Die Hard

Merry Christmas from salesonfilm!

Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)

Hans…bubby!

y’all ready for this

Welcome to the party, pal.

DIE HARD is my favorite Christmas movie.

(via shutupanddiehl)

nosex:

DIE HARD (JOHN MCTIERNAN, 1988)

Dude, c’mon, there are only so many perfect movies! Okay, okay.

Um, Sherlock, Jr. is pretty perfect. I tend to think everything Buster Keaton is perfect, but Sherlock Jr. is probably the one where everything just works in a really wonderful, magical way. 

I don’t think L.A. Confidential is a masterpiece but I’ve watched it several times and I can’t seem to find a single thing wrong with it. It works as an adaptation (the James Ellroy novel is fantastic), a mystery/thriller, a neo-noir, a police procedural and pretty damn fine Hollywood entertainment. It’s slick, effortless filmmaking but it’s never too slick to the point of over-polished gloss. The cinematography is wonderful, the performances are compelling and I enjoy it every time I watch it.

I agree with a couple of movies my friend Kevin suggested in the comments. I would say The Godfather is perfect, but not The Godfather Part II because the maximum enjoyment of the sequel is predicated on your knowledge and enjoyment of the first. Aliens is the perfect action movie and probably the best thing James Cameron will ever do.* And I think Raging Bull managed to do and say everything Scorsese wanted to do and say with more polish than Mean Streets and more elegance than Taxi Driver (which is amazing and wonderful but the Paul Schrader script is didactic in an icky,  Jesus Christ, why don’t I just kill myself and end the misery kind of way). 

*Die Hard is also in the running for near-perfect action movie. If you haven’t seen it recently, upon re-watch, it is shocking how entertaining and well-made Die Hard is.