Crackerjack (1994)
It’s Die Hard…
in a mountain resort, which makes it Die Hard meets Cliffhanger
Is the main character an average Joe?
He’s a loose cannon cop named Jack they call Crackerjack, hence the title, played by Thomas Ian Griffith.
Sidekick?
Nastassja Kinski turns out to be a resourceful hotel worker
Any personal problems?
His wife has been killed by the same guy who is now trying to steal a valuable object from the resort. What are the odds right?
Is the lead character there by coincidence?
He’s on vacation, so yes.
Are there any friends or family in danger?
His brother, sister in law and baby nephew.
What’s at stake and why aren’t the authorities doing anything?
The villains are trying to steal 50 million in diamonds. The lives of everybody in the resort is at risk. You don’t have police near isolated mountain resorts usually so the authorities can’t get there really fast.
Any charismatic villains?
Christopher Plummer tries his best to do a Eurotrash villain.
Is it any good?
No but it did get two sequels in which the second also had sort of a Die Hard plot and starred Judge Reinhold. They all have different characters and actors playing them. The second one was also released as “Hostage Train” so it’s quite a confusing “franchise”. Doesn’t matter, only a handful of people have seen these films.
They are planning a remake, I would go for Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Joe Manganiello, Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Welling, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Runner, Derek Theler, or D.J. Cotrona as Gabe Walker; and Billy Zane, Kevin Spacey, Dominic Pace, Alec Baldwin, Gil Banks, Hugo Weaving, Robert Knepper, Brian Van Holt, Travis Fine, Skeet Ulrich, or Dash Mihok as Qualen.
I think there is a way to improve The Taking of Beverly Hills, like instead an undercover Fed helped crippled a militia group and imprisoned many members including their leader. But the leader’s brother and a few members of the group plant bombs all over Beverly Hills, and threaten to set them off if the leader is not released, and the undercover fed seeks out the bombs while his partners buy him time.
Blast is good, but it would be worthwhile to note that, Agent Lisa Reed (Vivica A. Fox) finds out that Michael Kittridge (Vinnie Jones) is actually a mercenary named Skyler Talbot and had killed the real Kittridge and stole his identity to throw off authorities.
I would like to see Christmas Rush. Anyone know where to find it?
There are some sites that list it as streamable, but I don’t know how legit they are. If you own an XBMC player I would advise you to look on that network.
What is an XBMC Player? I have never heard of one.
In most cases they are mediaplayers running Android. Because they run Android they can download an app named XBMC from Google’s Play Store. XBMC allows you to search and stream movies
Don’t forget the other scenarios like Terminal Rush, Interceptor, Crash Dive, Counter Measures, 12 Rounds: Reloaded, 12 Rounds: Lockdown, Project: Shadow Chaser, Command Performance, Demolition University, Cyberjack/Virtual Assassin, Final Voyage, and Air Rage.
For Speed 2: Cruise Control, it should have been Direct to Video, and not a sequel to Speed. The lead villain should have been a pirate instead of soft ware designer turned mad bomber trying to blow up a ship.
Every time I see “Air Force One” I remember that in the Tom Clancy novels, the character of Jack Ryan becomes president. This film could have been part of the saga starring Harrison Ford, if he had continued it.