Die Hard 2 is Still Pretty Good

The new review will be posted here in full as it gives an update on a surprising event from last week & my health: 

Pardon me for revisiting another film related to the holiday season but there’s another reason this was chosen. The airport setting does relate to a sight I saw at the Wichita airport last Wednesday as I left to return home. A runway full of firetrucks, ambulances and police cars is never good yet that’s what I witnessed. From general knowledge, I know that isn’t an automatic sign of an impending tragedy or that the plane might not make it. Turns out, it was serious: once arriving home, the news broke that the United Airlines flight diverted on its route from Newark to Denver because… of an engine problem that turned into an engine fire upon landing!

Aircraft that size have fire suppression systems for engines but that is still a soil your seat sort of terrifying. Thank heavens I’ve never had a disaster of a journey any of the (rare) occasions I’ve been on aircraft. Point is, as everyone was fine there is no bad taste in sharing this little anecdote and it allowed me to discuss this film again. As I’m just about recovered from my illness that left me feeling like a bag of A-holes, this was an easy watch.

I’ve reviewed the movie before. To reiterate, it is a big dumb loud vulgar action movie (naturally, it’s from Renny Harlin. That is not meant as an insult) where it is a little bit hard to believe that the same s*** can happen to the same guy twice. Presumably, the villains would have had much more difficulty attempting to use “technology” to hijack a major airport’s air traffic control on Christmas Eve like Dulles International in Washington, D.C. There’s also a very controversial plot point that even received flack at the time.

Be that as it may, it still has plenty of famous faces (William Sadler, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz in a real Dennis Franz role, John Amos, Fred Dalton Thompson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Art Evans), some of whom were just on the precipice of becoming much more famous, like Robert Patrick, Mark Boone Jr., & John Leguizamo.

It was for certain a movie of its time; an obvious inspiration for the plot was the Iran-Contra Affair. The full explanation is on Wikipedia but it’s yet another example of the United States government looking rather terrible due to its actions. Without being compared to its antecedent-one of the best genre examples ever made-Die Hard 2 is still a pretty solid R-rated action extravaganza where the viewer can easily root for our everyman hero as he tries to save thousands of people that could become collateral damage in an elaborate scheme to free a foreign general in custody… including his wife. I can always enjoy the movie and its uncommon airport scenario.

An Eastern Westerner

This is a 1920 Harold Lloyd short, a bit under a half hour long: 

When you felt like death warmed over yesterday, I’m lucky that I could write any sort of review today. Now, it’s less like I’m knocking on heaven’s door. It’s been months since there’s been any talk of a Harold Lloyd short; this one was selected as it was amusing to think of Lloyd in a Wild West setting. In fact, this was rather amusing.

Lloyd is a “young scamp” who causes trouble in New York City by being an irresponsible rich boy so Daddy sends him out West to shape up. There, he runs afoul of TIGER LIP TOMKINS, the evil SOB that controls the town of Piute Pass and holds hostage the father of a new love interest, played by his later real-life wife Mildred Davis.

There are some quality gags and hilarious intertitles. The whole product from beginning to end isn’t my favorite but think of that as high praise for his filmography rather than my knocking this. Jokes involve a barrel, a horse and a lasso; it uses the setting, as you can see. As for one of the most prominent images advertising the short is a phalanx of guns pointed by unseen individuals at Lloyd’s head… whether or not this was the first instance, it is hilarious that the same idea was used almost 100 years later for one of the most popular John Wick: Chapter 2 posters.

I Discuss Sly

Yes, the documentary about Stallone that was released on Netflix relatively recently.

Today is a good day to catch up on the one movie I saw in Kansas which I haven’t reviewed yet and instead waited for the right time. I arrived back in Florida late last night; my current status is less than 100% as three pre-teen nephews are germ factories. Hopefully I can nip up and feel better in a few days. Since Sly came out recently on Netflix, I was intrigued. While they were made by different teams, comparisons with the documentary Arnold are natural. Both cover 80’s icons as their life story is told… both were inspired by old Hercules movies seen in their childhoods, had relationship issues as an adult, and cruel, harsh fathers.

While the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary is divided into 3 parts (that was a natural division due to the life he had) and is over 3 hours long, Sly is only half that length. Would I have liked more information & insight on Stallone? Sure. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t satisfied with what was presented; it was a standard chronological presentation where Sly’s rough childhood was presented along with the lack of success early in his career (for some reason, his adult movie The Party at Kitty and Stud’s wasn’t mentioned, although safe for work footage from it was shown) before Rocky became a gigantic hit.

Like in Arnold, the lead was honest in admitting his faults, including regrets over not spending more time w/ his family. This includes his late son Sage; I’ve heard various rumors about that relationship… who knows what is true. “I hope they were never estranged” is about all I can say. Some friends (including Arnold) and family (mainly, brother Frank) gave their comments throughout. There weren’t too many revelations for me and the presentation isn’t revolutionary. That said, I was still happy to have experienced Sly and the high rating is possibly in part due to my liking his movies since I was young. Or perhaps it’s because there is a poignant moment involving Sly’s dad on his deathbed.

47 Meters Down

47 Meters Down (2017)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Johannes Roberts

Starring: Mainly, Mandy Moore and Claire Holt

From: Many different companies; this includes two unfortunate executive producers, as mentioned below

So, I saw this despite knowing what the big plot twist was. I won't dive into details about the twist (which I didn't even know was a thing until long after this was released) except that if I did, I'd spoil something else. My viewing this in Kansas came about because my sister also receives a variety of movie channels via her cable package. This was on a Starz channel, and in fact was watched on demand this afternoon.

It has a simple yet promising premise: sisters Claire Holt and Mandy Moore are on vacation in Mexico. The latter is dealing w/ a bad breakup. I'd ask why anyone would dump Mandy Moore, but look at the scumbag behavior of her ex-husband Ryan Adams, or the awful things he did to other women... Be that as it may, Holt is the bolder and braver of the two, while Moore was more apprehensive yet to me more logical in thinking it's not a prudent decision to dive in a shark cage attached to a rickety old boat just because a pair of two cute men asked them to. There is in fact an accident and they're stuck 47 meters down—points at the screen like I'm Rick Dalton.

The plot twist is one I don't love personally; that was the least of the movie's problems. There are too many instances of the sisters telling the viewer obvious information we can see with our own eyes. There are some jump scares and actually decent scare scenes; that wasn't enough as even if this was shot decently (if confused spatially) the movie just isn't as exciting as it should be. The whole enterprise felt dull too often and it's a shame; this is not even The Shallows, which shares some similarities. Regrettably, the biggest scare came from... the opening credits, which stated "Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein & Harvey Weinstein.

Then again, I didn't hate the movie as it has its moments and the two lead ladies do their best. Perhaps 47 Meters Down: Uncaged will be more entertaining due to its apparent goofier nature.

The Great Muppet Caper

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Jim Henson

Starring: The usual Muppets, plus Charles Grodin, Diana Rigg, & some cameos

From: ITC Entertainment

It wasn't the plan to review this today, but it fit my schedule best plus a Letterboxd mutual asked me which Muppet movie was the best. As I haven't even seen a new one in 30 years and this was one that was only in my childhood... don't expect any discussion of the other movies in the franchise until way in the future, yet as it was also on Disney+ and who knows when I'll subscribe on my own...

Even as a kid, I did not love the movie. The amount of times it broke the fourth wall and the way it was done didn't charm my socks off; and even now that opinion stands. As I can directly compare this w/ The Muppet Movie, it isn't as funny or charming, and the songs aren't as great—although The First Time It Happens is part of a delightful Busby Berkeley-inspired musical number. Plus, it's until nearly the middle point where we get much of the two big human stars: Diana Rigg and Charles Grodin as siblings where the latter wants to steal his sister's jewels.

While the laughs were more sporadic for me and some segments were real flops, overall there still were some guffaws from me, Rigg & Grodin were highlights and there is more than one Berkeley-inspired musical number. Heck, there were some nice cameos and even more impressive flexing from Jim Henson in having the Muppets perform impressively aside from the general magic in bringing them to life. Plus, where else will you see Peter Ustinov share a scene w/ Oscar the Grouch?

 

The Muppet Movie

The Muppet Movie (1979)

Runtime: 95 incredibly charming minutes

Directed by: James Frawley

Starring: The usual Muppet performers plus Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton and an amazing amount of cameos

From: ITC Films

This might as well have been a first time watch for me; for certain it was something I experienced via VHS as a small child more than once but it has to be at least 30 years since the last viewing. Only tiny fragments were left in my mind by the time I pressed “play” on Disney+. I will have some time while on vacation in Kansas as my nephews are all still in school and it seems like a good usage of my time.

It is a simple yet effective origin story for the Muppets; Kermit is spotted singing The Rainbow Connection in the swamp by agent Dom DeLuise, who shows him an ad in Variety that frogs are wanted in Hollywood. He soon meets Fozzie Bear at a sleazy bar run by James Coburn, and off we are on a pleasant set-up of road movies where the duo meet Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and all the other famous Muppets while trying to avoid Charles Durning and his dim-witted sidekick Austin Pendleton as the former has a chain of frog leg restaurants & he wants Kermit as their spokesman.

I probably thought the film was fine as a kid; as an adult, it is more appreciated. Some of the funniest moments were ones that must have flown over my head as a little tyke. There's actually a nice scene where everyone's down and Kermit talks to himself about feeling disappointed in their failures, but everyone still “believed in the dream.” There were some nice serious moments to go alongside the wackiness of the shaggy 70's band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem & getting to meet all the different Muppets throughout the journey. That's not even counting the cameos from a panoply of different actors... besides the names already mentioned, there's everyone from Milton Berle, Elliott Gould, & Steve Martin to Madeline Kahn-who sounds exactly like Lili Von Shtupp and fricking Orson Welles. Where else will you see Bob Hope for a minute then thirty seconds later, a minute of Richard Pryor?

The lovely little songs from Paul Williams are a key component in making the viewer enjoy a tale where the fourth wall is broken occasionally but that never comes off as cloying or irritating. As the magic that allowed for the Muppets to appear “real” is still an illusion that isn't broken, that further made me enveloped in this world where Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle was literally done as a flex by Jim Henson... and it's still a great flex.

An Update

Right now I am in Kansas; I landed here last night. There was no movies during the weekend but there will be multiple reviews tomorrow. Friday afternoon I saw Die Hard at a cinema; it wasn't the first time for me but it will forever be an awesome experience.