'Tis the Season of Doom (In the Style of a Christmas Action Movie like Die Hard)

In a World of...Improvised Movie Homages

In this episode we pay homage to the Christmas-time action movie, “Die Hard”! Is it a Christmas movie? Who knows! We certainly don’t settle that debate here. But it is enough of a Christmas movie for us to do a Holiday episode based on it. Links Die Hard on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard Time Codes Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 05:17 Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 13:03 Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 18:50 Start of show: 23:44 Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 25:40 Improv Game - Emotional Lists: 27:24 Improv Game - Pardon: 37:52 Improv Game - Newsroom: 44:54 Improv Game - Cutting Room: 53:12 End of show, into announcements: 1:08:03 More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/ Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812 Avish’s site: www.AvishParashar.com Mike’s site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/ Transcription of the “Discussing the Genre Tropes” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: yeah so we start with. Avish Parashar: segment one discussing the genre tropes so now we're gonna spend five minutes discussing the tropes commonalities cliches of this type of movie so i'm going to say my five minute timer here, this is not a duck is a different I don't have my timer right now. Michael Worth: I just set up a timer where it stops at to five. Michael Worth: minutes with i'm too old for this shit. Avish Parashar: Oh that'd be amazing alright timer started so Mike why don't you kick us off when you think of the action movie. Michael Worth: Right so first days, we had a big commitment, right here we go into direct route, with a lethal weapon route because one's a buddy COP and one's a you know kind of thriller. Avish Parashar: Ah, I think the thriller might be a little. Avish Parashar: easier, but. Avish Parashar: I think the COP is almost its own. Avish Parashar: genre we're going to want to do with some. Michael Worth: diehard diehard today. Michael Worth: i'll feel that. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're going to do kind of a. Avish Parashar: yeah there are other movies in the genre there was a horrible movie which I didn't even see all of with Ben affleck reindeer games which was like yeah said it Christmas like one person. Avish Parashar: So there's a you know there's it's a one hero right like solo protagonist yep. Michael Worth: he's almost always COP ex military actually he is he's just combat smelter he's always because he's got to have a reason for a gun and a reason to be kind of good we're. Avish Parashar: Good at what he does, I mean we basically you know we've done this before like with with our critters one which ended up just being essentially gremlin, so this is basically going to be a die hard oh my gosh yeah. Avish Parashar: So yeah This may not the tropes to talk about may not be true of every. Avish Parashar: movie in this genre but so. Avish Parashar: diehard heavily. Avish Parashar: So finding. Avish Parashar: it's a solo person, but, and you know, like overwhelming odds like it's one finds himself in a situation where there's like a whole gang of bad guys. Michael Worth: Well, and here's one big thing he's isolated he's isolated from any physical assistance, although later on, he will gain communications assistance that happens in all these habits and speed and happens in die hard like. Avish Parashar: that connects with the outside world, they can't help them physically, but they can help them with information. Michael Worth: physically isolated. Avish Parashar: and emotional support. Avish Parashar: Right right so let's. Avish Parashar: yeah uses his wits there's action scenes and fights there's usually a charismatic bad guy. Michael Worth: The bad guys definitely charismatic I mean come on. Avish Parashar: But even all the other. Avish Parashar: You know, like the couple bad like Mr joshua and. Michael Worth: soccer tennis tennis Dennis hopper and speed yeah. Avish Parashar: yeah there's always a charismatic. Avish Parashar: villain and there's usually a more lethal henchmen. Avish Parashar: Like the brains of the henchmen right the the big German brother guy from die hard or. Avish Parashar: Was Gary Gary busey from yeah sounds like the brains of the operation is charismatic. Michael Worth: And then almost always a Brazilian Jiu jitsu fight scene. Avish Parashar: Brasilia yeah I. Avish Parashar: Think of a single actually move it has a Brazilian Jiu jitsu played see. Michael Worth: lethal weapon has that. Avish Parashar: Oh that's true you're right lethal weapon. Michael Worth: gracie brothers Q and on it yeah. Avish Parashar: that's true. Michael Worth: that's the whole thing was what is happening in there Why is he Why is he having sex on the ground with mud, but. Avish Parashar: That was before it was even a thing that's before us. Michael Worth: For UFC yeah. Avish Parashar: Alright, so I think what's important for this discussion, though. Avish Parashar: it's a saxophone this guy there was. Avish Parashar: No is the the Christmas element right, because this is we're not just doing a direct action movie we're specifically saying this is a Christmas action movie So how do they try to jam what Christmas elements get jammed into these action movies. Michael Worth: So, so this is really important, one of two things happens with the villains thing out of the bill is taking advantage of the Christmas rhythm to do a crime, like they did with knock to me, plus everyone's home for Christmas or um the are are. Michael Worth: doing a crime that as a Christmas bent which is kind of the same thing, like hey there's a bunch of drug smuggling coming in, but they're sending them all in in Santa dolls or reindeer plush toys. Michael Worth: Because there's a lot of traffic happening around Christmas and no one can track it you don't I mean. Michael Worth: yeah yeah me either the crime is either taking. Michael Worth: advantage of the way people behave around Christmas or it's using Christmas gear to. Avish Parashar: As like a cover yeah they're all you know it's like a Santa Claus gang where they dress up as Santa clauses and. Michael Worth: Point break, but like Christmas point break. Avish Parashar: yeah and this stuff because. Avish Parashar: And this will be more on you potentially in post production there's like little Christmas music themes thrown in or or or diabetic music or whatnot but there's like. Avish Parashar: yeah I don't know how much we're gonna be able to do here, but. Avish Parashar: we'll try was that we'll try. Michael Worth: we'll try. Avish Parashar: Oh, and also there's various like I mean these movies, in general, have one liners and. Michael Worth: Yet it's really snappy dialogue, like the good guy he's it's cat and mouse with the bad guy verbally and there's lots of like that one liner back and forth i'm. Avish Parashar: At some of those one liners tie into Christmas, you know, like whoa whoa whoa no I haven't machine gun like. Michael Worth: yeah yeah or you know God rescue marriage God rest ye merry gentlemen kind of thing or. Avish Parashar: yeah exactly so there's some kind of. Avish Parashar: words. Michael Worth: which nobody using the show because it's improv and I made it up and I get to use it. Avish Parashar: I love it. Michael Worth: Copyright 2021 sparkle so. Michael Worth: There is a love interest. Michael Worth: But the love interest is secondary in terms of there's no love scene. Avish Parashar: As we're talking so some of the other ones may have more that's that's our five minute timer it's a good point, though, because, like diehard has a love interest but. Avish Parashar: it's it's just motivation for him it's not like yeah and then even lethal weapon like riggs doesn't really have a love interest at all in that. Michael Worth: No, no. Michael Worth: I was thinking of speed speed is diehard on a bus there's the love interest but they don't really get it until the end they're kind of all. Michael Worth: yeah and also they're all still basically stopped. Michael Worth: working to stop the criminals plan. Avish Parashar: that's really what this is, I mean lethal weapons little different but yeah these diehard type movies, the time is very compressed it's like one even event it's not like like lethal weapon takes place over a series of days, you know. Michael Worth: takes place over five hours. Avish Parashar: yeah and and saved, they would be like it's all just like great compressed. Michael Worth: Their last thing is there here's the last few because we're in a world right now right and speed is do this quite as much but dire definitely does. Michael Worth: When the hero who's been isolated there's two there's two more trips when the hero gets in contact with the outside world, he gets to people to deal with. Michael Worth: The smart confidence slash ally who's butting heads with the idiotic bureaucratic head and the smart confident la is always right and the bureaucratic head. Avish Parashar: Is oh yeah. Michael Worth: And and and and the capacity with both these two are both these two, but obviously one Reginald van van Patten and then the other is what's his face from the breakfast club. Michael Worth: Oh yeah so so that that's a big thing, and the second thing is this, and this is more in the act structure. Michael Worth: The hero ends up usually being very creative with whatever he can find because he's kind of doing like. Michael Worth: A foraging thing, so he tends to kind of build his offense up from nothing it's almost like an elder scrolls where it's like ah you found this stone and you found this cloth and now i've made an axe and you know kind of like he does a lot of that kind of stuff. Avish Parashar: yeah and he always gets sorry. Avish Parashar: yeah i'm in a lot of these movies, the hero either gets captured or has a face to face with the bad guy like 11 they get captured have like a face to face and die hard you know him in. Avish Parashar: him and Hans Gruber have that face to face with Google pretend to be the guy said, like there's a meeting it's not just oh we're like adversaries and we fight at the end you know even in speed Dennis hopper and kiana face off in the beginning. Avish Parashar: Right face to face so there's usually a face to face alright so excellent good genre trope list right and that brings us to. Transcription of the “Creating the Outline” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up) Avish Parashar: Alright, we are now going to spend five minutes, creating a high level outline for this movie we use a for act structure. Avish Parashar: Basically, three act structure with act to being broken into two parts that helps for our structuring. Avish Parashar: um there's a high level, which means this we're going to roughly follow this, but this is improv comedy so we may veer from it, we may throw it away entirely but this gives us a good starting point. Avish Parashar: So, to begin a and we always start with either a prologue or a movie trailer what are you feeling today for this kind of movie Mike. Michael Worth: whoa I could go either way um. Avish Parashar: I mean these movies, usually have very good trailers. Michael Worth: And let's go with the trip. Avish Parashar: But they also often have prologues like. Avish Parashar: The taking over the Naga tomi Plaza that wasn't trail I feel like. Michael Worth: I have definitely had a trailer and and. Michael Worth: yeah but you know lethal weapon has a bit of a prologue. Avish Parashar: yeah she jumps off the building, but i'm. Michael Worth: Christmas to trailer because what a. Avish Parashar: lot of the other right that music for this this trailer music. Avish Parashar: Alright, so we'll do a movie trailer alright so in act one, we need to obviously meet the hero yeah we should meet the villain. Michael Worth: The hero, is not a disgrace COP or a disgraced you know that kind of thing he's actually in the service because because you wanted to actually be like so again i'm blending calories from speed in here as well, so you meet the hero. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: And he's he's a smart tough, it was gonna be a cop he's he's gonna be a cop. Avish Parashar: yeah he's gonna be like a cop, but yeah. Avish Parashar: But yeah it's gonna find themselves in this situation so. Michael Worth: Right, he stumbles so. Avish Parashar: He said something christmasy in act one and then that's kind of what's going to be the impetus for because, by the end of act one the crime starts, you know taken over the Plaza the hijacking the bus whatever. Michael Worth: And and honestly, if you think about this, this is kinda like a video game where it's like at the end of act one they here has been stripped of. Michael Worth: All his resources, except for the bare minimum, and needs to start figuring out what's going on, so the heroes not lowest point but like he's crossing the threshold at one is like i've taken away all your gear and I put you in the bottom of this pit and as you're climbing out so so. Avish Parashar: So something happened, where he is not with it, what is without his stuff yeah. Michael Worth: Isolated without a lot of his stuff not knowing what the plan or the rhythm is of the village and the villains got all the cards, because the whole point is is thinks he's to start off with the plan going perfectly for the villain. Michael Worth: So, like all the guests are locked down the cameras are cut. Avish Parashar: everyone's yeah so Lisa diehard the presence of the hero. Avish Parashar: is like the fly in the ointment for the villains, like everything would have been fine for the villains if the hero hadn't been speeds, a little bit different because the bad guy wanted jack on the bus but. Avish Parashar: Sure, but yeah it's like they've got this great plan, but oh there's a there's one thing we weren't. Avish Parashar: They weren't counting on. Avish Parashar: john mcclane. Michael Worth: yeah I think we have to the one thing we're counting on that makes that makes it fun. Avish Parashar: Right right to. Michael Worth: Act two is it's pretty easy actually the few here is going to do two things he's going to start trying to get in touch with the outside world, let him know about the crime. Michael Worth: And he's going to just start disrupting the crime on the inside, which usually means some fighting some combat some kills and stuff like that that's going to be kind of pretty much at to, I think. Avish Parashar: yeah and actually it's like sort of that reactive phase where he's disrupting but he's kind of learn like what are these guys after. Avish Parashar: Like who's in charge like he's still trying to here's a kind of learn a lot, and in that process, he kind of comes across some of the. Michael Worth: Yes, the villain. Michael Worth: He gains a lot of information things like that you know. Avish Parashar: Oh, he gets a machine gun. Avish Parashar: yeah. Michael Worth: At this stage of the game. Michael Worth: uh actually if there's a love interest we don't know if there will be, this is also it's motivating him a little bit to be a little proactive he's probably met the love interest in act one, and you know. Avish Parashar: or loving just so he knows from before like yeah yeah. Michael Worth: Like holly holly mcclain yeah um. Avish Parashar: And if that person exists, they usually come in act one but in our show maybe they won't appear to act too sure. Avish Parashar: um and then. Avish Parashar: I forget it somewhere around here, he makes contact with the outside world. Michael Worth: Yes, exactly right about that too is, if you actually know why because expertise with the outside world shows up the stress to make life difficult for the villain. Avish Parashar: yeah the outside world shows up so we're actively on the outside world shows up, I think, at this point now the hero is going to be more proactive he's gonna be like instead of just trying to survive if it was going on he's like all right, I got stopped these guys from doing this thing. Michael Worth: Your liver. Michael Worth: Active because heroes darkest hour is coming up something happens where the villain puts together a quick brutally effective plan that almost kills the hero. Avish Parashar: He almost kills them and something happens at the end of act three were like he gets the leverage either he figures out the love interest, so he kidnaps them. Avish Parashar: yep yeah that's usually that's usually what happens at the end of act three there's like. Avish Parashar: Whatever important leverage the hero has the bad guy figures out and gets a hold on right right. Avish Parashar: To be a kid sometimes it's like the kid sometimes it's the love interest or the wife or the spouse or whatever yep. Michael Worth: And then so then X for literally becomes the hero recovering from the near death experience and then I mean honestly like almost like a video game final fantasy six like climb the Tower defeat the boss, you know. Avish Parashar: he's got to overcome the huge obstacle, the huge hurdle. Avish Parashar: You know, save the the love interest, not the bad guy stopped the plan save all the innocent civilians do it all yeah. Michael Worth: And do it all in two hours or less. Avish Parashar: Yes, with Christmas themed one liners all right and that's our five minute timer perfect.