Die Hard 3: Die Hard with a Vengence

When the credits rolled for Die Hard 3, I sat up, muted the TV, put down the remote and exhaled for the first time since the first thirty seconds of the movie. It's highly intense and extremely well done, just like the two before it. However, I must say that this was my favorite of the three.

Once again, we join John McClane on another one of his wild adventures. This time, we're on his turf in New York City. On this particular day, John is on suspension for Lord knows what, but he's called in to the office when a department store is blown up downtown and the man who claims responsibility asks for John by name. The man claims to be 'Simon' and wants to 'play a game' of 'Simon Says'. The rules are that John must complete the tasks given him in the specified amount of time or there will be 'another big bang in a very public place.'

John must play Simon's deadly game as he races around New York City with Zeus, an unfortunate pawn shop owner who saved John's butt while he was trying to complete one of Simon's demands. Simon poses more and more puzzles and riddles, and for the most part, John and Zeus solve them.

John has no idea why Simon has chosen him to pick on, but he soon finds out that Simon is actually Simon Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber. As you may recall, Hans Gruber is the sucker that John was forced to shove out a window on the 32nd story of Nakatomi Tower in Die Hard 1.

So John and Zeus are running around the Big Apple, racing against time to solve the puzzles Simon is posing. But there is a bigger plot underneath everything...it's not just vengence Simon wants.

This was an amazing film. I absolutely loved it. Bruce Willis does an excellent job, as always, and I have always loved Samuel L. Jackson, who played Zeus.

Side note: Jeremy Irons is officially the best villain in the history of film. There is no comparison. I can't believe I haven't heard more about him...the only other film I've seen with him in it is Lion King (where, surprise surprise, he played the villain). He should be some kind of Hollywood god...and I'm sure he is in the Euro-version of Hollywood, seeing as how he's in several European films. He's actually been in several films that made it big in the US, but he's been overshadowed b so many of the other stars in them that he went virtually unnoticed. Apparently, he's in Kingdom of Heaven, but I haven't seen that yet since I'm disgusted by Orlando Bloom. I guess I'll have to swallow my pride and watch it...for Jeremy, it's worth it.

5 stars. Yeah, it was super unrealistic, but DANG I loved it!!

Signs

I remember the first time I saw this movie...it was my thirteenth birthday. Four of my best friends and I went with my parents and brother to see it in the theaters. Then, I was scared spitless (OK, maybe not THAT scared, but it was an excuse to snuggle up to my then-boyfriend...). I really liked it despite how 'scared' I was.

Now that I'm older, it really doesn't scare me. It really takes a lot to scare me. I get startled easily, but it's been a while since I've had a good scare.

If you're looking for a scary movie, Signs isn't the best way to go, but if you're looking for a great thriller with a really well-put-together storyline, I would definitely suggest it.

Graham Hess lives with his brother and two children on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is a former reverend who has wandered from the faith in light of his wife's recent death. One morning, he wakes up to his young daughter's screams and runs outside to find his two children standing in the middle of their corn field, which now sports a gigantic, 500 ft. wide crop circle. Graham, thinking it's a prank, calls the local police to investigate the strange signs in his field, but the circles are done too perfectly for a work of human hands. When similar crop circles pop up across the globe, the entire world begins to ask the classic question -- 'Are we alone?'

Stranger things begin to happen. Unidentified lights appear over several major cities, people report sightings of non-human creatures sneaking through their yards... Graham encounters them on two occasions, once in his field at home, and once more at the home of the man who killed his wife.

After the second encounter, he prepared his household for the worst. And the worst comes -- in several ways.

In this movie, we watch several questions cross Graham's mind...Is there someone looking out for us? Could it be that God really does exist in the midst of horrible circumstances? Could it be that we really are not alone in this universe?

I really enjoyed this movie when I was 13 and I appreciate it even more now. Mel Gibson, who plays Graham, does an awesome job, as always. Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Graham's brother Merill, is an excellent comic relief and does an amazing job. I love the actors who play Graham's children. For their ages, they are definitely talented.

M. Night Shyamalan is by far one of my favorite actors. I am very seldom disappointed in his work, and I'm hoping that his new movie, "Lady in the Water", will be as good as all of his other films (though I'm really hoping it will be much better than "The Village" -- that film could have ended in countless ways, and yet he chose to blow it with THAT ending...)

5 stars. This movie got far less credit than it deserved.