Die Hard by James Turnbull

Die Hard (1988)
Rating: 5/5.
Celebrated as one of the greatest action films of all time, most people are familiar with the phenomenal success of the cult Christmas blockbuster, Die Hard. John McClane is a New York City cop who just wants to spend Christmas with his family in Los Angeles. Upon arrival he gets pulled into a terrorist takeover at his wife’s office Christmas party, and must fight for everyone’s survival, aided by the outside help of L.A. cop Sgt. Powell.
The film serves not only as possible career defining performances for Willis (John McClane), and Rickman, who made his feature film debut as the brilliant Hans Gruber, but also for director John McTiernan, who has several notable titles to his name. Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Veljohnson, and Paul Gleeson star amongst others, in a finely chosen cast.
Despite the 80s hair and clothes, and a few minor hiccoughs, Die Hard remains as exciting, eccentric, and entertaining as it did 20 years ago.
McTiernan does a fantastic job in achieving a perfect balance between thrilling action, hilarious dialogue, and developing some fantastic relationships, which make the audience really care about the characters. It is set aside from the usual high budget low quality action films by the cleverly but subtly layered plot, which will keep you gripped to the screen for the whole 2 hours. We want to see how the events that take place will affect the character’s relationships, and despite McClane and Sgt. Powell having never met, it feels as if they’re lifelong friends.
Visually and technically the film is still as hard hitting as it was upon its release. The sound and special effects and stunning, and coupled with masterful camera work, there are no complaints at all. Whilst the storyline isn’t a masterpiece in realism, it is plausible and doesn’t take away from the experience.
Die Hard is a landmark in movie making, and if you haven’t already seen it, you’re missing out. Packed full of amazing characters, hilarious dialogue, explosive action, and some kind of festive cheer, Die Hard is the ultimate action film.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale by Jessica Cree

Director: Jalmari Helander
Duration: 77mins
Rating: ***

“The real Santa is something different. The Coca-Cola Santa is just a hoax”
Rare Exports is a rather different, darker take on the sickly sweet Christmas stories we are all used to seeing at this time of year. For some, this film could be regarded as a welcomed breath of fresh air, whilst for others, simply as an oddity.
Set in Finland, the film follows Pietari (Onni Tommila) and his teddy bear, Vuppe’s quest to discover the truth about Father Christmas. American excavation company, Subzero Inc., has been brought in to dig into a mountain close to Pietari’s house, where he and his father herd reindeer. Little do they know, however, that the real Santa is buried deep within the mountain, and he may not be exactly what is said on the tin.
This film is actually quite terrifying in parts; the elves have a remarkable resemblance to the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the dolls that replace the stolen children are straight out of a horror film. Yet Rare Exports keeps a little bit of Christmas magic and there are even laugh-out-loud scenes.
So, have you been naughty or nice this year? Because Santa, whoever he may be, is on his way.

Black Swan by Jessica Cree

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Duration: 108mins

Rating: ****

I think I’m still in shock after watching this film. I’ve seen ‘Swan Lake’ plenty of times, but nothing compares to Aronofsky’s adaptation of one of the world’s most famous ballets.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina with a troupe in New York looking to revamp ‘Swan Lake’ and cause a stir within the ballet world with its unorthodox version of the classic. Nina has strived for years to be noticed by French ballet master Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) and gets her opportunity when former prima, Beth (Winona Ryder), becomes too old to cope with the role and a fresh new face is needed. Nina is perfect for the part of the White Swan, with her innocent, accurate style of dancing. However, the Black Swan is a much more sensual, seductive and passionate character; a role her rival, Lily (Mila Kunis), is much more suited to. Nina sees Lily as a threat and starts to hallucinate. She becomes paranoid that she is trying to take the part from her and begins to have psychotic episodes. Attempting to turn herself into the Black Swan, Nina tries some of the outrageous antics that she had never previously had the confidence to do. Warning! There are some scenes here that you definitely would not want to watch with your grandma!

There are a few particularly noteworthy sequences, which will stick with me for a while. Nina has a tendency to scratch herself and on discovering that her daughter has reverted to her old nervous habit, her mother furiously cuts her nails – I won’t be using nail scissors for some time to come! The scene, where Nina starts to pull feathers out of her back, has also been engrained into my memory.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this film. It’s nice to see a dance movie that actually has a great storyline– it’s no ‘Step Up’ or ‘Center Stage’! I also appreciated the training that Portman and Kunis have put in, having worked their technique for over six months, and couldn’t tell that they were amateur ballerinas. I’m not sure about the age 15 rating, but the artistic approach of the more risqué scenes perhaps validates this. As a massive ballet fan, I was worried that ‘Black Swan’ may not live up to the masterpiece that is ‘Swan Lake’. But I was proven wrong – it’s different and quite daring, but I’m so pleased that ballet is being seen as a more modern, main-stream art.