Die Hard 4.0 posterOnce described by Terry Gilliam as “a monument to cranial architecture”, Bruce Willis’ shiny bonce is on full display in Die Hard 4.0 (known in US-centric territories as Live Free or Die Hard), playing at Readings, Regent-on-Manners, Empire, Sky City Queensgate and the Embassy where it looked kind of murky this evening.

Adam Sandler does his bit to fill the gap left by Ingmar Bergman with I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry: he and the guy from “The King of Queens” play two firefighters who pretend to be gay to get the marriage benefits (any relationship to the limp Australian comedy Strange Bedfellows starring Paul Hogan is entirely coincidental): Readings and Sky City Queensgate. Aside: I saw a film in one of the two Gold Lounges at Queensgate on Tuesday night and an usher stopped by my seat to ask me if I wanted popcorn or a soft drink which was nice except THE FEATURE HAD JUST STARTED! And for health and safety reasons they don’t dim the lights fully so it was an experience I can’t recommend. The film was good though (more on that in another post).

The rest of the new releases after the jump, including Black Snake Moan and Ten Canoes.

Alert readers will already be aware of the SiCKO preview across town this weekend: Readings, Rialto, Penthouse (Fri, Sat and Sun only). The Paramount week started early – Black Snake Moan (Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake) returned from the Showcase on Monday along with a documentary about Bishop Tamaki and his flock, Destiny In Motion.

Hot from the Festival is Daniel Auteuil in French comedy-of-manners My Best Friend at the Penthouse and the arthouse highlight of the week is Ten Canoes playing exclusively at the Lighthouse in Petone for a limited engagement. Ten Canoes is the first film to be made with the support and full engagement of an Australian aboriginal people – a lively and surprising story told by the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, directed by Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby and The Tracker) and Peter Djigirr. I’ve been waiting for this one for over a year.

All these films will be reviewed at Funerals & Snakes next Wednesday and, in old-fashioned dead-tree format, in the Capital Times on the same day.