• jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Exactly, this is 100% Seinfeld is Unfunny material.

    In the eighties, action films preferred invincible heroes who slaughtered mooks by the dozen with casual disdain. Die Hard popularized grittier and more realistic action, with heroes who are vulnerable and suffer from character faults. It also popularized the concept of action movies confined to limited space, a setup that this very wiki calls ““Die Hard” on an X”. (For example, Speed is “Die Hard on a bus.”) Also, at the time it came out, people were shocked at the idea of a comedic actor like Bruce Willis being an action star. Nowadays, what with Tom Hanks Syndrome, comedic actors doing serious roles aren’t nearly so amazing. Younger fans might not even know Willis got his start in comedy.

    • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Same reason I like Dredd from 2012. They confined the story mostly to a location and one main enemy, and I think it helped a bit cause Dredd generally has no flaws and can’t be beat.

      • Ech@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Dredd (2012) is just “Die Hard on LSD”

        Jokes aside, Dredd rules.

    • ditty@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Just learned about the Seinfeld is Unfunny trope from your comment. What a helpful expression in describing media/pop culture progenitors!

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        Yeah it’s a good way of realizing why certain things from your past felt so amazing at the time, but are seen as less impressive to people just experiencing it now. It’s hard to describe just how awe inspiring The Matrix was to see in the theaters, or how incredible Golden Eye felt to play on the Nintendo 64 for the first time. Looking back, those things feel like one of a million other movies and games. But that’s only because a million other movies and games were changed forever because of them.

        • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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          11 months ago

          Or to take it a step further back, try getting someone without context before the modrrn era to understand how groundbreaking Casablanca is. So many tropes were invented in that movie, but watched without that understanding many would say “what’s the big deal ?”

          It’s a good movie even now. But it’s a great movie with context

      • Ech@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I mean, I don’t think Moonlighting really targeted preteens and children, so that tracks.