The Importance of Being Idle

The Invincible John McClane (Sorry, Iron Man)

So I've finally seen Live Free or Die Hard, or Die Hard 4.0 as it seems to be called over here. There's a bitchy comment right there to be honest; if this is version 4.0, couldn't they at least have waited until say, 4.3, when they'd got the majority of the bugs out? Still, I guess that's what the "unrated directors cut" DVD is for, right?
I enjoyed it well enough, I can't deny that and I won't try to, but you remember what Die Hard was about? A real man, in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing his best to make things right? A guy who made mistakes, got hurt, and only did crazy things when there was no other choice. It was a total revolt against all the action stars of the 80s, the guys who could, and did, do anything for the next BIG BAD STUNT sequence, and did it without fear or injury. Die Hard destroyed all that, and yet here we are, 20 years later building it all back up again. I suppose that is only right and proper in a way, what was fresh and original then is the cliche now, so Die Hard has to go the other way, but still, it just doesn't sit right. John McClane is like the Terminator now, he just can't be stopped! Sure he get's banged up a little (at least superficially), but that doesn't stop him jumping off crashing aircraft and simply getting up and walking away. Still, as big, dumb (and oh boy, this one is dumb) action movies go, it was oddly enjoyable and very satisfying, even if it did feel like it was immitating a Die Hard movie, rather than being one.
The Iron Man Comic Con footage is finally online in all it's blurry glory (why won't they just release this stuff in glorious HD Quicktime eh?), and I know it's wrong to get all excited about a project so far from completion, but BLOODY HELL THAT LOOKS AMAZING! And it was roughly (and remember, this is just an estimate) 40,000 times cooler than the Dark Knight teaser that was released this weekend.
And now here we are in our holiday week. I didn't remember to turn my alarm clock off until quarter past five this morning, which was lucky as it prevented a rude awakening. As I was walking about doing stuff, Archie (obviously) assumed it was time to get up, and was bitterly disappointed when I turned round and got back into bed, without either letting him outside or giving him his breakfast. I know we've got a few little things planned for the week, but I hope we can both just relax and enjoy ourselves, regardless of the situation. We'll have plenty of time to fret about that once the holiday is over...

posted by BadMonkey @ 10:30 AM