Be Excellent To Each Other

It was absolute dogshit. Has there ever been a series of films that went so resolutely downhill as Die Hard. It would have been difficult to get better because the first one is an amazing film but whilst most series have their ups and downs every single Die Hard film was worse than its predecessor.

Die Hard 3 is great, though. I flip-flop on whether it's better or worse than DH (you trade the leannness of the first film for the terrific chemistry between Jackson and Willis, basically) but it's certainly very close.

3 is my favourite. I didn't hate 5, but I did hate 4.

1 > 3 > 2 > 4 > 5.

Obviously.

Other way around for me. I re-watch 4 quite regularly despite its flaws.

With Olympus/London has fallen, I like the first parts, where the good guys take a kicking and landmarks get destroyed. Once the gung ho fightback stuff kicks in, I lose interest.

Pffft

1 ≈ 3 > 2 >>>>> who cares

Olympus Has Fallen was also great, and I found it much better than White House Down which came out at about the same time. WHD was way too light-hearted and jokey for me.

Sure, Die Hard had a bit of levity, but it had tension - McClane was scared and out of his depth, you didn't really get any of that from WHD. Or Olympus, if I'm honest, but Olympus has the plus point of, as Hearthly says, being fucking ruthless with the "takeover" scenes - I did not expect to see civvies being ripped to shreds by AC-130 cannons or whatever that plane was.

London Has Fallen was bollocks. From the whole setup through to the rest of the film, none of it really made any sense.

McClane no longer being scared or out of his depth is what ruined the later Die Hards for me. He wasn't really "scared" for himself in DH2, but was scared about what would happen to his wife. He wasn't at all scared in DH3, but was arguably out of his depth until he realised what was going on, and yeah, the chemistry between him and Zeus was great.

DH4 has it's flaws, but stands up a little better on repeated viewings. Kevin Smith didn't need to be in it, and the general plot doesn't really scan. Olyphant makes a pretty good villain though.

DH5 was just pants. In theory it had everything it needed - someone in his family being in danger, a bunch of bad guys to foil etc. but he's no longer the scared, out of his depth cop - by DH5 he's turned into some sort of terrorist-smashing superhero.

Yeah, I'll give you that. The only two things that drag 3 down for me, and it is just me being picky, are:

- the incredible coincidence where Zeus just happens to be driving past the tunnel outlet that John is spewed up out of near the end

- the bit where John says "I didn't say Park Drive, I said 'through the park'" and then wrenches the steering wheel to the left, only for the car to turn sharply to the right

Finally watched Whiplash (which is on UK Netflix now, by the way.) Miles Teller is an ambitious young jazz drum student, JK Simmons is his abusive conductor obsessed with pushing his students too far. Relentlessly intense story with a dazzling ending. Strongly recommended.

Too far, or exactly far enough?

I keep meaning to watch Whiplash 'cause everyone says it's really good but I can't get past the whole 'jazz drummer' thing. (I mean, surely with it being jazz, you just make it up as you go along.)

I did note its appearance on Netflix so there's no excuse I suppose.

I both hated it and then couldn't get it out my mind. Mimi loved it.

It's very much an intense film, and you almost don't know who to have sympathies with, but in answer to the earlier question, probably too far.

It was incredible, and oh my God do you not get jazz.

I don't really like jazz, it wasn't Bach's best contribution to the musical world.

Jazz is best heard live, preferably in a darkened smoky room. I struggle listening to recordings, with the obvious exception of anything by Duke Ellington or Fats Waller.

My old friend Richie's review nails it for me:

I don't like jazz, but the film is good. It's about jazz, but it's not 'about' jazz, you feel me?

But there is loads of Jazz music in it.

So it's a musical, is it?

It is a musical, yes.

Well, the plot doesn't advance without the songs.

IT SO DOES

You could cut out that last performance, and the film would never end!

Spot on

Oh. You're right. In particular

It is both technically correct, and amazing that it sends Grim... into a rage.

Not a musical.

That film sounds dull as shit, tbf.

I'm not much for Jazz, but I do like the bit in the Jazz club in Collateral which I re-watched last night. That said, I do prefer the bit where Audioslave's 'Shadow on the Sun' plays in the scene with the Coyote.

Other film stuff - I've found a new favourite film to run in the background on Netflix on the TV while I'm playing games on the laptop. 'The Big Short' is a good film anyway, but you can also enjoy it without really watching whats going on on-screen. Also, while the film has Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, my favourite performance is that of Steve Carell - he does a very good line in angry disbelief.

Speak of Steve Carell, I also liked the deadpanning from last night's Golden Globes

I know exactly what you mean, but it's very much not.

does it have any splosions or spaceships?

Carell is fucking great in that film.

The ultimate example of this is Locke, of course.

Which is a great film.

Indeed.

[edit] How did his accent sound to Welsh ears?

I'd read it was so awful that I ended up mildly but pleasantly surprised. It was certainly dodgy in places (including bits where he pushed it too far and ended up sounding Indian) but it didn't yank me out of the film or anything. Overall I thought it was OK.

Obviously my own Welsh accent credentials are deeply dubious, however.

The concrete will be poured!

I do a really bad impression of Tom Hardy doing a not entirely convincing Welsh accent.

Why did they make him Welsh anyway? He could have just been from wherever Tom Hardy is from, and it would have saved him from trying to do the accent.

Yeah, I wondered this.

Saw Assassins Creed last night. A great pop corn film, very similar idea (not quite the same) to the games.

Basically a lot of runny, jumpy slashy bits. Both now and the the aniumus.

I quite enjoyed it.

Assassins Creed last night.

Now what? I don't feel any different.

Watched Bridge of Spies over the weekend. It's everything you would expect from the people involved really - entertaining, suspenseful and really well acted with a superb script and atmospheric visuals.

"Would it help?" should be the answer to so many things only I can't say it like Mark Rylance does.

Watch Tower Block the other night, staring the lovely Sheridan Smith and some other people you remember from Doctors or ITV crime dramas. It's a good concept, and gets pretty brutal and tense. However, a lot of the characters seemed fairly chill about the hell being unleashed around them, which gets in the way of the scariness a bit.

Overall 1/3 of a star for sideboob.

Was it Smith's?

Yes!

Colour me interested.