Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love and affection. Whether or not you want to embrace these feelings or escape from them, the movie theater can be the perfect place to spend your day.  These two movies were both released on Feb. 14, and while they were completely different, it was obvious that everyone had come to the theater as a result of the date.

The glaring, bright light of cell phone screens illuminated the faces of tween girls seated throughout the theater. One tween beside me snapped her gum loudly, her prepubescent face twisting sourly after I quickly glanced at her. Single ladies sat all dressed up beside their girlfriends, chattering with each other. A quick look around the theater and it was obvious that estrogen– not love–was in the air. Maybe three men sat in the dark room of the cinema waiting for Safe Haven to begin. Thankfully, the film was slightly more pleasant than its audience.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven demonstrates the bond between two unexpected lovers in the face of constant danger. In it, Erin Tierney (Julianne Hough) is a young, beautiful woman who is on the run after having seemingly killed her husband. Soon after escaping to the small town of Southport, North Carolina, Erin changes her name, befriends Jo (Cobie Smulders), her new neighbor, and with Jo’s encouragement begins a relationship with Alex Wheatley (Josh Duhamel), a widower with two children. Not long after they meet, Erin and Alex fall in love, but their love is threatened when Erin’s past catches up to her.
While predictable at times and slightly cheesy, there is no denying the chemistry between Hough and Duhamel. Though the two have had mediocre performances in past films, the connection between them seemed genuine. After filming the movie, in an interview with E! News, Hough claimed that the story helped her achieve an emotional breakthrough over her real-life experience with abuse, and her connection to the plot was apparent from her acting ability.
While not for those seeking intellectual enlightenment, Safe Haven has some surprising plot twists and is the perfect movie to watch for the romantic comedy enthusiast looking to spend a cozy night in.

Completely juxtaposed to Safe Haven, the theater showing A Good Day to Die Hard was filled with men and women  craving to see a sweaty Bruce Willis dodge flaming cars on the day of love. One man sat at the edge of an aisle seat with a soda in hand and bucket of popcorn tucked into his wing. On his chest was a red t-shirt emblazoned with Willis’s face. There was no denying his die-hard fandom. The fifth film in the infamous Die Hard series, A Good Day to Die Hard is your typical action movie with guns, muscle, and babes.
The movie begins when police officer and detective John McClaine (Bruce Willis) travels to Russia to visit his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney), who had been arrested in Moscow. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that his screw-up son is actually a CIA officer working on a government operation–an operation that John ends up foiling when he arrives. Now all is on the line as John and Jack scramble to tie up the loose ends of both their investigation and relationship. But discerning the good guys from the bad is not as easy as it looks.
While the first two films in the Die Hard series proved to be international successes, A Good Day to Die Hard falls a little short. Although still in miraculous shape, Willis has gotten older, and the level and quantity of stunts proves to be slightly more unrealistic than they have been in the past. Flaming cars and colossal explosions are impressive, but they do not mask the unoriginal storyline.
The reuniting of father and son is a heartening break from the constant stunts, but isn’t great enough to make you forget it that it’s just another action movie. However, Willis is a Die Hard icon, and it’s this appeal that will forever keep audiences coming back for more. While it does seem like just another action film that will soon be played on Friday night television, A Good Day to Die Hard is a kind reminder that one can be buff at any age.