Open Road Films recently send us over the official trailer for their upcoming release "Homefront. The upcoming film is written by action superstar Sylvester Stallone(The Expendables, Rocky) and stars Jason Statham (The Expendables, Safe), James Franco (Spring Breakers, This is the End), Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo. "Homefront" hits theaters on 11/27.

Plot Synopsis:

HOMEFRONT is an action movie about a widowed ex-DEA agent who retires to a small town for the sake of his 10-year-old daughter. The only problem is he picked the wrong town.

"Homefront": Official Trailer

Summit Entertainment has send us over a couple of stills and first trailer for "Escape Plan". The film reunites Expendables co-stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film also boasts a good supporting cast that includes Jim Caviezel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio and Amy Ryan. "Escape Plan hits theaters on October 18th.

Plot Synopsis:

One of the world's foremost authorities on structural security agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called "The Tomb." Deceived and wrongly imprisoned, Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) must recruit fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to help devise a daring, nearly impossible plan to escape from the most protected and fortified prison ever built. ESCAPE PLAN is the first pairing of action legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in leading roles, and co-stars Jim Caviezel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio and Amy Ryan.

"Escape Plan": Official Trailer

“The Expendables 2” is the kind of dumb action movie fun we have come to expect from the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis among others famous in this particular genre. Clearly everyone involved in its making is simply out to give action fans what they want, and while there are no real surprises in store, it is still fun for those who just want to enjoy the R-rated carnage being inflicted onscreen without analyzing this sequel’s threadbare plot too much. It’s also nice to see a lot of these action movie icons come together in the same film, and it helps to make “The Expendables 2” more memorable than its predecessor.

This sequel opens like gangbusters as the Expendables blast their way through a village to rescue someone who looks rather familiar (I’ll leave it to you to find out who it is). Those who survived the first movie (or who proved to be nowhere as expendable as the film’s title suggested) are back, and seeing them lay waste to a foreign army made me wonder if these were the soldiers John Rambo never forgot to eviscerate in “Rambo.”

Afterwards, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is greeted by the secretive Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) who gives Ross a mission he is in no position to turn down; recover an electronic device that can help retrieve a dangerous substance that cannot fall into enemy hands. It later turns out that this substance is plutonium, and the gang is met by an especially villainous character appropriately named Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who plans to sell it to the highest weapons making bidder. This leads to the Expendables losing one of its members in unforgivably cold-blooded fashion, and that ends up making this particular mission especially personal for them.

Stallone once again has the lead role and co-wrote the script, but he has turned the duties of director over to Englishman Simon West. Now West is responsible for “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “The General’s Daughter” starring John Travolta, some remakes that vary in degrees of quality (“When A Stranger Calls” and “The Mechanic”), and perhaps the best Jerry Bruckheimer guilty pleasure to date – “Con Air.” While I have no problem defending Stallone as a director, having West take over proved to be a good move. The action scenes are more cohesive, the editing is not all over the place, and everything we see onscreen remains appropriately LOUD.

By the way, those who complain about how loud “The Expendables 2” is, just shut up. All the action movies released in summer 2012 are just as loud, so we should expect the increase in volume by now. Next time bring yourself some ear plugs if you want to preserve what’s left of your hearing!

Now Stallone and Schwarzenegger are definitely showing their age here (Schwarzenegger especially), but it’s great to see them still kicking ass even as they have long since become senior citizens. In an industry that continues to be increasingly youth-based, these veterans prove that the odds against them are more expendable than they are. Seeing Schwarzenegger handle a machine gun is especially fulfilling as he proves that he has not lost aim after getting caught up in the realm of politics for the last few years.

Jason Statham (who returns as knife expert Lee Christmas) almost looks like a kid next to the rest of the cast, Liam Hemsworth as former military sniper Billy the Kid practically resembles an infant next to Stallone which probably makes the majority of the cast feel jealous as a result, and Terry Crews still knows how to rock a nasty looking gun as weapons specialist Hale Caesar (nice name). Randy Couture returns as demolitions expert Toll Road, but he doesn’t get as much to do here. The same goes for Jet Li who plays combat expert Yin Yang who ends up disappearing from this sequel far sooner than we could have anticipated. As for Dolph Lundgren who reprises his character of the volatile Gunner Jensen, he actually grew on me a bit this time around.

There are some “new” cast members who team up with the Expendables this time, and they prove to be welcome additions. Nan Yu adds that needed touch of estrogen to this testosterone dominated franchise as Maggie, a character who provides some of this sequel’s few surprises as she proves to be an expert in more ways than one. The previously mentioned Liam Hemsworth gives “The Expendables 2” that youthful feel of someone who has yet to become as cynical as his hard-bitten colleagues, and he gives a strong performance as a soldier eager to steer his destiny in a new direction.

One action star, however, who I was happy to see here was Chuck Norris who portrays a “lone wolf” retired military operative named Booker (an homage to the character he played in the 1978 movie “Good Guys Wear Black”). Now while I can’t agree with Norris’ political beliefs in real life, seeing him appear onscreen had me applauding. Norris has always had a strong and memorable presence in the movies I’ve seen him in, and he has one of this movie’s best lines regarding a snake.

But one actor I actually had more fun watching than I thought I would in “The Expendables 2” was Jean-Claude Van Damme. His limited acting skills prove to be a perfect fit for this sequel’s main villain, and he creates a perfectly detestable bad guy we want to see Stallone and company beat the crap out of. Now while he may be one of my dad’s favorite actors (I’m just kidding dad), I’ve never cared much for him in movies other than “Hard Target” or “JCVD.” But here, Van Damme proves that he still has those graceful moves as he dares his opponents to take him out minus the use of guns.

I guess I could complain more about “The Expendables 2” as it likely has more plot holes than anyone would notice upon first glance. But hey, in the end this is a movie that should be fun, and for me it was. I enjoyed seeing these action stalwarts come together in one place, and seeing them interact made for some exciting and funny moments. “The Expendables 2” may not reach the exhilarating action movie heights of this year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” or even “The Raid: Redemption,” but it does get the job done. With something like this, that’s usually the best you can hope for.

* * * out of * * * *

The first day of San Diego Comic-Con 2012 ended at a feverish pitch with the film panel for “The Expendables 2,” one of the most anticipated action blockbusters coming out this summer. Several of the movie’s cast members, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture were on hand to talk about the making of the movie. The biggest applause however was reserved for its two biggest stars: Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Stallone was greeted by a standing ovation and chants of “Rocky! Rocky!” when he came to the stage. “The Expendables” and its upcoming sequel having succeeded in bringing back the spirit of 80s actions movies in a big way, and the audience was in agreement with the actor when he said “let’s try to keep it going, keep the bad asses around a little longer.” There does seem to be a distinct difference between the action heroes of the 80s and those which came after who don’t spend as much time at the gym. As a result, there is something more authentic about seeing Stallone and his co-stars in action movies these days because they don’t have to prove how tough they are; you know them when you see them.

Soon after, Schwarzenegger came to the stage and was greeted with an applause that was simply deafening. After being away from films and involved in politics for several years, fans were more than happy to accept him back into the realm of Hollywood movies. Schwarzenegger replied to their enthusiastic welcome by telling the crowd:

“I’m back!”

Of course, having been away for so long, Schwarzenegger joked at how everyone felt the necessity to instruct him how to load a gun and punch but not really hurt someone. Others even tried to tell him “how to pull out a knife and kill someone,” and to that the “Terminator” replied:

“I wish you can do some of this in politics.”

In describing the story for “The Expendables 2,” Stallone said the characters are “mercenaries and when they come back from a mission” his character “is blackmailed by Bruce Willis’ character into doing what they think is a routine mission, but it’s not at all and The Expendables are put into a very strange and horrible place.” Stallone went on to promise fans that they’ll get to see bigger types of combat and action, and they’re “in for a ride.”

But make no mistake, the panel was mostly about Stallone and Schwarzenegger and how they joked about the competition between them both. Schwarzenegger described Stallone as being “very sensitive, very emotional,” and the audience couldn’t help but laugh. They even joked about one another’s movies when Stallone said that his favorite Schwarzenegger movie was “Junior” while Schwarzenegger said his favorite Stallone movie was the infamous “Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.”

Whatever the case, Stallone and Schwarzenegger will be appearing together again in “The Tomb.” Seeing these two action stalwarts together on stage, let alone in a movie, is a real treat. This makes us look forward to the release of “The Expendables 2” all the more.