This week on The Collision, we look back on the Die Hard franchise, its influences, its endearing characteristics, its legacy, and the latest film in the series, A Good Day to Die Hard.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“Steven Soderbergh and Side Effects“), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore). Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

The newest Die Hard movie, A Good Day to Die Hard, opened yesterday, and so we’ve teamed up with 20th Century Fox to give away limited edition infographic posters for the first four movies.  Each poster breaks down the body counts, explosions, plot points, and more for each film.  They posters are pretty neat, and we’re giving away sets to 10 lucky readers.  The posters are on high-quality paper and measure approximately 12″x16″.

Hit the jump to check out the posters, and to find out how to enter.  Be sure to check out my retrospective on Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Live Free or Die Hard plus my review of A Good Day to Die Hard.

This week, I’ve looked back at the Die Hard series, and I can say without hesitation that of the ones that are currently available on Blu-ray, three of the four are worth owning.  Because A Good Day to Die Hard just hit theaters, Fox has released Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection, which is a five-disc collection featuring the first four Die Hard films (Die Hard / Die Hard 2: Die Harder / Die Hard with a Vengeance / Live Free or Die Hard), and an all-new bonus disc, “Decoding Die Hard.” The set is Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day for $25.00 (58% off $59.99), so it’s worth a purchase if you don’t own these films on Blu-ray.  It also comes with a reward code to see A Good Day to Die Hard, but see the film at your own risk.

And in case you missed it, Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection is still $129.99 (57% off $299.99), so click here to go pick it up.

Over the last few days, I’ve looked back at the Die Hard franchise, and tried to explain what makes these films unique.  The obvious answer is John McClane (Bruce Willis).  Willis helped to craft a memorable character who was the wise-cracking, scrappy, desperate hero we can all root for.  But it’s not simply an attitude.  Die Hard is a matter of circumstance and response, and the two best films—Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance—back McClane into a corner and force him to rely on his wits and strength to survive.  He gets the shit kicked out of him, swears constantly, but laughs in the face of near death.  John McClane’s personality lives in A Good Day to Die Hard.  Everything else dies horribly.

20th Century Fox has released a new clip from director John Moore’s sequel A Good Day to Die Hard, and it demonstrates exactly why it’s probably not a good idea to think you can best a helicopter full of guns.  Bruce Willis’s John McClane and Jai Courtney’s Jack McClane square off against said helicopter in this clip, giving fans a tease of the kind of action they can expect from the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise.  I’ll say this: the CG effects don’t look terrible.

Hit the jump to watch the new clip, and if you missed it click here to read the first entry in Matt’s ongoing Die Hard retrospective series.  The film also stars Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens Thursday, February 14th.

It’s been 25 years since Die Hard exploded into theaters, launching a new cinematic hero and changing the paradigm of action movies.  In A Good Day to Die Hard, Bruce Willis reprises his iconic role as police detective John McClane.  Set against the backdrop of deadly corruption and political vendetta in Russia, McClane teams up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.  The film, which opens in theaters on February 14^th, also features Sebastian Koch and Yulia Snigir.

At the recent press day, Willis, Courtney and director John Moore talked about why it was time for another Die Hard movie, what makes the McClane character so appealing to audiences, the origin of the signature line, taking the franchise to another country for the first time, and using Mi-24 assault helicopters in the action sequences.  Willis also discussed what it’s meant to him personally to play one of the greatest action characters in film history, why being a father is his favorite job, and how his real life experience has enabled him to play a great on screen dad.  Hit the jump to read more.

This Valentine’s Day, 20th Century Fox is releasing the latest entry in the Die Hard franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard, and today the studio has unveiled a new featurette for the film.  Rather than focusing on the upcoming film, this featurette actually provides a nice look back at the series as a whole.  It plays like a supercut of 25 years of Die Hard, and also acts as a reminder that the Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Collection is now available to purchase.  If you haven’t signed up for our contenst to win a copy of the Blu-ray set, I highly suggest you do so right here.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette “A Walk Down Memory McClane.”  A Good Day to Die Hard opens on February 14th.

I can’t say no to a Die Hard film, especially when they’ve restored the franchise to its rightful R-rating.  Die Hard movies require wise-cracks, swearing, and John McClane (Bruce Willis) getting the ever-loving shit kicked out of him.  Hopefully, McClane’s mission to Moscow, A Good Day to Hard, will deliver in a big way.

I’m pleased to announce that we’re giving away 25 passes to the Atlanta screening of A Good Day to Hard.  Hit the jump to find out how you can check out the film early and for free.  The film also stars Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens Thursday, February 14th.

A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth entry in the Die Hard series, hits theaters on February 14.  The well-timed 2013 release also marks the 25th anniversary of the original Die Hard, released in 1988.  To mark the occasion, Fox unveiled a giant mural of Bruce Willis crawling through the vent on the studio lot, and we have a grab bag of Die Hard bits:

• A timelapse video of the mural installation.
• A neat Die Hard: With a Vengeance infographic.
• The interactive Good Day to Die Hard “Ode to Destruction” site.

All this after the jump.

With a couple weeks to go before it hits theaters, A Good Day to Die Hard marketing has gone on overdrive.  In the past couple weeks, we’ve seen TV spots, new images, a new clip, and now a four-minute featurette has been released.  The big takeaway from the featurette: the action movie is an action movie.  My main concern isn’t the amount of action, but how John McClane (Bruce Willis) relates to that action.  The guy who took down a fighter jet in Live Free or Die Hard isn’t John McClane.  The appeal is that he’s an everyman who kills lots of bad guys and barely survives.  I’ve seen all the marketing, and I’m still not sure which McClane is going to show up, but I hope it’s the latter.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film also stars Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens February 14th.

We’ve got a couple of quick news stories for you this afternoon.  First up, Bruce Campbell has tweeted that Fede Alvarez‘ remake of Evil Dead has taken up The Heat‘s vacated April 5th date, which means it will be going up against Jurassic Park 3D at the box office.  So who would win a fight: deadites or dinosaurs?  [Answer: Dinosaurs.  Dinosaurs always win unless they're faced with their natural enemy, Meteors.]  Evil Dead, which originally had an NC-17 rating, will premiere at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.

In other news, The Playlist reports that A Good Day to Die Hard will be by far the shortest Die Hard yet with a runtime of 97 minutes.  For comparison, Die Hard is 131 minutes, Die Hard 2 is 124 minutes, Die Hard with a Vengeance is 131 minutes, and Live Free or Die Hard is 128 minutes.  So Die Hard 1 and 3 are the best in the series and they both run 131 minutes.  Coincidence?  Yes.

20th Century Fox has released a new clip from A Good Day to Die Hard.  The fifth Die Hard film has John McClane (Bruce Willis) teaming up with his son Jack (Jai Courtney) in Moscow to right Russian baddies.  I’m still not sure what the plot is, but this clip shows that it’s still the same old John McClane when it comes to laughing in the face of danger before blowing danger’s head off.  The end of the clip is a bit of a missed opportunity since McClane tells his son they’re not going to die, and Jack should have responded, “But Dad! It’s a good day,” [looks directly into the camera] “TO DIE HARD.” [explosion]

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film also stars Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens February 14th.

We have some new TV spots today from the following pictures:

• A Good Day to Die Hard - The fifth installment in the Die Hard franchise teams John McClane (Bruce Willis) with his son, Jack (Jai Courtney) against the entire country of Russia.  John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard opens February 14th.
• Oz the Great and Powerful – Sam Raimi’s take on the L. Frank Baum classic stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz.  Oz the Great and Powerful opens March 8th.
• Jack the Giant Slayer – The first TV spot for Bryan Singer’s fantasy adventure features great looks at the giants in action as they chase down the titular hero, played by Nicholas Hoult.  Jack the Giant Slayer opens March 1st.

Hit the jump to watch all of the TV spots, plus a new banner from Jack the Giant Slayer.

We’ve grown pretty familiar with John McClane (Bruce Willis) over the course of the twenty-five-year Die Hard franchise, but the next installment will introduce some new faces.  In A Good Day to Die Hard,  Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher) will get in on the action as McClane’s son, Jack, and Yuliya Snigir (Inhabited Island) will play Irina, the…uh…attractive Russian woman, a role which she plays quite well.  Directed by John Moore (Max Payne), the fifth installment in the Die Hard series also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Thing) as McClane’s daughter, Lucy.  We’ve got 16 new images from the movie to share with you after the jump.

Some new images have cropped up today for John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard and James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now.  The fifth installment in the Die Hard series features John McClane (Bruce Willis) and his son Jack (Jai Courtney), who are seen amidst a lot of destruction in this new image.  We also have an infographic from the original 1988 film, which is the first in a series that will be released for each film leading up to the February 14th release of A Good Day to Die Hard.

We’ve also got some new images that feature Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Miles Teller (Project X) being all young and cute in The Spectacular Now.  Also starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler, Brie Larson and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the picture  debuts at Sundance this Friday.  Hit the jump to see the new images.