favorite movie #101 - holiday edition: die hard

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #101 - Die Hard (1988) - Yes, Die Hard is a holiday film. An extremely violent holiday film, but a holiday film nonetheless.

Bruce Willis became a superstar as he crawled and shot his way through Nakatomi Plaza, desperately trying to save his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) from a gang of Euro-criminals led by the exquisitely awful Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Holiday music like "Winter Wonderland","Christmas in Hollis", and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" pepper the film in between shoot-outs.

But most memorable are Bruce Willis's endless quips as he dodges bullets and assassin Alexander Godunov — especially while hiding in the classic film trope air vent: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs ... "

"Welcome to the party, pal ... "

Hans ... bubby ...

for the most creative use of a Segway in a film the award goes to...

...Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Yes, another overlooked gem that I just caught on cable. This is one of those incredibly dumb films which are also incredibly fun to watch. Kevin James is immensely likable in his sad-sack-victorious character—one of those actors with a television show I may have skipped, but always happy to see him turn up on the big screen (he practically steals Hitch from Will Smith.)

Paul Blart : Mall Cop

What really made Mall Cop for me were the at first insidious, and finally over-the-top references to the Bruce Willis classic Die Hard, all while keeping true to the movie's New Jersey shopping mall scale. Especially funny was James crawling through the the de rigueur action flick air conditioning vent. The references took the movie beyond a spoof, as it is more than likely that a New Jersey shopping mall security guard would have seen Bruce Willis's most well-known flick a thousand times and start to emulate/imitate him if the situation (comedy) called for it.


And James is both embarrassing and pure poetry on the Segway. In other words, great comedy.