Vote for Die Hard: The ULTIMATE Christmas Movie

'Tis the season to be jolly, which means lots of tinsel, wrapping paper, empty bank accounts and the same damn Christmas music playing over and over. But it also means we have the perfect excuse to watch Die Hard - the ULTIMATE Christmas movie - as many times as we want.

It's my pick for Best Christmas Movie in the latest LAMBracket from The Large Association of Movie Blogs, and I need your help. You can vote for it over at the LAMB's website, or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Now many of you are probably thinking; Die Hard? That's not a Christmas movie! Well respectfully, you're wrong. I don't think Die Hard could get any more Christmassy. For one thing, it's on TV every December. The story takes place during a party on Christmas Eve. There's plenty of decorations, trees and music, not to mention the most inventive use of Christmas tape the world has ever seen. Our hero even sends his enemies a heart-warming Christmas message, "Ho-Ho-Ho". And let's not forget, McClane pulls off the greatest Christmas miracle in the history of Christmas miracles - saving 30 hostages...and his marriage. Wait, does that make it two miracles? Either way, if all that doesn't make it a Christmas movie, I don't know what will.

Granted, Die Hard isn't warm and fuzzy like most Christmas movies. But who said all Christmas movies have to be warm and fuzzy anyway? With Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells and all that other Christmas stuff in overdrive, wouldn't you rather watch a tired, pissed off cop run bare-foot around a building on Christmas Eve, killing terrorists? Let's face it, Die Hard is the definitive action movie, a simple - yet fairly believable - story, with interesting characters, filled with great action set-pieces, shootouts and one-liners...never forget the one-liners! And even after all that, Die Hard still manages to leave you with that Christmassy feeling, every time. Filmmakers have been trying - and mostly failing - to re-capture that magic for 30 years.

Then there's the underdog himself, John McClane, the fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass. He's a man under immense pressure, up against seemingly insurmountable odds, who still manages to find the time to annoy the living shit out of his opponents, and in hilarious ways. Bruce Willis was the perfect choice for this role, he plays McClane in a way that's not only believable, it's relatable. McClane isn't a superhero, or even a super soldier, he's just an average guy trying to fix his marriage. He wasn't supposed to be there, he certainly doesn't want to be there, but he knows he's the only chance those hostages have. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes - if that's the right way to put it - but I love rooting for him every time I watch him fuck up Hans Gruber's Christmas.

Short of putting up a Christmas tree, we don't really have any Christmas traditions in my house. In fact, the closest we come is sitting down every Christmas Eve to watch the ULTIMATE Christmas movie...Die Hard.

Please head over to either the LAMBsite, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to vote Die Hard the Best Christmas Movie.

The Suicide Squad | Average Guy Movie Review

A new batch of convicts - as well as a few originals - are under the thumb of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who's once again offering years off their prison sentences in return for completing a few jobs for Uncle Sam. This time she's sending them to the island nation of Corto Maltese. There they must infiltrate the capital and destroy a top secret research facility. Sounds easy enough. Task Force X is back, and with James Gunn at the helm things are madder than ever! The Guardians of the Galaxy director has taken what David Ayer started and blown the roof off of it. But he has done so in a way that is respectful of what has gone before. Fans of the original (of which there are apparently few) will have no trouble going from Suicide Squad to The Suicide Squad . And yet, the new movie stands quite happily on it's own two feet. Rather than making them drastically different, the returning characters simply feel like they have grown a bit. Well, maybe not grown, but adapted, t

Operation Market Garden Anniversary 2016

The John Frost Bridge at Arnhem (from my visit in 2013) 72 years ago today, Allied troops set off on what could be one of the boldest missions of World War 2, Operation Market Garden. Developed by Field Marshall Montgomery, the plan was to advance into Nazi occupied Holland and develop a bridgehead over the River Rhine into Germany. There were two parts to the operation: Market (Airborne) Garden (Ground Forces) In what was the largest airborne operation of the war, paratroopers and glider troops had the job of securing bridges at Eindhoven (US 101st Airborne), Nijmegen (US 82nd Airborne) and Arnhem (British 1st Airborne). The ground forces, made up of the British XXX Corp had to advance up a single highway through Holland, linking up with the airborne forces as they went. In honour of the anniversary of Operation Market Garden we look back at some of the movies and TV Shows that tell the story of the Allies ill-fated attempt to end the war by Christmas 1944. A Bridge Too Far

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | Average Guy Movie Review

For ten years Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) - the son of The Mandarin (Tony Leung), keeper of the Ten Rings - has been running from his past, trying to escape the life his father intended for him. Unfortunately that past has now caught up with him, endangering the lives of those he cares about. Now he must return home, face his father and learn the secrets of his family. If there's one thing that Marvel is good at, it's taking lesser known comic book characters and turning them into major players. Clearly they haven't lost their touch because Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is everything fans love about the MCU and so much more. Whilst keeping things very much rooted in this world, Destin Daniel Cretton has carved out a new piece of the epic film franchise - one steeped in asian culture and mythology - to bring us Marvel's first Asian superhero. It seems insane to think that just a few years ago Simu Liu tweeted Marvel about Shang-Chi, and now he's playing the ne

Search This Blog