After a lengthy search by 20th Century Fox, director John Moore has been hired to helm the currently untitled Die Hard 5.

Apparently Fox was already very high on Moore to direct, but star Bruce Willis“”known for being very involved in the productions he’s working on””was a big part of meeting with various directors and helping to choose which one he thought was best for the job. Other candidates included Justin Lin (Fast Five), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Mikael Hafstrom (1408), Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury), and Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin).

The Blu-ray deal of the week over at Amazon this week is The Omen Collection for $23.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $59.99).

Note, this deal is valid this week through October 9, 2010.

Also, with this purchase, you’ll get $4 credit to use towards a purchase or rental through Amazon’s Video on Demand service.

This 4-disc Blu-ray collection contains the original iconic horror trilogy — The Omen, Damien: Omen II, and Omen III: The Final Conflict — as well as the 2006 remake The Omen: 666.

See below for a list of special features.

Adapting video games into films should not be this hard. Books and plays are turned into good movies on a nearly monthly basis. Christ, even direction is a form of adaptation. The director has both the right and the necessity to cherry-pick and omit from a written screenplay. There is no such thing as “an original film.”

And yet, like trying to pole-vault without an actual pole, the evolutionary link between video game and film has yet to be cleared.

Now to be fair, I liked Silent Hill. It was an atmosphere engine which would have been a whole lot better if an actual script was used.

And as I may have unwisely mentioned in my review of Max Payne at filmarcade.net a week ago, I liked the Doom movie. Don’t blame me… The game came out when I was eight… We were on an anti-poverty board in Chicago together… The parties were hosted by the Annenbergs… SHUT UP!

But other than those, we have been treated to miserable failure after miserable failure. Super Mario Bros., both Tomb Raider films, anything with Uwe Boll’s name on it, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter. They all suck. Granted, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within came close to succeeding, but it failed to adhere to the spirit of the games. Namely, there were no she-dudes, giant chickens, or EEEEEEEENDLLEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS levelling-up.

When it comes to pure and unadulterated hatred, the MPAA ranks pretty high on my list (right next to the RIAA). Most of the time my ire is quirked by their dealings with DRM, permissions, and distribution. But this time, I’m sitting right next to John Moore, director of the upcoming Max Payne movie, in my hatred concerning their lack of consistency with movie ratings.

Moore has expressed his derision for the MPAA’s decision to give Max Payne an adults-only R-rating in a recent interview with Das Gamer. Describing their decision as being part of what he calls “Batman blowback,” Moore says that the MPAA “gave The Dark Knight a PG-13 rating and basically sucked Warner Bros. cock.”