Secrets to an enjoyable movie experience
They are not among my list of favorite movies but the Die Hard series has always been a good reason for me to visit a cinema. It started with when I was still in college and the cinemas of Recto were within crawling distance from Mendiola.
Thinking it would be my last chance to see the fourth installment on a silver screen I asked the wife to see Die Hard 4.0 with me last night. It had been on the playbill since July 4.
The movie did not disappoint. It was mindlessly violent, with all the required incredible action sequences only a John McLaine would be able to survive.
Die Hard is one of the very few movie series that gets better with every reprisal. Die Hard was good enough. Die Harder was even more violent. Die Hardest was funniest (Samuel Jackson was hilarious). Die Hard 4.0 was very hi-tech. I compare it with Enemy of the State starring Will Smith. Only this time the US government was the good guy. Bleh!
What I liked most about this fourth iteration was there was less corny dialogue from McLaine. There was hardly any trying-hard-to-be-funny-but-it-is-not chattiness from the lead character. All that has been replaced with IT geek-ery that amply shows who really rule the coop these days—the geeks. My favorite new character was Warlock, even more than lead geek Matthew Farrel. And the US government’s chief geek was an Arab-looking bloke. Wonderful! One Hollywood movie subtly saying to the George W Bush Fans Club that Arabs and other Arab-looking races are not all about terrorism and camel-racing.
But there were still stereotypes. The FBI stereotypically arriving when the heroic lead has already disposed of all the baddies was one.
Refreshing about Bruce Willis’ action movies is the lack of steamy sex scenes. This is very good—there is nothing to distract me from all the hardcore action I crave. Besides, if I wanted to see people humping on a screen, why not just watch porn, right? (I am imagining some readers saying “Right!” back. Tama ba, Xavier?)
In the movie McLaine’s lovable daughter Lucie grew up to be a hottie. One minor twist at the end of the movie though is that she has fallen for the main geek and detective dad approved. And the geek was not even good-looking! There is hope for you yet, _____________________! (Think of your favorite ugly, single geek here).
The box office lady at SM Fairview told us there was no word yet about ending the movie’s run. So I urge you to go see it, if you are a mindless action movie junkie like me. And wait for its DVD “copy” to come out and buy one for your collection. I would. (Quiapo, here I come!)
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There were only four of us inside the SM Fairview Cinema 10 last night. But the other couple did not seem to be there for the movie. The guy was already all over the poor girl even when the house lights were still on. So it was practically a private screening for the wife and I.
In fact, I was able to unshod my feet and park them on top of the seat in front of me. It felt close to sitting on a Lazy Boy.
When we saw Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix last month I threw an empty soda cup hard at the direction of a man talking loudly to his cellphone during the movie. Prior to that he annotated the movie in between coughing fits that dominated even the cinema’s Dolby Surround system. He left after that. But I wouldn’t have minded either if he picked a fight with me. (Pom was mortified!)
After last night, I think I discovered the secret to an enjoyable movie experience: a good movie on the day’s LFS (last full show) on a stormy night. Plus it wouldn’t hurt if you have a jumbo bag of cheese popcorn, large coke and a beautiful date, like I had.
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This just in.
Malcolm Trevena, the proudest Kiwi I know, just can't help but react to this article. He sent me this:
From: Malcolm Trevena <crazymalc@gmail.com>
To: Raymund Villanueva <raymundbvillanueva@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2007 11:26:16 AM
Subject: Arab looking bloke
You said:
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