Yippie-kye-ay.

John McClane is back for another installment of the popular action series in Live Free or Die Hard. Bruce Willis, who is on the senior side of 50, does a smash-bang job bringing one of his best characters back to life. No other man can make walking with a limp and bleeding from every orifice look so heroic and daring.

Even tacking on a PG-13 rating to an otherwise hard-core, foul-mouthed detective proved to be a smart idea. While the language is toned down, the action never stops, and more than once, you'll be teetering on the edge of your seat as McClane jumps through hoop after hoop and breaks rib after rib.

The film picks up years after the previous installment, taking the detective from New York on a road trip to Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, and all over the East Coast. Justin Long (Accepted) tags along as a targeted computer hacker whom McClane must safely escort to the FBI before the hacker's buddies put a bullet in his head.

Another Christmas movie? Yup. It's that time again, when the magical executives of Hollywood release scads of movies vaguely tied in to Christmas. They know that there are people out there who will buy any movie related to the holidays for the next 20 years. Their hope is to come up with the next White Christmas or even National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Unfortunately, most of the releases are terrible, and would be better served as firewood.

So, where does Deck the Halls fit in this pile? Is it a keeper or a stinker?

In our household, it will stay safe.

Starring Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Election, Broadway's The Producers) and Danny DeVito (TV's Taxi, Throw Momma From the Train), Deck the Halls tells the story of an uptight man (Broderick) who treasures the complete control every aspect of the winter holiday time. His family is desperately in need of some fatherly attention, but he is more interested in being the perfect Christmas example to the neighborhoods.

In Sicko, controversial filmmaker Michael Moore takes a look at the American healthcare system. On the surface, this seems a much less divisive topic than those of his previous documentaries, most notably Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911. Halfway in, however, the film arrives at Moore's primary aim, which is to introduce his viewers to the concept of socialized healthcare and, ultimately, socialized services across the board -- concepts creeping into the public debate as well as current Presidential campaigns.

Sicko begins with a rather long series of vignettes highlighting Americans who, for various reasons, have no insurance and thus cannot afford healthcare: a middle-aged couple forced to sell their home and move into their daughter's computer room; a young woman who pretends to be married to a Canadian in order to access Canada's system; a blue collar worker who accidentally sawed off two of his fingertips, but can only afford to have one sewn back on; and so on. Many of the stories are truly tragic; some are even heartbreaking. However, the movie never spends long enough on any one of the interviewees to offer background or context to their individual situations.

Love in the Time of Cholera is the quintessential story of a young man, Florentino (Javier Bardem) who falls in love with a girl, Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who is far above his social class. Her father (John Leguizamo) forbids him every to marry her and then proceeds to pine for her over the next 51 years, which gives a whole new meaning to the term "lovesick." Florentino's pining is hardly chaste, however; he decides to attempt to heal himself by seeking illicit encounters with every woman he can find (or nearly so), keeping count along the way.

It is Romeo and Juliet set in Cartegena, and in the wild terrain and jungles of Colombia, South America. It features an international cast which, in spite of the talent, never coheres or conveys any believable substance to their behavior.

The potential for this story to be potent and epic was completely thwarted by curious casting, bad dialogue (by screenwriter Ron Harwood, The Pianist), fake accents, bad makeup, and obvious prosthetics that called unwarranted attention to themselves, and stark, brash lighting that was weirdly unforgiving. Too often, Love in the Time of Cholera plays like an overwrought telenovela ... complete with hammy acting and cheesy dialogue.

Director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) ventures back into motion capture/computer-generated animation made popular in The Polar Express to re-tell the old epic poem about the hero, Beowulf.

In this version, the hero is tempted by (instead of slaying) Grendel's mother, who looks exactly like Angelina Jolie.

Act one begins with King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) celebrating a bit too loudly with his people over the construction of a new mead hall. The noise echoes through the caves of Grendel (Crispin Glover), a monster who makes Gollum look dashing by comparison. Screaming from the pain from the noise, Grendel attacks Hrothgar's people and literally tears them apart.

 

When Hrothgar confronts Grendel, he retreats back to his cave. After the horrible incident, the mead hall is closed and Hrothgar issues a summons for a hero to step forward who will rid them of Grendel once and for all.

Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone), an egotistical hero and slayer of many sea monsters. Poems are written about him and songs are dedicated to his bravery.

Family dysfunction, sibling rivalry, and ninja elves -- could anyone want anything more in a Christmas movie? How about a whole sleigh of award-winning actors, such as Kevin Spacey (Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty), Kathy Bates, (Academy Award and Golden Globe winner for Misery), Paul Giamatti (Academy Award Nominations for Sideways and Cinderella Man), and Rachel Weisz (Academy Award winner for The Constant Gardener)?

Did I mention that driving this sleigh of talented actors is Vince Vaughn? This is the same Vince Vaughn who starred with Owen Wilson in a movie about friends who crash weddings to meet women (Wedding Crashers), and who has gained more fame, in the last few years, not through award-winning performances, but by dating Jennifer Aniston.  

I say all that, and you may think I'm down on Vince. Not true. I am a closet Vince Vaughn fan. I love his fast-talking ways and his facial expressions, and his sarcasm is a work of art. No one does Vince Vaughn better than Vince Vaughn, and it works for the movie Fred Claus.

Nicholas Cage, Tracy Morgan, Will Arnett, and Steve Buscemi are among the humans who will lend their voices to animated critters for G-Force, a Walt Disney Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer production.

The plot follows the exploits of a crack team of rodent commandoes who are sent to stop an evil rich guy from conquering the world. The film will blend CGI animation with live action.

The film marks Hoyt Yeatman's first time directing. Yeatman served as visual effects supervisor in such films as Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), The Fly (1986), The Abyss (1989), Crimson Tide (1995), Armageddon (1998), Mission to Mars (2000), and Sky High (2005), among many others. He's been nominated for three Oscars and won two, including Best Visual Effects for The Abyss.

The film is scheduled for release in May 2009. Production is currently underway.

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Did someone say "Christmas shopping"? This is a good week to pick up DVDs for the movie buffs on your list. For starters ...

Deepdiscount.com, which offers free shipping on all orders year-round (yay!), is running its Supersale through Nov. 25. Just pick out what you want, and enter the promotional code "supersale" at checkout to receive an additional 20 percent off your order. Not bad!

Amazon.com is really rolling out the proverbial sales blowout this week: 60 percent off hit DVDs. They've got a great deal on a Toshiba HD DVD player (plus 10 free HD movies). Also, be sure to check their Black Friday store (on Friday, of course!) for your post-Thanksgiving shopping. No lines!

Buy.com is getting in on the act, too, with their Rock Bottom DVD sale. They've got some incredible deals on good movies here -- the Departed 2-disc set for $10! Tool around a little while you're there to find more, too.

And, year-round, you should know about cheapestdvdprice.com. Enter a title, director, keyword, or actor, and they scan a bevy of sites (including all the aforementioned) to show you what prices are available. (Of course, you know to check the shipping costs and factor those in before deciding!)

Now, start stuffing those stockings!

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The sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, has become among the first to be slowed by the WGA strike, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sony officially announced that production has been postponed because the script, by Akiva Goldsman (who also penned The Da Vinci Code), is not ready for filming. Columbia Pictures announced that the release date for the film has been pushed back as a result, from Dec. 19, 2008, to May 15, 2009.

Like Code, Angels & Demons is based on a best-selling Dan Brown novel. The sequel is set to be directed by Ron Howard, who directed Code, as well.

Columbia says that no other films on its current slate have been affected. However, several other films are facing similar decisions -- notably, Warner Bros.' Justice League of America, which has no shooting script and options on several actors up for parts set to expire soon.

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