Assault on old boy on fire

Movie Review: Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Ethan Hawke is a burnt out cop given the non-demanding job of shutting down an old precinct HQ. Laurence Fishburne is the mob boss being transported to a high security prison. Heavy snow forces the police bus to make a detour to the minimally staffed Precinct 13 HQ. However, a literal army of corrupt police officers is intent on storming the building and killing everyone inside.
This remake of John Carpenter's classic (which apparently is itself a remake of Rio Bravo) really falls on its face early. The whole movie hinges on the prisoner transfer bus being forced to stop at the nearly abandoned precinct building. This only happens because of a snow storm. If it weren't for this snow storm the bus would have continued to the high security prison where it seems unlikely that the corrupt cops could have attacked. The scenes of the corrupt police attacking are also awful. They are dressed up like SWAT members yet they only attack the precinct 1 at a time. Drea de Matteo, the sister from 'Joey', has nothing to do but show off her chest and spout stupid lines. Oh yes, she is also a better shot than the SWAT guys. And worst of all, the ending of the movie takes place in a forest that suddenly shows up next to the precinct building despite all the earlier setup shops that showed it to be in an industrial area. 4/10

Movie Review: Oldboy (2003)
Oldboy features the greatest possible revenge scenario since Eric Cartman made Scott Tenenbaum eat a chilli made from his parents. This Korean suspense film starts with a loud mouthed man being kidnapped and locked in a small rooom with a TV. 15 years later he is, suddenly, released. He goes looking for the people who put him there and and the reason why. This spills into a superb revenge thriller from many different angles. A deserving winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004. 8.5/10

Movie Review: Man on Fire (2004)
Denzel Washington stars in this, yet another, revenge action movie. He plays a former government agent, now washed-up alcoholic who can only find work as a bodyguard in Mexico. His assignment, an adorable girl played by the always impressive Dakota Fanning. He tries to stay on purely working terms for her but soon falls prey to her charm. When she is kidnapped and reported dead Denzel switches to full revenge mode. He arms himself with some pretty big guns (including a rocket launcher at one point) and proceeds to tear Mexico City a few new A-holes. Visually this movie is great but the music was a little jarring. It's very nice music but it seemed Gaelic to me and did not match the Mexican background. 7.5/10

Book Review: America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction - Jon Stewart
A very funny 'Dummy's Guide to American Democracy'. If you like Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show' you'll love this too.

Book Review: Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #4 The Mark of the Crown - Jude Watson
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan arrive on a planet that is in turmoil. The long ruling royal family is stepping down and elections are under way. Some don't want things to change though and intrigue ensues. This book has some nice twists and turns to the plot but isn't all that gripping.

Book Review: The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics - Gary Zukav
I figured this was going to be another 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', or at least another 'The Tao of Physics'. It turned out to be a relatively easy to follow layman's guide to Quantum Physics, at least the theories of Quantum Physics that were floating around 30 years ago when this book was written. I found it pretty easy to follow for the most part and very interesting. A good book for fans of physics who, like me, can't do the math.