007 is back, and he’s the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Roger Moore debuts as secret agent James Bond in this 1973 update of Ian Fleming’s character. It also delves a little into blaxploitation, and features one of my favourite Bond Girls, Jane Seymour as Solitaire. Marrying drugs…
Tag: cia
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) – Bryan Singer
There’s probably a good, or at least a passable story somewhere amongst the mutants, Singer as a director has done some nice work with Marvel’s X-Men franchise in the past, but this time, it just feels like too much flash, and no substance. To say the visual effects super-saturate this film is an understatement….
Hot Docs 2016: Operation Avalanche – Matt Johnson
It’s right there in the title, Operation Avalanche, it’s a snow job. This faux documentary is played straight, pretending to be a film edited together from film shot by a pair of agents (Matt Johnson and Owen Williams) posing as filmmakers, working on a documentary about the Apollo program at the height of the…
The Greatest American Hero (1983) – Space Ranger and Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo
If this beloved series was getting shakey before, we can see now that the show is starting to fall into real trouble. First up is Space Ranger, a story hinged on all manner of coincidence and bad writing from Rudolph Borchert (though it may not be his fault entirely as the studio was seriously…
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) – Christopher McQuarrie
Tom Cruise returns to the big screen as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the action-packed Mission: Impossible series. Over the past few films we’ve seen Tom and by extension Ethan becoming more of a team player, sure, he and his character are center stage but he’s begun to rely more on being part of…
The Greatest American Hero (1982) – It’s All Downhill From Here and Dreams
Things are definitely starting to get goofy in The Greatest American Hero universe, it’s still wonderfully fun, but you can see that there are other people starting to mess with the formula… First up we have It’s All Downhill From Here, written by Patrick Hasburgh, which aired on the 3 March, 1982. Ralph (William…
Magnum, p.i. (1981) – The Sixth Position and Ghost Writer
Oh Hawaii… This week Thomas (Tom Selleck) deals with ballerinas, and writers… First up is The Sixth Position which originally aired 17 December, 1981, and was written by Babs Greyhosky. Thomas is hired to serve as the bodyguard for a ballerina, Kendall Chase (Andrea Marcovicci), someone T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) is a huge fan…
The Rockford Files (1977) – Just Another Polish Wedding & New Life, Old Dragons
Jim Rockford (James Garner) welcomes back some familiar faces in this week`s dual installment of The Rockford Files. Up first we have Just Another Polish Wedding. This episode originally aired 18 February, 1977, and was written by Cannell. The phone gag, featured a call from Malibu Space Watch, wondering if Jim had seen anything…
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) – Kenneth Branagh
To round out the remake/reboots I’ve been watching this week I thought I’d take a look at the latest Jack Ryan film. Based on the characters (not any of the books) created by Tom Clancy, Chris Pine steps into the shoes previously filled by Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin. What starts out fairly decently,…
Bananas (1971) – Woody Allen
After Manhattan, there were 4 other Woody Allen films to view as recommendations from Great Movies – 100 Years of Film, I’ve already watched Sleeper, so I dove into the next recommendation, Bananas. And I was pleasantly surprised! Allen who wrote the film alongside Mickey Rose, of course stars and directs. He plays Fielding Mellish,…
The Mind Reels 