Skip Woods

Action film screenwriter Skip Woods has put himself where the action is in L.A. — the bustling Hollywood Hills West area — with the purchase of a hillside house for $2.004 million. The sleek contemporary, built in 1951 and extensively updated, features a dramatic two-story entry with a skylight and chandelier, high ceilings, walls of glass, a bar, a fireplace, four bedrooms and three bathrooms. A deck off the master suite has city views. A glass-walled deck over the driveway creates a carport.

Action film screenwriter Skip Woods has put himself where the action is in L.A. — the bustling Hollywood Hills West area — with the purchase of a hillside house for $2.004 million. The sleek contemporary, built in 1951 and extensively updated, features a dramatic two-story entry with a skylight and chandelier, high ceilings, walls of glass, a bar, a fireplace, four bedrooms and three bathrooms. A deck off the master suite has city views. A glass-walled deck over the driveway creates a carport.

Capsule reviews are by Kenneth Turan (K.Tu.), Betsy Sharkey (B.S.) and other reviewers. Compiled by Anthony Miller. Openings FRIDAY The A-Team Former Special Forces soldiers attempt to clear their names after being set up for a crime they didn't commit. With Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson and Gerald McRaney. Screenplay by Skip Woods, Joe Carnahan and Brian Bloom.

To see "Swordfish" is to recall another piscine reference, Virginia wit John Randolph's celebrated description of a corrupt but gifted political opponent as someone who "shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight." A more pithy and accurate review this film is not going to get.

Whatever you do, you don't want to make Wolverine mad. First comes that god-awful earth-shattering scream, then those indestructible adamantium claws pop out of his hands, all leading to a display of what insiders call "berserker rage." Believe me, it's not a pretty picture. It is, however, a picture we see a lot of in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the fourth movie to allow Hugh Jackman to play the darkly handsome, intense masculine poster boy for Marvel Comics' favorite band of mutants.

It may be true, as "The A-Team's" Col. John "Hannibal" Smith insists, that "overkill is underrated," but you wouldn't know it from this film. Overly long, over-complicated and overflowing with what sounds like billions of bullets and beaucoup broken glass, this film version of the hit 1980s TV series about soldiers of fortune is an underwhelming experience. I pity the fool, as TV star Mr. T might say, who mistakes this for genuine entertainment. That may sound unduly harsh, especially for a movie that was never intended as an Oscar contender.

Given how successful its four predecessors have been, it's not surprising that "A Good Day to Die Hard" plays like an extended victory lap for star Bruce Willis and the entire "Die Hard" franchise. Not surprising, but not overwhelmingly entertaining either. Starting with the original "Die Hard" in 1988, over the next quarter-century the series has grossed an estimated $1.2 billion worldwide, a hefty sum which apparently convinced 20th Century Fox to commission this fifth time in the trenches for Willis' regular-guy action hero, New York City police Det. John McClane.

The price that first-time homeowner Justin Bieber paid for his new digs in Calabasas has wended its way into the public record: $6.5 million. Set on 1.3 acres in a gated community, the 10,000-square-foot main house is described as "transitional French" in style. Features include a high-ceiling foyer, library, a movie theater with stadium seating, a wet bar and a wine cellar — just what every 18-year-old pop singer needs. Including a guesthouse, there are seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

"It's not my war," says Shia LaBeouf's Sam in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." "I fear it soon will be," replies the heavy-hearted towering steel of Optimus Prime. And we know, in that moment, that despite his wish to be just an ordinary guy, Sam will become the reluctant warrior. For us, sacrifices will be made. The world will be made safe. We will be saved. And that is one reason why I love summer so. Sci-fi and super-charged heroes once again rule.

Tiger Woods playfully slapped a ball at Shigeki Maruyama's feet and planted himself next to leader Briny Baird on the driving range. That was as close as the eight-time major champion got to Baird on Saturday in the rain-suspended third round of the Buick Classic at Harrison, N.Y. Winless since late March, Woods had a bogey and six pars in seven holes before play was suspended, leaving him six strokes behind Baird -- 11 under through six holes on the saturated Westchester Country Club course.

It was wintertime in Rome when the curse of "The Exorcist" befell Renny Harlin. In December 2003, the director was two weeks into filming "The Exorcist: the Beginning," a prequel to William Friedkin's landmark 1973 horror classic, when he was hit by a car as he stepped onto an Italian street. Harlin's leg was shattered and required the surgical insertion of 14 pins.