Die Hard-what makes this movie are the little moments...the human elements...and that crazy look that comes across Bruce Willis's face when he goes bug eyed covered in blood. But it suffers too much from the 80's action syndrome for me to enjoy it as much as others. 3.5 balls out of 4.

Die Harder-I think I might actually prefer this one to the first film. Yes it's silly, but a good silly-over the top craziness and rehashing enough to feel like the same universe. Kinda Temple of Doom esque in this regard. 3.5 balls out of 4.

Die Hard With a Vengeance AKA: Die Hard with a Hangover-tired, uninspired, lacking, and obviously the abandoned Lethal Weapon 4. It's as if everyone lost interest 5 minutes in. There is no immediacy, no inspiration, no worth, no great action sequence and some of the worst CGI ever. (Water in the tunnels) It just is so uninspired that you never want to watch the thing again. And that's even with Jeremy Irons as another Gruber which is merely an afterthought. Thank god the new transfer is okay, because the DVD was just about the worst I've ever seen. 2.5 balls out of 4.

Live Free or Die Hard-It played okay the first time around, but doesn't hold up on repeated viewings. As a spectacle it works, but once again there's no immediacy and the whole idea of playing McClane against the modern world gets old rather quickly and actually downplays the hero's strengths a bit too much. Still it's not bad, but when you think about it-it still doesn't really feel like Die Hard. Either PG-13 or Unrated cut. 2.5 balls out of 4.

And the 5th one is going to be set in Russia. With McClane's son. What the heck? Haven't they realized yet that John McClane works better without a sidekick? That way we get the wonderful McClane-isms and self-depreciating commentary!