Andy Morgan’s Screening Room

“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold is one of my favorite books of all-time. Peter Jackson is directing the movie adaptation and the casting news just keeps getting better and better. Last month we learned that Rachel Weisz (”The Constant Gardner,” “The Fountain”) is joining the cast and playing the main character’s mother; today we learn Ryan Gosling (”Half Nelson,” “Fracture,” “The Notebook”) will play the father. Shooting starts in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand.

Source: Variety

There’s not much I love about the 80s. Big hair glam bands, acid washed jeans, mullets, flannel, leg warmers and more are all items that should wiped from the world’s collective pop-culture memory. However, when it comes to movies, the 80s were chock full of classics, including one of my personal favorites, “Die Hard.” Not only did the movie provide action, laughs and suspense, but it also launched the careers of Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman (most recently seen as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films) into the upper echelon of Hollywood, especially Willis.

Now, “Live Free or Die Hard” hits theaters in the midst of a summer of dry, bloated, snooze-inducing cinema, the bulk of which has been sequels, so forgive me for my lack of faith. In fact, my first instinct is to curse Hollywood for its lack of creativity and its penchant for milking every last dime out of a film franchise, especially so in the case of “Die Hard,” where the final film in the trilogy, “Die Hard: With a Vengeance,” came out in 1995. Simply put, instead of blanketing us and entertaining us with originality, Hollywood pummels us with second-hand, recycled drivel bent on duping patrons for dollars.

I’m glad to say with “Live Free or Die Hard” I am 100 percent wrong. This movie rocks six ways from Sunday. Maybe I’m numb because “Pirates,” “Spiderman” and “Shrek” were all disappointing. Either way, the fourth installment in the “Die Hard” franchise is a welcome addition. I’d call it the best movie of the summer, but I haven’t reviewed “Transformers” yet.

The opening scene of “Live Free or Die Hard” is a little clichéd and used, but we’re brought up to speed quickly of where John McClane has been for the last 12 years. He’s divorced and is still an NYPD cop, this time with the title of Senior Detective. His acrimonious relationship with his wife has now been replaced with unfriendly relations with his daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), especially since McClane takes a page out the Alec Baldwin Handbook on Parenting and shows up unannounced and angry at his daughter’s dorm when she doesn’t return his calls.

In the midst of keeping Lucy’s boyfriend’s mitts of her body, McClane gets a call from his boss telling him to pick up a local computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long), as a favor to the FBI. After McClane arrives at Farrell’s apartment, the duo is attacked by thugs with big machine guns and lots of ammo. After explosions and gunfire they escape and the reason for Farrell’s importance to the FBI is revealed.

Little by little, the computer-linked infrastructure – including transportation, finance and utilities – is shut down by cyber terrorists. By all accounts, Farrell is lucky to be alive, as the rest of his hacker cadre has been executed by the goon squad that attacked his apartment unsuccessfully. His clan of malcontent computer geniuses was used and then dumped. The result is what Farrell calls a “firestorm,” essentially Armageddon caused by the shutdown or takeover of all computer systems and records in the US.

Once the terrorist’s motive is established, the movie becomes a treasure map, with each bombastic scene leading up to the final confrontation with bad guys’ head honcho, a disenchanted former FBI security expert, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant). And yes, to those “Die Hard” purists who may frown at the PG-13 rating, we do get a climatic “Yippy-ki-yay” at the end.

“Live Free and Die Hard” is over-the-top and cheesy in some regards, but I didn’t expect anything else and the film doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. Willis and Long drive the movie with their banter to each other and at the bad guys. Olyphant is okay as the bad guy, but he’s no Alan Rickman. Still, one of my triggers for a good movie is whether or not I’d see it again and you can be sure I’ll catch this flick again this summer.

I got this email the other day from an HJ reader (I’ve used their initials instead of their name):

Hi Andy

JW

The writer of this makes a good point. There are quite a few f-words in this film, in fact, their are 117. Most R rated films hover around 25 to 60, depending on the film. Notable exceptions are “The Big Lebowski,” “Good Will Hunting” and pretty much any film by Martin Scorsese, including “The Departed,” which had 230+. My advice is to check the movie out on www.screenit.com or www.kids-in-mind.com before blindly heading into the theater.

In terms of vulgarity taking away from the movie, I don’t think it did. In fact, I think it added an honesty that most films find difficult to obtain. “Knocked Up” isn’t full of swearing to amuse or get laughs; it’s full of swearing because that is how people talk today. What was once taboo is now, for the most part, accepted. I’m not saying that is right or wrong, but I am saying it is an accurate reflection of society.

What say ye?

After a month of rancid summer celluloid, Hollywood has its first certifiable, unique hit of the season with writer/director Judd Apatow’s (“The 40 Year Old Virgin”) “Knocked Up.” It won’t come close to pocketing the box office cash like the “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Spiderman” and “Shrek” sequels, but sometimes raking in revenue equivalent to the GNP of Greenland isn’t as important as fresh, wet-your-pants comedy.

“Knocked Up” is somewhat of a coming out party for two up and coming actors – Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. Rogen is best known for his role as Cal in 2005’s “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and Heigl is best known as Izzie Stevens on television’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” It might be unfathomable for some Hollywood suits to bank a movie’s success on two largely unproven talents, but the genius of Apatow’s writing and fill-in-the-gaps supporting cast are what carries the film. Watching the movie is like watching a well-oiled machine. Everyone knows their role and the harmony and cohesion between script and delivery is near flawless.

When the film opens we meet Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), a twenty-something stoner-cum-website entrepreneur living with his four stoner pals. In between smoking marijuana, drinking, kickboxing and ping pong, the group spends their time cataloging nude scenes for their joint business venture, a website entitled “Flesh of the Stars.com.” Ben has no money and no social life outside his band of misfits, something he tells his father he is happy with. He tells is dad he is “living his vision.”

On the other side of the coin is Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a beautiful, non-stoner working for the “E!” entertainment news channel. Alison has just been promoted to on-camera work and celebrates with a night of clubbing with her older sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann). Debbie is married to Pete (Paul Rudd) and has two kids. She is a mother figure to Alison, even letting Alison live in her guest house. It is during the sisters’ night of clubbing that Ben and Alison meet. After much imbibing, the inevitable happens and Alison wakes the next morning, horrified to find a hairy, butt crack sporting sloth in her bed. After a perfunctory breakfast, the episode is catalogued into the mistake file and closed.

Flash forward a few months and Alison soon discovers she is pregnant. Stunned, Alison envisions her life imploding. In her mind, this pregnancy could end her promising career at E! News. Her mom tells her to get an abortion, but Alison refuses and instead contacts Ben and breaks the news that he is a daddy. In her mind, the only right thing to do is develop a relationship with Ben so the baby will have two parents in its life. So, Ben and Alison start over and begin to date and start to truly fall in love. Two people, who have been extremely focused on their own needs, now have a baby and each other to worry about.

And that’s just the foundation of the movie. Throw in bits on child predators, fantasy baseball, baby shopping and thousands of pop culture references, and you can see why I was slapping my knee and reaching for the adult undergarments throughout the movie. Truthfully, it’s a full fledged comedy dream team. You have superstars – Rogen and Rudd, and then bit players like Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann, and Ben’s four roommates – Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr. Looking at the cast bios, it’s easy to see why this works. Nearly everyone in “Knocked Up” has worked together from the beginning.

“Knocked Up” is funny and heartwarming and one of the funniest films to hit theaters in the last 10 years. It’s definitely worth the full-price ticket. It is rated R for language, drug use, sexual situations and some nudity, so parents should be wary of anyone younger than 17 sneaking off to this movie with their pals.