Escape to the Movies: The Expendables

[Atmos Duality]

....So this is what I missed because my Sump Pump went out during a thunderstorm?
Meh. There's no way this is any worse than Transformers 2. It has Jet Li, and even if they had him doing nothing but standing there with a sign that says "I'm Jet Li. And I'm not going to do anything in this film." it would still be better.

Still, badmouthing a demographic strictly because of their opinion is a low blow, and highly unprofessional, but don't take my word for it...

 

[RestamSalucard]

I'm very amused that after Moviebob calls them sheep, People try desparately to prove they're not sheep by responding to the one or two front page posts they agree with, say "I agree" and then leave before they can add anything of actual value to the discussion.

Yeah, I've got one word for these people, BAAA!

Also, whenever you use the word [starts with H and rhymes with stir] when talking about Scott Pilgrim, Shigeru Miyamoto shoots Kirby in the kneecap.

This has basically nothing to do with anything but I would like to post a slight except from one of Bob's fans on a thread from another movie reviewer.

J-Dude wrote, "Heh. I've got nothing to say to you, bub. MovieBob disagrees with you. Game over. While I respect the {names removed}, Robert "MovieBob" Chipman is still the end-all movie critic. He transcends all, and so I have learned from him.

The films you so foolishly dismiss, are easily among the greatest go-for-broke masterpieces of the last few years. I can only imagine the genius required to achieve such madness. They are as much art as any films these days CAN be. I will argue this with you no more. There is no need.

Go on, continue your meaningless squabble in non-understanding. For this is the land of the blind, and here, the one-eyed man rules supreme, even if they can't see it. I have been privileged to share what it is to SEE...truly SEE..."

Yep.. nice little cultist Bob has spawned. This is really concerning stuff.And lets all remember.. Bob recommended seeing The Last Airbender.. so.. yeah..

Well, of course, J-Dude is full of shit, Noah Antwiler is the Be All End All of Movie Criticism.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

I just had to re-watch both the Scott Pilgrim review and then The Expendables review and it just seems a little inconsistent. Never in the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World review did I personally feel like Movie Bob was adulating it as a truly important movie. It just sounded as though he really enoyed it, end of story. In the very beginning of The Expendables, one of the first points made is how it topped the charts over an insipid Julia Roberts movie as Scott Pilgrim was left in the dust. Between the first two, what do you think most sane people would pick who don't want to plant their skulls into the wall out of desperation for head trauma to be their sole entertainment? Scott Pilgrim did not have an explosive jump to carry it over to the following weekends.

Admittedly a big chunk of it boils down to how the movie was advertised to the masses. I cannot speak for everybody else, but on first impressions alone I saw another Michael Cera film of loser relationships. After hearing more about the film, I started to like the twists made and the fact that the director behind Shaun of the Dead did it, well that helped a lot. But how many people are going to take the time to learn about Scott Pilgrim's premise or even knew much about Shaun of the Dead like me? First impressions leave a lasting mark and I would wager that many people dismissed Scott Pilgrim after they saw Cera's gawky face next to another girl with indie text scrolling across the screen.

I personally enjoyed Rambo, so Stallone's next action movie with a huge supporting cast of action stars sounds pretty enticing, especially over a hackneyed, teen comedy-drama. I have to thank Movie Bob, though, because if it weren't for his review I would have left Scott Pilgrim as that without much thought. However, I do not doubt in my mind that a lot of people did leave Scott Pilgrim with the impression of trite awkwardness, which is unfortunate but possibly a curse of Michael Cera.

I get that it's supposed to be taken as a joke, but there's an underlying subtext to what he's saying that can end up being highly offensive to both female and male viewers. And it's especially not a smart idea to make those jokes when one takes such a strong stance against filmmakers using that kind of exploitation for comedy.

I do not want to try and guess what Bob's intentions were, but I wanted to add that as a straight male I too get offended. I also feel that it is strange that sexploitation gives an awful film some merit over "80's throwback stupid-violence," heavy action, or whatever one wants to deem The Expendables. I find the former to be more tasteless than anything The Expendables could likely produce.

Yep.. nice little cultist Bob has spawned. This is really concerning stuff.And lets all remember.. Bob recommended seeing The Last Airbender.. so.. yeah..

I'll have to re-watch that review as well. Damn M. Night, two more? TWO?!? Nobody should be recommended that movie; perhaps if it bombed extraordinarily the series would die in M. Night's hands.

 

[nightwolf667]

Or is it only not okay when filmmakers do that with the male form, Bob? Is it because those two large, glistening, heavy wrecking balls on Devastator make you uncomfortable?

You think of those Action stars as good looking?

I might think the Transformer was good looking, but it was really more of a throwback to a complaint Bob made in his Revenge of the Fallen review.

 

[Hashcurt]

I have to admit that I have seen a film based upon a book that goes into the world of Mercenaries and Coup D'etats many moons ago that the Expendables felt like a daft bastard son homage to:

The fun parts that don't just strike as coincidence is the reccy of the country as bird watchers, the escort and eventual beatings (Though instead of deportation, they flare gun a bunch of people with a fancy seaplane.) and of course the party piece in the picture: an XM-18E1R grenade launching shotgun while the Expendables have a similar vehicle with the AA-12.

The action of the Expendables felt lacking, the characters unbelievable and the film felt like a play job where the production crew massaged egos. And instead of researching up on the world of mercenaries when they wrote the script they just fast forwarded past much of the storyline of Mr. Walken's best film.

There's worse films out there, but this was damn Mediocre. Go track down The Dogs instead, you'll probably find it a lot cheaper too.

 

[Cat Cloud]

my hero <3 I don't like action movies. I'll respect the fact that many people like them, but I miss movies that focus on plot as well as characters and their development, meaning they at least try to do something different with them. Action movies seem to flood the movie market. I'm sick of them and their shallow character development.

Well,.to be fair the expendables didn't really seem to be that bad for an action film... the genre in general just bothers me.

 

[Ryan Hodros]

just because it's a professional review doesn't mean he can't have fun and also entertain his viewers (hell, Peter Travers is kinda the same way; when he hates a movie he REAAAAALLY has fun with it) and quite frankly it's impossible for you to try and take the piss out of Bob when he's already taken the piss out of himself so much. So, NO, YOU ARE WRONG. He is NOT part of that douchebag demographic you so WANT him to be a part of just so your beloved opinion is somehow validated.

So just because it's a professional review, it doesn't have to be professional? It's either one or the other. Unless he's totally invalidating his own opinion, and we're just supposed to watch these reviews for the humor, and totally ignore anything else he has to say. I mean, sure he can have some fun with it, but he should probably talk about the movie a little bit.

I would also say that this review wasn't really funny. It was more just a rant. More specifically, an "I am better than all of you!" rant. Which, I would say requires some actual backup.

 

[reaperman22]

It really wasn't that bad, I mean it didn't deserve top place that should be Scott Pilgram, but still i found it rather enjoyable and as for that no violence part... didn't you notice the bit at the start where a guys top half gets torn off from a gun blast, there is blood everywhere!

 

[Axillion5000]

I've been watchin Movie Bob on Escapist for a while now, and this has to be the first time I've been in disagreement with a review. As meaningless and mindless as this movie is, it still has the most important feature down: it is fucking entertaining. It's 1:45 of explosions, gunfights and kicking ass. You don't get a group of ACTION movie guys to get together to try and put together something with a meaningful plot or storyline, you do it to put together an ACTION movie. And that's what they did. There was just enough dialogue to give some loose motivation, and that is way more than enough. If you are going to get all up in a terrible movies face, go verbally beat the shit out of Piranha 3D.

I do agree that Scott Pilgrim deserves WAY more than what it is getting, but being all butthurt over a good indie film not gettin props is no reason to get all pretentious and slam a good action movie.

And one last thing, the target audiences for these two movies are almost polar opposites. The Expendables is aimed at pure mainstream audiences. Folks who can just sit down and watch the an explodathon and enjoy the movie for what it is. Scott Pilgram, and movies like it, will never, NEVER, achieve the same success because they target the indie audience. F01k5 wh0 c4n r34d th15, for example. Folk's who want a little extra meaning to a move, a little bit of read-between-the-lines commentary on society. And let's face it, that target audience is much smaller than the mainstream. Deal with it.

 

[Uri]

I could barely finish watching this review. Took a lot of strength.

I can't believe Bob this week. We are obedient sheep because we go see one of the biggest collaboration films this decade instead of watching a film that was barely advertised in many places? We are the worst kind of people on earth because we like the premise that a movie will be an homage to 80s action films?

He dropped the ball on this review. Insulting a film is one thing, insulting someone for liking it is another, but insulting people for thinking the premise sounds like a fun idea?. That's a new low. I won't even go into how much I disagree with you on the quality of the film.

For someone who tries to hinder people from being elitist nerds, you are one of the biggest elitist nerds I've seen in quite a while.

well said.

 

[osiris993]

This discussion is entirely too serious. It is clear that by now someone should have contacted the wahmbulance, as Bob's case of Butthurt seems quite severe. However, before I commit myself to such a duty, I do have just one quandary to be answered by this movie reviewer:

U mad? [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/29358]
Why u mad?

 

[kingmob]

Apparently, I'm the only one who can respect and more or less agree with Bob's opinion. I watched the movie and I walked out of the theater like "That was cool", but on retrospect...yeah it's kinda sucks.

Damn, so much hate. Bob must've hit a landmark for most hate comments for a video. I don't think Yahtzee gets this much feedback. He should get an award or something.

I think if one more user defines all these comments further as 'hate', the amount of inflation that word has undergone has reached new epic levels.
It is seriously amazing how many people dismiss obvious and constructive criticism on such a simple basis (on the last few pages I haven't seen a single 'hate' post or "boohoo I liked the movie" type of post).
I guess that is how the brain guards itself against unwanted criticism based in logic, just ignore the logic and instead do a straw-man approach.

 

[Will Lorus]

I find the responses to this very interesting indeed. I just watched this http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/203-Braid video again and found it startlingly relevant to the current situation regarding this review, the Expendables and Scott Pilgrim to some extent.

Of course you could always argue that 'Yahtzee is meant to be insulting while Bob isn't and so it doesn't count' but an opinion is an opinion however it's phrased and it shouldn't be dismissed on the grounds that it goes against a pattern in Bob's reviews (which I'm not sure it even does when you take into account the Twilight and Jennifer's Body rants).

The sentiment is the same in Yahtzee's video and shouldn't really be dismissed because he has better comedic sense. The viewer is still being insulted and that doesn't ring less true just because you may laugh at it.

 

[someotherguy]

OO OO OO!! JUST REALISED!!!

Bob will probably do his childish "statement" to us all in his next review video. Usually starting with

TRON 2: "Okay first off....Theres been some people blah blah blah Expendables blah blah blah"

Its funny when people try to redeem themselves or offer insight to their behaviour so im looking forward to Bob arguing back because he cant take it when the "Sheep" dont like being called idiots. Pompous ringworm.

It'll either end a) Heartfelt apology (unlikely) b)Comment about the internet being butt hurt. Most likely. C)Comment on how he's better than all of us (most lulzy) for being watched by Tens of maybe hundreds of thousands of people. or D) Don't speak on it. I personally want C because it'd be the funniest stuff in the world, Fan the flame. Honestly though, I only watched his stuff because it filled the gap between the LRR stuff, ZP, D&A, and Good knights quest, not because it had any entertainment value. I'll watch his response then i'll be done.

 

[someotherguy]

This discussion is entirely too serious. It is clear that by now someone should have contacted the wahmbulance, as Bob's case of Butthurt seems quite severe. However, before I commit myself to such a duty, I do have just one quandary to be answered by this movie reviewer:

U mad? [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/29358]
Why u mad?

Was about to say rule one and two, but no, you pulled an awesome.

Winner.

 

[theApoc]

You got beat up a lot in high school didn't you?

Rule one of the escapist:
Don't insult people, only say why they're wrong.
Rule two of the escapist:
It's generally not wise to insult people who WORK here.
Rule three of the escpist: Post an avatar so I feel better.
Have a nice stay here, however long.



OT: I am sad about Scott Pilgrim, but I don't feel it gives you the right to insult everyone who liked "The expendables" Bob.

Um, so Movie Bob is free to insult anyone who may like this movie? He is free to vent his nerd rage with half-assed stereo types? He is also free to revel in the self-righteousness of his Scott Pilgrim praise while literally calling the people who liked The Expendables morons. Yet I can't make an observation on regarding his obvious insecurities about his own machismo? Give me a break.

As is often the case on the Escapist, people are far to willing to dish it out yet completely incapable of taking ANY criticism, actual or in your case perceived. The probability that you and Movie Bob were both geek/nerds in high school is pretty darn high IMO and with such a thin skin I feel it perfectly logical to question your overall safety during the high school years. I didn't say I wanted Bob to get beat up, but rather that he seems to have some deep rooted psychological issues from being bullied as a teen. Which is why he loves a movie like Scott Pilgrim where, the hero nerd from every nerd movie in the past 3 years, once again triumphs over everything, and is no more poignant or realistic than the action shoot-em ups and one-liners in the Expendables.

Oh and Rule number 4 of The Escapist:

Don't question the validity of a persons opinion, as they have just as much right to it as you do to yours, especially when they have been participating, reading and supporting the site for more than a year longer than you...

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I find the responses to this very interesting indeed. I just watched this http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/203-Braid video again and found it startlingly relevant to the current situation regarding this review, the Expendables and Scott Pilgrim to some extent.

Of course you could always argue that 'Yahtzee is meant to be insulting while Bob isn't and so it doesn't count' but an opinion is an opinion however it's phrased and it shouldn't be dismissed on the grounds that it goes against a pattern in Bob's reviews (which I'm not sure it even does when you take into account the Twilight and Jennifer's Body rants).

The sentiment is the same in Yahtzee's video and shouldn't really be dismissed because he has better comedic sense. The viewer is still being insulted and that doesn't ring less true just because you may laugh at it.

That's probably the biggest flaw in most people bitching about Bob. It's OKAY for him to rant on Twilight because most of the Escapist hates that too but they suddenly remember their critical analysis when he bashes on a bad movie that some people on this site happened to like? Bad idea, as it just comes off as being opportunistic and petty.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I've watched this review a few times and also went back and watched some of the other negative reviews Bob has done and I just don't get what the big deal is. He insulted this movie he hated similarly to how he has in the past, the only difference is mentioning how underappreciated a movie that came out at a similar time was recieved(it is just a small aside in the review anyway). I've had times where I've agreed with Bob and times I have seriously disagreed, but I really can't understand why people are getting all up in arms over this.
Being called "sheep" and being jokingly called "the worst type of person" for wanting an old old style action movie were the closest things I could find that resembled insults. Do people really have that big of a problem being called "sheep" over enjoying "Douchbag Cinema"?