Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) switches sides and goes to work for KAOS in Double Agent. It was written by Joseph C. Cavella and Carol Cavella. It debuted on 8 January, 1966. The Chief (Edward Platt) is the only one who knows, besides Max, that he’s on a mission, and hasn’t actually switched sides. Max has…
Tag: shark
The Shallows (2016) – Jaume Collet-Serra
Blake Lively stars in a tight little actioner that runs shy of 90 minutes, but features some crisp and beautiful location and underwater photography. Lively is Nancy, a med student who has journeyed to Mexico to surf a secret beach that her mother once surfed long ago when she learned she was pregnant with Nancy….
Under Paris (2024) – Xavier Gens
Under Paris delivers my second favourite shark movie of all time. The first is Jaws, of course. That whole slew of Sharknado films couldn’t do a damned thing for me. They are so far beyond cheesy that they become an embarrassment. You have to be able to walk a line with shark movies, to balance…
47 Meters Down (2017) – Johannes Roberts
Mandy Moore and Claire Holt star in 47 Meters Down a fairly well-realized white-knuckle thriller from Johannes Roberts. Whatever you think of the concept of the story, a pair of sisters stuck 47 meters down in shark-infested waters, Roberts is able to tap into some very primal fears, add in some solid visual effects work…
TIFF ’23: Smugglers
With Smugglers, which is having its North American premiere at TIFF, Director Ryoo Seung-wan gives his audience a smart, playful, 70s-drenched crime thriller set in a quiet seaside South Korean fishing town. Jin-sook (Yum Jung-ah) and Choon-ja (Kim Hye-soo) work as haenyeo, free divers who collect shellfish and other seafood, alongside a crew of other…
Deep Blue Sea (1999) – Renny Harlin
This one is for my friend Lindsay, who insists this is a better shark movie than Jaws, and yet it can’t help but make a number of references to it, not the least of which is a familiar-looking licence plate. Director Renny Harlin does, for the most part, deliver a fairly solid thriller though even…
Licence to Kill (1989) – John Gardner
James Bond returns this week in John Gardner’s adaptation of the 1989 film, Licence to Kill. This is probably the most disjointed of his novels as he tries to marry his version of the literary 007 to the big screen version, and it doesn’t always work. In fact, throughout the book Bond thinks he must…
Diamonds Are Forever (1956) – Ian Fleming
The fourth James Bond adventure by Ian Fleming is on my book shelf this week, and I dug into it eagerly. Despite some troubling moments of racism, 007’s literary adventure in this book is damned enjoyable, and you can see a number of themes and locales survived the jump to the big screen with Sean…
Live and Let Die (1954) – Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming’s second James Bond book finds its way to my book shelf this week as I delve into the character’s literary history as well as all the 007 films I haven’t covered for the blog. It’s an enjoyable novel, although it is steeped in way too much racist language and descriptions as Bond goes…
Moonlighting (1987) – A Trip to the Moon, and Come Back Little Shiksa
With the shark firmly behind them, Moonlighting Season Four got underway on 29 September, 1987 in A Trip to the Moon written by series creator Glenn Gordon Caron. David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) have been together for four weeks, and both of them seem to have different opinions on what and where the…
The Mind Reels 