A simple fact: action movies have been neutered, half-baked, half-written and served cold for children with Attention Deficit Disorder. Die Hard has aged into a lost art. It has a wholly original, unpredictable screenplay, crisp with sharp dialogue matched with badass line delivery through the mouths of believable human characters (This sentence alone cannot be attributed to a single modern action film). There is a tight plot that gradually escalates, accumulating ZERO gaps in logic equaling to not a single moment of frustration for the viewer.

If that wasn't enough, there is a seamless camera. The lighting is impeccable. The editing is celestial. The Christmas theme ingenious. The music is thunderous joy. The pacing is a genre blueprint. The f/x…

Most people like to think that there are four Die Hard films (soon to be a fifth) but these people are wrong. There is only one genuine Die Hard and a bunch of movies that happen to share the same actor, and even the same character name, but are most definitely not, Die Hard. Now I do enjoy some of these imposter films but they stretch the everyman credibility of the original that helped make it stand out from the muscular He-Man action movies of the period. John McClane was just in the wrong place at the wrong time - an average cop, average husband and average man pushed to exceptional limits.

Even with the diminishing returns of the sequels…

This might be the best all-around action film ever made. Considering that the era (late 80s/early 90s) is pretty much the golden age of action films, that's really saying something.

Don't get me wrong. There are other action films with more action, better action, or bigger budgets, but when you consider everything, this one is pretty hard to beat. The idea is simple and usually that leads to better films (especially for the action genre), the script is fantastic, the villains are just the right amount of villainy, and you have what really marks the introduction of the "Bruce Willis character" that he's been playing in basically everything else since.

The character really is that good. He's a down and…

Film #8 in Driver’s December Death Penalty AKA The December Project , which is part of Cinebro's The December Challenge. 1 month, 100 movies.

131 minutes

"Let's see you take this under advisement, jerkweed!" - John McClane

People say I'm crazy when I say that my third favourite Christmas movie is Die Hard. "What about Love Actually?" some moan. "Home Alone is waaaaaaay better!" others cry. But I can accept that; it's all down to opinion. However, what I cannot accept is this question; "How is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" Oh-ho-ho-ho, let me count the ways...

1. The line "Now, I have a machine gun...ho...ho...ho..."
2. The Christmas sticky tape.
3. Excessive use of bells in the soundtrack.
4.…

On the night before Christmas, at a California 7-11.  Sgt. Al Powell was indulging in some yellow cake heaven. When from the Nakatomi rooftop there arose such a clatter, that Sgt. Al Powell went out into the street to see what was the matter.

Muzzle flashes from high
Powered guns illuminated the night, suggesting that on the roof was a terrible fight. 

So Sgt. Al Powell sprang into his cruiser, not knowing of the badness of the one named Hans Gruber. 

Had Powell been closer he'd have heard Gruber cry, Go Karl, Go Kristoff, Go Uli and Fritz, you must bring me the head of that New York Cop dick. 

But Powell was distracted as the bullets did fly, his…

A staple of action cinema in the '80s and the launching pad for Bruce Willis into Hollywood starring as New York Police Detective John McClane.Directed by action legend John McTiernan, it is an adaptation of the 1979 bestselling novel 'Nothing Lasts Forever' by Roderick Thorp.

It's Christmas in Los Angeles at the Nakatomi Tower where the corporate Christmas party is in full swing, but the party doesn't last for long as a group of international terrorists lead by German mastermind Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) work their way into the tower, block all entrances and exits and begin a multi-million dollar heist. Off-duty cop John McClane arrives for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) at the wrong time, and he's luckily in…

Die Hard is the gold standard to which all other action films will forever be compared. A perfect film in virtually every aspect, from John McTiernan's direction, to Jan DeBont's cinematography, to Michael Kamen's score, to every actor's performance across the board: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, Reginald Veljohnson, ...and especially Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber.

This film was the turning point in modern action films - the moment when they moved from the unstoppable one-man army of Rambo, Commando, Predator, Cobra, etc, and introduced the more realistic everyman action hero - a normal guy forced to act in an extreme situation. Often imitated (to varying degrees of success) with the "Die Hard on a _____" formula, that only…