As they say in Japan, "NAKATOMI... I LOVE SUMMER!"

Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

When I told my friend there was a new Die Hard movie coming out she laughed and said "What's it called, 'Die Already'?" Although the actual title isn't much better, I still couldn't let the summer go by without catching the latest from the baddest NY cop since, well, JOHN McCLANE!

If you have never watched the Die Hard series, or missed some of the movies, here's a 4 1/2 minute crash course in why we love John McClane.



For those that have a little more time on their hands, this should tickle your fancy.

Here's a tip. Before you go see this movie, you have to not only check your brain at the door, but send it on a Semester at Sea. If you are looking for an award winning storyline, intellectual stimulation, gripping dramatic acting, or apparently an 'R' rating... then go write your own movie. There is not much of that going on in Hollywood nowadays. "Live Free or Die Hard" is a throwback to a time where one-liners and ridiculous, non-computer animated action sequences were the norm. It's an action movie... the old fashioned way. Much like the main character John McClane is the old fashioned hero without a cape and 35 million dollars of CGI to make him fly; The self-proclaimed "Fly in the ointment. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass"; The reluctant savior of men, women, children, the world, and evidently the slumping summer box office.

The story is pretty simple. A maniacal, and of course witty, cyber-terrorist (Timothy Olyphant) wants to shut down the entire digital infrastructure of America with the help of his Kung-fu kicking hottie girlfriend (Maggie Q). McClane, once again played brilliantly by Bruce "bald and beautiful" Willis, has to bring a hacker (Justin Long) to Washington D.C. for questioning. From there it does not take long for the bullets to fly. The cyber-terrorists want the hacker dead... McClane does his thing. It's surely not rocket science.

Yet, there is something more than just 'popcorn action flick' going on in this movie. The story is an interesting battle between not only good and evil, but analog and digital. McClane is a dinosaur (or a "toilet bug", if you ask his old boss) battling against the future. It's Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, Man vs. Machine, Stuntmen vs. CGI, bloody feet vs. Prada Shoes... and McClane's wise-cracking brand of ass whuppin' prevails in one of the most explosion-heavy movies of the series. There is a highway chase scene that rivals (though doesn't beat) the epic highway scene of "The Matrix: Reloaded" which pits McClane's beat-up, stolen 18-Wheeler versus a high-tech, remote-controlled, F-35 hovering jet fighter. Of course, many of the scenes are of the "yeah, right" variety, but it doesn't matter. Remember, your brain is reading Shakespeare somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean.

Although none of the movies have compared to the original (there are few action movies that can), Director Len Wiseman (Underworld) does his best to keep the movie true to its roots. There is an elevator shaft scene, air-ducts being crawled through, an Agent Johnson (of the Johnson & Johnson's from the original?), a bunch of bungling FBI hi-jinks, Lucy Gennero, er... uh... McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the obligatory indie-cred cameo by Kevin Smith (who's love for Star Wars even warranted a quick fade of the 'm' in his name during the credits), some parkour, and even with the limited potty-mouth that comes with a PG-13 rating, there was at least room for one "Yippie Kai Yay, Mother...." SHUT YO' MOUTH!

I give this movie 4 Eyebrows up!

Favorite Die Hard Line #5:
[McClane tries to call up police]
Supervisor: Attention, whoever you are. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only...
John McClane: No fucking shit, lady. Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

NBA Summer League: Knicks

The Knicks Summer League came to a close yesterday with the Knicks going undefeated at 5-0. Now, I know that the Summer League is just that, Summer League. However, the Knicks looked really good. At least, the young Knicks: Nate Robinson, Renaldo Balkman, Randolph Morris, Demetris Nichols and Wilson Chandler.

Nate decided to play this Summer despite entering his third year in the league and he looked like he's finally starting to get the whole passing the ball concept. He looked like he was playing under control better and setting up his team mates was more than just an idea. Encouraging to say the least since that his been his greatest knock his first two years in the league. It appears that not only Knick fans noticed Nate's development as a PG and player: He was named Summer League MVP today. While there were players who averaged more points and rebounds, he averaged 18.8 points to go with 7 plus assists per game, the way he ran the team and stopped taking bad shots during games apparently turned some heads. If he keeps this up, he won't be chained to the bench anymore due to his out of control play.

You could tell while watching "Taz" that he has worked on his game this past off season. While the results on his jumper were less than enthusiastic, his form looked better. I think this will be the first step for him to improve his greatest weakness. In addition to his improved shooting form, he has improved his ball handling. Along with these improvements, he still brought his usual fervor for defense and rebounding and knack for blocking shots. It's going to be difficult to keep him off the floor this upcoming season. I thought I'd add one of Balkman's more exciting plays from last season below.



One of Isiah's more creative pickups last season, Randolph Morris, is showing that he belongs in the NBA. While he lacks the explosiveness that teams look for when drafting elite PF or Center prospects, he does does show a willingness to bang in the paint, set screens and a pretty decent post game to along with a jumper from 12 feet in. While there will probably be a lot of nights that he doesn't get to see action, it has more to do with the players ahead of him on the roster and not his individual talents because at the end of the day, he's not taking away time from Curry, Randolph, Lee or Jeffries.

Demetris Nichols is looking like one of the steals of the draft after his performance this summer. The Knicks acquired Nichols in a draft day deal with Portland. The Knicks traded next years 2nd round pick for Nichols after being picked 53rd overall. He has great range on his jumper and very nice form and follow through on his jumper. In addition, as opposed to most great shooters, he drives the ball to the basket using his jumper to set up his pump fake and effective drives to the basket. He also displays his athleticism in the transition game and on defense.

Finally, there is Wilson Chandler, the Knicks first round draft pick and 23rd player selected overall. I never got the chance to see him play in college so I didn't know what to expect. He is a very fluid athlete that always seems to play under control. He reminds me a little bit of Trevor Ariza with a jump shot and a better handle. He, along with Balkman, frequently started fastbreaks after they snared the rebound and brought he ball up quickly and went to the middle of the floor immediately displaying good court instincts. I saw what the announcers were saying during the draft when they stated that Chandler's game is suited to the Pro's. He uses his body 6'8", 230 lbs.) well to shield defenders and gets good elevation his shot be it in the post or on the perimeter. In addition to his offensive game, he displayed the ability to play defense with and rebound using his long wing span and definitely looks like he will be the starter at SF one day. Knick veterans are on notice: this kid will be pushing for playing time at the 3.

Overall, it increasingly looks like Isiah's eye for talent cannot be questioned. I hate to harp on this, but, if you look at the roster that Isiah inherited along with the salary cap restrictions he started out with, the amount of talent and youth that he has acquired during his tenure as president of the Knicks is remarkable.

With the talent that Isiah has acquired, practices will be spirited and guys will be competing for playing time which is always a good thing. In addition to that, most of the team came to Vegas to start practicing early and learning the new sets that they'll be running next season with the acquisition of Zach Randolph. If I had to put a number on the amount of wins that they will end up with at the end of the season, I would put it at 47 wins with the caveat that they will become a team that noone will want to play during the post season.

The Second Half of the Baseball Season and WTF?

This is something you HAVE to watch. This would be the portion of the post labeled, "WTF?" It's only about 2 minutes long and if anything, it makes you want to go catch a minor league game to be able to watch a spectacle like this unfold. It looks like the guy had a Vietnam flashback. Really, really weird.



The All-Star game was pretty good. The AL beat the NL...again. Ten straight years now. A turnaround from the 80's when the NL dominated the AL. The Home-Run Derby (or as Dre coined it, "The Line-Drive Derby") was boring.

The Mets fire Rick Down as their hitting coach and hire...Rickey Henderson? Are you kidding me? Mets management didn't bring him back after he was playing cards in the clubhouse DURING A GAME, he used to talk to his bats and now they want hire him to come on board as a leader of the team? Maybe, MAYBE as the stealing bases coach/Jose Reyes caddy, but this? I can't wait to see Rickey go over the finer points of talking to your bat with Carlos Delgado. Should be fun.

Yankees? Ugh. We'll see. Some good news: They have finally dropped their stance of not negotiating contracts with players during the regular season for A-Rod. Thank goodness. Now we'll see if he actually is willing to stay here. He's nuts if he does. Another good thing is that their second-half schedule is pretty easy. I'll have my fingers crossed.

There aren't any real big trades coming up that can be foreseen with all the bigger names that would have been traded are injured. Or in the case of Mark Buerhle, he's already re-signed with Chicago.

All I have to look forward to now is seeing how Bud Selig manages to slither away from being in attendance when Barry Bonds breaks the all time Home Run record. That should be fun.

When do NBA games start again?

This sucks. The homerun contest was on last night as part of All-Star weekend and this thing is dreadful. It took like, 3 hours. It's really not that exciting. As bad as the dunk contest was for a while there, it was still more exciting than most HR contests, especially when the thing takes forever. What makes this worse is that the Yankees don't look like they're making the playoffs anymore. They would have to start the second half with something like a 24-6 run. Certainly not impossible, but not probable given the way they have been playing. Abreu still look s like the walking dead out there at times and Kei Igawa is, well, Kei Igawa. This wouldn't be that bad if Phil Hughes hadn't been struck by the, "I hate Yankee pitchers legs" disease and badly sprained his ankle while rehabbing his own pulled hamstring. They were playing better just before the break again but that was preceded by another bad losing streak which just may have buried any dreams of the playoffs.


On the other hand the Mets are playing better and will most certainly make the playoffs. However, I'm not that confident about them going to the Series with their pitching. Mark Buerhle re-signing with the White Sox could not have been good for the Mets. I said the same thing last year and despite injuries to their number 1 and 2 starters, they came within a game of the Series. This year looks like it might be different though. Milwaukee looks really good. They have one of the best young sluggers in the game in Prince Fielder, a slugging shortstop of their own (The rest of his game can't hang with Reyes though) in JJ Hardy. In addition, they have a legitimate ace in Ben Sheets. While Sheets may be having a down year for him (10-4, 3.41 ERA), he can still turn in a dominating performance, which is what you want out of your ace during the playoffs. The top teams in the NL are better this year than last making this year more difficult for the Mets. Even the Padres are better this year. Chris Young (8-3, 2.00 ERA) and Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) make them very dangerous in with their ability to shut down teams during a short series. You put that together with the fact that the inevitable fall to earth was going to have to happen with some of their players. What? You guys really thought that Jose Valentin finally "discovered" himself at 37 and would keep playing at the level he did last year? Meanwhile Carlos Delgado has picked it up during the month of July and is hitting .375 this month, hopefully this is not an aberration. I still don't think that you enter into a season when you want to contend for a Championship with a declining Shawn Green as your everyday right fielder and Moises Alou, who at 41 and with a history of being injury prone was not a good gamble. You can have one or the other, but if you have both as starters, you're playing with fire.

The rest of the season may be really hard to watch for Yankee fans if they don't put together an almost historic comeback. Hopefully, Omar Minaya can find another piece or two for the team. If i'm the Yankees, if I don't come out of the gate playing great, I try and trade A-Rod and see what kind of prospects I get for him. If someone puts together a package that's just too good to overlook, you trade him and get something in return for him. You know that he's opting out at the end of the year and if I was him, the way that this City's fans have treated him and the way the media has covered him, I leave for the West Coast. Less pressure, same huge sums of cash.

NBA Summer League Action! It's Faaaaan-tastic! (Knicks beat up on Seattle last night. Wilson Chandler and Randolph Morris looked pretty good).

Was Stephon Marbury drunk?

I don't know if anyone has seen this but, this is Stephon Marbury reacting to the trade for Zach Randolph. It's pretty trippy. It's about as bad as Paula Abdul on the Fox morning show, if you haven't caught the clip in her drunken (I hope) state, you have to see this.

Back to Steph. What do you guys think?

Possibly even better is Steph on Mike'D Up. I really like Steph, I think his game progressed last year in terms of being a better point guard, but I can't believe this guy wants to be a talk show host. If he really got a show, we could be looking forward to a little more Magic Johnson talk show history.

Rashard Lewis: Is he worth a "Max" deal?

Rashard Lewis signed a "Max" deal with the Orlando Magic. I'm guessing that the Magic think that this signing puts them near the top of the weak Eastern Conference. It may do that. His skill-set would seem to be perfect for the Magic. He and Dwight Howard should be a very effective inside/outside combo that other teams will have a hard time defending. On the other hand, does it make sense to pay a guy who doesn't do much else but shoot the ball make sense? Knick fans were greatly disappointed in Allan Houston, who was a similar player at times. He had a better handle and when he put his mind to it, could break down defenders with the dribble and get to the rack and either finish or get to the line. However, he didn't play "D" and would disappear at times. He was unselfish to a fault throughout his career and this same trait can be found in Lewis' game. He has a beautiful stroke and again, seems to be a great fit for Howard, but will he disappear too much for this big a deal? Are 5 years at $85M too much for a one dimensional player?

With most teams the answer is yes. This may be one of the handful of teams that it may not be such a bad deal. Lewis will turn 28 this coming August, meaning he will be 33 at the end of this deal and while he missed 20 games last year due to injury, he does not have a history of injury and has shown that he takes care of himself during the off-season. You won't see him appear on Shaq's overweight camp show (one of the funniest new shows on TV. Shaq? Helping people lose weight?) However, this deal is not only about Lewis' pricetag. For the Magic to be able to fit this contract under their salary cap, they also had to renounce their rights to Darko Milicic. This leaves the Magic with only Howard and Tony Battie in their frontcourt. Does this mean that the Pat Garrity era is about to commence in Orlando? Say it ain't so.

What do you guys think?

Movie Reviews: Transformers and Knocked Up

Movie reviews will be a recurring feature on the site. We love movies, although I don't really don't get to go much, and we'll post a review here from time to time. I got to go to the movies this past week, which is good since my wife and I are about to have our first child and we won't be going to the movies much in the future. First, i'll start off with, "Transformers".

Transformers

The DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures venture, "Transformers", was actually better than I thought it would be. Not by much, but better. First off, I don't think I was alone in the fear that Michael Bay directing this flick (you really can't call this a film) would be the kiss of death. Is this guy formulaic or what? Hollywood gives this guy a LOT of money to make movies. Bad movies. He's produced, or directed, such "classics" as, "The Island", "Pearl Harbor", "Armageddon" and "The Rock" (Which I did kind of like). For all the money this guy gets to use towards making movies, why does he use the SAME music in his flicks? It's THE EXACT SAME MUSIC. Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but it's annoying. Back to the flick.

Maybe the flick was worse than I thought, my opinion might be a little skewed because I grew up loving the cartoon as a kid. Either way, it was cool as hell to see Optimus Prime and Megatron brought to life on the screen. Industrial Lights and Magic has done it again: They put together a special effects masterpiece. Don't pay your money looking for a well developed story in the expectation of really caring about the characters in this flick. It ain't gonna happen. But if you loved "The Transformers", the cartoon, as a kid, I think you'll enjoy this summer flick. If you truly hate Michael Bay's formulaic madness (the love story, the hot chick slo-mo shots, the "rah-rah" team scenes, someone giving their life for another or at least the attempt to do so, etc.) you might get a little annoyed at times, but hopefully you'll be able to overcome it.

Knocked Up

If you like comedies with "heart", then you'll love this movie. I have to say, I am a fan of the director of this movie, Judd Apatow. He was the co-executive producer of, "The Larry Sanders Show" and executive producer of, "The Ben Stiller Show". He also produced and directed, "The 40 Year Old Virgin". I thought this movie was better than "Virgin". "Knocked Up" never slowed down, I felt "Virgin" did, there was one funny scene after another. A few of them are classics in the making which you already probably saw in the trailers, but trust me, there are more funny scenes in the movie. It's not like other movies where all the funny parts are in the trailers.

Guys, you ever see a couple walking down the street and the woman is just way too good looking for the guy? Well, in this movie that scene gets taken a step further and have a kid together after she gets pregnant, from what she thought, after their one-night-stand. That's the movie in a nutshell. Seth Rogan, also In "Virgin", was great in this movie. He played the guy who got lucky with a woman that was way out of his league. The woman in question being Katherine Heigl of TV's, "Grey's Anatomy". Her sister in the movie is played by, Leslie Mann, the drunk driving woman who drives Steve Carrel home in "Virgin" and throws up on him in her car. Paul Rudd plays Mann's husband and is really funny in this and has a great chemistry with Rogan throughout.

Again, my opinion may be skewed since my wife and I have a child on the way, but judging by all the laughs in the theater, you have to see this movie. I definitely recommend this movie to all people/couples expecting children, some of the jokes in this movie will really hit home with you.

Hope you enjoyed your Fourth.