February 2013 ~ E! Manic

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Earth Is a Memory: New 'Oblivion' Combo Posters Feature Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman!

"It's a sci-fi adventure that spans two different worlds and two different times." Universal has revealed two brand new posters on EW.com for Joseph Kosinski's sci-fi Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise as Jack Harper. We've seen one teaser poster, but these two banners are more about the marketing push. The first features both Morgan Freeman and Cruise back-to-back, and nothing in the background except white. The second actually has a futuristic background, but only Cruise casually walking very small in the center. I still want to see more from this, but maybe it's for the better they're holding back. We'll see. Take a look at the art below.

Up first the new Oblivion combo poster with a one-two Cruise-Freeman punch, posted in full on EW.com:

Here's the second Oblivion banner they debuted, showing Cruise walking along a dilapidated old bridge:

Kosinski's Oblivion (also known as Horizons) stars Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, plus Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Zoe Bell, Andrea Riseborough, Melissa Leo and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Living and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, Jack's soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Kosinski developed this for years, with a writing credit with Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt. Universal has Oblivion set to open exclusively in IMAX theaters starting April 12th, before then going wide April 19th.

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5:58 AM

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It sounds like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will serve as quite the set-up for a third film in the reboot trilogy. It's been established that Jamie Foxx is playing the main villain Electro against Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, but Paul Giamatti is also on board playing the villain Rhino. While we're not sure how that second villain is coming into play, another villain has entered the mix. Heat Vision has word that Chris Cooper (The Muppets, American Beauty) has signed on to play Norman Osborn, the owner of Oscorp who goes on to become the Green Goblin in the comic books. But will he make a villainous turn? Read on!

Our guess is that Cooper will play Osborn as a sort of mentor to Parker, which is something that happened in the comics before he went mad and became a super villain. However, those who have seen The Amazing Spider-Man know that Osborn was dying, which is part of the reason Dr. Connors tried his DNA spliced serum on himself. Maybe this means we'll get to find out what happened to Irrfan Khan's character, since he was the middle man between Osborn and Connors. Adding Cooper to the cast just sweetens this sequel, and we're anxious to see if he'll end up becoming a villain sometime down the road. We're just hoping that he's improved his maniacal laugh since The Muppets.

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4:51 AM

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New 'Iron Man 3' Poster Reveals Battle Damaged Tony Stark & Armored Army

Hot on the heels of character posters featuring Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), it's Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who takes center stage in this new official poster for Iron Man 3. Looking like he's seen better days, a battle damaged Iron Man seems to be quite pissed off as his house explodes in the background. But the more important element is the Iron Legion in the background. That's a group of suits that are believed to be controlled by Stark through nanotechnology from the Extremis storyline that inspired the sequel. Look!

Here's the new poster for Shane Black's Iron Man 3 from Yahoo:

Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) working from a script that he co-wrote with Drew Pearce. Actor Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark and Iron Man in this sequel described as a technological crisis thriller in the midst of international war, taking place after the events of The Avengers. Sir Ben Kinglsey is playing Iron Man's arch nemesis Mandarin and Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Dale Dickey, Ashley Hamilton, James Badge Dale and Jon Favreau all co-star in the Marvel Studios production. Disney is bringing Marvel's Iron Man 3 to theaters starting May 3rd this year.

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4:07 AM

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Two Character Posters For 'Iron Man 3' Featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow!

Well isn't that cute! Oh wait... it's Iron Man's head?! Or maybe just his helmet. This can't really mean what we all think it might mean, right? Marvel Studios has unveiled the fifth character poster in their series for Iron Man 3, directed by Shane Black, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark once again. As much as I wanted to be done with these, this one shows Pepper Potts played by Gwyneth Paltrow. And although she's in an awful pose and her face is barely visible, it's all about the face in her hands, if you know what I mean. This film seems to get darker the more we see from it. There's another Empire cover shot below, too.

Here's the new, oddly similar Iron Man 3 cover design, featuring Tony Stark, straight from Empire:

Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) working from a script that he co-wrote with Drew Pearce. Actor Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark and Iron Man in this sequel described as a technological crisis thriller in the midst of international war, taking place after the events of The Avengers. Sir Ben Kinglsey is playing Iron Man's arch nemesis Mandarin and Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Dale Dickey, Ashley Hamilton, James Badge Dale and Jon Favreau all co-star in the Marvel Studios production. Disney is bringing Marvel's Iron Man 3 to theaters starting May 3rd this year.

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5:29 AM

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First Look: Spidey's New Costume + Set Photos in 'Amazing Spider-Man 2'

If you haven't been following director Marc Webb on Twitter, you're missing out on some fun teases for the 2014 comic book sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He's posted some pictures of FBI agents, Oscorp laboratories and most recently, teased a new suit that Andrew Garfield will don for the sequel. Now the first official image of that suit is here, and there's some considerable differences from the suit in the first film, the biggest change being in the eyes which are now white and much larger. Otherwise, the rest of the suit looks much more like the one that Tobey Maguire wore for Sam Raimi's film trilogy. See below!

Here's the new suit from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, originally from ComingSoon:

And here is the set photos from the production of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

And for comparison, here's the "original" suit as seen in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is directed by Marc Webb and written by Jeff Pinker, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) finds, life is busy between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can't come quickly enough. Peter hasn't forgotten the promise he made to Gwen's father to protect her by staying away, but that's a promise he just can't keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past. Columbia Pictures will send the sequel to theaters early next summer on May 2nd, 2014. Cool?

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4:37 AM

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Exclusive: (2013) 85th Academy Awards Winners - The Complete List!

The 85th Academy Awards are upon us and it's time to watch the show and announce the winners of the most prestigious award in Hollywood. The Oscar ceremony is being broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre with an odd host this year - Seth MacFarlane, nominated himself. Once again, we have nine Best Picture nominees from 2012, including Les Mis, Lincoln, Django, Beasts and of course, Ben Affleck's Argo, which has been building up tremendous awards momentum leading to this day. What will win this year? The full list below will be updated with winners marked as they're announced live.

Read on for the complete list of nominees and winners. Be sure to let us know what you think of the results!

This will be updated throughout the night to reflect the winners as revealed. Additionally, I might be adding a small bit of editorial commentary beneath each category.

Winners are highlighted in BOLD below.

PICTURE:

Argo

DIRECTOR:

Ang Lee for Life of Pi

ACTOR:

Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

ACTRESS:

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

PICTURE:

Amour

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Thoughts: As much as it's not my personal favorite film of 2012, I fully expected it to win. It kept building up momentum and I feel like this is a way of everyone at the Oscars saying screw you to Affleck getting snubbed. Now the film gets its victory lap, and that's that.

DIRECTOR:

Michael Haneke - Amour

Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Ang Lee - Life of Pi

Steven Spielberg - Lincoln

David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

Thoughts: Wow, huge congrats to Ang Lee. He's an incredibly talented filmmaker and this is a long-delayed win for him. Life of Pi is a beautiful him and I couldn't be happier for Ang winning. Bravo!

ACTOR:

Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Denzel Washington - Flight

Thoughts: Expected DDL to win, no surprise. I would've much preferred Joaquin, but I knew he wasn't going to win.

ACTRESS:

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts - The Impossible

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master

Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook

Alan Arkin - Argo

Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

Thoughts: Wow! Congratulations, I'm very excited to see that Waltz won this. We're off to a great start, since this is the first category they announce, but I'm quite happy. Waltz was fantastic and this is deserved.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Amy Adams - The Master

Sally Field - Lincoln

Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables

Helen Hunt - The Sessions

Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

Thoughts: The biggest shoo-in of this year, I think. Great performances all, but this was Hathaway's lock.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Amour - Michael Haneke

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino

Flight - John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal

Thoughts: Whoa! Big surprise here, expected either Zero Dark Thirty or Amour, but not Django. That said, I loved Django, I'm happy to see it win. I think it's a brilliant script, great work Tarantino!

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Argo - Chris Terrio

Beasts of the Southern Wild - Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi - David Magee

Lincoln - Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell

Thoughts: Not a surprise, but not my pick. I was hoping for Zero Dark Thirty or Beasts of the Southern Wild, both of which I thought were better scripts than Argo. But, Argo is on a role now, and pundits were predicting his win, so I can't be too surprised.

ANIMATED FEATURE:

Pixar's Brave

Frankenweenie

ParaNorman

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

Thoughts: Interesting. So Pixar's Brave wins this year, which isn't really the popular choice. I'm fine with it, but I think many would've preferred Wreck-It Ralph. But it is still a Pixar film, right?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Amour (Austria/France)

Kon-Tiki (Norway)

No (Chile)

A Royal Affair (Denmark)

War Witch (Canada)

Thoughts: Yep, with all the love this got in nominations, I'm not surprised it won here.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey

Django Unchained - Robert Richardson

Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda

Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall - Roger Deakins

Thoughts: Ah man! As much as I really, really wanted Roger Deakins to finally win this Oscar, especially for Skyfall... I have to admit Life of Pi was a beautiful film and this was a good win. Though I really wish it was Deakins...

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

5 Broken Cameras - Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi

The Gatekeepers - Dror Moreh

How to Survive a Plague - David France

The Invisible War - Kirby Dick

Searching for Sugar Man - Malik Bendjelloul

Thoughts: Yes! I just watched this recently and it's a fantastic, wonderful, awesome documentary. Great music, an incredible story, everything about it is outstanding. I'm glad it won, congrats to Malik.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:

Inocente - Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine

Kings Point - Sari Gilman & Jedd Wider

Mondays at Racine - Cynthia Wade & Robin Honan

Open Heart - Kief Davidson & Cori Shepherd Stern

Redemption - Jon Alpert & Matthew O'Neill

ANIMATED SHORT:

Adam and Dog - Minkyu Lee

Fresh Guacamole - PES

Head over Heels - Timothy Reckart & Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" - David Silverman

Paperman - John Kahrs

Thoughts: Congrats! This was my pick, I love Paperman, everything about it from score to the look is wonderful.

LIVE-ACTION SHORT:

Asad - Bryan Buckley & Mino Jarjoura

Buzkashi Boys - Sam French & Ariel Nasr

Curfew - Shawn Christensen

Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) - Tom Van Avermaet & Ellen De Waele

Henry - Yan England

VISUAL EFFECTS:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Life of Pi

Marvel's The Avengers

Prometheus

Snow White and the Huntsman

Thoughts: Expected to win, and it's a good one. Not The Avengers of The Hobbit, but Life of Pi. That tiger!

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Anna Karenina - Sarah Greenwood (Production Design); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Dan Hennah (Prod. Design); Ra Vincent & Simon Bright (Set Dec.)

Les Misérables - Eve Stewart (Production Design); Anna Lynch-Robinson (Set Decoration)

Life of Pi - David Gropman (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)

Lincoln - Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration)

COSTUME DESIGN:

Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran

Les Misérables - Paco Delgado

Lincoln - Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman - Colleen Atwood

MAKE-UP & HAIR:

Hitchcock - Howard Berger, Peter Montagna & Martin Samuel

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater & Tami Lane

Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott & Julie Dartnell

Thoughts: No big surprise here, it was all about Hugh Jackman's beard! That was all it took, right?

FILM EDITING:

Argo - William Goldenberg

Life of Pi - Tim Squyres

Lincoln - Michael Kahn

Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers

Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor & William Goldenberg

SOUND MIXING:

Argo

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

SOUND EDITING:

Argo

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Zero Dark Thirty

Thoughts: Wait... what? We have a tie - both films just won an Oscar. You read that right. They both gave their own acceptance speeches too, which is rather interesting, but I'll take it. Two winners? Why not.

ORIGINAL SCORE:

Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli

Argo - Alexandre Desplat

Life of Pi - Mychael Danna

Lincoln - John Williams

Skyfall - Thomas Newman

Thoughts: Whoa! Life of Pi did win the Golden Globe as well, but wasn't exactly expecting this. I still was hoping that Cloud Atlas would've at least received a nomination, but Life of Pi is a good win. Can't argue with it.

ORIGINAL SONG:

"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice - Music & Lyrics by J. Ralph

"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted - Music by Walter Murphy; Lyrics by Seth MacFarlane

"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi - Music by Mychael Danna; Lyrics by Bombay Jayashri

"Skyfall" from Skyfall - Music & Lyrics by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth

"Suddenly" from Les Misérables - Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer & Alain Boublil

Thoughts: So happy to see this finally win, have been pulling for Adele ever since first hearing this song!

Chime in below as we continue to update this 2013 Oscars winners list live throughout the night and let us know if you're satisfied with this year's results (so far) and what your thoughts are on the actual Oscar ceremony with Seth MacFarlane and lots of show-stopping twists. Plus, of course, a big congratulations to all of this year's winners and the nominees as well! Thoughts on the 2013 Academy Awards winners?

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9:17 PM

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Though a firm start date hasn't been set yet, Marvel has already started aligning key players for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Agent Maria Hill are returning for the sequel, Frank Grillo is playing the villain Crossbones, Anthony Mackie will be Cap's new ally Falcon, Emily Van Camp snagged the female lead, and we know the story will be based on Ed Brubaker's infamous comics run. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Variety this morning that the sequel will be a "political thriller," so now we have an idea of what sort of tone to expect from Joseph and Anthony Russo's sequel.

Set in modern day, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will resurrect Cap's old sidekick Bucky Barnes, presumed dead in the first movie, and turn him into an amnesia-stricken cryogenically frozen assassin named The Winter Soldier. With the help of Falcon and the Cosmic Cube, Cap must remind Bucky who he really is before it's too late.

As is their standard operating procedure, Marvel is being very tight-lipped about revealing details, so we're not exactly sure what liberties screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will be taking when adapting Brubaker's idea, but we're looking forward to seeing how all of this comes together. The "political thriller" aspect makes this movie sound like more of a grounded adventure than its WWII predecessor, so we'll see if Marvel can have as much success branching out into new genres as they have in the past. Cool?

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3:11 AM

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'Iron Man 3′ New Character Poster Features Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin!

"Ladies, children... sheep. Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher." What. A. Badass. Marvel has unveiled the fourth character poster (via Facebook) for Iron Man 3, another one we have to feature. This time the "mysterious" Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley, gets his own poster, and his own chair, and some incense, and a really nifty jacket, and his own temple. Considering the last two were really bad character poses, this is a big step up, which makes complete sense considering it is The Mandarin and he is going to kick Iron Man's ass all over the place this summer. Going to be awesome!

Check him out.

Update: Here's an uncropped shot of Mandarin via Empire, showing more of his room (+hidden details):

Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) working from a script that he co-wrote with Drew Pearce. Actor Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark and Iron Man in this sequel described as a technological crisis thriller in the midst of international war, taking place after the events of The Avengers. Sir Ben Kinglsey is playing Iron Man's arch nemesis Mandarin and Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Dale Dickey, Ashley Hamilton, James Badge Dale and Jon Favreau all co-star in the Marvel Studios production. Disney is bringing Marvel's Iron Man 3 to theaters starting May 3rd this year.

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11:37 PM

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PLOT:When John McClane’s son Jack is arrested in Russia, the detective gets on a plane in hopes to help his troubled spawn. Once he arrives he soon comes to the realization his his boy is a CIA operative looking to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist.

REVIEW:Long ago, NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) made a deal with some supernatural being. He would find himself in some hairy situations, in which he would get pretty banged up in the process of taking out villainous terrorists. But everything turns okay in the end. His home life is a shambles, but he’s a hero to most. This deal made for some classic action movies, the best action movies in a few cases, and the latest, A Good Day to Die Hard, is the blandest of them all, mediocre action wrapped around a John McClane family dramedy. It’s a sign the series has lost all its charm, and it’s time for John McClane to hit the trails.

This time around, McClane finds himself in Mother Russia after he hears his son, Jack (Jai Courtney), is in trouble. What McClane doesn’t realize is that his baby boy is now an international spy, his latest assignment pitting him against some of Russia’s most corrupt officials. Jack, and now John, end up getting chased through the streets of Moscow, the cold countryside surrounding, and other interesting landmarks while trying to keep a whistleblower safe. They also learn to act as father and son once and for all, helping mend those family ties with a flurry of bullets.

There aren’t just certain trademarks that should come with any entry into the Die Hard series; the charm and wit of its lead character, villains who are as flashy and well-versed in the arts as they are sadistic, and mindless, gut-wrenching action. To some extent, all the films in this series have something from each of those categories. Until now.

The John McClane wit is dulled, thanks in large part to the Skip Woods screenplay working here. It could also have something to do with Bruce Willis, who, now in his late 50s, is showing signs of not necessarily fatigue but definitely a certain apathy. He isn’t having fun with the role any more, and quips and funny lines that come out of his mouth now sound like written dialogue instead of the natural defense mechanism the character used to switch to effortlessly. The McClane-isms seem forced in A Good Day to Die Hard.

Taking direction duties for this mess of a screenplay is John Moore, not the best action tool in the filmmaking shed. Flight of the Phoenix and Behind Enemy Lines, his earlier films, were good examples of decent action that never completely resonates. Unfortunately, the action in A Good Day to Die Hard is more on the level of Moore’s more recent work, Max Payne the worst and blandest among these. He overuses slow motion, shaky camera, and CG to the point where it doesn’t even feel like a motion picture any longer.

There’s energy in an early chase sequence, a seemingly nonstop demolition derby through the streets of Moscow, that shows how bombastic and grand Moore and company are allowing this film to be. The action is relatively nonstop, and at 97 minutes (the shortest runtime in the series by a long shot) it zips by in a breeze. But, again, this shortchanges the characters, characters we’ve been developing camaraderie with through four previous films. Just seeing John McClane getting thrown through a plate glass window doesn’t have the same excitement it once did, especially when you know nothing can kill this guy.

It’s the very minimal amount of downtime we get with he and his son where A Good Day to Die Hard could easily win itself back into our hearts. Sadly, not even this brings out any real emotion. Jai Courtney, playing McClane’s hero son, Jack, doesn’t give much, but he’s not given much, either. Jack is a hard-headed, take-no-BS, bad-ass just like his father. But where John McClane accidentally gets wrapped up in his predicaments, Jack seems to be a thrill-seeker. That doesn’t bode well for his empathy with a viewing audience, but it actually does make sense for his character. The whole time, though, you’re just watching how much better Willis does the glare stare than the younger actor, try as he might.

But even Willis seems done with the franchise. 5 films and 24 years after Nakatomi Plaza, it might be time for John McClane to hang up his spurs. It seems that everyone involved in the franchise has given up, showing up just to keep the Die Hard train a’rolling, collecting boatloads of money just to have a new McClane adventure in theaters. For the sake of action lovers and for the sake of this series’, star’s, and character’s legacies, it’s time to send McClane towards the sunset after the effort put in for A Good Day to Die Hard. Granted, nothing will tarnish the Die Hard series up to a point. We will always have those finest adventures earlier in McClain’s career, just after the deal was struck. We just didn’t know the bastard would live so long or get so slow.

Mr. Exclusive's Rating: