If Jason Statham is in a movie, I am there pronto. So, today, Shaun and I hit the early viewing of the remake of "The Mechanic". Statham plays Arthur, the hitman who is really a no-nonsense kind of a guy. Gets the assignment, does the job cleanly, gets out, gets paid. And goes back to his fancy bayou home near New Orleans.

Donald Sutherland is his mentor, who gets involved with a mess with Tony Goldwyn, the top guy in the organization. After he gets taken out, his out of control son, Ben Foster, starts to learn the ropes from Statham. Foster wanted to be Statham, but Sutherland chose Jason to carry out all of the assignments. So, Foster wasn't exactly a neophyte. In the original, this was Charles Bronson taking Jan-Michael Vincent under his wing.

This version was better than expected. Contrary to the trailers, this was not a shoot 'em up from start-to-finish. It was only 90 minutes and after a bit of a slow start that actually included a couple of killings, it moved quickly to a very satisfying conclusion.

This was a Chartoff-Winkler production, sons of the team that did the original version. I was intrigued that they mentioned "The Gambler" was ripe for a remake, as well. Of course, that starred James Caan and he was outstanding in that one. One of my all-timers that is rarely seen these days.

Meal of Links

After that movie, Gale and I hit Vieng's Asian Bistro for some chow. I had the Hot and Sour Soup, which was really good today. And then had me some General Tso's. They also have Shiner on tap. Now, that was a meal that hit the spot on a cold day.

7 smart animals. Homing pigeons top the list.

It's The Coenfographic. The great thing about it is the rundown of the character names. From Garth Pancake to Gale Snopes.

Hangin' out at White Castle. Do their fries still only come in one size?

Exercise Yard

The LPGA is in a sticky situation. They hardly play any American events anymore and when they do, they run into this. They are going to stage a Founders Event next month, where the players don't actually get any prize money.

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