John McTiernan

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q270639: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by Wikidata joins them to Die Hard, which ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey credits them on.

Counted as director, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they directed, which the two lists below run through too: Rollerball (1975); Die Hard (1988); The Hunt for Red October (1990); Last Action Hero (1993); Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995); The 13th Warrior (1999); The Thomas Crown Affair (1999); Basic (2003); Nomads.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Beowulf adaptations: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The 13th Warrior (1999), which they directed: Beowulf adaptations ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read). The film is the Beowulf story told as Crichton's 'what was the real thing they were fighting' version.
    “Even going back to Crichton's original concept of like, what's the real story behind Beowulf?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:25:39 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

Michael Crichton: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The 13th Warrior (1999), which they directed: Michael Crichton ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read). Lowery read the Crichton novel and found the film is the book almost scene for scene.
    “reading the book, I was like, this is pretty much just scene for scene exactly what's on screen.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:19:51 · David Lowery (0.85 sure it was them)

The Detective: 1 line

  1. lineage (legal sequel) · through Die Hard (1988), which they directed: The Detective ⇒ Die Hard (the host's read). Sinatra's rights deal on The Detective gave him first refusal on follow-ups, so Die Hard had to be offered to him.
    “something in the deal for when Sinatra had bought the rights to the detective, gave him right of 1st refusal on any of the follow-ups”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Killing with Patton Oswalt (Ad-Free) · 0:14:30 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)

Topkapi (1964): 1 line

  1. lineage (remake (unmade)) · through The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), which they directed: Topkapi ⇒ The Thomas Crown Affair (the host's read). MGM tried to remake Topkapi as a sequel to the Brosnan Thomas Crown Affair, with Verhoeven.
    “Because wasn't Verhoven was going to remake Top Cappy as a sequel to Thomas Crown Affair.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:26:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Christopher Nolan: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), which they directed: The Thomas Crown Affair ⇒ Christopher Nolan (the host's read). Speaker says Christopher Nolan loves the 1999 Thomas Crown Affair because of Tenet.
    “you know who loves the Thomas Crown affair in 1999, Christopher Nolan, because I've seen Tenet”
    The Big Picture · 300th Episode Ask-Us-Anything Mailbag Spectacular · 1:09:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Resident Evil (2026): 1 line

  1. lineage (homage) · through Die Hard (1988), which they directed: Die Hard ⇒ Resident Evil (the host's read). The shoes-melting beat is called a Die Hard nod (walking on broken glass).
    “You have that wonderful diehard nod where his shoes are starting to melt and he has to take his shoes off.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · 1:00:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (14) everyone in directing

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): Rollerball → John McTiernan. Rollerball is the true bomb that killed McTiernan's career; Basic did poorly too.
    “Basic was didn't do well, but rollerball is the true bomb.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:11:14 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)

contrast (1)

  1. contrast (contrast): Michael Crichton → John McTiernan. Crichton is literal in conveying information; McTiernan evokes. Their styles clashed on the reshoots.
    “Michael Creighton's a very literal minded man in the way he conveys information.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:19:52 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (4)

  1. craft (craft): John McTiernan → Michael Crichton. McTiernan and Crichton both journeymen in terms of signature style; McTiernan's strength is geography of an action scene.
    “McTiernan's like the god of I know how to communicate the geography of an action scene”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 0:22:25 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): John McTiernan → Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning. Dead Reckoning feels McTiernan-like in its problem-solving approach with no signature style.
    “Dead Reckoning Part one, maybe now called Dead Reckoning Part only.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:36:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): John McTiernan → Die Hard. McTiernan's quiet genius is dialogue scenes as exciting as action; the best-cited Die Hard moments are not action.
    “So much of what we, you know, all the great moments from Die Hard are actually not even the action”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:37:52 · unknown (0.55 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): The Thomas Crown Affair → John McTiernan. McTiernan's fine-art eye is literal in Thomas Crown: he picked all the paintings.
    “he picked all the paintings”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:55:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (director): John McTiernan → The 13th Warrior. The 13th Warrior is saved for a McTiernan series.
    “Save that for McTiernan.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:19:19 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about John McTiernan: McTiernan's visual inspiration is fine art, not other movies.
    “my visual inspirations are from fine art.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior with David Lowery (Ad-Free) · 1:32:58 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)