Live Free or Die Hard Review

This movie is essentially considered "Die Hard 4". Since I had seen the other ones (except I haven't watched Die Hard 2 through completely) I wanted to see if Bruce Willis still could kick the same kind of butt as he did back in the day. I liked this movie a lot. The action was non-stop and the stunts were very impressive. Sure, you have to put believability to rest for a while, but the Die Hard series has never been about ultra realistic stunts and stories. Bruce Willis did a very impressive job reprising his old role from the earlier movies. He was great - had wonderful one-liners like usual, and kept the action moving throughout. In this movie, the bad guy is an exceptional computer hacker/genius who is trying to cause national chaos and terrorism and Bruce Willis has to do all sorts of things to stop him. In order to do this, he teems up with a super-smart genius computer savy young man who turns out to be just what he needs to get to the bad guy. I think the team-work between the young man and Bruce was superb and really helped the story to have a broader appeal to the younger ages. Allthough there is a fair amount of bad language and violence, I don't think the bad outweighs the good in this movie. Great action, great acting, and a great closure to the entire Die Hard series. Two thumbs up.

Blades of Glory Review

Over the holidays I rented the movie "Blades of Glory" and finally had a chance to sit down and watch it. I was actually surprised about how much I laughed at this movie. I am not a big fan of ice skating and thought a funny spoof movie about it would be hilarious. I enjoyed "Napolean Dynamite" and some of the Will Farrell's movies, so I figured this movie had a lot of potential in the laugh department. It did not disappoint in the laughs, but unfortunately the writers had to add a lot of sexual humor to this movie that wasn't necessary at all. Basically the plot involves Will Farrell and Jon Heder getting kicked out of solo skating tournaments due to getting in a huge fight during an awards ceremony. Their licenses for competing in tournaments are banned for life until someone finds that that ruling only applies to solo tournaments and that they could skate together in couples tournaments with no legal issues. What results are some of the funniest skating moments I have ever witnessed in a movie. This movie had me laughing so hard that I even rewound parts to rewatch how funny they were. Due to some parts having a lot of inappropriate innuendo I probably wouldn't buy this movie, but some of the scenes are really laugh-out-loud funny (as long as you don't mind making fun of ice skating). Minus some of the inappropriate material, this is a very funny movie. Unfortunately due to some of the content, this movie gets a "B-" from me. Too bad the writers have to include inappropriate humor in modern comedies.

Secondhand Lions Review

I was given a recommendation to see this 2003 film by a friend who said it was really a good movie. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a film where a boy goes to spend some time with two old quirky men who are his great-uncles (supposedly). However, this movie was very well done, and the acting did not disappoint at all. The plot is that this neglected young man is sent to live with his two great uncles who everyone believes are loaded with money (yet who remain kind of strange and reclusive). As he gets to know them, he really begins to like them for who they are, and enjoys learning about their hobbies, their passions, and their history. The film sort of bordered on fantasy with all the storytelling and adventures that the characters get into, yet never to the point that a movie like Mary Poppins would go. I enjoyed the movie, yet sometimes wondered where the story was going. It had a good ending and kept you pretty entertained, yet it wasn't one I would necessarily laugh-out-loud too, nor one I would necessarily want to rewatch. What was refreshing about this movie was that it was very clean and interesting for a family movie without resorting to special effects to tell a good story. It also showed two older men who had many ambitions and loved to live life, and how long that allowed them to live. I am a firm believer that having goals and ambitions in life help you to live long and live life to the fullest and this movie clearly portrayed it in the characters. Yet, sadly this movie did gloss over one of the most important questions a person can ask ... how can I know God personally? Although the men in this movie were out to seek adventure, they failed to look toward God as a person they could relate to and who could lead them on the greatest adventure in life that any man/woman could ever know.

Through him [Jesus] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. - John 1:3-4 NIV

Early Christmas presents

I love early Christmas presents! This wonderful movie was presented to me by my wonderful wife as an early Christmas present. I have to say that Transformers was one of the best movies of Summer 2007 in my opinion. The effects were great, the story was well-done (even though it was a tad long), and you just can't argue with how cool transforming robots are who come to save the world. What could be better in the fictional Hollywood world where all things work out in the end? I actually never followed the toys and cartoon in the 80s, but I fondly remember how much of a rage they caused among my friends and peer group of the time. I personally was more into G.I. Joe, but I have to say that given the chance, I may have been seriously into Transformers as well. In any case, I think the new movie was well worth watching several times. There are a few parts that definitely seem to cater to the MTV crowd, and unfortunately the writer thought that things like that had to be included in this movie. However, I still don't think it ruins the movie as a whole. Great action, fun story, rocking music. Sounds like a blockbuster to me.

Hollywood Homicide Review

Another movie that I caught on TV and taped, so I thought I would review it. I initially was interested in this movie, due to liking Harrison Ford and his spin at comedy (at least in the Star Wars movies). I knew this movie hadn't gotten that many great reviews, but I thought I would check it out. After watching it, I can see why reviewers were, for the most part, disappointed with this one. I'm glad it wasn't taking up queue space on my blockbuster list. It is a mediocre comedy about an old cop (sorry Harrison) and a young cop who have to learn to work together. Josh Hartnett plays the young guy. You may remember him from the movie Pearl Harbor. He was OK in this movie, but definitely wasn't the best at acting. Harrison was semi-funny in this comedy but he seems to have lost some of his Indiana Jones/Hans Solo humor that made him so funny in the 70s and 80s. Any good lessons in this movie? Not really. The whole movie is supposed to be a semi-funny cop comedy. It somewhat succeeds but not as well as it could. I think better script writing would have helped. One of the funniest parts for me involves a wild car chase in a convertible. Needless to say, seeing Harrison Ford bent out of shape due to his young partner's driving was HILARIOUS! After that, the film is mildly entertaining, but not that great. I did think Harrison Ford did a better job than in the movie Firewall that came out after this one. In Firewall, you just feel bad for him when he takes on the bad guys. At least this movie never put Ford in a place where you honestly felt bad that he was placed in danger. After all, that is what Indiana Jones thrives on. I'll be looking forward to see how his new Indy movie turns out this coming Summer 2008.

Untamed Heart Review

Chrystal is a fan of Christian Slater movies (especially the 80s and early 90s ones) and had seen this romance drama so I added it to the Blockbuster queue to see what it was like. I'm personally not a huge Slater fan, but in some movies I admit he has some talent in the acting arena. This was an interesting movie, because it wasn't really a light-hearted romantic comedy, yet it wasn't pure drama. It was a very well-told story of an orphan boy (Slater) with some social handicaps who ends up falling in love with a waitress. There are definitely some rough parts of this movie, but the director did a great job really causing the characters to shine through so that they seem very 3 dimensional throughout. This is definitely a movie I believe girls will favor over guys, but it had enough going for it that I sat all the way through it. It definitely is a sad movie, and I wouldn't necessarily call the movie edifying, but if it set out to be an emotionally moving love story, I would say it succeeded. Well done, but not that high on my list to see again.

Drumline Review

Chrystal owns this movie, and since I never have seen it (even though it came out in 2002), I decided to sit down and watch it with her. I must confess I was a little skeptical that this movie would be that engaging, due to the subject matter. Come on, people, we are talking about drums in a college band. Not even sports here! However, this movie was surprisingly very very entertaining and well done (in my opinion). First of all, the actor Nick Cannon is amazing. He plays his role exceptionally. Also the actual chemistry of all the stars goes a long way and the movie does a fantastic job of taking something that the audience may not care about much (in this case, playing in a band for those who have never been muscicians), and making it very entertaining and fun to watch. I used to play the trumpet, but have never actually been involved in anything like a college band. However, watching the drum scenes were never boring in this movie due the fantastic way it was presented. Not only that, but true life lessons were well-presented throughout this journey about a young man with talent and a bad attitude. I'm glad Chrystal recommended I watch this one with her. Two thumbs up for a movie that teaches great lessons in an engaging way! I would venture to say that this movie was the best band movie I have seen since the old musical Music Man.

Bobby Review

The movie "Bobby" recently came out and featured many famous actors, so I decided to see how it was. It is a two hour movie that features many, many famous actors and actresses and my guess is that it was trying to show how life was being lived around the time of Robert Kennedy. However, that being said, Chrystal made a good point - that there are so many famous actors and actresses that it is "almost distracting" . I have to agree, a lot of talent stars in this movie, but after the show you really have to wonder if any star really "shines through" in a performance like this. To me there seemed to be too much background story revolving around life in the famous hotel where Robert Kennedy was shot, and not enough biographic story of Robert Kennedy. Of course, that may be what the director was trying to achieve, but I just had a sense that there was too much going on, and never really got involved in any one of the story lines throughout the movie. Due to the large number of story threads in this movie, you kind of feel like this movie is trying to go into too many directions at one time. All in all, the acting was very well done, but I would have preferred a movie that centered more on the life of Robert Kennedy and less on the lives of those at the hotel - afterall I am watching a movie called "Bobby". I would give this movie one thumb up, but probably not worthy of two thumbs up in my opinion. Definitely don't rent this movie if you are looking for a historical biography sketch of Robert Kennedy.

What I have been reading lately....

I have also been doing some reading since reading and watching movies are two of my most time-consuming hobbies. The book I'm reading currently is a very insightful and motivating book on prayer titled Destined For the Throne by Paul Billheimer. I am on my second reading of this book, due to how good and deep this work is. It isn't very long, but the author is really writing about something that is close to his heart, and you can sense that he isn't writing about something he doesn't practice himself. I do enjoy reading books on prayer, maybe because I recognize how little I do of true praying - I'm not sure. This book has principles that are worth re-reading and that really help true Christians understand in a deeper sense what role prayer plays in bringing God's Kingdom to Earth. Since I am on my second reading, I highly recommend you read a copy of this great book.