Binge-watching Bond part 1: 'Dr. No'

Sean Connery in Dr. No

My girlfriend and I have indulged in epic marathons in the past.

We've watched all the Terminator, Rambo, Superman, Rocky and Godfather films in a row for instance.

But to coincide with the highly anticipated release of the new James Bond film Spectre this fall -- and for pure fun and excitement -- we've decided to watch every official 007 movie in order over the next several weeks and offer our takes on each one in blog form.

Now, there are over twenty Bond films so this is going to take a few months -- but as a die hard fan of the series, this will hardly be a chore.

I love James Bond, albeit as something of a guilty pleasure, for loving the series requires an acknowledgment that at least in its early years it popularized some truly unforgivable misogyny.

At it's core, James Bond is wish fulfillment for little boys -- and the little boy in me ate it up. My strict parents rarely let me rent films that rose beyond a PG-13, so as a child I found early solace in the Bond films, which had plenty of sex and violence, but were all PG. Believe it or not, Roger Moore was my entry point into loving the character, although I came to see how critical viewers consider Sean Connery and now Daniel Craig as superior interpretations.

Ursula Andress in Dr. No

Liz, my girlfriend, has I believe only seen a handful of the films before, which is exciting for me because watching them with her will be like -- more often than not -- watching them all over again for the first time.

The way we want to structure these posts is that I will give my take on the film and then after viewing it Liz will give hers and we'll continue to do this until we're at the finish line.

The first Bond film came out back in 1962 and it still holds up in my opinion. It's Dr. No. My first thoughts are that although the series was just getting started several key elements are all here in vivid detail.

The incredibly gorgeous Ursula Andress may be the most stunning Bond "girl" of them all and she set the bar high for every starlet that follows in her footsteps. Connery just owns this character from the moment he is introduced and he establishes that while Bond is undeniably the hero, he is also cold-blooded, even cruel when he needs to be.

The Dr. No villain fits the prototype for future baddies of the Connery era. He's an egomaniac, foreign and seems to be beyond any established political ideology. Still, without gadgets or some of the more flashy elements which would eventually become the series' trademark, this first film doesn't skimp on the excitement or sex appeal.

It's definitely one of my favorite of the Connery Bonds which peak for me with From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. And while the plots would become increasingly fantastic, the Bond character remains the epitome of cool and calm under pressure.

Liz's take: I thought Dr. No was a really cool villain, I want to live in his evil lair. Or at least steal all the things in it. I like that there was a build up to finding out who he is (similar to the reveal of the shark in Jaws). Honey (Ursula Andress) was a cool character because she is always itching to get into the fight -- even when they don't let her. And any woman who wears a dagger on her hip is cool in my book, even though she somehow lost her pants by the end of the movie. There was also plenty of eye candy for the ladies -- Bond was shirtless and/or wet for almost the entire last act -- no complaints.

Rediscovering the magic of 'The Royal Tenenbaums'

I believe the reason a movie becomes a "favorite" has a lot to do with the context in which you first saw it -- or least how it affected you at a certain point in time.

For instance, I saw The Big Lebowski for the first time when I was doped up following my wisdom teeth surgery (I laughed so hard blood trickled out the side of my mouth). I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in theaters right after a break up -- and it really hung true.

The Royal Tenenbaums arrived during the peak of my angst-ridden days in college, before I could get a girlfriend and as my cinematic tastes were really starting to come into their own.

I'd seen Rushmore in theaters and had been a big fan, but that was nothing compared to the eye-popping delight Tenenbaums was. Wes Anderson finally had a budget, and it showed.

Today, the movie plays a lot like other Anderson movies -- which have become so tonally similar as to inspire loving if albeit note-perfect parodies like Saturday Night's Live's genius spoof.

Still, Anderson's talent and knack for wringing emotion out of his meticulously crafted characters and sets is undeniable, and The Royal Tenenbaums remains my favorite film he's made to date.

For me, it starts with the brilliant casting of a never-better Gene Hackman in the lead role. He gives a bombastic, gleeful performance as a "son of a bitch" who has lied and cheated his way through life, and yet can't help but be endearing. Hackman is not an obvious Anderson-style performer, but that tension enlivens the material and keeps it from being too self consciously quirky.

Based on the director's commentary, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Tenenbaum patriarch is supposed to have some significant parallels with Anderson's own father -- and in many ways this feels like a very personal film for him.

It was certainly a personal film for me when I saw it. I saw bits of myself in all the Tenenbaum children (played, in some of their best roles ever, by Gwenyth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and Luke Wilson). They're all innately bright, talented people who nevertheless seem to have squandered their gifts and are hamstrung by their own anxiety or neurosis.

Back in 2001, when this film was released, I myself was at a similar crossroads. I felt out of place and insecure and unlovable. When I saw The Royal Tenenbaums on the big screen I saw characters I could relate to and fall in love with. And I remember feeling like during it's slow motion final shot as the characters exit a graveyard, that I was saying goodbye to some close friends.

I revisited the film last night because my girlfriend miraculously had never seen it. I was worried it wouldn't work as well as it used to for me. But it still did.

The soundtrack, the pans, the sets -- all serve the story and some truly original creations. I especially love Owen Wilson's sort of Cormac McCarthy like author, Eli Cash, who dreams of being a Tenenbaum and has a bizarre on-air meltdown during a television interview.

There is a shot I will always remember. Luke Wilson's character is trying to stage something akin to an intervention to get Cash off drugs. While in the midst of trying to deny he has a problem the Cash character crosses to the other side of the room and a stack of pornography is clearly present. Each one of them appears to be a African-American themed porn. This detail is never explained, but the fact that it's there has always amused me endlessly and left me in awe of Anderson's truly awesome mind.

The Royal Tenenbaums is both sweet and sentimental but it also has a real darkness and ambiguity to it. Royal's character probably becomes a better guy by the end of the film but he never really changes. I am a better adjusted person that I was 14 years ago, at least I think I am, but some of the same self-hatred I had back then hangs like a shadow over everything I do.

I'm not even entirely sure what all this means -- but I appreciate the irony.

'Ready Player One' promises to be a return to 'fun' Spielberg films

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time -- even many of is detractors will admit this and yet with a few exceptions his films over the last couple decades have been portentous and serious affairs than the escapist fare that made him a household name.

I get it, as he grew older Spielberg yearned for respectability. And he got it. He's now a two-time Best Director Oscar winner, he can make anything he wants with whoever he wants. And yet he works more infrequently now and usually shies away from the blockbuster material.

That's why I am greeting the news that he plans to adapt the exciting and inventive sci-fi novel Ready Player One with tremendous excitement.

I respect and appreciate the director of Lincoln, but I miss the Spielberg who made E.T., Jaws, Close Encounters, and the original Indiana Jones trilogy.

Sure, Spielberg has shown glimmers of his old showmanship, particularly with his wildly underrated, computer animated tour-de-force, The Adventures of Tintin. But Ready Player One promises to be far more ambitious, while at the same time, a delightfully ambitious return to form.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, author Ernest Cline's Ready Player One is a pop culture junkie delight. It's set in a future universe where the entire population is caught up in elaborate treasure hunt devised by a recently deceased mogul. This uber-rich, Willy Wonka type figure was a recluse, with an obsession with 1980s pop culture. He has set up a complicated game which requires exceptional knowledge of the films, music and television of Reagan era. In other words, the more War Games dialogue you know, a better player you are.

It gets far more complicated than that -- there's an unlikely romance and some very elaborate action scenes (that will be very hard to realize on screen realistically) -- but ultimately it's a fun, far-from-pretentious adventure book, more Back to the Future than The Matrix, and I had a ball reading it.

Spielberg, because of his identification with the '80s, is the perfect director to helm this project. He's always shown a great sense of humor and pathos in his best work and he's also always been at the forefront of technology in the film. The key is that he knows how to let special effects serve his story, instead of overwhelm it.

I'd love to see Spielberg wow us again like he did with say, Jurassic Park, with his sheer audacious showmanship. Now that he's proven several times that he can tug on our heartstrings and be a critical darling, I'm ready to see him put all of these pretenders who have tried to assume his mantle to shame.

If you study the so-called film brat generation of the '60s and '70s as I religiously do, you'll find that Spielberg has always had the reputation of being the "safe one" who was afraid to take on the suits. And, as he nears 70, he is about to take on something that would probably prove too daunting for a director half his age.

But I think he's still got a little fire in him as a filmmaker.

Has Kevin Hart been crowned the king of comedy too soon?

In the modern black comedy pantheon there is Richard Pryor first, then came Eddie Murphy -- who both stole from Pryor and surpassed him in terms of range and popularity.

The heir to Murphy's throne has not been as clear. Chris Rock certainly occupied it in the world of stand up but his film work, save for his recent resurgent role as the writer-director-star of Top Five, has never been up to par with his talent.

Dave Chappelle had the potential to capture the comedy zeitgeist but he has chosen to stay under the radar. Into the void stepped Kevin Hart, who despite a very devoted following, has never really bowled me over.

Don't get me wrong, when I see him in interviews and occasionally catch his stand up, I think he's a funny, talented guy. I just don't think he is the transcendent comedy star that his predecessors Pryor and Murphy were.

Still, he seems to be one of the hottest performers at the movies right now. Almost every month there is a new Hart vehicle in theaters. Yet not a single one of them looked appealing or funny to me. It seems like most if not all of his movies are a succession of short guy put downs met by a panicked or angry meltdown from Hart,

It seemed like he deserved a better movie. When I first saw the trailers for Get Hard, I was excited. I thought Hart looked like he was stepping up his game by starring alongside the reigning MVP of big screen comedy, Will Ferrell. Trading Places comparisons were inevitable, but I thought the premise of faux tough guy training a pompous snob for prison could be funny.

Eddie Murphy in Raw

Now that the reviews are in, my hopes for this film and for Hart's career in the short term, are fading.

According to widespread critical consensus, the film relies on tired gay panic humor and even more problematic racial stereotyping. Ferrell's movies have always had a field day thumbing their nose at political correctness but apparently this film is more offensive than outrageous -- and that's really disappointing.

I can't shake the feeling that Hollywood is so desperate to make Hart the "new Eddie Murphy" that they aren't letting it happen organically and his movies aren't getting better -- if anything they appear to be getting worse.

Even if this movie is the misstep it's being called I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Ferrell. He just may be my favorite comedy star working in Hollywood right now and he's made consistently hilarious movies for the last 12 years. Still, it's disappointing that at this stage of his career he's apparently regressing with this kind of lowest common denominator fare.

Of course I haven't seen the movie yet, and perhaps all the early reviews are way off base. I don't know. I rarely if ever see movies with terrible reviews because I almost always end up agreeing with the critics.

So it may be a while yet before I hop aboard the Kevin Hart bandwagon.

In defense of Francis Ford Coppola's post-'Apocalypse Now' career

Rumble Fish

I should preface this post by saying that Francis Ford Coppola is one of my favorite directors of all time.

If he never made anything besides The Godfather and The Godfather Part II he would be a legend, but his remarkable run of '70s films also includes the classics: The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.

Unfortunately his work after this fertile period tends to get a bad rap.

Some of this is well-deserved. I have never seen Jack for instance, but most reasonable people tell me I'm not missing anything.

I also haven't seen his trio of reportedly self-indulgent, self-consciously arty films that he has made recently and which have failed to gain wide distribution.

Still, I am a huge fan of some his later career films, even if there are a few abysmal misfires here and there (like the ill-fated One From the Heart).

In 1983, he made a pair of sensitive, earnest films inspired by S.E. Hinton's young adult novels, which were aimed at the youth audience of the time. Neither The Outsiders or Rumble Fish really connected with audiences when they were first released, but now both films stand out as cult favorites and legitimately satisfying art films.

For me Rumble Fish is the more successful of the two. It's a visual tour-de-force, with a terrific propulsive score and note perfect performances from one of the most incredible casts ever assembled. A young Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Laurence Fishburne, Nicolas Cage and Chris Penn all share the screen alongside the unpredictable Dennis Hopper.

Nostalgia seems like a recurring theme in Coppola's work in the 1980s. He followed up the two greaser films mentioned above with Peggy Sue Got Married and Tucker: The Man and His Dream, which are both movies which pay homage to the simplicity, innovation and sincerity (or at least the perception thereof) or an earlier time -- and most specifically Coppola's own adolescence.

Peggy Sue Got Married interestingly came out the year after another time-travel themed nostalgia piece, Back to the Future, but while the latter film relies heavy on (at the time) big budget special effects and the charms of a star (Michael J. Fox) with innate youth appeal -- Peggy Sue Got Married is a little more whimsical, and its framed from the perspective of a more middle aged character, played soulfully by Kathleen Turner.

By 1990, financial woes forced Coppola to craft a third entry in the The Godfather series. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- The Godfather Part III is a very good film, in fact several aspects of it are great. Pacino plays Michael Corleone as a broken man desperately clinging to the false hope that he can make his criminally mired family legitimate. Yes, the film is hamstrung by Coppola's stubborn insistence on casting his own daughter in a pivotal role -- but it doesn't ruin the movie.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Sofia Coppola actually pops up in small roles in most of her father's latter career work until she became a formidable director in her own right. She might have developed into a fine actress someday, who knows. But it's clear she didn't have the range and gravitas she needed to pull off such a challenging role at that time.

Although the film was a success at the box office, it was a disappointment in relation to its cost. But in 1992 Coppola had his last -- albeit unlikely -- bonafide blockbuster with his lush and romantic retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula. I have never been too interested in vampires, but this is my favorite film I've seen on the subject to date. Despite the inept performance of Keanu Reeves, this is a perfectly cast and beautiful looking film.

There were some quibbles then and now that the film isn't truly scary enough -- and I guess it might not satisfy audiences looking for pure horror. Still, it's a sumptuous and authentic retelling of the Dracula myth, with a never-better Gary Oldman in the title role.

The last film of Coppola's I've seen is the competent courtroom drama The Rainmaker, based on a John Grisham film. There is nothing in this film that possesses Coppola's trademark voiee or visual techniques, but it's a solid piece of entertainment, albeit inferior to other Grisham films like The Firm and The Pelican Brief.

At 75, Coppola is no longer a major force in Hollywood but his contribution to modern cinema is unparalleled. Any serious film buff should keep in mind that directors like Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were all either proteges or acolytes of Coppola.

I would like to think he has one last masterwork left in him, and even if he doesn't I'll be enjoying the work he'd done to date for many years to come.

From 'The Jinx' to 'The Thin Blue Line': True crime is hard to top

Like so many people I have been riveted by HBO's docu-series The Jinx, and even more amazed at the real life consequences the show has had.

In this reality television age we live in, people are harder to shock than ever -- even when it comes to true life stories, and yet The Jinx's subject Robert Durst, was too fascinating to dismiss.

For those who are unfamiliar, Durst is an heir to a vast real estate fortune, who has been suspected in not one but three murders. One killing he admits to but claims self defense. 

And while he also admitted to dismembering the body of the man he killed, he was cleared by a jury of his peers.

Now, due to new evidence unearthed by the filmmakers of The Jinx for HBO, Durst has been charged with murder again. 

The filmmakers behind The Jinx are not new to the stranger-than-fiction drama. Their acclaimed 2003 film Capturing the Friedmans took an unconventional behind the scenes look at a truly eccentric family dogged by child abuse allegations.

As riveting as The Jinx was, I may be more partial to the earlier film, which really challenges your perceptions of guilt or innocence, who is believable and who isn't and just the very nature of this very sensitive type of crime.

Seeing these two assured pieces of work inspired me to revisit another acclaimed true crime film, the 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line. That films look at a 1976 police shooting in Dallas where the cops zero in on one man as a suspect even when significant evidence seems to suggest another man is the culprit.

The movie succeeds as not just a compelling mystery but also as a chilling look at how the justice system can railroad seemingly innocent people due to both chance and calculated cruelty.

Audiences have always embraced these kind of stories, from In Cold Blood to Helter Skelter, to a certain extent because of our cultural attraction to the sick and violent side of human nature, but also because they are so fraught with drama and have so much more at stake (often the very lives of their protagonists). They are by their nature more shocking than any traditional narrative film.

Capturing the Friedmans

There are ethical questions these films raise too, particularly the techniques of the editors which may or may not be trying to illicit audience sympathy for one side or another. 

With each of these kinds of movies I am always intrigued to read up on what the film cut out as soon as they're done because I never trust that I am getting a full picture. And every time it turns out we're not. 

And as damning as the footage in The Jinx appears to be for Durst, it may not be the slam dunk many viewers assume it will be.

Still, the undeniable success and power of The Jinx suggest we could be in for a renaissance of a truly macabre and more meaningful dose of "reality" film-making. And I for one applaud that development.

Flashback 1985: My top 10 favorite movies from 30 years ago

Back to the Future

Following my post on my favorite movies from 10 and 20 years ago, here's the next one in my series of top tens -- my favorite movies from 1985.

This was another great year for pop entertainment -- I was 3 years old, this was the year my little sister was born and it was arguably the peak of one of my biggest comedy idol's career. But more on that later.

I had a really hard time narrowing this list down, because I have a lot of films I cherish from this year -- but alas this is what I came up with ...

10) The Purple Rose of Cairo - One of the few films of Woody Allen's that the director himself says he's totally satisfied with. It is also one of his most moving and sweet. A downtrodden housewife during the Depression-era (played by Mia Farrow) falls in love with a movie character (Jeff Daniels) who literally walks off the screen into her life. A whimsical fable that gets increasingly complex as it goes along -- the kind of thing Allen does best, he tread similar ground with Midnight in Paris.

9) The Color Purple - I saw Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's best-seller initially with a lot of skepticism. It has been widely criticized for watering down Walker's searing portrait of an impoverished black family in the 1930s South. While the film is less grueling, it is still incredibly powerful. Featuring stellar, Oscar-worthy performances from Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and yes, Oprah Winfrey, this is a drama that really stands the test of time.

8) Brazil - Terry Gilliam's creative genius is on full display in this endlessly creative riff on bureaucratic evil and repression. This visually inventive -- and at times nightmarish -- black comedy is thought provoking and a total original. It's still my favorite Gilliam film (not counting Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed) and its influence is still being felt today when it comes to how the movies portray the future.

7) Police Story - Hands down the coolest and most effective Jackie Chan movie I've ever seen. He's hilarious in this but also totally credible as an action hero. And unlike a lot of Chan's movies, the plot is not so bad that you have to look past it. This film features some of his most incredible, dangerous stunts of Chan's illustrious career and its breakneck pace never lets up. If you're looking for the ideal vintage Chan movie, I would start here.

6) Desperately Seeking Susan - A perfect time capsule of the art scene in New York in the mid-'80s. This movie is largely remembered for being Madonna's first major movie role, and she is terrific in it, but it's also a very sophisticated and clever look at identity, with some feminist asides thrown in. The real star of the show is the sexy and luminous Rosanna Arquette as a neglected wife who gets drawn into a brave new world after assuming the identity of a woman who's drama she follows in the personal ads.

Chevy Chase in Spies Like Us

5) Spies Like Us - The first of two classic Chevy Chase comedies to appear on this list. Chase was one of the top box office stars of the year, totaling three hits, each of which showcase him at this best. Here he makes an ideal partner for a droll Dan Aykroyd as two D.C. pencil pushers who are selected to be decoys for real CIA agents in serious harm's way. I grew up on this movie and have many of its lines committed to memory.

4) After Hours - One of Martin Scorsese's most underrated films is another great look at '80s-era New York City. It features an amazing cast of character actors, with Griffin Dunne in the lead, playing out one spectacularly crazy night in the Big Apple. Of course the NYC of today in no way resembles the grimy metropolis presented here, but that only makes the film more fascinating. It's full of adventurous camera trickery and stylish flourishes from a filmmaker really trying to work outside of his comfort zone.

3) Back to the Future - The biggest box office hit of the year is also one of the best releases of its era. A sci-fi movie, romance and comedy rolled into one irresistible package. I actually love the whole trilogy -- but the first film is definitely the best. Michael J. Fox has the iconic role of Marty McFly, the wannabe rock star teen whose best friend is inexplicably an aging scientist with a time machine (a note-perfect Christopher Lloyd). A genuinely smart and creative mainstream movie that just delivers on every conceivable level. So many modern blockbusters owe a little something to this one.

2) Witness - As I just recently said in my ode to Harrison Ford, this police drama features one of his greatest performances of all time. He scored his first, and so far only, Oscar nomination for his role as John Book, a Philadelphia cop who falls in love with an Amish woman and becomes a father figure to their son while hiding out with them to escape a ring of corrupt officers. A movie that has increasingly become an all-time favorite of mine. It's beautiful to look at and has one of the most sexy and affecting love stories I've ever seen.

1) Fletch - I've written about this one before -- one of my favorite characters of all time, my favorite journalism-themed movie ever and the poster for this hit comedy proudly sits on my apartment wall. There's been remake talk for years which I kind of hope never happens because this Chevy Chase vehicle is already perfection. He plays a wisecracking investigative reporter named Irwin Fletcher who takes on a series of personalities and disguises to expose a complex fraud scheme. And he's damn funny doing it.

That's my list -- I hope you like it. And stay tuned for my top 10 favorites from 40 years ago!