A Good Day To Die Hard

"A Good Day To Die Hard" is a perfect example of a movie that was made just so that those involved could make some money. Now that might not be the case for the production company after the weekend reviews for the newest installment to the "Die Hard" series flopped. However it is pretty obvious that Bruce Willis continues to sign on as John McClane just for the paycheck and maybe to be in a few cool fighting scenes. No matter the reason, it shows in the newer films that this series has run its course and now they are just dragging it along for money.

It's a shame because the first three movies in the series were actually very good. The first "Die Hard" is a classic that finds Officer John McClane in full rescue mode as he tries to save his wife and other hostages that are being held by a German terrorist. We have heard the plot before but in 1988 it was a little bit more original. There was strategy involved in his plan, and progressing the plot was just as important as big explosions and gun fights. The same can't be said about the more recent films.

The second movie was well done as well. The airport was a nice added plot twist, anytime you can include some planes good things happen. But also the stakes were much higher this time for McClane as there were a lot more people involved in this hostage scenario than the last. So although we see McClane somehow save the day once again, at least it was an original scenario.

I'm going to skip over a few of the movies. Like when Samuel L. Jackson and the game "simon says" somehow snuck into the series. Or when that guy from the mac commercials made an appearance in the previous movie. These two were the start of the end, or so we thought, of the series. And there was nothing wrong with making three movies. But by the fourth it was just not believable anymore. Maybe it was because of Bruce Willis' age, but it was also because the plot and the stunts involved became so far fetched.

Which brings us to the most recent movie, "A Good Day To Die Hard". This movie just completely ruined the series for me. It was overproduced, with way too much emphasis on having big explosions and ridiculous stunts. But maybe most importantly I just can't buy Bruce Willis anymore. The guy is nearly 60 and he's scaling buildings and winning fights with guys half his age. I'm all for the underdog story, but this story now has gotten old and it's time for Bruce Willis to move on. As long as there is money being made the studios will continue to make "Die Hard" films. So it is really up to Bruce Willis to finally decide to close this chapter of his career.

1001 Movies You Must See

          1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider is a collection of 1001 movies that various contributors believed were the most important movies to watch in your lifetime. I stumbled across this book around a year ago and I thought that it would be an interesting challenge to attempt to accomplish. 1001 movies, it can't be that much of a challenge can it? Who knows?
          The thing that I really like about the book is that in a way it's sort of a history lesson of film itself. The first movie listed in the book is A Trip To The Moon directed by Georges Melies. I'm sure many of you might recognize this film from Hugo. This was a movie that was made in 1902, over a hundred years ago and it's still considered to be a movie worth viewing. The list starts there and goes all the way up to movies coming out today. The book is a great way of literally seeing the history of film in front of you and also just enjoying many movies from the past and present.
          If anyone hasn't read or seen this book then I would highly recommend checking it out. It's pretty reasonably priced and if you buy one edition, you probably won't have to get another one.

Here's the link for it. http://www.amazon.com/1001-Movies-You-Must-Before/dp/0764164228/ref=tmm_hrd_title_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347068968&sr=8-1