AGE 4A
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013
PAGE 5A
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
Sledding no Winter be pretty good
ARD
Card are Hannah Wise,
in Lysen, Elise Farrington
entertainment
HOROSCOPES
Because the stars know things we don't.
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Today is a 7
You're testing the limits. Your friends and family help grow your ideas and create new business. Nurture the necessary partnerships for sustainable growth.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Today is an 8
There's still a lot of work to do (especially around finances), but with dedication and compassion you make great progress. You can appreciate where you've gotten so far.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Today is a 7
Reaffirm your vision for the future, and get some well-deserved attention. Keep it grounded in reality, though, as fantasies can play tricks now. Save something away for emergencies.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Today is a 9
You can really complete a project that you'd been putting off. Better fix something before it breaks. Avoid impetuous spending. Another's opinions are important, even if confusing.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Today is a 6
Together, you can achieve amazing things, but you may have to be patient. Saving money is important, but your health comes first. Try a different mode of transportation.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Today is a 7
Make up a plan before you start.
Include exercise in your routine;
a little makes a difference over time. Keep producing excellence at work. Pad the schedule for the unexpected.
Integrity counts double now, especially at work. Customer satisfaction pays dividends well into the future. Put in the extra effort. You're becoming more attracted and attractive.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Today is a 9
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Today is a 9
The tension is getting higher, for better or worse. You can actually benefit greatly from the situation. You immediately see how to bend the rules to your benefit. But don't break them.
Go over your options again before choosing, but choose, even if it seems difficult. There are excellent conditions for finding a great deal on the system you want. Don't waste a penny.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Today is an 8
Review the assignment to avoid errors. Don't be afraid to ask a special person to help. It's a good excuse to hang out, anyway. Keep it inexpensive with popcorn and tea.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Today is a 7
Listen to others attentively, as if their words could be measured in gold. Your sixth sense is working well. Work out any kinks in communication or schedule without overextending.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Today is a 7
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Today is a 7
Don't waste hours on communications that go nowhere. Minutes spent making extra copies of your data can save you time and money later. Take a break from a circular conversation. Talk it out later.
MOVIE REVIEW
Willis, franchise tarnished by recent movies
ASSOCIATED PRESS
I've reached the point where I automatically grow suspicious any time an established action franchise feels the need to introduce the hero's estranged son. I guess you could call me Mutt-shy. Yes, that's a reference to Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), the illegitimate greater offspring of Indiana Jones; a clownish pit stain of a character whose vine-swing, hair-gelling antics helped make 2008's "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" the Bataan Death March of summer blockbusters.
An older, apparently superhuman John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to Russia to look for his missing son Jack (Jai Courtney) in "A Good Day to Die Hard."
So when I first heard "A Good Day to Die Hard," the fifth and feeblest installment in the "Die Hard" series, would involve John McClane (Bruce Willis) traveling to Russia to save his CIA operative son (Sam Worthington clone Jai Courtney), the news raised more red flags than the Soviet National Anthem. Like the "Indiana Jones" quartet, the "Die Hard" films have moved beyond the neat, natural endpoint of a trilogy and now exist solely out of an almost vampiric sense of brand preservation, one that feeds on an audience's nostalgia for a beloved character and offers them nothing but a stunted, lifeless imitation.
You see, John McClane isn't really John McClane anymore. Gone is the noble, wickcrassing New Jersey cowboy of 1988, the bullet-headed paragon of blue-collar virtue who would crawl barefoot across broken glass to protect the innocent from international crooks and terrorists like the original film's aristocratic arch-villain Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). The McClane who appears in "A Good Day to Die Hard" is the quintessential ugly American, a boorish buffoon who barrels across a busy Moscow highway in a stolen truck, casually crushing dozens of civilians, all to "rescue" his son, a capable government agent who neither wants nor needs his old man's help.
Longtime fans were quick to
The story, something about a corrupt Russian defense minister and the radioactive vault he left buried beneath the ruins of Chernobyl, is an unfocused convoluted muddle that renders McClane a supporting player in his own movie. That leaves us with Courtney's Jack McClane, the latest in a long line of action heroes with a terminal case of daddy issues. His "I'm extra tough' cause you were never there for me!" repartee with Willis is interrupted by a series of progressively bigger, duller action sequences, starting with a concusive, blundering romp through Moscow that made me long for a similar scene in "Goldeneye" where James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) commandees a T-55 tank for a joyride through Red Square.
disparage 2007's "Live Free or Die Hard" because of its bland PG-13 rating and Willis' willingness to suddenly turn his everyman cop into an invulnerable superhero. Those same tendencies are out in force here, especially during scenes where McClane emerges from searing explosions and a five-story death plunge with nary a scratch, while young Jack gets bruised and bloodied in a way that seems pretty convincing by action movie standards.
Despite his fantastic turn as an assassin being hunted by his younger self in last year's time travel opus "Looper," Willis
remains an actor with no tangible qualms about sleepwalking his way through sub-par projects. Did he read Skip Wood's abysmal screenplay and realize the writer of universally panned dreck like "Hitman" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" would be wrong for the "Die Hard" universe? Did he watch the dailies and shake his head at director John Moore's nauseating fondness for quick cuts and shaky-cam as opposed to well-mounted, inventively choreographed action scenes? Or had the check already cleared?
It's difficult to imagine Willis not harboring some private doubts
about essentially mortgaging the future of the character that made him a star 25 years ago. The only way to redeem the series at this point is to go back to basics, back to the scenario perfected by director John McTiernan in the first and third movies: McClane the reluctant hero trapped in an enclosed space with interesting bad guys to kill and loved ones to defend. Until that happens, the "Die Hard" franchise will remain on life support.
Edited by Madison Schultz
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CROSSWORD
LOCAL MUSIC
Toro y Moi tour includes Lawrence on schedule
neath the Pine," which received critical acclaim. In January of this year, Toro released his follow up album "Anything in Return."
Multi-instrumentalist Chazwick Bundick, known by his stage name Toro Yoi, is bringing his 2013 tour to Lawrence. Toro isn't alone; he'll be joined by supports acts SINAKNE and Dog Dite.
Toro y Moi has been around since 2009, but he really made a name for himself with his 2011 album "Under-
Toro's music is known for light, pretty arrangements and dance disco beats, which make for an easygoing listening experience.
"Toro's music is provoking and thoughtful," said Gabe Sprague, a freshman from Concordia. "Modern and
tasteful — that's what attracts me to his music. I feel like 'chill' is a good word to describe his music.
The concert is tonight at the Granada.
Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts
at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance.
Sprague said he's never been to a Toro y Moi concert, but he's looking forward to this one.
ACROSS
1 Trouba-dour's instrument
5 Brit. fliers
8 Legal document
12 Tiny bit
13 Right angle
14 Present
15 Poetic foot
16 By way of
17 App symbol
18 Stingy, slangily
20 Major-ettes' props
22 One of the kin (Abbr.)
23 Yon maiden
24 Wait in hiding
27 Porches
32 Eisen-hower
33 Before
34 Wapit
35 Barack Obama, e.g.
38 Quarry
39 Altar affirmative
40 Blond shade
42 Baseball division
45 Weather-map line
49 Extinct bird
50 Web address
52 Author Morrison
53 Stead
54 "A pox upon theheel!"
55 Not ignorant of
56 Blunders
57 Supporting
58 Method (Abbr.)
DOWN
1 Secular
2 Western state
3 Heavy reading
4 Set off on a journey
5 Six-gun, e.g.
6 "The Greatest"
7 Cellulite, e.g.
8 Bleach
9 Flute's cousin
10 Press
11 Saw-bucks
19 Gym class (Abbr.)
CHECK OUT THE ANSWERS
http://bit.ly/YblF5R
21 “Eurekal!”
24 Cover
25 Luau music-maker
26 String around your finger
28 Geological period
29 Merchant
30 Hearty quaff
31 Firmament
36 Hateful
37 Inmate
38 Snap-shots
41 Baseball position (Abbr.)
42 Not working
43 Bleak, in Hollywood
44 Verbal abuse
46 Skeletal
47 Picnic invaders
48 Laugh-a-minute
51 Carnival city
Ryan Wright
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