The fun of Let The Bullets Fly comes directly out of the verbal and situational jump rope that everyone involved commits to. It’s formed with Shakespearean-style characters who both seem larger than life and able to lie. After taking down a horse-drawn train coach, the infamous bandit Pocky Zhang (played coolly by writer/director Wen Jiang) finds out that he’s killed the Governor-to-be of a sleepy little hamlet called Goose Town and decides, what the hell, he’ll ride into town claiming to be the man he’s killed. Fortunately, a toady named Tang (Xiaogang Feng) and the poor dead man’s unaffected widow (Carina Lau) want to tag along to avoid being murdered on the side of the road. When they ride into town, they’ll face off against the man who controls the city with a wealthy fist. Master Huang (played with pure genius by Chow Yun-Fat) gives them the proverbial finger by sending his hat to personally greet them, and the escalating game of egos gets started at a gallop.

By now, most fans credit Steve Wang and Matt Rose for the creation of the Predator. However, in my conversations with Steve, in particular, he feels that an unfair amount of credit has been given to him; it was a team effort bringing the Predator to life, and he couldn’t be more correct. During Monster Squad, Matt and Steve, who had been responsible for the Gillman, had worked through the weekend, grabbing precious few hours of sleep, while they established and painted the final suit. On Monday morning, it stood in the middle of Stan Winston’s satellite shop in all of its amphibian beauty. Stan saw it and his jaw bounced onto his chest. He had NEVER seen anything like it. It impressed him so much, that he, literally, stopped the work in the studio, gathered all of his employees around it and heaped praise upon these two kids (Matt was roughly 21 and Steve 20…maybe?). He said it was the best thing he had seen in his career thus far. Probably not the best strategy in the world. Months earlier, he was in England with his crew working on the Queen Alien, and now he was recognizing these two studio newcomers as the best. Where most of us in the shop agreed with Stan, there was some dissension.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we speak with legendary actor Ron Perlman about his white dreadlocks in Bunraku, we’ll chat with The Dark Knight Rises executive producer Michael Uslan about his incredible journey to bringing Batman to the screen, and we’ll talk with Brian Salisbury and Luke Mullen about favorite films from Fantastic Fests past to get excited for the debauchery of this week. Plus, Screenrant editors/Screenrant Underground Podcast hosts Ben Kendrick and Rob Keyes fight to the pain in our Movie News Pop Quiz. Is it any wonder we end up talking about Qwikster? Download This Episode

Next year’s The Expendables 2 is set up to be a team-up movie of the biggest action stars Hollywood has ever known. The only problem is that it looks a bit more like a senior’s circuit than it does an all-star game. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Chuck Norris are all huge stars, sure, but if you add up their combined ages you get… okay, I don’t know, I’m not going to take the time to add up their combined ages. But they’re old. Jason Statham is going to need somebody who he can fight in this thing without worrying about knocking out their dentures with an uppercut or ripping their colostomy bag with a roundhouse. Luckily for him, Variety’s Showblitz is reporting that he may have found a sparring partner. Earlier this summer Chris Hemsworth made a pretty big name for himself by very charismatically filling the shoes of the mighty Thor. He’s probably got a big Hollywood career ahead of him from this point forward. But it’s starting to look like little brother Liam is playing a quick game of catch up. Not only does he have one of the big roles in next year’s much hyped The Hunger Games, but also it looks like he’s going to be joining Stallone and company in becoming Expendable. His role in the film is currently undisclosed, but adding another high profile project to the resume has got to be big news for the young

According to John Singleton, Abduction was built specifically to show off Taylor Lautner as an action star, to groom him as the next generation’s Tom Cruise. That’s no easy task, and the trailer isn’t helping. While most directors might daydream about the financial opportunity to build a franchise, Singleton doesn’t seem so restricted. According to the LA Times, the director is assuring fans that he’ll be working on Abduction 2 no matter what the box office says. Granted, the way it’s asked and answered, it seems more like he can’t conceive of a bad box office showing for the film – he seems cocksure that audiences will award him a second film. No word yet on how Lionsgate feels about it, since he’ll probably need some money to make another movie.

In Premium Rush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a bike messenger that picks up a dangerous package that has him chased all over New York City. The result is a bit like Torque without the engine crashing into Enemy of the State. At least that’s what the trailer makes it feel like. This isn’t the first film from director David Koepp, even though he’s more well known as the writer of films like Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man and two dozen others. His bread and butter is broad entertainment with flair. Cue applause from fixed-gear enthusiasts. What potentially sets this high concept apart is its cast. Gordon-Levitt is a hell of an actor, and he’s joined here by Michael Shannon playing (surprise) a bad guy and Jamie Chung playing (surprise) an attractive ex-girlfriend who gets him into the mess. Check it out for yourself:

Merantau was an astonishing achievement in martial arts storytelling. It displayed incredible hand-to-hand combat work while managing to have a compelling story with solid acting. Go figure. Essentially, it made a lot of other action filmmakers look like amateurs, and it looks like Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais are returning with a stripped down flick to repeat the feat. The Raid is currently enjoying praise coming out of TIFF with hyperbole and review titles featuring exclamation points aplenty. Does it earn the hype? The trailer offers one clue, and you can check it out for yourself (if you’re old enough):

Why Watch? This short film is a lie. Dan Trachtenberg set the internet on fire yesterday and auditioned for a slot as the director of a “Portal” film (if they ever make one) with a crisp little film that highlights camera work and a bit of action. In full disclosure, Dan has been a guest on Reject Radio, and we’re friendly acquaintances, but the work here speaks for itself. If you’re unfamiliar with the video game, it mainly involves using a gun that shoots an entry and exit hole into walls and other obstacles, and here it’s put to great use with a charismatically silent leading lady. If you’re familiar with the game, there’s nothing else left to do but fall in love. What does it cost? Just 6 minutes of your time. Check out Portal: No Escape for yourself:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it… During an undercover mission in Prague, IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) witnesses his spy team picked off one by one—including his mentor and friend, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). With the blame of sabotage and treason on his head, Hunt goes on the run to clear his name, entrap the real conspirators and deliver the perfect dose of tentpole bravado.

Ben Affleck dipped his toe in the directing game by sticking to subject matter that he knew well, life in south Boston. After Gone Baby Gone and The Town did well with audiences and critics, Affleck seemed to get a bit of confidence in his new role. His next film Argo isn’t going to have anything to do with his life experiences at all. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of a globe-hopping tale about the CIA, undercover operatives, and hostages in Tehran. How’s work going on that project? I’d say pretty well, because THR is reporting that Affleck is already in negotiations to direct his next film, and this time he’s going to make the commitment to both direct and star. Unfortunately, the description of the film leads me to believe that Affleck is so comfortable as a director that he’s ready to stop doing things that interest him and start cashing checks to make crap. The film is called Line of Sight, and it’s an action movie that Joel Silver and Andrew Rona are putting together with Warner Bros. The concept is that the film will be about a team of elite commandos who have to transport some sort of precious cargo while a threat to world safety is happening and, get this, the film will be constructed of all point of view shots so that it looks like a first person shooter video game. How’s that for a twist? You know what I would have liked

Even giving it action credit, The Expendables wasn’t the men on a mission movie that it could have been. It became the Stallone/Statham show with not nearly enough regard for a talented cast of former steroid users. The sequel could remedy that situation, but it also has to jump the hurdle of, you know, being an action sequel. Fortunately, the good folks over at Twitch are reporting that Donnie Yen – the badass of Ip Man and many more – has been offered a role in The Expendables 2. While this is great news for that particular cast, Yen shouldn’t take the job. Why not? Because he’s a leading man who would be playing second fiddle here – character and action-wise. He’d be given one cool fight scene and be overshadowed for the rest of the run time (even if that one fight scene proves he’s more talented at close combat than anyone else on that roster). Undoubtedly, the pitch here from producer Avi Lerner is a role that would launch Yen into the minds of American audiences. While that may be enticing, it also comes with the possibility of following in Jackie Chan’s footsteps. Chan is a phenom, but his career in the United States morphed so badly into mainstream meaninglessness that he started turning back to China to make the bulk of his movies.

It’s been a pretty hard life for John Rambo ever since he signed up to go overseas and serve his country in Vietnam. He was turned into an expert in guerrilla warfare. Made the best with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. He was trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land. To eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In Vietnam his job was to dispose of enemy personnel, to kill, period. Win by attrition. And after a rough patch where the guy just couldn’t adjust to life after Nam, we sent him back there to slaughter hundreds more and get our POWs. Then we sent him to Afghanistan, where he killed about a thousand more people. I thought that was it for the guy, but then he ended up having to do the same in Burma. Isn’t it about time we let this guy live out his final years in peace? No. You just don’t turn it off. There’s a segment of the population out there who think that First Blood is a decent movie, but the subsequent Rambo sequels are cheesy and exploitative and lame. Those people are ridiculous. The Rambo sequels are cheesy and exploitative and awesome. Even 2008’s Rambo, where we get Rambo as an old man, is completely amazing. He tears out throats with his bare hand and explodes guys by hitting them with close range high caliber machine gun fire. What more do you want? Well, I

There’s something Schwarzenegger-esque about the opening to the first trailer for Underworld: Awakening. For one, we find out that it’s Selene’s (Kate Beckinsale) awakening. For two, she goes all Terminator by curling up naked in the fetal position before finding some conveniently skin-tight clothes and then kicking a bunch of ass. The way this trailer is edited together hints at the stupidity that the film might have in store, but there’s no denying that the action looks solid. At least it was enough to turn the entire thing black and blue:

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, Jason Momoa talks Conan, director Joann Sfar talks Gainsbourg, concept designer Jerad Marantz talks rising Apes and Spidey’s costume, and action icon Renny Harlin discusses his latest film 5 Days of War. Plus, our old friend Scott Weinberg goes up against FSR’s own Gwen Reyes in a Movie News Pop Quiz that leads us to talking about sexy animated characters. Don’t judge. You know you think Ariel is the bee’s knees. Listen Here: Download This Episode

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it, I wasn’t aware of Strike Back‘s existence until the week of the season 2 premiere… or rather the season 1 premiere on Cinemax here in the States. Before we get into the premiere, let’s go through some history. Strike Back is a show that was created by the Sky1 over in the UK. The show was well received both critically and commercially. Recently Cinemax has been in the process of putting, for the first time ever, original programs into production. The most high profile was/is the upcoming Transporter show based on the hit film series. But rather than wait for that show to premiere later this year, they decided to pull a Torchwood and help Sky1 finance Strike Back. So, now with Cinemax as a co-financier, we have Strike Back season 2, which is being passed as season 1 in the U.S. And that brings us to the question that we’re all wondering, is season 1/season 2 any good?

Dwayne Johnson found out about Osama Bin Laden’s death before everyone else, and in this picture he posted on his twitter feed from G.I. Joe 2 makes it look like he was one of the ones hunting him. For the first day of shooting, Johnson finds himself heavily costumed and strapped down with weapons, standing in a desert that’s either in some exotic location or somewhere near Chatsworth. I’m not the foremost expert on the original characters, and I didn’t care that much about the costuming from the first film. So, fans, is this what Road Block should look like?

Marcus Nispel is known as a work-for-hire type of director. The type of filmmaker that’s brought onto a project to craft a studio’s vision versus his own. Coming from the world of Platinum Dunes’ micromanagement, he’s worked on films that are not meant for auteurs. The projects he’s been a part of are calculated products, and Nispel is more than aware of it. The Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre remaker knows how the game goes for his franchise starter films. With Conan the Barbarian, Nispel got the chance to make a different type of blockbuster: a hard-R that features a misogynistic, barbaric lead. However, the director still was a “dog on many leashes,” as he described the process. Hopefully, Nispel still managed to create a version of Conan that lives up to the idea of an R-rated tent-pole release about a barbarian who thirsts for blood. Here’s what Nispel had to say about avoiding film school, making someone else’s vision, and how filmmaking is like raising children:

It was bound to happen eventually. Alien invasions seem to be the note every production is striking these days (for better or worse), and there’s no way the paying public would want to see the fad die without Jean-Claude Van Damme taking a swing at those extra-terrestrial thugs. According to Variety, Dominic Burns will write and direct UFO, which sees Van Damme kickpunch his way through an invasion with help from several newcomers. Burns has acted, produced, written and directed most notably with Black & Blue Films (the studio that’s bringing you Strippers vs Werewolves!) which seems slightly like a Britain-based Asylum-style studio with a focus on schlocky horror and comedy. Sometimes at the same time. However, it’s Burns’s own Hawthorne Productions that will be handling this particular gem. Thus, the sky is literally the limit for this project. But honestly, who here among us doesn’t want to see Van Damme put his work boot through the slimy flesh of some alien with guts that hopefully explode out from his body? Exactly. None of us raised our hands. Bring it on. And if those aliens happen to look anything like snakes, they are boned (see above).

Why Watch? This is the short film version of a headshot. Video games make awful adaptation material because, for some reason, they’re more fun for executives to suck all quality from. They’ve invariably meant for high budgets, but instead of bringing the faithful along for the ride, most productions tend to flip fans the middle finger while destroying any sense of story just in case anyone else wanted to enjoy what they were watching. Not so here. With a small budget and an aim at showcasing action, director Brian Curtin has created a fantastic short based on Half-Life. It could use a bit more in the way of character, but producing such a threatening, obviously villainous group of killers helps us feel for the leads without messy exposition. There are a few low budget problems, but they’re overshadowed by how impressive everything else is. Well shot, interestingly paced, and featuring some stellar production design, this is just engaging as hell. Plus, the ending is truly explosive. I’ve never played the game, so I can’t speak to how close they nailed it, but everything I’ve read seems to praise them for staying faithful. How about it, Half-Life (and/or zombie) fans? Is this the kind of thing you’d like to see expanded into a feature? What does it cost? Just 12 minutes of your time. Check out Beyond Black Mesa for yourself:

Hopefully the spoiler warning is loud and clear enough here, and, yes, I still take them seriously. Even if a fancy scientific study shows that we like things that are familiar, there’s still no replacement for being surprised or awe-struck with the wonder of newness. So if you’re avoiding information about Superman: Man of Steel, you can stop reading now. And if you keep reading, simply know that all of this might be untrue – it’s the work of an “insider” with the production that scoop site Comic Book Movie trusts. Their track record is pretty stellar, but nothing is confirmed until it’s truly confirmed.