A sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s 2010 hail-Mary all-action-star effort to regain relevance at the box office, “The Expendables 2” may be the biggest, bloodiest and most willfully stupid film since the last time Michael Bay stepped behind a camera.

This one is directed by Simon West, someone else who has helped devalue the action flick. But the driving force is obviously Stallone, who wrote and directed the first film, then co-wrote this one. Stallone looks like 10 miles of bad road at this point – or, perhaps, a four-car pile-up of cosmetic surgeries. (More…)

“Chicken with Plums,” opening Friday (8/17/12) in limited release, is a fascinating puzzle: at once a mordant comedy, a tale of unrequited love and a story of heart-breaking artistry. Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud from Satrapi’s graphic novel, it is magical and mysterious, a story of love lost – and lost again. (More…)