August and September are notoriously thin months at the movie theater, but critics seemed to take extra pleasure in lashing "Expendables 2" for its crimes.
The film, which stars every working action star (Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Crews, Willis, Van Damme, Norris, Lundgren, Li, Statham, Couture), was panned as a failed throwback by many a sharp shooting writer. Here's how Newsday's Rafer Guzman started off his 1.5 (out of four) star review: "Yeah, yeah, I get it: 'The Expendables 2' is a fun-loving throwback to the gloriously bad action films of the 1980s. Here's what I don't get: Why couldn't it be a throwback to the good ones?"
Elsewhere in the critical universe, Jordin Sparks' performance in "Sparkle" -- Whitney Houston's last film -- was widely panned as flat. In music, 2 Chainz' first studio album under that name was mostly well-received, though of course, not everyone was a fan.
TV shows didn't fare much better ("Breaking Bad's" hot streak notwithstanding), with "Animal Practice" getting at least one lecture and "Stars Earn Stripes" drawing a good amount of critical ire.
Check out the reviews in the gallery below. Let us know which ring true and which missed the mark in the comments.
