"Live Free or Die Hard"?

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The one press screening of Live Free or Die Hard (20th Century Fox, 6.27) will be the all-media on Monday, 6.25, at 7 pm. At the crummy, down-at-the-heels Avco in Westwood, no less. That conflicts with lots of other interesting opportunities (the LA Film Festival showings, of course, as well as a shot at seeing Peter Berg's hotly-anticipated The Kingdom) and I really don't know what to do. Maybe this LFODH review from the Montreal Film Journal will provide some guidance. Wait..."sub-par," "hardly distinctive," "bring back McTiernan"?

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 22, 2007 at 10:25 AM

comment #1

Geoff says ...

Go see The Kingdom. I think any Die Hard fan out there truly laments the whole situation. Len Wiseman, apparently lame premise, and the dreaded PG-13.

Posted by Geoff at June 22, 2007 2:08 PM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

The Kingdom looks good. As for Die Hard...I'd rather see "The Last Boy Scout 2".

Posted by George Prager at June 22, 2007 2:10 PM

comment #3

Josh Massey says ...

Die Hard is probably my single favorite movie of all time - and even I can't get myself that excited for next week's sequel.

Posted by Josh Massey at June 22, 2007 2:16 PM

comment #4

otakuhouse says ...

Go see the kingdom. A PG13 Die Hard from the man who brought us underworld? Not even a rental, something I'd catch half of on cable perhaps.

The Kingdom has michael mann's touch on it and high test screening scores, which makes me wonder... I thought the trailer made it look a bit too conventionally ham fisted with the aesthetic of pseudo documentary.

Posted by otakuhouse at June 22, 2007 2:16 PM

comment #5

Edward says ...

I found "Underworld" fun, but LForDH looks awful. Taking out the copter with the car totally made me not want to bother. Dumb. Beyond Dumb.

Posted by Edward at June 22, 2007 2:19 PM

comment #6

christian says ...

this is what i like to remember when i think of DIE HARD...this is what made me see it opening day:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6KunaN4gkGw

Posted by christian at June 22, 2007 2:20 PM

comment #7

William Goss says ...

The Kingdom.

Posted by William Goss at June 22, 2007 2:22 PM

comment #8

bmcintire says ...

The review mentions that LFODH plays with the 20th Century Fox logo's searchlights. I recall seeing something like this done with the Fox Searchlight logos at the front of 28 DAYS LATER (did it run backwards and upside-down?) so that the sequence ended with the opening two shafts of light going to black into silence. Super-creepy and effective. This was at The Arclight on opening weekend, but it clearly wasn't done that way for home video, and no one else I know of recalls seeing this. Anyone else?

Posted by bmcintire at June 22, 2007 2:25 PM

comment #9

christian says ...

no review of EVAN ALMIGHTY?

wha' happen?

Posted by christian at June 22, 2007 2:26 PM

comment #10

Pelham123 says ...

No question, go see "The Kingdom". Just the thought of seeing "Die Hard 4" fills me with inertia.

Posted by Pelham123 at June 22, 2007 2:40 PM

comment #11

Terry McCarty says ...

In terms of the Avco, I remember seeing a sneak of the original DIE HARD there in the summer of 1988 when Fox was still uncertain about it--with the Irwin Allen-esque ad campaign omitting Bruce.

If memory is correct, it was a 70mm print.

Posted by Terry McCarty at June 22, 2007 3:10 PM

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

You have Memflix to thank for this I'm sure. Go see THE KINGDOM.

Posted by BurmaShave at June 22, 2007 3:12 PM

comment #13

EDouglas says ...

this is a bullshit vendetta review if ever I've read one. I think anyone who saw Live Free or Die Hard (which I saw yesterday) would have trouble telling that this is Len Wiseman of Underworld. It's a far more progressive film and up there with the first movie in terms of tension/action/character. The people I saw it with also liked it even though there's a bit of a long lull between action scenes.

Posted by EDouglas at June 22, 2007 3:17 PM

comment #14

christian says ...

i found UNDERWORLD to be a bland, cookie cutter matrix vampire film. hey, here's a woman in black leather flipping thru the air! never seen that!
but maybe i'm just jealous that wiseman gets to come home to that vampire babe every day.

Posted by christian at June 22, 2007 3:30 PM

comment #15

Joshua Mooney says ...

As much as I detested "Very Bad Things," Peter Berg has made up for that with the really good work he's done since. I'm looking forward to "The Kingdom." Berg is also a first-class maniac, and he gets points for that. I think the man is really on to something now. As for "Die Hardest 6"? Give me a fucking break.

Posted by Joshua Mooney at June 22, 2007 3:38 PM

comment #16

Jeff says ...

I saw The Kingdom this week and found it to be one of the most entertaining movies I have seen all year. It's by far Jamie Foxx's best work since Collateral, and Berg gets very good performances from Bateman, Cooper, and Garner. Theres a few small holes in the plot, but nothing that takes you away from enjoying it. The action scenes are superb and the whole movie was full of suspense. It's not really an Oscar movie, it kind of felt like an Ed Zwick movie, only much better.

Posted by Jeff at June 22, 2007 3:57 PM

comment #17

Craig Kennedy says ...

I'm going to go out on a limb Wells and suggest if you're asking the question, you really don't want to see Die Hard all that much anyway.

This reader would rather hear your thoughts on the Berg film anyway. I love Die Hard but I'm most likely skipping this one.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at June 22, 2007 4:18 PM

comment #18

Goulet says ...

"this is a bullshit vendetta review if ever I've read one"

I'm sorry? Here's the only thing I wrote specific to Wiseman's background:

"For some unholy reason, the franchise was handed to Len Wiseman, the guy responsible for those crappy "Underworld" flicks. Here's a filmmaker whose idea of style is using blue-tinted lenses as often as possible and putting some emo/goth music on the soundtrack. He thankfully doesn't indulge in that too much here, but this is still a shoddily crafted, generally unexciting movie."

I clearly state that it's not as bad as the guy's other movies... But he's still no McTiernan. He's not even on Michael Bay's level. Heck, Brett Ratner has more of a clue of how to stage an action sequence. If you can't see that, you probably shouldn't review action movies, sir.

Posted by Goulet at June 22, 2007 4:27 PM

comment #19

MickTravis says ...

Pelham 123 did you just tip your hat to Drimble Wedge? If so, I'm bedazzled!

Posted by MickTravis at June 22, 2007 4:39 PM

comment #20

Craig Kennedy says ...

10 points for the reference and a bonus 10 to Mick for picking up on it.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at June 22, 2007 4:59 PM

comment #21

MPNeeb says ...

The Avco Westwood is a thing of sadness. I wish they'd re-convert it back to the BIG SCREEN house it was in the 70s and 80s.
Now, it's just another s**tbox.

Posted by MPNeeb at June 22, 2007 5:53 PM

comment #22

D.Z. says ...

Josh: "Very Bad Things" was genius.It's what a movie like Kill Bill or Grindhouse could only hope to be, if the directors weren't busy jerking off to women's feet because they're too afraid to show me tits.

Posted by D.Z. at June 22, 2007 6:47 PM

comment #23

christian says ...

i'm sure you all know fox finally released a beaut dvd of BEDAZZLED. for me, it's the smartest comedy of the 60's.

Posted by christian at June 22, 2007 8:11 PM

comment #24

The Winchester says ...

Len Wiseman is the new Stephen Sommers.

Posted by The Winchester at June 22, 2007 8:12 PM

comment #25

christian says ...

ouch. but i have to say, i love jerry goldsmith's score in THE MUMMY and i think brendan fraser's sword battle with the mummies is a fantastic action set piece. but the rest...ug.

Posted by christian at June 22, 2007 8:46 PM

comment #26

Dan Revill says ...

Go see The Kingdom. I think Berg is a great director, so I'll see anything he does these days.

Posted by Dan Revill at June 23, 2007 12:58 AM

comment #27

BurmaShave says ...

Posted by: D.Z. at June 22, 2007 06:47 PM

D.Z. finally reveals his true nature. Try breastfeeding again if you're so desperate.

Posted by BurmaShave at June 23, 2007 3:36 AM

comment #28

jeffmcm says ...

I'm amazed to hear DZ praise Very Bad Things, not just because it's a movie and he hates movies, but more specifically because it wasn't directed by Ringo Lam or Katsuhiro Otomo.

Posted by jeffmcm at June 23, 2007 7:16 AM

comment #29

D.Z. says ...

jeff: I really only saw it because I liked Diaz in Something About Mary, which was obviously the intent, but it ended up surpassing Mary as my favorite, since the latter becomes predictable once you sit through it enough times.

Posted by D.Z. at June 23, 2007 11:13 AM

comment #30