While James Bond was reinvented in 2006 with Casino Royale, chances are that it never would have happened without Jason Bourne. In 2002, Matt Damon brought Jason Bourne to life, and with him, ushered in an entirely new sort of spy to a world that had never seen his like.
Most of us were used to having our martinis served a particular way. Maybe you had seen Pierce Brosnan as Bond, or maybe you caught him in The Thomas Crown Affair before that – but it’s still the old-school spy. No longer. Spies have grown up. Or maybe they haven’t. Instead of being sauve and debonair, they are now rough and tumble, in step with what the younger movie-going crowd wants.
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The Wild Hogs of the title aren’t exactly a biker gang. They just pretend to be one on weekends and for the occasional ride during the week. But Doug (Tim Allen) and his crew have all hit something of a milestone. Actually, it’s a mid-life crisis. Just don’t tell them that.
So one day on their ride they decide that they are ready to take a real ride. A cross-country ride. And what a ride it will be, with the wind in their hair (or what hair they have left, at any rate) and a real chance at freedom. Or at least as close as they are probably going to get at any point in the near future.
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Adventure on July 12th, 2007 by Chad Everett
I can’t say if I’m a Harry Potter fan or not. At least one of the kids is, as he’s read the books (even if he’s not supposed to have read all of them yet). The other one is, because his brother is, but he’s actually getting at the age where he’s starting to be contrary about it, so I’m not even sure how to classify him.
Whatever the case, I think the movies in the series are starting to fall into a bit of a rut. Either that, or I am. I can certainly admit to enjoying the first, second, and probably even the third in the series. But by the time the four came along, it was getting to be a bit much. I think it had to do with the size of the stories. The Sorcerer’s Stone was three-hundred something pages. The Order of the Phoenix was nearly 900! At some point, it’s just too much for my brain to handle.
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I have enjoyed Will Smith for quite a while. He’s had a few flubs, such as Wild, Wild West, but generally even in those, he can be entertaining to watch.
This time around, Smith plays Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, matchmaker extraordinaire. He doesn’t advertise, and won’t even talk to you if your plan is just to get the girl for one night. For Hitch, it’s all about the long ball.
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Casino Royale is interesting in a number of ways. It is the twenty-first film in the James Bond series. It is the third time that the novel by the same name has been adapted into a film (though the first as a “real” Bond film). It is the first time Daniel Craig took on the mantle of the superspy. But it’s also important for one other reason. It’s a significant restart of the franchise.
In the movie, we get to go back to the beginning – the very beginning – where Bond first earns his stripes (and his legendary “double o” status). The movie is much grittier in style than the others in the series, to be sure – no sign of any of the previous Bonds to be found, and that’s not an entirely bad thing.
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When Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) wakes up, he knows that he doesn’t want to go to school. He’s ready to take a day off and stop to take a look around. If you don’t, life just might pass you by. But in order to do that, he has to convince his parents that he’s sick enough to stay home, but not sick enough to go to the doctor.
In order to do that, Ferris gives us his plan. He’s going for the clammy hands. While he’s bent over from coughing, he licks the palms, which gives them the wet feeling. He also gives us a point-by-point on-screen blow of why not to go for a fever (you might end up at the doctor’s office). Which is a little odd, really, because the on-screen thing isn’t used elsewhere. But it works, and his parents head to work and he has the day off. Now he just has to get through it.
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A seemingly never-ending line of dirt-encrusted men, women and at least one child prepare to be hanged in the gallows, all to appease Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) and his war on the pirates. As they march endlessly towards their doom, a cryer announces that item after item is suspended. No longer can people gather, demonstrate or even have lawyers. Instead, they can just die.
Then, a young lad, clutching a piece of eight, begins to softly sing. The song is gradually picked up by each of the others in line behind him, until it seems that everyone is singing the haunting song. This seems to do nothing more than infuriate Beckett.
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The rumor says that if Elektra (Jennifer Garner) is going to kill you, she will whisper in your ear before you even know that she is there.
As the movie opens, we see that Elektra can indeed defeat an entire army of people who have been assigned the task of defending a single person. Naturally she gets past them without so much as breaking a sweat or even making it seem like a difficult task. But that is what she does.
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Comedy on April 17th, 2007 by Chad Everett
Young Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) was born in the back seat of his daddy’s car, as his mom was trying to get to the hospital. Unfortunately his dad decided that it was just time to go fast.
A few years later, we stop in on Ricky in elementary school, and it’s career day. As the teacher calls on him, and he tells her that his dad isn’t there, suddenly his dad shows up, to tell everyone that he’s a race car driver, and to dispense the ultimate wisdom: “If you’re not first, you’re last.”
It is these words that Ricky Bobby will live by for quite some time.
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As Dr. Rae Crane (Lorraine Bracco) arrives in the Amazon jungle, she is met by a number of natives, and the focus of her trip – Dr. Robert Campbell (Sean Connery).
It seems that Dr. Campbell has for some time been operating on his own, without following typical company procedure, such as filing progress reports, and now that his contact has retired, the duty of figuring out just what he is up to down here has fallen to her. She isn’t exactly pleased. But then, neither is he.
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