One of the best sheer action sequels ever made, DIE HARD 2 holds up beautifully 17 years after its blockbuster success in theatres. This time around, John McLane (Bruce Willis at his best) is waiting for his wife to arrive at Dulles Airport in DC when a major terrorist plot freezes air traffic and turns the airport into ground zero. Willis's surrounding cast this time is just as good as the first, with William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) as our lead terrorist baddie, Franco Nero (Camelot) as an international bad dude at the center of the trouble, Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue) in fine form as the head of airport security and William Atherton, who returns from the original Die Hard to play the world's most obnoxious TV reporter. Bonnie Bedelia is fun as Holly McLane and Reginald VelJohnson puts in a short but effective turn as Al from the first film. If you're going to create a sequel to one of the biggest action hits in film history, this is the way to do it. Huge chases on foot and on snowmobile, massive explosions involving fully loaded airplanes (yeah, maybe I shouldn't have watched this on a flight now that I think about it...) and plenty of Mclane one-liners. WIllis is perfectly self conscious throughout, making remarks about how in the hell this can happen to him twice. It's funny without breaking the third wall, but well played. He is a one-man wrecking crew and up for anything, carrying the entire film on his back in style. This is the early 90's when he owned the box office and it's easy to see why. Director Renny Harlin made his big budget debut with this film and he brings a sense of DO IT BIG to everything, as does Michael Kamen's full orchestra action score throughout. At a little over 2 hours, DIE HARD 2 moves fast and furious, delivering everything you could want in a big budget sequel. It's better than you remember and gets an A. Followed in 1995 by Die Hard With A Vengeance.

It may have been 25 years since Bruce Willis hit the big screen as John McLane in the original DIE HARD, but this action classic STILL rocks. Willis is NYC detective McLane, arriving on Christmas Eve to visit his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) at her new high profile job at Nakatomi Tower. Separated, they barely have time to meet, get close and fight in her office before a group of terrorists take over the building. WIllis manages to escape and become a one man army against the bad guys. It's so well executed on every level, DIE HARD made Willis a movie star and it still holds up great today. Alan Rickman is the greatest Euro villain ever and his Hans Gruber has been often copied, but never equaled. Reginald VelJohnson is really good as Sgt. Powell, the only cop with any common sense on the scene, battling with FBI agents Johnson & Johnson and a whole lot of twinkies. Having spent some time in the 20th Century Fox towers, filling in here as Nakatomi, its amazing how much of the building they appear to explode, shoot up and destroy. The special effects team led by Richard Edlund (Star Wars, Raiders) works overtime to great effect, as does Michael Kamen's best movie score. One of the best action films of the 80's, DIE HARD still packs the same explosive punch that it did back in 1988. It sits nicely in my top 100 of all time, with an annual Christmas season revisit...and YES, it's a Christmas Movie! Yipee-Kay-Aye! it gets an A.

Sacha Baron Cohen's THE DICTATOR is pretty damn funny. The idiotic dictator of fictional Aladeen (a name that has taken the place of over 150 words in the native language, including open AND closed, yes AND no, leading to mass confusion) is coming to New York City to give a speech at the UN concerning the growing threat of his nuclear program. Forced to deal with being replaced by a look-a-like and hiding out as an employee in a hilariously depicted health food store, Aladeen must find a way to get back in power. Sacha throws a lot at the screen here and a lot of it is incredibly un-PC and hilarious. When Anna Faris tells him that she went to Amherst, he says that "women in college are like a dog on roller skates, it doesn't mean anything to the dog, but it is hilarious to watch". And it gets worse from there...LOL. This is far more scripted than Sacha's last few films Borat and Bruno, and I enjoyed it much more than Bruno. Completely inappropriate and offensive to just about everyone (including both sides of the political spectrum). Loved Aladeen's comment that all the really great dictators are gone, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Cheney....) I think the Dictator rules with a solid, nasty and offensive B.

1990's DICK TRACY was a non-starter in kicking off a movie franchise for star & director Warren Beatty. While it's fun to look at thanks to a comic strip feel to all the scenery and set design, it's not exactly exciting, well written or fun to watch. Beatty is really flat as Dick Tracy, and I know being unruffled and steady as Tracy is what you want, but Beatty is almost not even there he is so emotionless. The polar opposite of that performance is Al Pacino as main bad guy Big Boy Caprice. Pacino is SO over the top he just becomes a LOT of deafening shouting and noise. Dustin Hoffman is good as Mumbles, Madonna has her only good film role beyond Evita as Breathless Mahoney and Charlie Korsmo is very good as "The Kid". You get a glimpse of how good the film could have been watching William Forsythe as Flattop, the perfect blend of makeup and performance, but no one else comes close. This is a disappointing film and I expect a lot more from Beatty. Dick Tracy may always get his man, but he sure doesn't get much of a film here and only captures a C.

After a one movie break, Sean Connery came back to the role of James Bond in 1971's DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. This was the first Bond movie to be shot mostly in the USA and the first with co-screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, who brought a lot more humor to the screenplay than past Bonds. OO7 is in good form here, with lots of classic moments including the Dune Buggy chase, the Mustang Mach 1 chase through Las Vegas, Bond scaling the outside of the Whyte House and Jill St. John as Tiffany Case. As a Bond fan, I'll always have trouble with Blofeld in drag, the small scale of the climax aboard the oil rig and some of the lame special effects, but they're outweighed by the thrill of seeing Connery back in action, Shirley Bassey's great theme song, John Barry's excellent score and Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole. (named after her father perhaps?) Did you know that John Gavin (Sam from Psycho) was already cast as the new James Bond when Connery agreed to come back one more time, so Gavin walked away with his paycheck? This would be Connery's last time as Bond in the official 007 series, with Roger Moore taking over in 1973's Live and Let Die. Diamonds is Connery in the prime of 1970's cool, licensed to thrill in his last performance as Bond. Until Craig, there would be no equal in the role. Diamonds sparkles with a B.

Alfred Hitchcock spoiled moviegoers with smart, clever mysteries that keep you guessing. One of his best plots was served up in 1954's DIAL M FOR MURDER. Ray Milland plays Tony, a former Tennis star whose now married to wealthy, gorgeous Margot (stunning Grace Kelly). As the film opens, Margot is meeting her lover, American writer Mark Halliday, well played by 50's star Robert Cummings. Margot and Mark had broke off their affair a year earlier, but he is back in London for an event. Margot tells Mark that she can now never leave Tony, that her husband has changed and is completely devoted to her. Throw in the fact that Mark and Tony are good friends and things get even stickier. Unbeknownst to Margot and Mark, Tony is very on to their affair and creates a very intricate plan for a murder to end their affair. You know all of that 15 minutes into the film. What Hitchcock and his writers and cast do from there plays like a tense stage play, with most of the action taking place in Tony and Margot's flat with building tension. Anthony Dawson is an old college buddy of Tony's with pockets full of secrets and John Williams nearly steals the film as Chief Inspector Hubbard, the one detective you wouldn't want on the case when trying to pull off the perfect murder. Milland is menacing, Kelly is beautiful and effective and Cummings has a lot brewing below the surface in every scene. Warner Bros. insisted that Hitch film this in 3D, even though the theatre 3D craze was fading in 1954. That finger dialing the phone is giant and made of wood as it and the phone had to be oversized for 3D cameras of the day to focus on them during the titles. Thankfully Hitch didn't give into items popping off the screen throughout, I only noticed one obvious play to the process. If you're in the mood for an intelligent mystery played out by some very classy folks in fantastic clothes that will keep you guessing until its final frame, ring up DIAL M FOR MURDER. It gets a B.

Sometimes there are films so bad they're good. But in the case of 1975's THE DEVIL WITHIN HER, it's so bad its flat out hilarious in all the wrong ways. Joan Collins is an overacting mess as former stripper Lucy, who is giving birth to a very nasty little tyke as the opening titles roll. She's married to an Italian business man horribly played by English actor Ralph Bates. He has NO Italian accent for the first 20 minutes, then suddenly sounds like he's just left Florence, then later, no accent. I couldn't stop laughing. Donald Pleasance plays a confused doctor, three years before his master class as troubled physician Dr. Loomis in John Carpenter's "Halloween". This baby is something. Going for an "Exorcist" or "Rosemary's Baby" vibe, it fails laughably. The newborn seems to be as strong as a grown man and has the ability to brandish scissors. At one point, it breaks out a second story window, climbs into a tree, lowers a noose around a guy, pulls the grown man into the air and then drops him to the ground and pulls him into a cellar. WTF? That baby is ripped! The scary scenes are all hilarious, with less intensity than a Disney movie. Add in a subplot about a dwarf that hosts a strip club and a slimy club owner that's dying to jump back in the sack with Joan and you've got one weird midnight movie. Oh damn, I almost forgot the Italian Nun who just happens to be Joan's husband's sister, sister. I'm not sure what's worse, the accents or the effects. OO7 fans should watch for Caroline Munro who played Naomi in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and a gypsy girl in "From Russia With Love". Based on the sheer amount of time that we watch people drive around London and parallel park, I can only imagine they only had about a 75 minute movie and gave a crew about $100 bucks to go shoot a LOT of driving around shots. I wasn't sure if this was a DMV instructional film or a horror movie. This was called "I Don't Want To Be Born" and "Sharon's Baby" in some theatres. Anyone that saw it likely called it crap. The scariest scene is when Joan takes her clothes off. Avert your eyes! Hide!!! THE DEVIL WITHIN HER gets an F. An unintentionally hilarious, great big F.

One year after MGM had a massive hit with "The Dirty Dozen", producer David L. Wolper and United Artists came out with their own spin called THE DEVILS BRIGADE. Wolper (Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, LA Confidential) wrangled a great action director and one hell of a lead for the project. William Holden (Stalag 17, Sunset Boulevard) is terrific considering he's got the underwritten role of Lt. Col. Frederick, in charge of bringing together a ragtag bunch of rejects into a formidable fighting force. (Sound familiar?) The other half of his squad is a buttoned up Canadian Army unit led by Cliff Robertson (Brainstorm) sporting one of the worst accents in modern film. Vince Edwards, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel are all veterans of many WW2 movies and contribute well, as does Claude Akins as an aging private with no sense fo the rules and Family Feud's Richard Dawson as a kilt wearing bad ass fighting man. Carroll O'Conner turns in a loud, bombastic performance just before he launched into stardom as Archie Bunker in "All in the Family". The first half is pretty predictable as the finely tuned Canadian force basically lays waste to the American misfits, but it hits 60's war movie heaven as the brigade bonds and takes on dangerous missions behind enemy lines. Director Andrew V. McLaglen helmed classics like "McClintock!", "The Wild Geese" and "Hellfighters" and he brings the same macho swagger here, staging a 20 minute takeover of a Nazi occupied town that's suspenseful, violent and hilariously enjoyable. The cast is probably too old, the story is likely too predictable, but McLaglen, Holden and cast sell the action and Alex North (Spartacus, Dragonslayer, Cleopatra) delivers an all-time great war movie score to alongside the troops as they power on against the Nazis. Probably influenced by great memories of seeing this with my Dad back in the late 60's, THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE earns its stripes and a B-.

One of the MANY perks of having a five year old grandson is his sense of wonder and fun about many kids shows and films that I would never have any exposure to without him. It's not lost on me that every TV in my house is on the Disney Channel when I turn it on. ESPN has lost its former stature in that spot. I never knew anything about Pokemon before Jonah, but know WAY too many of the characters names by now. Thankfully POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU arrives with a tinge of "Deadpool" for adult viewers, providing some nice sarcasm to spice up a pretty predictable kids flick. Visual effects create a unique world where humans live alongside Pokemon creatures of every variety and mood. It looks great, with plenty of tiny details to keep you visually intrigued, even as boredom sets in. Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is college student (who seems about 15 years old) Tim Goodman, on the trail of his police detective father's mysterious disappearance. When Tim goes looking for him, he meets the tiny Detective Pikachu, who only he can hear talking. Thankfully for the film, he's voiced by a very game Ryan Reynolds, bringing a mild-PG13 version of his "Deadpool" snark to the role. Pikachu and Tim set off on the trail of his father's last days, taking off on an adventure that's sometimes exciting, often predictable and eventually a bit dull for all it's visual treats. Moments with terrific CGI recreations of giant Pokemon creatures highlight the movie, but Smith is kind of an annoying lead actor, grating on my allergy to whining. There are some terrific actors involved, including the always enjoyable Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai), but they're mostly wasted. With $150 million in special effects, Ryme City is jaw dropping to look at, especially in 4K, but after an hour or so, you're left with the story, which is only saved by Reynolds non-stop enjoyable patter. I'm clearly not the target audience here, but there are kids movies I've loved the past few years like "Coco" and "Missing Link". PIKACHU isn't even in the same zip code. I'll give it a C (but bump that up a grade if you get to watch it with your kids/grandkids, they make everything more fun).

Nicole Kidman has done some of her best work in the last few years, including her incredibly vulnerable turn in HBO's miniseries " Big Little Lies". She's never gone as dark as she does in the new crime drama DESTROYER. Kidman is LA detective Erin Bell. As we meet her, she looks like she's been drunk in the same clothes for days, shuffling up to the scene of a homicide with no sense of urgency. Bell is burned out, beat up and at the end of her rope. She's not the best candidate for a new series of murders that draw her very quickly into her past. In flashbacks that fill half the film, we see Bell as a young sheriff, recruited to go undercover, deep into a group of serial bank robbers. Her undercover partner is Chris, well played by Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier in "The Avengers"). Posing as lovers, they immerse themselves under the thumb of the gang's very twisted leader Silas (Toby Kebbell). Constantly moving back and forth between the present and her undercover work that's directly tied to her current case, we learn how Erin went from anxious recruit to destroyed woman. Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) is a member of the gang, Scoot McNairy (True Detective Season 3) is excellent as Erin's ex-husband and Bradley Whitford brings some much needed humor as an entitled lawyer who screws with the wrong detective. Kidman is fantastic, without a trace of her Australian accent or beauty, she's a hardened, miserable woman with absolutely nothing to lose. Watching her battle with her 16 year old daughter Shelby (newcomer Jade Pettyjohn) is painful in its realism. Painful is a great word for most of the film. VERY slow moving with only sporadic action scenes in the past, it's a study in patience. Kidman is mesmerizing as Erin, painful in her near complete lack of empathy or emotion. There is no happiness in her present, which is made all the more painful when you see her years before in love with Chris. Bad decisions have decades of consequences and Erin's quest for a sense of reconciliation is challenging to watch. I'm not sure you could call DESTROYER enjoyable, but it's powerful and a fascinating showcase for Kidman, finding new depths in her talent 30 years after she first hit American screens in "Dead Calm". DESTROYER gets a B. If you're looking for fast paced action, keep walking.....

Alexander Payne has made some of my favorite dramas of the past ten years (Sideways, About Schmidt) and adds a new fave here with The Descendants. George Clooney is excellent as a disconnected father forced to reexamine his life after his wife suffers a brain injury in a boating accident and slips into a coma. Shailene Woodley is excellent as his older daughter who helps her father re-discover his life. With everything we have been through in our lives with Kristin's brain injury, this film was emotionally a wrecking ball, but beautifully made, smartly written and flawlessly acted by the entire cast. Watch for Beau Bridges and Robert Forster in small but powerful roles. The Descendants delivers an A.

Scorsese delivered one of his best films in 2006 with the wide ranging, complicated Boston mob flick THE DEPARTED. Weaving an overlapping, tricky web, he introduces us to plenty of incredible good guys & bad guys that don't easily fit into either mold. Leonardo DiCaprio is Billy, a young police recruit whose recruited to go deep undercover into the biggest crime family in Boston run by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Costello is brutal, ruling the neighborhoods with an iron fist. He's also mentored a young man from the neighborhood, Colin (Matt Damon) who rises quickly into the detective force and serves as his mole inside the department. As the undercover guys on both side circle each other closer and closer, Scorsese and writer William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven) spin a long and detailed tale loaded with interesting characters. Mark Wahlberg is a foul mouthed brutal detective in charge of the undercover force. Alec Baldwin is the senior detective leading the charge against Costello. Martin Sheen is terrific as the chief whose one of the few who knows Billy is undercover, he's matched on the dark side by Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast, Beowulf) as Mr. French, Costello's right hand man. Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) is a police psychiatrist who finds herself counseling both Colin and Billy. Nicholson is fantastic, crude, funny and brutal as the mob boss, wielding his power in bloody fashion while shouting or whispering plenty of great dialogue. (It's also notable for the fact that the f-word is dropped over 230 times in 151 minutes, which must be some sort of dubious record.) DiCaprio is terrific, more on edge than you've ever seen him, waiting for his world to explode. Damon is dark and dangerous, showing an unhinged weakness, with terror lurking just below his good guy veneer. No one is safe, no one is pure, but everyone is a hell of a lot of fun to watch in Scorsese's highly stylized crime thriller. The camera never stops moving for long, pulling you into the violence and tension. Great music choices from The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patsy Cline, The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd are almost constant behind the action. Seeing this again more than a decade after its release, the twists and turns still shocked me along the way. Winner of Best Picture of the Year and Best Director for Scorsese, THE DEPARTED holds up as a terrific thriller and gets an A.