Live Free or Die Hard

These last two summers have been curveballs.

Last year all the talk was about Xmen 3, Pirates 2, and Superman Returns. To everybody's surprise Mission Impossible III ended up delivering the goods (talking within the context of summer movies).

This year it was the "threequels" Spidey 3, Pirates 3, Shrek 3, and to a lesser extent FF2, but it was 52 year old Bruce Willis and the 4th Die Hard installment that left me the most satisfied. Go figure.

It must be Maggie Q.

I agree, far better than Spider-man 3.

I didnt relly like spidey 3 either and I am in no rush to see POTC 3 given what a mess 2 was and how it is getting panned as being even more abstarct.

I liked Shrek 3 and Knocked Up though.

Ironically if I do end up going format neutral some time next year then I would probably get the POTC movies just cause they are supposed to look so amazing. I really liked the first one.

Off topic...
Conditions for format neutrality:
1, Fully featured player meeting at least profile 1.1 spec, all the advanced audio and features found in current HD-DVD players or better.
2, Enough BR exclusive movies to make it worth while (would really need to want at least 15-20 of them). Disney and FOX getting into the game would help here.
3, Pricing below $500 (Preferably <$500 CDN. It may in fact be that I wait for all of the above AND a duel format player. It would be nice to add a fully featured Duel player to the main theater that can play both alowing me to move the HD-DVD player somewhere else (I would be willing to entertain prices above $500 for this for sure).
4, The player better be great at SD-DVD upconverting and simply outputing 480i if I want to scale it outboard.
5, LOTR or the whole StarWars Podoad come out on BR only with no HD-DVD release in sight... If that happened I might go regardless of the rest. Yeah I am a nut and liked them that much.

Things that must not happen:
1, Any currently BR exclusive studio's going neutral. Would signal to me that everyone will eventually be neutral so why bother.
2, Sony better not be the only vendor providing what I want. I just cannot see myself buying from them period. Too much BS for too long.
3, BR "exclusives" appear in greater number in EU HD-DVD releases. Again if I can get them here why bother.

Cheers,

Richard

After two disappointing action films in "Spider-Man 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3," it was a pleasure watching a genuinely exciting (and humorous) action flick again. "Live Free or Die Hard" is not only the best action film of the summer, it may be the best action film of the past couple of years.

It harks back to the original "Die-Hard," it never lets up for a second, and it does so with a PG-13 rating! Of course, it's as preposterous as ever, with the usual number of impossible gun fights, fist fights, car chases, helicopter battles, and things blowing up. And, of course, John McClane is still Mr. Invincible, falling off buildings, even falling off a jet plane, and surviving to win the day. It's what action movies are about and what we expect. I loved every minute of it.

John

From the reviews I've caught on RT, it appears that Die Hard might at least redeem for the crap I've seen earlier this summer. Pirates was crap, Shrek was dull, Spider-man 3 was a train wreck and most everything else is hardly rental worthy. It appears 1408 and Die Hard might satisfy the blockbuster summer hunger but even those films are a fine thread away from the classic summer fare. Nevertheless, it would appear that these fims are at least an upscale from the mediocre crap we've endured over the past two-months. One can only hope, even in a world where Hollywood is basically telling us they're out of ideas.

Jason Bourne (Y)

Yeah, I saw a preview for the new Jason Bourne film at the movie theatre today. It looks like it's going to be good, but you never can tell from previews. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

**One can only hope, even in a world where Hollywood is basically telling us they're out of ideas.**


Fortunately, there's the vast majority of films in the world that aren't from Hollywood, and have plenty of ideas.

I give a strong recommendation to "Once," a nifty Irish indie film that is one of the better films about music (I guess you could call it a musical if you wanted) I've seen in a while.

chris,

fortunately, you're right.

unfortunately, most americans would much rather watch bad movies and bitch about them instead of seeking out excellent, challenging fare.

eddie

Speaking of foreign movies, I bet you all love this line

"I still don't get going to the movies to read?"

**Rolls eyes