MY MOVIE SHELF: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 76 Days to go: 52

Movie #364:  Captain America: The Winter Soldier

There are a lot of things I love about Captain America (Chris Evans), but one of them is definitely that he always seems to be surrounded by incredible women. First there was Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), who I was thrilled to see still alive in The Winter Soldier (although ancient and bedridden), but now there are all sorts of kickass chicks in the Captain’s life, the most formidable and impressive being Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), who, despite her playful teasing of his super old fogey goodness and her insistence on finding him a girlfriend, has a hell of a lot of chemistry with him. It might be a natural result of Black Widow’s seductive persona, but I ship them very very hard. Where his relationship with Peggy was very chaste and pure, I have a feeling a romance with Natasha would get very hot and steamy, and I’m into it.

Natasha isn’t just a possible love interest, though, she’s also a seasoned warrior and a strong ally. Anyone who still claims that Black Widow is a blank slate or has no agency of her own or isn’t interesting or couldn’t pull off her own movie is sexist and deluded. Black Widow is of course proficient at hand-to-hand combat, as all these action heroes are these days, but she’s also a technology whiz, a super spy, a master interrogator, and a woman with an enigmatic, shadowed past trying to make good. She also possesses a great deal of ingenuity, because where Steve Rogers is thinking of tactical means of confrontation outside the Apple Store, Natasha knows how to make them look like an innocuous couple, saving their hides and allowing them time to find out about the Hydra teams who’ve infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.

That’s right, Hydra is back. Or it never really went away. And they’re mobilizing to take over the world. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is attacked on the open street, Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) has sent his agents against Steve and Natasha, and twenty million people are about to die. Oh yeah, and apparently Steve’s old buddy Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) didn’t die in WWII after all and has been re-engineered as super assassin The Winter Soldier. It complicates things, to say the least. And the plot of The Winter Soldier is complicated as a result.

Complicated, but not unreachable. Having the Marvel universe expand around Cap has made the conflicts Cap comes up against expanded as well. And yes, I’ve seen the movie several times, but I think it explains itself well. Its twists, its double-crosses, and its revelations are all well-deployed to keep the action moving and the stakes raised.

Also — and this can not be overstated — Anthony Mackie is perfect. Whatever movie he is in, whatever role he’s playing, he is unbelievably great. In his role as Sam Wilson (The Falcon), Mackie is a great addition to the Avengers. Sam and Steve have a playful rivalry and a deep level of respect for one another, and Sam becomes the devoted and loyal friend Steve lost when he lost Bucky. And the film’s exploration of the nature of friendship and trust in and of itself is one of its stronger themes. Be it the friendships between Steve and Bucky, Steve and Natasha, or Nick and just about anyone, the movie is about loyalty and trust, and who you can count on in a pinch.

(Hint: You can always count on Captain America.)

MY MOVIE SHELF: The Avengers

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 127 Days to go: 88

Movie #313:  The Avengers

There are some people who think The Avengers is one of the greatest superhero films of all time, and others who think it gets off to a slow start with all its stage setting and then kind of throws together a battle scene at the end at least as disturbing as it is triumphant. I think both these positions are fair. I think there are criticisms to make of the film, and I think there are a lot of things to praise about it. Overall, my opinion is an overwhelmingly positive one, though, almost entirely for the way it manipulates so many moving pieces into creating one coherent story.

The scope of The Avengers — at least logistically — is huge. You’ve got three established movie universes in their own right — that of Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who had two movies of his own at this point plus a third on deck, Captain America Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with one movie of his own and another in the works at the time, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who also had a movie of his own and a second set for imminent release — plus secondary (and tertiary) characters like Black Widow Natasha Romanoff (Scarlet Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Jarvis (Paul Bettany), who have all appeared in at least one of those aforementioned films and need to be woven into this one, as well as the addition of pop culture icon The Hulk, aka Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who hasn’t technically had his own movie yet, if you forget the multiple Hulk flops that have been made over the years, comic book staple Hawkeye, aka Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill. I mean, first and foremost, that just a ton of actors, and some seriously big name actors at that. The mere wrangling of that many people is a monstrous feat unto itself, but not only did the story have to support all the characters, it had to be substantive and/or rewarding enough that each of these actors feel like they’re making good use of their time. I’m sure a lot of people chalk up motivation to money, but there have been many times when money is not enough to keep an actor in a role he or she thinks is beneath them. The Avengers, in that respect, had a lot on its shoulders, and as far as I’m concerned it delivers beautifully.

Some may be inclined to lay credit for this accomplishment at the feet of Joss Whedon, and I support that. He’s a strong and effective storyteller and he doesn’t leave any of the main figures out of the mix. Each and every one of the Avengers has a backstory, character motivation, individual style, and contributes to the ultimate victory, such as it is (and the movie as a whole is still playful and cheeky in a way reminiscent of classic comic book humor). Iron Man is cocky and flouts the rules, Cap is an idealistic leader, Thor is an arrogant warrior, Banner is a wary academic, Natasha is an enigmatic and manipulative assassin, and Barton is detached and calculating. In addition, beyond their own individual personalities, the interrelationships of the Avengers are fascinating. I love the conflicts between Stark and Rogers, especially, how Steve has no use for Tony’s flippancy and how Tony is clearly resentful of this man his father had such high regard for. But Thor and Steve both having an inability to catch all the references is a lovely touch, and Loki’s constant disdain for Thor (paired with Thor’s conflicting loyalty to and frustration with Loki) is a great rivalry. Natasha, too, who is always confident (unless she’s rope-a-doping you to get some information) and who loves to throw a little wiseass toying Steve’s way, is honest-to-god terrified of Hulk.

Natasha is honestly probably my favorite Avenger after Cap, and I can’t believe people who think she’s a meaningless prop in this film or that she doesn’t have any agency. Natasha is truly one of the most interesting women on film, in my eyes. She’s loyal to Barton to an incredible degree, fighting to save him from Loki’s trance rather than to simply destroy him, despite her somewhat bloodthirsty approach to battles. Though she wouldn’t call her feelings for him love, she clearly cares for him. But she might not be attracted to him, per se, at least not the way she would never admit she is to Steve (I totally ship Natasha and Steve, especially after The Winter Soldier). She’s incredibly intelligent — witty and clever and calculating and savvy in all kinds of ways — and a great spy, using her mark’s weaknesses and presumptions against them. Moreover, despite her detached persona she so obviously has deep feelings for those who are important to her. I think Natasha is a deep well of personality, and every time I think of all the Marvel universe films on the docket that don’t include one devoted entirely to Black Widow, I get pretty angry.

And this is me talking — a person who, you may remember, never read comics as a kid and has atrociously limited knowledge of these characters and their histories. Yet I’m about as invested as I can possibly be. I’d call that a successful franchise, and The Avengers is the integral  linchpin, keeping it all in place. That’s definitely a success.

MY MOVIE SHELF: A Time to Kill

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 154  Days to go: 109

Movie #284:  A Time to Kill

There are a lot of things I like about A Time to Kill — things I liked when it came out, and things I like still. The affinity levels may have changed a little bit over the years, one way or another, as I’ve grown and changed as a person, but not drastically. It’s a good film, and I get a lot out of it. One aspect of it that has always made me a little uncomfortable, though, is the closing argument defense attorney Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) gives at the end of the film.

Jake’s client Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) is on trial for killing the two men who brutally raped and almost murdered his ten-year-old daughter. The entire trial, Jake has been trying to get details of the rape on the record, and his closing statement is a perfect opportunity to do that unencumbered and uninterrupted. It’s also his opportunity to, as Carl Lee has made clear, say the thing to the jury that will help them relate to this crime. Jake, like the jury, is “one of the bad guys,” as far as Carl Lee’s concerned, and that’s why he picked him. He sees black people and white people on different sides of a wall — “However you see me, you see me as different.” — and he enlisted the enemy to make the rest of the enemies see it his way. It’s a cold outlook, whether you believe it has merit or not, and although Jake is taken aback by this admission (He’s always looking for someone to be on his team in this film, yet he finds himself repeatedly alone.), he uses his closing to giving a detailed and emotional accounting of the brutality Carl Lee’s daughter endured, while the jury, with their eyes closed, are meant to imagine it and picture this girl. “Now imagine she’s white,” he says, and suddenly everything clicks. Even the judge and District Attorney Buckley (Kevin Spacey) and Carl Lee himself know what an impact that statement makes. But does it? Or should it?

Essentially, what that statement boils down to — and what the entire movie is getting at, really — is that we’re all people, and yet we rarely see each other as such. I find that incredibly depressing, even more so because as much as I hate to admit it, it’s probably true. If there’s one thing being on Facebook makes clear, it’s that a lot of people have no capacity to look at life through the eyes of another person. The things we post, the things we share, the things we argue about and debate at length, all lead me to believe that more often than not we’re all so clouded by the lens of our own experience, we have a hard time accepting that other people, other races, other cultures, other income levels experience things differently than we do. I’m guilty of it myself. There have been many times I’ve struggled to understand how anyone could see something differently than I’ve seen it, or how anyone could hold onto anger over an issue that wasn’t that big a deal, or could prioritize something I found inessential. And yet it happens, all the time. How did compassion and commiseration become such specialized skills? How do we fix that? Certainly not by an impassioned monologue that promises if we can only see a black rape victim as a white rape victim, all will be well in the world. It feels simplistic and kind of insulting to me, and yet I appreciate the idealism of the thought.

I’ve never felt the way Carl Lee does here, that there’s a my side and a his side, but it’s entirely possible, too, that I live in a state of blissful ignorance on the matter. Being a woman, I know full well many of the prejudices women face as I’ve experienced them first hand. As a white woman, however, I don’t have that same connection to the prejudices African-Americans face, even though I know they exist. The best I can do, therefore, is to take their accounts at face value and work to correct them, work to dispel them. And that comes from following their lead on how they feel and what they want to accomplish, just as Jake eventually follows Carl Lee’s lead on how to approach this trial. So maybe it’s not perfect and maybe it’s a little too pat and a little too idealistic, but maybe it’s the best we can do, metaphorically: Strive to be better. I can get behind that, absolutely. Does it make the ending more palatable? I still haven’t decided.

There’s a lot more to this movie than that, though. There’s Kiefer Sutherland leading the KKK, and his father Donald as a broken old drunk of a lawyer. There’s Oliver Platt as the morally compromised Harry Rex, and Ashley Judd as Jake’s ever-sweaty wife Carla (I swear, they rubbed her in baby oil before every take). There’s the awesome Charles S. Dutton as the tough Sheriff Walls and Chris Cooper as the (accidentally) one-legged deputy. And then there’s Sandra Bullock as law student and sexy assistant Ellen Roark. When I was younger, I was really irritated that Jake and Ellen didn’t take advantage of that insane sexual chemistry they had. As I’ve gotten older, I really appreciate the restraint given their relationship. It’s super easy for two sexy actors to have sexy sex in a movie; infidelity is like a go-to plot twist in films of every genre. But for two characters to be attracted to each other and to want to have sex but to not because it would be wrong? That is a rarity, and I find it all the more commendable for that reason.

Of course, this being a John Grisham story, I once again can’t really speak to the plausibility of the legal things that occur. It seems to me a lawyer can’t throw an elbow to a guy’s face even if that guy tried to blow up his house. And if I was the one guy on the jury ready to vote not-guilty when the foreman took an informal poll at the restaurant, I’d probably go to the judge about him using the n-word, which at the very least should get that guy kicked off and might lead to a complete mistrial. And of course, don’t shoot anyone for raping your daughter. I cannot guarantee you’ll get the same outcome as Carl Lee Hailey.

I actually volunteered as a rape crisis advocate several years ago, which amounted to me going to emergency rooms whenever a rape victim came in while I was on call. I would hold their hands and sit with them and listen to them and just be there for them when all the other people (cops, social workers, hospital staff, etc.) had specific jobs to do and couldn’t just be support. I was called in once for two fifteen-year-old girls, one of which asked me to phone her father because she was too embarrassed and humiliated to. I called him up and told him what happened and had to talk him down from killing the boys who did this. I understand the impulse, but trust me: Your daughter will need her father with her, not in jail. If a girl’s dad ends up imprisoned for murdering her rapist, it’ll just be one more thing for her to blame herself for. I know the justice system isn’t perfect, and a lot of times these d-bags go free, but vigilantism is not the answer. Sorry, Carl Lee.

“There ain’t nothin’ more dangerous in this world than a fool with a cause.”

MY MOVIE SHELF: Pulp Fiction

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 167  Days to go: 160

Movie #216:  Pulp Fiction

It was fall 1994. I’d been living in Columbus less than two months, and suddenly there was this whole wide world of independent films available. (When I visited Chicago ten years later, I realized that Columbus had barely a glimpse of the independent film market, but coming from nowhere in the middle of upstate New York, it was a treasure trove.) I became fast friends with a girl who shared my love for movies and the two of us hung out often with my boyfriend and his roommate. I don’t remember who suggested it, or how we got there (I assume my boyfriend’s car?), but we went out to one of the city’s independent venues — there were three all owned by the same family at the time, something of an oxymoron, an independent chain cinema — and stood outside in a line for the next showing of Pulp Fiction. The world was never really the same after that.

When the Oscars came around, my friend was definitely hoping for Pulp Fiction to pull an upset, but I didn’t really think it had a chance, given the Academy. Still, as enjoyable as I find Forrest Gump, there’s no denying it didn’t have the same cultural impact as Quentin Tarantino’s breakout. (Reservoir Dogs came first, but it wasn’t as big, as amazing, or as talked about.)

For one thing, a nonlinear timeline hardly seems notable today, but Tarantino’s fiddling with the sequence of events in Pulp Fiction had people obsessing for literal months, and it’s actually something I still think about whenever I watch: this is happening first, this happens later, this goes back to earlier, etc. In some ways, this structure feels like a novelty — self-indulgent, perhaps and almost certainly unnecessary — but in others, it serves to tell a very particular story in a very particular way. If the movie went from the morning hit, to Jimmy (Tarantino) and the Wolf (Harvey Keitel), to the diner, to the handoff of the briefcase,  to our night out with Vincent (Travolta) and Mia (Uma Thurman), to the fight, to the watch (the flashback featuring Christopher Walken would still be placed in this general area) , to the whole deal with Maynard and Zed (Duane Whitaker and Peter Greene), then the movie would actually feel less cohesive, I think. It would end on the down note of Marsellus (Ving Rhames) having just been brutalized, Vincent dead and Butch (Bruce Willis) leaving the city forever with Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) rather than the triumph of Vincent and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) over Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer). It ties the beginning of the movie with the end, so instead of being simply a series of almost unrelated vignettes, it’s an integrated and complete piece.

Secondly, Pulp Fiction is often touted for resurrecting Travolta’s career. This was certainly true at the time, but it’s overlooked how the movie gave a little boost to Bruce Willis as well, and what it really did was make household names of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman. (“Uma, Oprah.” NEVER FORGET!) Both had been acting for a while before this movie, and lord knows Jackson especially was in just about everything in the late ’80s in some sort of bit part or another, but this is the one that made them icons. There would be no Kill Bill without Thurman. There would be no “motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane,” (or a hundred other motherfucking somethings, including Capital One ads), without Jackson. These two are icons now, all thanks to Pulp Fiction.

The movie itself is iconic, too. The scene with Lance (Eric Stoltz) and the adrenaline shot is still one of the most exciting scenes in film, and I still jump when it goes in. (And Rosanna Arquette, pierced up to Jesus as Jody, saying “That was pretty fucking trippy” with this gleeful smile is a perfect way to close it out.) Then there’s the gold gleam of the inside of the briefcase, or Mia and Vincent’s dance at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, or the perfect, sad, wistful, intimate kiss he blows her as she walks away. Not to mention how all his crucial life moments are connected to being in the bathroom.  And that doesn’t even go into the dialogue: “Royale with cheese.” “Ezekial 25:17.” “Well look at the big brain on Brett!” “Garçon means boy.” “SAY WHAT AGAIN!” “Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.” “I’m pretty fucking far from okay.” “Will you give me oral pleasure?” “Catch up.” (I still tell that Fox Force Five joke, and I really wish that show was real.) “Bring out the Gimp.”

These are things that still are quoted and said in conversation and looked at as iconic moments in film to this day. Plus, the entire Beatles versus Elvis conversation is a cultural touchstone now. Are you an Elvis person or a Beatles person? It’s supposedly one or the other, never both. If that’s true, I’d have to go Elvis, but regardless, I am definitely a Pulp Fiction person. As we all should be.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Out of Sight

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 172  Days to go: 171

Movie #205:  Out of Sight

Out of Sight is a coming together of greats. Everything great about director Steven Soderbergh is here, from his stylized aesthetic to his inventive nonlinear heist structure and the great performances he pulls from scores of interesting actors. Everything great about writer Elmore Leonard is here (the movie is based on his novel), from the interesting characters to the snappy dialogue to the sparkling chemistry and thrilling plot. Everything great about George Clooney (as Jack Foley) is here, from his suave, effortless charm to his no-nonsense confidence to his playful sex appeal. And Jennifer Lopez (as Karen Sisco) is at her very, very best in this film. Selena might’ve been her breakout, and she has certainly stalled as any kind of successful actress after the Gigli bomb (or the Maid in Manhattan bomb) (or the Monster-in-Law bomb) (or whatever), but she is phenomenal in Out of Sight — calm, cool, collected, enigmatic, assertive, outspoken, powerful, a force to be reckoned with, and absolutely the sexiest she has ever been, no lie.

Jack Foley is a bank robber, but the nice kind. He never uses guns, for example. As the movie starts, we see Jack leave one building in a fit of anger and frustration, notice the bank across the street, and go over to rob it as a way of calming himself down. He’s very smart, very methodical, and very courteous. He robs the teller almost entirely on wit and charm and only gets caught because his car won’t start. He winds up at Glades Correctional in Belle Glades, Florida, where he escapes with the help of his oft-times partner Buddy (Ving Rhames), and where he meets Karen Sisco, US Marshall, for the first time.

Karen is at Glades by chance, winds up witnessing the prison break by several Cubans, and is confused and then abducted by Jack and Buddy when Jack emerges from the escapee’s tunnel wearing a prison guard uniform. (It was a top-notch plan, if not for her presence.) They put her in her trunk, which Jack climbs into as well, and Buddy drives them off safe and sound. This is Jack and Karen’s meet-cute, where they spend a car ride locked in a trunk trading thoughts and feelings on movies and other minutiae. They have a lot of chemistry, but it doesn’t stop Karen from trying to do her job and foil their getaway. She only partially succeeds, however, and the rest of the movie chronicles Jack and Buddy’s working toward their big score up north and Karen’s constant pursuit of them, all while the two would-be lovers contemplate a life in which they could maybe take a time out and explore these ever-increasing sparks of theirs.

Soderbergh is known as an actor’s director, and it’s easy to see why with the amazing performances he gets out of not only his leads, but every single supporting actor (and even those with cameo roles) in his films. I love Don Cheadle, and his work here at Maurice “Snoopy” Miller is almost unrecognizable in terms of his total immersion into the role of a vicious, irredeemable criminal. Whether it’s murder or grand larceny or just throwing a fight, Snoopy has no qualms, no conscience. Meanwhile national treasure (and seriously one of the funniest character actors of our time) Steve Zahn — as screw-up stoner thief Glenn Michaels — is dopey and ditzy in the best possible ways, plus he manages to accomplish 90% of his acting through the wearing of a ridiculous headband. There’s also Albert Brooks as Ripley, who manages to look even dumber with hair than without, and Dennis Farina as Marshall Sisco, Karen’s dad, who is as no-nonsense a detective as she is but who is also so loving and accepting of her. Pile on top of that great small performances from Luis Guzman (who can’t believe magicians use fake legs), Catherine Keener (as Jack’s adorable ex-wife), Michael Keaton (as Karen’s FBI guy squeeze), and even Samuel L. Jackson as an inmate with a history of leaving custody, and you have a film chock full of surprising and entertaining performances. Honestly, every single one is a delight (even Isaiah Washington pre-Grey’s Anatomy as Kenneth who likes to tussle, and early era Viola Davis as his sister Moselle). That’s not an easy thing to pull off, but Soderbergh is a whiz at it.

The tone of the movie is light, but also foreboding and wary. There’s a lot of hesitancy between what Jack and Karen feel for each other, what’s prudent, and what they can reasonably expect out of their attraction given their completely different lives, but in the end it’s actually heartwarming the way Jack and Karen’s fatalistic attitudes toward their futures don’t prevent them both from looking out for the other — Jack emptying his gun, Karen shooting him in the leg — and keeping each other safe. It’s as if they know they can’t call time out right now — and alter-egos Gary and Celeste have no chance of making things work — so they wait to find a better time. And, hey, it’s a long drive to Florida.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Jurassic Park

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 217  Days to go: 218

Movie #160:  Jurassic Park

So much of Jurassic Park is exposition and world-creating, it’s hard to believe it’s as successful a monster movie as it is. But, oh man, is it ever successful. I remember seeing this in the theater and just having the pants scared right the hell off of me by the tension and the set up and the gruesome payoffs.

In the matter of storytelling, exposition is often required, but the film is well-constructed to frame the exposition in unique and satisfying ways: the instructional film, the park ride’s audio, the malicious description to a bratty kid of how a velociraptor would eviscerate him, and a cast full of scientific expert characters meant to educate the hobbyists and children (as well as the audience).

Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum are those scientific experts, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm. Each with their own area of expertise, they provide insight into the biology and behavior of dinosaurs, as well as the unpredictability of life. Their expertise butts heads with the hubris of resident mastermind John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough), as he fails to see how reckless and dangerous it could be to bring humans and dinosaurs together.

Every monster movie also needs the corrupt and/or negligent fool (Wayne Knight) whose self-interest puts the people in danger, as well as a couple of supporting role heroes (Samuel L. Jackson and Bob Peck) who will inevitably make the ultimate sacrifice. But no monster movie is complete without the requisite monsters, and Jurassic Park has quite a few.

There’s the venom-spitting carnivore that gets Knight’s character — a messy, fitting end to him and his misdeeds — that is a personal favorite of mine, and an underrated villain as far as I’m concerned. But, of course, the real marquee monsters are the T-rex and the velociraptors.

The T-rex is imposing and terrifying, stomping through the terrain and terrorizing all the lesser animals, screaming her blood-chilling roar. She gets herself a goat, a human victim, and goes after Dr. Grant and the kids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), only being foiled by her tricky motion-sensor vision. The best and most terrifying aspect of her approach, however, is the tremor going through the water cup (which I read Spielberg created by stretching a guitar string under the Jeep and plucking it) — though the chase seen through the side mirror is iconic and amazing as well, for the ingenuity as well as the flawless depiction of the massive creature.

The raptors, on the other hand, are small and lithe. They move quickly and silently, pouncing on prey almost undetected. Their threat is a more panicking one, if only because it uses your imagined fears against you and then usually proves them to be true as well. Who could forget the sneak attack on Muldoon (Peck), prompting his oft-quoted “Clever girl” line? Or the tense and spectacularly scary kitchen scene in which the raptors engage in a battle of wits with the children and only just lose out.

The movie is wonderful, on all levels, from the strong-minded and brave presence of Dern’s Ellie Sattler, to the shocking (haha) turn of events on the electrical perimeter fence. And the movie doesn’t shy away from the awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur of these animals, making it at least somewhat understandable why someone would act as Hammond does. The beasts are truly both great and terrible, which is why the T-rex, in its way, is hero as much as villain.

Honestly, it’s not all that different from various portrayals of Godzilla in that sense. But that’s another post.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Die Hard: With A Vengeance

 

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 290  Days to go: 279

Movie #87: Die Hard: With A Vengeance

So where Die Hard 2 deviates from the thieves-posing-as-terrorists model of the original, Die Hard: With A Vengeance returns to it … with a vengeance. You’d think the audience would see this reveal coming from a mile away, but actually because of that Die Hard 2 deviation, the sleight of hand works again. So I guess that sequel was good for something after all. (I still love it, I can’t lie.)

In this third installment, we find our rapidly devolving John McClane (Bruce Willis) being forced to jump through a series of hoops at the behest of resident psycho Simon (Jeremy Irons), who just happens to be the brother of the late great Hans Gruber,  infamous Nakatomi Plaza terrorist. So it’s easy to believe Simon has a grudge against McClane (and he does, as he delights in toying with and torturing him), but it also fits that he’s not really politically motivated to get rid of gold and instead wants to steal it away for himself.

Sadly, there is no Holly McClane in this one, but we do give McClane a sidekick in the form of Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus, a Harlem electrician who gets pulled into solving Simon’s puzzles with McClane because he had the bad sense to keep John from being killed out in front of his store. Zeus is an excellent compadre, as he both helps and harasses McClane, providing vital support and insight but also calling him out on all his bullshit at every opportunity. He even delivers the best line when, carrying a gold bar out of the Federal Reserve, says, “Damn, this is heavy!” (Honorable mention to the very subtle Pulp Fiction reference, as McClane says he’d been “working on a big fat suspension, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo.” — And if you don’t recognize that line from the soundtrack or as the song Butch is listening to as he runs into Marcellus Wallace, then you didn’t devour Pulp Fiction as obsessively as I did.)

One brilliant thing about this movie — one thing that makes it such a great piece of the Die Hard franchise — is how, just as in the original, no scene is really wasted. The questionable activities of Zeus’s nephews in the beginning set up the reasons for their skepticism near the end. The demonstration of the bomb’s power on the end of a tiny wire is used to John’s and Zeus’s advantage in the harbor. McClane’s observation that Simon wanted the bomb to go off on Wall Street no matter what gets an explanation later on. Even the descent to the barge via towing cable has a couple payoffs: First when Zeus wants to jump and John says it’ll cut them in half, it ends up cutting a bad guy in half. Secondly, John gets a splinter from the thing that is used to get him out of his handcuffs not long after. Everything has its purpose, which makes for a much more streamlined, satisfying movie, even if it doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.

One way Die Hard: With A Vengeance kind of lets me down is that the ending isn’t nearly as awesome and all out as the first two. Crashing the bad guys’ helicopter into some power lines is all well and good, but it meets neither the poetic “Oh shit” face of Hans Gruber falling from the Nakatomi building as Holly’s watch releases nor the “Fuck yeah” bad-assery of a flaming fuel line climbing into the sky to blow up a plane. It does have a great line though: “Say hello to your brother.” I can respect that.

Still, it needs more pertinent women, and not just creepy dead-eyed ones who only show emotion when faced with coitus-interruptus.