On the first day of Christmas Hollywood gave to me a double feature. For the next twelve days I'll be posting about some of my favorite holiday flicks. Maybe some of these will make it under your tree if they're not there already. Stock up on spiced rum, egg nog and nutmeg and throw another log on the fire. We'll be going over the river, through the woods and a few other places you never thought you'd be for the holidays. Enjoy.
Die Hard
By the summer of 1988, moviegoers were familiar with the lobby standee of a film due out in July. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at it because it showed a popular comedy actor in a t-shirt and holding a gun like he was supposed to be Charles Bronson. "I'm supposed to take this seriously?" people asked themselves, "they named the movie after a car battery." After July, the reaction went from "you expect me to watch this?" to "Have you seen this?!". Die Hard was a hit and Bruce Willis became an action hero.
Most people write this off as a mindless action movie. I'm not saying it's perfect (36 shots out of a pistol that holds 16 bullets, hell, John Wayne never even did that) but it's a lot of fun. It also takes place on Christmas Eve which is why it's in my 12 Days Of Christmas Film Festival. Anybody can be visited by three ghosts and have a cheerier outlook on the holidays, John McClane took on twelve terrorists. God bless us, everyone.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
"Oh man, I can't fuckin' believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How does the same shit happen to the same guy twice?"
It's two years later and John McClane is ass deep in terrorists...again. This time it's Renny Harlin who's trying to blow you out of the back of the theater and make you die harder. Quick side note: Harlin may be one of the few directors who's ever competed with himself for your summer dollar since Die Harder and The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane were released a week and half apart.
Bruce Willis is in an airport full of terrorists as he's trying to pick up his wife. The terrorists are there for Franco Nero but Willis is fighting a single handed battle to put a lump of coal in their stocking and spoil their Christmas. The explosions are louder, the action is bigger, you will die harder.
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