The Couch Critics
The Couch Critics is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan, along with a rotating door of eclectic co-hosts, dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critics bring thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan and friends guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critics
Expendables - A + 4 = Expend4bles
Ready to immerse yourself in an explosive discussion about the fourth installment of the Expendables series? Come join us for a thrilling ride as Natey and his special guest, Taj, a well-known movie buff, dissect this action-packed film in an episode that you won't forget! We kick things off with a rapid-fire review of John Wick 3, before diving headfirst into the heart of our episode - Expend4bles. We leave no stone unturned as we dissect the plot, discuss the fresh faces, revisit the classic violence, and even ponder the conspicuous absence of some past stars.
As we venture further into the episode, the spotlight shifts to Tony Jaa, a pivotal character in Expend4bles. Brace yourselves as we unravel the big plot twist that we had seen coming, and offer our takes on the lack of screen time for other characters. We shed light on the enigmatic Ocelot and lay bare our thoughts on Andy Garcia's role. And when it seems like we've covered just about everything, we take an unexpected turn and bring Fast and Furious into the mix, drawing some fascinating comparisons. We wrap things up by highlighting an intriguing monologue penned by none other than Sylvester Stallone. Get ready for a rollercoaster of opinions, engaging conversation, and more movie talk than you can handle!
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One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough. Together, fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies. Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan, aka Nady, of course, and with me is not Katie once again, but this is one of my very, very, very good friends. Hello listeners.
Speaker 2:My name is Taj. I am an avid moviegoer, if you will, a member of AMC's A-list Plus and also Regals Unlimited.
Speaker 1:And one of the reasons he joined Regals Unlimited is because they have the 4DX Theater, which I've actually experienced a little bit myself. So I do understand why you would join that. But everyone who listens knows that my main go-to is my local AMC, where I do also use my A-list. Amc Theatres is not a sponsor of Nady and Katie at the Movies, but they should be. So I'm really excited to have Taj on the show, because way back in the day I had another show I think it was like all the things with Nate and I started taking that to a movie review direction, and there was one movie in particular.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you remember which one it was, but he was supposed to come on the show to review a movie and I announced that he was going to be on the show. I posted it on social media and I don't know what happened. I guess we just decided that we weren't friends anymore and he just never showed up. Taj, do you remember the movie that we were supposed to review? Yeah, john Wick 3. And there's been four of them now.
Speaker 2:And so.
Speaker 1:I thought, before we did a review of the movie we're going to be talking about today, we do a really short but sweet review of John Wick Chapter 3, even though John Wick Chapter 4 has already happened. So I'm just going to go ahead and give my short review. I thought it was awesome. That's my short review. Taj, what did you think of John Wick Chapter 3?
Speaker 2:I also indeed thought it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:Cool. So let's move on to what we're doing today, on today's episode, and that is Expendables 4, or some people like to call it Expendables, because I like to put the 4 where the A is, because that's you know, that's just what they do nowadays they put numbers in random places that make no sense at all. But that is what we're going to be talking about. But before we can jump right into the review, I got to go over the synopsis. Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on, the Expendables are the world's last line of defense and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table. Expendables stars Jason Statham, 50 Cent, megan Fox, sylvester Stallone and a bunch of other people that you probably don't even care about. So obviously, expendables 4 is the fourth in the Expendables franchise. I'm just going to go out and assume, taj, you've seen every single Expendables movie. I always ask Katie, and she probably has never seen any of these, but I'm assuming you have. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yep. I've seen all three prior to that one. Yep.
Speaker 1:Taj, I don't know if you've listened to the show before, but what Katie and I usually do, we do likes and dislikes, so I'm going to let you since you are my special guest, I'll let you share some of your likes about Expendables.
Speaker 2:I do like that. It seemed like, especially at the beginning. It seemed like they returned to some of the gratuitous violence that was there in the first one and seemed to like, not that the second and third one weren't, but like there was something that happened in this one, that happened in the first one, and I just recently I did watch them all three before we watched the fourth one the way that some of the violence happened in the first one kind of resembled some of the things in this one, and so I did like that. They kind of returned to home, if you will.
Speaker 2:I like the idea of new characters. I do like I liked the guy that played Antonio Banderas' son. I felt like for me he did a good job at replicating the character, at replicating more or less what Antonio Banderas was doing in the third movie. It was very clear that who he is, his character was supposed to be, Because I didn't realize that Antonio Banderas wasn't going to be in it, and so then when he started talking, I was like, ah, he's got to be his child for sure, and it was. I always like to see returning characters because I'm always like, ah, when people don't show back up, no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Like I was kind of teasing, my only like in this movie Was the action. I mean, these movies are all about the action. It's all all about taking you back to Like classic 80s, because that's why that was the big drawl of the first three Was there, bringing back all these classic action. Now I will say, as the movies went on it felt like they started scraping at the bottom of the barrel about about who they were gonna get. Because I love Antonio Banderas. I like I kind of forgot he was in these movies but I love him.
Speaker 1:But I wouldn't really necessarily consider him an action star, like I know he was in mask as Zorro, but that's, that's the only really thing I can think of. And and if you're listening and you know Of him in another action movie, by all means. But I don't see like Chuck North. When Chuck Norris showed up, I'm like, okay, that's awesome. When Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up, okay, that's awesome. Bruce Willis and you know they had it feels like in the earlier ones they have these bigger names.
Speaker 1:And as the movies went on, they're just like, hey, let's get this random guy and then this one, which is another one of my dislikes. It just felt like they had a bunch of nobodies and and and, if you're listening, and you know some of these actors, and and Taj, if you know some of these actors from other things and hopefully I'm not offending anybody that I don't, but I just felt like they weren't as like, oh my gosh, I need to see this movie because it has all these classic action stars, which is what the first at least the first two did, and then the third and the fourth is when I felt like they kind of Just scraped at the bottom. Do you agree with that or do you? Or do you think I'm just?
Speaker 2:I feel like for me I definitely agree with the Antonio Bender's thing, because when I saw him I was like, well, I like him, but I was like huh, I really only know about Mask of Zorro, and then like Spy kids, which like aren't action movies but like you know. But I felt like there's gotta be something that I'm missing somewhere. That he also did that Would have qualified him for that. Wesley Snipes was in a bunch of action stuff so I didn't feel that way with him.
Speaker 2:And Ronda Rousey is not an action star but she is very popular as far as combat sports, so like that made sense to me that she was there because Randy Couture is in the movie because he was a UFC champion. So it's the same idea with Ronda Rousey. So like both of those, that that made sense to me. I was not as familiar with Liam Hemsworth when they added him in second one, but he died halfway through. And Kelly Lutz is in, was at that time In a few things, like in most of his stuff wasn't like really big things, but like he was doing action movies and so again it made sense.
Speaker 2:But I as far as like scraping the bottom of the bureau, that's fair because like they kind of went through some of the the bigger names and you know by the time they got to To him and actually one of the other guys that's in it was in the new top gun. So like I don't feel like this cream about that was just prior to the top gun. He's in that and that did fantastic. So like I didn't feel that way about him as well. Oh, and the other guy that that was also in it, also in the UFC. So like it wasn't action stars, it was more people that are known for being hardcore people because they're in the UFC or whatever, and so, like that part is what trends?
Speaker 2:Like I said same thing with Randy Couture and like Stone Cold, steve Austin in the first one, because you've seen them on TV, not being movie stars but literally being known for kicking butt. You know, those choices sporadically made a little bit more sense to me. But for the Kellen Lutz one, yeah, I did feel like okay, yes, we're kind of running out of people because we put everybody in the second one Cause I feel like if you had to spread it out a smidge more, you could have yeah, if they had saved Chuck Norris for this one, that would have been awesome, I mean because, again, going back to what I said, like to me.
Speaker 1:Like I understand they brought like UFC and wrestling people, but to me the big draw of the first one, and especially the second one, I guess, was the fact that they were bringing back these classic action movie stars and then to throw in and I didn't even mention the ones that you mentioned because I guess I just didn't remember that they were in it because these movies aren't that memorable to me, but, again, because my biggest like is the action. So was there anything else that like stuck out to you as like a really big like for this movie?
Speaker 2:I guess I just, in general, liked that there was some sort of twist, if you will, even though I mean we, you know, called it the entire time. But like I like that they attempted that as opposed to like it being a little more straightforward. Oh, also, I forgot about this one specifically. Yeah, no, I'm unfamiliar with the blonde woman, not familiar with her at all, and I don't know the guy playing Antonio Benderas' son. I'm also unfamiliar with him. I obviously know 50 Cent, but he an action star he is not. And I and I definitely know Megan Fox as well, but, like again, as far as action star, again she, she is not, or whatever. So I think this one was more, or at least for those two, like it was recognizable names, you know, and then.
Speaker 2:But I will say, tony Jha is a very big deal and Tony Jha is absolutely fantastic and he's one of those people that, like you it's the name is perhaps not as like big, but like Tony Jha is, I would, I would liken him to Jackie Chan.
Speaker 2:Tony Jha is brilliant, he's absolutely brilliant and and like, as far as like people that are into those movies, really hardcore, because, like my friend Greg, because I didn't even know who he was until my friend Greg that went with us to the movies to see it. He, tony Jha, is a really big deal to him and so he was super excited when he, when he saw him and like this was like years ago and around the time the first Expendables was coming out and he had mentioned Tony Jha and blah, blah, blah, and he was like, oh yeah, I expect him to be in one of those movies. And so fast forward all these years later and he is in one. But yeah, tony Jha is pretty great and he's, he's, he's pretty awesome. He was actually one of the Fast and Furious movies as well.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I mean I'm not super familiar with, with every actor that's in these films, and so I'm probably definitely going to check out some of his stuff, because he was one of my like, if not my favorite, character in this movie and he starts off very, you know, very low key and then he comes in and just totally kicks butt and takes names and it was just amazing, now, I will say, for a movie that started about Sylvester Stallone and team. This movie took a completely different take to it and we are going to get into spoilers. So if you don't want to hear anything about what happens in the movie, it's kind of hard to talk about the movie without going into spoilers. But I'm going to make this part of my dislikes, though. The big twist that you mentioned, tash, the fact that you and I were able to call it so early and but it but also made it kind of fun. So I don't know if it's a like or dislike, because the whole time we're like, okay, is he gonna come back now?
Speaker 1:So what happens is so Vester Stallone is in an airplane. Him and his friends get betrayed by on. You remember the name of the? What was it? What was the name of the mystery person that they're, oh, ocelot. So they get betrayed by ocelot, which the reveal of who that was was dumb too, because I don't care about, and I'm gonna spoiler right now I don't care about Andy Garcia, because Andy Garcia is one of those actors that's in this movie. I'm like, why is he in this movie? He's not an action star. Anyway, I'm gonna get off that soapbox.
Speaker 1:So so Vester Stallone drives his airplane and Jason Statham tries to save him, and it was like no, let him sacrifice himself. And he ends up, quote-unquote, dying. Everyone thinks he's dead and me and Taj both look at each other. Or is that? There's no way? Because if Esther Stallone made these movies like he started him, it's like killing off Rocky and Rocky 4 and Everyone thinking there's no way Rocky's dead, and you would be right, there's no way. Is a Vester Stallone's characters dead? But when does he show up? I think that made this movie the most fun for me. It wasn't even the movie itself, it was the fact that me and Taj kept on making jokes about how, how he could come back. I guess, especially the part near the end where I guess a grenade gets thrown off or a detonator. It's thrown off the boat. And Taj, what did you? What did you say should happen when the detonator is thrown off the boat?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you reached out and caught it.
Speaker 1:So if you couldn't understand Taj, for I think he said we thought it would be really funny if Mr Stallone's hand pops out, catches the detonator and says Sorry, I'm late, guys, and throws the detonator for some reason. Just we thought that would be funny, but no, that's not when he comes back. There's like multiple moments where you think he's gonna come back but he doesn't, and Of course, the real time he comes back is when he's saving Jason Statham's butt. So let's go back to that.
Speaker 1:I felt like this one Made it all about Jason Statham's character and no one else really got to shine. You know, usually you have these movies like the Avengers and all these other team-up movies and they do a really good job at letting each character have their moment and their shining moment. I felt like they kind of did it with Megan Fox, because I I'll just say this I think Megan Fox did a lot better Than the trailer led on what she was gonna do. Because when I first saw the trailer, I'm like number one. I don't remember her ever being in any of the Expendables movies and to it's Megan Fox.
Speaker 1:I'm not a really big fan of her acting, I'm just not a big fan of her, and so when I saw the movie, I was like, okay, she did a pretty good job, but I feel like this movie didn't let anyone else Take the spotlight. It was mostly Jason Statham, which is okay, because I like Jason Statham, I like the way he is fighting, I like his action scenes. I don't know, I, I don't know what I was expecting from the Expendables. Do you do you see? Do you see that as true? Like they didn't really Do the team as much in this one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I would definitely agree that they they didn't really spotlight anyone. That the way that I would have anticipated at least a little bit more because like I figured not that he would have a lot, but like you put 50 cent in it and so like I figured there would be more with him. The other woman that's in the movie barely talked and I Thought that was interesting because like she's a new team member and so it would have made sense for her to like have some sort of back, because like there was no background for her, because at least with Antonio Banderas's son, he was Antonio Banderas's son as far as, like, the characters are concerned, so it's like there was some background knowledge to him. These other people just seemingly are on the team now Megan Fox's, jason Statham's girlfriend Herdever, and she's the new leader because you know, whatever, whatever and stuff like that. But like, yeah, outside of that there was the whole huh, we're getting old thing, which like that's fine, but as far as spotlighting anything, yeah, another, there wasn't like a moment for, ah, such and such, like that was their moment to shine here, like, for example, in the first one.
Speaker 2:Dolph Lugren was the traitor in the first movie and so it's like here's his moment, you know, because he turned on all of them and stuff like that, and like also in the first one, there's a moment where Terry Crews saves everyone because they were all about to die and he comes in clear as a whole hallway with his big gun that he was talking about those weren't Prevalent the way that I would have been. Like Tony Jha had that moment, I would say, which you know, which I guess made sense because we would have anticipated that. But like outside of that, based on what I would have anticipated, yeah, there wasn't, there wasn't as much of of that like I felt like the only person that didn't. This is just because you talk so much. But the guy playing tournament Banderas's son, because there was a tension called him because he was speaking or whatever, and then so like him taking the vow of silence and all that, whatnot, for the brief moment that that lasted, and then like the Calm moments where Dolph Lugren can't see because he's old and needs glasses.
Speaker 1:And then when he drinks a thing of whiskey, he just it's like Popeye with his spinach.
Speaker 1:I can say all these people oh boy, so let's get right to our dislikes. I think we're already kind of getting into the dislikes. I'm just gonna go and say every single thing and you can just touch on whatever I say terrible script, terrible acting and we kind of already mentioned it the terrible quote-unquote twist. So Again, if you've seen the expendables movies which we both have and I'm sure people listening some of you have these movies are not about the acting. These movies are not even about the plot. They're not even about the script, they're not even about anything. So why do I care so much? Because I do.
Speaker 1:I still want I mean I'm not saying I wasn't entertained, I was but there has to come a point where we can't just be like I'm just only seeing this for the action. I want there to be. I Want there to be good acting moments. And to me and and I don't know if you disagree, taj, but to me there was no good acting moments. There was no, like the script did not help these people at all, there was too much Random humor and like I think every time they try to make a joke. That's when I would turn to you, taj, and be like, seriously, this is dumb, but I still enjoyed it because of the company and because of the action. So, out of all the things I just listed, do any of those have anything to do with some, with things that you didn't like about the film, or do you not care as much about it as I do?
Speaker 2:is that, yeah, I think like those, yeah, those things I don't think for this specific movie don't mean as much to me. So like, because everything that you just mentioned is, as far as I'm concerned, kind of part of these films in general, like the script isn't supposed to be great, it's supposed to be a cheesy script, because these guys are all from cheesy action movies in the 80s. Because the 80s, and not that this is a bad thing. Like in retrospect, some of the movies that these guys did was cheesy, you know, and so it's like that kind of is it's playing to that or whatever. And so like because for me, especially because I just rewatched them before we watched this last one, I wouldn't complain about this script, because I would have complained about the second one, because the second one was the one that felt truly cheesy to me, because that was where they crammed in everyone's one-liners from all of their movies in the past and like, and I'm one of those people that like enjoys it, but like it even got to a point where I was like, all right, heard of her, and like, and they were doing a thing where they were everyone else was saying everyone else is saying, and so like then there's humor in that, and so like for me.
Speaker 2:All the silly jokes or whatever, like that also is kind of my sense of humor and so like to me. They were funny, they landed for me. I also anticipate all of that. I anticipate them not being great. I anticipate as much as I anticipate Jason Statham kicking someone's butt and specifically in this movie, jason Statham using a knife. I anticipate the script not being Oscar worthy, but like it's not supposed to be, for me it's just not as big of a deal as far as like acting moments.
Speaker 2:I do agree that there wasn't really anything that was like a wow, they really, you know, and so like that I definitely agree with, because there wasn't really anything that stuck out to me. As far as that's concerned, I liken it. It's nowhere near as long, but like I liken it to like a Fast and Furious movie where it's like, well, I'm expecting them to do a bunch of ridiculous things and there'd be a bunch of explosions and corny jokes and one-liners or whatever, because the lead of this movie is Sylvester Stallone. But I think, if anything, that was a dislike for me which I know that, I know why, but like I think mine would be the lack of Stallone, because this is supposed to be a franchise led by him, and so I think that was well, geez.
Speaker 2:When he did finally come in, I was like, wow, you, you cut it mighty close, which, like I know, it's like part of the whole thing, but like, but boy, you cut it really really close. And it got to a point where I was like, oh crap, maybe, maybe it's not coming, like, for briefly, I thought he wasn't. I was like, are they just gonna let Jason Statham go down with the ship like the people from Titanic?
Speaker 1:Well, there was a split second that I said would it be crazy if Sylvester Stallone was the bad guy, like he betrayed all of his friends, like, and I kind of would have been okay with that, because that would have been totally out of left field Cause? Again, I didn't care that Andy Garcia was the bad guy. I don't know, I guess he was in the third one, I don't remember, or maybe I don't know, that's how much I didn't care about his character. Yeah, I don't recall, random to me, that he was this big, long lost bad guy, that Sylvester Stallone's character that had been searching for for years. And then it's Randy Garcia, and they hit, they even hinted that this character was just someone that Sylvester Stallone's character made up to cover his own butt. And so I thought that would have been cool if that's exactly what happened. Like he has lived with this PTSD for so long that it Finally took over, and I don't know. I just think that would have been a more interesting ending Than what they did with Andy Garcia. But that's, that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1:But I will say, with the acting aspect and saying how, like these movies aren't, shouldn't be Known for their acting, which, again, I I agree to a certain extent. But I will say there was one monologue, and I think it might have been the first one with Mickey Rourke, and he just has a really good monologue, I guess, explaining his tattoo and the meaning behind it. So that moment right there shows me that these movies could have had, and I think that that one was written mostly by Sylvester Stallone. And Sylvester Stallone is not a bad writer, I mean for the most part, you know he, he created Rocky, he basically wrote those films. Those had some really good moments in them.
Speaker 1:So it's not, it's not beyond the pale to think that the Expendables could have Some oomph to them, but this movie just totally had no oomph to it at all. So that's, that's basically all I have for this movie. So what we do is we give a rating one through six stars. I'll explain real quick why it's just six. When we did our first season, we did the Marvel Cinematic Universe and so the Infinity Stones. There's only six of them, so we did one through six stars. So that's what we continue to do. We might go to ten, because sometime that's hard to rate with just six stars. But, taj again, since you're my guest, what would you give Expendables One out of six stars.
Speaker 2:I feel like a solid three and a half and had I been in 40x, probably would have gotten a five out of me Because of just still be a three and a half for me.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'm not gonna be as kind. I'm kind of rating it based off of the other Expendables movies. Again, this movie did not have the star power that the other ones did it. It had a possible twist that they didn't go with. They went with a really predictable one and Because of the prior Mickey Rourke Model log, I think that one month log that proved that these movies could have some, some acting chops to them.
Speaker 1:That's why I'm giving Expendables a 1.5 out of six, a miserable 1.5 out of six stars. I Don't know if they're probably gonna make another one, I don't know, maybe Sylvester Stallone's done. I think they should be done. It did not do well in the box office, so I think that's kind of a sign that these, this franchise, is kind of dead on arrival. So that is Expendables.
Speaker 1:Thank you, taj, for being on the show. It was really fun. I'm glad you finally were able to join me on a movie review podcast. So next week I'm really excited. No offense, taj, I'm glad you're here, but I'm really excited because Do you remember a barbenheimer and how big of a of a thing that was? Well, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Speaker 1:Katie and I are seeing two separate movies, but we will be reviewing them on the exact same day. I Will be seeing saw 10 and Katie will be seeing paw Patrol the mightiest heroes and we're gonna be calling the episode saw patrol. I Cannot wait. Please listen, please follow. Do all the things you're supposed to do with podcast. Nowadays, taj, we usually end with a one-liner Summarizing the movie we just reviewed. So what do you got for us for Expendables? You know a thanks for listening to nady and Katie at the movies. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at nady and Katie at gmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day you.
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