2007 / 130 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

A car inexplicably hangs upside down inside an elevator shaft. John McClane and a sexy, ninja computer hacker struggle inside as the car slips further down the shaft, tangled in wires, inch by inch. It is only near the end of this sequence, just before the car careens down the shaft, that we see the car’s rear wheel wedged on a metal support piece.

That single description should illustrate what is wrong with this latest entry in the “Die Hard” franchise.

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Well since I’m currently sitting in the server room at work waiting on a new server to finish loading I thought I’d give you all a little update on a couple of new things at the site.

First of all after noticing that the podcast RSS feed had duplicates in it, I had to make a change that resulted in creating a new address for the feed. Supposedly anyone who is currently subscribed should automatically get updated to the new feed over the course of the next 30 days.

Just in case this isn’t so the new link is listed below, so you can update your feed reader(s) if you so choose. Let me know if any of you run into any snags either in the comments for this post or via e-mail.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AFistfulOfReviewsPodcasts

The other new thing is in the interest of further whoring out this site. Over in the Site Links section you’ll see a new choice labeled not to subtlely “Shop in the Store!” Long story short I have now added a store to the site that is powered by Amazon.com.

So if you like this site and you have a need to buy stuff off of Amazon then feel free to support A Fistful of Reviews by shopping via the store link.

Now time to get back to reviews and podcasts and all that other fun stuff.

Thanks for rockin’ like you do!

- Jones

US Theatrical release: Fall TBD Director: Noah Baumbach (“THE SQUID AND THE WHALE”) Writer: Noah Baumbach Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and John Turturro Producer: Scott Rudin Synopsis: Acclaimed Academy Award®-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach (”The Squid and the Whale,” “Kicking and Screaming,”) brings to life a sharply observed portrait of a family in distress. His latest project is an unflinchingly honest story about coming to terms with one’s family and oneself, a journey that is both funny and heartbreaking. The film stars Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jack Black.

Check out the trailer in Quicktime format

2007 / 90 Minutes / Unrated
Reviewed by Jason Jones

I am not what one would call a horror film aficionado by any stretch of the imagination. So it would be prudent of me to start out this review by saying that, to date, I have yet to see any of the Saw or Hostel movies. For whatever reason I have never acquired a taste for them like many filmgoers have. Now, of course, I appreciate the greatness of films like The Exorcist and The Shining, but to me those are films that manage to transcend the genre and exist outside the boundaries of what a horror film should be.

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STOP THE PRESS! We cranked out a new podcast just over a couple of weeks after the last one! Let’s hope this is the start of a new trend. Although I’m not going to hold my breath. Enjoy at your own risk!

Topics include:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS] Add the A Fistful of Reviews Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3).
[MP3] Download the show in MP3 format.

- Jones

[tags]The Birds, The Changeling, Planet of the Apes, Butch and Sundance, Movie Theaters, Annoying Customers, Comedians, Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Oscars, Academy Awards, Jason Jones, Dale Nauertz[/tags]

2007 / 129 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

To most guys, “Knocked Up” will be more terrifying than “The Exorcist” and “Hostel” combined. An affable loser (played with lazy grace by Seth Rogen) goes to a club and hooks up with a beautiful woman far out of his league. One beer leads to another and Seth ends up knocking boots with this hottie (and Katherine Heigl is most definitely a hottie). So far, so good. It’s like the start of “Hostel” where this dude in Amsterdam tells the guys about the superhot babes with lax morals just waiting to hump Americanos in Eastern Europe. Then however, comes the part with the saw blades and the eyeballs: the hottie ends up pregnant. Now our affable stoner faces a moral conundrum: does he support this beautiful career woman or does he bail? And how does a man with little forward direction in his life deal with such a scenario? Does he retire the bong? Does he get a real job and learn to grow up? Do they have to get married now?

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2007 / 168 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

Now this is more like it.

The original “Pirates”, you may remember, was one of those films that I hyped to the moon upon initial reviewing, not unlike the original “Spider Man”. I loved it. It was a breath of fresh air in a summer filled with the stock car chases, explosions and superheroes. At last, here was a summer movie I hadn’t been watching in one form or another every summer for the past ten years. It was distinctive, unique and, above all, fun. Perhaps I overrated it, but it has held up better than “Spider Man”, another film I personally overrated (sorry, Spidey). Personally, I’d rather see sword fights and cannon battles than speeches about responsibility. “Spider Man” is probably a better movie, but the original “Pirates” is infinitely more fun.

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Well we are back with a new podcast this week. It was actually recorded about 3 weeks ago, but we didn’t get around to getting it edited until now. Yes, we’re slackers but hopefully it was worth the wait.

Topics include:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). 
[RSS] Add the A Fistful of Reviews Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3).
[MP3] Download the show in MP3 format. 

 - Jones

2007 / 121 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

I had always thought the love of action movies was a decidedly American thing. But the existence of “Hot Fuzz” proves me wrong. Then again, why shouldn’t British people and all other people, for that matter, enjoy the brand of mayhem that American film studios seem especially great at serving up? The French produce a lot of kinky, sex-filled films about relationships. The British produce a lot of handsomely mounted costume dramas (and, truth be told, bizarre, off-the-cuff comedies). India loves making musicals. America’s number one cinematic import has always involved car chases and things blowing up real good. But, when you stop to think it over, it makes perfect sense. Who doesn’t enjoy the occasional explosion? Some nation had to fill that niche.

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2007 / 99 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

According to many sources, the movie “Pathfinder” was completed over a year ago and has been sitting on a studio shelf ever since. Well, it should have stayed on the shelf even longer. It’s tragic that we live in a world where the missing footage from Orson Welles’s “The Magnificent Ambersons” has never been found but wherein someone apparently found this piece of Viking-related shit, dusted it off and decided it warranted a national release.

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