December 12, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 27 ‘The Bourne Legacy’ features new protagonist by Dennis Seuling Switching stars in a profitable movie sequel is risky business. It can make for disaster (“Grease 2”) or yield surprisingly good results (“Batman Begins”). That is the challenge faced by “The Bourne Legacy” (Universal Home Entertainment), the fourth in the Bourne series and the first starring Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”). The previous Bourne movie, “The Bourne Ultimatum,” released in 2007, starred Matt Damon, who created the role on screen. When Damon and director Paul Greengrass decided to take some time off from the series, Universal faced the same problem Columbia did with Spider-Man: How do you keep a lucrative franchise alive without the star and the director who made it a success? A lot was at stake. The first three Bourne pictures had earned nearly a billion dollars worldwide. Rather than have a new actor assume the role, the pro- duction created an entirely new covert government-trained assassin: Aaron Cross. Several actors were considered, among them Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Garrett (continued on Crossword page) Rachel Weisz and Jeremy Renner in a scene from ‘The Bourne Legacy.’ Badlands Tacos has been serving homemade Mexican food to local customers for years, but it’s a new menu item based on an old recipe – the tamale -- that has expanded customer base and introduced local residents to this treat. Michael Sims rooted his 15 year-old restaurant in family tradition; but this Bergen County resident who grew up in Los Angeles was hesitant to add tamales to the menu. “Tamales are very different from the traditional Mexican fare people on East Coast are used to,” he explained. In addition, tamales are labor intensive. The cornhusks must be soaked overnight and the assembled tamale must Residents invited to try Mexican favorite be steam cooked for two hours. Both the risk and the hard work have paid off. After a promotion in August, he sold over 400 dozen tamales to almost 300 new customers. “Many of the customers (who) buy the tamales recount stories of when they were growing up and had them,” he said. Some recalled mothers and grandmothers working together over a pile of tamales. Sims, however, has eliminated lard from the recipe. Sims is confident his tamales will garner a return trip. Badlands Tacos is located at 102 East Main Street in Ramsey. Call (201) 818-2446.