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    #51
    I completely forgot Christmas Vacation. I love that film.

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      #52
      If it hasn't already been mentioned, Scrooged.

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        #53
        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
        My mum really likes Die Hard as well and she really hates action films.

        I think Die Hard is a bit more than an action film though. You've got the action hero bit. You've got Powell the cop outside, with his back story. You've got Hans Gruber. You've got the kid in the limo in the basement. You've got Holly Gennaro and her secret she's keeping from the bad guys. You've got the media reporting crew. You've got Ellis on coke trying to fix things. You've got the black tech dude in the gang. You've got the FBI guys in the helicopter. Plus it's a very smart script and it's Christmas!

        The reason it might feel hokey and cliché now is because every action movie since has aped it.
        I think the trick with Die Hard, along with all these things, was that Bruce Willis was no conventional action hero with oversized muscles or superpowers or a Bronsonesque sadistic streak. He is an everyman who'd much rather have a cold beer than being out through all this scary kill-or-be-killed shit. It also had clever humour ("the benefits of a classical education"). That was quite unusual back in the day. Die Hard and Lethal Weapon -- another "Christmas" movie, if we are going for loose definitions -- changed action movies.

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          #54
          I know someone said it wouldn't make a top ten list of movies but if you had to make a list of top movies by genre I'm not sure what would be ahead of it in the action movie genre.

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            #55
            I think my flatmate most definitely would put it in his top ten movies ever. But then he’s never seen any Scorsese pre Goodfellas, and seems to regard the 70s as an impossibly long time ago for films, much like I would have thought of most 40s films as a nipper. He’s only 6 years younger than me but. Though for him films seem to begin with Commando and Terminator and the rest of the VHS kings, with the Modern era being somewhere around early Tarantino. I feel old and uselessly snobbish.

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              #56
              Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
              I know someone said it wouldn't make a top ten list of movies but if you had to make a list of top movies by genre I'm not sure what would be ahead of it in the action movie genre.
              If the purpose of a movie is solely to entertain then the greatest movie of all time is Commando.

              I jest, of course - though Commando is brilliant in its own way. Watch that and watch Die Hard and you'll be massively entertained by both, but the latter is so much better a film. It's certainly in my top ten ever.

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                #57
                Originally posted by WOM View Post
                CCBB was on tv the other night, so I watched the last half. The child catcher still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
                A former colleague of mine bore a strong resemblance to Robert Helpmann. So of course, workplaces being what they are, his nickname amongst certain people was "The Child Catcher".

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                  #58
                  Just fifteen minutes or so but often shown on German TV at Christmas:

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_VLO9xcc

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                    #59
                    Every New Year’s Eve, on multiple channels.

                    23 December in Norway.

                    There is at least one thread about it on here.

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                      #60
                      Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                      If it hasn't already been mentioned, Scrooged.
                      I mentioned it - but I love it.



                      Especially the Christmas List

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                        #61
                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                        I know someone said it wouldn't make a top ten list of movies but if you had to make a list of top movies by genre I'm not sure what would be ahead of it in the action movie genre.
                        IMDb says:-

                        #1 The Dark Knight
                        #2 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
                        #3 Inception
                        #4 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
                        #5 The Matrix
                        #6 Star Wars
                        #7 Dangal
                        #8 Avengers: Infinity War
                        #9 Gladiator
                        #10 Terminator 2: Judgement Day

                        Die Hard? 29th on the list of action films.

                        Now some of these people are going to say "what is [x] doing on that list? It isn't an action film, it's an [y]" and yes, Star Wars, for example, is a Fantasy film. And an action film. Many films cover multiple categories. Die Hard itself is listed as both an action film and a thriller. Which seems appropriate.

                        I have no idea what Dangal is, btw. Anyone?

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                          #62
                          Digby, The Biggest Dog In The World.

                          Before this thread I had no idea that Die Hard had any Christmas relevance.

                          How much action does there have to be in an action film? Isn't Return Of The King famous for having very little? Similarly, The Empire Strikes Back is pretty action light once they get off Hoth. If those two can make it I feel on safe ground in saying Wages Of Fear is the best action film despite it being around an hour before there's any action, cos after that the action doesn't stop.

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                            #63
                            Return of the King has a lot of action, just not quite as much as the Two Towers.

                            Die Hard is part of a genre of action films - especially popular in the 80s - that do not feature any explicit sci-fi or fantasy elements (that's not to say they're any more realistic, though). This seems to appeal to a broad group of men age 14-50 who think associated with comics or role-playing games is not manly, so they prefer films with lots of guns, cars, and guys saying, in various ways, "I'm too old for this shit."

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                              #64
                              Is The Great Escape still on at Christmas? When I was a kid, my mother, when Angus Lennie got gunned down on the barbed-wire fence, always used to say, "Aah, what a shame. They're going to have to get a new chef in Crossroads."

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                                #65
                                Return of the King is quite close to being a War film, let alone an action one. Enormous set piece battles, multiple therefore.

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                                  #66
                                  Originally posted by G-Man View Post
                                  I think the trick with Die Hard, along with all these things, was that Bruce Willis was no conventional action hero with oversized muscles or superpowers or a Bronsonesque sadistic streak. He is an everyman who'd much rather have a cold beer than being out through all this scary kill-or-be-killed shit.
                                  That is true of the characterisation but what struck me last time I saw it was how disconnected from any kind of physical reality the action itself was, particularly relating to the number of potentially life ending incidents that the main character just walks away from. He does have an unspoken of super power in that respect.

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                                    #67
                                    Dangal appears to be the highest-grossing film in India's history, and was also popular in China:

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangal_(film)

                                    Given that those two nations together is a potential audience of 2.5 billion people, no real surprise Dangal makes a global top ten too.
                                    Last edited by blameless; 30-11-2018, 18:31.

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                                      #68
                                      That IMDB list is all kinds of wrong. There's only three action movies in it for a start.

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                                        #69
                                        Yep. What Snake says. LOTR and Star Wars films aren't action. If you walked into Blockbuster back in the day and went to the Action Movies shelf and those films were on there you'd laugh.

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                                          #70
                                          How could I forget "Meet Me In St Louis"

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                                            #71
                                            I just watched Geena Davis action fest The Long Kiss Goodnight which is set at Christmas time without being very Christmassy. It was quite enjoyable.

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                                              #72
                                              Die Hard is on a 1st year module I teach, so certain sequences are far too familiar to enjoy anymore. And my view is coloured by some of the shite I have to read about it every year ( from the students I mean).

                                              No-one else for Bad Santa..?

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                                                #73
                                                Bad Santa is a great laugh. I never want to see the sequel.

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                                                  #74
                                                  John McClane is the bad guy in Die Hard. Have I discussed my theory on here before?

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                                                    #75
                                                    No, I don’t think so. Let’s hear the Hans Gruber apologia.

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