welcome, bienvenue
I'm going to give this thing a try, just to see what happens. I've realized lately that stamping a grade on whatever movie I've just seen isn't enough, and it isn't going to help me go anywhere as far as pseudo-legitimate criticism goes. So here's what to expect: lots of scattered thoughts on the latest news in the world of jambot, lots of "write-it-as-i-think-it" blurbs about films, and hopefully lots of updates. To start, I'll delve into Die Hard, which I saw for the first time several hours ago. Here goes:
DIE HARD (dir. John McTiernan, 1988):
I wasn't at all interested in seeing this until I saw Harry Potter, was even more pleased by Alan Rickman's work as Snape, and proceeded to add a few movies he's been in to my netflix queue. Die Hard just happened to be the highest profile movie that I haven't seen, and considering my major I figured now was as good a time as any to check it out.
I was completely caught off guard. I loved it. Bruce Willis has never been a big draw for me, and I can't recall anything besides Pulp Fiction where I thought he was the only choice for the part. Maybe it's a generational thing (this movie's as old as I am), but I've never seen him as a plausible action hero. Of course, Die Hard changed my mind, at least for now. Willis was the only choice for this role. He's got the down-to-earthyness that you'd expect a guy with a name like John McClane to have. He's the everyman, and by everyman I mean impeccably chiseled, smarter-than-your-average cop, let's get to it sort of guy. And he might be the only actor alive who can legitimately deliver a line like "yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."
And of course, Alan Rickman is the villain, Hans. It's weird seeing him pre-Snape (again probably a generation thing... it'll be nice to see him do other things once Potter is done). Also weird seeing him with a german accent for about half of his lines. But I liked what he did all the same. I was rooting for him, and those rare glimpses of his good side ("I'll bring the couch"..."potty breaks for all!"...the "please help me mr. mcclane" thing) added what some might call depth.
Other things: I liked that it wasn't a completely mindless action movie. And by that I mean that it wasn't all explosions set to a snazzy soundtrack and edited so heavily that a warning for epileptics must precede it. There was talking. There was pacing. There were recurring musical themes. There were characters. Even the minor parts were interesting, the TV anchor who doesn't know where Helsinki is, the insane FBI agent, the limo driver who somehow managed to sit in the garage without getting noticed and without noticing that the building above him was going to hell.
Of course I wasn't watching this for plausibility, and overall most of it fit together and eventually made sense. And was it just me or were the black limo driver and computer hacker-baddie hamming it up a lot? I don't quite know how I feel about that. I had fun watching the characters (but of course I'm no stickler for being P.C.), but the way they were being played just seemed dated. The limo driver is particularly stereotyped, and it's actually pretty sad. He spent his hours in the garage listening to rap and getting drunk. He's a nice enough guy, and plays his part in saving the day, but still. The white man chauffeur listenin to his ethnic songs, drinkin himself silly. It's just too primitive. The guy on the evil team though, playing almost equal to his compatriots, was much more interesting, despite being played for laughs. I don't know if I'd take a guy who acted like that seriously if I were planning to rob $600 million dollars, and it all rested on his shoulders.
Lastly, props to whoever did the restoration on the DVD, it looked like it could've been made yesterday. I had a blast. And that's all I've got left to say about that.
Final Grade: B+
Until next time,
-jsm
DIE HARD (dir. John McTiernan, 1988):
I wasn't at all interested in seeing this until I saw Harry Potter, was even more pleased by Alan Rickman's work as Snape, and proceeded to add a few movies he's been in to my netflix queue. Die Hard just happened to be the highest profile movie that I haven't seen, and considering my major I figured now was as good a time as any to check it out.
I was completely caught off guard. I loved it. Bruce Willis has never been a big draw for me, and I can't recall anything besides Pulp Fiction where I thought he was the only choice for the part. Maybe it's a generational thing (this movie's as old as I am), but I've never seen him as a plausible action hero. Of course, Die Hard changed my mind, at least for now. Willis was the only choice for this role. He's got the down-to-earthyness that you'd expect a guy with a name like John McClane to have. He's the everyman, and by everyman I mean impeccably chiseled, smarter-than-your-average cop, let's get to it sort of guy. And he might be the only actor alive who can legitimately deliver a line like "yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."
And of course, Alan Rickman is the villain, Hans. It's weird seeing him pre-Snape (again probably a generation thing... it'll be nice to see him do other things once Potter is done). Also weird seeing him with a german accent for about half of his lines. But I liked what he did all the same. I was rooting for him, and those rare glimpses of his good side ("I'll bring the couch"..."potty breaks for all!"...the "please help me mr. mcclane" thing) added what some might call depth.
Other things: I liked that it wasn't a completely mindless action movie. And by that I mean that it wasn't all explosions set to a snazzy soundtrack and edited so heavily that a warning for epileptics must precede it. There was talking. There was pacing. There were recurring musical themes. There were characters. Even the minor parts were interesting, the TV anchor who doesn't know where Helsinki is, the insane FBI agent, the limo driver who somehow managed to sit in the garage without getting noticed and without noticing that the building above him was going to hell.
Of course I wasn't watching this for plausibility, and overall most of it fit together and eventually made sense. And was it just me or were the black limo driver and computer hacker-baddie hamming it up a lot? I don't quite know how I feel about that. I had fun watching the characters (but of course I'm no stickler for being P.C.), but the way they were being played just seemed dated. The limo driver is particularly stereotyped, and it's actually pretty sad. He spent his hours in the garage listening to rap and getting drunk. He's a nice enough guy, and plays his part in saving the day, but still. The white man chauffeur listenin to his ethnic songs, drinkin himself silly. It's just too primitive. The guy on the evil team though, playing almost equal to his compatriots, was much more interesting, despite being played for laughs. I don't know if I'd take a guy who acted like that seriously if I were planning to rob $600 million dollars, and it all rested on his shoulders.
Lastly, props to whoever did the restoration on the DVD, it looked like it could've been made yesterday. I had a blast. And that's all I've got left to say about that.
Final Grade: B+
Until next time,
-jsm
posted by js munoz at
10:39 AM
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