Not so much a traditional sequel as a hallucinogenic riff on an entire franchise, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning plays like the fevered fantasy of a die-hard genre fan who requires only the haziest sort of dream logic to connect extended sequences of hand-to-hand, foot-to-ass, machete-to-arm and bullet-to-head combat. more »
Appearances can be deceiving, and as audiences learn in Friday's testosterone-fueled sequel The Expendables 2, even Dolph Lundgren's volatile Gunnar Jensen has a few surprising secrets to share. Such as: In addition to being a habitual alcoholic and reformed-but-unpredictable member of the squad, Gunnar's revealed to be a chemical engineering savant and former Fulbright scholar — elements cheekily borrowed from Lundgren's real life.
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Set your DVRs this spring to Reelz Channel for a Dolph Lundgren-hosted reality competition show called Race to the Scene, which might be the most potentially dangerous but too awesome not to watch TV show idea ever dreamed up: "Race to the Scene will feature pairs of contestants who race to and from actual movie locations as they compete in challenges and stunts inspired by memorable movie moments... [producer Justin Hochberg] and his partner Charlie Ebersol began talking to the network about the project a little over a year ago, and have since spent time selecting iconic scenes —think Bruce Willis jumping off Nakatomi Tower in Die Hard — for which to recreate." Can't wait for the barefoot 50-yard dash over broken glass! What could go wrong? [THR]
Why It's an Inessential Essential: Co-scripted and produced by Jack Abramoff, Red Scorpion is a starring vehicle for Sweden's own living action hero, Dolph Lundgren. Being the modest gentle giant that he is, Lundgren has nothing but good things to say about the film during the interview segment he shot for Synapse Films new release of the movie. But that says more about Lundgren's personality than it does the crackerjack B-movie. As self-styled Lundgren expert Jeremie Damoiseau remarks in his annotated(!) liner notes, Red Scorpion nearly ruined Lundgren's career (more on this shortly).
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"All I did was write the press notes and visit the set, once. I remember very little because I knew it was a cheeseball enterprise from the get-go and I didn't give a shit about any of it. The idea of the Golan & Globus machine attempting to arouse the geek/comic-book fanbase was hopeless from the start... pathetic. [...] Everyone knew it was a tank early on so there was this air of funereal resignation all through production and post-production... everyone just going through the motions." [Hollywood Elsewhere]
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