it. Their plan is to get to a boat and sail off into the sunset. “Thank goodness” I thought to myself as the whole movie shot in one room was starting to get on my nerves. Down to the basement they go and Terry jumps in his Ferrari so that he can ‘get the boat started as fast as possible’ while the others jump into a Mercedes which probably goes like a rocket anyway!

The reason that they are separated soon becomes clear as the split second Terry leaves the garage, a giant alien is ready to stamp on him! Killing his passenger (Crystal Reed), he manages to escape only to be coiled back in by the giant tentacles that come off BB Alien (now known as BBA!). Hooray I shouted for that was one character I didn’t care about gone from the movie! I forgot to mention that just before Terry got eaten, a couple of new characters who were also trying to escape had been introduced in the car park. They might as well have been wearing red outfits from Star Trek as they we’re obviously BBA fodder!

Just as predicted, in comes another BBA on the hunt for some human blood! Man gets got, followed by lady who tries to save him and there we have it, Star Trek ‘Reds’ destroyed! At this point we’re re-intorduced to Oliver (David Zayas) who was in the movie earlier but his whole existence pays no need in the movie so I didn’t bother telling you, sorry! He’s just saved the day for Star Trek Red female only for her to die anyway and now they’re on the run again. Horray I shouted as our cast finally made it out of their hotel, across the courtyard and….. back into the hotel again!!!! “PLEASE LEAVE” I cry but no, 2 minutes later, we’re back in the hotel room where we started looking out of the same window yet again!

Yet another day passes stuck in the hotel room and yawn, yawn, and Jarrod decides yet again that they need to leave the hotel. Yet again I get my hopes up but I needn’t have bothered although what came next was rather fun as the US Military decide to send drone and Stealth bombers in to nuke the crap out of the aliens! This bit was actually quite good and made me realise if it had been a military, strategic movie, it could have actually been quite good. Drones attack, Mini BBA’s come out to counter attack but the nuke is launched and KABOOM! Down go the aliens. Only they’re related to those ones from Batteries Not Included and start to repair the mothership. Not under threat from radiation and BBA’s, our ‘heroes’ have a little argument about whether to leave or not. This is the point where I’m hoping radiation might strike and kill them all so I can go to Ikea next door to the cinema and get some meatballs!

Our heroes, look out of the window (again!!!) and see the Army land on the roof. Yet another argument ensues about whether they’re going to save them or not! “I hope not I think to myself” and then they go on the roof. Yay, out of the hotel room. Now comes some shooting from army, shouting from ‘heroes’ BBA’s flying around and climbing up walls. Then an F22 (a plane) decided to shoot at the BBA that is attacking our ‘heroes’, F22 get’s hit and hits the ground just in front of them. Cue slow motion roll over our ‘heroes’ heads! I mean WHAT?!!? No, I am not joking!

Oliver has been left in hotel room with blonde girl, Candice (Brittany Daniel) who has just been sucked into BB and gone forever. This is when Oliver decides the only way he can go out is to turn on the gas. Only issue is, his cigarette lighter doesn’t work. Cue BBA coming through the window to get him! BBA drags him away from counter, F22 shoots BBA in the back and Oliver is free to gather up lighter which has now decided to work and… KABOOM another character gone! Yippee, two to go! Back on the roof, Mothership BBA is coming for ‘heroes’! “Eat them” I cry as there is no way out. Eat them it does! Yay, the end!!?

Cut to the next day to see London, New York and another city which had no famous landmarks that I could spot taken over by aliens. It now HAS to be the end, surely!!

Oh no! Cut to inside Mothership BBA to see Alien in true Starship Trooper style sucking the brains out of people. Now, remember a while ago I said that people kept getting sucked in by BB only to then get cut off from the beam. Well, it turns out that this makes you extra strong. Who knows why, but it does! So when BBA inside Mothership BBA eats Jarrod’s brain, Jarrod takes over BBA’s body and goes and rescues his pregnant wife Elaine. Yes, it’s true, that erally does happen and …. cut to closing credits….

THE END! (There may well have been something after the credits but by that tie, the Ikea meatballs were calling much too hard and I couldn’t take any more of this!)

This movie is a mixture of Starship Tropers, Independence Day, The Matrix, Cloverfield and  War of the Worlds but isn’t as good as any of them. I really think if the movie had focused on the military rather than just a group of actors that you don’t really care about, they might have had something. The scope of Independence Day is so massive and maybe this couldn’t have been so big but I know this could have been a better movie if they’d just found a more interesting storyline. Why oh why did we stay in that hotel for the entire movie? Who knows, but I know I wont be recommending this to people. Sorry!

The One Positive Point!!

You have to hand it to the chaps in the visual effects department as if this movie has one positive, it’s the special effects. Seeing monsters walking through the city, space ships hovering over it and nukes smashing into them was excellent. Including the drones which carried the missiles. That bit, I did enjoy which leads me back to my point about this movie focusing on the military aspect. Had they done that more, I think it would have been far more interesting and I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it more than I did!

Have you seen it? What did you think? Tell us in the comments below…..

From the Brothers Strause, the effects team behind Avatar, comes Skyline, in cinemas, Friday, 12th November.

After a late night party, a group of friends wake to an eerie blue light that attracts people like moths to a flame, sucking them skywards! The friends soon learn that an extraterrestrial force is swallowing the entire human population and that they must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them!

The film stars Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel and Neil Hopkins. Remember, don’t look up!

Thanks to Skyline, we’re offering you the chance to win a Pop X Storm watch (worth £59.99) which features a comfortable rubber strap with plastic lens and comes in a number of colour combinations choose from:  green, blue, black, purple, orange and hot pink! The Pop X comes packaged in a gift set including one complete watch and two additional coloured straps.

To be in with the chance of winning a cool Storm Pop X watch with Skyline, just answer the following question:

In Skyline, an eerie extraterrestrial light sucks up unsuspecting citizens. What is the tagline for the film?

A Don’t look up.
B Don’t look down.
C Close your eyes.

Four runners up will win Skyline goodie bags which include a film poster, t-shirt, set of Skyline glow sticks and USB memory sticks. Find out more here: www.facebook.com/skyline and here: www.stormwatches.com

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Wednesday 10th of November at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Skyline will finally hit our screens in a couple of short weeks and despite near-saturation advertising across billboard adverts, trailers, clips and posters, it still looks mightily impressive. Whether the final product can match up, we will soon know.

For now, we have a new clip showing the before and after of a moment from the trailer, where a helicopter coming to rescue two of our heroes gets grabbed by weird alien tentacle things. For what is reported to be a relatively low-budget film, the directors certainly seem to have committed to getting it all up on the screen and in the brief, minute-long clip embedded below we have some pretty thrilling moments.

Momentum, Pictures have sent over a couple of new TV spots for their new movie, Skyline which is directed by Greg and Colin Strause and stars Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel and Neil Hopkins. It’s released in the UK, November 12th and is one I’m very much looking forward to seeing.

Synopsis: After a late night party, a group of friends are awakened in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into thin air. They soon discover an otherworldly alien force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them. How long will they be able to withstand the methodical and relentless onslaught as the number of casualties escalates? And more importantly who or what are these extraterrestrials? The eagerly anticipated sci-fi thriller SKYLINE is a terrifying journey into our fear of the unknown, a high-velocity, special effects bonanza.

Remember, whatever you do, don’t look up!

Momenum Pictures have just sent us this brand new trailer for Skyline. It’s very similar to the new theatrical version which was released a few days ago but this version gives us some slightly different footage that we’ve not seen before.

Skyline is directed by  Greg and Colin Strause and stars  Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas,Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel and Neil Hopkins.

It’s due for release in the UK 12th November and remember – Don’t look up!

Synopsis: From the Brothers Strause, the effects team behind Avatar, comes this November’s biggest blockbuster.

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air.

They soon discover an extraterrestrial force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth.  Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

Universal have revealed six new images from the forthcoming science fiction thriller Skyline.

Directed by the Brothers Strause, Skyline stars a host of up-and-coming stars, including Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed and Donald Faison.

Synopsis: Strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.

Check out the six new images below, courtesy of Latino Review:

Skyline will be unleashed into cinemas on November 12.

Universal’s latest entry into the crowded Aliens Vs. Humans arena, Skyline, was delightfully teased with its first trailer, and they’ve made good on the promise shown with an outstanding second trailer courtesy of Apple which gives up a little more on the background to the invasion.

There are some amazing shots here and what seems to be a mixture of Independence Day, District 9 and Cloverfield, with a little bit of Poltergeist thrown in. We never said it was original, just that it looks pretty great.

It stars Donald Faison, Eric Balfour, David Zayas, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel and is directed by Colin Strause and Greg Strause.

Synopsis: In the sci-fi thriller Skyline, strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.

Momentum have just sent us this brand new UK poster for their new movie Skyline which is released in the UK 12th November. It’s directed by Greg and Colin Strause and stars Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel and Neil Hopkins.

Synopsis: From the Brothers Strause, the effects team behind Avatar, comes this November’s biggest blockbuster. After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air.  They soon discover an extraterrestrial force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth.  Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

Skyline hits cinemas on November 12.  Remember – Don’t look up!

This new poster is pretty much the same as the domestic one which came out a little while ago except with the UK release date on it. Still looks pretty cool though!

Click it to enlarge.

If you managed to catch the trailer for Skyline, which arrived on a huge wave of anticipation having surprised the Comic Con fans in San Diego, then you’ll know the premise.

Huge space hoovers arrive in the sky and, in a vivid moment from the trailer, suck everyone up into their spaceships. Is it Skynet, under the command of Miles Dyson? No, probably not. But it was a great image and Universal have issued a poster which focuses very much on this event.

Skyline was written and directed by Colin and Greg Strause and stars Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel, David Zayas and Eric Balfour.

ShockTillYouDrop had their hands on this one first, and good for them.

Last week Gary posted this exhaustive look at the cinematic death dealt out by the main actors in Slyvester Stallone’s bombastic 80s action heroes class reunion, The Expendables.

Taking the gory initiative artist Stephen Wildish compiled this excellent infographic to illustrate the macabre tally and we wanted to share it with you.

You can read Gary’s review of the Expendables here, and check out Stephen’s work below.

There’s a link on Stephen’s site for a large version of it and I’d recommend checking it out here.

With the biggest, greatest, most over the top action film of all time coming out on 19th August in the form of The Expendables (our review here), HeyUGuys is bringing you the ultimate run down of the kill count that these historic action actors have each tallied up.

From throat rips to decapitations, martial art assassins to robotic killers and Yippee Ki-Yay’s to Asta La Vista’s, they have dealt death in every way possible with every weapon imaginable.

Each death reaches the same conclusion but each actor carries it off in their own unique style, often adding a personal touch. Be it an Arnie verbal send off like “Stick Around” after being stuck with a huge knife against a post or adding some humour by playing games with the baddies like John McClane in Die Hard ” Now I have a machine gun, Ho Ho Ho”. A memorable death greatly adds to the enjoyment of watching baddies/goodies perish at the hands, feet, guns, knives, robotic limbs of these iconic action movie stars.

Although this rundown is never going to be 100% accurate I have tried to find as much information to build the most definitive totals of bloody deaths in action film lore. I’ve also added a guess of how many kills each actor racked up in The Expendables, it was an impossible task, but I think Jason Statham came out on top after recording 41 kills in one scene pushing him ahead of his nearest competitor.

This is the Expendables body count run down that totals over 2000 dead bodies in over 300 films combined.

You can read our extensive coverage including our review for The Expendables here.

MICKEY ROUKE

First up is the rejuvenated Mickey Rourke who never really started off as an action movie star but has slowly become a very dominant actor in the action movie genre.

With starring roles in the excellent Sin City as Marv and as Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 being recent highlights, Rourke has shown an incredible natural ability to add a villainous menace or a convincing powerful force to his roles which makes him such a watchable actor in action films. Rourke again gives a great performance as ‘Tool’ in the Expendables, easily the best actor in the whole film.

Probably one of the toughest actors on the list, as an amateur boxer he reportedly had 12 consecutive first round knockouts and also went undefeated in 8 professional boxing matches from 1991 -1995 winning 6 and drawing 2 bouts before retiring to go back to acting. Rourke needed facial surgery to correct his disfigurement due to injuries suffered from boxing and a balls up from his plastic surgeon left him with his drastically different looking features.

Rourke’s first film was alongside Jon Belushi and Dan Akroyd in Spielberg’s war spoof ’1941′ and he went on to star in 9 1/2 weeks, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sin City, The Wrestler and Iron Man 2 and he also turned down the roles of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, Stuntman Mike in Tarantino’s Grindhouse episode Death Proof, Johnny Ringo in Tombstone and Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction.

Along with Stallone, they are the only Oscar nominated actors from the Expendables and Rourke got his Oscar nod for the role of Randy Robinson in the Wrestler

Mickey Rourke – 28 Kills on screen in 61 Films – 0.45 kills per film

Most Kills:- 15 as Marv in Sin City

Kills in The Expendables: 0

JASON STATHAM

Jason Statham is our next hard man in the list and a surprise action star considering he came from nowhere to appear in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and two years after that starred in Snatch. All of a sudden he became a martial artist action movie star who took off in ‘The Transporter’ a film which spawned two further sequels, which Stathem then topped with the insane, ridiculous and guilty pleasures ‘Crank’ and ‘Crank 2: High Voltage’ where he played the delightfully named Chev Chelios, a man trying to keep his ticker ticking by doing adrenaline pumping antics or otherwise he dies. Love it.

He has already faced off against Expendables Jet Li in War and The One as well as Mickey Rourke in 13 and has had leading roles in Bank Job, Revolver, Deathrace with further supporting roles in Italian Job, Mean Machine, Ghost of Mars and as the lead villain in Cellular.

When you watch a Statham film you can expect a few things from them. 1, there will be action and some very OTT action at that. 2, there will be some very well choreographed martial arts that include props and the scenery around him which is very reminiscent of the classic Jackie Chan films which it makes his films more than your average martial art film and very accessible. And 3, there will some quirky humour.

Statham has blossomed into a well loved Hollywood actor who must be in heaven starring in The Expendables with such iconic action movie heroes and fully deserves his major role as the co-star alongside Stallone. For me he was one of the many highlights of The Expendables with his knife killing skills.

Jason Statham – 147 Kills on screen in 23 Films – 6.4 kills per film

Most Kills:- 60 as ‘Farmer’ in ‘In the name of the King’

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 80

BRUCE WILLIS

Bruce Willis is only third in the list of the action stars in terms of on screen kills but is easily one of the most loved due to his success as John McClane in the Die Hard movies; despite how poorly received the fourth movie was, the lure of seeing McClane back on the screen was the main draw, and that’s thanks to Willis.

He had his first staring role in the non action movie ‘The Return of Bruno’, a “Hilarious Rock Comedy” which was followed by Rom-Com ‘Blind Date’ starring alongside Kim Basinger. It looked like Bruce Willis was heading towards being a comedy actor with his next role being in ‘Sunset’ with James Garner, but after that the legend was born with Bruce Willis being cast as Detective John McClane in 1988′s Die Hard apparently beating actors Richard Gere, Don Johnson and Richard Dean Anderson in the process and the rest is history.

Willis has performed in over 60 films and numerous TV shows with highlights being Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Sin City, Armageddon, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Moonlighting was the highlight of his TV Career winning a Global Globe with his performance as David Addison and also had appearances in Friends and Ally McBeal, but in the end he will always be known as John ‘Die Hard’ McClane.

Bruce Willis 168 Kills on screen in 62 Films – 2.7 per film

Most Kills – 26 as Korban Dallas in Fifth Element

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 0

JET LI

Next on the list is Jet Li and it’s also a step up in kill rates per film for the action stars, in fact Triple the amount of Bruce Willis.

Jet Li (real name Li Lian Jie) is arguably the most natural action fighting star in the film with an incredible knowledge of martial arts under his belt with the mastery of Wushu, Tai Chi, Drunken Fist, Praying Mantis Fist as well as weapon skills that make him the real fighting machine who could probably take on any of the guys on this list and win.

Jet Li’s first entry into movies was the successful Shaolin Temple films that were followed by the Once upon a time in China trilogy, Fist of Legend and High Risk that developed him into one of the greatest martial artists on the big screen of all time. Inevitably it wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling when he appeared in Lethal Weapon 4 in his first ever role as a villain which was then followed by his first Hollywood leading role in Romeo Must Die.

Li continued to make films back in China as well as in Hollywood with the pick being the stunning Hero but also he starred in The One, Cradle 2 the Grave, Unleashed, The Mummy 3, Fearless and The Forbidden Kingdom which would all be pretty abysmal or average films if it wasn’t for the killer moves and presence of the great Jet Li appearing in them.

Not many martial art actors have earned world wide recognition but Jet Li has fully earned his place alongside the greats of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan as the best.

Jet Li – 327 Kills on screen – 39 Films – 8.3 per film

Most Kills – 50 as Kit Li in High Risk

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 30

SYLVESTER STALLONE

The man who brought them all together in Expendables and the man who holds the second highest amount of kills in one movie for his throat ripping, machine gun firing and knife chopping killing spree in 2008′s Rambo. From his most innocent kill from dropping dead weight in Cliff Hanger to shooting a soldier pointblank repeatedly with the biggest machine gun in Rambo 4, Sylvester Stallone is quite possibly the first name that would spring to mind if you were asked to name an action movie star on Family Fortunes, he is and always will be an action movie star.

Complications during his birth left Stallone with a severed a nerve in his head which left him with partial paralysis in his face, slurred speech and his sagging lower lip, but something that could have seriously limited most actors chances to succeed, it  has become as much a part of his character as his bulging muscles and killing machine personality.

His career has had its up and downs with Stop! or my Mom will Shoot being a horrible low and Rocky being a triple Oscar winning high. Stallone has a fine collection of franchise movies with Rocky producing six highly enjoyable films and Rambo forging four well loved movies with Rambo 4 giving Stallone the second highest kill rate in one film from our list with a staggering 87, he just knows how to create iconic characters in his movies.

Stallone is one of the biggest box office earners, one of the greatest movie stars of all time and one of the most recognisable actors in the world. Action movies wouldn’t be anywhere near as enjoyable without his contribution.

Sylvester Stallone – 334 Kills on Screen – 50 Films – 6.7 per film

Most Kills – 87 as John Rambo (2008)

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 60

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Although having little screen time in the Expendables, the Guvnor of California will be rightfully represented in the movie and he will forever been known as one of the best and most consistently enjoyable action movie stars that there ever will be. If not for his amazing array of movies, he is memorable for his quotable and trademark one liners or the characters he has portrayed; the man is an action hero.

Arnie started off as a body builder winning Mr. Universe at the age of 22 and entering movies in his debut as Arnold Strong in Hercules in New York. Arnie then went on to get a ‘Best acting debut’ Golden Globe for his role in Stay Hungry (1976) alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field but it was Conan the Barbarian that launched him into the Action Movie Hall of Fame which subsequently lead to his role as The Terminator. After dominating the movie business for 20 years he then did the unthinkable and became Governor of California where he has served to this day.

Arnie holds the record for most kills in one film with the awesome Commando where he slaughtered a phenomenal 102 bad guys. It’s the ultimate display of killing but it was no way his greatest moment, most people will instantly say Terminator is his defining moment and it’s hard to argue with that. His turn as the killing machine sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, then protect her son John Connor in James Cameron’s sequel, is one of the finest in Sci-Fi history and one he will be forever remembered for.

In his prime Arnie made arguably the finest collection of Action movies that have ever been made by one actor, easily beating everyone on this list in terms of variety, enjoyment, cult status and personality in his films, Arnie has proven to be possibly the most popular action movie star of all time. Listing the films just proves this:

Conan, The Terminator, Commando, Raw Deal, Predator, Running Man, Red Heat, Total Recall, Terminator 2 and True Lies that (for me) was his last true classic Action Movie. Arnie is my favourite action movie star of all time and in my opinion, No one comes close.

Arnold Schwarzenegger – 513 Kills on screen – 31 Films – 16.5 per film

Most Kills – 102 as Matrix in Commando

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 0

DOLPH LUNDGREN

And finally the winner of the most kills combined and with a staggering 632 kills in an average of 17.5 people per film, it’s Dolph ‘He-Man’ Lundgren.

To be honest I know little of Lundgren’s films, I know he was in Masters of the Universe, Rocky 4, The Punisher, Universal Soldier films and Blackjack but apart from those, the others I’ve never seen or ever really heard of but that doesn’t make his career insignificant. Dolph is a killing machine and has killed almost more people than Rourke, Statham, Willis and Jet Li put together and has a higher average per film to boot.

Dolph Lundgren was born in Sweden and it the largest of the Expendables at 6’5″ who has a third Degree Black Belt. His career in action films started in a small role in James Bond A View to a Kill due to being the real life body guard to Grace Jones, but it was his best and most well remembered role as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV that set him onto the path of becoming a major action movie star.

He followed Rocky with his most high profile role with the live adaptation of He-Man, he played the lead role of Adam Prince of Eternia in a fantasy/action movie that I still have fond memories of seeing, but one that I haven’t seen since the late 80′s, It can’t be that bad…

After Masters of the Universe, Lundgren went on to star in Red Scorpion, The Punisher and Universal Soldier alongside Jean Claude Van Damme that turned out to be his last major movie for many years as he slipped into low profile straight to DVD movies where he has made a living from since including turning to directing in 2004 with the movie Defender.

Lundgren was considered for the role of Ben Richards in The Running Man and was also offered the role of Captain America in the 1980 version but due to doing the Punisher, he turned it down. It’s a shame as he could have easily of had a career like Schwarzenegger, but he made a better villain than a hero and the bad guy rarely becomes the big star.

Dolph Lundgren – 632 Kills on screen – 36 Films – 17.5 per film

Most Kills – 60 as Frank in the Punisher

Approximate kills in The Expendables: 10

THE BLOODY FACTS:

TOTALS: 2149 Combined Kills in 302 Films.

1. HOW HIGH – If you laid all the bodies these guys have racked up in their movies and stack em up like a single tower morbid game of Jenga it would be the height of 2149 feet, 655 metres or 0.4 of a mile which is roughly the same size as five London Eye big wheels, Two Eiffel Towers or as tall as 13 Godzilla’s (Japanese 1954 original version)..

2. HOW FAR- Alternatively if you don’t fancy stacking you could lay each body-bag head to toe (presuming each guy exterminated was 6 foot tall, which is about right height for your average villain) it will total up to about 12,894 feet, 2.5 Miles or 3,930 metres in Length. That’s 9.8 times around an Olympic track that would take Usain Bolt about six minutes to reach the end of running at full pelt..

3. BLOODBATH! – If the average human body contains 5.6 litres of blood and presuming after each life our action stars takes the bodies loses around half that, then there would be enough blood to fill 10,588 pints of beer, 22.3 baths of water and is three times the amount of blood used to blast out of the bed in A Nightmare on Elm Street!

Thanks to excellent site www.allouttabubblegum.com for an invaluable source of information on movie deaths. Check them out, I had almost as much fun reading their site as I did watching the Expendables!

This Summer, some of the finest actors of a generation have been brought together for a big action movie, with a unique and original plot, and mind bending storyline. But enough about Inception. Also this Summer, Sylvester Stallone brings together either a collection of has-beens and never-weres, or the most impressively assembled collection of action movie icons in the history of cinema, depending on your point of view.

The Expendables tells the story of a team of mercenaries, action men whose lives have been devoted to carnage and mayhem. These Expendables are so called because they are unwanted, unloved, and completely, well, Expendable. Is this just an excuse for one of the most over the top, action heavy movies of all time, or is it a thinly veiled metaphor for the careers of those involved?

Whilst there are several younger ‘actors’ involved, some yet to make a name for themselves, the story of Sly’s summer blockbuster is his attempt to bring together as many action heroes of his era as he could get to sign on the dotted line. All can be considered former box office draws, but most have seen their best days long past. This weekend, it’s going to be interesting to see if these once A-list heavyweights are still able to draw an audience, or if they are now just as disposable as their alter egos in the film.

Some, like Dolph Lundgren, had a very short purple period many years ago with Rocky IV and Masters of the Universe in the eighties, and have now faded into obscurity. Others, like Sly, and Willis and Schwarzenegger (who admittedly only have small parts) are still trucking (though not for a few years now in the case of Arnie), but have been forced to watch their drawing power decline steadily over the last decade. Jet Li could almost be considered a surprise inclusion in the cast, as he has had much more recent success, and has not been around for nearly as long as some of the others. To be categorized alongside the rest of the ageing cast must have been somewhat of an eye opener for him, and it will be interesting to see what kind of effect it has on his movie career in China and Hong Kong.

Mickey Rourke has already mounted a comeback, with an impressive performance in Sin City followed up with his Academy Award nominated work in The Wrestler. One of Rourke’s biggest career weaknesses the first time around was bad role choices. Despite the aforementioned critically acclaimed roles, it is starting to look like he is struggling once again to maintain his profile with the right career decisions, following his underwritten role in Iron Man 2 with a date with career killer Megan Fox in Passion Play. In many ways, Rourke has a lot to lose by associating himself with actors whose careers have gone to seed.

Perhaps the healthiest movie career at stake is that of Jason Statham. He has thrown off the shackles of his mockney crime caper beginnings by carving out a career as one of the new generation of action heroes. Statham has built up a big fanbase with appearances in both the Transporter and Crank series, and should be looking to lift himself up to the next tier. If The Expendables doesn’t work, it could mire him in the same career dire straits as some of his older castmates, which would be a bit of a shame.

One thing is for sure, whatever reputation the eighties stars present currently hold, it could be worse. With the massive fall from grace that has befallen Mel Gibson, and the loss of popularity Tom Cruise’s bizarre behaviour has cost him, Sly and co. are in a far better position to springboard themselves back onto the Hollywood A-list than several of their peers.

So what are The Expendables prospects? And what would success actually look like? No-one is expecting high art, and that’s as it should be. The Expendables was always going to be a mindless action flick, and to over-complicate it would be asking for trouble. The plot does however need to be cohesive, and entertaining, with some spirit and genuine human interest. The Losers was a very similar style of movie, and a lack of compelling emotional drama and interesting plot meant it did not fare well at all. So far, reviews for The Expendables have been mixed, and there is nothing to suggest that it will be a classic of the genre.

I think financial success is far more important to The Expendables than critical plaudits. With a production budget of reportedly around $80m, it isn’t really THAT expensive. An opening weekend of around $30m would be massive, and instant justification for the movie. I think it could actually top that, with the competition from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World possibly a little overestimated. With plans already afoot for a sequel, projections are clearly looking quite good at the moment. However, the era of big names translating into big box office seem to be behind us, and you could argue it is only really Stallone of the principal cast that has the potential to draw in an audience.

This is an important movie for everyone involved. For the big personalities, it is a measure of just how much their star has faded, and an indication of where they stand with action movie fans. For the less well known, younger actors, success could lead to a lucrative action movie career. For Rourke and Statham, it is more of a gamble, and success is really a must to keep them up at the level they are currently at. For the likes of forgotten man Dolph Lundgren, it could lead to a career resurgence, which he must be hoping for, or it may just end up as the last hurrah of a washed-up action hero.

Whatever happens this weekend, The Expendables was an ambitious attempt to put together one of the most star-studded casts in recent history, and has managed to draw the interest of movie fans around the globe. We may be about to find out whether the stars of the past can still be relevant to a modern audience, or if they are obsolete, unwanted and, well, expendable. I hope the movie does do well, and i hope it does turn out to be a fun watch. It’s nice to see stars of yesteryear attempting to force themselves back to the top of the tree, and i’ll be fascinated to read the reviews and box office results at the end of the coming weekend.

Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

We’ve just been sent the first trailer for Universal’s upcoming sci-fi / horror film, Skyline.

The trailer follows on from the much buzzed about footage that was shown to fans at this year’s Comic-Con event in San Diego.

Skyline was written and directed by Colin and Greg Strause and stars Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel, David Zayas and Eric Balfour, all relatively well known on the indie circuit.

Synopsis: After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherwordly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

While the synopsis may make the film sound too similar to other alien invasion films, for example Resident Evil or Cloverfield, the trailer manages to make the film feel and look unique, whilst providing a perfectly awesome insight into the films setup, huge set-pieces and extensive special effects. In my personal opinion, it looks astonishing, definitely one to look out for.

Skyline will hit cinemas in the US on November 12, while a UK release date has yet to be announced.

The official website for Skyline went live yesterday. You may not have heard of this movie before but you might remember the giant banner that Relativity Media and Rogue placed on a hotel at Comic Con this year and Jamie put up the first image from the movie which you can see here.

The official site should hopefully give us some more info on the movie that could be this years District 9. Below is the best description (courtesy of IMDb) of what we can expect.

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherwordly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

Skyline stars Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins and is co-directed by brothers, Colin Strause and Greg Strause. It’s scheduled for release November 12, 2010.

Official Skyline website now live here

You can also join their official facebook group here.

The Expendables has been on my radar for months and like many other excited fans it’s a film I’ve been itching to see since Stallone announced that he would be bringing us ‘the ultimate action movie’ .

This is a film which unites some of the greatest action stars from the last two decades including Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone.

Was it worth the wait? Hell Yeah!!

Review contains spoilers

The Expendables are a group of highly trained mercenaries who take on impossible jobs for money. They are given roles by their handler ‘Tool’ (Mickey Rourke) and are introduced to the fast shooting leader, Barney ‘Schizo’ Ross (Stallone), knife specialist ‘Lee’ Christmas (Statham) short martial artist ‘Ying Yang’ (Li), big gun liability ‘Gunnar Jensen’ (Lundgren), Demolition expert ‘Toll Road’ (Randy Couture) and big gun ‘Hale Caesar’ (Terry Crews).

The team begin by boarding a boat where rebels are holding hostages that are to be executed. Outnumbered, we get to see their great skills against the odds. It’s a superb opening scene of coolness, sharp shooting and humour, and it sets the scene nicely as well as throwing in an upper body decapitation leaving the legs standing for good measure. Welcome to the action!

From here, we head into its main “story” where the Expendables are offered a job by the CIA. Their mission a covert ‘Op’ into Vilena to overthrow South American murderous Dictator General Garza (David Zayas). A reconnaissance mission leads Barney and Christmas (not the most tough sounding named action heroes) to meet local freedom-fighter and contact Sandra (Giselle Itie) who shows them who their real enemy is, former CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts), who pulls the political strings, and his muscle Dan Paine (Steve Austin) and ‘The Brit’ (Gary Daniels). Forced to flee in a hail of bullets and explosions, leaving Sandra behind to face torture and death. Barney plans to return with The Expendables to rescue the girl and destroy the murdering regime against all the odds……

What’s Good

Stallone is truly awesome and he still looks pretty good considering he’s 64. He carries the movie with his presence and energy for the role and you just can’t not enjoy him in the movie. Stallone however is outshone by Jason Statham who, for me, steals the show with some excellent fights, moves, one-liners and a highly enjoyable performance that may well propel him into the next big action movie star.

The rest of the cast all offer decent performances with no one being particularly out of place or abysmal despite their lack of screen time or acting credits. Jet Li and Lundgren put on a good rivalry although both are underused. Eric Roberts is just a wonderfully textbook evil-in-a-suit bad guy with Steve Austin providing a formidable opponent in his fights towards the end of the film. Mickey Rourke puts in the one solid performance with and was easily the standout in terms of acting, particularly in the key turning point in the film where he spills out his heart to Barney, he has such a cool presence in the movie and it’s a shame he doesn’t feature more.

The action scenes as expected are exhilarating viewing and took me back to some classic action movies of the 80′s and 90′s with some really OTT moments which all got a well deserved applause after they lit up the screen. It was so enjoyable watching such bombastic action play out like it does in The Expendables, from such iconic actors. There were some awesome one on one fights towards the end with head snaps, arm breaks, decapitations and plenty of huge guns literally ripping enemy soldiers to pieces if everything else failed; it’s outrageously riotous and so damn, bloody fun.

Then comes the action movie money shot that everyone had been waiting for, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone together for the first time in a movie. Yeah it’s a completely pointless scene and it’s sole use is to give us an action movie orgasm but it was very funny as they played off each other and I doubt there was a single person in the cinema who didn’t love every second of it, I know I did.

What’s Not So Good

The script is really cheesy at times, the story is crazy/laughable, some of the dialogue from Jet Li, Stallone and Lundgren was slightly inaudible due to their mumbled broken English. There is also some disappointing shoddy fake CGI blood and effects thrown into the action to add some gore which looked terrible and it makes you wonder why they bother when real prosthetic limbs and squirting plasma looks so much better, but I can easily forgive all of these issues as they pass quickly so not to dwell on the weaknesses of the film and let us sit back and enjoy the ride.

Some of the characters are really underused with Jet Li only given a few scenes to show off his martial arts.  The pairing of Randy Couture and Terry Crews get their moments at the beginning and the end of the film. However, they are just there for the muscle but due to their acting ability it’s probably a wise move not to extend their screen time but it does just make their characters there to make up the numbers. Dolph Lundgren has a smaller part than I expected but his contribution was none the less brutal.

Actors that I wish had appeared: Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Carl Weathers, Roddy Piper, Kurt Russel and Chuck Norris – but maybe Stallone is saving them for a sequel…

Overall

The ensemble cast is why people will flock to see The Expendables and the cheers as each actor’s name appeared in the opening credits was evidence to how excited people are for the film and I really believe you won’t be disappointed with it.

The hype for The Expendables is just about met, no one really expected a solid story with intelligent character dialogue. What people want is proper action and that’s what you get, by the tonne, from the greatest action stars of our generation. Easily the best action movie you’re going to see all year.

The Expendables is out 19th August. Check out our extensive Expendables coverage here.

We’ve been waiting for The Expendables to come around for quite some time now, fuelled by a touch of nostalgia as well as a desire to see some of the biggest action stars in Hollywood tool up and blow stuff up.

Tonight we’ll be attending a screening of the film, where we’ll no doubt get the chance to walk away from the explosion without looking back and we’ll post our review as soon as possible.

Suffice to say that the marketing for this one has included a ton of trailers, poster, featurettes and Sly and his guys have embraced the internet in more ways than one, including this nice new video which has Stalone answering a few questions and then, well, you’ll see.

Now, click here to watch Stallone take YouTube to task.

I honestly thought that this new clip from Stallone’s movie cocktail of muscle and nostalgia, The Expendables, was going to rely on the nuanced performances of two of its actors, Sly himself and Jet Li.

It begins with the two of them bantering about in a car, not exactly Mike Leigh, but fun enough and I was waiting for this benign scene to play out with a wisecrack or two before the fade to black.

Then, of course, a small corner of Hell breaks loose and bullets meet glass and action ensues.

Still, The Expendables is all about its action and while there’s been a lot seen in the clips so far, I’ll wager that the charisma of the actors will be what helps this one to stand out at the box office.

Here’s the clip,

Yahoo decided now was the time to show this to the world.

In the last few years the San Diego Comic-Con has expanded beyond the comic book and fantasy showcase of old to become the ultimate source of news and exclusives for the latest and greatest in the movie world. Founded in 1970, as a one-day convention, the event is now a four-day extravaganza drawing in over 125,000 attendees, with this year looking to be bigger and crazier than ever.

The list of films being showcased at this year’s event will have fans rushing to see the latest sneak peaks, exclusive reveals and stars as the onslaught begins on Thursday. To help get you started on what is likely to be an eventful four days, here’s a handy guide to some of the big films to look out for.

Warner Bros. will be giving us our first look at the upcoming Green Lantern. Starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Martin Campbell, this will hopefully be the first screening of Ryan in the virtual Green Lantern costume. Warners will also be giving us a look at Sucker Punch, the new dark fantasy film from 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder as well as all the latest from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) will be hoping to win over fans of the Swedish original with his take on Let The Right One In, the imaginatively titled Let Me In, while Paul W.S. Anderson will try and resurrect the corpse of Resident Evil with Resident Evil: Afterlife. Shot in 3D using the same cameras as Avatar, can this get the franchise back on track? Director and stars hope so when they present some 3D sequences at Comic-Con.

Universal, who are having a bit of a resurgence recently, will be looking to continue their upward trend by revealing more about big hitters Paul, the alien adventure comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, which actually has scenes based at Comic-Con, and the awesomely titled Cowboys & Aliens.

Cowboys is the next film for Iron Man director Jon Favreau and stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Based on the comic book of the same name, fans are expecting a lot from this film and given the track record of director and stars we hopefully won’t be disappointed.

Perhaps the biggest expectations for this year’s Comic-Con come from Marvel’s Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Concept art and set photographs from these films have started to emerge in recent weeks but Comic-Con may give us our first glimpse of the stars in action. It may be to early for Captain America but fans will certainly be expecting footage from Thor. Marvel may also use Comic-Con to make some announcements about The Avengers, considering the rumours hitting the net recently regarding Ed Norton’s involvement. Will they finally reveal who is taking over as Bruce Banner? Will they confirm Adrien Brody as Ant Man? Whatever happens, it’s expected Marvel will announce the full Avengers roster and that for me will be the highlight of the event.

Its rumoured Christopher Nolan will also be attending Comic-Con this year. As Nolan is currently linked with both franchises could this be DC’s attempt to upstage Marvel with a major announcement about Batman and Superman? If he does show up, chances are there will be big news about one or both of these projects.

I’m hoping that we’ll also get to see something from The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. But it’s been a very quiet production and with no Paramount panel this year it’s looking like the best we’ll get is a teaser poster, but who knows.

Other film’s making an appearance at Comic-Con this year include Tron: Legacy, Battle: Los Angeles, Salt, comic book adaptation Red, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Piranha 3D, Machete, The Other Guys, The Green Hornet directed by Michel Gondry, Priest – a western styled post-apocalyptic thriller, Guillermo Del Toro’s (as producer/co Writer) latest Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and many, many more.

Comic-Con is looking bigger and better than ever this year so keep an eye on the site for all the latest news as it hits from San Diego.

Story by Keith Bloomfield.