“Now I know what a TV dinner feels like”
The Spoiler team are back and we’re kicking off series 5 with a listener choice, John McTiernan’s action-thriller ‘Die Hard’, starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia and Alan Rickman.
Despite Paul stating emphatically in his introduction that ‘Die Hard’ is not a Christmas film, Andy and Rachael set about trying to convince him that it is by employing tenuous links and obscure lines of dialogue. As Rachael and Paul struggle to remember if this is the one with the building or the aeroplanes, Andy ties himself in knots with elaborate theories on symbolism, all for the sake of a lousy pun.
While the team seem to enjoy the film, they also enjoy picking it to pieces for its racial stereotypes, wobbly dialogue and an inverse snobbery about people who work from behind desks. Andy has to be restrained and, ultimately, censored in his determination to quote the movie’s most famous line, Rachael admires Bruce Willis’s funny little pout and the team imagine an alternate universe in which Frank Sinatra played the role of John McClane. And, of course, everyone loves Alan Rickman.
Elsewhere, Andy looks at the art of the movie sequel and lists five sequels which have equalled or surpassed the original films from which they stemmed. Controversially, at least as far as Paul is concerned, the list does not include ‘Ghostbusters 2’.
This week’s scale: 640 million dollars in bearer bonds or £6.40 in a postal order
SPOILER Animation Specials: Sheldon Cohen (The Sweater, My Heart Attack)
SPOILER Animation Specials: John Weldon (Special Delivery, Real Inside)
SPOILER Animation Specials: Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (When The Day Breaks, Wild Life)
SPOILER Animation Specials: Joanna Quinn (Girls' Night Out, Famous Fred)
SPOILER Animation Specials: Jerry Rees (The Brave Little Toaster, Tron)
Birdman (2014, Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton): SPOILER Episode 31
Romeo & Juliet (1996, Baz Luhrmann, Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes): SPOILER Episode 30
Children of Men (2006, Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine): SPOILER Episode 29
Fleabag (2016, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sian Clifford, Olivia Colman): SPOILER Episode 28
The Truman Show (1998, Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris): SPOILER Episode 27
Composer Special featuring Stephen Rennicks (Room), Debbie Wiseman (Wolf Hall) and Deborah Lurie (An Unfinished Life): SPOILER Episode 25
When Harry Met Sally (1989, Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal): SPOILER Episode 24
High-Rise (2015, Ben Wheatley, Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller): SPOILER Episode 23
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: SPOILER Episode 22
Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring): SPOILER Episode 21
Humans Season 1 (Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson, John Hurt, 2015): SPOILER Episode 20
Withnail & I (Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, 1987): SPOILER Episode 19
The Breakfast Club (Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, 1985): SPOILER Episode 18
Room by Emma Donoghue (2010 book) and Room (2015 film): SPOILER Episode 17
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