THIS WEEK IN MOVIES, RATED BY WORDS FOR SWEAT

THE EXPENDABLES | GLISTEN

Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, a couple of wrestlers turned actors, Mickey Rourke and even Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in this movie about large mercenaries going to South America to fight an evil dictator and his army of soulless drones. But what is it really trying to say? The Expendables is a little too cerebral to sum up neatly, but the social message buried in subtext has something to do with Stallone's bicep size. [R | Wide release, 8.13.10]

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

DUALING INTERVIEWS

In indie comic sensation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the protagonist battles his love interest's seven evil exes. So we dispatched two writers to conduct dueling interviews: actors Jason Schwartzman and Anna Kendrick vs. actor Michael Cera and director Edgar Wright.

DRAGONETTE

Canadian dance trio Dragonette is coming to the Middle East this Thursday to appease those who were pissed that their original show at the venue was canceled in April. Foxy frontwoman Martina Sorbara spoke to us just minutes before a grueling rehearsal to talk about how fantastic her band is.

HUGH HEFNER: PLAYBOY, ACTIVIST AND REBEL

Gene Simmons claims that there isn't any man, living or dead, who wouldn't "give his left nut" to be Hugh Hefner, during any one of the myriad of successful eras in his life, which are chronicled too dotingly by Academy Award-winning documentarian Brigitte Berman.

INTERNET PARTISAN SCANDAL-OFF

The journalism world has seen palpitations over two recent internet partiality plots (tongue twister for nerds!), and the scandals are practically mirror opposites of one another.

WIDE OPEN

When the legislature passed a massive ethics reform bill last year, it strengthened the state's open meeting law, which requires that public bodies—school boards, city councils and other small inane bureaucracies that decide everything—make their meetings public to anyone who wants to be in the loop about local government happenings.

THE DIG'S QUALITY-OF-LIFE INDEX

Former Massachusetts Turnpike chairman Matthew Amorello misses his court date (possibly for medical reasons) after being arrested for drunk driving on Saturday. Amorello, one of the masterminds behind the Big Dig, was apparently so wasted, he smashed into two parked cars, then tried to speed away on three wheels. He was so blotto, he slept on the police station floor, and his mug shot shows an officer gently holding up his sleeping head. He was so hammered, that even Boston College alumni are impressed. MINUS 5

TO THE JUSTIN BIEBER LOOK-A-LIKES ON THE GREEN LINE MONDAY NIGHT

I was hoping for a relaxing, air-conditioned ride provided by our fine MBTA. But the five of you decided to fart, laugh, and then leave the scene of the crime. I, for one, don't find this funny, you little fucks.

DEEP HEAVEN NOW

When it comes to the longevity of music genres, there's no beating psychedelic rock. Born in the '60s by copious drug use (and mammoth creative ability), "psych" continues to thrive well into the new millennium.

THE OTHER GUYS

If you pay for one comedy this summer ...

It's the summer of 2010. Do you know where your good movies are?

The unlikely pairing of Dorchester's Mark Wahlberg and funnyman Will Ferrell in the summer schlockbuster The Other Guys kinda works—for a little over an hour. The rest of the film is an ensemble comedy send-up of action flicks and cop dramas, which also works ... but not entirely. The two halves don't make a whole, but they do make for perhaps the best comedic film of the summer.