Nomads (1986)
May 6, 2003Urban Phantoms
John McTiernan directs Pierce Brosnan is a film about phantom street gangs that creates an incredibly haunted mood
John McTiernan
Predator (1987)
Aug 2, 2000Action/Humans Hunted by Alien Sportsman
This takes the previous year's big hit of Aliens and fuses it with The Most Dangerous Game, swapping that story's bored aristocratic hunter for an alien hunting Arnold Schwarzenegger and a team of soldiers in the jungles of South America
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Jun 28, 2002Tom Clancy Techno-Thriller/Advanced Submarine
The first and best Tom Clancy adaptation about a hi-tech Soviet submarine whose captain goes rogue. Director John McTiernan conducts the undersea maneuverings with gripping psychological tension
Medicine Man (1992)
Jul 8, 2000Cancer Cure in the Amazon Rainforest
John McTiernan was one of the great action directors of the 1980s but this drama with Sean Connery as a scientist in the Amazonian rainforest and his bickering relationship with Lorraine Bracco failed to come off
Last Action Hero (1993)
Jan 6, 2002Adventures Inside the Movie Screen/Action Movie Parody
A big flop but highly underrated Arnold Schwarzenegger film, a sophisticated meta-fiction that views the cinema screen as another dimension and wittily deflates action cliches
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Aug 31, 1999Vikings vs Neanderthals/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton was hot as a result of Jurassic Park. Although mostly seen as an historical spectacle, this is an adaptation of his novel that attempts to retell the legend of Beowulf with Vikings against Neanderthals
Rollerball (2002)
Nov 12, 2002Ultra-Violent Sport
Remade, the 1975 dystopian film about future sports is stripped of any of its big message (even of its future setting) and is turned into no more than a formulaic action film
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Aug 17, 2007Action Film/Socially Catastrophic Hack Attack
The fourth of the Die Hard films and the only one that enters into genre territory with Bruce Willis now fighting a catastrophic hack attack that disables the entire US