The Cleveland Show – Die Semi-Hard (2011)
It’s Die Hard…
in the form of a cartoon parody.
Is the main character an average Joe?
Well they can’t get any more average than Cleveland Brown. He started off as one of Peter Griffin’s drinking buddies in Family Guy and received his own spin-off where he remarries after divorcing his wife Loretta and has moved out of Quahog to Stoolbend where he lives with his new family, has new friends and a job as a cable installer.
Sidekick?
His wife’s son Rallo takes up the part of Argyle, the limo driver, and his own son Cleveland Brown Jr. takes up the role of Sgt. Al Powell who tells everybody he shot a kid, everybody.
Any personal problems?
Following the movie closely he’s currently living separated from his wife Roberta and hopes to make amends on Christmas eve.
Is the lead character there by coincidence?
Just visiting his wife at her office party.
Are there any friends or family in danger?
His wife is a hostage and is identified by Tim the Bear who plays the role of Hans Gruber.
What’s at stake and why aren’t the authorities doing anything?
The criminals are after the contents of the vault, which contains a 27 inch TV, the biggest TV on the planet. The authorities can’t go in because of the hostages even though they are on the scene.
Any charismatic villains?
Tim the Bear (voiced by Seth McFarlane) takes up the role of Hans Gruber and has all the memorable lines, now with an even thicker German accent, and pitched notably higher.
Is it any good?
Well it’s a 20 minute cartoon parody so not really a rip-off but rather an homage. After successfully doing parodies of the original Star Wars trilogy on Family Guy it’s now Cleveland’s turn to get his own Fox-owned franchise parody. It’s a basic sum of all the most memorable scenes of the original Die Hard put together and tries to go for as many laughs as possible while keeping a coherent story. There are some key scenes missing like the moment he’s in an air vent but overall it nails the Die Hard scenario. Some jokes fall flat but in the end the episode had a decent amount. After all the rip-offs that were released the past 23 years it was about time the movie got a parody like this. This was the Christmas episode of the third season of the Cleveland Show and in the closing moments they mention they might do the sequel as well.
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.