Ranking the Die Hard Films

Since the fifth Die Hard film was released today, I thought it would be fitting to examine the series, which has been around for 25 years.

Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)

On a Christmas Eve visit from New York, Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) plays cat and mouse in a locked-down L.A. skyscraper with a group of terrorists (led by Alan Rickman). Bruce Willis is iconic in one of the best action films ever made. Period.

Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin, 1990)

McClane fights a unit of rogue military officers (led by William Sadler) who have taken over an airport in Washington, D.C. so that they can extract a foreign drug lord from the U.S. It's a step down from the original, but a worthy follow-up to a genre classic.

Die Hard with a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995)

McClane and a man from the neighborhood (Samuel L. Jackson) go head to head with a terrorist (Jeremy Irons) who stages some bombings throughout New York City and robs Wall Street. This is solid entertainment with great chemistry between Willis and Jackson.

Live Free or Die Hard (Len Wiseman, 2007)

With the help of a young computer hacker (Justin Long), McClane must rescue his daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and stop a cyber terrorist (Timothy Olymphant) from accessing important FBI information in the process. It's not on par with the first three, but it's fun seeing an older McClane do what he does best.

A Good Day to Die Hard (John Moore, 2013)

McClane heads to Moscow to find his trouble-making son (Jai Courtney) and becomes entangled in a nuclear weapons conflict, which leads to Chernobyl itself. Despite Willis' lovable on-screen persona, the aging McClane formula seems to have run its course, and the plot is arguably too rushed for its own good.

Ranking & Ratings:

1. Die Hard - ****
2. Die Hard with a Vengeance - ***1/2
3. Die Hard 2 - ***1/2
4. Live Free or Die Hard - ***
5. A Good Day to Die Hard - **

024. The Bonfire of the Vanities

024. (22 Jan) The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990, Brian De Palma) 13



A notorious critical and commercial failure for all the right reasons, The Bonfire of the Vanities is all style, no substance. De Palma is so lost in his intricate tracking shots, he loses focus on a screenplay that's oblivious, offensive and irritating. He should be ashamed of himself, but then so should the ensemble. Kim Cattrall, Melanie Griffith and Tom Hanks are the worst in that order, but only Morgan Freeman comes off well. The courtroom scenes are some of the worst I've ever seen, defying reality in ways that should offend anyone with a shred of common sense.

104. Child's Play 2

104. (20 Apr) Child's Play 2 (1990, John Lafia) 40

412. Soultaker

412. (07 Sep) Soultaker (1990, Michael Rissi) 20

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1990

About the field: weaker than I expected. I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't very great. I'm a bit bitter to tell the truth. I love enjoying a year fully and I did not feel that with this one. Naturally,I loved #1 and #2 and the other others were not bad either, I just felt that something was missing. 1989 might have been too strong and I compared this to that. Glenn Close was really robbed: she absolutely rocked in Reversal of Fortune and should have won (not even nominated damn it). GAH! Only #1 got really close to her. But let's just see the not so surprising ranking, which was quite easy to do (especially picking the winner):

5. Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

This is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

4. Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress.

3. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

This is not a performance to praise to high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best every-written.

2. Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever.

1. Kathy Bates in Misery

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Kathy Bates in Misery

No, Kathy, I did not doubt your brilliance, I swear XD

Omissions: 

• Great Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune 
• Laura Dern in Wild at Heart *My Pick*

The ranking of the already reviewed years:

1. 1974
2. 1989
3. 1959
4. 1939
5. 2009
6. 1963
7. 1990
8. 1978
9. 1954
10. 1948
11. 2002
12. 1940
13. 1998

About the next year: I think it's not going to be a big surprise, but let me tell you that the competition is very heated and not over yet, so you will know only when I announce the year. I really don't know what else to say, but I'm really looking forward to the next year. But more about that later. However, I will not do the runner-up year after the winner as I found a year, I'm crazy about and I want to do that. I can't wait. :)

What do you think? Any thoughts on your mind?

Joanne Woodward in Mr & Mrs Bridge

Joanne Woodward received her fourth Best Actress nomination for playing India Bridge, a devouted, but unhappy housewife in the Ivory-Merchant movie, Mr & Mrs Bridge. Along with Anjelica Huston, Woodward was the early front-runner for the award as I read somewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be last in the voting. She was a previous Oscar winner, did not have a very baity role and the movie was not a huge success either. She had to make do with the nomination.

The movie seems to be very hated, therefore I was certainly scared to watch it. People said it's very boring and it is to a degree, but let me assure you that I have seen many movies much more boring than this. The Ivory-Merchant duo is not my favorite combination: they are the representatives of the slow, but quality dramas, meaning movies boring as hell. That's it. They got great actors for the parts: Paul Newman was (is) one of the greatest actors, and he's very good here, though don't expect this to be the role of his lifetime. However, I was certainly surprised by Blythe Danner, who gave an excellent supporting performance, which I loved from the beginning to the sad end. She was so great, that I would even give her a nomination.

Joanne Woodward is good. Hmm, I haven't been able to fully embrace the movies of Mrs. Newman, simply because I haven't seen enough of them. But from what I've seen of her, I can say that she is talented, but her style is just not my thing. It's so quietly depressing and a bit annoying as I think she did not find the balance between the neurotic nature and the silence of her characters.

The worst thing I can feel towards a performance is indifference. It's not bad, but not great either, and this really kills me. I love to feel strong emotions about everything: for me it's basically love or hate. You can see it in my grades: it's mostly either a 5 or a 3. That's it. But now I don't know what to say. First of all, the character of Mrs. Bridge is so boring and uninteresting. The writer so desperately wanted to give a dark side to it, but she always came across as sweet and caring. Yes, she certainly is sweet and caring, but this nature makes a character quite one-dimensional. She has this outbursts, but they just do not fit the situations. At the beginning of the movie, she says that she wants a divorce. Why? I mean, she seemed to be happy and then it changes just because of a novel. It's realistic, but not with Mrs. Bridge. It's not her, or at least not what the movie and Joanne show of her.

There are some stronged moments during the holiday scenes with her husband, for instance when she becomes teary after receiving a very expensive present. She's very sweet there and quite likeable, but soon after that she loses her strength. And I won't even say that there was more potential in the character, because there wasn't unfortunately. Joanne did everything possible, but that just wasn't satisfying.

There come scenes of slowness and boredom in which Joanne does not have much to do, except for being sweet and caring again. There's a scene where she asks her husband if he loves her, but that wasn't effective enough. I just did not felt the emotional strength in it.

However, her performance gains some of that strength after her daughter returns home at one night. That silence was quite impressive and I finally had some emotional connection to her. That's when her ultra subtlety worked and had some power. After a while, I started to enjoy her acting. But it's just too late in the movie.

Her grief scenes are however truly outstanding. She really made me a bit sad for her and the way she says "she was my best friend" is hearwrenching. It's not a moment of catharsis, but it's excellently handled by Woodward. But after that her performance paled again, even though I rooted for Joanne so much.

So, to sum up, this performance of Woodward is not an amazing achievement as it really did not touch me despite some strong and excellently solved scenes. Mostly, it's very slow and uninteresting, but she couldn't catch my attention even after the good moments. It's proper work, but far from fantastic.

So what do you think? The Final Conclusion comes very soon. Now you can't give official predictions, but I'm curious to read your thoughts (if you have some about Woodward, which I doubt as this is a very unintersting performance).

Anjelica Huston in The Grifters

Anjelica Huston received her third (and to date last) Oscar nomination for playing Lily Dillon, a con artist in Stephen Frears' movie, The Grifters. From what I've heard, she was the early favorite to win the award, so I guess she was second in the voting proccess. I think her win was not that sure after Kathy Bates won the Golden Globe. After this, Huston did not have many other significant roles. I wonder what would have happened had she won.

The Grifters is a very interesting movie. When I first saw it, I was totally mesmerized by it, this time I was a bit less enthusiastic. Now I found it boring occasionally, bu there were some great and memorable things about in it: Annette Bening (whom I really like since I saw The Kids Are All Right) gives a very good and extremely seductive performance, which is enough for a nomination with me, but I think the win would have been too much and Whoopi is still my pick. John Cusack is so surprisingly young here, but he's still able to put on a strong performance.

Anjelica Huston plays Lily, a bitter and cold professional, who's a very strange and complex personality. She's so mysterious and full of secrets that you never actually know what's next with her or her relationship with her son, or if she loves him. Anjelica Huston plays Lily with extreme subtlety, holding back her emotions, which results in an interesting, but also a bit undercooked.

This becomes visible mostly at the beginning of the movie: Lily is very silent and Anjelica plays her in a bit robotic way, which lacks real emotions. And yet, somehow it's not a real flaw in her performance: actually, I felt that she couldn't get more out of the screenplay as there wasn't more in it. There you really don't suspect how interesting Anjelica's performance really is. It's so full of layers and always hides from you. That may not work for some and it would amaze others.

When we first see Lily, she comes across as a very cold professional, who knows her job and aims and does everything to reach her goal, even if it means cheating, stealing or even killing. Lily is just terrified of the thought of disappearing in a decent life. Not only does she want things, she just gets them. And this attitude makes her a very unlikeable and yet attractive character.

Her performance has its highlight in the very strange scene between her and Pat Hingle's character. Lily is just like a terrified little animal, even her screams reminded me of that. She just cries when she's tortured, but minutes later she's just saying how well his suit looks. That pain and fear in her eyes, nervous ticks, and speaking is just unbelievable. That was the moment when I felt real connection to Lily. Until then it was just a bit mediocre and pale, but after this it really becomes something exciting and unique.

Lily's hate for Annette Bening's character, Myrna is, however, not properly done. I think it was too bitchy and not hateful enough. I just wanted to feel more, that they just wanted to kill each other and instead I got bitchy one-liners (but that's rather the screenplay's fault than Anjelica's). This aspect was not the greatest, but it did not make it worse.

Although her performance seems to be undercooked in the beginning, later, Anjelica has such a powerful and impressive screen presence, which just cannot be overlooked. Who can forget her worrying about her own life or nervously packing the money into a briefcase? Huston perfectly caught the neurotic side of this character and I just kept wondering why Lily acts like this.

Her relationship with her son is also very odd: there's some kind of an incestous love, but also hate between them. With their kissing scene in the end, they might have want to shock the audience, but I think it much better showed the desperation of Lily to survive. Her instincts worked only and nothing more.

After that you can wonder if the big twist which she causes in the story was her intention or it was just an accident, but I guess, it's somewhere between the two. On the one hand, there's this hysterical scream of hers, but then she just puts the money nervously into the case. So confusing, but it's just unbelievably effective.

So to sum up, Anjelica Huston's performance in The Grifters is bit a mixed bag: there are moments of boredom and slowness, but then there's such intensity and mistery in it, which almost made me speechless. It's not flawless, but it's very memorable work by a talented actress. It consits of a pale 3,5 and an ultra strong 5, so I guess I found the proper rating.

It's just not more. I was thinking of 4,5, but after all 4 was more reasonable.

What do you think? I know I said her profile was due on Friday, but I had time. Joanne's profile mightbe up soon, so stay tuned.

Kathy Bates in Misery

Kathy Bates received her first Oscar nomination and award for playing Annie Wilkes, a crazy fan of a writer in Rob Reiner's movie, Misery, based on Stephen King's popular novel. From what I've read Bates wasn't exactly the front-runner to win to the Oscar, her win seems to be obvious only nowadays. With this win, Bates went on to star in many other great movies, she successfully avoided being typecast and became one of the most reliable character actresses.

Misery is a great, scary and most of all exciting movie, which doesn't reach real heights, but it's extremely entertaining. It was pretty much a comeback for James Caan, who unfortunately got lost again, but he gave an excellent performance as the writer, who's trapped in a house, being tortured by a crazy fan. Richard Farnsworth is great too and we know exactly why we remember him so well in this movie and that twist is really upsetting.

However, the movie reached its iconic status due to the unforgettable Kathy Bates, who may not be giving her best performance (ahhem, Fried Green Tomatoes, no nomination, damn it), but she certainly is memorable as the wonderful crazy Annie. If we held a poll on the most popular Oscar winners, I am pretty sure, that she would be in the Top 5 at least, even though this win has been criticized a bit nowadays.

We all know Annie Wilkes. She's just one of us. She's the lovely chubby lady from the bank, the grocery store and the hospital. On the outside, she's just this fun-loving, crazily romantic, good-tempered woman, fantascizing about the prince charming saving her from her loneliness and her pathetic life. She comes across in her first scene as this woman: kind and chubby, being so fascinated by her favorite writer.

Kathy Bates really nailed all the faces of this very complex character: first of all, she's a faceless monster, something like Mo'Nique in Precious, pathetic, obese, watching TV, eating, doing absolutely nothing, except for being a total psycho. The other one is this lovely woman previously mentioned. I haven't read the book, but from what I've heard she's more of a faceless monster than a real human being. I think Bates made the right choice with showing the human side of Annie: her mood swings are sometimes terrifying, but sometimes they are simply ridiculous. I mean could you stop laughing when she acts like a fifteen-year-old and could you be more terrified when she is yelling about Rocket Man. She goes over-the-top, which would normally distract you, but here it's just the right thing to do.

However, I must tell, that I wasn't THAT scared by her. Of course, I can't forget the "hobbling" scene, but apart from that I felt that Bates mainly focused on the dramatic aspects of this character and by this she perfectly showed the loneliness and sadness of this character. Her bitter monologue about the power and influence of Misery on her life is just breathtaking, just like the one when she really gets the blues because of the rain. I actually felt SORRY for Annie, and she became a little symphatetic. And this was a very tricky thing to do: Kathy makes you actually like Annie or at least sympathize with her to a degree, but you also hate her. It is that you like her because you can hate her. And Kathy does this with such ease and she's never too forced, not even in the most over-the-top scenes. It's just breathtaking.

But again the hobbling, which is one of the most unforgettable and best acted scenes in motion picture history: she smashes the ankles of Paul and then she just says "God, I love you!". I mean it's such an embarassing moment for the viewer and we (just like Annie) do not know how to react. It's not only terrifying and creepy, but also a bit ridiculous. If we made a list on the most scary scenes ever, it would be in Top 3. It's not what you see, it's what Kathy Bates tries to hide to you. It's just brilliant. Not to mention the big fight in the end which is again very creepy (it reminded me a bit of Fatal Attraction, oh I can't wait to review Glenn).

When writing about her, I try not to be influenced by her performance's iconic status, but I just cannot forget it. Annie Wilkes is in motion picture history and (to quote her) Kathy Bates "had a little something to do with that"). With this crazy character, she created one of the most memorable screen villians in history, who is going to scare us for a long time. Breathtaking work by a great actress.

Anjelica's profile comes on Friday and Joanne's on Saturday along with the conclusions (not sooner unfortunately).

Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge

Marvelous Meryl Streep received her ninth Oscar nomination for playing Suzanne Vale, a drug-addicted actress in Mike Nichols' movie, Postcards from the Edge. We all know that Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep and everyone who's called Meryl Streep is just adored by the Academy. Despite this fact I think that Meryl was probably fourth or fifth in the final voting, but you will never know. No matter what, Suzanne became a very popular performance of Meryl.

Postcards from the Edge is not a great movie, but not a bad one either: Mike Nichols has enormous talent, but sometimes he just went too over-the-top (like this and Working Girl). However I was never embarassed by the movie, actually, I had great fun in it and its performers. Shirley MacLaince gives an excellent performance as the alcoholic and bit dumb mother, though I can't really decide if she's supporting or leading. But that doesn't really influence me as I really liked her. It was very nice to see the other famous actors in this movie, I especially liked Gene Hackman's cameo as the director.

But if anyone mentions Postcards from the Edge, one thing pops into the mind to everybody: Meryl is singing and it's not Mamma Mia! Although she sings twice in this movie, her last number is the most remember and praised one. But more about that later.

Meryl is playing essentially Carrie Fisher and let me say that she's miscast in my opinion. The sarcastic, witty drug addict simply doesn't fit Meryl's personality and that's why sometimes it was a bit unusual to watch Meryl acting like that. Although she certainly is miscast, I think that she's able to give a very funny and emotional performance which really connects to the audience. We instantly like the character of Suzanne, she's pathetic, broken-down, desperate and that's the way we get to know her. She becomes so human, and this aspect of the character is so perfectly underlined by Meryl. She gets extremely close to your heart and makes you feel sorry for Suzanne.

It's interesting that Postcards from the Edge essentially consists of lightweight drama and comedy: it's really neither, it's rather a strange mix, which is quite distracting to tell the truth. It is neither laugh-out-loud funny nor very deep, therefore it falls in between and it's just a bit of failure. However, Meryl miraclously found the perfect balance between the genres. She is both hilarious and hearbreaking, and always knows when to use what. Meryl's delivery of the sarcastic lines is just brilliant and by this shows a very vulnerable side of Suzanne. She uses humor as a defense mechanism and makes fun of everything when she's embarassed.

Reading the story, one would think that this performance really sizzles when Meryl has scenes with Shirley, but I think that's not the whole truth. Her best moments come when she's alone worrying about her career, like when she is listening to a conversation about how awful she looks. Her faces are not just hilarious, but also show how miserable this character is. The filming scenes are able to show this emotions extremely well, and that's when Meryl truly rocks as Suzanne. The real highlight comes somewhere around the ending with Gene Hackman: there are so many quiet emotions in that hug between them. Everything is so delicate and charming and never pushy.

However before that, there are two great confrontation scenes between Meryl and Shirley which are really worth mentioning: two disappointed, bitter has-been divas quarelling with each other. Although they do not reach extreme dramatic heights with it, I don't think that it was the purpose of it to do so. And yet there's again some quiet emotional weight in them, which cannot be got across. It's just complicated to describe.

The hospital scenes in the end, when Meryl does Shirley's make-up has also exceptional moments from both ladies: both are bitter but in very different and complex ways. I was just so relieved by that scene to tell the truth. And then comes the real treat: Meryl's last scene, the singing. Oh my goodness, it is just really one of the greatest numbers ever recorded. There are such powerful emotions going right there and the character almost burns down the screen. Meryl's voice and singing is not only perfect, but also extremely powerful. It's no wonder, that it became one of her most famous scenes.

So to sum up, although Meryl is a bit miscast (that's not her fault actually), her performance as the desperate Suzanne Vale is pitch-perfect: it's hilarious, a bit saddening, powerful, emotional and extremely loveable. Meryl nails all the aspects and faces of this characters and createst one of her most vibrant turns ever. Exceptional work by an extraordinary talent.

Meryl gets naturally 4,5 Meryls.

What do you think?

Just something unexpected: the poll. There's such heated contest between 1966 and 1986, which I did not expect. So keep on voting, so that your favored year wins.

Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

Julia Roberts received her second Oscar nomination for playing Vivian, a hooker in Pretty Woman. I'm really not sure about Julia's chances of winning as she won the Golden Globe and the movie was a huge success plus she became a HUGE star and Hollywood's sweetheart in the 90s. But I read that the race was between Woodward and Huston. After all, I think that Roberts was the third after Kathy Bates and Anjelica Huston. Nevertheless, I think, that much less people would hate Julia's win had she won for this.

Pretty Woman is very hard to rate. I've seen it at least seven times, but not because it's that good, it's just always on Tv. And actually, I enjoy it every time and I was really looking forward to watching it this time too. It's a typical entertaining romantic comedy wrapped in Garry Marshall's sugar coating, which is not that distracting this time. I don't think that Richard Gere is a great actor but at least he's not as annoying here as he was in Chicago. I have to mention Laura San Giacomo who gives an excellent performance which I especially loved and I don't think that a nom would have been undeserved for her.

However, this movie is totally about its main character, Vivian, and the actress, who plays her, Ms. Julia Roberts. I am 100% sure that had this movie been released in, say, 1964, Julia would have won the Oscar hands down. It's a typical 1960s Cinderella story for both the character and the actress. And people love fairy tales. Pretty Woman's story is highly unlikely, but there's some kind of loveliness in it, which is mostly due to Ms. Roberts: she was so free of all of her later mannerisms and was able to give a heartwarming performance.

In the beginning, we get to know Vivian, who is foul-mouthed, loud, over-the-top, but it's obvious for everyone that it's mainly acting and pretending. However, she gets the sympathy of the audience instantly: the role itself is surprisingly a lot like Michelle Pfeiffer's in The Fabulous Baker Boys. Call girls, looking for a better life. Unlike Michelle, Julia picked the easier ways to create the character and to get the audience's sympathy. We like both characters, but Susie Diamond is quite unlikeable sometimes, while Vivian is just the usual hooker with a heart of gold. Actually, this might sound as if I'm underestimating Julia here: actually, I think that her choices completely fit the film. She doesn't go deep, but nobody requires it.

That being said, Julia built up Vivian's personality quite well: she has a kind of "I'm just a country girl deep in my heart" feeling, but in a strange way it's not very distracting, because Julia's charm and loveliness makes us forget all these things. It's so natural when she asks Edward how far he got in school and then she says "Wow, your folks must be proud of you." I just felt that it was totally in the right place.

Vivian is some kind of a mix of Cinderella and Eliza Doolittle, and Julia shows both sides of this character. Her clumsiness is very funny and sweet, her vulgar behaviour is entertaining and her attitude is just plain gold. Vivian goes throught a development and Julia is actually quite good at showing these important changes and the potential in Vivian. She just wants to live a decent life and that's it. Again, she's just an ordinary girl. First, she enjoys this new and unusual state, but then she gets too used to it and wants to get more out of life.

Some may say that she's not credible as a hooker, but in my opinion Vivian was not really credible as a hooker either. She's just too sweet for the street. There are no complicated emotions or deep moments there, but that's mostly because of the shallowness of the screenplay: I think Julia lived with every opportunity in the very thin and simple screenplay. Every funny scene is done exceptionally and the drama part is also how it should be. The whole thing is just very well done.

To sum up, this is not a performance to praise for high graces, but it's utterly charming, loveable, funny, entertaining acting, which is free of overacting and loud moments. It serves its purpuse quite properly and gets so much out of the screenplay, which is not the best every-written. Enjoyable and lovely.

So what do you think? This time I cannot accept requests on which lady's review I should do next, so thanks for the understanding.

The Next Year

So let's just move along with our next year and I will do a decade I've ignored since the semi-pleasant experience of 1998. It seems to be a so called one-horse race, but I think everyone can surprise us and I'm sure that it will be competitive and nothing is for sure right here. But I won't go on talking.

1990

So the nominees were:

• Kathy Bates in Misery*
• Anjelica Huston in The Grifters
• Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

So what do you think? Who would YOU pick? What's YOUR ranking? What's YOUR prediction for my ranking? The predicting contest is on.

As you can see, there's a poll on your right. Vote for the more interesting year. Basically, these are the next two years, but I'm so interested in both that I can't decide between them. So the decision is yours. If there's a tie, the person who wins the predicting contest decides.