Die Hard

Die Hard, 1988

There are moments in a man's life that he’ll remember forever. His first kiss, the first time he had a beer or the moment he realises he’ll never be captain of the Australian cricket team. Then there’s the moment he first sees ‘Die Hard’ – the quintessential mid 80’s action flick and greatest Christmas movie of all time.

Bruce Willis is John McClaine the role he was born to play, a divorced cop who has a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. McClaine ends up stuck in a building during a robbery – a simple premise but in the hands of director John McLaughlin it becomes a textbook example of what a good action movie should look like. Sparse plot, plenty of glass smashing and violence and plenty of one liners.

Famous for its catchphrase “Yippee kay ay motherfucker” Die Hard transcends its 80’s origins to be a movie that is still as enjoyable today as it was when it was first released.

There are other actors in the movie, most notably Carl Winslow from that ridiculous Steve Urkel sitcom but lets be honest the entire movie is about Bruce and action, in that order. Spawning a number of sequels including the underrated third movie in the series Die Hard these days is a trip down memory lane to a simpler time when heros were police, villains were German and terrorism was strictly for money rather than religion.

9 out of 10

Umes

Independence Day

Independence Day, 1996

On July 2 the question that has always been asked "Are we alone in the universe?" is answered when aliens arrived and these guys are not here for peace. When the aliens atack the world must unite in order to stop them. With the help of computer technician David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) and Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) the aliens are destroyed and humanity saved.

Bill Pullman plays the President of United States fairly well and helps save the day by joining the fight and who does an amazing speech before the final battle scene. It seemed that the world "would not go quietly into night on this our independence day".

7/10

Drowd

Alien Quadrilogy

Alien (1979) - Alien Resurrection (1997).

This series of four films, featuring the greatest heroine of the Sci Fi genre, needs no introduction. Despite more recent spin offs that have seen a bastardization of two franchises, Predator Vs Alien, the original series stands alone as one of the most successful in combining horror, action and science fiction.

Largely due to the brilliance of directors Ridley Scott, combat film specialist James Cameron, David Fincher and to a lesser extent Jean-Pierre Jeunet, all four of these movies approach the battle between humans and a remorseless killing machine known as the Alien.

The Alien species is largely based on a hive concept with a Queen Alien introduced in the second installment but it was without doubt the infamous chest burster that had audiences aghast in 1979 and unlike in space, everyone heard them scream. The basic xenophobia ingrained in all of us on some level is enhanced when the foreign can gestate inside our bodies next to the heart, the symbolic emotional core in all of us. This series was also groundbreaking in its portrayal of gender in science fiction with many suprised that the female character Ripley would be the one to survive time and time again. Even more were suprised by the conflicting imagery of a nurturing mother juxtaposed with the shooting of advanced weaponry and protecting her young. The idea of an evil company (read corporation) was also relatively new in the late 1970s and early 1980s and has been replicated many times since to the point where viewers in the 21st century are used to profit driven executives making their subordinates expendable.

Many fans of the series regularly debate over which installment rates the highest. Alien and Aliens were certainly difficult acts to follow. Production was heavily influenced by studio executives during the shooting of Alien 3, to the point where Fincher would no doubt have drawn parallels between Fox and the dreaded Weyland-Yutani Corporation. This reviewer tends to rate the first two installments equally, followed by 3 and then Resurrection. Each to their own of course.

There is little doubt that this series has fans of all persuasions. Fans of action movies, horror, science fiction and even the feminist movement can find something in these four excellent films. Worth the box set.

Snap says 9.5/10

Air Force One

(1997) Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. With Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close

This movie takes presidential politics to new heights as Harrison Ford aka The President says "get off my plane" to a highly organised and trained group of terrorists. These terrorists look to use The President as leverage to free their commander from a eastern European gulag. Gary Oldman plays the terrorist leader to perfection and the seemingly immortal Glenn Close plays a Vice President under siege from Chiefs of Staff wanting to give up on former air force pilot President James Marshall.

This is a classic action film in the tradition of Under Seige and popcorn flick lovers will not go away disappointed. Harrison Ford shows his age in scenes that involve a lot of physicality but more than makes up for it with his consistent and firm delivery of powerful dialogue.

When stacked up against other 'one against many' action movies, this one ticks all the boxes for mindless, check your intellect at the door, entertainment and if you dont expect anything else, you will come to the same conclusion as this reviewer.

Snap says 7/10

The Marine

The Marine, 2006

This film starring World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) mega star John Cena and T2's Robert Patrick is a product of WWE Films, the studio known for bringing us such classics as The Condemned and See No Evil.

Filmed in Australia, a fact quite obvious to the keen eye, the story starts with Cena (a US Marine stationed in Iraq) laying the smackdown on the bad guys with a couple of moves from his pro wrestling repertoire.

The story kicks off in earnest when the T-1000 kidnaps Cena's wife (the very luscious Kimber from Nip/Tuck) following a bungled jewellery store heist. Cena decides to inform the proper authorities, allowing them to follow procedure and get his wife back while he goes for 9 holes.....NOT! I don't think!

Upon discovering his wife's kidnapping Cena redefinies what it means to 'go to town' on the baddies. This film has more explosions per minute than any film since Simon Phoenix hit the silver screen & there is a great nod that all fans of the Terminator franchise will enjoy. The action is pulsating which compensates, partly, for the wafer thin storyline and predictibility of the characters involved.

This is a fun action flick, Indie loving plonkers will turn an eyebrow up at this I've no doubt but if you take it for what it is you'll enjoy the ride.

5/10
Willo

Under Siege

Under Siege, 1992

A cook and former navy seal Casey Ryback (Steven Segal, Above the Law) works on a US Navy Battleship known as the USS Missouri on its final voyage before becoming part of Naval history. When the ship gets taken over by a rouge CIA Agent William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive) and ship excutive officer Commander Krill (Gary Buesy, Point Break).

With the help of the lovely Jordan Tate, also known as Miss July 89 (Erika Eleniak, Baywatch), who appears in a very steamy seen of jumping out of cake in nothing but a very small naval jacket and captains hat, ryback must stop krill and strannix offloading the cargo of naval warheads and save the ship and crew. Lets just say I was a very excited young man when I saw Miss July 89 pop out of the cake

Undersiege has it all gun fights, hand to hand combat and finishing with a classic segal knife fight. If you liked Segal in Above the law, Hard to Kill and Marked for Death you will love him in Under Siege

8/10

Drowd

Face Off

FACE OFF (1997)
(Cage, Travolta, Allen, Nivola)

by the midbus

After spending 138 minutes with Castor Troy and Sean Archer, any red-blooded male could comfortably speak their names in the same breath as Tango & Cash, Lowrie and Burnett or Vega and Winnfield.

This is one of John Woo's best voyages into Hollwood, complete with slow motion doves, extravagant weaponry, tip-top 90s effects and a hard-hitting cast. As Troy, and Archer for that matter, Cage steals the show in his best performance since Stanley Goodspeed in the equally gripping crash-boom feast, The Rock.

Without 'spoiling' the plot, Archer (Travolta, Cage) must get his hands dirty in the criminal world of the comatose'd Troy (Cage, Travolta... are you keeping up?) after a state of the art temporary facial transplant. And wouldn't you know it, comas are a funny thing, Troy wakes up to unleash his wrath upon everything Archer holds dear.

If you're after Woody Allen like dialogue or a Hans Zimmer awe inspiring score, please bypass the collection of $200 and go directly to jail. This is tits out fun, with big guns, great chases, a smooth, reinvigorated Travolta and a tasty script which leaves the punter asking the question: 'There couldn't be Face Off 2, could there?'

I know at least one reviewer out there who hopes so.

'Peach, I could eat a peach for hours'

8/10