Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 51

Tallahassee July 15, 19889D Bruce Willis gives 'Die Hard' a lift The home of your dream awaits Shop Classified daily! CLASSIFIED ACTION ADS, 599-2210 By Desmond Ryan Philadelphia Inquirer 1 vr 1 :4: 1988 Bruce Willis stars as a New York City detective and Bonnie Bedelia stars as his wife in 'Die Hard' Live! In iierf with Special Guest Mitch Ryder Wednesday, August 3rd 8:00 p.m. Mb Tallahassee Leon County CI VIC CENTER Tickets $16.50 All Seats Reserved. Tickets just went on sale! Available at the Civic Center Box Office and all TICKETMASTER outlets. To order tickets by phone, call 904-222-0400. I 1 ADMf 3 Nopmonwher mm btfng Movie review 2 dash to the scene.

These cops waste very little time in demonstrating that Murphy's Law is the operative one in "Die Hard." The smaller parts, including William Atherton's television reporter, Reginald Veljohnson's desk sergeant and Carmine Zozzora's ill-starred S.W.A.T. team leader, are done with a finesse that's unusual in this sort of movie. "Die Hard" may not stop the lines forming wherever "Roger Rabbit" is showing, but it puts some life and promise back into Willis hitherto shaky career in movies. "Die Hard" will open Wednesday at the Miracle 5, 1815 Thomasvilie Road. Since Hollywood has been holding a virtual fire sale on burned-out cops in the last couple of years, putting a spark of life in the disillusioned detective is no small assignment On the strength make that the weakness of his first two movies, the bland "Blind Date" and the bloated "Sunset," Bruce Willis hardly seems a likely choice to lift a movie above police routine.

But that's exactly what he manages in "Die Hard," an implausible but well-turned action film set in a towering new Los Angeles skyscraper on Christmas Eve. There John McClane, a jaded and world-weary New York cop who has come west to see his estranged wife, finds himself in a battle of wits as well as bullets with a gang of ruthless and very well-armed terrorists. Like most movies of its type, "Die Hard" is not the kind of exercise that can withstand close scrutiny. But John McTiernan, who made such a splashy debut last year with "Predator," doesn't allow much time for questions. He has a real flair for staging spectacularly conceived action sequences on the dizzying heights of the skyscraper.

"Die Hard" is not a good idea for people with vertigo. Beyond McTiernan's obvious panache with the material, the film has several assets. It is a vehicle that allows Willis, who is certainly not the first television star to encounter a rocky road on his way to the big screen, to use some of the talents that made "Moonlighting" a hit McClane may be as burned out as Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon," but he also has a bitter sense of humor and a vulnerability. His fears make his predicament more interesting and involving. The situation also plays to Willis Hard" isn't a buddy movie, so instead of the shopworn banter, Willis is left to look to his own resources as an actor.

And that's an opportunity he didn't have in his first two films. McClane arrives at the gleaming new headquarters of the Naka-tomi Corp. in the modest hope of patching things up with his wife (an under-used Bonnie Bedelia). She and other executives of the company are enjoying the ritual Christmas party on the 31st floor when the terrorists burst in and take hostages. ft as the excesses of Donald Trump remind us, is in.

"Die Hard" has some shrewd and pertinent observations about the callousness of the media and offers an airhead anchor who somberly announces a breaking news development in "Helsinki, Sweden." There is friction, envy and rank stupidity among the various branches of law enforcement who Kent Theatres MOVIE INFO. 877-4480 9:15 9:30 The BIG BUSINESS BETTE MIDLER LILY TOMLIPI OI PRESIDIO SEAN CONNERY MARK HARMON SHOWS START AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT TALLAHASSEE'S MOVIE CONNECTION milt nitnnlu' icnicrmlT. A CITWW CCW LITERATE LOVE STORY ABOUT MINOR-LEAGUE BASEBALL, SEX, LOVE AND PRAYERS ANSWERED O' AND DASHED." David Anwn, NEWS EEK FEATURING: THE DEAD POOL (R) CROCODILE DUNDEE II (PG) COMING TO AMERICA (R) BIG (PG) SHORT CIRCUIT II (PG) 0, "TWO BIG THUMBS I One of the funniest comedies of the It's a gem DC Gene Siskel 4 Roger Ebert, S1SKEL EBERT "Loads its bases with laughter, romance, and tears and hits the ball right out of the park." Peter Travers, PEOPLE MAGAZINE COSTSER SUSAN Sarajjdon ft 1-" "The most romantic, best-written film since 'Moonstruck' Jayne Blanchard.THE JOt'RNAL NEWSPAPERS suave, chilling and utterly psychotic COMING TO 2,00 Kecpvour AMER1CA wires 7H5 crossed. EDDIE ffa JM SM0pr 53S MURPHY A lA no Vri Afr CIRCUIT 2 Tom Hanks 1rf)5 mrn 3,10 BACK jm. 5:15 1nJ II 5:15 HPS a MORE! mkmM kXifc EE 5Sr THE DEAD POOL CLINT EASTWOOD panss is Dirty Harry I JUJaJ 1:25 gj Hans Gruber (Alan Rick-man), the ter ilk? A.

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