At this point you know what I’m going to say every time we get to the end of an actor's tenure in this series; like Diamonds Are Forever and A View to a Kill, Die Another Day is considered to be the worst James Bond film by fans and critics alike. The twentieth film marked the franchise's 40th anniversary, however it seems producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson wanted to have their cake and eat it too which results in a story that makes no logical sense and embraces the worst qualities that have been associated with the films as a whole. The plot begins with Bond (Pierce Brosnan) infiltrating a North Korean military base where Colonel Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee) is illegally trading weapons for African conflict diamonds. After Moon's right-hand man Zao (Rick Yune) is ed by an unknown source revealing Bond's true identity, Moon attempts to kill him and a hovercraft chase ensues, ending with Moon's apparent death. Bond survives but is captured by North Korean soldiers and imprisoned by the Colonel's father, General Moon (Kenneth Tsang); after fourteen months of captivity he is released as part of a prisoner exchange with Zao, later convinced he had been set up by a double agent in the British government. Along the way with the help of NSA agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson (Halle Berry), Bond must find out who set him up as well as the true identity of British billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), since his appearance a year prior and discovery of a vein of diamonds in Iceland lead to his current wealth, celebrity, and philanthropy from its assets.

Despite the return of screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, their decision to structure the film around Ian Fleming's "Moonraker" was not a good course of action. The inclusion of twists regarding the main villian transforming his identity and planning to use an orbital mirror satellite to destroy locations, the use of an invisible Aston Martin Vanquish V12 to sneak past guards, the over-reliant uses of innuendo for dialogue and the concept of DNA restructuring is absolutely bonkers; the visual references to the previous nineteen films doesn't help matters and instead takes away the seriousness that was introduced in GoldenEye. All of these elements make Die Another Day feel like a relic despite the current long-running political tensions between North and South Korea serving as the backdrop; I cannot believe that no one stopped to really look at the script and just went "Great, let's get filming." New Zealand-born Lee Tamahori, best known for directing Once Were Warriors (1994), sits behind the camera as director and his style is very different from Campbell, Spottiswoode and Apted. He had never helmed a big-budget action film before, and you can tell just by how repetitive the action plays out: gunfight, explosion, one-on-one fights; there's no sense of energy to them and lack a distinct flair compared to how the three other Bond directors handle action. From a technical standpoint the practical effects by Chris Corbould and John Richardson are still good, though the overused CG effects clash with them and never meld together; cinematographer David Tattersall, who would become notable for shooting the last two installments in George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy, does a good job at least in making the locales of the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Cádiz, Spain look marvelous in Panavision but feels very workmanlike in the end. Editor Christian Wagner of Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2 fame unfortunately does a sloppy job here, where the action scenes are cut haphazardly and some sequences drag on for too long; this film could've been trimmed of fifteen minutes and move along much more quickly. David Arnold's score is at least a bright spot since he experimented by recording an orchestra playing sections of his score in reverse and employed the use of a Korean instrument called the yanggeum, although the same cannot be said for the title theme written and performed by Madonna which is still considered the worst Bond song.

Brosnan tries, but due to the script his performance just comes across as thumbing it in. Bond has no urgency or memorable moment that shows him as a vulnerable human being, instead he just comes off as a super-powered invincible machine who has a solution for everything; this does not make us the viewer care about Bond's safety even though in the past Brosnan had given us memorable moments from his run as 007. Berry is not bad as Bond woman Jinx, though the script does her character a disservice by having her get captured a couple times by the villains; she is supposed to be an NSA agent and last I recall they never got themselves into situations like this, which is disappointing since Berry has proven to be really good in action films like John Wick: Chapter 3 (2019). British stage actor Stephens plays Graves as your late 70s/early 80s Bond villain where he sneers his way through the second half, and yet nothing stood out to me where he is a villain worth being scared of. Rosamund Pike, who was coming off roles in the serialized TV dramas Wives and Daughters (1999) and Love in a Cold Climate (2001), made her film debut as Miranda Frost who is revealed to be the mole in MI6 to the surprise of no one cause the writing never makes the revelation work; thankfully she would recover from this and go on to have a solid career as an actress. Yune also tries his best in the role of ing antagonist Zao but never leaves an impact. Judi Dench also tries her best as M and almost manages to escape unscathed, while Samantha Bond and John Cleese return for the final time as Moneypenny and Q. Michael Madsen appears as Damian Falco, Jinx's NSA superior, and he's just there which never amounted to anything in the long run. The rest of the ing cast includes Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson, Michael Gorevoy as Vladimir Popov, Lawrence Makoare as Mr. Kil, and Emilio Echevarría as Raoul who all try their best with the clunky dialogue they are given to utter.

Die Another Day is bad. It got too excited to become an homage of the series than just a good standalone story that retained what came before, and feels like something from Bond's past with all the wrong components. While the film successfully brought in audiences given its box office gross of $432 million worldwide, it signaled that the series needed a complete retool and go back to basics. Fortunately that did happen, resulting in a marvelous reboot that would bring a new face to the man in the tuxedo.

James Bond's adventures in the 20th century was brought to a close with this installment, written again by Bruce Feirstein and marked the Bond debut of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who would go on to script future films. A month before the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, producer Barbara Broccoli watched a news report on Nightline detailing how the world's major oil companies were vying for control of the untapped oil reserves in the Caspian Sea in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. She thought controlling the only pipeline from the Caspian to the West would be an appropriate motivation for a potential Bond villain, so with Michael G. Wilson they hired the duo to write a script. The World Is Not Enough revolves around the assassination of billionaire Sir Robert King (David Calder) by terrorist Victor "Renard" Zokas (Robert Carlyle), with Bond (Pierce Brosnan) going on assignment to protect King's daughter Elektra (Sophie Marceau) who had previously been held for ransom by Renard. Bond soon unravels a scheme to increase petroleum prices by triggering a nuclear meltdown in the waters of Istanbul, and also realizes Elektra may not be as innocent as she seems. This dramatic plot with emotionally complex characters would twist the audience's preconceptions of 007, and it certainly does deliver in that department by being entertaining escapism.

The screenplay hinted at what would become a trademark for Purvis and Wade's Bond films: have the pre-titles sequence go on for a few minutes that drops hints of what's to come. In all seriousness, for this being their first crack at Bond I applaud them for going with Broccoli's suggestion of placing the story within a real-world issue to further place the character into relevancy. Granted it may stretch credibility when you really take a fine-tooth comb to the actual plan laid out by the villains, but if you just go along with it the film delivers in providing exciting thrills. Taking over the director's chair is Michael Apted, best known for the films Coal Miner's Daughter and Gorillas in the Mist; he was selected by the producers for being capable of eliciting strong performances from women since the aforementioned films earned Sissy Spacek an Oscar and Sigourney Weaver an Oscar nomination, and he does well with the dramatic scenes aside from the action. Second unit director Vic Armstrong, a noted legend in the industry, and stunt coordinator Simon Crane handled the film's two major stunt sequences: the boat chase on the River Thames and the parahawk-ski chase in Chamonix, ; both are incredible in how fast-paced they play out and, as per tradition, end with quite the explosive finish. Adrian Biddle, famous for his work on Aliens and The Princess Bride, is our cinematographer this time and does a magnificent job capturing the locations of Baku, Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan Oil Rocks and Istanbul, Turkey along with Peter Lamont's production design on the sets at Pinewood Studios. Editor Jim Clark, who was also a noted figure in the industry for working on Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Killing Fields (1984), does a good job cutting between sequences while making sure shots don't linger or cut right into the next one. David Arnold returns to provide the score and gives it that classic Bond feel like his previous effort, while also breaking tradition by not ending The World Is Not Enough with a reprise of the opening theme; noted rock band Garbage and its singer Shirley Manson performed the title song, which reflects the character of Elektra well and sets the mood before the plot kicks into gear.

Brosnan again does well in the part, slowly infusing more humor with his line delivery. It may come across as teetering dangerously close into Roger Moore territory, but he keeps it reined in and maintains a balance between dramatic and straightforward to letting some puns slip out. Marceau is quite good as our lead antagonist, the first time in the series' history where a woman wanted to do a criminal act as a means to control an uncontested monopoly; it's a neat change of pace and she works well with the part playing it as a femme fatale. Carlyle's nihilistic villain has a creepy aura due to the fact a bullet lodged in his head makes him impervious to pain, and he is quite good in the part even if the script does not fully flesh out such a unique concept. Many have criticized Denise Richards' performance as Bond woman Dr. Christmas Jones, but I thought she was fine; yes she is not as independent as Wai Lin from Tomorrow Never Dies and yes she does need saving during the third act, but Richards mentioned how she liked the role because it was "brainy", "athletic", and "had depth of character" in contrast to other Bond women from previous decades so I'll just leave it at that. This would be the final film for Desmond Llewelyn as Q, who sadly died in a car accident shortly after the film's premiere, and seeing him again for the final time was bittersweet knowing he appears in the first half and completely disappears from the narrative but he did a great job as always as does Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny. Dench is great once again as M and while she may feel wasted to some viewers, it was great to see her throw a slap towards Elektra. Robbie Coltrane reprises his role of Valentin Zukovsky from GoldenEye for the final time, and John Cleese makes his Bond debut as Q's appointed successor who provides the gadgets. ing cast include Michael Kitchen as Bill Tanner, Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson, Serena Scott Thomas as Dr. Molly Warmflash, and John Seru as Gabor.

The World Is Not Enough works as a popcorn flick. It may not be as exciting as the previous Bond adventures and have some flaws regarding characterizations and plot, but gets the job done; the producers had gambled on a more complex storyline and won in the end with the film bringing in $126 million in the United States alone, making it the highest-grossing film until the fourth and final film starring Pierce Brosnan would come along three years later.

While GoldenEye was still shooting, United Artists production executive Jeff Kleeman asked producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson how would the eighteenth James Bond film get audiences excited. The contributing writer to GoldenEye, Bruce Feirstein, had an answer with a nine-word pitch that centered on a media baron: "Words are the new weapons; satellites, the new artillery." Wilson and Broccoli were immediately intrigued by the pitch and commissioned Feirstein to write a first draft for what would become Tomorrow Never Dies; the plot centers on Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) planning to use an encoder obtained at a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border by his henchman, cyber-terrorist Henry Gupta (Ricky Jay), to provoke war between China and the UK to boost sales and ratings of his news divisions. Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent by M (Judi Dench) to investigate Carver after he releases news articles about the frigate HMS Devonshire being sunk in the South China Sea hours before MI6 had learned of it; along the way Bond teams up with Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese agent on the same case, and together must stop Carver before he plans to destroy the Chinese government.

The plot does sound insane when you think about it, yet in the twenty-three years after the film's premiere it now sounds like a feasible thing that could possibly happen today. Media has evolved rapidly alongside technology and, continuing what GoldenEye laid out, works within the narrative as a more modern look at global geopolitics; abandoning the franchise's dated Cold War antagonism for a look at manipulative media conglomeration is a fresh concept and I applaud Feirstein for going this route. Roger Spottiswoode, who got his start editing several films for Sam Peckinpah, sits in the director's chair for this entry; his skills as editor were invaluable in deg the action scenes alongside editors Michel Arcand and Dominique Fortin, which move along at a steady yet quick pace and look incredible. My favorite action set piece would have to be the car chase where Bond drives his BMW 750iL by remote with the touch pad on his phone; seeing it drive through the car park while using rockets and caltrops to slow down Carver's men is lots of fun and has a grand finish. Cinematographer Robert Elswit, who would later win an Oscar for There Will Be Blood a decade later, does a marvelous job capturing the scenes set in , , the US and Thailand along with two locations from previous Bond films (Stoke Park and Phang Nga Bay) making an appearance, and production designer Allan Cameron fills in for Peter Lamont by making each set compliment the locations nicely. Daniel Kleinman returns from GoldenEye to give us what I consider one of the most visually interesting title sequences so far, and special effects supervisor John Richardson also does well filling in for the late Derek Meddings. This would be the first of five Bond films to be scored by David Arnold, who incorporates several references to Bond music of the past in his score, and does a fantastic job. The film is bookend by the brooding title song performed by Sheryl Crow, and the sexy, brassy "Surrender" belted out by Kathryn Dawn Lang (k.d. lang) that hearkens back to the style of Shirley Bassey; fans to this day still wonder why that song wasn't chosen to open the film after the pre-titles sequence.

Brosnan is now fitting comfortably into the secret agent's headspace with this second outing, and gets to have some fun in the role. He may not be vulnerable like in GoldenEye, but remains dedicated to what the script has Bond going through and works well in elevating the dialogue. Yeoh is yet another fantastic Bond woman who is very much Bond's equal; Lin is a colonel in the Chinese People's External Security Force sent after Carver and I love how for the first half working alongside Bond she expresses no attraction towards him and later has an action scene all to herself. Pryce, best known for portraying Governor Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, seems to be having a blast as Carver; this Bond villain has a huge presence given his background, and makes him eerily reflect certain individuals who either influence the media or bash them for spreading "fake news." Dench has a much bigger ing role as M, and gets to deliver some great lines as she stands her ground against short-tempered, testosterone-driven peers to prevent them from starting World War III. Teri Hatcher has been criticized for her performance as Bond's former girlfriend Paris Carver, and while I can understand that she was not terrible in the scenes she appeared in and did her job. The only thing that did not work for me was how Bond reacted to her demise; if it had been someone like Sylvia Trench, a character who had made sporadic appearances through the films that Bond considered a romantic partner, his reaction would have made the scene more impactful. Jay provides good as Gupta, and Götz Otto provides the muscle as Carver's henchman Richard Stamper. Samantha Bond and Desmond Llewelyn make welcome returns as their respective characters, Joe Don Baker reprises his role from GoldenEye as Jack Wade, and the ing cast is rounded out by Vincent Schiavelli as Dr. Kaufman, Colin Salmon as Charles Robinson, and Nina Young as Tamara Steel. Be sure to keep your eyes out for Gerard Butler as a seaman on the HMS Devonshire.

Tomorrow Never Dies is a memorable action thriller that has now become relevant regarding the current state of media today. Great action, solid writing that balances drama with instances of humor, fantastic performances, and marvelous cinematography/direction make it a great entry. The film is dedicated to producer Albert R. Broccoli, who ed away in 1996, and while it may not top GoldenEye for some fans it helped solidify Pierce Brosnan's place as the perfect James Bond for the 1990s.

Six years after the release of Licence to Kill, the series got rebooted and was given to director Martin Campbell as a means to breathe life back into the character with Pierce Brosnan becoming the fifth actor to slide into the tuxedo. GoldenEye became the first in the series not to utilize any story elements from Ian Fleming’s work, along with being the first Bond film made after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War which provided a background for the plot; the film begins in 1986, with Bond and Agent 006 Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) infiltrating a weapons facility in Arkhangelsk, USSR. While Trevelyan is presumably killed by the facility's commanding officer, Colonel Ourumov (Gottfried John), Bond manages to destroy the site before escaping. Nine years later Bond oversees MI6 staff monitoring an incident in Severnaya, Siberia where an electromagnetic pulse blast hits a radar facility that destroys it and Russian fighter aircraft while knocking out satellite systems in orbit. The newly appointed M (Judi Dench) assigns Bond to investigate, which leads him to a familiar face who now runs the Janus crime syndicate and seeks revenge against Britain for betraying his descendants after collaboration with the Axis powers during World War II; Bond along with newfound ally, skilled programmer Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), must race against the syndicate and prevent them from using the nuclear space-based weapon codenamed "GoldenEye" from destroying London.

The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein, based off a story by Michael , is brilliant. The inciting incident and backstory of the villain works in complimenting the world politics happening at the time during its production, which was done as a means to keep Bond relevant and up to date; it's also not afraid to criticize Bond, with the standout scene being M quickly establishing her authority by remarking to Bond that he's a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur who is a relic of the Cold War". It also brings back a sense of humor that was absent during Dalton's run, but thankfully holds it back and actually continues what Dalton did by having Bond dispatch the main antagonist without making a witty pun. Campbell’s direction is solid and energetic, making the action scenes bigger than what we have seen up to this point in the franchise and would come to define this phase of Bond. The opening sequence has a really exciting shootout where bullets fly everywhere and sparks explode from them ricocheting off metal walls, and then later we get an incredible chase down the streets of St. Petersburg and parts of the de Havilland runway at Leavesden involving a T-54/55 tank Bond commandeers; that particular set piece took around six weeks to film, and yet that time and attention to its execution paid off. The cinematography by Phil Méheux is lavish, fully using the Panavision lenses to capture the action and Peter Lamont's production design is again top-notch. The special effects may show their age regarding the use of CG (a first for Bond), but the in-camera practical effects and miniatures overseen by veteran artist Derek Meddings still look incredible twenty-five years later; this would be the last film for Meddings, who ed away on September 10th, 1995 so the film is dedicated to him. Terry Rawlings' editing helps heighten the drama and action over the course of two hours and ten minutes, with frequent Luc Besson collaborator Éric Serra giving the film a memorable score (with John Altman recording a version of "The James Bond Theme" that can be heard during the tank chase) to deliver the right amount of thrills and tenderness to fit the scene, with Tina Turner singing the title song whose lyrics manage to mirror some key plot points which is a first for the traditional Bond theme.

Brosnan’s Bond seems to be an amalgamation of traits we have seen in the past, yet give us an interpretation that stands apart from what Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton did. He shines during the more intense and vulnerable moments, while not afraid to let a bit of light-hearted humor come in at certain points without clashing with the established tone. Bean is excellent as Trevelyan, who we see as an ally before his reappearance nine years after the cold opening makes us the viewer understand his reasoning for switching sides; he never thumbs in his performance and given the actor's track record you know what's going to happen to him. Polish-Swedish actress Scorupco gives us yet another fantastic Bond woman who is strong, independent and very relevant to the plot since she lends her skill to shut down GoldenEye; she and Brosnan share great chemistry between each other over the duration of the film, neither one being made to look incompetent to make the other look better. Future X-Men actress Famke Janssen is memorable as Trevelyan's henchwoman Xenia Onatopp, a sadistic lust murderer who enjoys torturing her enemies by crushing them between her thighs. Dench is excellent as M, a role she would continue to play for the next twenty years and while she only appears in two scenes here she leaves quite a lasting impression. Alan Cumming relishes in the part of Boris Grishenko, an of Janus, while John works well as the secondary Janus agent who abuses his authority and position to obtain control of GoldenEye. Rounding out the ing cast we have Desmond Llewelyn as Q, future Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane as ex-KGB officer Valentin Zukovsky, Joe Don Baker as CIA officer Jack Wade, and Samantha Bond making her first of four appearances as Miss Moneypenny.

GoldenEye provides excellent entertainment on all fronts, and is yet another winner from the franchise I enjoyed revisiting. It works as a perfect introduction for newcomers since it does not rely on the previous films, has excellent action sequences, and a strong cast who make these characters work. Audiences at the time embraced Brosnan as 007, which resulted in the film earning over $26 million during its opening in the US and became the most successful since Moonraker when taking inflation into . The film's success emphasized Bond's relevance in the post-Cold War world and marked the ing of the torch from Albert R. Broccoli to the current producers of the series: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

The second and final outing for Timothy Dalton as James Bond would also mark the last film for many Bond veterans: the last to be directed by series regular John Glen, produced by Albert R. Broccoli, co-written by Richard Maibaum, and to employ the services of title designer Maurice Binder. Licence to Kill sees 007 being suspended from MI6 as he pursues South American drug lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), who ordered an attack against his CIA friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and the murder of Felix's wife Della (Priscilla Barnes) during their honeymoon. With help from ex-CIA agent and pilot Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), Bond will not rest until Sanchez and his crew pay for their actions along with preventing them from dissolving cocaine in petrol and selling it disguised as fuel to Asian drug dealers. This film is notable for being the most brutal and hard-edged film in the franchise, yet that is what makes it brilliant in my opinion since it decided to change the formula and be more in line with action films of the 1980s where they delivered a healthy dose of thrills on the side to compliment the action and stuntwork. Despite being the final curtain for many behind the camera, they went out on a high note giving fans a dramatic and thrilling film that deserves more attention when discussing the many faces in Bond's evolution as a screen protagonist.

Maibaum, who had been with the series for nearly thirty years, works again with Michael G. Wilson on the screenplay and retain the grounded approach the previous film introduced by having it based in realism. Taking inspiration of elements from the Fleming novel "Live and Let Die" and the short story "The Hildebrand Rarity", interwoven with the sabotage premise influenced by Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo, results in Licence to Kill being more engaging as a Bond adventure. You root for Bond to dispatch the numerous henchmen, because the incident that befell Felix is very much like his own brutally cut-short marriage; it results in a new layer to the character's personality and I tip my hat to Maibaum and Wilson for going this route with the character and sticking to it. Glen's direction is great as always, moving along without breaking the steady pace he and editor John Grover establish where we get plot details and character growth before a marvelously executed action scene comes in; the best one for me is the finale where Bond must destroy four tankers on La Rumorosa Mountain in Tecate. Like before driving stunts supervisor Rémy Julienne and crew did a fantastic job making the grueling stuntwork on the dangerous location filled with sharp curves work, and it still thrills me every time seeing that eighteen-wheeler tilt onto its side while coasting along the road. Alec Mills returns for the final time as cinematographer, having been with the series as camera operator since On Her Majesty's Secret Service twenty years prior, and once again uses the Panavision aspect ratio to great effect in photographing the locations set in Mexico City, Villa Arabesque in Acapulco, and Key West in the Straits of Florida. Taking over for John Barry in the orchestral department is Michael Kamen, who made a name for himself working as composer on the scores for noted 80s classics Lethal Weapon (1987) and Die Hard (1988), and like those films gives us a memorable score that retains the feel of Bond while also being its own thing. While not mentioned in the opening credits, the title song as performed by soul singer Gladys Knight sets the mood and is one of the longest songs to ever be used in a Bond film that also got its foundation from the "horn line" used in Goldfinger.

Dalton again does a fantastic job, retaining the same hard-edged personality he brought in The Living Daylights. His facial expressions help enhance the lines of dialogue he has to say, and I enjoyed how this was his own vendetta towards Sanchez for what he did to Felix instead of being a mission given to him by his superiors. Character actor extraordinaire Davi, who made an impression on audiences as opera-singing heavy Jake Fratelli in The Goonies (1985) and FBI Special Agent Johnson in the aforementioned Die Hard, is perfectly sinister as Sanchez. His cadence presented through his line delivery and physical stature make him a credible villain; he's not a supervillain who wants to rule the world, but a stand-in for every criminal hiding in the darkness of society. Lowell is excellent as our Bond woman Bouvier, who dismisses Bond's order of staying behind and insists on providing ; she demands Bond to earn her trust instead of letting him seduce her to his cause, which in turn makes the character another enjoyable addition to the roster of pro-active Bond women. Desmond Llewelyn gets to have a much bigger ing role this time as Q, and is so much fun in the scenes where he chats with Bond and Bouvier in giving them gadgets that they'll have to use later on. Future Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro made his second film appearance as Sanchez's personal henchman Dario, and at the age of twenty-one when he did the role held the distinction of being the youngest actor ever to play a Bond henchman and was quite good. Hedison returns to play Felix after playing the role in Live and Let Die sixteen years prior, and is always a joy to watch on screen. This would be the final Bond film for Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny and Robert Brown as M, who both bid their characters a fond farewell; the rest of the ing cast includes Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora, Anthony Zerbe as Milton Krest, Frank McRae as Sharkey, Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher, and Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as President Hector Lopez (which is a neat nod to the fact his father played Ali Kerim Bey in From Russia with Love).

Licence to Kill still holds up thirty-one years later in the grand scheme of Bond's history, and I never get tired of rewatching the various action scenes or quoting some of the dialogue. It's a shame the film was not able to achieve a breakout audience in America when released during one of the biggest summer seasons in film history that included Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, Lethal Weapon II and Ghostbusters II; thankfully time has been kind and it has garnered a fanbase of its own. This would be the last Bond film for six years before the character would make a triumphant return and kickstart a new phase, and like with the previous highlights of the franchise is absolutely worth seeing.

Following the financial and critical disappointment of A View to a Kill, work began on scripts for the next James Bond film along with an extensive search for a new actor; Welsh-born stage actor Timothy Dalton eventually got the role after much persuading from producers Albert Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, along with Broccoli's daughter Barbara who would make her debut as a producer of the series going forward. Like previous Bond entries the title was taken from Ian Fleming's short story of the same name, but this time around the first act of the film is actually based on the source material; this would be the last film to use the title of an Ian Fleming story until Casino Royale in 2006. The Living Daylights follows our famed spy being assigned to aid the defection of General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé); during his post-defection debriefing to MI6, Koskov reveals that the new head of the KGB, General Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies), has revived an old policy known as Smiert Spionam (“Death to Spies”) and Bond must kill him to forestall further killings of agents and the escalation of tension between the Soviet Union and the West. However things are not what they appear to be after meeting Pushkin firsthand so with the help of Koskov's girlfriend Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo), Bond must uncover the truth behind Koskov and his motivations.

John Glen returns for his fourth Bond film as director, and he truly has upped his game here. Working off a more grounded script by Bond regulars Maibaum and Wilson (which was based off the real-life story of KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko who defected to the CIA for a short time in 1985 before going back to the Soviet Union), he injects this adventure with a lot of thrills and gripping drama that actually had me invested. Since the Cold War was still fresh on everyone's mind at the time and because of the aforementioned event, it makes the film reflect those attitudes without coming across as jingoistic and dated unlike other action films of the 1980s. The pacing overseen by editors John Grover and Peter Davies is just right where the romance goes at an appropriate pace, the action scenes don't overstay their welcome, and we keep brisking along for two hours and ten minutes. This film reunited Bond with the car maker Aston Martin, who give us the V8 Vantage which is used for a fantastic car chase at the forty-five minute mark that was shot in Weissensee, Austria. Driving stunts supervisor Rémy Julienne and company really knocked it out of the park by having the car's different capabilities add to the excitement of the chase before we get an explosive finish. Peter Lamont once again makes the production design of the film perfectly meld with the locations of Vienna, , the United States and Italy, with the desert scenes being shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco. This would be the first of two Bond films photographed by Alec Mills of Return of the Jedi fame, whose use of Panavision exceeds in all the best ways to capture the action and drama without making the mise-en-scéne come off distracting or barely present when the actors walk into frame. The Living Daylights marked the final time a James Bond film would be scored by John Barry (who makes a fitting cameo appearance as a conductor near the end of the film, serving as a coda to his career with 007), who sequenced electronic rhythm tracks to overdub alongside the orchestra which at the time was considered innovative. It's a fantastic soundtrack that is accompanied by Norwegian pop-music group A-ha's title song, which compliments the decade this film came from yet never dates it at the same time.

Dalton gives us a Bond that seems to have come right out of Fleming's work: a serious, straightforward spy who does not have any humorous qualities, which is a great change of pace after the seven films starring Roger Moore. His performance works in this regard, where he refuses to kill a sniper when he finds out it's a woman and not all that intimidated about MI6 finding out he disobeyed orders which adds a loose cannon angle to the character. European actress d'Abo is wonderful as Kara, and while this Bond woman may not purposely try to involve herself in the huge mess Bond has to solve, she is a wonderful contrast and I totally believed in their newfound relationship as the story progressed. Krabbé, who would later turn up in The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Fugitive (1993), is fantastic as our main Bond villain; at first his defection from Russia makes it look like he is being targeted by within the KGB, but as we slowly discover clues through Bond's investigation his true colors are unveiled, and he's actually the first main antagonist to not be taken out by Bond which is rather surprising. Rhys-Davies is always fun to see in movies, and he does a great job as Pushkin who knows Bond and provides him the essential information without having to sell himself out. Legendary character actor Joe Don Baker is really good as American arms dealer and self-styled general Brad Whitaker with Art Malik lending great as Kamran Shah, leader in the Afghan Mujahideen. After disappearing for fourteen years since his role in Live and Let Die (1973), the character Felix Leiter returns and John Terry does well in the part even though the continuity in the Bond universe is not as concrete as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Caroline Bliss makes her first appearance as Moneypenny and is really good without copying Lois Maxwell's portrayal; Bond regulars Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Keen, and Walter Gotell also return and do a fine job as their established characters. This would be Keen's last film before his death, and Gotell's final Bond film as General Gogol who makes a cameo appearance as a diplomat near the end.

The Living Daylights is a fantastic return to form for 007. Much like From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only it's a personal favorite, and thirty-three years later still packs a punch thanks to its great action sequences, strong acting from a solid cast, marvelous music score and confident direction. Absolutely worth watching.

The fourteenth James Bond film was the last to star Roger Moore and, like Sean Connery’s final outing as the character, is considered one of the weakest. Even in later interviews Moore himself stated he did not enjoy making it, and after sitting through it again I could see why. The plot for A View to a Kill deals with 007 having to stop psychopathic industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) from triggering an earthquake in California’s Silicon Valley, which will give him and potential investors a monopoly over microchip manufacture. This is the first time a Bond film would open with a disclaimer, stating that the name “Zorin” and any other name/character is not meant to portray a real company or actual person, and the first to address a contemporary issue whereas in the past any real-world issue was never acknowledged as part of Bond's world. It marked the transition from one era in the character's history to the next, and while not the best outing for Moore it's not as bad as its reputation suggests.

Like with Octopussy, the screenplay is original and only uses the title from Ian Fleming’s short story. Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson return to write and while serviceable at best, their script is not as inspired or has anything that stands out as we witness the narrative play out over two hours and eleven minutes. Tying the series into modern sensibilities as a means to prevent the franchise from looking stale was a good idea for the time, so I at least have to give the writers credit for finally taking Bond in this direction without having him be buried under a ton of gadgets to help him. The pre-credits sequence set in Siberia (which was filmed near Glacier Lake in Iceland) is infamous for having a cover version of the Beach Boys song “California Girls” performed by tribute band Gidea Park with Adrian Baker play for a brief moment, which is a rather jarring moment in a film that has tonal issues although it did help make snowboarding become a popular sport so there is that. John Glen's direction is serviceable, much like the script, where we just move along to get information regarding the villain's scheme and then dive into an action scene although the action this time is not as energetic or believable; while implausible, the car chase in Paris where Bond goes from a full car to driving only the front half as he pursues Zorin's henchwoman May Day did make me chuckle at how he viewed it as a minor inconvenience. Alan Hume returns for the final time as cinematographer on the series and like before does a good job capturing the locations of Iceland, Switzerland, and the United States to work with the elaborate sets created at Pinewood Studios in London by production designer Peter Lamont. John Barry's score is again, much like the script and directing, serviceable; nothing too memorable or lackluster, just sits right in the middle and does its job. However the title song as performed by popular rock group Duran Duran is really catchy and unabashedly a staple of the 80s; it became the most successful Bond movie theme to date, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and has not lost any of its touch thirty-five years later.

Moore, despite his physical appearance, gives it his all for the last time and succeeds for the most part. He puts on the classic Bond persona he had been developing for the past six films and delivers a lot of puns, though much like in The Man with the Golden Gun does not deliver any after taking out the main villain. Walken would become the first Oscar-winning actor to play a Bond antagonist, and he gives a unique performance that only he could pull off. It's funny how one moment he is chatting about specific horse breeds, the next mowing down mine workers with a machine gun and laughing as he does so; it makes him a step up above the villains from Octopussy as a result. Tanya Roberts was reportedly a nightmare to work with on set, which in turn makes her performance as Bond woman Stacey Sutton not that great and creates a lack of chemistry between her and Moore. Popular model and singer Grace Jones is fine as May Day, and seeing her top Bond during the love scene was a fresh change of pace since it showed she was not that easy to submit. Another cast member from the popular television series The Avengers, Patrick Macnee, appears in a Bond film as Sir Godfrey Tibbett and seeing him play off Moore was really fun since the two were friends in real life. This would be the final Bond film for Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, who had been with the series since 1962, and while a small part like her other appearances she does a good job. Robert Brown, Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Keen, and Walter Gotell return in their respective roles and a young Alison Doody, just a few years away from playing Elsa in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, plays May Day's assistant Jenny Flex. Willoughby Gray, David Yip, Patrick Bauchau, Papillon Soo Soo and Manning Redwood round out the ing cast; make sure to keep an eye out for a young Dolph Lundgren making his film debut as one of General Gogol's KGB agents.

A View to a Kill is flawed, but there are some elements that make it work as guilty pleasure entertainment. It’s certainly better than The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, and Octopussy but that is an already low bar to clear since the plot is not as interesting, performances range from good to bad, and the clashing of tones makes it hard to get into the right mindset. Only for Bond completionists.

John Glen's second James Bond film behind the camera as director took its title from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection "Octopussy and The Living Daylights", but has a completely original plot. The plot follows 007 (Roger Moore) being assigned the task to follow a general who is stealing relics and jewels from the Soviet government. This leads him to wealthy Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) and his associate Octopussy (Maud Adams), who plot to force disarmament in Western Europe with the use of a nuclear weapon primed to explode during a circus show at the Feldstadt US Air Force base in West . As a result it would leave its borders open to a Soviet invasion, and Bond must rely on a variety of allies to put an end to Khan's scheme. This mixture of audacity, romantic adventure, humor, and suspense should have been a winning combination yet the final result somehow comes across as a mishmash where none of the elements work as a cohesive whole. You can tell that at this point the series was beginning to get stagnant, which results in a forgettable film that I could not any notable moments from.

Maibaum and Wilson returned to pen the script, this time rewriting a draft that had been written by George MacDonald Fraser who was best known for a series of novels featuring a character named Flashman. The rewrite includes such elements as a deadly yo-yo buzz saw and Bond evading capture by hiding in a gorilla suit, which is as ludicrous as it sounds. It also has a rather voyeuristic mindset regarding Octopussy and her cult of women, who are sexualized to the point where it comes off as distracting and a means to keep adolescent boys interested in what's going on. There's no connective tissue between the various scenes, and the lack of narrative momentum results in all these scenes just working as individual moments instead of building upon each other. The direction by Glen is adequate and workmanlike, where he keeps things going along but there's no personality to make certain sequences stand out. This film could have benefited from tighter editing, since John Grover just lets the film run for two hours and eleven minutes so you feel that bloated runtime when the other Bond films at least moved by at a snappy pace. Alan Hume's cinematography still holds up, perfectly capturing the wonderful sets created by production designer Peter Lamont and his crew along with the exotic locations of Udaipur, India where most of the film was shot. John Barry returns for his ninth Bond score and made frequent references to the James Bond Theme to reinforce Octopussy as the official Bond film, given that the non-Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again was being made around the same time. It's alright though not memorable, and out of the six songs Barry collaborated on with lyricist Tim Rice, "All Time High" as performed by Rita Coolidge is one of seven musical themes in the series where the song title does not refer to the film.

Moore tries his best, but the silly script never lets his performance come off as credible. He goes through the motions like in Moonraker where he gets a task, goes off to encounter the villain, meets the Bond woman who starts out as a villain before changing sides, resulting in a performance that you can tell was thumbed in. Adams returns for her second Bond film, though instead of playing a secondary character like in The Man with the Golden Gun she is our Bond woman. Her performance is mixed for me, where there are some instances where she is great and others where I can't believe she went with the delivery that got approved for the final take. She and Moore together are alright, but not as kinetic like before. Jourdan, best known for appearing in Gigi (1958) and The V.I.P.s (1963), is an odd choice to play a Bond villain and that in turn makes Khan not memorable in the long run. Kristina Wayborn plays Octopussy's right-hand woman Magda and she makes the best with how the character is written. Kabir Bedi appears as Khan's bodyguard Gobinda, who is essentially a stand-in for Jaws but never quite works. Steven Berkoff plays General Orlov as your stereotypical Russian movie villain, and Walter Gotell now plays General Gogol as an ally so it seems the writers wanted to balance out how not all Russians during the 1980s were bad. Bond veterans Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, and Geoffrey Keen return though even here they feel wasted and their presence is only to receive a paycheck.

Octopussy is another weak entry in Moore's run as Bond, and you can tell he wants to retire from the role. No interesting or cohesive plot, lackluster villains, a clash of tones during the duration of two hours, and moments of racism aside from instances of misogyny make this an unbearable viewing experience.

Frequent James Bond collaborator John Glen, who worked as editor and second unit director on three other Bond films, made his directorial debut with this twelfth entry in the franchise as we enter the 1980s. Combining characters and elements from the plots of two short stories in Ian Fleming's collection of the same name, For Your Eyes Only has Bond (Roger Moore) attempting to locate a missile command system known as the Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC) while becoming tangled in a web of deception spun by Greek businessman Aristotle "Aris" Kristatos (Julian Glover), who is actually working for the KGB to retrieve the device. Along the way Bond teams up with Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), a woman seeking to avenge the murder of her parents from the hands of Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard), a former enforcer in the Brussels underworld. As Leonard Maltin noted in his review, "This one-shot return to Ian Fleming minimalism has done what no other James Bond film could: provoke so much debate among 007 fans", and I can see why that would be the case. This film downplays the camp factor and use of gadgets to make room for a narrative theme of revenge and its consequences, resulting in my second favorite Roger Moore outing behind The Spy Who Loved Me.

After the experiment that was the sci-fi heavy Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only was a deliberate effort to bring the series back to the style of the early Bond films and Fleming's work. Glen's approach emphasized a more gritty, harder-edged style that focused on tension, plot and character which can be felt in the screenplay written by Bond veteran Richard Maibaum and first-timer Michael G. Wilson (who happened to be the stepson of series producer Albert R. Broccoli). I was invested with Melina's story which neatly segues into the main plot where Bond has to use his wits instead of gadgets, and that made the dramatic moments work so well. All those years of experience as editor and second unit director helped Glen establish the right pacing for the film, where we get ample time with the characters confronting their moral conflicts before having an action set piece with the standout being a car chase between a Citroen 2CV and Peugeot 504 Sedan. Action supervisor Bob Simmons and his team do a marvelous job with the stunts, including the tense moment where Bond is kicked over a cliff by one of Aristotle's henchmen; Rick Sylvester doubled Moore and performed the 300 ft fall with special effects wizard Derek Meddings building a 30 foot trough filled with sandbags to ease the impact of the climbing rope going taut and still works as the most suspenseful moment for me in the franchise. Alan Hume, who would later photograph Return of the Jedi (1983) and later two more Bond films, does a fantastic job capturing the locations in Greece, Italy and England with the Panavision format and editor John Grover does well in filling Glen's role by keeping things going without having any sequence go on for too long or be abruptly cut to the next. This would be the only time Rocky composer Bill Conti would compose the score for a Bond adventure, and he employed the usage of a Greek-Turkish stringed instrument called the bazouki to add an appropriately ethnic flavor to some of the tracks which makes it stand out. The title song performed by Sheena Easton is notable for being the first Bond film to have the title song artist appear on screen, and also scored an Oscar nomination like the title song for TSWLM did.

Moore gets back into being the same Bond we know from TSWLM, with an added edge this go-round where he thinks about being vengeful but has to fight the urge; the pre-title sequence references what happened at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service where Bond pays a visit to his late wife's grave. It plants the seeds for the movie's thematic angle and how he has to make Melina not stoop to the villains' level, which in turn makes Moore give a memorable performance. Bouquet also turns in a great performance as our lead Bond woman, and much like Anya in TSWLM is a strong and active participant who will not rest until she has avenged her parents from a senseless death; the chemistry between her and Moore is both excellent and believable. Glover, who played General Maximilian Veers in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and would later turn in a memorable performance as Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), makes Kristatos work as a villain. He may not be the strongest villain from this phase of the franchise, but he certainly gives it that menacing edge without going over the top. Fiddler on the Roof star Topol is fantastic as Bond's newfound ally Milos Columbo, whose trademark involves pistachios that leads to a great scene where they are used to orient Columbo's men on where they should shoot. Gothard does well in the part of Locque, Geoffrey Keen returns as Sir Frederick Gray, and this time Walter Gotell gives General Gogol a more sinister approach that worked well in the confines of the plot. Bond regulars Llewelyn and Maxwell are fun to see as always, and the ing cast include John Wyman as Erich Kriegler, Cassandra Harris as Countess Lisl von Schlaf, Lynn-Holly Johnson as Bibi Dahl, and James Villiers as MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner.

For Your Eyes Only is a solid return to form and not a bad way to welcome Bond into the new decade. With fantastic direction by Glen, a more grounded approach to the story and a great cast bringing these characters alive, it was another success when it hit theaters nearly four decades ago and has gone on to be another fan favorite. Well worth checking out.

The third and final James Bond film for director Lewis Gilbert has become infamous among some of the Bond fans for being too far-out with its premise. Back in 1977, a little film called Star Wars broke box-office records and ushered in the modern blockbuster which caught the attention of Albert R. Broccoli; he infamously stated that the eleventh film in the franchise wouldn’t be science fiction but “science fact”, which gets immediately dismissed when you watch Moonraker. Based on the third novel in the series written by Ian Fleming, the plot has 007 (Roger Moore) investigating the theft of a space shuttle which leads him to Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale), the owner of the shuttle's manufacturing firm. Along with space scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), Bond follows the trail from California to Venice, Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon rain forest, and finally outer space to prevent a plot to wipe out the world population and recreate humanity with a master race. Hard to believe the vast change in quality with this film given that I thoroughly loved the previous entry, since Moonraker comes across more like a parody than a legit adventure with serious stakes and consequences. As a result the world of science-fiction fantasy would never again interact with the universe of James Bond going forward, a call that I am completely okay with since Bond and space never go well together in the first place.

Right off the bat, the plot is literally a redressing of The Spy Who Loved Me and there isn't any effort to try and make it work for the science-fiction angle. Christopher Wood returned as screenwriter and for some reason decided to just copy/paste what he had written and hoped to capture lightning in a bottle twice. It never does, and that in turn makes the whole two hour and six minute experience feel much longer; the weird injection of movie references (Magnificent Seven theme with Bond on horseback in gaucho clothing being one example) is completely distracting and clashes with what's on screen. Gilbert's directing now comes across flat instead of energetic where scenes just happen to move the plot forward, although to be fair the Venetian glass museum fight between Bond and Drax's bodyguard Chang is impressively staged and executed given how much break-away sugar glass was used; I won't be surprised if this had a hand influencing a similar scene in 2019's John Wick Chapter 3. This would be the last Bond film production designer Ken Adam would work on, and without question left on a high note regarding the sets; the three-story space station we hang out with Bond and Goodhead during the third act is incredible and even holds the world record for having the largest number of zero gravity wires in one scene. So again from a technical standpoint, the film is top-notch and even some of the visual effects supervised by Derek Meddings and his crew are fantastic despite their age. Taking over as cinematographer is Jean Tournier, best known for filming John Frankenheimer's The Train (1964) and Fred Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal (1973). He does a good job showing off these various locales and clearly captures the action in a way where you can clearly decipher what's occurring within the mise-en-scéne. John Barry returns to compose the score, and this marked a turning point for him since he would abandon the Kentonesque brass of his earlier Bond scores in favor of slow, rich string ages. Not bad overall, and the title song is the third and final time Shirley Bassey would lend her vocals and it's okay but not as memorable as her first Bond effort "Goldfinger."

Moore is in full tongue-in-cheek mode here, which is the first time in his tenure he would go down this path. He knows the plot is unabashedly silly and decides to play out his comedic chops, dropping four puns after taking out Chang and Drax which in of itself is just ridiculous yet he's so earnest about it. Lonsdale is more subdued with his performance, and much like Christopher Lee's Scaramanga is actually fun to watch as Drax whenever he's on screen despite the material he's given. Chiles is unfortunately not compelling as Goodhead, a name much like Pussy Galore would not suit well with audiences of today; she is very much eye candy for this film and as a result the romantic angle feels one-sided so I never bought into it. This would be the last film to feature Bernard Lee as M, who ed away on January 16th, 1981, and like most of the cast does his best with the script's content. Desmond Llewelyn seems to be having fun as Q given the scenario leading to a bunch of gadgets he prepares for Bond, and he does have the film's best closing line. Richard Kiel returns for the last time as Jaws, who here has gone through a complete 180 since director Gilbert received so much fan mail from small children saying why couldn't Jaws be a good guy, he was persuaded to make the character into an ally; he also says four words in the final scene featuring him and his love interest Dolly (Blanche Ravalec), which is nice but definitely belongs in a different movie. The other ing cast include Corinne Cléry as Corinne Dufour, Geoffrey Keen and Walter Gotell returning as Frederick Gray and General Gogol respectively, Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny, Toshiro Suga as Chang, and Michael Marshall as Colonel Scott.

Moonraker works if you view it as a comedy and not as your typical Bond adventure, and in that respect I can see why it has become something of a guilty pleasure for many fans. But for me, this idea could have worked if there was effort put into the screenplay and stuck with a consistent tone that would compliment the Oscar-nominated effects work but alas it went way too far into comedy. Only worth seeing if you are a Roger Moore completionist.

A decade after directing You Only Live Twice, Lewis Gilbert was brought back by producer Albert R. Broccoli to helm the tenth James Bond adventure, regarded by many fans to be the best to come out of the 1970s. Taking its title from the tenth novel by Ian Fleming, but not containing any elements save for two characters inspiring the secondary antagonists in the film, The Spy Who Loved Me centers on megalomaniac Karl Stromberg (Curd Jürgens) planning to destroy the world and create a new civilization under the sea. Bond (Roger Moore) teams up with Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), a Russian agent, to stop Stromberg and destroy his underwater base Atlantis. Despite being plagued with difficulties from working out a manageable screenplay to finding the right director, this overcame the odds and was seen as a return to form given the generally unfavorable response to The Man with the Golden Gun. It has it all: rousing action set pieces, lavish sets and locales, the best gadgets Bond uses to his advantage, and is just a fun time all the way through the course of two hours and five minutes.

The screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Christopher Wood is fantastic, with the biggest element that I believe made the film work is how they wrote Bond. Here he is close to the Bond Fleming wrote in his novels: very English, very smooth and has a good sense of humor without coming across as a buffoon; it may adhere to the Bond formula, but the script is first and foremost interested in giving viewers something fresh. Since Kevin McClory still owned the film rights to Thunderball and obtained an injunction barring Eon Productions from using the character Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE, the new villain created by Maibaum and Wood works as a substitute. What is also interesting to note is how Fleming wrote the novel from the perspective of a woman who meets James Bond for one harrowing night, but wished that it would not be used as the plot for a film; the reason why is due to the heightened sexual writing and how the characters came across, and after reading the synopsis along with its critical reception I don't blame him for making that decision. Gilbert's direction is a vast improvement over what he did in You Only Live Twice, since he makes both the action and exposition-heavy scenes interesting without ever making my attention dwindle. Filling in the shoes of cinematographer is Claude Renoir, nephew of famed director Jean Renoir, and he does a masterful job capturing the locations of Egypt (Cairo and Luxor) and Italy (Costa Smeralda, Sardinia) in glorious Panavision, with the underwater scenes at the Bahamas (Nassau) being filmed by Lamar Boren who did the same thing on Thunderball. This would actually be the last film Renoir would photograph since he was rapidly losing sight at the time, and talk about closing out your career on a high note; John Glen's editing is top-notch here as is the art direction and production design by Peter Lamont and Ken Adam. Marvin Hamlisch fills in for Bond veteran John Barry regarding the orchestral score, and gives the film a more disco-oriented approach including several pieces of classical music, and even incorporates the main themes from Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago into the film. Topping it all off is the fantastic power ballad "Nobody Does It Better" performed by Carly Simon, which reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Moore and Bach are so much fun to watch as the two spies who must work together after a truce is agreed by their respective British and Soviet superiors. The former has now completely grown into the role after two outings and his performance as a result gives the dialogue more personality while staying within the serious territory of the narrative's tone; Moore himself said this was his personal favorite and I won't argue with him on that. Bach was surprised to get the lead role of Anya when she thought another actress would play the part, and while some have criticized her performance by saying she was miscast I thought she was great as the Bond woman who is just as skilled as 007 and not simply eye candy. Jürgens, whose legendary career includes great performances in The Enemy Below (1957) and The Longest Day (1962), is perfect as Stromberg. His motivation to trigger World War III and restart civilization underwater reminds me of Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and while that plan may seem over-the-top, his performance is very straight-forward which makes you believe it could happen. This was the first of two Bond films seven foot two actor Richard Kiel would appear in as Jaws, the indestructible juggernaut of a henchman with a set of metal teeth. He's fantastic in this non-speaking role and, along with Oddjob and Tee Hee Johnson, has become a fan favorite when discussing noteworthy Bond henchmen. Like before Bond regulars Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, and Lois Maxwell do well in their established roles, and Caroline Munro is great as Stromberg's personal pilot and would-be assassin Naomi. Rounding out the cast we have Geoffrey Keen as British Minister of Defense Frederick Gray (a role he would reprise in the next five films), Walter Gotell as head of the KGB General Gogol (which he also would reprise in the series going forward), Robert Brown as Vice-iral Hargreaves, George Baker as Captain Benson and Edward de Souza as Sheikh Hosein.

What else can I say about The Spy Who Loved Me that has not already been said? It's an exciting and highly entertaining romp that has marvelous action scenes, solid performances, great direction and a memorable theme song that makes it easily stand out among Moore's seven efforts. Audiences and critics certainly thought the same thing, since it became a tremendous box office success and the only thing Bond could do was keep flying high. In fact, flying so high that he would enter outer space....

The final James Bond film to be directed by Guy Hamilton would also mark the last time Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman worked together as producers on the franchise, with Saltzman selling his share to United Artists after the film's release and Broccoli would be the sole producer going forward. The Man with the Golden Gun, loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1965 novel, begins with MI6 receiving a golden bullet with James Bond's code "007" etched into its surface. Believed to have been sent by the famed assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) who is using a golden gun to intimidate the agent, M (Bernard Lee) relieves Bond (Roger Moore) of a mission revolving around the work of a solar energy scientist named Gibson. However at a hint from M, Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga and find a device that can harness the power of the sun called the Solex Agitator. He soon follows Andrea Anders (Maud Adams), who happens to be Scaramanga's mistress, to Hong Kong and in her Peninsula Hotel room pressures her to reveal information about him and what he intends to do with the Solex; it all builds up to a duel between Bond and Scaramanga that settles the fate of the device.

Much like the previous film, The Man with the Golden Gun combined two notable film styles; the then-popular martial arts film craze was selected for this outing, which explains the kung fu scenes and predominantly Asian locations ranging from Thailand to Macau. Richard Maibaum returns to co-write the screenplay with Tom Mankiewicz, and they really tried to inject life into this plot that also reflected what was going on in the world at the time. Some of the elements worked such as using the 1973 energy crisis as the background for the Solex's existence, but the Bond formula is proudly displayed on its sleeves and I could predict what would happen. Interesting thing to note is the script originally was going to be a battle of wills between Bond and Scaramanga, with the latter being a super-villain alter ego of sorts, and that would've added something new to the series. But due to tensions between Mankiewicz and director Hamilton, along with Mankiewicz's growing sense that he was feeling tapped out on Bond, led to the re-introduction of Maibaum as screenwriter; with that said, I give the writers credit for two things that in retrospect is pretty incredible: no pun uttered by Bond after taking out the main villain, and for having the lowest body count out of the entire series. This would be the last Bond film Ted Moore would work on as the cinematographer, and he shares duties with Oswald Morris of Oliver! (1968) and Fiddler on the Roof (1971) fame; together they do a magnificent job capturing the vast locations in Panavision along with this film's highlight: the Astro Spiral Jump. Stunt driver Loren “Bumps” Willert drove a 1974 AMC Hornet X leaping a broken bridge and spinning around 360 degrees in mid-air about the longitudinal axis, doing an "aerial twist", and what's even more incredible is not only did he perform it in one take but had never attempted the stunt before. Unfortunately, composer John Berry had to ruin the moment by adding a slide whistle sound effect that producer Broccoli kept in, which is indeed a crass decision that taints what is otherwise a jaw-dropping stunt in a pre-CG age. Speaking of Barry, his orchestral score is not as exciting or engaging to listen to given the fact he had only three weeks to work on it, and the title song sung by Lulu is notable for having suggestive lyrics but is not as memorable as "Live and Let Die."

Lee, who happened to be Fleming's step-cousin and regular golf partner, is actually fun to watch as our main antagonist. He makes the best out of the material and is playing it very straight despite the various instances of comedy that appear before his scenes. He is fantastic and the sole reason why this film is even worth sitting through. Moore continues to be a laid-back Bond this go-round, though he too tries to work with the material he's given in making the proceedings feel lively. Adams plays Andrea as a woman without a lot of choices living in fear of Scaramanga, before she risks her life to rebel against him and give Bond the information he needs. She does well in the role and would later go on to make another appearance in a Bond film starring Moore. Britt Ekland plays Bond's assistant Mary Goodnight, and while she's a good actress the writing of her character unfortunately makes this Bond woman come across as "a dumb blonde." Hervé Villechaize, who'd later become famous for playing Tattoo in the series Fantasy Island, plays Scaramanga's dwarf manservant and accomplice Nick Nack (feel free to groan at such a name). Unlike previous Bond villain henchmen, he does not bite the dust in the film so that can be considered yet another subversion to the Bond formula. Desmond Llewelyn, absent from Live and Let Die, returns as Q and the banter between him and Moore is not bad. Lee and Maxwell are good to see again, and the rest of the ing cast include Richard Loo as Hai Fat, James Cossins as Colthorpe, Soon-Tek Oh as Lieutenant Hip, Marc Lawrence as Rodney, and Clifton James returning as Sheriff J.W. Pepper.

The Man with the Golden Gun signified the end of an era regarding some of the talent behind the camera, and while it did make a profit it was thought by some to be the end of the Bond franchise since it sold fewer tickets than any previous entry. After sitting through the film again it's definitely a low-point in the series, but thankfully the next installment would pick things up and give us a standout entry in Moore's tenure.

With Sean Connery gone, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman worked closely with United Artists President David Picker to find a new 007 for the eighth film in the series. During those years of brainstorming, one actor Broccoli and Saltzman always returned to was Roger Moore; in The Saint television series he was headlining, the character of Simon Templar was essentially a Bond type who was adventurous and unflappable. United Artists approved the casting of Moore, with both Guy Hamilton and Tom Mankiewicz returning as director and screenwriter to help him get familiar with the role. Based on Ian Fleming's 1954 novel of the same name, Live and Let Die centers on Harlem drug lord Mr. Big who plans to distribute two tons of heroin for free to put rival drug barons out of business and become a monopoly supplier. Mr. Big is revealed to be the alter ego of Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), a corrupt Caribbean dictator who rules the fictional island of San Monique where opium poppies are secretly farmed. Bond is investigating the deaths of three British agents which leads him to Kananga, and is soon trapped in a world of gangsters and voodoo as he fights to put a stop to the drug baron's scheme.

This is the second time in the series where Richard Maibaum did not return to write the script (he claimed in later years that he was too busy at the time), and Mankiewicz manages to make this a bit more engaging than Diamonds Are Forever. The 1970s was THE decade for Blaxploitation cinema where African-American actors got to be at the forefront instead of being reduced to playing subservient roles like in the days of Old Hollywood, so I give Mankiewicz credit for setting Bond in this modern world of African-American culture. However that has led to the film being reevaluated as falling into the pitfalls of stereotyping African-Americans as being drug junkies and worshipers of voodoo, so it does unfortunately date this entry; if that wasn't enough Maibaum stated in later years that he disliked the final film, saying "To process drugs in the middle of the jungle is not a Bond caper" and even Kotto chimed in by saying "I had to come up with a level of reality that would offset the sea of stereotype crap Tom Mankiewicz wrote that had nothing to do with the Black experience." From the technical side, Ted Moore's widescreen photography is wonderful as always, allowing the locales of Louisiana, Jamaica and the sets at Pinewood Studios to fully shine with color and energy. Three editors cut this film: Bert Bates, Raymond Poulton, and John Shirley; for the most part they keep the pace of this two-hour adventure steady without ever lingering too long on certain sequences but it's not up to par with what Peter R. Hunt made so famous. Syd Cain and Claude Hudson, with their respective crews in the art and production design departments, do a great job making the film and its plot come across believable with how the locations are just as big as the characters' personalities. Taking over for John Barry in the orchestral department is George Martin, Barry's friend and producer for The Beatles, who gives a rock/funk-inspired element to the film's upbeat nature. And of course, the title song sung by Paul McCartney and Wings is timeless and has earned its spot among Bond fans as one of the franchise's most memorable.

Moore slips into the tuxedo well, and was told by Hamilton to be careful in not imitating Connery's Bond in any way. That advice paid off, for this Bond is more laid-back and light-hearted who's not afraid to have a sense of humor. He is also not afraid to say puns after dispatching villains, which would become a trademark of this phase in the franchise, and it seems Moore is having fun delivering them along with being involved in the action scenes. The aforementioned Kotto may have had issues with the script, but he works really well as Kananga who is pretty intimidating and a worthy foe behind Blofeld for Bond to battle. Jane Seymour plays Kananga's psychic Solitaire, who then later becomes our Bond woman, and she worked well with the material she was given. Gloria Hendry's Rosie Carver is notable for being the first African-American woman Bond sleeps with, and she does fine in the part before meeting the same fate most ing female characters in Bond films do. Hell Up in Harlem actor Julius Harris plays Kananga's primary henchman Tee Hee Johnson, whose characteristic is having a pincer for a hand, and he's pretty good in the role. Rounding out the ing cast is of course Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell as M and Moneypenny, Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi, Lon Satton as Harry Strutter, Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper, and David Hedison of The Fly fame as CIA Agent Felix Leiter (a role he would play again in a future film).

Live and Let Die is not a bad debut for Roger Moore, who would continue to play James Bond in six more movies for the next twelve years. The film does have some great things going for it and like You Only Live Twice has its fans who think it's great, but to me is just an average entry unless if you are curious in checking out what a Blaxploitation film featuring 007 would be like.

After a one-film hiatus, Sean Connery returned for the last time to play 007 and director Guy Hamilton stepped behind the camera for his second Bond film. Based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, Diamonds Are Forever follows Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring, and soon uncovers a plot by his old enemy Ernst Blofeld (Charles Gray) to use the diamonds to build a space-based laser weapon. Bond has to battle his enemy one last time to stop the smuggling, and stall Blofeld's plan of destroying Washington, D.C. and extorting the world with nuclear supremacy. This was the first "make or break" film that had the entire fate of the franchise resting on its ability to reach an audience and, because of United Artists wanting to deliver the kind of entertainment Goldfinger provided, that explains why Diamonds Are Forever felt out of place during the first year of what has since been called "New Hollywood" and is rather uninspired.

Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz's script is without question the biggest offender. Because of George Lazenby's departure prior to the release of OHMSS, the script treatment Maibaum was working on at the time had to go through a complete rewrite; Tom, son of All About Eve director Joseph Mankiewicz, was brought on board by the suggestion of United Artists President of Production David Picker to bring wit and pace to the script while still capturing the British tone of Bond since much of the film was set in Las Vegas. Yet the final script is an example of too many cooks in the kitchen, since director Hamilton and the producers also provided input, which results in moments of camp that makes the usage of it in You Only Live Twice look subtle and according to Mankiewicz forty-five minutes of the film's two hour runtime was lifted from the novel. I began to lose interest and could not believe this was from the same man who wrote six of these where his trademark was making viewers actually get invested in the mystery, yet that aspect is definitely missing here. Hamilton's direction lacks energy where we just plod along before rushing through an action scene, though I will give him and stunt coordinators Bob Simmons and Paul Baxley props for the film's highlight scene where 007 turns a Ford Mustang on two wheels; it had to be shot three times in order to properly capture the shot of the car emerging from an alleyway and would hint at future car stunts to come. Ted Moore returns as cinematographer, as does production designer Ken Adam, and like before they do their usual job in making the film look at least good visually. John Barry's score is serviceable but lacks the punch he had provided in the previous film, though it was nice to hear Shirley Bassey lend her seductive vocals once again for the title song.

Despite the return of Connery, he's clearly doing it for the paycheck the producers offered him and is going through the motions. Given the lack of continuity between some of the films, it feels as if this Bond was the same one who returned from completing his mission in YOLT and not the emotionally broken widow we saw at the end of the last film. If Bond does not exude any kind of emotion that shows he. Jill St. John plays our Bond woman Tiffany Case, a diamond smuggler who later has a change of heart, but despite her beauty falls into the pitfall some of the early Bond women had where they are just there for Bond to romance and be viewed through the "male gaze" lens. She even sits about during the last scene where Bond is being ganged up by two of Blofeld's men aboard a cruise ship; you'd think she would intervene but apparently must've been super-glued to her seat. Speaking of Blofeld, Charles Gray would be the third and final actor to portray the infamous head of the global criminal organization SPECTRE since this would be the last of Eon's Bond films until 2015 to have them as part of the plot. Gray has been known to give great performances in the past, like the villainous Mocata in Hammer Studios' The Devil Rides Out (1968), but he was not the right fit for this character; his dry monotone delivery of dialogue makes Blofeld look like he couldn't harm a fly, let alone use a space-based laser weapon to destroy a noted American landmark. Bruce Cabot, best known for playing Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933) along with appearing in many John Wayne films such as The Comancheros (1961) and Hatari! (1962), plays casino manager Bert Saxby who is in cahoots with Blofeld; this was his final film before ing away a year later and he does his best with the dialogue he has to deliver. Bruce Glover and Putter Smith play Blofeld's main henchmen Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, who are implied to be homosexual, though they aren't fully developed beyond that and seem to feel like an afterthought during the writing stage. Rounding out the ing cast we have Jimmy Dean as the Howard Hughes-like entrepreneur Willard Whyte, Joe Robinson as diamond smuggler Peter Franks, Joseph Furst as Professor Doctor Metz, Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole, and our established Bond regulars Lee, Llewelyn and Maxwell.

Diamonds Are Forever may have been what audiences of the 70s wanted, but in retrospect is not particularly memorable. Much like with You Only Live Twice, I respect and applaud the technicians who worked their magic on the film but the script is what essentially makes the film waste any opportunity in making it exciting or reflect what was happening in the world at the time. Bond may have returned, but with the role again up for grabs further challenges laid ahead as the decade progressed.

The final James Bond film of what we call "Old Hollywood" was at the time met with mixed critical reception, but went on to be recognized by critics and fans as one of the most under-appreciated films to feature the character and has since gone on to become a classic. Based on the 1963 Ian Fleming novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service follows 007 (George Lazenby) facing off against Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world ransom by the threat of sterilizing the world's food supply through a group of brainwashed "angels of death." Along the way Bond meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) but that romance unfortunately ends in tragedy. At the time OHMSS was a major risk since it did not stick to a formula that was laid out in the previous films, and that in hindsight is what made it work so well; despite its hefty two hours and twenty-two minute runtime, it's a dramatic and exciting adventure that went in a daring direction that would inspire future storylines featuring the famous spy.

After working on the previous films as an editor and second unit director which impressed producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, along with a long-standing promise from them for a directorial position, Peter R. Hunt made his debut with this entry. Talk about knocking it out of the ballpark, for his direction is solid where the dialogue-driven scenes are just as engaging as the various action set pieces; this is the first time Richard Maibaum is credited as sole screenwriter on a Bond film (some additional dialogue was provided by an uncredited Simon Raven), and he develops an emotionally-charged angle to the plot that is a vast departure from the fantasy-laden tone presented in You Only Live Twice. This was also the only Bond film to be THE closest adaptation of the book, since virtually everything in the novel occurs here and even director Hunt was reported to always enter the set carrying an annotated copy to know which scene was up next. Syd Cain returns to supervise the production design and stepping in as cinematographer is Michael Reed, best known for shooting the 1966 Hammer Films sequel Dracula: Prince of Darkness; both do a fantastic job in presenting the beauty of various locales in Switzerland and the interior sets, including Blofeld's snow fortress. Taking over Hunt's job as editor and second unit director was John Glen, who was going to have quite a future in the Bond franchise and his editing is right in line with what Hunt established that keeps things moving along at the right pace without being too slow or fast. John Barry's score is probably the best he's ever done, perfectly reflecting the serious tone along with using the newly invented Moog synthesizer to heighten the action, and the instrumental title theme is still a wonderful composition to listen to.

For being his lone stab at Bond, Lazenby is fantastic to watch in the role. This Bond is relatable and presents great emotional range, where he wants to get two things taken care of: stop Blofeld and then retire from MI6 so he can marry Tracy and settle down. He's clearly annoyed by the pains he goes to for MI6 and begins to regret some of his actions, and never once says a smarmy quip to Blofeld when he first encounters him. Lazenby sells the gripping emotional moments well, making him become one Bond incarnation many fans prefer to when comparing the other actors. Rigg, who at this point was the star of the TV series The Avengers that made her a worldwide name, is fantastic as Tracy who is more empowered here than the Bond woman in YOLT. She may be escorted out of the final fight, but manages to take down a big henchman beforehand and even rescued Bond from the tail end of that incredible ski chase sequence; Tracy is a confident and sophisticated woman and Rigg makes the role completely her own. Taking over for Donald Pleasence, Savalas brings his own spin to the leader of SPECTRE and uses his big physicality to a great advantage in making him a very credible threat. Italian actor Gabriele Ferzetti is wonderful as Marc-Ange Draco, head of the crime syndicate known as the Union Corse and Tracy's father who helps Bond in attacking Blofeld's headquarters. Bernard Horsfall lends as 007's colleague Shaun Campbell, Virginia North is good in the role of Draco's lover Olympe, and like before Bond regulars Bernard Lee (M), Desmond Llewelyn (Q) and Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) are great as always to see.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service deserves every amount of critical reappraisal it has gotten, for fifty-one years later it's still a thrilling adventure with one of the most ballsy endings ever filmed. Originally the ending was going to be Bond and Tracy's wedding with the next film starting out with her death, but when Lazenby announced he would not return they went ahead and stuck with the ending in Fleming's novel. It's the perfect downer that shows Bond is not immune to having anything done to him emotionally, and the final shot really hits that point home. A fantastic maturation of the series well worth seeing.

As we approach the end of the 60s, the James Bond franchise was about to go through a major shakeup and is noticeable here with the fifth entry produced by Eon Productions. You Only Live Twice marked the Bond debut of Lewis Gilbert, who'd later direct two entries in the 70s, and was the first to not be written by Richard Maibaum but instead by noted novelist Roald Dahl. The plot follows 007 (Sean Connery) being dispatched to Japan after American and Soviet manned spacecraft disappear mysteriously in orbit. With each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War, Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island to find the perpetrators and comes face to face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence), the head of SPECTRE. SPECTRE is working for the government of an unnamed Asian power, implied to be the People's Republic of China, to provoke war between the superpowers so Bond along with head of Japanese secret service Tiger Tanaka (Tetsurō Tamba) and diving girl Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama) must race against time to stop Blofeld from causing a nuclear war. For being the first fantasy-laden Bond adventure, this loosely follows Fleming's novel and as a result comes across disted and believes spectacle is the best substitute for an engaging plot.

Due to Maibaum's absence coupled with the fact Dahl had no prior experience writing a screenplay (except for one that went uncompleted based off the WW I British airmen song "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling" that was going to be a film before it got abandoned after five weeks of filming), the plot does not retain the same intrigue and complexity like what had come before. Dahl mentioned how he thought the novel was "Fleming's worst book, with no plot in it which would even make a movie" and decided to incorporate only four or five of the original story's ideas. It feels like it came from an entirely different universe when comparing the film to the previous four, and as a result the progression to the climax at Blofeld's base of operations is very slow and uninteresting. Gilbert's direction is fine, since he tries to breathe life into the scenes that are exposition heavy but manages to make the various action set pieces work. Ken Adam again knocks it out of the park with his production design, with his masterpiece being the volcano rocket base; it towered 120 ft over Pinewood Studios in England, cost a million dollars to construct, and housed both a working monorail and retractable roof that allowed a helicopter to fly in and out. It is without question the most memorable location out of this first phase of Bond and I still marvel at how this even got made to begin with. Taking over cinematography duties is Freddie Young, the two-time Oscar winner for his work on David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). He does a great job capturing the various locales of Japan ranging from Himeji Castle in Hyōgo Prefecture to Mount Shinmoe-dake in Kyūshū, and even the famed studio behind kaiju cinema Toho provided sound stages and personnel to the production. John Barry returned to score the film, giving it a distinct Japanese element along with guitar and brass orchestrations that is in hindsight wonderful to listen to. The haunting title song sung by Nancy Sinatra is great, and it later became a theme for her comeback tour during the 1990s.

Connery looks bored at this point, and even during filming in Japan announced he would retire from the role. His reasoning was that he was tired of all of the associated commitment (time spent filming and publicizing each movie), along with finding it difficult to do other work, which would lead to him being typecast. I don't blame him, cause the confidence he presented in Thunderball has been replaced with disinterest. He feels like the script has nothing exciting for him to do, which explains how there is no sense of urgency or lack of charisma to key scenes. After so much teasing in the previous films Blofeld gets to be a participant, and Pleasence seems like an odd choice at first but he managed to make the character work. I also love how makeup artists Basil Newall and Paul Rabiger gave him that distinct scar, which enhances the villainy in Pleasence's performance. Tamba, who at the time was best known for his performances in Harakiri and Kwaidan by director Masaki Kobayashi, is actually quite good as Tiger and as a result gives the film its spark. Hama may be better known to Godzilla fans as Fumiko Sakarai from King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), and I thought she worked well as the Bond woman even if the script never truly fleshes her outside of being "eye candy." Like before Lee, Llewelyn and Maxwell return as their established Bond characters and are good with what they're given, and the ing cast includes Akiko Wakabayashi, Teru Shimada, Charles Gray, and Ronald Rich with Burt Kwouk returning as one of the henchmen working for SPECTRE.

You Only Live Twice has not aged well regarding specific plot details (yellowface, anyone?) and lines of dialogue ("In Japan, men come first and women come second"), but viewing it from a technical standpoint it holds up so the film is not a complete failure. It has its fans and I'm glad they found something in the film that made it one of their favorites, but to me it felt like one of the various spy films being made and released to capitalize on the franchise's success. (On the plus side I'd rather rewatch this than Charles K. Feldman's Bond spoof Casino Royale, which came out the same year as YOLT and is as bad as everyone says it is.)

The next Bond adventure would be the third and final entry to be directed by Terence Young, while marking the first time the series would be photographed in Panavision and have some entries run over two hours in length. Based on the novel by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based off an original script by Jack Whittingham, Thunderball follows 007 (Sean Connery) on a mission to find two NATO atomic bombs that were stolen by SPECTRE, which holds the world to ransom £100 million in diamonds in exchange for not destroying an unspecified major city in either the United Kingdom or U.S. The search leads Bond to the Bahamas where he encounters Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), the eye patch-wearing SPECTRE Agent Number Two. Backed by CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) and Largo's mistress Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), the search culminates in an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen and eventually Bond has to battle the man himself. This fourth entry set a new standard for action-adventure films with its scale and scope, making it another worthy addition to the franchise and not a bad farewell from director Young.

The production history and legacy of this film have remained controversial ever since its release. Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the center of legal disputes that began in 1961 when former Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued the author shortly after the 1961 publication of the novel, claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had earlier written in a failed cinematic translation of James Bond. Later in 1964, Eon producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman agreed with McClory to cinematically adapt the novel, which is why the credits acknowledge McClory, Whittingham, and Fleming for original story alongside mainstay Bond scribe Richard Maibaum. This time around Maibaum's co-writer is John Hopkins, who made a name for himself writing over ninety episodes of the 1962 BBC popular police drama Z-Cars, and together they do a great job introducing this new angle where Bond has to spend a majority of the third act underwater and make it as exciting as what came before being set on land. The witty dialogue is also given a touch-up that makes the whole story feel fun, along with keeping 007's gadgetry from turning into a simple series of jokes and make them look feasible; what is funny is how some of the gadgets proved so believable they were able to fool military experts. Being his first time working with Panavision on a Bond film (but not his first at shooting widescreen films overall), Ted Moore's cinematography is lavish in every sense of the word and compliments Ken Adam's production design which might be some of the best work he's ever done. For the underwater sequences, Young hired none other than the Creature from the Black Lagoon himself Ricou Browning to direct with underwater cameraman Lamar Boren capturing the action and while they may be repetitive it's still incredible to watch. John Barry's score is solid as always, giving us some neat leitmotifs and cues that add to the story, with the title song sung by Tom Jones being a great way to set the stage.

Connery is again great as our protagonist, having to deal with another SPECTRE agent who poses a real threat while being able to project confidence as he gets closer to stopping the villain. He does drop a couple puns when dispatching some of Largo's henchmen above water, yet the way he dryly delivers them is just perfect. Italian actor/director Celi gives Largo a great personality that makes him another villain from this phase of the Bond series who would inspire future antagonists; the character's voice was dubbed by English actor Robert Rietty and it helps add to Celi's physical performance. Luciana Paluzzi plays our secondary SPECTRE villain Fiona Volpe who manages to capture Bond, but then meets her end due to her own bodyguard mistaking her as Bond fleeing through a street parade. Auger is our main Bond woman this go-round, and is able to hold her own alongside Connery; she is now the second Bond woman in this early half of the series to dispatch the main villain, and it was a great moment to rewatch. Van Nutter is now the third actor to have played Felix and gives the agent a new approach regarding his relationship with Bond, which would recur in later films featuring the character. Bond regulars Lee, Llewelyn and Maxwell are fun as always to see, Earl Cameron provides great as Bond and Felix's assistant in the Bahamas named Pinder, and Martine Beswick makes her second and final James Bond appearance as Bond's CIA ally in Nassau named Paula Caplan. Anthony Dawson returns (again uncredited) as Ernst Stavro Blofeld with his voice also being provided by Eric Pohlmann, which hints at the character having a bigger role down the line.

Thunderball works as great escapism, and was the second in the series to walk away with an Oscar; John Stears got the famed statue for Best Visual Effects, and they certainly hold up in my opinion fifty-five years later. Yet for all its success, a small but troubling cloud would hang over the Bond series from 1975 until 2000 since during that span of time McClory continually tried to parlay the rights he had into a Bond series of his own. Then in 1997, McClory struck a deal with Sony Pictures which after the settlement and disposition of resulting lawsuits, limited his rights to Bond before being severed completely. Then the silver lining came when Sony ceded to the Bond producers the rights to make a film adaptation of Casino Royale, but that's another story for another day.

The third James Bond film is generally considered by critics and fans to be one of the best from Sean Connery’s tenure, and I agree after giving it another look. Goldfinger would serve as the template for all Bond films going forward by introducing a pre-credits scene with only a tangential link to the main story, a Bond theme song playing over the opening title sequence, Bond relying on technology, a henchman with a particular characteristic, and a Bond girl getting killed by the main villain. Based off the seventh novel written by Ian Fleming, the plot has 007 traveling to Miami Beach for a vacation after destroying a drug laboratory in Latin America. His superior M (Bernard Lee), via CIA agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder), instructs Bond to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) at the hotel there. Bond later finds out Goldfinger smuggles gold through his Rolls-Royce Phantom III he takes whenever he travels, and about "Operation Grand Slam" where he will rob the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox and detonate a dirty bomb that will irradiate the gold and make it useless for fifty-eight years, giving the Chinese an advantage from the potential economic chaos. With assistance from Goldfinger's personal pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), Bond must race against time to stop Goldfinger and his Korean manservant Oddjob (Harold Sakata) from completing this scheme.

Screenwriter Richard Maibaum returns for his third Bond film, with Paul Dehn providing input and Berkely Mather doing uncredited touch-ups to the script. It helps strengthen/change elements from the novel to make it engaging for the audience without being too different, and that gives the filmmakers ample opportunity to keep fleshing out the cinematic world Bond resides in. With the previous two entries being rather straightforward and serious, director Guy Hamilton brought a greater emphasis on humor and that helped make the film become so iconic; this would be the first of four Bond films he would direct and is undoubtedly his best-known. This also marked the first time the production budget would be bigger than before ($3 million), and you can see that money on screen since production designer Ken Adam returned to create the lavish sets to represent the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the U.S. along with the Fort Knox gold vault that sets the stage for the epic battle between Bond and Oddjob. The gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5 makes its cinematic debut here, and the vehicle's outrageousness and deadly elegance in the main chase sequence has since made it one of the most notable elements of Bond. Ted Moore's cinematography is marvelous as always, as is the fast, kinetic editing style by Peter Hunt that has since become an influence on modern action-film editing. John Barry's score helped define what has since become the "Bond sound", bringing brass and metallic chimes to keep with the film's theme of gold and metal, with the incomparable Shirley Bassey singing the title song that went on to become such a worldwide hit, it made the soundtrack album propel to the top of the US charts and replace The Beatles. That alone is stunning, and Bassey would later sing the title songs for two future Bond films so that famous tradition got its start here.

Connery gets to showcase his wit this time, saying such dry puns like "He blew a fuse" and "Off playing his golden harp" that may sound corny now but was what Hamilton wanted to show Bond being capable of showing. It adds more personality to the famous spy, and Connery does well without ever making it head into the realm of camp. Blackman, fresh off playing judo expert Cathy Gale in The Avengers TV series, is great as the woman with a name that certainly wouldn't fly today; she does not take any of Bond's shit and, like with Romanova in the previous film, is a strong female character and might actually be the strongest Bond has ever interacted with. Fröbe had been acting in films since 1948 and American audiences may know him for portraying Sgt. Kaffeekanne in 20th Century Fox's The Longest Day (1962), but Goldfinger will always be his most signature role. He is brilliant as the bullion dealer who plans on creating an economic disruption to fill his own pockets, and while he never says a single word Sakata is brilliant as what has since been deemed "one of cinema's great villains." Shirley Eaton appears as Jill Masterson, this film's Bond woman, though she certainly does not last long and her painted gold body has become one of the most famous images in film history. Linder fills in for Jack Lord as Felix, and he does a good job making the CIA agent work as an ally to Bond in giving him the information MI6 assigned. Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewelyn are great in their returning roles, with the latter injecting humor into his performance that began the friendly antagonism between Q and Bond which has also become a hallmark of the franchise. Tania Mallet, Austin Willis, Michael Mellinger, Martin Benson, and Burt Kwouk round out the ing cast with each one making these characters work within the larger context of the narrative.

Goldfinger was another critical and financial success, later walking away with an Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing awarded to Norman Wanstall. Of all the 60s Bond films, this one has been referenced the most in pop culture ranging from Our Man Flint (1966) to the Austin Powers trilogy, which goes to show how huge this film was when hitting theaters fifty-six years ago. Sadly, Ian Fleming would not be able to enjoy the film's success since he ed away on August 12, 1964, barely a month before the film hit theaters; the creator may have ed away, but his creation was destined to live on forever.

From Russia with Love, the second Bond film from Terence Young, is the first entry to focus on the organization SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) along with teasing the next film in the ending credits. But when you put that aside and look at the film itself, it’s a solid continuation of developing 007 as a character and the world he participates in; based off Ian Fleming's 1957 novel of the same name, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to assist in the defection of Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) in Turkey, where SPECTRE plans to avenge Bond's killing of Dr. No. Russians Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) plan to play British and Soviet intelligence against each other to procure a Lektor cryptography device from the Soviets and lure Bond to his assassination, and if that wasn't enough Irish assassin Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) is also on the trail to get Bond and Romanova. This combination of espionage, action and thrills helped progress the series and resulted in the film taking in more than $78 million in worldwide box-office receipts, far more than its $2 million budget and more than its predecessor Dr. No, thereby turning From Russia with Love into a blockbuster of 1960s cinema.

The screenplay is credited to Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood, with uncredited contributions by Berkely Mather. Like with the previous film it sticks pretty close to Fleming's novel and was reflective of the Cold War without directly having any political undertones, and the progression from locations to try and obtain the Lektor keeps you riveted all the way until the great climax with Grant aboard the Orient Express (still believed by many to be the most exciting fight scene in cinema history) and a secondary climax involving Klebb. The sense of urgency regarding the stakes of British and Soviet intelligence going at each other's throats resulting in the disruption of world order pulls the viewer in and makes them pay attention to specific details over the course of nearly two hours. Young's direction is once again top-notch, keeping things moving along at a brisk pace but not to the point where we sacrifice plot details to have continuous action scenes, but a healthy mix of both. Most of the crew from Dr. No return, like cinematographer Ted Moore, editor Peter R. Hunt, art director Syd Cain, and hairdresser Eileen Warwick to name a few and they do a fantastic job in bringing Maibaum and Harwood's script alive. Production designer Ken Adam was unavailable this time since he had went off to work on Dr. Strangelove, so Cain also handled this aspect of From Russia with Love and made it work; you never once notice that the production design feels off or clashes with what Dr. No presented, and feels like it's part of the same continuity. John Barry replaced Monty Norman as composer, and delivers a lush, rich score that compliments the energy presented on screen along with a song written by Lionel Bart that plays at the end sung by Matt Monro. This would plant the seeds for a new tradition that would become a staple of the franchise, so even though it plays during the end credits it hints at what would become the best way to open a James Bond adventure.

Connery at this point has a grasp on how Bond should behave, and gives a really fun performance as a result. By watching him go through so many obstacles to retrieve the Lektor, it shows Bond is not a superman but just like us; he's believable and that carries over to Bianchi, who just so happened to be a runner-up in the Miss Universe competition when she won the role of Romanova. This Bond woman is more than eye candy, and she actually has the honor of finishing one of the main antagonists instead of letting our lead do all the fighting which for 1963 was considered revolutionary. Polish character actor Sheybal is great as chess grandmaster Kronsteen who pays a deadly price for his failure, and Oscar-nominated Austrian-American actress Lenya is perfectly sinister as Klebb. They continue the archetype Joseph Wiseman laid out while making these characters their own, and elements of their personality would influence Bond villains going forward. Robert Shaw is fantastic to watch as Grant, who's cold and calculating personality paints him as being the version of Bond if he went down the wrong path. Lois Maxwell returns as Miss Moneypenny, and this film marked the Bond debut of Desmond Llewelyn as Q who would appear as the character in seventeen Bond films until 1999. Rounding out the cast is Bernard Lee as M, Mexican character actor Pedro Armendáriz in his final film appearance as Ali Kerim Bey, Walter Gotell as Morzeny, Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench and Anthony Dawson credited pseudonymously as "?" for Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head and mastermind of SPECTRE.

From Russia with Love has not lost any of its entertainment value in the fifty-seven years since its theatrical debut, and is still held in high regard as a great entry. Thanks to the film's box office performance, James Bond's place as the cultural phenomenon of the 1960s had been secured and things would only continue to get better from here.

“Bond. James Bond.” Those three words became synonymous with one of the longest-running franchises ever produced by Hollywood, and this film from director Terence Young is the one that started it all. From the introduction of the character through the view of a gun barrel and a highly stylized main title sequence (created by Maurice Binder), and accompanied by an explosive and jazzy theme performed by John Barry & Orchestra, Dr. No would introduce moviegoers a protagonist who presented a smooth and calculating persona along with a license to kill if he does not get the information he wants. Based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, the plot follows Agent 007 (Sean Connery) being sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. Along the way he encounters Felix Leiter (Jack Lord), a CIA agent on the same mission as he is, and learns about the reclusive Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who lives on an island rigorously protected against tresers by an armed security force. With the assistance of beautiful shell diver Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), Bond must stop Dr. No from disrupting the Project Mercury space launch from Cape Canaveral with a radio beam weapon. Little would the cast and crew realize at the time this would kickstart a phenomenon that continues to go strong today, and made the spy thriller genre the new best thing to make during the 1960s.

The screenplay by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather remains faithful to the novel, while at the same time introducing staples of the franchise that would become as iconic as Agent 007 himself. Everything that you know about Bond got its start here: puns uttered by our lead after henchmen get killed, gorgeous women who met Bond and later assist him, visually imaginative and elaborate sets by production designer Ken Adam, and lavish locations that show Bond traveling around the world as he goes on his mission that MI6 assign him. However the script does have some notable differences from the novel, the biggest being the introduction of the organization SPECTRE, and would pop up in later films as the main source behind the missions which is a change many fans have been okay with. Director Young had been working since the early 40s as a screenwriter before making the leap to director in 1948, and spent the 1950s directing a vast variety of genres. He was chosen by producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman because they felt Young would be able to transfer the essence of the character from book to film, and it's safe to say he succeeded. Editor Peter R. Hunt used an innovative editing technique, with extensive use of quick cuts, and employed fast motion and exaggerated sound effects on the action scenes that would also become a trademark of the series and made it stand out from other action films. This would be the first of seven Bond films cinematographer Ted Moore would shoot, and like Hunt established a color palette style that would make viewers know that this is the world of Bond. Monty Norman's score is wonderful to listen to, as are the instances of John Barry's Bond theme, which has become as recognizable as any famous movie theme composed by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith or Alan Silvestri.

Connery had been acting in films since 1957 and during his early screen career had a memorable ing performance in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) from Walt Disney Productions, but Dr. No cemented him as an actor and he would continue to appear in movies until retiring in 2003. Albert's wife Dana Broccoli was reputed to have been vital in persuading her husband that Connery was the perfect man to play the character, and she was right; the way Connery delivers his lines exudes a sexy and elegant aura, which is how Fleming painted the character in his novel. Some have criticized how stiff he appears in certain parts of the film, but Young educated the actor in the ways of being dapper and cool so Connery was slowly but surely making the character believable and he did a great job in the end. Wiseman had been doing films since 1950, but Dr. No has since become his most-recognized role and he does well with the material he's given; as mentioned so many times in this review, he would set the template regarding future Bond villains. Andress is of course beautiful to look at, however her heavy Swiss-German accent was dubbed over by voice actress Nikki van der Zyl. Nevertheless she worked well in the part and her iconic entrance from the ocean is still one of the greatest moments in cinema. Known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, Lord is fun to watch as Felix and Bernard Lee makes his Bond debut as M, the head of the British Secret Service. Rounding out the cast we have Anthony Dawson as Professor R.J. Dent, Zena Marshall as Miss Taro, John Kitzmiller as Quarrel, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny (who would appear as the character in later Bond films until 1985), Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd and Reginald Carter as Mr. Jones.

Dr. No was an extremely fresh film for 1962, and nearly sixty years later is still an entertaining adventure thriller. With a sharp script, great action sequences that remain thrilling, solid acting, and steadfast direction this film has earned its place in film history by ushering in a new cinematic screen hero who would continue to delight audiences through his many incarnations and adventures over the years.

The coming-of-age story is nothing new in the cinematic world, and what's funny is how last year gave us two different approaches that also happened to be directorial debuts. The first was Booksmart by Olivia Wilde, and then came Good Boys by Ukrainian-American television writer Gene Stupnitsky; produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg through their production company Point Grey Pictures, this comedy centers on friends Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams), and Thor (Brady Noon) entering sixth grade facing their own personal dilemmas: Max has a crush on classmate Brixlee (Millie Davis), Lucas learns his parents are getting divorced, and teasing from his peers discourages Thor from pursuing his love of singing. When presented with the opportunity to kiss Brixlee at a party hosted by popular student Soren (Izaac Wang), Max and his friends use his father's valued drone to spy on teenage neighbor Hannah (Molly Gordon) in an attempt to learn proper kissing. The plan goes awry and results in the drone being destroyed; to avoid getting grounded, the three boys skip school to buy a new drone at the local mall, with Hannah and her friend Lily (Midori Francis) in pursuit. When I first saw the trailer I was led to believe it was going to be like a tween version of Superbad, but I ended up chuckling at most of the (verbal and visual) humor in the film and think it's pretty entertaining despite not changing up the formula in a drastic way.

Stupnitsky shares writing credit with Lee Eisenberg, and the two give us the typical scenario we have seen many times: three friends where one wants to achieve something before they reach a cutoff age, doing something they are told not to, find themselves in a mishap, go through many misadventures to solve said mishap and tangle with different individuals who pursue them along the way. However it's the execution that is essential in making coming-of-age films stand apart from each other, and Good Boys does that well. Sure the only change is that the characters are in middle school, but they don't know some of the more complex phrases when teenagers say it to their faces and have no idea what sex toys are and think they're weapons, which results in some great moments. The direction is serviceable for first-timer Stupnitsky, where we are allowed quieter moments between Max, Lucas and Thor to show them come to with their dilemmas before having a hilarious set piece (playing chicken while crossing a busy highway being the highlight for me in regards to how it plays out and the final joke at the end). The cinematography by Jonathan Furmanski works in presenting the world our protagonists see with some fluid movements and good usage of lighting, with editor Daniel Gaby providing the appropriate pacing where things go at a consistent pace and never rush or drag to the next sequence. The score by Lyle Workman is backed up with some notable songs from a variety of artists and adds to the playful atmosphere of the film, without ever coming across saccharine or not giving any effort to the scene.

Tremblay continues to show everyone how talented of an actor he has been since his breakthrough in 2015's Room, and I liked the approach he went in making Max a relatable character. I could see a bit of me in Max as the plot progressed, where he goes through a lot to get the drone back but is unsuccessful in the end and has to accept responsibility for his actions. His performance is great and it was funny to be hearing him say some foul language nonchalantly. Williams is perfect as Lucas and stands out as a rule follower among the trio, who is not afraid to let out some humorous dialogue, and for being his first film Noon worked well as Thor who may talk a big game but is a sensitive kid deep down with a beautiful voice who loves musical theater. All three work well in showing this friendship they've had for years and the banter comes across as natural, which gives the movie its heart. Will Forte seems to be having fun in the role of Max's father, and the same can be said for Retta and LilRel Howery of Get Out fame as Lucas' parents. Gordon and Francis work well as the two young women who take the drone hostage that results in the boys going through many mishaps to get it back (before a hilarious incident makes them go back to square one), before it turns out they sympathize with them after they get to the party. The ing cast includes Sam Richardson, Michaela Watkins, Enid-Raye Adams, Christian Darrel Scott, and an uncredited Stephen Merchant who all work well in their respective parts.

Good Boys may be undermined by an eagerness to repeatedly indulge in profane humor, but its appealing cast and ultimately thoughtful message about accepting change in the transition from tween to young adult makes it work in the end. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half, so I say it's worth a look if raunchy comedies are your thing.

Pixar's first release of the year not based on an existing IP or franchise comes to us from the director of Monsters University Dan Scanlon. First announced at the D23 Expo in July 2017 as "a suburban fantasy world" film, Onward also happens to be somewhat autobiographical due to the director ing his father's death when he and his brother were younger, and after hearing an audio clip of his father Scanlon was inspired to write a story about two brothers finding a way to visit the father they never had growing up. The plot follows two elves living in the city of New Mushroomton: Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland), who lacks in self-confidence, and his older brother Barley (voiced by Chris Pratt), a ionate role-playing and historical fanatic. On Ian's sixteenth birthday, their mother Laurel (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) gives the brothers a gift from their father Wilden: a magical staff, a rare gem, and letter describing a "visitation spell" that can bring him alive for a single day. Ian succeeds in performing the spell, but due to Barley's interference only the lower half of Wilden's body is physically reformed before the gem disintegrates. The brothers must now embark on a quest to acquire another gem in order to reattempt the spell before it wears off in twenty-four hours; what follows is a fun and heartfelt adventure that, while not in the same league as Pixar's other films, manages to retain its own charm over the course of one hundred minutes.

Scanlon's directing keeps an even balance between moments of comedy and genuine drama that pushes the right emotional buttons, while never forgetting the narrative's core element about brotherhood. Sharing screenwriting credit with Jason Headley and Keith Bunin, Scanlon gives us a clear call to action, the journey these two brothers go on, and how Ian slowly begins to get comfortable using the wizard's staff in conjuring spells that help him and Barley obstacles that has a sense of urgency without going past essential story beats. The idea of a world with old and new sensibilities/traditions mixing together is neat, yet the film never fully delves into the why behind it and only relies on sight gags of building signs that are a play on what our society has. Also some of the characterizations felt either under-developed or have been relied upon in other films, like Ian being the insecure and "nerdy" archetype who cannot converse well around others to Barley being the de facto "screw-up" of the family, but it's just one little detail that never derailed the film for me. Like before, Pixar's animation continues to reach levels of realism, be it the textures of the tree trunks and blades of grass to how the clothing worn by all of New Mushroomton's residents; it is incredible and even the backgrounds are so well-crafted I couldn't take my eyes off them. The cinematography duties were handled by Sharon Calahan and Adam Habib, who make each scene pop with color and never look bland while at the same time making sure the frame is not cluttered to where you lose focus on the characters during the action beats. Mychael and Jeff Danna's score is a neat blend of fantasy cues and modern rock, which leads to a great scene between the brothers and their father's legs sharing a fun moment.

Holland and Pratt seem to be having a blast playing the two brothers, recapturing the same chemistry they shared in the later half of Avengers: Infinity War. According to the film's producer Kori Rae, they improvised some of their lines while recording together to make that relationship feel like it's been around for years, and it certainly did not feel fake due to Holland and Pratt's dedicated approach to Ian and Barley. I can only imagine what the atmosphere of the recording room was like before, during, and after the lines were delivered where everyone shared a good laugh or a hug to keep that energy up. Louis-Dreyfus is fun as the boys' mother who wants to see them happy, and her side story where she goes off to find them may have been lacking but she never thumbed in her lines. Mel Rodriguez fits the role of Colt Bronco, and he did have some great dialogue that got a chuckle out of me. Voice actress extraordinaire Grey Griffin of Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy fame voices the pixie leader Dewdrop, and she totally makes the character work as one of the obstacles that Ian and Barley have to escape. But the real standout is Octavia Spencer as Corey, a manticore restaurant owner who later goes with Laurel to find the boys after she forgets to tell them about a curse associated with the gem. I loved seeing this character and it was fun to see her fly in during the big climax. And it wouldn't be a Pixar film without John Ratzenberger, so listen for his distinct voice carefully as a construction worker during one scene.

Despite its faults, Onward is a step in the right direction for Pixar in regards to making new and original stories. The final moment before the ending stuck the landing in getting an emotional reaction, the animation is great, and a talented voice cast propel this along to being a good entry in Pixar's filmography. Worth checking out.

Much like how Ice Age: Continental Drift had a Simpsons short play in front of the film, Pixar's latest film Onward has one too. It seems rather jarring that we would have such a short from an animated sitcom series that is more geared toward adults play in front of a family film, but since Disney owns everything from 20th Century it will take some getting used to. Playtime with Destiny follows Maggie Simpson being taken to a park for toddlers by Marge. When another baby goes down the slide and almost crashes into her, she is saved by a boy named Hudson; Maggie becomes smitten with Hudson and the two play games together, which Maggie fantasizes as a whirlwind romance. What follows is a simple but neat little short that coasts along, never drags, and has a great music score that makes it feel like the animated shorts one would've seen play in front of movies back in the 1940s.

The short's introduction shows a silhouette of Mickey Mouse before transitioning to Homer Simpson holding two donuts, which is certainly not the first (nor last) Disney reference the Simpsons has given us ever since its existence. I also find it funny how five people wrote this short's narrative and yet not a single line of dialogue is uttered by Marge or Homer, which only adds to its silent film charm. The animation is of course wonderful to look at (brought to us by AKOM Studios) where everything is set at Maggie's level that adds a new sense of immersion, and I enjoyed how the romance between Maggie and Hudson was a clear parallel to any famous romance film you could name whether it be Now, Voyager (1942) or Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). The orchestral score is done by Jim Dooley for Bleeding Fingers Music, and its jazz influence is wonderful to listen to while allowing traditional music cues to come in smoothly.

Playtime with Destiny serves its purpose in getting the viewer into the right frame of mind. It was charming, had some clever visual gags in the beginning, and never overstays its welcome after we reach the climax. May rank higher among Simpsons completionists, but I was entertained in the end.

Three years have ed since The Mummy effectively killed The Dark Universe, planned as a cinematic universe involving the classic movie monsters Universal Studios helped produce and release during the 1930s and 40s. One of the films going to be part of this proposed universe was the Invisible Man, first brought to us by H. G. Wells' 1897 novel and then famously by director James Whale and star Claude Rains in the 1933 film adaptation. In early 2019 Universal changed their plans from a serialized universe to films based on individualized story-telling, and the Invisible Man project reentered development with Upgrade director Leigh Whannell sitting in the director's chair. The plot is a contemporary take of the novel, following Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with wealthy scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen); two weeks later, Cecilia finds out Adrian committed suicide and left a generous portion of his vast fortune to her, but a series of bizarre events leads Cecilia to suspect his death was a hoax. What follows over the course of two hours is a tense, scary and exhilarating thriller that pulls you in and never lets go until the final shot, and I had a blast the whole time watching it.

Right off the bat, I applaud Whannell for making this take more psychological and serving as a commentary on domestic abuse than being a monster-on-the-loose kind of deal. Cecilia represents women in America where they have suffered abuse by powerful men, and that adds to the film's atmosphere; the narrative plays out as a mystery for a while with a few scares (including a memorable shot from the trailer where an exhale of breath happens behind Cecilia) sprinkled in between before it becomes a full-on thriller in the third act. However there are minor instances of lapses in logic that do not make sense, like a scene in a crowded restaurant where a death happens; are there no security cameras recording what goes on over the course of twenty-four hours? It would've helped shown to the world's characters our protagonist is not insane, yet for this one scene it never gets brought up and is an excuse to have her moved to a medical hospital. Despite that criticism which may come across as nitpicking, Whannell expertly directs moments of suspense and action where you begin to wonder if Adrian really is standing or sitting silently within the space before he makes his presence known. Cinematographer Stefan Duscio makes great use of lighting and space to fully immerse the viewer into Cecilia's mental state of mind, while allowing for some great one take sequences to play out for a good three to four minutes. The sound mixing/editing is excellent and, much like A Quiet Place, keeps you on edge to where even the smallest sound makes you jump before the Invisible Man strikes. The sparse yet effective music score by It and Shazam! composer Benjamin Wallfisch is suspenseful and puts you into the proper mindset where each scene packs the appropriate punch without coming across overbearing or having cliché cues.

Moss is incredible to watch as our protagonist, whose sanity is pushed to its breaking point when Adrian begins to continue tormenting her after his supposed death. You as a viewer root for her to break free and fight back, and seeing all the physical abuse she goes through in the second and third acts makes the final scene impactful. She carries the whole movie effortlessly and in turn makes Cecilia fit into the roster of strong "final girl" characters in horror. While he may only appear physically in the beginning and end, Jackson-Cohen works in making Adrian an unsettling individual whose main motivation behind the abuse really makes you feel uncomfortable knowing that there are individuals like him in society right now. Aldis Hodge, best known for portraying MC Ren in 2015's Straight Outta Compton, is perfect as Cecilia's childhood friend Detective James Lanier; he s her trying to get over the trauma she suffered by Adrian, and works well with the dramatic moments along with quite the physical scene near the end where he gets pummeled by the antagonist. Michael Dorman is great as Tom Griffin, who we think may be on Cecilia's side since he mentions how his brother also abused him but after quite the plot twist it makes his motivation and personality entirely different. Storm Reid lends great as James' daughter Sydney, as does Harriet Dyer as Cecilia's sister Emily; all the acting in general worked in providing this film's scares and never felt thumbed in as the narrative progressed.

The Invisible Man proves that making a contemporary take of a classic movie monster is better than trying to have it lay out puzzle pieces hinting at an even bigger picture. Well-acted, suspenseful and perfectly shot to make you wonder if the titular character is actually there in some scenes, it's well worth seeing and makes me excited to check out more Universal movie monsters being fitted to work within contemporary settings.

Of all the video game franchises, Sonic the Hedgehog seemed like an obvious choice to make a film on due to how huge of an impact the first game left when it debuted in 1991 for the Sega Genesis. However the road to getting the film made was filled with false starts over the course of twenty-seven years, with the first trailer receiving huge criticism of the design that the film had to be pushed back six months so the animators would not have to go through serious crunch time in making the famed character look right; once the new trailer premiered in November 2019, fan reception was more positive and now the film is in theaters. The plot follows our extraterrestrial blue hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz) coming to Earth and teaming up with local town sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) to escape the government and defeat the despicable Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who wants to steal Sonic's powers and use it to develop his new robotics. Having never been familiar with playing the games I went into this film completely blind, and walked out thoroughly entertained by how fun and exciting it was.

This marked the directorial debut of visual effects artist Jeff Fowler who, alongside Deadpool director Tim Miller, came from Blur Studio which provided the animation for four episodes of the Netflix anthology series Love, Death & Robots. He manages to handle the elements of action and comedy well for the duration of ninety-nine minutes and not once did any scene come across flat or lifeless whether it be moments of heartfelt character growth or ones containing Easter Egg references to Sonic games; Fowler also deserves major kudos for listening to the fans and acknowledging their concern with Sonic's design, when more often than not in cases like this the studio/director just goes ahead with whatever design that has been created for the CG character. Patrick Casey and Josh Miller's screenplay may take the standard road trip scenario by having Sonic cause a huge problem that forces him to go on the run with someone who is hesitant yet grows to accept him as a friend, but at this point that type of narrative is to be expected in family movies. The script does have a camp-sitcom approach regarding many scenes and plugs three notable products without any sense of irony, yet at the same time I laughed at the visual jokes Casey and Miller wrote that got presented visually (including an infamous Sonic drawing someone holds up to the camera, which made myself and the audience roar with laughter). Cinematographer Stephen F. Windon, best known for providing his talents to director Justin Lin on three Fast & Furious films, uses the Panavision aspect ratio well in framing the action without ever resorting to shooting it in close ups and the editing overseen by Stacey Schroeder and Debra Neil-Fisher is serviceable though there are some visual goofs that do appear. The score by Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) is nothing too flashy that stands out, but works in ing the moments of action and the jukebox soundtrack lends itself to some great scenes, my favorite being Dr. Robotnik inside his high-tech trailer checking the power level on one of Sonic's quills while "Where Evil Grows" by The Poppy Family plays.

Schwartz, best known for portraying Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, seems to be having a blast voicing the famed blue hedgehog. He just has that snide and nerdy persona that comes alive with his performance, yet at the same time never came across as annoying since he does have a goal: to not be alone while living on Earth. Marsden may forever be linked to portraying Scott Summers/Cyclops in the X-Men films, but works well in playing Tom as the sheriff who wants to do more for people when he gets hired by the San Francisco Police Department and prepares to leave Green Hills, Montana. He provides in Sonic's journey and does a good job with the material he's been given, which also goes for Tika Sumpter as Tom's wife Maddie even though she disappears during the middle of the film. Adam Pally offers some comedic as Tom's best friend Wade Whipple, Natasha Rothwell works well as Maddie's sister Rachel along with Melody Niemann as JoJo, Neal McDonough appears briefly as Major Bennington, Lee Majdoub works well as Agent Stone, and Canadian actor Frank C. Turner is fun as Green Hills' local conspiracist Crazy Carl. But the true standout performance of the film that nearly takes the focus away from Schwartz and Marsden is of course the one and only Jim Carrey; his first film in four years after the release of the detective drama Dark Crimes (2016), he goes back to what he was famous for in the 90s: crazed lunacy that only enriches his presence whenever he is on screen. Whether it be saying lines like "Of course I want a latte. I LOVE THE WAY YOU MAKE THEM!!" to pressing one of Sonic's quills against his tongue that makes his head jerk about, Carrey gives it his all and as a result creates a memorable take on the famed video game antagonist.

Sonic the Hedgehog, much like last year's Detective Pikachu, is a step in the right direction regarding video game movies. I had a fun time with the film as did the audience I saw it with, who immediately erupted into applause when the mid-credits scene showed up featuring a noted character from the games hinting at a possible sequel. Worth seeing if you are a Sonic fan or casual moviegoer.

After making an impression with her directorial debut Dead Pigs (2018), Cathy Yan steps into helming a studio blockbuster and gives us the first of four comic book movies coming out this year that will be directed by women. Birds of Prey, based on the DC Comics team of the same name, is the eighth film in the DCEU and is sort of a follow-up to 2016's Suicide Squad; the plot follows Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) going through a rough time after the Joker breaks up with her and is trying to get her life back on track. Young pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) steals a diamond embedded with numbers to the fortune of an infamous crime family from Gotham City crime lord Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), whom Harley encounters and decides to help her stay ahead of Sionis' men. The two later s forces with three unique individuals: a vigilante named Helena Bertinelli who goes by the name Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), burlesque singer/vigilante Dinah Lance aka Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and GD Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) who each have a score to settle with Sionis. I have to say upfront that I really enjoyed this film; it may not be completely flawless when taking a fine tooth comb to look through the film's hour and fifty-minute runtime, but is a solid entry in the course-correcting DC Extended Universe.

Christina Hodson, who wrote the script for Bumblebee (2018), had never written a screenplay for a comic book film and I thought she did the best she could in making this plot-driven story work. As I'm sure everyone is aware, various Harley Quinn-oriented films and plot ideas were being developed by Warner Bros. and DC Films shortly after the character was considered the standout from Suicide Squad; the script for Birds of Prey does indeed feel like four or five of these rolled into one with a dash of Deadpool thrown in regarding how the narrative is told. The jumping back in time to explain plot details before continuing forward did get repetitive as the film went on, and I think if these either got trimmed or removed completely you would have to think on how the various characters are related without being spoon-fed visual information. Since the plot drives the movie forward, that leaves little to no characterization for most of our principal characters who Harley and Cassandra; certain traits either get introduced randomly or abandoned and that also has an effect on certain scenes and plot threads in Hodson's script. Aside from that, Yan's direction is great where she lets moments of breathing room to occur before throwing in a fun and colorful action scene; the police department break-in where Harley uses a variety of non-lethal grenade launcher rounds was incredibly choreographed and is one of two sequences I enjoyed. The bright and colorful cinematography by Matthew Libatique of Black Swan fame helps make Birds of Prey stand out among the other DC films; it literally does feel like a comic has come alive and each location has a style that production designer K.K. Barrett perfectly brings personality to. Fans of 2D animation will be pleased to hear that the first two minutes has a hand-drawn Harley explaining how she became the Joker's girlfriend and I loved how it reminded me of Batman: The Animated Series, and there's even a shoutout to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) during one scene. The jukebox soundtrack compliments Daniel Pemberton's score marvelously and reminded me of how Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy would use popular songs as narrative since some of the song choices reflect all the women's emancipation from men as they slowly become the Birds of Prey.

Robbie once again completely owns the role of Harley, and is a lot of fun to watch. I love how this renowned actress/producer is embracing a character created in the aforementioned series nearly three decades ago and makes it her own. She flawlessly switches back and forth from psychotic to sympathetic where you are totally on her side, even if some of her life choices are not positive ones. Jay Basco had never acted in a film before, so there was a lot riding on her playing Cassandra since she is our secondary protagonist that sets the plot in motion. She was pretty good, managing to stand on her own whenever sharing scenes with Robbie and brings naturalism to the part. Perez, who I from 1989's Do the Right Thing as Tina, suffers from underdevelopment as Detective Montoya but once the third act arrives it's awesome to see her kick ass. Smollett-Bell displays serious acting chops as the physical and fierce Black Canary, and I loved seeing how she went from being intimidated by Black Mask to discovering and honing her overpowering sonic waves during a crucial moment and finding her strength. Despite not appearing in the film until the end, Winstead is perfect as the stoic and socially awkward Huntress who gets to display some insane (and brutal) shots with her crossbow. But the one standout performance to me was McGregor as Roman, who seems to be having the time of his life playing such a violent and misogynistic character you want to see him get his comeuppance from our heroines. Chris Messina brings the right amount of deranged to the role of Roman's henchman Victor Zsasz, while Ali Wong works well as Montoya's ex-girlfriend Ellen Yee. Rounding out the cast we have Steven Williams as Montoya's superior Captain Erickson, Dana Lee as Quinn's friend Doc, Derek Wilson as Tim Evans, Matt Willig as Happy, and Bojana Novakovic as Erika Manson.

Despite its messy screenplay and some characters getting shortchanged regarding their development over the film's runtime, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is pretty entertaining. I had a fun time watching these characters fight back and not be silenced, and eagerly await whatever project Cathy Yan gets to direct for she has shown that blockbusters with a feminine perspective can work. Well worth checking out.

On this day twenty years ago we got The Tigger Movie. Written and directed by Jun Falkenstein based off a story by Eddie Guzelian, it is the second Winnie the Pooh film after the 1977 compilation feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to hit theaters and centers on the exuberant tiger that enjoys bouncing. After a funny fourth-wall break between Tigger (voiced by Jim Cummings) and our narrator (voiced by John Hurt) regarding what the story should be, the plot follows our titular character searching for someone to bounce with him but all of his friends are too busy getting ready for winter. Wanting to play with Tigger, Roo (voiced by Nikita Hopkins) asks him if there is a Tigger family; fascinated by the idea, the two go to visit Owl (voiced by Andre Stojka) for advice on finding Tigger's family. Tigger inaccurately concludes his family tree must be a real tree, and he and Roo go searching for it; however as Tigger goes on this journey he will find family means more than just sharing the same physical appearance. I seeing this in theaters where I was five and enjoyed it; as an adult I say it still holds up as a charming animated film with a positive message that never comes across preachy or ham-fisted over the course of eighty-one minutes.

While not her first time working with the famed A. A. Milne characters in animation, this was the first time Falkenstein made a theatrical feature. After cutting her teeth working on the made-for-TV film Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (1994) and the direct-to-video anthology Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), she made the leap as writer/director on The Tigger Movie and did a fantastic job. The plot allows for some genuine heartfelt character moments to appear where you the viewer feel what they're feeling, while also offsetting them with great bits of humor; Falkenstein and the animators seem to be having a grand old time working on this film and it can be felt throughout where not a single crew member viewed this as just "a job" but put genuine effort in their work. The highlight sequence for me would be "Round My Family Tree", where it becomes a pop-culture smorgasbord with various Tiggers filling out various roles and is beautifully animated. The animation companies that worked on this film (Walt Disney Television Animation, Disneytoon Studios and WDA Japan to name a few) make the final product, from the character animation to the beautiful backgrounds, look splendid alongside Toby Bluth's art direction; two notable names, Keith Baxter and John Pomeroy, appear in the animation credits so it's pretty cool that a storyboard artist who would later work on Into the Spider-Verse and former Don Bluth collaborator lent their talents to this film. The Sherman Brothers Richard and Robert return to compose their first Disney project since Bedknobs & Broomsticks (1971) and once again prove the magic is still there with the new songs they give us; Harry-Gregson Williams of Chicken Run and Arthur Christmas fame provides the orchestral soundtrack which is simply charming to listen to.

This was the first time Jim Cummings would voice Tigger after Paul Winchell officially retired from the role in 1999 after the TV special "A Valentine for You", which was based on the Disney television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and he completely owns the role. Going with a voice that sounds like Winchell to keep it consistent, Cummings would carry the torch (much like what he did for Pooh's original voice actor Sterling Holloway) and has continued to voice Tigger ever since; he is a blast of energy that you feel through his performance while also letting the more somber side show through. His Pooh voice still remains top-notch and the silly old bear is fun as always to watch on screen. This was Hopkins' second time voicing Roo (which he would do until Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005) and he works wonderfully in the part; in fact, most of the cast from previous Winnie the Pooh media reprise their roles here: John Fiedler (Piglet), Peter Cullen (Eeyore), Kath Soucie (Kanga), Andre Stojka (Owl), and Ken Sansom (Rabbit) fit their roles like a glove. Rounding out the cast is Tom Attenborough, grandson of the late great actor/director Richard Attenborough, as Christopher Robin and the aforementioned John Hurt whose rich velvety voice is always fun to hear.

The Tigger Movie is a heartfelt, enjoyable and fun movie that has retained its charm two decades after its theatrical run. Before 2018's Christopher Robin, it was the highest-grossing film in the Winnie the Pooh franchise earning $45.5 million domestically against a budget priced somewhere between $15 and $30 million. Absolutely worth seeing if you enjoy these characters or the Winnie the Pooh brand.

Three years ago saw the release of a rare R-rated comedy that was able to push its boundaries to truly comedic effect and was also the first film where its story, conjured up by an African American female screenwriter, managed to cross the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. Girls Trip follows lifestyle guru Ryan Pierce (Regina Hall) deciding to invite her friends on a trip to Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, where she will be the keynote speaker. Known as the "Flossy Posse," the group includes ex-journalist from Time magazine Sasha (Queen Latifah), nurse and uptight single mother Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith), and happy-go-lucky, impulsive party animal Dina (Tiffany Haddish); as they go through many misadventures, the four women will rediscover their wild sides and strengthen the bonds of sisterhood. My first time seeing this film was back in college and at the time I thought it was alright, but now after paying it a revisit it's definitely funnier than I gave it credit for and also works as a great showcase for the actresses since they share great chemistry between each other.

Director Malcolm D. Lee, cousin of renowned filmmaker Spike Lee, does a great job working with screenwriters Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver in making this "chick flick" work. He allows room for drama and balances out what kind of humor the viewer will get over the course of two hours; granted there is humor based around sex and the human body, but thankfully it's not the immediate go-to for a certain scene and other jokes have their time to shine. The script also lets the performers work out specific character traits to fit the proper energy certain scenes call for, and serves as a perfect showcase of friendship that becomes this film's main theme. You totally feel for each of these women when their own flaws come up during the trip and have to address them, yet it never comes across as forcing the audience to give the protagonists sympathy. Cinematographer Greg Gardiner captures the wonderful and various locales of New Orleans, Louisiana where each one has a distinct color aesthetic and overall makes the film look great alongside Keith Brian Burns' production design. The pacing is perfect thanks to Paul Millspaugh's editing, where each scene has importance to the narrative's progression, and the orchestral score by David Newman completes the package where it infuses every moment with the right amount of energy and tone without ever sounding lackluster.

Hall, Latifah and Pinkett Smith are great in their respective roles. The former is the straight-woman of the group while also being an emotional anchor regarding her situation where she knows her husband is having an affair with another woman, and she goes through an arc where she decides to reveal the truth and just keep moving forward with her career. Latifah gives Sasha a big personality while allowing for more humble moments to come in, like the scene when she decides to forgo being a gossip columnist and be there to her friends. Pinkett Smith gets to present her comedy chops once again and never failed to get some chuckles out of me. This was the breakthrough performance for Haddish, and she nearly walks away with the film; her hilarious depiction of "grapefruiting" still gets me every time since she does not think it's weird, all while Pinkett Smith and Latifah look on in sheer shock and disbelief. What's interesting to note is that moment is now considered the first demonstration in a motion picture of a new type of oral sex act, which makes it come across even funnier when looked through such analytical lenses. Luke Cage himself Mike Colter does well in the part of Ryan's husband Stewart, and Larenz Tate was fun as musician Julian that lets the gal pals stay at his hotel suite and later forms a relationship with Ryan. Rounding out the ing cast we have Kate Walsh, Kofi Siriboe, Deborah Ayorinde, Lara Grice and Tonea Stewart who work well in their roles, along with various musicians, actors, and authors making cameo appearances as themselves so watch carefully.

Girls Trip is a fun romp. You can tell everyone in front of and behind the camera was having a fun time making this story of sisterhood and self-worth work while providing solid laughs along the way, and is worth seeing if you are a fan of female-driven comedies.

Whenever anyone hears about a movie getting remade in this day and age, it's usually met with scorn and anger by the film's fanbase. However back in the 80s and 90s, remakes did pop up on occasion but were adapted from movies only cinema buffs knew and was not greeted with anger when they hit theaters. Case in point being the 1996 remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy classic The Nutty Professor, which was warmly received by critics and became a box-office success. The plot follows the titular character Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy), a brainy and kind-hearted man who is morbidly obese and decides to create a weight-loss pharmaceutical in the hopes of winning the affection of Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett Smith), a chemistry graduate who is a big fan of his work. The formula works and unleashes a vigorous, charismatic, but evil alter ego named "Buddy Love" whose antics begin to ruin Sherman's life, which forces him to find a way to get rid of Buddy and be his true self.

One of the biggest strengths of the film (and a component that still holds up) is Rick Baker and David Leroy Anderson's Oscar-winning makeup effects that transform Murphy into seven different characters. It must have been amazing to be on the set of the dinner scenes with Klump and his family conversing with each other; Murphy creates these distinct personalities while wearing the different layers of makeup designed by Baker for separate takes that makes you forget it's all done by one actor. The screenplay by David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Steve Oedekerk and director Tom Shadyac does have the kind of crass humor we have seen in comedies going forward such as fart and fat jokes, yet it's handled in such a manner that never fails in making me get a genuine chuckle from them. Of all the films in Shadyac's filmography, this is by far one of his best directorial efforts; I know some would say Liar Liar (1997), Ace Ventura (1994) and Bruce Almighty (2003) fit that description but I enjoyed how he handled the balance between really funny moments such as Sherman's nightmares about his weight to the more heart-felt moments between Sherman and the people who care about him. Julio Macat's cinematography is great, allowing for some neat camera tricks to help the illusion of watching Murphy interact with himself in the same scene and the editing by Don Zimmerman works in keeping the film's pace steady over the course of an hour and thirty-five minutes. David Newman's score is wonderful to listen to aside from having notable songs "Macho Man" by The Village People and "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters appear, which makes the whole film overall have such a fun vibe.

Murphy is a delight to watch as the lovable and kind Sherman, who we immediately sympathize with because he wants to be seen as a person and not because of his body type. The same works for the perverted and super-confident Buddy Love, which lets Murphy go all out with that trademark energy and wisecracks that made him become a great movie star of the 80s and 90s. Pinkett Smith brings warmth to the role of Miss Purty, never feeling like a push-away love interest through the course of the film and provides Sherman the chance to accept who he is and not hide behind an alter ego to like her. Larry Miller is great as the exasperated Dean Richmond, always getting onto Sherman for whatever mishap around Wellman College is his doing. While he appears in the third act briefly, Hollywood legend James Coburn works well in the part of Harlan Hartley who Richmond hopes will give his $10,000,000 donation to the college's science department. John Ales has fun in the part of Jason, Sherman's friend and assistant who catches on to what Sherman is doing and provides the necessary help to find a way to get rid of Buddy. Dave Chappelle has a memorable appearance as obnoxious club comedian Reggie Warrington, which results in a great scene where he and Buddy Love heckle each other that ends in quite a hilarious way.

The Nutty Professor shows how a remake is supposed to be handled, and can even stand on its own feet alongside the Jerry Lewis version. While some of the early computer effects for the climatic transformation have shown their age and the dependency on juvenile humor gets tiresome, the rest of the film is entertaining and works as a showcase of Eddie Murphy's range as an actor.

After making a successful debut behind the camera as director with 2017's Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig's sophomore effort would become the seventh filmed adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel. Little Women is one of the most notable coming-of-age stories ever published in American literature due to tackling the themes of domesticity, work, and true love, all interdependent and necessary to achieving individual identity. Told in non-linear order jumping back and forth between 1868 and 1861, the plot focuses on the four titular characters Josephine "Jo" March (Saoirse Ronan), Margaret "Meg" March (Emma Watson), Amy March (Florence Pugh), and Elizabeth "Beth" March (Eliza Scanlen) during and after the Civil War coming of age and pursuing their own interests and desires. Jo wants to become a writer, Meg to marry the man she loves, Amy to become a painter, and Beth to enjoy playing music when no one is around; romance, loss and determination will become part of their lives. Having only seen the 1949 film version off Turner Classic Movies last December, I'm happy to report this adaptation is fantastic and a sign that we have a directorial voice worth listening to.

Gerwig has completely matured as a filmmaker, which can be seen in how she directs the dramatic aspects of Little Women to where it makes the audience root for the four sisters. Her writing also helps inject a more autobiographical presentation where Jo is essentially standing in for May Alcott; when she meets with a publisher who keeps haggling her over the details of the manuscript, it reads as topical commentary on how even in this day and age women are perceived a certain way in male-dominated environments. It never feels on the nose when we cut to these scenes, and instead works as showcasing Alcott's ideals since she was indeed ahead of her time. What's also interesting to note is that of the seven screen versions, only three have been directed by women: Gillian Armstrong in 1994, a contemporary take from Clare Niederpruem in 2018, and now this. Of course they are different from each other, and Gerwig's choice to tell the story non-linear could have easily detracted viewers yet is essential in showing the lives of our main protagonists. The cinematography by Yorick Le Saux is marvelous, each frame lovingly shot and lit to present which timeline is playing out over the course of two hours and fourteen minutes. Every pan, tilt and long take keeps the pacing steady without ever calling attention to itself, as does the wonderful score by noted Wes Anderson collaborator Alexandre Desplat. Alongside period-appropriate music by Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert it sells the light and dark moments the March Sisters face as they enter adulthood, and is another worthy score in Desplat's resume.

Ronan is fantastic as the eldest sister Jo. She fully gives the role a strong and charming presence where we are on her side in hoping she gets one of her stories published during a time where women were supposed to either be lovers or housewives and leave those kind of activities to men. Like with her starring role in Lady Bird, Ronan has a great future ahead of her and I look forward to whatever future projects she stars in. Watson is great as Meg, and I love the scenes where she and Ronan converse about their futures. You totally believe they are indeed sisters, which in turn rubs off onto the scenes they share with Pugh and Scanlen; the former has a great arc where she attempts to prove herself capable of being brilliant and not always be second for everything when compared to Jo. The latter serves as the emotional glue that keeps all the sisters together, and once she contracts an illness it forms a lump in your heart hoping that the outcome is not what you think it is. Laura Dern is wonderful as Marmee, the matriarch of the family who helps each of her daughters face their uncertain futures, and Timothée Chalamet is great as Amy's childhood friend Theodore "Laurie" Laurence who has feelings for Jo before he goes through marrying the one sister he truly loves. Rounding out the cast we have Chris Cooper as Laurie's father who helps provide gifts to the March family out of generosity, Louis Garrel as Jo's love interest Friedrich, James Norton as Meg's husband John, Bob Odenkirk as Father March, Tracy Letts as Mr. Dashwood the publisher, Jayne Houdyshell as Hannah and the one and only Meryl Streep is a hoot to watch as Aunt March.

Little Women may be the seventh adaptation of a beloved piece of literature made into a movie, yet manages to bring something fresh and new to the table. With a fantastic cast, solid direction, and a new approach to how the narrative unfolds this is indeed a case where some stories truly are timeless, no matter how many different forms of media adapt it.

The third and final Samuel Fuller film I streamed off The Criterion Channel would be the first of several war films by the famed writer-producer-director. The Steel Helmet is notable for being the first mainstream American film to depict the Korean War, and also for not holding its punches regarding the discussion on domestic and war crimes. The plot focuses on Sergeant Zack (Gene Evans) surviving a massacre due to the bullet meant for him being deflected by his helmet; freed by a South Korean orphan he nicknames "Short Round" (William Chun), they soon encounter another sole survivor from his group named Corporal Thompson (James Edwards). The trio later encounter a patrol led by inexperienced Lieutenant Driscoll (Steve Brodie), to which Zack reluctantly agrees to help the unit establish an observation post at a Buddhist temple but will soon realize that they aren't the only ones occupying the temple. Running a tight eighty-four minutes, The Steel Helmet marked Fuller's official arrival as a mighty cinematic force and remains a gritty depiction of the blood and guts of war.

Ernest Miller returns as cinematographer and, like with I Shot Jesse James, makes the film look like it cost way more than its budget. The way the camera moves about through the terrain with the soldiers (which was shot in Griffith Park, California) and within the Buddhist temple is steady, along with some great panning movements around the actors when they have conversations that carry importance and fantastic close-up shots. This was the first time Fuller wore the hats of writer, producer and director for a production and you can feel his creative control throughout regarding the content; he never got forced by studio heads to make it like other Hollywood war films where the soldiers are clean-cut and not flawed, which only makes The Steel Helmet stand out even more in that regard. He focuses more on the human element where this ragtag of individuals have to work together despite some having racist feelings to each other, but does give us some thrilling bits of gunplay including the climatic standoff between the American troops and the onslaught of North Korean troops. Fuller did serve in World War II so he used his experiences in the field, along with tales from returning Korean veterans, to show what it was like. One of my favorite scenes involves a GI being sent to retrieve the dog tags of a fallen comrade while Zack flatly states "No one cares who that man is, he's dead", which results in the ignorant soldier being killed by a booby trap. It's a darkly humorous moment but again is what Fuller knew firsthand. The film also confronts American racism head on when in the third act, a North Korean Communist prisoner baits Thompson in conversation with s of American society's Jim Crow rules and later tries the same with Sgt. Tanaka by mentioning the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II. This presentation of America's ugly truths infuriated the military so much, it made Fuller become the target of an FBI investigation; funny how nearly seven decades later we continue to make movies that do discuss America's ugly truths and the FBI has remained mum about it. Paul Dunlap returns to compose the score and does a great job making it underscore the drama and action without coming across as obtrusive.

The cast is excellent, with Evans being the main standout. Fans of cult sci-fi may know him from The Giant Behemoth (1959) where he played the lead scientist, but Sergeant Zack is without doubt his best performance. The archetype of the gruff, bull-headed sergeant who emotionally locks himself away from the soldiers under his command definitely got its start here, and Evans presents how war can physically and emotionally harden such an individual. Edwards would become famous for portraying African American soldiers in films like Battle Hymn (1957) and Pork Chop Hill (1959), and he is fantastic as Thompson. He does not let the racist attitudes and comments from the others get to him, and since he is a medic that makes the others realize he is their only chance to recover from whatever injuries they get. Brodie lends great as Driscoll, who manages to hold his own against Evans and criticize him for being a coward after certain instances put the group in danger. Prolific character actor Richard Loo, who may be more notable for playing billionaire tycoon Hai Fat in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), is great as Tanaka who like Thompson never lets any racist remarks dampen his duty to serve his country. Harold Fong completely owns the role of the North Korean major, and Chun gives the film its bright spot as the young boy who only wants Zack to like him as a friend before the ugliness of war comes in and snuffs it out.

The Steel Helmet is often considered one of the best war films from Old Hollywood, and I certainly won't argue with such a claim. Great acting from the cast and solid direction come together to give us a war film that sidesteps romantic war clichés and emerges as a vivid study of national and personal identity. Highly recommended.

Our next look at the early works of Samuel Fuller was based on a real case that happened late in the 19th century where a man named James Addison Reavis created a pair of fraudulent land claims which, if certified, would have granted him ownership over 18,600 square miles of land in Arizona and New Mexico. Initial exposure of the fraud occurred when an unfavorable Surveyor General report caused the claim to be summarily dismissed; in response, Reavis sued the U.S. government for $11 million in damages which in turn prompted them to perform a detailed investigation that fully exposed the forgeries Reavis planted in a variety of locations. Granted The Baron of Arizona does what most films based on history do by having many details fictionalized, but the real treat is seeing Fuller continue to mature and grow as a storyteller with his second directorial effort. I was completely captivated with this western that also has ample room for romance, elements of noir and even a scene that feels right at home in a courtroom drama and has definitely earned its status as a underrated gem.

Legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe paints a fantastic canvas for Fuller's vision to come alive, and when I found out the film was shot in 15 days that only made me appreciate Howe's work even further. He never lets any frame appear empty, working with the production and art designers to have various props appear within the mise-en-scéne that makes the locations feel like they are not sets on a sound stage. The lighting is also excellent to see on display, especially in the film's most memorable scene: James Reavis outside someone's doorstep during the night as rain pours everywhere. Like with I Shot Jesse James, Fuller's screenplay has a lot of great lines that stick with you, like Reavis saying "A wanderer like Cain looking for a woman of my own" to a gypsy dancer named Rita. Each conversation we listen to from the characters propels the drama forward, be it with Reavis and his wife or between Reavis and noted businessmen where he does his best in hiding his scheme from being revealed. The film is also not afraid to slowly unravel the drama in regards to pacing, which may turn some viewers away but Fuller and editor Arthur Hilton made this intentional so you could get an idea on who Reavis was as a person and what made him get the idea to create the land claims. Paul Dunlap's score fully enriches the viewer into the unfolding drama when Reavis decides to go forth in making the land claims, the slow realization the townspeople come to when they see his name on everything, and the climax where the townspeople attempt to lynch Reavis for his actions. Each piece of music compliments the other and manages to provide the same caliber of emotion as the actors' performances, all while avoiding the pitfall of being brash and coming off cliché.

Vincent Price completely owns the role of Reavis, being a sinister and yet persuasive individual who knew how to make people agree with his ideas. That rich velvety voice of his is so distinct and commanding whenever Reavis talks with the other characters, and I especially loved his intense monologue he says to the townspeople that if they do go through with lynching him, all their land will now mean nothing and have no true owner. He has since stated this was one of his favorite roles alongside Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General (1968) and Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective (1986), which is quite a trifecta that shows just how talented an actor Price was. Ellen Drew manages to hold her own as Sofia de Peralta-Reavis, who was taken in by Reavis as a girl and groomed to become "the Baroness of Arizona" when she became an adult. She would continue to do films and television appearances as the decade progressed, but never did hit the same kind of memorable performance as she did here. Reed Hadley returns for his second Samuel Fuller film as Griff, an expert on forgery who is brought in by the surveyor general who believes Reavis doctored the documents. He is great in the part, going for a different approach where he just calmly questions Reavis to know if the doctoring of land grants is true. Beulah Bondi works well as Loma Morales, Reavis' governess who acts like the mother Sofia never had, and has some neat little moments of her own. Rounding out the ing cast we have Joseph J. Greene, Jonathan Hale, Barbara Woodell, Angelo Rossitto, Edward Keane and Robert Barrat who work well as these various individuals who were affected by or participated in taking down Reavis.

The Baron of Arizona is undoubtedly one of Price and Fuller's finest efforts in their illustrious careers. It works as a unique introduction to the real historical event, has great camerawork from an industry legend, and is another stepping stone in the career of a man who made his films outside the conventional studio system. Well worth seeing.

After cutting his teeth as a screenwriter on such films as Hats Off (1936) and Gangs of the Waterfront (1945), Samuel Fuller made his directorial debut with this cult western about the murder of Jesse James by Robert Ford and his life after that fateful event. Built around a fictional rivalry between Ford and a man named Edward Kelley (called John in the film) over a woman, Fuller presents a different kind of frontier unlike what the other major Hollywood studios were churning out; modest and intense, this focuses more on the psychological effects an individual would have after they commit murder. For an hour and twenty-one minutes we get a fantastic character study that could be viewed as a biopic of sorts, and this was long before the 2007 revisionist western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford would focus on this same segment of American history. Being a fan of westerns, I was curious to see what Fuller could bring to such an established genre and I'm happy to report he made something his own that is not a B-grade oater with clear-cut heroes and villains.

Right away, the stylistic flourishes that would become Fuller trademarks are on display: using silence to make the viewer anticipate a moment of violence, laying out conversations between principal characters, and how the main action itself is choreographed. Despite the film's low budget, it looks like an A picture that would've been directed by John Ford or Henry Hathaway which of course Fuller was aware of, but went in making his style be just as distinct as those two when looking at westerns made and released during the 1940s. The dialogue flows from Fuller's screenplay, with various sentences having significant weight behind them after the titular event happens and how we listen to Robert Ford venting his thoughts to the people he knows. It works in painting these individuals as flawed and rugged people without the cleanliness and gloss seen in other westerns, which was quite interesting to see in Old Hollywood films at the time. Ernest Miller's camerawork is excellent, giving us amazing close-ups that show what the characters are feeling to go along with the medium shots of the various interiors of hotel rooms and taverns. It's nothing too fancy or stage-bound, but provides variety as the tension between Ford and Kelley slowly builds to its tragic conclusion. Albert Glasser gives the film a blend of various themes and melodies that keep it firmly rooted in the western genre while also being its own voice. During the more dramatic moments the use of horns and percussion is great, while strings appear during the romantic moments between Ford and the woman he loves named Cynthy Waters that also blend into becoming more downbeat.

John Ireland, a noted character actor whose list of credits include Raw Deal (1948), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and 55 Days at Peking (1963), works perfectly as Robert Ford. He gives the role a great layer of depth and conflict when word of his deed spreads everywhere and it makes some individuals want to kill him so they could receive the honor of being the one who gunned down Jesse James' killer. My favorite bit of business is when Ford hears a singing minstrel sing about Jesse James' killer and just says very calmly with anger in his eyes "Play it." Ireland sells it without ever going into hysterics and makes Ford seem more layered than what the historical records painted him as. Preston Foster works really well as Kelley, the man who eventually does take out Ford in the climax; like with Ireland, Foster also has a lenghty resume of credits but I think this is his more noteworthy performance. Barbara Britton is great as Cynthy, the woman Ford wants to marry and the main reason why he went through with his actions. Reed Hadley provides a memorable turn as Jesse James which makes him stand apart from other iterations, and is notable for having a more homoerotic approach that can be seen during the scene where he asks Ford to clean his back while he's in a bathtub. Tom Tyler, Tommy Noonan, Byron Foulger, Barbara Woodell and Margia Dean round out the ing cast and do well in their roles as individuals Ford has to deal with when his actions turn his life into one of rejection, loneliness and somber regret.

I Shot Jesse James showed Hollywood the kind of filmmaking Samuel Fuller would bring: twenty-six features released over the course of four decades that have since been regarded as classics. With solid direction, a great cast of reliable character actors and a more mature approach to framing the Wild West through a psychological lens, this film is well worth checking out.

Designed with the film lover in mind, Shout Select shines a light on films that deserve a spot on your shelf. From acknowledged classics to cult favorites and unheralded gems, this label celebrates the best in filmmaking, giving these movies the love and attention they deserve. Like with Criterion, these will be arranged by spine number and continually updated with new releases.

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
• Elvis
• Midnight Run
• Road House
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
• Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
• Nighthawks
• Death of a Salesman
• To Live and Die in L.A.
• The T.A.M.I. Show

...plus 274 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

VHSHitfest has been uncovering and releasing movies on video for over a decade, across DVD and VHS, and is now moving into Blu-ray, with the same goal to showcase the most unique, crazy, and obscure movies that they've discovered through years of collecting VHS, allowing even more people to actually be able to experience these nearly lost gems in the best versions possible.

• The Cornshukker
• Blood Hunter
• Satan's Menagerie
• Justice Ninja Style
• Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector
• Psycho Paul's Film Festival
• Vile 21
• Blind Faith
• Game of Pleasure
• Lost Prophet

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Umbrella Entertainment has been a 100% Australian-owned and operated distributor for over 20 years. Their vast home entertainment catalogue features an extensive range of Australian classic, cult and exploitation films restored under the eyes of the original filmmakers. All sourced from national archives, underground collectors and local basements.

• Undead
• Nightmares
• Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds
• Shame
• Midnite Spares
• Death in Brunswick
• Day of the Panther
• Strike of the Panther
• Inn of the Damned
• Night of Fear

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Called “one of the best streaming services in the world” by RogerEbert.com and described by Thrillist as “pretty much everything a horror fan could want,” Shudder is a streaming service offering the best selection of horror, thriller and supernatural movies, series and specials. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to have them as the latest partner label to release titles on home media.

• Brooklyn 45
• The Sadness
• A Wounded Fawn
• The Found Footage Phenomenon
• Attachment
• Saloum
• Kuso
• The Sacrifice Game
• Influencer
• The Strings

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Saturn's Core Audio & Video is a New Jersey based home video label devoted to releasing underground oddities and shot on video cinema on VHS, and now, Blu-ray discs! In partnership with OCN Distribution, Saturn's Core will exhume forgotten or under-seen genre cinema from the 80s and 90s, with an emphasis on SOV horror features.

• Mail Order Murder: The Story Of W.A.V.E. Productions
• Psycho Sisters
• Duck! The Carbine High Massacre
• Shatter Dead
• Sorority Slaughter
• Savage Harvest
• Sinistre
• Red Spirit Lake
• We Await
• Backwoods Marcy

...plus 51 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Music Box Selects is a brand new home video library from the revered independent film distribution company Music Box Films which is dedicated to curating a diverse repertoire of films and television from around the world. The Music Box Selects line will consist of Blu-ray debuts of catalog titles and home video premieres, all of which will adhere to the quality and diversity that fans have come to expect from the Music Box name.

• Heavy Trip
• Alleluia
• Beats
• Stranger in Our House
• Sibyl
• Sylvio
• Please Baby Please
• Full Time
• Signature Move
• Ennio

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

KimStim is a Brooklyn based, full-service distribution company dedicated to the release of exceptional independent, foreign, and documentary film. Founded in 2000 by Mika Kimoto and Ian Stimler, KimStim brings to North American audiences selected films from around the world gleaned from the most prestigious film festivals and include top prize winners from Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, and Tribeca.

• Ma mère

Named after Yasujiro Ozu’s custom-made, crab-like tripod, Kani is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context.

• Being Natural
• Cain and Abel
• Ode to Nothing
• Videophobia
• Tremble All You Want
• Robinson's Garden
• What's Up Connection
• Viva Erotica
• Sell Out!
• A New Old Play

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Established in 2000 and based in New York City, IFC Films is a leading U.S. distributor of independent film. Its unique distribution model makes independent films available to a national audience by releasing them in theaters as well as on VOD. Partnered with OCN Distribution, IFC will release new titles on home video and revisit past favorites in brand new editions, with many making their HD physical media debuts.

• Queen of Earth
• Simon Killer
• Mister Lonely
• Bastards
• Snowtown
• The Canyons
• 4:44 Last Day on Earth
• Autoerotic
• Love Crime
• Sleeping Beauty

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Glass Eye Pix is the fierce independent NYC-based production outfit headed by art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden. They are responsible for providing narrative films, documentaries, books, comics, audio plays, and other unique work designed to inspire and contrast with corporate media.

• Automatons

Founded in 2002 as one of the first-ever film subscription services, Film Movement is now a distributor in North America of award-winning independent and foreign films. Film Movement Classics, launched in 2015, presents new restorations for noted films by legendary auteurs.

• Violent Streets
• Violent Cop
• The Reflecting Skin
• The Quiet Earth
• Heroes Shed No Tears
• Fireworks
• The Great Silence
• Boiling Point
• All the Sins of Sodom
• Vibrations

...plus 54 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Factory 25, a Brooklyn-based independent film distribution company was founded in 2009 by Matt Grady. F25 is a home for conceptually provocative narratives and documentaries. Its mission is to deliver specialized film and music titles in an aesthetically captivating way while exposing the indie world to under-the-radar films, music, and other curiosities in various ways and formats — theatrically, digitally, on TV, VOD, via subscription, limited edition DVDs, Blu-ray's, books and vinyl.

• Fake It So Real
• The Oregonian
• Ape
• Hellaware
• Young Bodies Heal Quickly
• Uncle Kent 2
• For the Plasma
• In the Soup
• Ham on Rye
• Other Music

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

ETR Media is the brand new film distribution arm of Enjoy the Ride Records, a Long Island based record label that specializes in cult following reissues through a variety of genres. ETR Media releases will adhere to the same quality standards as fans have come to associate with their lavish LP reissues.

Note: Sega the Complete History Vol. 1 and Slope's Game Room are not listed within Letterboxd's database.

• Green Jello Suxx Live
• Commando Ninja
• Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street
• Lo Sound Desert
• Deadguy: Killing Music
• I Think We're Alone Now
• Lieutenant Jangles
• The First VCR
• Cassettes Go Hi-Fi
• Who Done It: The Clue Documentary

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Dekanalog is a film and soundtrack distribution company dedicated to the release of the most unique filmmaking voices and musical scores from around the world.

• Keep an Eye Out
• Detention
• Two Lottery Tickets
• A Month in Thailand
• Take Me Somewhere Nice
• Air Doll
• KFC
• Dachra
• Amigo
• The Adam Rifkin Film Festival

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Cartuna is a cartoon company and indie film distributor focused on animation, puppetry, DIY art, and alt-comedy.

• Nuts!
• Adam Green's Aladdin
• Hundreds of Beavers
• Nova Seed
• When You Get to the Forest
• Cash Cow

From arthouse to Canuxploitation, Canadian International Pictures (CIP) is devoted to resurrecting vital, distinctive, and overlooked triumphs of Canadian cinema. This label is focused on the country’s original cinematic boom years – spanning the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s – occasionally venturing past that period (and the country’s borders) to highlight the films of Canada’s most inspired actors and filmmakers. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing CIP's home media releases.

• The Ernie Game
• The Cat in the Bag
• The Merry World of Leopold Z
• YUL 871
• The Rink
• The Big Swim
• Percé on the Rocks
• Very Nice, Very Nice
• Christmas Cracker
• 23 Skidoo

...plus 48 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Since Brainstorm Media's inception in 1995, the company has had a forward-thinking approach to a growing indie marketplace. With an ethos of adaptability, they continue to expand its network of partners and explore unique models of distribution with its core mission being on focused and creative distribution strategies for its content partners.

• Starve Acre
• New Life
• Cora Bora
• Consumed
• Limbo

Since 2004, Bleeding Skull has explored otherworldly cinema through various forms and shines a light on independent genre films that have flown under the radar but deserve to be seen by all eyes.

• Blonde Death
• The Other Dimension
• Way Bad Stone
• In Memorium
• Disembodied
• Cannibal Orgy
• Nightmare City
• The Soultangler
• Suroh: Alien Hitchhiker

The American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) represents the world's largest theatrical catalog of exploitation cinema. Their home video line presents a diverse selection of movies, ranging from newly preserved editions of classics from the vast library of Something Weird to the wildest in shot-on-video titles. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line.

• The Zodiac Killer
• Effects
• Bat Pussy
• The Violent Years
• Godmonster of Indian Flats
• Lady Street Fighter
• Take It Out in Trade
• Who Killed Captain Alex?
• Bad Black
• Wicked World

...plus 134 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The sister company of world renowned genre film preservationists and distributors Vinegar Syndrome, Mélusine is the premier home for the sexier side of exploitation cinema. From the earliest days of nudie cuties all the way through the last gasps of big budget theatrical hardcore, their ever expanding catalog of hundreds of acclaimed, classic, rare, under-seen, forgotten, and soon to be rediscovered feature films presents the widest and most diverse selection of X-rated entertainment available anywhere on physical media.

• The Tale of Tiffany Lust
• Blonde Ambition
• Through the Looking Glass
• The Image
• Naked Came the Stranger

The biggest stars, best directors, and highest production values; that is a Quality X film. These deluxe editions of some of the genre's masterpieces, along with plenty of hidden gems, are presented in homage to its namesake of esteemed New York film distributor, Mature Pictures, the company which almost single-handedly raised the bar for outstanding sex films.

• Getting Personal
• Center Spread Girls
• Joy
• Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle
• Stud Hunters
• Roommates
• Inside Little Oral Annie
• Little Oral Annie Takes Manhattan
• Intimate Lessons
• Midnight Desires

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Peekarama presents the wildest, rarest, and most scandalous theatrical hardcore double features. Taking its name from one of the earliest "all action" sex theatre chains, each release presents two themed full length feature films meticulously restored, thus giving viewers the opportunity to enjoy an old fashioned dirty movie double feature in the privacy of their home.

• Carnal Highways
• Carnal Olympics
• Frankie and Johnnie... Were Lovers
• The Mislayed Genie
• Taxi Girls
• Heavenly Desire
• SexWorld
• Thoroughly Modern Mary-Magdalene
• Prostitution clandestine
• Summer Camp Girls

...plus 43 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

You got the films explored in depth by GoodBadFlicks, now here are the ones that get lovingly riffed a la MST3K style. You've got every kind of movie imaginable from every different place in the world, some from notable production companies like Full Moon, some directed/written by people who are famous for other films, etc. There's a wide variety for cult film connoisseurs to enjoy, so hopefully this list will help said connoisseurs track down films they've always wanted to see.

• Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann
• Home Sweet Home
• To All a Goodnight
• Christmas Evil
• Stone Cold
• The Hidden
• Werewolves on Wheels
• Screamers
• Dracula 2000
• Night of the Creeps

...plus 287 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Vinegar Syndrome Labs (VSL) is dedicated to releasing genres and film eras one might not immediately expect to come from VS. This testing area's objective is to restore more of the weird, rare, and unusual movies that no other major studio or boutique label would put forth into the world.

• Curucu, Beast of the Amazon
• Flesh and Fantasy
• The Cat Creeps
• Golem
• The War of the Worlds: Next Century
• O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization
• Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes
• Guest House Paradiso
• Savage Summer
• Johnny Chicano

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Vinegar Syndrome Archive (VSA) celebrates the forgotten cinematic oddities one would find in their local video stores, be they from the US or other countries.

• Death Feud
• Evil Town
• Vice Academy
• Vice Academy Part 2
• Vice Academy Part 3
• Savage Dawn
• Hell Riders
• Dr. Jekyll's Dungeon of Death
• L.A. Wars
• Spellcaster

...plus 52 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, Vinegar Syndrome is a film restoration and distribution company that specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films." Since 2013 with The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis being their debut release, the label has released nearly 600 films on DVD/Blu-ray and have been favorably compared to The Criterion Collection in regards to selection and quality of their cult/exploitation/adult movie catalog; will be updated every time VS officially announces new titles. My sincere thanks go out to Letterboxd Jason Coffman, whose list provided the basis for what I consider my own personal checklist in regards to writing down these films and their directors for my film encyclopedia project.

• Linda and Abilene
• The Ecstasies of Women
• Black Love
• Savage Water
• Death by Invitation
• Expectations
• Confessions
• Massage Parlor Murders
• Anatomy of a Psycho
• The Lonely Sex

...plus 698 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.