Chris Luckett

When Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez made their B-movie homage Grindhouse in 2007, it was bad, just like the real, schlocky grindhouse flicks of the ‘70s. The lesson was that if skilled filmmakers do a tribute to something that was bad to begin with, the result will simply be a well-made, bad movie.

Sylvester Stallone, writer and star of The Expendables series, has consciously made movies that recapture the bombastic nonsense of ‘80s action flicks like Cobra, Commando, and Missing in Action. With each one, he’s done a better job. That also means that each has been a worse movie, and indeed, The Expendables 3 is the worst yet. Continue reading →