let me save all of you the trouble and admonish my own ass for never having seen 'Die Hard' before today. however, i am going to go ahead and blame my brother for knowing how much i like this stuff and failing to alert me of its quality until 17 years after it came out. but i think he was enjoying watching me watch it for the first time more than seeing the movie again himself.
what's not to love?
powerful women? check
international villan? check
robbers/terrorists? check
teddy bears? check
Run DMC's take on 'white christmas'? check
old-school computers? check
elevator shafts? check
hostages? check
crawling through vents? check
rampant cursing? check
automatic weapon shootouts? check
shattered glass? uh, check
blood? check
$640 million bucks? check
c4 explosions? check
helicopters? check
near-deathbed confessions? check
people falling out of buildings? check
jackass journalists getting punched? check
and the best part of the entire movie? CARL WINSLOW (as Al Powell). they must have signed him up for the tv show immediately after this.
i'm not sure which of you said it, but yes, John McClane is the best reluctant hero of all time (in my limited movie viewing, anyway).
i think i'm just a little bit in love with him.
I think it was jon who said the reluctant hero thing. And I agree. Your title for the post was my favorite line from that movie! Of course, I haven't seen it in at least 10 years, so really, I don't remember any other lines.
ReplyDeletei walked into the filming of the third one i believe... in manhattan. I walked out of the subway and there was all this stuff set up and these men just threw us into this pizzeria. - i stayed to watch for a while, but than i got bored watching them film a taxi making a screeching turn for the 5th time!
ReplyDeleteOmar what the heck! you're an early riser-- you're always beating me out for comment number 1!
ReplyDeleteYippie-kai-yay, MF is easily the best line in that movie. And it is a fantastic movie. You forgot one checklist items, though your list was quite thorough:
ReplyDeleteSeemingly beaten to death bad guy that falls off the top of a skyscraper in an explosion and then emerges from the wreckage on the ground to take one last shot at hero: check. Funny, this guy takes the beating of his life, gets hung, blown off the top of a skyscraper and the thing that finally stops him? A tiny little bullet. Well, I guess we all have our Achilles heal.
Omar had my back though, I know you like to block most of my comments from your memory, but unfortunately for you, it was I that claimed his status as the best reluctant hero. All of the Die Hard movies are good, but don’t watch the TV edited versions, or you wind up with lines like, “Yippie Kai Yay My friend!” Just not the same…
If I might make one other movie recommendation, I think you might like Hudson Hawk, if you haven’t seen it already. I think it’s a great Bruce Willis movie, and it features numerous songs, including but not limited to “Swinging on a star” (aka the theme song from ‘Out of this world’) ok, my long comments end now.
Carl Winslow... Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's just something about old school computers... :)
i thought it might have been jon, but i didn't want to misattribute.
ReplyDeletedie hard was much better than rocky. and unlike that, i will be watching all the sequels. it has withstood the test of time pretty well. Ale, did that pizzeria make it into the shot? can you see yourself in it? i'll be looking for you in the background.
i now officially love bruce willis. i think it's something about the lips. or the heroics. and i think he actually looks a little better with less hair.
You still should watch the Rocky sequels. At least through Rocky IV. Actually, you can even skip II. Just watch III and IV.
ReplyDeletenext up is 'be cool.' i'm pumped.
ReplyDeleteomar, your vole scares me. even its movements seem sinister.
when you'd ask my ex-boyf's family what their favorite christmas movie, they'd all say die hard. because, well, it takes place on christmas eve...
ReplyDeletei love them tooo.
even more than 'A Christmas Story'?
ReplyDeleteLethal Weapon also happened around Christmas… nothing says Christmas like Jingle Bell rock playing in the background while a hooker takes a dive off the top of a hotel, am I right?
ReplyDeleteI’d have to say “Elf” is my favorite Christmas movie right now. I really like the version of “Baby it’s cold outside” in that movie, even though the lyrics suggest a somewhat overbearing guy… Plus, whenever people talk about someone I know, I can say, “I know him!! I know him!!” all excited like… it’s fun for me anyway… I like ellipsis today…
i loved chloe sevigny's voice in that movie. it was simple, clear and real. very karen carpenter.
ReplyDeleteand that song rocks. personally i would have liked to hear her sing it with ray charles, because i don't really care all that much for betty carter (his original duet partner on it)
one of my other faves? home alone.
The original is great… the ones after, not so much.
ReplyDeletei definitely agree.
ReplyDelete