Die Hard (1988)

The action scenes still hold up, but quite a few other elements are sadly dated. For example, Paul Gleason's idiot police chief is a dumb device...they might as well have tucked a toilet seat protector into the back of his pants as it's obvious they just wanted him to be the same character he played in The Breakfast Club, you know -- the last person who should be in charge but, improbably, IS. Also, I don't think the cocky cocaine-snorting colleague existed anywhere except in '80s movies.

And why do so many screenwriters insist on having characters speak to themselves? A good actor can convey what he's thinking without the forced "come to papa" lines Willis has to deliver here. Those scenes made me wince.

B-