DVD Collectors Online

Die Hard, a review by Dragonfire

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Die Hard High above the city of L.A. a team of terrorists has seized a building, taken hostages, and declared war. But one man has managed to escape detection...an off-duty cop. He's alone...tired...and the only chance anyone has. Bruce Willis stars as New York City Detective John McClane, newly arrived in Los Angeles to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). But as McClane waits for his wife's office party to break up, terrorists take control of the building. While the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his savage henchman (Alexander Godunov) round up hostages, McClane slips away unnoticed. Armed with only a service revolver and his cunning, McClane launches his own one-man war. A crackling thriller from beginning to end, DIE HARD explodes with heart-stopping suspense.

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I love this movie and think it is one of the best action movies.  John McClane is a wonderful character who seems more realistic than characters in other action movies even when he does unbelievable things.  He has some issues, but he deals with the situation he ends up in because no else is there to do.  He could have tried to find somewhere in the building to hide and hope the cops would come.  Instead he decides to tackle the problem himself, with only his handgun while wearing no shoes.  He gets hurt, but he keeps going because someone has to deal with the terrorists.  The action is done well, though it isn't the most believable at times.  There is no way that someone could survive what John does, but that doesn't bother me. 

Hans Grubber is the best villain from the Die Hard movies.  He's one of the best movie villains ever.  He tends to stay calm, showing only mild irritation at first because John is delaying some of his plans.  Hans gets more and more annoyed with John as the movie progress.  Hans acts a bit more refined and he's as intelligent as he is deadly.  Alan Rickman is absolutely wonderful in the part.  He's so good at playing bad guys, but I think Hans is the best.  This, along with his performances as Snape in the Potter movies, are my favorite performances by him. 

This is a well done action movie that has held up well and definitely deserves to be watched. 



I did get a review  posted on Epinions a few years ago.

Die Hard


(From Marie's Random Movie Viewing on August 13th, 2011)

Warlock , a review by samuelrichardscott

Warlock (1989) R2 UK

Overview
A sinister 17th century warlock summons satanic intervention to escape a death sentence finds himself transported 300 years into the future. Arriving in modern-day Los Angeles his quest is to find the scattered remains of a satanic bible, containing the true name of god and with it the power to destroy mankind. He has not been transported alone however and in steadfast pursuit is the witch-finder who brought him to trial and must now hunt him down once more.
Julian Sands and Richard E. Grant give superbly matched performances as the enigmatic, battling adversaries in this classic supernatural horror.

Shortened Review:
Having never seen this before, after I had read the above blurb, I was expecting something very similar to Highlander and although there are many similarities, the two films are very much a different experience. The film starts in a courtroom where "Warlock" (played by Sands) is on trial for witchcraft. Escaping 300 years into the future he crashed into the living room of the house the beautiful young Kassandra (Singer) is living. After Warlock casts a spell on Kassandra aging her twenty years, she joins forces with witchhunter Giles (Richard E. Grant) who has also travelled forwards in time. As the story progresses we are treated to what is essentially a very fun film. The first thing that struck me is just how well the cast play off each other. Obviously enjoying themselves the chemistry gives the characters that extra little kick which ignites your interest into this supernatural battle. This isn't to say that some of the acting isn't flawed, but it doesn't take away from the movie. Despite being a horror, we aren't given much gore and instead the majority of horror scenes are quite mild and filmed in a way to imply something horrific is happening. This coupled with some reasonably good special effects for a film of this ilk and budget actually adds to the overall enjoyment of the film and if it had gone for out and out gore it would have a very different feel to the overall product. The direction is solid with well organised action scenes and some nice sweeping shots throughout later locations which was to be expected from Miner whose previous film "House" is a favourite of mine. The script is definately a highlight and although being very far from special, contains some excellent moments, especially the scene in which Warlock is talking to a young boy on a swing who proclaims "My Dad hates all that stuff about Jesus and the twelve apostraphes" and "You're a witch? Only girls are witches". Add together the chemistry of the cast, the solid direction, good speial effects and fun script and you get a very enjoyable, and overlooked, movie that's certainly worth seeking out for fans of the genre, or fans of the cast, director or writer.

Full Review:
http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2360

(This is out April 25th. Yay for advanced copies)

(From Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews) on February 28th, 2011)

Supernatural Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

EPISODE 5: Bloody Mary
"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." An incantation uttered during a game of truth or dare unleashes a ghoul who "lives" in mirrors...and kills by gouging out the eyes of her prey.

Guest Stars:
Adrianne Palicki as Jessica Lee Moore
Marnette Patterson as Charlie
William Taylor as Detective
Chelan Simmons as Jill
Kristie Marsden as Donna Shoemaker

My Thoughts:
I always liked it when they did shows on real life legends. And Bloody Mary is a good one. I always found the legend to be fun.... I have a couple movies that is off of it. I think they did a good job with this episode.

My Rating:

(From Supernatural Marathon on January 12th, 2010)