So can we agree that Die Hard is a bona fide Christmas classic? You can keep "It's a Wonderful Life", Christmas for my family means rewatching Bruce Willis mow down a skyscraper full of terrorists.

Die Hard is practically an ensemble character actor piece that just happens to be one of the best action films ever made. Almost every character is vivid and makes an impression. Like the review said there's at least four compelling villains in the first one. And the various police officers and assorted hangers also…

"Oh I hope that's not a hostage".

Guy Pierce came pretty close to pulling off a John MccLane type character in "Lock Out". Unfortunately his good work was undermined by a few minor details. The appalling script, the appalling direction, the appalling special effects. But Pierce delivered a game performance that suggests that he has an untapped…

John Goodman and Brendan Gleeson would also be good choices. Now that I think about it plus size actors tend to get typecast don't they?

[Kicks him in the chin]

So Willis reminded us last year with "Looper" and "Moonrise Kingdom" that he can be a compelling and capable actor when he wants to be. And this year he's offering us "Die Hard 5", "Red 2" and "GI Joe 2" to remind us that he's also a paycheck hack who whores out his talent in soul sucking schlock.

It's interesting to consider what Willis's career would have been like if he hadn't become a big action star. Unlike his 80's peers Stallone and Schwarzenegger, the man can actually act and he is very effective at projecting a sense of melancholy and self-loathing. Consider his work in Sixth Sense, Twelve Monkeys,…

And he speaks Dutch! Or at least he only responds to commands in Dutch. Anyway I feel slightly embarrassed that a fictional TV dog is more multilingual than I am.

No to Papist Badgers!

Apparently Alexander occasionally meets up with Wesley Crusher for a beer. They get steaming drunk together and then they drunk dial and abuse Worf and Picard.

Streets of Fire is a cautionary tale about the importance of casting. It's got a good cast in general except for Michael Paré in the lead. He's the kind of wooden actor that you rarely see cast as the lead in a big movie and he does drag down the film quite a bit. It's hard to see what Hill or the studio was thinking…

It would be great if the AV Club did a random roles for directors. It would be awesome to see a director like Hill give a breakdown of all of his films.

Yes, Hill totally nailed the Western/Gangster/Noir /ExistentialBeckettPlay cross genre tone. That film is rare stew indeed.

I hope that he directs Expendables 3. That franchise is an 80's nostalgia fest so why not have a great 80's director helm it? It might also the best chance that we will have for a decent Expendables film.

Apparently she's naked in this so I'd say yes, yes she is.

That's a good point. I do think that Sabrina's low self esteem and insecurities do play a role in their relationship. She should have been more cautious about "ironically" taking a checkout shop, she became the role that she was playing.

But isn't Sabrina settling for someone who is beneath her by marrying Jimmy? She's a smart girl with a college degree and Jimmy is an idiotic high school dropout. Now I admit that Jimmy is a decent man with good intentions but is that really enough? Or am I just a cynical old git?

I think Blackadder did kill the little bastard in the final episode of Season 2.

I think it was for THOSE. You can say goodbye to them now.