Thursday, December 24, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #337: Holiday Action Films

This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. Today is Christmas Eve, so it's not surprising that the theme is "Holiday Action Movies". Now note that it only says "Holiday" action movies, not "Christmas" action movies. So technically we can use the holiday(s) of our choice. I did wind up picking one non-Die Hard movie that was set at Christmas time:

Ocean's Eleven (1960). Holiday: New Year's Eve. Frank Sinatra comes up with a plan involving all his Rat Pack friends, here playing World War II veterans, to rob the casinos of Las Vegas at the stroke of midnight between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. As with all heist movies, things don't quite go according to plan.

The Day of the Jackal (1973). Holiday: Liberation Day. French generals, disgruntled with the way the Algerian War of Independence is going, try to assassinate President De Gaulle. When their plot fails, they hire a professional assassin, the Jackal (Edward Fox), to do the deed. The police determine that something is up, and very determined police detective Michel Lonsdale pursues someone he knows is out there even if he doesn't know who he's looking for. The Jackal plans to shoot de Gaulle at a military parade markin the anniversary of the World War II liberation of Paris.

Trapped in Paradise (1994). Holiday: Christmas Eve. OK, this is more of a comedy than an action movie, although there's a bank robbery gone wrong. Nicolas Cage has a pair of incompetent brothers (Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey) he's jost picked up from having gotten out of prison on parole. While in prison, the brothers learned about a foolproof bank robbery plot in the idyllic small town of Paradise, PA. Of course, the brothers are fools and the plot isn't foolproof, as things spiral out of control.

1 comment:

ThePunkTheory said...

Great picks! I really need to check out that original Ocean's Eleven flick!