You can tell Sylvester Stallone is having a helluva good time with The Expendables franchise, but the writer/director/actor wants to bring a bit more humor into the mix.  Taking to Twitter this evening, Stallone commented on the tone of The Expendables 3, which he is currently writing, and hopefully getting Jackie Chan into the cast as was previously rumored.  He also gave a brief update on an action star who would not be making the cut and alluded to an injection of “young blood” into the franchise.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this evening.  First up, The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson is in negotiations to star opposite Benicio Del Toro in the Pablo Escobar drama Paradise Lost.  Per Deadline, Hutcherson will play the lead character of Nick, “a young Irish surfer who visits his brother in Colombia” where he meets the love of his life and her uncle Pablo.  Actor Andrea Di Stefano (Life of Pi) is making his directorial debut on the project, with production set to get underway in March in Panama.  Hutcherson is currently filming the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in Hawaii.

Hit the jump for news concerning Jackie Chan joining the cast of The Expendables 3.

When you’ve been in the stunt/action movie game for as long as Jackie Chan has, you probably start to think that everything’s been done.  And then one of your stunt guys suggests street luging in a fully articulated suit that’s covered in roller blades.  The stunt sequence is only one action piece in Chan’s upcoming Chinese Zodiac, a film that he claims will be his last major action role in order to focus on other acting pursuits (he wants to become the “Asian Robert De Niro”).  If that plan holds true, it’ll be a sad day for action fans, but what a way to go! Hit the jump to see Chan in action in the rollerblading suit in a new teaser for Chinese Zodiac, along with the film’s trailer.

Jackie Chan, star of such buddy action comedies as the Rush Hour series and Shanghai Noon, is set to develop and star in a new English-language action comedy.  Chan’s recent films, Shaolin and the revolutionary epic 1911, were in Chinese, but his English-language efforts are still strong, notably The Karate Kid remake and his voice work in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.  Now, Chan’s JC Group International has partnered with the distribution company Talent International Media Group to develop the new project.  Jay Longino (Raising Blind) has been tapped to write the script.  Hit the jump for more details on Chan’s as-of-yet untitled action comedy project.

The pen behind 2008’s The Incredible Hulk has been tapped by Columbia Pictures to write their untitled Karate Kid sequel. Zak Penn, who has also written for X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, will rewrite a sequel drafted by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The surprise hit of 2010 that starred Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith opened to $55.6 million and went on to gross over $350 million worldwide. The teacher/student team from the original film are expected to return in the sequel, but no deals are yet in place and no plot details have been released. Hit the jump to read more about Penn’s previous works.

As a practitioner of the martial arts, I love watching a kung fu film that shows not only technical mastery of the fighting discipline, but a cohesive understanding of storytelling and filmmaking. Then again, I also appreciate the low-budget, poorly plotted schlock of some of the earliest films, complete with unintentionally hilarious dubbing or closed captioning. Shaolin is more of the former and less of the latter in a flawed but overall quality kung fu flick. Starring Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers), Nicholas Tse (The Stool Pigeon) and Jackie Chan in a remake of the 1982 original which debuted Jet Li, Shaolin tells the story of a Shaolin monastery caught in the transitory upheaval of rival warring factions, but is ultimately the tale of redemption for warlord Hou Jie (Lau). Hit the jump for my review of Shaolin on Blu-ray.

Jackie Chan, consummate martial arts expert and global superstar, is taking on perhaps his biggest role yet.  In 1911, Chan will portray Huang Xing, the first commander-in-chief of the army of the Republic of China, the right hand man of Sun Yat-Sen (played by Winston Chao).  The story of 1911 is being marketed as a historically accurate portrayal of the early 20^th century rebellion of the Chinese people against the Qing Dynasty and interfering Western influences.  That last part is particularly interesting as it seems that 1911 will have the same day-and-date release both in the US and in China.

While this may not actually be Jackie Chan’s 100^th film, the revolutionary war epic is being billed as such. 1911 also stars Li Bingbing as Xuzong Han, Xing’s wife. Hit the jump to check out the new trailer and movie poster.

Thank the Maker for YouTube. With the advent of the video-on-demand digital age, no longer is that TV movie role that Actor X did when he was 11-years-old lost forever, and now someone’s put together a compilation of 25 “before they were famous” first roles for our viewing pleasure. Did you know that Daniel Craig was in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court? How about Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Roseanne or Jake Gyllenhaal in City Slickers? No need to hit up Netflix, some choice scenes are now all in one place.

Hit the jump to watch the montage, which includes 25 sometimes painful scenes featuring Jim Carrey, Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Seth Rogen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Harrison Ford and more.

Jackie Chan’s next film, the historical epic 1911, is billed as his 100th feature.  This appears to be mostly marketing math to capitalize on the centennial of the subject matter, “the founding of the Republic of China when nationalist forces led by Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao) overthrew the Qing Dynasty.”  The first trailer is online, and looks suitably heroic.

Chan co-directed the movie with cinematographer Zhang Li (Red Cliff).  1911 is set for a day-and-date release in the United States and China on October 11.  Watch the trailer after the break.

Kung Fu Panda 2 stands as a shining example of DreamWorks finally getting the sequel formula right. Building off of the success of the original 2008 hit, Panda 2 delivers more laughs, larger scale, finer animation, and arguably more heart. Jack Black returns as the  incompetently powerful Po the panda to battle the next stage in warfare that threatens to make hand-to-hand combat extinct. Joined by the Furious Five, the group wages war amidst the beautiful landscape of China in thrilling sequences of 3D combat that highlight the evolution of the fighting in the first film. With newcomer Jennifer Yuh at the helm, backed by the returning talents of writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger along with the full voice cast, Kung Fu Panda 2 is the latest animated film to blur the lines between the admiration from adults and kids alike, and brings bang for your buck in 3D. Hit the jump for the full review.

Along with the teaser trailer and poster for Puss in Boots, DreamWorks Animation has released a new trailer and poster for their summer tentpole, Kung Fu Panda 2.  The new trailer for Kung Fu Panda kind of explains the plot, but also shows there really isn’t much of it: Po and the Furious Five go on a road trip to defeat a new villain.  Granted, Po is now a Kung Fu master, but that only seems to improve the movie in terms of the visuals.  As far as the humor and the characters, expect more slapstick and fat jokes.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer and poster.  Kung Fu Panda 2 features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Victor Garber.  It opens in 3D on May 26th.

Jackie Chan is 57 years old.  Jackie Chan’s first credit was 1964′s Big and Little Wong Tin Bar.  Jackie Chan has filmed 100 movies.  Let that sink in… Actually, 1911 will be billed as Chan’s hundredth project to coincide with the centennial of the film’s subject matter: “the founding of the Republic of China when nationalist forces led by Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao) overthrew the Qing Dynasty.”  IMDB has Chan at 109 acting credits, including a few uncredited appearances and his voice gig for Kung Fu Panda.  But still, nothing to sneeze at no matter the margin of error around 100.

In what THR suggests may be a first for an Asian film, international distributor Well Go USA plans to mark the occasion with a day-and-date release in China and the United States.  The posters (featured after the jump) suggest October 2011 — the Wuchang Uprising launched the revolution on October 10, 1911.  Chan co-directed 1911 with Red Cliff cinematographer Zhang Li.

Having first seen director Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour with a less-refined taste in film during my youth may have left me a wee bit biased, but I still don’t consider it too much of a stretch to group this buddy-cop action-comedy up there with Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop as a staple of the genre. Sure it’s by-the-numbers, but this class of flick calls for that and sidesteps the pitfalls of its rehashed themes by showcasing a hilarious, well-matched duo: the loud-mouthed, bug-eyed Chris Tucker and the nimble, accent-thick Jackie Chan. Light on special effects and laden with memorable banter, this 80’s buddy-cop throwback is a shamelessly fun time-killer. My review of the Blu-Ray after the jump.

Old age catches up with everyone, as any NFL fan watching Brett Favre these days can attest to. Rarely has that truth appeared more painful than in the latter-day efforts of Jackie Chan. His spirit remains willing, but the death-defying acrobatics that made him an international superstar have slowly slipped out of his grasp… regardless of how hard films like Robin-B-Hood try to convince us otherwise.  Hit the jump for my full review.

Does it count as news if everyone kind of already knows it?  Deadline reports [via using their common sense] that Sony Pictures is taking pitches for The Karate Kid 2 after The Karate Kid remake smashed box office expectations and made back its entire budget in one weekend.  While I would much rather see Jackie Chan Hates Karate Kids, it looks like we’ll have to settle for another round of Jaden Smith doing roundhouse kicks.  I didn’t see the remake, but I don’t think I’d like it because I was told that no one says “Sweep the leg, Johnny.”