Just a fly in the ointment. A monkey in the wrench.

Right now, while you’re not doing anything, Head over to The House Next Door for a simply excellent discussion and appreciation of the best action movie ever – EVER – made, Die Hard. Kenji Fujishima has done a superb job of dissecting this genre-defining movie and highlighting many of the elements that caused it to rise above the more conventional cop-superhero films of its time. Even better, the article continues into a lengthy comments string where a number of readers (including your favorite Burbankeder) share further analysis and fond memories of the summer of ‘88. Overall, it’s a great piece – and yeah, so what if it’s about 17 years old in blog years? – and should be read by anyone who remembers 1) how this kind of thing used to be done right in a pre-Michael Bay America and 2) what a great director John McTiernan used to be. Sigh.