The Jackal

The Jackal (1997) - This film holds a special place in my heart. This was one of the first action thrillers I was introduced to, and although, it was a remake of the classic The Day of the Jackal, I still cant help but love it. And it works as a sort of "sequel" which just adds to it. Since I have these feelings about this film I am going to keep the synopsis particularly brief and make it as enticing as possible. Imagine if there was a man, a gun for hire, that could kill anybody at a whim and never even be seen? Would you try to stop him on his most daring mission of all? That may be overstating it slightly but watch it and you will understand the meaning.

The Bruce: This is the first movie I watched in the challenge where Bruce Willis held a significant role. And may I say he did a really good job. He showed his ability to impersonate various accents as well as look sly and coy as the soft spoken super villain. He did sort of fail though in the respect that he always seems to have this "misplaced" smirk on his face. No one in the movie seems suspicious when in reality they probably would. No one goes through international customs with a evil smirk and doesn't get cavity searched. But then again, it was 1997.

Rating: My heart wants me to indulge this movie more than I ought to, but I am going to resist the urge and say that this movie receives an "early boil" from me. You know, where you start to see bubbles and you get really anxious so you star at it for 5 minutes hoping it will just boil already? Yeah that pretty much sums up an earnest review of the film. Even though Sidney Poitier and Richard Gere did a great job, some of the B-Listers crashed and burned. A brief yet, surprising performance on the part of Jack Black was a nice touch though.

Twelve Monkeys

Twelve Monkeys (1995) - I don't know where to begin with this film. It is good, but if you are watching it for the first time you're gonna miss some crucial shit if you look away. I am not even going to attempt to write a synopsis on this one. To write anything resembling brevity would be a miracle if not unjustly diminishing therefore. Just watch it. Oh, alright I'll give it a shot. There's a time traveller who is sent to collect information on the "not yet existent" 12 Monkeys.

The Bruce: Bruce Willis played this role really well. I am not sure if too many actors can do the same. And by do the same I mean pull off the whole shifting time periods about 14 times in the course of an hour. He really holds up to his character and I cant really put any fault on him for some awkward plot or dialog moments. He performed more than admirably as the lead "prisoner".

Rating: How to rate this movie? Hmmmm....well I am not gonna pull a Gene Siskel and change my rating in a week, but I would have to rate this movie like a sparkler, it can be engrossing at times but it doesn't really decide on whether it wants to be a firework or a full flame. The plot really takes on too many shuffling components and the end result is muddled. Each piece is relatively unique but when but together none of them gets to shine as it should. Mixing Girl, Interrupted with Donnie Darko may seem like a good idea but like I said I never know which piece should be the focal point.

The Astronaut Farmer

The Astronaut Farmer (2006) - I was kind of excited upon re-watching this movie. Although, the name describes it all, I still hold a special place in my heart for those movies with hopelessly simple plots. I like how they always end on a positive. In terms of a synopsis, well, a guy who isn't part of NASA pursues his dream of going into space.

The Bruce: In the movie Bruce plays again a small but relatively crucial role. It isn't exactly described in the film how Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis know each other, they seem to be old friends. But, Willis's character plays the overall pragmatist to Thornton's blind faith. His role was understandably short because in a movie about chasing down dreams, pragmatism is not a highly demanded quality.

Rating: Although I am a sap for these types of movies, I would have to rate this one perfectly room temperature. There was nothing spectacular about it, it didn't make me want to chase my dreams like the characters. In all honesty, I actually felt more in kind with Bruce Willis as the "think this through" guy. Noted, I am less prone to frivolity than most but still just seemed....hyperbolic to an unreasonable degree. Unreasonable here meaning, too far away from potential reality to relate to.

Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation (2006) - This was actually a good movie on its own, sort of like Traffic meets Supersize Me has a kid which is in turn adopted by Babel. Really cool premise about the whole "poo to food" ratio debate.

The Bruce: In this movie played a rather sly B2B manager for the overall fast food chain and his interaction with Greg Kinnear was extremely brief. It played a crucial role in basically pushing Kinnears' movie length internal dilemma over the edge. I guess this is where I include my recommendation.

Rating: Anyway, on the aforementioned scale I give Fast Food Nation a borderline temp (98.6 F). Its not quite good enough to run out right now to get it but it is definitely worth the hour and a half.

Day 1 and Rating Info - Bruce Willis Challenge

Since the initial post I have completed 4 movies. Fast Food Nation, The Astronaut Farmer, The Jackal, and Twelve Monkeys. I have seen all of these before but I didn't actually know that Bruce Willis was in the first 2 of the 4 listed due to his small or arguably minuscule, roles in both. Nonetheless, I re-watched them and below are very short synopses of the aforementioned titles and I feel the need to describe how I will rate each film. After all what is a film blog without a rating? I typically dislike the 4 star scale because it seems arbitrary and a rather perfunctory measure. As all it does is, in reality, is satisfy our need to "chunk" information which is made easier through the enumeration of exogenous variables, but I digress. I will rate my movies on a scale which will metaphorically reference a relative heat index or really anything incendiary or lack there of, in other words a kind of "hot or not" scale.

Remaining

Movies - 70
Days - 13.5

My First Mission - Bruce Willis

So, I am a huuuuuggggeeee movie buff and have decided in honor of the release of the latest and hopefully the last in the Die Hard collection (This latest one makes 5). I decided to honor Bruce Willis by going on a Bruce Willis Marathon. To date (from IMDB) he has been in, as a voice or in person, 74 completed and released movies. I am not including "Made for TV movies" seeing as locating them is beyond ridiculous. So, I here vow to watch all 74 titles over the next 14 days. I will do so in no particular order with one exception, I will watch the latest Die Hard Last. Synopses will be included as I finish the movies in Daily Updates - with particular focus on Bruce Willis's role in the film. Happy viewing to all those joining me. Below is the complete title list from IMDB,

1. A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) .... John McClane
   ... aka "Die Hard: Last Day" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)
2. Looper (2012) .... Old Joe
3. The Expendables 2 (2012) .... Church
4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) .... Captain Sharp
5. The Cold Light of Day (2012) .... Martin
   ... aka "Shadow Chaser" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)
6. Lay the Favorite (2012) .... Dink Heimowitz
7. Catch .44 (2011) .... Mel
   ... aka "Killing Shot" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)
8. Setup (2011/I) .... Biggs
9. The Black Mamba (2011/I) .... Mister Suave
10. Red (2010/I) .... Frank Moses
    ... aka "RED" - UK (English title) (imdb display title)
11. The Expendables (2010) (uncredited) .... Mr. Church
    ... aka "Expendables" - Japan (English title)
12. Cop Out (2010) .... Jimmy Monroe
    
13. Surrogates (2009) .... Greer
    ... aka "Vicarious" - Philippines (English title) (review title)
14. What Just Happened (2008) .... Actor
    ... aka "What Just Happened?" - USA (informal title)
    ... aka "Trouble in Hollywood" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)
15. Assassination of a High School President (2008) .... Principal Jared T. Kirkpatrick
    ... aka "The High School Conspiracy" - Europe (English title)(DVD title)
16. Planet Terror (2007) .... Lt. Muldoon
    ... aka "Grindhouse Presents: Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror" - USA (DVD title)
    ... aka "Grindhouse: Planet Terror" - International (English title)
    ... aka "Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror" - USA (complete title)
17. Nancy Drew (2007) (uncredited) .... Bruce
18. Live Free or Die Hard (2007) .... John McClane
    ... aka "Die Hard 4.0" - Australia, South Africa (English title), UK, USA (working title)
    ... aka "Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard" - South Africa(English title) (TV title)
19. Perfect Stranger (2007) .... Harrison Hill
20. Grindhouse (2007) .... Lt. Muldoon (segment "Planet Terror")
21. The Astronaut Farmer (2006) (uncredited) .... Col. Doug Masterson
22. Fast Food Nation (2006) .... Harry Rydell
23. Over the Hedge (2006) (voice) .... RJ
24. 16 Blocks (2006) .... Det. Jack Mosley
25. Lucky Number Slevin (2006) .... Mr. Goodkat
    ... aka "Lucky # Slevin" - Germany, USA (DVD box title)
    ... aka "Lucky Number S7evin" - USA (poster title)
26. Alpha Dog (2006) .... Sonny Truelove
27. Sin City (2005) .... Hartigan
    ... aka "Frank Miller's Sin City" - USA (complete title)
28. Hostage (2005) .... Jeff Talley
29. Ocean's Twelve (2004) (uncredited) .... Bruce Willis
30. The Whole Ten Yards (2004) .... Jimmy
31. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) (uncredited) .... William Rose Bailey
32. Rugrats Go Wild (2003) (voice) .... Spike
33. Tears of the Sun (2003) .... Lieutenant A.K. Waters
34. Grand Champion (2002) .... Mr. Blandford
35. Hart's War (2002) .... Col. William A. McNamara
    ... aka "Justice" - Japan (English title)
36. Bandits (2001) .... Joseph 'Joe' Blake
37. Unbreakable (2000) .... David Dunn
38. The Kid (2000) .... Russ Duritz
    ... aka "Disney's The Kid" - USA (complete title)
39. The Whole Nine Yards (2000) .... Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski
    
40. The Story of Us (1999) .... Ben Jordan
41. The Sixth Sense (1999) .... Dr. Malcolm Crowe
42. Breakfast of Champions (1999) .... Dwayne Hoover
43. The Siege (1998) .... Major General William Devereaux
    ... aka "Martial Law" - Japan (English title)
44. Armageddon (1998) .... Harry Stamper
45. Mercury Rising (1998) .... Art Jeffries
46. The Jackal (1997) .... The Jackal
47. The Fifth Element (1997) .... Korben Dallas
48. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (voice) .... Muddy Grimes
49. Last Man Standing (1996) .... John Smith
50. Twelve Monkeys (1995) .... James Cole
51. Four Rooms (1995) (uncredited) .... Leo (segment "The Man from Hollywood")
52. Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) .... John McClane
53. Nobody's Fool (1994) .... Carl Roebuck
54. Color of Night (1994) .... Bill Capa
55. North (1994) .... Narrator
56. Pulp Fiction (1994) .... Butch Coolidge
57. Striking Distance (1993) .... Det. Tom Hardy
    ... aka "Three Rivers" - Japan (English title)
58. Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) (uncredited) .... Man Whose Caravan Is Attacked
    ... aka "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1" - USA(complete title)
59. Death Becomes Her (1992) .... Ernest Menville
60. The Making of 'Death Becomes Her' (1992) .... Ernest Menville
61. The Last Boy Scout (1991) .... Joe Hallenbeck
62. Billy Bathgate (1991) .... Bo Weinberg
63. Hudson Hawk (1991) .... Hudson Hawk
64. Mortal Thoughts (1991) .... James Urbanski
65. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) .... Peter Fallow
66. Look Who's Talking Too (1990) (voice) .... Voice of Mikey
67. Die Hard 2 (1990) .... Lt. John McClane
    ... aka "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" - Philippines (English title), UK(promotional title), USA (video box title)
    
68. Look Who's Talking (1989) (voice) .... Voice of Mikey
69. In Country (1989) .... Emmett Smith
70. Die Hard (1988) .... Officer John McClane
71. Sunset (1988) .... Tom Mix
    ... aka "Catalina" - USA (cable TV title)
72. Blind Date (1987) .... Walter Davis
    ... aka "Blake Edwards' Blind Date" - USA (complete title)
73. The Verdict (1982) (uncredited) .... Courtroom Observer
74. The First Deadly Sin (1980) (uncredited) .... Man Entering Diner as Delaney Leaves