Bruce Willis came from television comedy in Moonlighting and was an unlikely action lead, which is precisely why Die Hard worked. John McClane is frightened, outmatched and barefoot, and the film established a template the genre used for twenty years.
The range is wider than the persona. Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are all performances built on restraint, and the last two are almost entirely still.
He spent his final working years in a large number of low-budget films, which drew criticism at the time.
He was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022 and subsequently with frontotemporal dementia, and retired. The late output has been reassessed considerably in that light.
Brad Pitt12 Monkeys (1995) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A time travel film in which the loop cannot be broken and everybody involved eventually works that out. Gilliam made it for twenty-nine million dollars in Philadelphia and…
Benicio del ToroBlack-white with red accents. Sin City is Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's 2005 American neo-noir adapting three Frank Miller graphic novels from his Sin City series.
Bruce WillisDiminishing returns on the talking-baby concept. Travolta and Alley return as James and Mollie, now married with a toddler Mikey and a baby Julie.
Bruce Willis1989 Amy Heckerling comedy with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Bruce Willis voices a sarcastic infant narrator.
Bruce WillisTarantino's 1994 anthology crime film. The film that made indie a commercial proposition.
Bruce DernHill's 1996 Walter Hill remake of Yojimbo. Bruce Willis as the drifter who plays two Prohibition-era gangs against each other.
Bruce WillisNight Shyamalan's 1999 ghost story with the most-quoted twist of its decade. Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, a script that earns its reveal twice.
Bruce WillisEli Roth's 2018 Death Wish remake with Bruce Willis. Updates the original to Chicago.
Bruce WillisRian Johnson's time travel thriller. Joseph Gordon-Levitt transforming into Bruce Willis through accumulated choices.
Alan RickmanBruce Willis, Alan Rickman as god-tier Hans Gruber, and one perfect Christmas Eve at Nakatomi Plaza. The rating is not negotiable.
Bonnie BedeliaRenny Harlin takes McClane to Dulles Airport on Christmas Eve for the twistiest entry in the franchise. The 8 reflects what the rewatch test has confirmed: the film is genuinely twisty, the action sequences land, the Christmas-Eve airport setting works,…
Bruce WillisJackson, John McTiernan returns to direct, Jeremy Irons as Hans Gruber's brother. It is the best Die Hard sequel and the closest the franchise ever came to matching the original.
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