Tag Archives: action movies

Die Hard Isn’t Just a Christmas Movie, It’s a Chiasmus Movie

The story structure of Die Hard forms a really cool chiasmus, meaning that its first and second halves mirror each other. This is the second film I was sent by a reader named Jay. He mapped it all out for … Continue reading →

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George Lucas’s Most Admirable Quality to Me

I once heard the story of when a young George Lucas was in a recording studio working with a sound mixer. The man said he needed Reel 2, Dialogue track 2, but he shortened all of that information to simply, … Continue reading →

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Would the Wheel of Pain Actually Give Someone Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Physique?

Conan the Barbarian is an entertaining movie. It’s a compelling revenge tale mixed with a tragic love story, and it’s got tantalizing hints at fantasy elements. Plus, it stars a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. At the start of the movie, the … Continue reading →

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I Finally Found the Full Soundtrack of The Last Starfighter Online!

I can’t tell you how much I love the soundtrack of The Last Starfighter. I’ve searched high and low on the Internet for years to find the complete soundtrack. For a time, there was something close to it on YouTube, … Continue reading →

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I Figured Out What Dune (1984) Is Missing

Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of my favorite books. And David Lynch’s Dune (1984) is a guilty pleasure of mine. For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by its failure. What is it about that interpretation of Dune that doesn’t … Continue reading →

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All 6 Terminator Films Summed Up in a Few Words

We’re going to use a little clever wordplay to boil down each movie in the Terminator series to its essence. Okay, most of these descriptions are more than one word, but I’m including them in the One-Word Film Reviews section … Continue reading →

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Raiders of the Lost Ark Is a Symmetrical Masterpiece

I know I said that I have three more Cinematic Chiasmus articles to write, which were submitted by a reader of mine named Jay. I promise I’ll get to those. But I had such a powerful impression that I needed … Continue reading →

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Indiana Jones and the Victims of Their Own Success

Last December, I talked about Final Destination being a rarity among film franchises for ending on a high note. Now it’s time to talk about its antithesis.

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10 Things I Appreciate About Airport 1975

I like Airport. There hadn’t been anything quite like it until it came out in 1970, and it won the Best Picture Academy Award, kickstarting the disaster-movie craze for the rest of the decade. I have a soft spot for … Continue reading →

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Clever Foreshadowing in The Dark Knight

I love the dialogue in The Dark Knight. It’s punchy, full of memorable lines, and has plenty of excellent callbacks to Batman Begins and earlier lines within the film itself. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough … Continue reading →

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