Above Suspicion
A young going-places FBI agent (Jack Huston) cuts corners during a deployment in a backwater Kentucky town, and ends up tying his fortunes to those of a damaged informant (Emilia Clarke).
Based on a real life – and very tragic – story, director Philip Noyce misdirects the audience at the start by implying this is a slightly zany seventies-style neo-screwball affair – but very quickly the gears change and we are on a hell ride. Definitely better that I felt it was going to be, with strong supporting performances from Johnny Knoxville, Sophie Lowe, Thora Birch and Kevin Dunn.
Home Alone
Enjoyable if you put your brain into neutral (otherwise you just end up thinking THESE PEOPLE DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR HOUSE ROBBED).
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Seriously, they did the same exact thing (except at least this time Kevin was with them at the airport to start with). Shameless callback to the original, right down to having the same antagonist team for Mac to spar with, only this time he’s in a swanky Central Park-adjacent hotel.
Octopussy
To be clear, this is absolutely not a classic, but within the bounds of the form, it is an easily consumed Bond film. The story makes no sense. There are some decent enough chases and fights. And it contains the following crackpot genius line from the lips of the titular villain/ally hybrid: “I have diversified [from running a smuggling ring and weird octopus-based cult-cum-island-based Amazonian army] into shipping, hotels, carnivals and circuses,” which somehow makes the opening scene make sense, and ties everything together with the ending. Go figure.
Never Say Never Again
Not seen this for about twenty-five, thirty years, and if I’m honest it has very little to recommend. The cold open combat evaluation exercise is pretty decent, but there’s no passion, no pacing, no commitment for the rest of the film. And you really find yourself missing the grammar of a ‘proper’ Bond – the Binder titles, the Barry theme, the musical cues and stings. There are some saving graces – Klaus Maria Brandauer as SPECTRE bad guy Largo, Barbara Carrera as sociopathic villain Fatima Blush, Edward Fox as an exasperated M, Alec McCowen as a resource-strapped Q – but it’s not enough to save a film where the leading man just doesn’t care. For all its faults, the original Thunderball did it far better. Except maybe the fight in the health spa – Pat Roach is immense in this.
Honey, I Blew Up The Kid
Lacklustre sequel, but it’s Rick Moranis being likeable, so could be worse.
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who! AKA Horton
TBH I wasn’t really following this animated adaptation at all. To say it didn’t grab me would be an understatement.
A View To A Kill
Moore’s swan song is better than its reputation would suggest. It’s a straightforward Bond vs villain story, in which Bond actual does some detective work to figure out what the bad guy is plotting, rather than randomly globetrotting from one arbitrary plot point to the next like an expenses-abusing sex offender. In fact he starts of in London, goes to Ascot for the races, pops over to France to meet Zorin (Christopher Walken with eyes popping to eleven), then heads to California where we stay for the rest of the movie. Grace Jones is a memorable henchwoman, Tanya Roberts a comparatively normal ‘Bond girl’. Even the Duran Duran theme song sounds better than I remembered it.
The Living Daylights
Dalton’s first go at Bond, and the dimple-chinned Welshman gives it a good shake. It doesn’t jump the rails of the Moore years – there’s gadgets, crap quips, M, Q, Moneypenny, Leiter, a euroham villain (Jeroen Krabbe) (though thankfully NO fucking underwater scene) – but there are hints of the darker places intended. The absence of sillier elements like SPECTRE helps, as does not having 007 rut around the globe like an overly libidinous travelling salesman. A solid start, ably helped by John Glen, a stalwart helmsman working on his seventh Bond, his fourth of five consecutive movies as director.
A Week In Film 