Who thinks of John McTiernan‘s Die Hard With A Vengeance (’85) as a really good one? I think of it as a relatively decent franchise place-holder, I guess, but nothing to hyperventilate over. (Jeremy Irons‘ baddie was tediously kinky.) The second best was Renny Harlin‘s Die Hard 2…right? Dulles Airport, heavy snowstorm, etc. In any event I can’t imagine anyone feeling any excitement upon hearing that White House Down (which premieres tonight at NYC’s Ziegfeld, and which I’ll be seeing this evening at another venue) the best since Die Hard With A Vengeance…Jesus.

A digitally-enhanced version of Richard Lester‘s Help! is now buyable on iTunes. Help! is a 6 or 6.5 compared to the 8.5 or 9 of A Hard Day’s Night. But I love Lester’s decision to have that middle-aged gnome play the flute at the end of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”…Chico Marx sitting on the green shag carpet. (And I love that the flute riff complements but doesn’t echo the main melody — it has its own purpose and flavor.) And Lennon’s face is so impassive and non-expressive. His eyes are alive but his mouth barely moves as he sings — his mouth could almost be something out of Clutch Cargo. And I love how Eleanor Bron (27 at the time) just kind of chills on the couch — no smiling or grinning.

I felt so badly burned by Prometheus that I began to wonder if Ridley Scott might be at the beginning of a downturn cycle in the same way that Alfred Hitchcock started to go downhill after The Birds. (There are some who today actually stand by the comically stilted Marnie, which opened 13 months after The Birds.) Writing off Scott sounds impulsive and ill-considered given his sterling track record, I realize, but I know for sure that I don’t trust him any more. He was great when he was great, but then he made Prometheus and the dye colored the water and Scott was suddenly Peter Hyams.