Oh Fire in the Hole...

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause(dir. Michael Lembeck)
So bad, it's good. Well, so bad, it's decent at least. It doesn't retain a constant state of ridiculous badness like Rush Hour 3 does so when you experience the stretches that aren't amusing at all, it's just bad. The annoying fat Jewish Elf kid from the second one is in this one and boy, you wish he got hit by a car more than ever, but thankfully, his time on screen is rather minimal. I fail to see how someone wouldn't think Tim Allen going "fire in the hole" while his ass is on fire or Judge Reinhold having a little too much Christmas spirit at least as mildly amusing. Everybody is so happy and joyful that it's borderline creepy, which makes it even more hilarious when it's cheesy "heart-warming" moments come around. Alan Arkin and Ann Margaret are the only ones that aren't very convincing in their drunkedness on the happiness that is Christmas time and stick out like sore thumbs. They're easily the worst thing in the movie. They just totally kill the Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
Live Free or Die Hard[Unrated Cut](dir. Len Wiseman)
This is seriously the cut that should have gone to theaters. Without all the coarse language, John McClane didn't seem like John McClane. Without all the swearing, they might as well have made it Ethan Hunt or James Bond. While this is the definitive version of the film, it's still marred with the same problems as the original cut. The action set-pieces are some of the most ridiculously fun set-pieces found in all of cinema, but when they're not happening, the film noticeably drags. It could be because the drama of the film isn't really all that involving, but I feel it's because of a more serious problem: they don't focus on John McClane enough. The previous Die Hard films were fine when they focused on the "bad guys" a little bit now and then because well, they had fucking guns and the bad guys in this are armed with computers so it's just not the same. The villains also barely register due to a lack of screen presence. Timothy Olyphant tries his damnedest to be sinister, but he's not all that threatening. While some of John's one-liners are hilarious, there's just some that verge on being offensive with their misogyny. It's hard to laugh or be expected to laugh when he refers to a woman he killed as a "another dead Asian hooker bitch" way after his encounter with her. It's still definitely the best action movie of the year and the second best Die Hard film after Die Hard 2: Die Harder. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Rescue Dawn(dir. Werner Herzog)
Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a great documentary and a fictional recount of his experience in a Laotian prison camp isn't a totally awful idea, but I simply couldn't shake the notion that he'd probably fuck it up especially with the relative Hollywood-ish gloss this film had in it's trailers. It's not a total fuck up, but it's hard to really call it a resounding success as well. I'd imagine the film would have been more effective if it was much more grim and bleak especially in concern with this film's ending. There's also the fact that the film is undeniably overlong with the time spent in the prison camp(more reasonable) and time spent outside of the prison camp(more unreasonable). The decapitation scene was handled rather sloppily(can't show the head get cut off!). While I'm fine with not going crazy on the blood and guts in movies, this film felt like it specifically was trying to divert away from it in rather clumsy ways. The ending, while touching, seemed like it was lifted from a goddamn inspirational sports movie. Dieter threw the winning catch! It's hard not to be moved by this, but when you think about it, was this film really necessary? Hearing the real Dieter talk about his life experiences is much more emotionally involving than watching actors recreate it. I don't think the film was all that Hollywood-ized outside of it's ending, but there's still an undeniable sensation that Herzog was holding back or was held back. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****