A Good Day To Die Hard

On the flip side of how much I loved Warm Bodies,  A Good Day to Die Hard was pretty awful. Everything that was great in the previous Die Hard movies was nowhere near coming through in this iteration of John McClane (STILL played by Bruce Willis). I found myself laughing more at things that were supposed to be serious than at things supposedly added to make us laugh.

This was clearly a filler film, for Jack (John's son, played by Jai Courtney, recently in Jack Reacher) to take over the "family business," which basically only entails thwarting criminals and blowing lots of stuff up. It wasn't anything like the original classic involving small time criminals, led by a near perfect Alan Rickman, but a sad excuse for a Die Hard movie. I'm not sure how Bruce Willis can go from movies like Red or Looper to this. He's still a good actor, but this movie certainly did not showcase that.

That all being said. I was still entertained. Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy bad movies and this was one of those times. Scoffing at terrible dialogue, laughing at wild explosions, and just being utterly confused during most of the movie may make it seem like it's not worth seeing, which is true. Unless you can see it cheaper than a normally priced film, even for free if you want to sneak in somewhere. (Un)fortunately it is at the budget theater so get there if you want to make fun of films like Troy and Abed on "Community."


You might find yourself enjoying a film in an entirely new way. Or you may be mad about spending money and sitting through this film. Try counting the amount of onscreen deaths you see. I think my total was 87. Make it into a game. Find something to enjoy in it.

I'd need an entirely new blog to discuss all the problems with the script and dialogue, but who knows, maybe other people really loved it. Those die-hard Die Hard fans maybe up in arms at anyone who dislikes one of these films.

4/10

Warm Bodies

Zombie movies have been some of my favorite films. Oftentimes relentless gore and killing skirts the main plot. Warm Bodies took a different approach. It took the conventions of traditional zombie movies and made them funny and almost endearing. The premise surrounds a zombie, R (played by Nicholas Hoult of previous British "Skins" fame, among other films), who falls in love with a girl, Julie (played by Teresa Palmer). This causes...changes in him. And it's what makes this movie great!

Instead of focusing on the zombie apocalypse, Warm Bodies begins in post-apocaplypitic Los Angeles. By doing this, the film is able to blend quirky indie comedy and zombie movies. Hoult plays R as well as any oddball actor (i.e. Michael Cera or Jesse Eisenberg), but keeps a campy feel to his zombie body. And Palmer is a great love interest, figuring out R while trying to survive this terrifying new world.

While romantic comedies may not be suited for everyone, I think this one is. If not for everyone at least suited for those who are not fans of the genre. It was entertaining throughout. The biggest laughs coming from R's internal monologues and R's best friend and fellow zombie M (played by Rob Corddry, Jeff's lawyer nemesis on "Community").

There may be a few inconsistencies, but what romantic comedy doesn't have them these days. It was mostly small things, blood changing positions on character's faces between shots, characters changing positions without moving on screen. Other than that this idiosyncratic film blew me away. An outstanding film that I think was overlooked so far. Check it out at the budget theater!

9/10