SOLDIER opens. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Written by David Webb Peoples. Rendered obsolete and discarded to a distant dystopian planet, a former career soldier defends a local human community from annihilation by his former Earth-based, cybernetically enhanced comrades. Kurt Russell anchors formulaic but solidly crafted sci-fi thriller. With Jason Scott Lee, Connie Nielsen, Michael Chiklis and Gary Busey.
read more
The Tour de France is an annual 23 day, 3500km bicycle race held in France each July. Initially established in 1903 as a local french competition, the race is now considered to be the premiere cycling event in the world attracting riders from dozens of countries. In 2005, American Lance Armstrong made it into the history books when he won the Tour for the seventh consecutive time. Though he was always at the centre of a rumour mill that suggested his extraordinary success was fuelled by a covert drug regimen, he never tested positive for any illegal substance.
Unlike his fellow countrymen, Alejandro Inarritu and Alfonso Curon, whose films span a broad spectrum of genres, Guillermo del Toro, beginning with his award-winning Cronos in 1994, has confined himself primarily to the realm of the gothic horror fantasy. After edging into comic book territory with the two Hellboy films, he opted to go the sci-fi route with Pacific Rim, a lumbering, CGI-heavy sea monsters versus giant robots extravaganza that gladdened the heart of many a video game nerd.
Crimson Peak finds the director wearing his Gothic hat but the result is more than a little disappointing. Co-written by Matthew Robbins, the screenplay borrows elements of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and reconfigures them to the contours of a Hammer horror film.
While a lot of Hollywood stars choose to unwind from the rigors of shooting their latest effects-heavy comic book/action/fantasy by seguing to a small-scale, modestly budgeted independent project, Vin Diesel looks to be in no hurry to step off the CGI treadmill.
