Not Quite Expendable: Stallone tries to make a star out of Statham

Still of Winona Ryder, Jason Stratham and James Franco in Homefront.

Once upon a time — the 1980s — you could walk into a movie theater any day of the year, plop down a few bucks, and watch one man kick another man's ass. Not every action flick was great, but most were good enough, the film equivalent of pizza. Back then, Jason Statham, the star of the new action drama Homefront — and another two dozen just like it — would have been a forgettable punching bag. Today, he's an action lover's last hope, though we support his career with the same dutiful gusto as tea partiers voting Romney.