compendium801:

“Welcome to the party, pal.”

I like really good action films, the kind with one action hero. Nothing against team/crew flicks, because stuff like The Avengers and Ocean’s 11 are awesome. But this kind of action extravaganza is what I grew up on. That aside, I like Bruce Willis. He manages to make his characters interesting and human and I think that’s prime for the “only this guy can do it” kind of hero. Because if the one guy who can rescue us all is a one-dimensional prick, I think I’d rather not be saved than have to put up with his bragadocious arrogance for the rest of my days. I wouldn’t want to owe that kind of guy anything, not even gratitude. But even that aside. The real reason I started to write this was because, in addition to the Die Hard series being one of my favorite action franchises, the first Die Hard is where I met and fell in love with Alan Rickman. 

Mind you, when this film came out, the internet was not at my fingertips the way it is today and since I could never remember his name for the life of me, it was really hard trying to find him in other films. And it wasn’t just the first time; I kept forgetting his name after each time I would find him. He became “that Brit with the voice.” Some kind of love, huh? Anywho, meeting Alan Rickman as this smooth talking villain set me up with great expectations; it was one of the first times I was really concerned about the villain and kind of rooting for him, just a bit. I thought that if he could imbue such charisma and sleaze into one character, he’s got to be worth watching in other things.

Later, much later, I found out some of the worst best news, ever. If it wasn’t for Alan and Dame Maggie, I would have never seen an HP movie. Really. Among other things, I was the book buyer for the Tower Records I worked at when the books were released in the states. Midnight release nights for the series and the weeks leading up to them were some of the most frightening I’ve ever experienced. I’ll just say: parents are some of the worst role models, EVER! Bribery, profanity, harassment, shoving… (and they wonder why kids bully other kids). The HP film series is great (though I still can’t bring myself to read the books), so for that and many other things, I’m glad that I fell in love with ‘that Brit with the voice” and that my love for him pushed me to overcome that horrid, horrid experience.

In closing, I’d like to say: If you haven’t seen the Die Hard series, please do, or at least watch the first one. I don’t think you’ll regret it.