With November’s Herculean feat of creativity behind me, I’ve turned my tired eyes back to the DVD player and the stack of Netflix envelopes that piled up during my self-imposed exile to my third-floor office.

Included in this horde of discs was the first disc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4 (in which Buffy and the Scooby Gang goe to college), the Bruce Willis action flick Live Free or Diehard (in which technophobe John MacClane must save the world from hackers) and the one shot episode Battlestar Galactica: Razor (which tells the story of the Battlestar Pegasus's escape form the Cylon's burtal assault on the 12 Colonies).

Live Free or Diehard

I’ve been a fan of the Diehard series since high school, when I saw the first one.

It’s frightening when I think how long that’s been.

I’ve watched all the sequels, the first three in the theaters and now the fourth at home. I’m happy to say that the latest film, Live Free or Diehard, remains true to its action hero predecessors, with plenty of over-the-top stunts, gun fights, and impossible odds. Oh, and one of the heroes is a geek.

Bruce Willis returns as John MacClane, whose people skills have not improved since the last time we saw him along side Samuel Jackson in Diehard with a Vengeance. He’s still a New York City cop, but he gets commandeered by Homeland Security to pick up a hacker suspect and take him in for questioning. Said hacker  (played by “I’m a Mac” guy Justin Long) unwittingly helped a terrorist organization develop an algorithm they need to crack government security as part of their plan to destroy the United States’ information economy. Despite a plot that’s died closely to computer hijinks, there’s plenty of action away form the keyboard as MacClane battles to first save his suspect, and then take the fight to the bad guys.

It’s an old school action flick, and it proves that the formula can still work. 

Buffy Season 4, Disc 1

Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in suitably spectacular fashion, with the Scooby Gang graduating from high school, Sunnydale’s mayor ascending to demonhood, and the library where they met to battle so many evils being reduced to splinters and pulp. Following up on the third season was going to be hard, particularly with the gang transitioning to college.

Season 4 starts off weak, with an episode about Buffy questioning herself and her social standing in college. We’ve seen this side of Buffy before; we didn’t need to see it again, even if it did help introduce us to her new surroundings. Further on though, we were treated to a decidedly different kind of roommate and the return of the sadistic Spike, all of which got Season 4 back on stride by the end of the first disc. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series.