When child psychologist Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is shot by one of his former patients Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg), he is haunted by the fact that there was one child he was unable to help. This leads him to Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a 9-year-old boy who reminds him of Vincent. Cole is tormented by a secret that he is visited by ghosts plagued with unresolved problems from their lives. Together, Cole and Malcolm both learn to accept the unexplainable and to find closure. This eerie, sentimental, and often sweet film has become a beloved classic that earned a spot on the 2007 American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American films.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are revisiting the film’s most beautiful, disturbing, clever, and inspiring scenes. These are the 10 Best The Sixth Sense Moments.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

10. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

In one of their earliest encounters, Malcolm (Willis) suggests that he and Cole (Osment) play a mind-reading game: if Malcolm is right, Cole will take a step forward, but if he is wrong, the boy will step back. Initially, Dr Crowe makes a few correct guesses, including that Cole is afraid to share his secrets. However, Malcolm incorrectly guesses that Cole avoids getting into trouble at school. At this, Cole steps back and reveals that he got in trouble for drawing disturbing images, so his mother had to meet with his teacher. He says that now he draws rainbows because ‘they don’t have meetings about rainbows.’ Moving further away, he tells Malcolm that he won’t be able to help him and then closes off communication by leaving the room.

This moment is notable for the way it frames our perception of the psychiatrist-patient relationship. Malcolm sits in a chair whilst the camera is placed at Cole’s eye level, aligning us with the child’s perspective and making both characters appear equal. Close-ups of Cole’s feet as he steps forwards and backwards emphasise his negotiation between opening up and closing off, and POV shots track backwards as he moves away physically and emotionally to create distance between Malcolm, Cole, and the audience. This scene sets up the early tension in their relationship, and we realise here that Dr Crowe will have to work hard to earn his patient’s trust.

9. Cole’s Childhood Photos

When Cole’s mother, Lynn (Toni Collette), is gathering up the laundry one day, she stops in the hallway to examine his childhood photographs on the wall. The camera cuts to close-ups of light flares that appear close to her son’s image in almost every picture. This moment appears before Cole reveals his secret ability and serves as foreshadowing for anyone familiar with the supernatural. Legend has it that if an unexplained light flare or glowing orb appears in a photograph, then the camera has captured evidence of a ghost. In an article for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County magazine, Beth Saunders writes about the phenomenon of spirit photography, though she concedes that these orbs may be nothing more than floating specks of dust caught in the light.

It is also worth noting that Lynn is wearing a hoodie and adjusts the thermostat, indicating that there is a chill in the air. Cole later reveals that sudden cold can indicate the presence of a ghost. Furthermore, as she looks at the family photos, the pop music emanating from her walkman cuts out and the film score fades in as we leave the real world behind and enter the film’s ghost story through her perspective.

Recommended for you: M. Night Shyamalan Directed Movies Ranked

 

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A post shared by Rumer Willis (@rumerwillis)

Willis is an actor synonymous with the silver screen, his work across a number of action franchises coming to define his legacy. In academic circles, his place at the centre of 1988 actioner Die Hard is considered to be a turning point for Hollywood action heroes as the industry moved from muscle-bound stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone towards a more identifiable form of masculinity. His presence at the forefront of the film, and his status as an (at-the-time) unlikely sex symbol, transformed action movie cinema forever, his balding head and hairy chest welcoming in a revolution of manhood across wider media.

On the small screen, Willis was a two-time Emmy winner, earning awards for his parts in ‘Moonlighting’ (1986) and ‘Friends’ (2000).

Though his career had taken a turn towards straight-to-VoD science fiction films as of late, the actor fronting a number of low budget films including Breach (2020), his late-career performance under the tutelage of M. Night Shyamalan in Glass, and his status as a reliably charismatic action hero, will live strong in the memories of those who experienced him at his best.

Here at The Film Magazine, our team of sensational, intelligent and (truthfully) overqualified writers have bravely battered away the anxieties and threats of the world to escape for an hour, two, three or even four (in the case of Zack Snyder’s Justice League) to bring to you essential coverage of over 100 new releases and present the very best from some of the year’s most reputable film festivals.

In doing so, our 19 regular writers and many more guest contributors have offered articles as wide in scope as “Where to Start with” guides and ranked lists, filmmaker interviews and breaking news stories, presenting hundreds of new portals into the world of cinema.

Together with our outstanding supporters and strong social media following, the efforts of our team have broken new ground for The Film Magazine with thefilmagazine.com having been visited by over 50% more people than in any other year in our history. Thank you for your support.

In this Movie List, we’re counting down the 21 articles that you (the readers) have judged to be our very best; ranking each in terms of visitor count, starting from the 21st highest and counting down to the most popular article released in 2021.

The rules are simple: this list only includes articles written and published in their first iterations in 2021 and therefore doesn’t include list updates, such as is the case for our popular “Spider-Man Movies Ranked” article. Please note that lists naturally accrue more visitors as they are set over multiple pages.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

21. Voice of Silence (2021) Review

Author: Jack Cameron
Twitter: @JackCam86118967

“So rarely has there been a film so gentle and heart-warming that also so deeply challenges your sense of morality.”

Reviewed as an integral part of The Film Magazine’s Glasgow Film Festival coverage, this South Korean off-kilter drama from impressive debut director Hong Eui-jeong proved to be popular courtesy of guest author Jack Cameron’s impressive and tightly constructed review.

Read here.

20. ‘Planet of the Apes’ at 20 – Review

Author: Sam Sewell-Peterson
Twitter: @SSPThinksFilm

For the 20th birthday of Tim Burton’s critically maligned Planet of the Apes remake, Sam Sewell-Peterson sought to reanalyse and reassess Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and company, discovering that things aren’t quite as bad as we all remember, especially with the benefit of twenty years of reboots and remakes.

Read here.

19. Where to Start with Gene Kelly

Author: Joseph Wade
Twitter: @JoeTFM 

Shared by Gene Kelly’s widow Patricia Kelly on social media, this handy guide on where to start with one of Hollywood’s leading lights and most iconic faces is sure to lead you down a rabbit hole of spectacular musicals, ear worms and all the golden era Hollywood romance your heart can muster.

Read here.

18. Showa Era Godzilla Movies Ranked

Author: Sam Sewell-Peterson
Twitter: @SSPThinksFilm

Toho Studios founded Godzilla and made him famous. Putting the anxieties of Japan into mass circulation and gaining a worldwide cult following, they would make fifteen films through what is now known as the Shōwa Era, each of which were ranked worst to best by Sam Sewell-Peterson.

Read here.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Director: Wes Anderson
Screenwriters: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Starring: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances Mcdormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward

Wes Anderson’s career dipped slightly in the middle to late 2000s with The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou earning relatively mediocre reviews, yet with Fantastic Mr Fox the director returned to role of critical darling, a status solidified by follow-up Moonrise Kingdom in 2012; a film that earned levels of acclaim and awards attention Anderson hadn’t received since Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums released over ten years earlier. Moonrise Kingdom remains one of the auteur’s most recognisable and beloved films and was widely regarded as one of 2012’s best releases, earning Oscar nominations for Anderson and his screenwriting partner Roman Coppola. It is also one of Anderson’s most personal tales, inspired in part by his own childhood.

Moonrise Kingdom earned rave reviews from most outlets upon its release with many labelling it as the filmmaker’s return to form. Empire awarded it 4 stars, saying that it was “As funny, bittersweet and as distinct as you’d expect from Wes Anderson, a director who helps you know you are not alone. Terrific performances from sprogs to stars and a lovely sense of the sorrow and joy of growing up”. Many have drawn comparisons between Moonrise Kingdom and Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, which is cited as one of the pioneering films in the French New Wave movement of the 1950s and 60s. Truffaut himself has been cited amongst Anderson’s biggest influences and so it is no surprise that the French filmmaker’s iconic coming of age tale would be an influence for Anderson’s take on the genre.

In Moonrise Kingdom we follow the adventures of outcast youths Sam Shakusky, a Boy Scout attending Camp Ivanhoe’s Kaki scouts, and his friendship with Suzy Bishop. Both children run away from their respective homes and the majority of the film follows their exploits in the wild, with their respective families and the local adult community trying to rescue them. Anderson’s unorthodox approach to this tried and tested genre is to be complemented, as is the film’s use of humour.

As with the rest of Wes Anderson’s filmography, the casting of Moonrise Kingdom is impeccable. With much of the work falling on the shoulders of two relative unknowns, in Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, much of the film could have easily gone awry, but the pair are terrific with some fantastic chemistry and heart-warming moments as well as the ability to deliver Anderson’s unique and often frenetic dialogue.

The adult cast are also on hand to offer some stalwart support, with Anderson regular Bill Murray on fine form as Susie’s overprotective father, and newcomers Frances McDormand and Edward Norton proving to be inspired choices as Susie’s mother and Scouts leader Randy Ward respectively. The standouts are, however, Bruce Willis as Island Police Captain Duffy Sharp, and Tilda Swinton as the menacing Child Services representative. Contrasting many of his action roles and showing a genuine aptitude for Anderson’s style akin perhaps to Ralph Fiennes’ transition in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Willis in particular shines in perhaps his best performance of the 2010s.

Anderson’s continued collaboration with Director of Photography Robert Yeoman hit peak form in Moonrise Kingdom, offering one of the best examples of the distinctive colour palettes available in Wes Anderson’s films. Their work together here can be marked for its use of yellows, oranges and blues, as well as particularly notable stills of the island’s locations, including its lighthouse and Scouts camp. This is one of Anderson’s most striking films, and while his style has been imitated copious amounts there can be no denying the quality of his unique visual style in this contemporary great.

Moonrise Kingdom is a charming take on adolescence, a constantly entertaining film that possesses the levels of heart and warmth audiences have come to expect from a Wes Anderson film. The cast are absolutely terrific, with the two young leads holding their own against some marquee adult cast members, and the film manages to cram a lot of detail into its 90 minute runtime whilst remaining perfectly paced. Both a fitting tribute to some of Anderson’s favourite coming of age tales and a fine film within the genre, this is one of Anderson’s greatest releases to date and perhaps the one that best showcases his visual style and unique use of dialogue.

21/24

Breach (2020)
Director: John Suits
Screenwriters: Edward Drake, Corey Large
Starring: Bruce Willis, Cody Kearsley, Rachel Nichols, Kassandra Clementi, Johnny Messner

It’s a common misconception that actors and actresses, when they reach a certain level of professionalism and clout, have the ability to only be in films that are in some way good. Be it the budget, or sheer artistic flair of the directors, or perhaps even that it’s a flagship movie that will properly establish them in the public consciousness, the jobs a thespian chooses to appear in is in some way shaped by not only their ability, but their general star power. Should this theory hold, it would mean that big stars only end up in good movies.

This is obviously complete bunk, because if it were true, it would have some work to do explaining how Bruce Willis ended up in this disaster of a film. In Breach, as part of the running crew of a colony ship, the last one headed to New Earth following a plague on the original, Willis’ character Clay ends up fighting to save the 300,000 people in cryo-sleep as an alien parasite infects the crew and threatens to kill everyone onboard.

If this sounds like a plot you’ve heard before, it’s because you have. Blend Alien (1979), Pandorum (2009), and the 2009 ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Waters of Mars’, and you’re not far off. There are scenes where a character becomes infected with a parasite of some kind, only for it to break out of him in bloody fashion (see Alien), and where one character has to crawl through air-ducts from one location to another, and be extra quiet to avoid being heard (see almost every film in existence, but also Alien). Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a fairly standard plot and setup provided you do something interesting with it. A film’s execution can be a saving grace for its reality as a walking, talking cliché. The question is: what can Breach do to change everything up?

As it turns out, the answer to that question is “nothing”. Whilst the film runs on and you try to find some semblance of intrigue, entertainment, skill, or creativity, every second makes it clearer that there’s nothing good about this movie. The sets look cheap and nasty, filmed on such a low budget that episodes of ‘Red Dwarf’, especially the newer series, look on-par, if not better. They’re flimsy, wobbling every time a character bumps into them, made with cheap acrylic and foam, and make classic Hammer sets look sturdy by comparison. The guns look like painted NERF guns, the CGI is laughable, and the cinematography is just a wash of pale blue, as if someone put a film over the camera lens. If it were a YouTube web-series it would be impressively made with a limited budget. For a full feature film with John McClane himself in it, it is simply not acceptable. If you’ve not got the budget, you think smaller and do something interesting with it. You don’t charge ahead as if nothing’s the matter and reveal all your weaknesses.

The characters aren’t detestable, but they’re certainly not interesting. There is a five minute period where the writers allow them some time to laugh, so that you don’t find them utterly hopeless and bland, but beyond that, they’re all interchangeable aside from the main group. The acting isn’t awful, and Willis looked like he was having some fun at least, but the fact he’s in it makes me believe that it was only green lit because they’d managed to attach him to the script.

The monkeys are also back in the editing suite for Breach, managing to create a film that is cut worse than a three-year old’s art project. There’s a scene early on in the film in a dining room, which has a quick back-and-forth, a shouting pep-talk from the man in charge, and everyone leaving the room, with a final lingering shot to tease the upcoming mayhem. The entire run lasts for roughly 2m 30s, and it cuts a total of 67 times. 67 cuts in 150 seconds, for what is a fairly run-of-the-mill scene. Those numbers alone should tell you how much love and care and craft has gone into this film. None.

And because there’s no love or care or originality or craft that has gone into this film, when the characters are fighting off hoards of parasite-zombies on a spaceship, you don’t care one jot, and probably want the film to be over. There is a big monster at the end, but it’s thrown in because someone said they needed a boss to fight, and it looks cheap and badly CGI’d to boot. They obviously wanted some final, The Thing style monster, and it failed.

To cap it all off, the final scene on the surface of New Earth isn’t shocking, or a twist (as the filmmakers intended), because we’ve seen it hundreds of times before and it’s just as unimaginative as the rest of the film.

In the end, not even Bruce Willis with a sci-fi flamethrower can save Breach. A thousand spaceship-under-siege sci-fi/horror hybrids have been done before, and almost all of them infinitely better. Barely three minutes pass and you already want the film to end. Nearly ninety minutes later, the credits come as a mercy. Breach is painful in almost every respect.

4/24

-Article by Kieran Judge
-Twitter: @kjudgemental

One such an answer that is often the cause of grievance and controversy is John McTiernan’s Die Hard (1988). For those who adore the season’s staples such as White Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life, and modern favourites such as Elf and Love Actually, the idea that a film about a showdown between a single NYPD officer and a group of vicious terrorists is even considered a Christmas film is, frankly, disgusting.

Well, sorry haters, but it turns out that Die Hard is actually part of a long tradition of non-conventional Christmas flicks – we have an extensive catalogue of Christmas Horrors for example, from Black Christmas in 1974 to Krampus in 2015. Christmas even makes its appearances in the most unlikely of plots: Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece Brazil, an Orwellian black comedy, is a prime example, as is the legendary crime thriller The French Connection. However, neither of these examples are considered Christmas movies (not even in the alternative or ironic sense), and rightly so. Christmas isn’t the focus of these films and is in fact used to highlight the darkness and evil of the stories it’s used in. That’s not very festive at all!

How Can a film Be Considered a True Christmas Movie Beyond the Mere Inclusion of the Holiday?

If we ignore the blatant capitalist message behind nearly every mainstream Yuletide film, we should consider the real message behind the original Christmas Story – The Nativity of course.

Pushing past the shepherds, kings and angels, Christmas is essentially the tale of light shining in the darkness, living in the hope of reconciliation and redemption. These are therefore the essential themes of any real Christmas film. Natalie Hayes of BBC Culture, in her article “The Magic Formula that Makes the Perfect Christmas Film”, noted that for a film to be considered a true Christmas movie, it must include the following elements: desire, a touch of magic, the value of family, and of course a dose of trial and tribulation for our heroes to overcome.

As hollow as some of these films seem to be to the lovers of a more Traditional Noel, the likes of Jingle All the Way do in fact meet these requirements, and with Die Hard being one of the most exceptional and beloved action movies of all time, it seems a very reasonable choice as a favourite Christmas film too. But what has come to my notice is the criminal overlooking of another alternative festive watch, one with striking similarities to Die Hard, released only a year prior: Lethal Weapon.

Like Die Hard, Richard Donner’s film meets the pre-requisites of a Christmas Classic and is again one of the most popular action movies from the 80s, likewise spawning an iconic franchise. Have we been duped all along with putting our money behind the inferior flick, or is Die Hard truly the superior of the pair? On the basis of which film boasts the truest Christmas Spirit, let us experience the most exciting of movie battles… Die Hard vs Lethal Weapon.

Desire

Is there an element of desire in these films? A want for something unattainable?

This is the first of the many uncanny similarities between Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, as both display a desire for a return to normality.

In Die Hard, John McClane (Bruce Willis) is flying to L.A from New York to see his wife Holly Gennaro (Bonnie Bedelia) on Christmas Eve, who works at the Nakatomi Plaza which is throwing a party. It becomes apparent that this is the first time John and Holly have seen each other in over six months and that they are more or less separated (especially as Holly is now going by her maiden name). It is revealed that Holly’s move to L.A. for a once in a lifetime promotion became a point of contention in their relationship – we don’t know exactly why, but it’s easy enough to make some assumptions: back in 1988, finding out that your wife is making more money than you would be an enormous shake up in the family dynamic, possibly too much for some men to handle. It is clear though, that although they are estranged, their marriage isn’t finished – Holly and John obviously still have feelings for one another, but it’s mixed in with a great deal of hurt, stopping them from seeing eye to eye. Thus we have the desire element: John wants a return to normality, the re-establishment of his traditional family set up (very nuclear, with the man being the breadwinner and all), but more importantly he desires to be a part of his family’s lives again.

Lethal Weapon has a more convergent plot than Die Hard.

It begins with the daily life of two LAPD police detectives – Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a fairly buttoned-down distinguished officer who enjoys the comforts of marital and familial bliss (and is learning to try to age gracefully), and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), a seemingly unattached man who is a total loose cannon on the job, wreaking havoc in his wake. The plot gleefully puts this odd couple together. It is Riggs who is the festive focal point of the movie as it his character that embodies the required desire element. Riggs’ careless and dangerous behaviour at work is suspected to be caused by suicidal tendencies after recently losing his wife in a car accident. There are occasions where it seems Riggs indeed wants to end his life, but this is actually more the desire to be reunited with his wife – the desire to be in a loving relationship again, the desire to have purpose.

It seems to be contradictory to the spirit of Christmas to have the film focus on the likes of depression and suicide, let alone in a film with probably the most insensitive approach to these topics, but that would be ignoring the fact that one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time, It’s A Wonderful Life, is about the divine intervention of an Angel working to stop a man from taking his own life on Christmas Eve. Die Hard is also depicting a common theme in Christmas fare, which is the impending breakdown of the family unit seen in the likes of The Preacher’s Wife and The Santa Clause. Technically both films are winning Brownie Points on that front, but the desire element is far more visceral in the case of Lethal Weapon: a shot of a teary-eyed Riggs shakily placing the end of the gun in his mouth after looking at the wedding photos of his dead wife is truly impactful.

Magic

The magic we could see in the likes of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon is not going to be in the traditional vein: no angels, no reindeer, no pixie dust, and very sadly no Santa Claus! That does not mean, however, that the magic they do have is not completely spine-tingling.

At first glance, the magic in Lethal Weapon is rather elusive, but it becomes apparent that the touch of Magic is indeed Martin Riggs, or really more Martin Riggs’ unorthodox policing methods:

“You’re not trying to draw a psycho pension! You really are crazy!”

In the real world, Riggs’ behaviour is not the kind to praise or laud, but Riggs’ apparent death wish makes him an almost unstoppable crime-fighting force – a lethal weapon. From deescalating a possible shootout by scaring the life out of a perpetrator, and saving a potential jumper’s life by throwing himself off the building whilst cuffed to them, it can be said Riggs gets the job done (in the most thoroughly entertaining way possible). However, his magical powers aren’t fully activated until he and Murtaugh are captured by the movie’s villainous drug barons – is it the electric shock torture or the power of new found friendship with Roger Murtaugh? Either way, Riggs is propelled into overcoming his captors and killing every bad guy that stands in his way, all in the name of rescuing his new partner. By the time we reach the climax, he is brutalised and half-drowned, yet he still manages to subdue the film’s Big Bad, Joshua (Gary Busey), by the power of his thighs alone. Magic.

With all that said, John McClane smirks and replies with a “Hold my beer.”

Die Hard is a more plot-driven story which lends itself to even more glorious action movie magic. It is made clear from the very beginning that McClane possesses the power of snarkiness, but the storming of Nakatomi Plaza by Hans Gruber’s (Alan Rickman’s) team of terrorists/thieves, catches McClane with his pants down (or rather with his shoes and socks off), leaving him to watch helplessly as the revellers of the office party are rounded up as hostages and Holly’s boss Mr Takagi (James Shigeta) is murdered. Luckily a present from Santa Claus re-establishes his cocky self-assuredness:

“Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho.”

In the 2 hour run-time, we witness McClane relentlessly wiggle his way out of tight squeezes using the meagre resources at his disposal (which he usually attains by annihilating some hapless bad guy), whether its irritating Gruber with smart-ass comments through a stolen walkie-talkie or tossing the body of a man out of the window in an attempt to attract help from the outside. It is once McClane manages to get the attention of the LAPD (the corpse-tossing worked a treat) that the real magic begins, which is the revelation that McClane is better than everyone else alive, including you – ironic given that he spent the first half hour desperately crying out for help.

Recommended for you: I’m a 90s Kid and I Watched Die Hard for the First Time This Year

John McClane resolves the terrorist siege single-handedly despite the presence of the LAPD, SWAT and the FBI; in fact McClane saves these apparent bozos from the machinations of the terrorists several times (whilst being mistaken as some sort of psycho killer to boot). Such a magical moment includes McClane blowing up a whole floor of terrorists (without miraculously harming any of the hostages), thus stopping their rocket launcher onslaught against the unsuspecting SWAT teams attempting to storm the plaza. Another noteworthy moment is when he rescues all the hostages from certain death seconds before some idiotic FBI agents unwittingly blow up a helipad they were gathered on (and as if saving countless lives isn’t enough, he narrowly escapes this chaos by leaping off the building with only a fire hose to save him from gravity).

It can’t be denied that the police politics of this 80s classic would be unnerving to modern eyes with its idolisation of McClane’s almost vigilante brand of justice, but with a healthy dose of self-awareness Die Hard is the ultimate power fantasy; one that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. The exact kind of magic that you would need and want at Christmas.

As a basic siege film, the physical dangers faced by John McClane in Die Hard are of a much greater intensity than that of the leading duo in Lethal Weapon: the action is non-stop and quick paced, and far more shocking and gory. However, whilst Die Hard is driven by its plot, Lethal Weapon is more character focused, and as a consequence the psychological hurdles presented in Lethal Weapon are much more immense than those seen in Die Hard, despite the huge amount of peril Holly and John McClane face.

The Value of Family

It is now time to consider how much family is valued in these films; starting with Die Hard…

Is this film not just a metaphor for marriage and the active battle that is maintaining such a relationship?

It has to be confessed that it’s not exactly hard to be initially disappointed by John when we first meet him. It appears he has let his fragile masculinity get in the way of his marriage as he struggles to cope with his wife’s flourishing career. But my goodness is this an incredible attempt at reconciliation; the man walks over broken glass barefoot for Christ’s sake!

As we all know, big grand gestures can often be empty and meaningless; it is changed behaviour that is the real apology. So what a brilliant way to finish off this metaphor with Hans Gruber being defeated by John and Holly working together; transforming their marriage into a partnership – a union of absolute equals. It earns their riding off into the sunset, entangled in each other’s arms, and so gives us that desired cosy Christmas feeling – excellent!

Lethal Weapon, by comparison, has no such romantic metaphor; it instead depicts the very real devastation caused by unimaginable loss.

Martin Riggs is a man who is constantly putting himself and others in danger through his reckless behaviour, as he is now without purpose. He does state that it is “the job” that has so far prevented him from eating one of his own bullets, but the way he achieves results still points to a blatant death wish.

It’s when the initially dubious Murtaugh begins to let his guard down and allows Riggs into his inner sanctum, inviting him into his family home, that we see a transformation in Riggs. For you see, the central criminal scandal of Lethal Weapon – ex Vietnam War Special Forces officers turned drug baron mercenaries – most deeply affects Murtaugh; he is the most entangled and has the most to lose from this situation. By actually giving Riggs a chance (whose life literally hangs in the balance if he can’t find a working partnership), Riggs no longer lives dangerously for the sake of trying to feel alive whilst consumed with grief, he instead directs all of his ferocity towards protecting Murtaugh and his interests; this deep sense of caring spreads to the wider community surrounding him, seen when he is willing to grapple in the mud with Joshua after he murdered his fellow officers.

Lethal Weapon, in the contest of greatest redemption arc, takes the victory: Riggs is quite literally pulled from the jaws of death by the power of found family through his partnership with Murtaugh – they even share Christmas dinner. This transformation from death to life proves that Lethal Weapon values family the greatest.

True Christmas films are affairs of great emotion, our heroes often go through hell to then be redeemed with the happiest of endings. This is true for both Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, but it is proven that Lethal Weapon boasts the most intense and emotionally driven Christmas tale of hope.

All you Die Hard fans may have to reconsider your all-time favourite Christmas film, but if you guys don’t change your mind, there is nothing but respect for you: Die Hard is pretty kickass.

Recommended for you: 10 Excellent Non-Christmas Films Set at Christmas

Now five movies deep into a franchise that will continue to have potential until the day that movie stars no longer exist, the Ocean’s films have made around $1.4billion at the worldwide box office, maintaining interest from film fans and scholars alike for their visual homages, entertaining narrative twists and their unparalleled sex appeal.

In this edition of Ranked, we’re looking at each of the five Ocean’s movies and ranking them from worst to best in terms of entertainment value, artistic achievement, cultural importance, critical reception and audience perception for this: the Ocean’s Movies Ranked.

Why not let us know your order in the comments? And be sure to follow us on Twitter.

5. Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

Almost the very definition of “the old boys club”, Ocean’s Eleven is 1960 Hollywood in a nut shell – it’s glamourous, filled with timeless superstars and beautiful to look at, but it hasn’t aged all that well. Slow to the point of a saunter, and troublesome in terms of its gender politics by today’s standards, this Lewis Milestone directed feature hasn’t quite stood the test of time like some of his more respected films, such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Of Mice and Men (1939). It has its moments of fun, and the star studded line-up is filled with the type of charisma that is legendary by anybody’s standards, but a timeless classic Ocean’s Eleven (1960) is not – it’s not even vital to enjoying or understanding the other (better) films made in its name.

4. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)

This 2004 release suffers mostly from a distinct lack of pace compared with its predecessor, sequences at times falling more in line with the 1960 Ocean’s Eleven than director Steven Soderbergh’s relatively rapid 2001 version. Gone are the inspired moments of homage to Hollywood films of the Golden and Classic eras, especially in terms of framing and editing, elements which mark not only a drop off in quality but seem to prove how Soderbergh was less inspired and more obligated by Ocean’s Twelve than he was Ocean’s Eleven. The cast are a lot of fun however, as you would expect, and a few surprise cameos make for peaks in interest, with the film feeling very much like the Hollywood flex that it is – Catherine Zeta Jones, Bruce Willis and French megastar Vincent Cassel adding to the already incomparable star power of the original. Ocean’s Twelve is far from bad, but it is a noticeable downgrade on Ocean’s Eleven when watching them back to back, and in retrospect it’s almost like the very best moments of Ocean’s Twelve are so great that they mask the long stretches of slow and uninspired sequences that come in between. This is a serviceable franchise entry that thankfully doesn’t tank the series, but also doesn’t do much more to add to it.

In this edition of Ranked, we’re looking at all six of these Best Picture nominated horror films and judging each in terms of individual quality, contextual importance and audience longevity to decide which is the best horror ever nominated for Best Picture and, first, which is the worst.

Why don’t you let us know your order in the comments? And be sure to follow us on Twitter.

6. Black Swan (2010)

This is a classic horror film, but all the films on this list are classic horror films and this is arguably not even Darren Aronofsky’s best horror – that honour instead going to Requiem for a Dream – so Black Swan starts off our list.

The elements of body horror subtly woven into the fabric of this psychological horror-thriller make for some of the very best cinema of the 2010s, and Aronofsky’s intelligent telling of the story of famed ballet “Black Swan” in an allegorical movie like this is nothing short of genius. Natalie Portman is exceptional, the cinematography incomparable on this list, the score appropriately pulsating, and its Best Picture nomination absolutely deserved, but in the context of the horror genre there are dozens of more memorable releases that didn’t even earn a Best Picture nomination and five more memorable and impactful movies that did.

Recommended for you: Every Darren Aronofsky Directed Film Ranked

In this edition of ranked, we’re ranking each of these 9 releases from worst to best based on artistry and cultural significance.

Have an opinion? Make sure to leave a comment or tweet us!

9. Hellboy

Lionsgate
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Thomas Haden Church

In a year of many highs for the superhero/comic book movie sub-genre, the Hellboy reboot from Centurion director Neil Marshall and Lionsgate wasn’t one of them.

Coming some 15 years after Guillermo Del Toro first introduced the character to the silver screen, the remake was perhaps inevitable, but in the midst of Del Toro’s resurgence as a leading Hollywood creative figure following his Best Director Oscar win in 2018 for The Shape of Water, comparisons were perhaps even more likely to be negative than they may have been previously, the 2019 version opting to take a gamble on gore being its defining factor; perhaps using it as a mask for the missing creativity apparent in its creatures, narrative and action set-pieces.

This was a misfire that may warrant a sequel as being unnecessary.

Recommended for you: 2018 Superhero Movies Ranked

8. Brightburn

Sony Pictures
Director: David Yarovesky
Starring: Jackson A. Dunn, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman

Marketed as a James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) project asking “what if Superman was evil?”, Brightburn excited many a comic book movie fan for its intriguing idea that stood out from the rest of what we had become used to seeing. A superhero-horror movie seemed like a huge step for the sub-genre, but it offered way too little by the way of its superhero promise, the film instead being “structured and paced more like a contemporary possession or haunted house movie”, according to Jacob Davis in his The Film Magazine review.

Shallow in terms of character and world building, and ultimately underwhelming in other aspects given its promising premise, Brightburn was a gamble we’re glad Sony Pictures took, but one that ultimately didn’t pay off in terms of quality of product, critical reception or box office dollars; making it a somewhat unexpected 2019 superhero movie dud.

7. Dark Phoenix

20th Century Fox
Director: Simon Kinberg
Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee

Dark Phoenix was re-shot and rescheduled in the build-up to its Summer 2019 release, and with issues behind the scenes regarding its studio 20th Century Fox being bought out by Marvel overlords Disney, and the likelihood of Marvel Studios incorporating the X-Men IP into their studio because of that purchase, Simon Kinberg’s passion project seemed sent out to die. Perhaps that’s why they removed “X-Men” from the film’s title…

What Dark Phoenix did right, it did pretty well – there was a fantastic train battle sequence that was reminiscent of some of the X-Men franchise’s greatest moments – but the film suffered from a lack of originality in a number of key aspects (including a finale massively similar to Avengers: Infinity War) and looked cheap; the re-shoots probably being to blame for the massive lack of cinematic qualities on offer in a number of sequences.

To say goodbye to nearly 20 years of the X-Men like this was disappointing, and to still be waiting for a good Dark Phoenix Saga film after two tries is beyond disappointing, but Dark Phoenix managed to offer sparks of something special that at least lifted it from our bottom spot.

Recommended for you: Every X-Men Movie Ranked

In 2018, I watched Home Alone for the first time and it was magical. So this year, I thought I’d watch another classic Christmas film that I should have watched by now… Die Hard.

Before sitting down to watch the film, I knew only 2 things:

1. There is much debate about whether or not it is actually a Christmas film.
2. Alan Rickman is in it and Alan Rickman is hot.

Die Hard begins with John McClane (Bruce Willis) visiting his wife and children who have moved to LA for his wife’s work – well done Mrs McClane (Bonnie Bedelia), you go girl. John visits her office Christmas party and is the grumpiest man in the world – no wonder she left him – but then of course, as happens with all office Christmas parties, terrorists (led by the beautiful Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber) storm the offices to steal some money or codes or something like that. It is the 80s after all.

Importantly, the standout element of the movie was Holly (Mrs. McClane).

Holly McClane is a feminist icon, not only because of her power-suits and amazing 80s hair, but because she followed her own career from New York to LA; she’s independent and powerful in her own right.

She is thriving in her career and is, by all accounts, doing fine without her man – a part of me even hoped she was having a steamy affair with the hot bearded guy.

When John says that her move to LA changed their marriage, she tells him that ‘it changed your idea of what a marriage should be’. It is really exciting to see a genuinely independent woman. She stands up for her colleagues, standing up to Alan Rickman with sass and sexual tension (though maybe that’s just me?). When he says: ‘What idiot put you in charge?’ She returns with: ‘You when you murdered my boss.’ YAS QUEEN!

Then I remembered that this was a film released in 1988 and that I am more impressed with this representation of women than a lot of the women in the films of 2019. Then it became a point of sadness.

But back to Alan Rickman because Alan Rickman is hot!

I have always liked Alan, even as Snape. This is probably why it was even a surprise to me that I hadn’t seen Die Hard before now.

He doesn’t disappoint either; he is charming, cunning and of course very attractive. This was also Rickman’s first film! Can you believe that?

I particularity liked the scene in which McClane and Gruber met and, as I learned watching the Netflix’s “The Movies That Made Us”, this moment came by accident when Rickman said on set that he could do a convincing American accent. This moment was a saving moment for McClane, as it was important for him to prove that he was more than just an annoying grumpy cop that takes over when someone else is clearly more qualified. In this moment, he proved that he’s smarter than both Rickman and I thought he was.

I do not want to start another argument about whether or not this is a Christmas movie – I will leave that to Jack in The Film Magazine’s article “Is ‘Die Hard’ a Christmas Film?” – but my two cents are this: Die Hard is not a Christmas film.

It might be a film set at Christmas but it is not a Christmas film.

It is actually a film about a husband who should have just said sorry to his wife.

The only element of the film that makes it Christmassy is that it is set at Christmas, and people in the film try to force the idea that this is a Christmas film by whistling Christmas songs at me. I mean what says Christmas more than someone blowing off someone’s knee caps?

Die Hard is, however, important for Christmas because it helps to create a ritual for people that do not want to watch any of the plethora of sugar-coated Christmas films at this time of the year. It’s like how I personally watch Trainspotting on Valentine’s day.

As Jack says: ‘perhaps, it’s a Christmas film for those not so big on Christmas’.

Regardless of how typically Christmassy this film is, I did find myself asking: will I be watching this every Christmas for the rest of my life?

My answer: yes of course!