Live Free or Die Hard
Yippee kayay motha....It's been 12 years since Bruce Willis tore up a city and chased down a bad guy with no actual concern for his own well being as John McClane. He is the quintessential bad ass. He doesn't need a distant time period to make him seem mysterious, like Brendan Fraser in The Mummy, or a hundred suped-up weapons to rain down on his enemy, like Blade, or special effects that make you drop your jaw, like Neo in The Matrix. No. He's like the MacGuyver of action movies. Pick up a weapon on the way; figure out a plan as your speeding down the road; worry about the hospital bill later. There are, however, a few additions to the fourth installment of this pop culture favorite that'll "attract a younger demographic": Justin Long comes in as his geeky sidekick who is literally just as in awe of McClane as the audience will be. Timothy Olyphant (Catch and Release) plays his tech-savvy enemy, who's actually the first villain that's younger than McClane. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3) will be his daughter who's being held hostage. The story itself is another Ocean's 13-analog-man-in-a-digital-world type plot. He'll do all the caveman antics and Long will be the brains of the operation. The mags/web are buzzing with hype on the stunts. I'll deliver word next week on whether they were as killer as everyone said they would be.
Ratatouille
A few days ago, I was walking down the street at night towards the train station when a rat scurried past me down the stairs. Not cool. This film, however, will beef up the bad rep of dirty rodents everywhere. Who knew that they can be amazing chefs? What with all their scavanging for scraps in trash cans, it's only natural that after a billion years of existing and outliving other species, they'd gain a sense of expertise in the culinary arts that would impress "Top Chef" or even fair well in "Hell's Kitchen." This underdog flick--a theme animated films do best--will give tots, and let's face it adults as well, a much needed break from those waddling bastards who've lately been donning surf boards. We'll see if they're starving for some vermon loving or if they'd rather stick with creatures that are less likely to give you rabies.
Evening
Ready for a good cry? Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Toni Collette (In her Shoes), Claire Danes, Patrick Wilson (Little Children), Natasha Richardson (The White Countess), Vanessa Redgrave (Venus), and Hugh Dancy (King Arthur) are going to suck your tear ducts dry. In this drama that takes place in the past and the present, a dying woman (Redgrave) remembers a great love (Wilson) she once had, all the while influencing the life and romantic decisions of her daughters (Collette and Richardson) who are sitting by her deathbed. It looks like bonafide Oscar material for every woman in it, especially Danes who plays the young Ann and shines the brightest in the trailer.
Sicko
Michael Moore isn't quite done pushing political buttons just to point out sheer idiocy. But now he has a sincere agenda that addresses the inferiority of America's health-care system. I remember, after Bush was reelected, overhearing a disheartened college student vowing to move to Switzerland or Canada so she can live free without worries and never pay for health care. I, personally, love America and all of its freedoms. And although--knock on wood--I've never actually required any serious health care, I do have to say paying for it, even when I'm not using it, is burrowing a sizeable whole in my just-got-out-of-college wallet. Like Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, this documentary should shed some light on a very important issue. But will it have the same effect in creating or adding to a nationwide consensus for reform and action? Guess we'll see.
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