Jessica mentioned yesterday that we have a shelf on our wall dedicated to comical and talented Steve Martin (with one of my favorite con artist movies Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). What she didn’t tell you was that we also have a shelf–a shrine, perhaps–of Bruce Willis titles as well. We do love our themed displays here at Moviecycle.
First up is possibly my favorite Bruce Willis movie of all time: Hudson Hawk. Hawk is a highly skilled cat-burglar who finds himself in the middle of a scheme to steal several famous DaVinci pieces in an attempt to turn iron into gold. Over-the-top performances and cartoon antics abound. And singing!
Next, we’ve got three out of four of the Die Hard series: Die Hard, Die Hard With A Vengeance and Live Free Or Die Hard. In my not entirely humble opinion, the Die Hard series is the finest action franchise ever created (and I hear rumors of a fifth installment!).
Speaking of fifth, Bruce takes his wise-cracking tough-guy cop act to the future in The Fifth Element, where he becomes embroiled in a frantic race to save humanity. “Leeloo Dallas mul-ti-pass.”
In The Last Man Standing, Bruce is John Smith, gun-for-hire on the run from whatever the last thing he was into, when he comes across a town ravaged by two warring gangs, one Irish, one Italian. He takes the opportunity to work them against each other for profit and shoots the town to bits in the process in this remake of A Fistful Of Dollars, which was a remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Good times.
In The Whole Nine Yards, Bruce is Jimmy “The Tulip” Teduski, mob hitman-turned-informant trying to lay low in a suburban neighborhood, until his next-door neighbor (Matthew Perry in a not-too annoying role, really) is convinced to turn Jimmy in to his former boss. Double- and triple-crosses ensue (and a sequel that was pretty fun, too). Plus Kevin Pollak and Amanda Peet!
Bruce returns as a hitman–this time called Mr. Goodkat–in the darkly hilarious and severely under-appreciated Lucky # Slevin. Also starring Josh Hartnett, Stanley Tucci, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and the ever adorable Lucy Liu.
So that’s our Bruce Willis shrine. As an added bonus, I notice that Bandits is also on another shelf on the new trades wall. Co-starring Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchet, this loosely-fact-based crime spree movie is also a joy to watch.
A selection of new trades:
“Blink”, starring Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn. A thriller about a blind woman who regains her sight only to witness a brutal murder.
The original “Die Hard” with my favorite villainous actor, Alan Rickman, playing a…well..villain. And Bruce Willis in his top 1980’s form.
“Choke”, another brilliant Chuck Palahniuk novel put to film, starring Sam Rockwell as a sex addicted con artist trying to save his dying, delusional mother, played by Anjelica Huston.
Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” about a man taking on the burden of his family in a small town.
Super sexy serial killer Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, is a 1980’s yuppie who rapes, murders, and dismembers both strangers and acquaintances without provocation or purpose. And looks good while he does!
More horror with Rob Zombie’s “House of 1000 Corpses” and 1962’s “Eegah”, a campy classic with cavemen, pool parties, and rock & roll.
And lastly, “Robot Chicken: Star Wars”. Nuff said!