- Captain Blood (1935)
- Trouble In Paradise (1932)
- Adventures of Pinocchio, The (1996)
- Golden Coach, The (1952)
- 42nd Street (1933)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- Scarface (1932)
- Gun Crazy (1949)
- Wheel, The (1923)
- Boondock Saints (1999)
- Thing, The (1982)
- Passion of Joan Of Arc, The (1928)
- Funny Games (1997) or Who Needs A Fourth Wall Anyways?
- Gladiator (2000)
- Apocalypto (2006)
- Tripping Stardust Through Fetid Film - Part XIV - Hecklefest Drinking Games
- Gallipoli (1981)
- Lavender Hill Mob, The (1951)
- Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
- High Plains Drifter (1973) * Top Pick *
- Ping Pong (2002)
- Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989)
- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Gone With The Wind (1939)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Saw V (2008)
- General, The (1927)
- Hurt Locker, The (2008)
- Magnolia (1999)
A View to A Kill (1985) - Or Say Never Moore
Bond
James Bond
James Bond
The view's from the blimp there. You gotta admit it's a view to... DIE FOR!
Bond: Roger Moore (Moonraker • The Man With The Golden Gun)
Bond Girl: Stacey Sutton Played By: Tanya Roberts (Sheena • "That '70s Show")
Bond Villain: Max Zorin Played By: Christopher Walken (Deerhunter • True Romance)
Villain's Goon: May Day Played By: Grace Jones (Conan the Destroyer • Vamp)
Genre: Action Adventure Thriller (UK, USA)
Directed By: John Glen (Octopussy • For Your Eyes Only)
Overview: When MI6 discovers that Zorin Enterprises may be responsible for technology getting into Russian hands, Bond is sent to look into Max Zorin and his crooked horse racing. Oh, but you'll never guess! There's a far more sinister plot!
As we close the Bond book of Roger Moore with the 1985 production A View To A Kill, allow me to digress a moment.
My reason for seeing all the Bond films, besides having a generally safe Blog-00-7hon topic, is mainly because I have never really seen any. Yes, throughout my exploration there are moments when I recall this scene or I remember that villain, fragments from childhood or bits captured while channel flipping, but overall I really haven't seen much of ol' James in my life. A View To A Kill, however, I remember being a bit of a phenomenon at the time. I was 10 years old, Duran Duran was still huge and their eponymous title song actually landed the Number 1 spot in the US. Grace Jones was, at least in my mind, already a popular freak of nature, and did I mention Duran Duran? What surprised me most in this recent screening, is how have no recollection whatsoever of the villainous Christopher Walken.
All I conjured up while setting up the DVD was the 80s, the outmoded music, that freakozoid Grace Jones. I was going into this one expecting Diamonds Are Forever: a Bond past his prime beginning to show signs of creaking, the tragedy of the era with bad clothes, worse makeup, car chases and too many explosions. And, yes on some occasions, this happened, but I also got Bond-tastic awesome You Only Live Twice-grade wickedness in the form of Max Zorin. I heart Christopher Walken, and to see him in this film doing a poor man's Earnst Stavro Bloefeld, well that is a treasure to behold.
Max, in short is a nutbag. A psychopath who, when it is safe to do either, choses the road of vainglorious murder over safe exit strategy. Without spoiling his awesome backstory, Max is a psychopath, and just in case you didn't know exactly what that meant (a mental disorder especially when marked by egocentric and antisocial activity), it means that, like Bloefeld, Zorin goes out of his way to prepare for the worst. Besides having the hots for a freaky Grace Jones, he's toys-in-the-attic enough to make sure that his blimp is equipped with a staircase that turns into a slide complete with self-opening floor at the bottom of said stairs.
There are ever more examples of what makes A View to A Kill extra-special, besides the occasional uber-comical pan flute muzac rendition of Duran Duran's title song. There's the wonderful cameo by Dolph Lungren as a KGB agent extra guy that you see for 5 seconds. Yes Dolph got his first role with the help of his girlfriend at the time… Grace Jones! Best of all is the 'ever-more-sinister' REAL plan plotted by Zorin, which is so outrightfukincrazy that it might actually work. As for the Bond Girl, I found Tanya Roberts utterly forgettable and May Day as a Bond lay? Absolutely chilling. Seriously James?
Seriously!
Either way you look at it, this first collaboration with the US in the Bond Saga is a fun one, so happy viewing... to a... killing!
Bond Gadgets:
The pre-credit mission features an icefloe boatsub thing, but instead of being geared up with mostly technical equipment, it's half bed.
An electronic credit card for Break and Enter.
A bug-detecting Remington Razor.
Adjustable polarizing lens sunglasses, for all your peering through window needs.
A Carbon Copying cigarette case… you know like those old credit card swipers!
And a mini camera in a gold ring.
Seriously that's terrifying! I guess James is scared stiff...
Performance: 8 Cinematography: 8 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 8
Overall Rating: 80% (Take Another Look)
SuperSpyStats
Personal bodycount: Only 3 but one was barehanded!
Foiled Assassinations: 4
Near Misses: 0
Dames Bedded: 4
Martinis Drank: 0
Syndicate
If Kirk and Uhura's on screen kiss was a big deal in the 60's; Bond getting it on with "the beast" Grace Jones should have set the world aflame! You'd never see Sean Connery getting near that, never. She's like a female version of Dennis Rodman, she was a good villain but that scene with her and Bond scares me.