Expendables 2 has its director

And he is Simon West. The same Simon West who directed the early 90s action flick Con Air and the recent and decent Jason Statham remake of The Mechanic. At least the man knows his action.

To be honest, we all know Sly Stallone is the driving force behind this sequel to his 2010 hit. And does it really matter who directs with him writing and returning along with fellow cast members Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke? No. It doesn't. The awesome has already been brought.

The film begins shooting this summer. The plot, as we've reported before, is as follows: The Expendables are back and this time it's personal! After Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and soul of the Expendables, is brutally murdered on a mission, his comrades swear to avenge him. They're not the only ones who want blood. Tool’s beautiful young and wild daughter Fiona embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters when she is captured and ransomed by a ruthless dictator plotting to destroy a resistance movement. Now Barney and the Expendables must risk everything to save her and humanity.

Iron Man 3 fades to Black

I've had an excessively tough time sitting through Iron Man 2. I loved the first movie, dig Robert Downey Jr and think Jon Favreau is the cat's ass as a director and actor. But the second film is just, well, blah. Worse than blah. Boring! Even with Mickey Rourke. What's up with that!?!

But I might have to force myself to catch the entire film now that Shane Black is in final negotiations to helm Iron Man 3.

Who's Shane Black? He's considered one of the best screenwriters in the business. Black wrote the first two Lethal Weapon movies, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Last Action Hero (we forgive you for that one, Shane). He also wrote and directed the brilliant Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, which starred Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

Oh yeah, he was also one of the soldiers in Predator. The guy who told all the jokes.

This is great news. Black's scripts are edgy, funny and violent. He could breathe the right amount of life back into a franchise that's at risk of dying before it gets out the gate. Hopefully the deal won't fall through!

Micro Review: The Expendables

Remember films like Commando, Missing In Action, Cobra, and Rambo? That's The Expendables in a nutshell. Plot? Who cares. Character development? Minimal. Pathos? Fuck off! This is man's movie. There's so much testosterone in this thing that I think my biceps will explode like the villains dispatched by Terry Crews' beautiful automatic shotgun. The action scenes in this thing are so awesome, well, I'm awesomed out by how awesome they are. The cameos by Willis and Schwarzenegger? Perfect. Did I mention the action scenes are awesome? Hollywood, take note: this is how you make an action movie. A pure action movie. A balls-to-the-wall, knife-in-the-throat, fist-to-the-face action film for people who grew up on them during the 80s. A Good review from The Basement on this one. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go eat a steak.