Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "I am invincible!" -Boris Grishenko When a Russian satellite weapon is fired on a base in Siberia, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to Russia to investigate.  He is soon set on a collision course with General Ourumov (Gottfried John), the man who killed Bond's friend and fellow 00 Agent, Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean). What Works: This is Pierce Brosnan's first outing as Bond, and it's pretty much unanimously agreed to be his best.  Brosnan is less serious than Dalton, but not as playful as Connery or Moore.  He's a nice mix of everything we've seen before and brings plenty of charisma and intensity to the role. Alec Trevelyan is an elite Bond villain, in the very top tier alongside Goldfinger and Silva.  Out of every Bond villain, I would say Bond and Trevelyan are the most evenly matched.  Having a 00 agent as a villain is a brilliant idea and Sean Bean gives a fantastic performance. The other villains are no slouch either.  Ourumov, Xenia (Famke Jan...

 "I'll miss you, John." -Ben Linus "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" focus on John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) after he leaves the Island. Locke wakes up in Tunisia, where he is rescued by men working for Charles Widmore (Alan Dale).  Widmore says he wants to help get Locke and everyone else who left back to the Island as soon as possible and gives Locke a driver, Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick), to help him. Locke visits Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Walt (Malcolm David Kelley), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly).  He does not invite Walt to return to the Island, as he felt Walt had been through too much already.  The others all refuse. Locke asks Abaddon to track down his ex-girlfriend, Helen (Katey Sagal), who discovers she has since died of a brain aneurysm.  At the graveyard, Abaddon is shot and killed.  Locke escapes, but gets into a car accident.  He wakes up in the hospital where Jack (Matthew Fox) works.  Jack also refuses to ret...

 "Bless your heart." -Professor Joe Butcher Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), a ruthless drug lord, escapes from DEA custody and sends his men to get revenge on the man who captured him, Felix Leiter (David Hedison).  Felix is mutilated and his wife is murdered.  With Sanchez seemingly untouchable, James Bond (Timothy Dalton) defies his orders and embarks on a revenge mission. What Works: My favorite thing about License to Kill is Timothy Dalton's performance as Bond.  It's one of the best single film performances in the entire series.  This is a man hell-bent on revenge and is willing to do anything to get it.  He doesn't just want to kill Sanchez, he manipulates Sanchez into destroying his entire empire before finally killing him.  The fury is palpable from Dalton for the entire film.  This is the movie Diamonds are Forever and Quantum of Solace should have been. Sanchez is a fantastic Bond villain and my favorite since Scaramanga.  Davi is both...

 "Reputation is what people think of you.  Character is what you are." -Duke Orlando Oxford When an evil organization puts in motion the events that trigger World War I, noted pacifist Duke Orland Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) forms a secret intelligence organization to find a way to end the war. What Works: As with the first two Kingsman movies, the action sequences are awesome.  They are well shot, creative, and a lot of fun.  They are definitely the best parts of the film with the highlights being the Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) fight and the knife fight in No Man's Land. The story of this film has Oxford and his team inserting themselves in several historical events, which is an awesome idea.  We get scenes on a World War I battlefield and encounters with both Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Ron Cook) and Rasputin.  I wish the movie had taken a similar approach to Inglourious Basterds  and done a story with an alternate history, but I also liked that a good chunk of ...

 "Why didn't you learn the violin?" -James Bond James Bond (Timothy Dalton) assists Soviet General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) in his defection.  In return, Koskov tells MI6 that their agents are being targeted for assassination by the head of the KGB, General Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies).  After 004 is killed, Bond is sent to assassinate Pushkin, but Bond quickly starts to suspect Koskov isn't telling the whole truth. What Works: The Living Daylights is the first Bond film for Timothy Dalton, who is one of my favorites and the most underrated Bond.  Dalton plays the character the most accurately to the book.  He's dark, cynical, and doesn't seem to enjoy his job very much.  Dalton makes the character his own and does a spectacular job.  It's a breath of fresh air after A View to a Kill .  Dalton isn't entire humorless, but his wit is extraordinarily dry, which works for the character. The Living Daylights is also the most espionage focused film s...

 "Does anyone else wanna drop out?" -Max Zorin The British government contracts a microchip company to design an EMP-hardened microchip, but an identical chip is recovered from the Russians.  James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to investigate the owner of the company, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), and discovers far more than corporate espionage. What Works: Far and away the best part of this movie is the music.  The title song by Duran Duran is an absolute classic and one of the few Bond theme songs I hear on the radio very often.  Electric guitar is also incorporated into the score, which gives even the silliest action sequences a sense of awesomeness.   The final showdown on the Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic Bond moment.  It's always a lot of fun seeing Bond fight an axe-wielding Christopher Walken.  The aforementioned score makes the sequence even more awesome.  It's easily the best action sequence of the film. I love the relationship between ...

 "It's a farting rainbow with Tom Brady's signature." -Randy Marsh Stan, Kyle, and the others continue to work on finding a way to travel back in time to stop the pandemic from ever happening, but Cartman has no intention of losing his family, and will do anything he can to stop Stan and Kyle. Spoilers below!!!! What Works: I was really excited for this movie to see what future Butters has been up to.  All we knew was that he was locked in an insane asylum.  I was not expecting him to be a parody of Michael Myers.  Grated, Butters doesn't actually kill anyone, he just leaves death, destruction, and...chaos in his wake.  It's a great idea and a lot of it is well executed. The previous film hit me hard emotionally and the sequel does the same.  The arcs for Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Randy are all really well done and made me feel things.  Ultimately, this movie is about a group of former friends saving their friendship, and that story has a surprising amo...

 "Hello, Peter." -Dr. Otto Octavius After the entire world discovers that Spider-Man's secret identity is Peter Parker (Tom Holland), life becomes very difficult for Peter's friends and family.  Desperate to help them, Peter goes to see Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for a magical solution.  When Strange's spell goes wrong, villains from throughout the multiverse descend into Peter's world with a serious bone to pick with Spider-Man. SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!  SPOILERS!   What Works: I just want to say how much I love the use of the multiverse in media.  It mak...

"No comment."  -Heather Aldret Another Survivor season has come and gone.  I have mixed feelings on 41.  The cast was excellent and there was some truly fun and interesting gameplay from most of them.  I'd like to see the majority of the cast play again.  On the flip side, there were way too many twists and the editing was sloppy in regards to the winner.  I have a lot of questions about this season and I'm anxious to hear more from the cast.  In the meantime, let's look at who played well and who sucked. We'll be doing this by round of play, so we'll start with the Final 5. Who Played Well: Let's start with Deshawn.  I highly doubt that he was on the chopping block as much as the episode tried to make it seem.  No one in their right mind should have voted out Deshawn over Ricard here.  That said, I liked his attempts to patch things up with Erika, even if they didn't work out.  He survived the vote and got rid of Ricard. Erika may ...

 "Mr. Bond is indeed a very rare breed...soon to be made extinct." -Kamal Khan When agent 009 (Andy Bradford) turns up dead with a fake Fabergé egg in his hand, James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to investigate.  He soon finds himself involved with an exiled Afghan prince, a jewelry smuggler, and maniacal Soviet General in a dangerous and deadly plot. What Works: Cards on the table, Octopussy is my favorite Bond movie.  I recognize that the movie has what some people would consider faults, but I love every single second of this movie.  It helps that this was one of the very first Bond movies I watched, so nostalgia definitely plays a part.  It will be number 1 in my ranking and always will be.  So, for the record, I will be 100% biased for the entirety of this review. One thing I love about this movie is the bizarre tone.  Sure, most of the movie is very silly and comedic at times, but there are also a few really dark moments.  Bond treats a nuclear...

 "We're not going to Guam, are we?" -Frank Lapidus After arriving at the church, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) leads Jack (Matthew Fox), Sun (Yunjin Kim), Ben (Michael Emerson), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) down below to another Dharma station, the Lamp Post, which is how the Dharma Initiative originally found the Island.  Eloise tells them they all need to be on Ajira flight 316, which will take them back to the Island.  However, they need to create the original conditions of the flight as best they can, otherwise the results could be chaotic.  That means they need to get as many of the Oceanic 815 passengers as they can, plus John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), who will be used as a proxy for Christian Shephard (John Terry).  Eloise tells Jack to get something of his father's to put in Locke's coffin.  She also gives him Locke's suicide note. Desmond wants no part in any of this.  He delivers the message he was sent to deliver and leaves.  Jack, ...

 "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." -James Bond A British spy ship accidentally sinks off the coast of Albania.  On board is the ATAC system, which is used to coordinate the fleet of British submarines.  When the marine biologist in charge of recovering the ATAC is murdered, James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to track down the killer before a mysterious figure of the Greek underworld can retrieve the ATAC and sell it to the Soviets. What Works: After going to space in the previous movie, For Your Eyes Only was made to be much more grounded and realistic.  On that front, the filmmakers succeeded.  It's a nice change of pace for Bond and it's definitely Moore's lest fantastical film. It's also Moore's darkest film and I am here for it.  I think my favorite moment from all of Roger Moore's movies comes from this one.  Interestingly, Moore didn't want to do it because he felt it was too dark.  The scene where he kicks Emile Locque (Michael Gothard...

 "This is Xander candy." -Xander Hastings Survivor 41 gives us another really solid episode.  This is what the average episode of Survivor should be. Straightforward, with interesting character dynamics, limited focus on Idols and advantages, and two clear people on the block with good reasons for each to go home.  It's great!   I love it!  Now, let's take a look at who played and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start with Deshawn, who had a great first 95% of the episode before running into some issues.  I really liked the various conversations he had with the rest of the contestants over the course of the episode.  It felt like he bonded with people emotionally and strategically.  The alliance he made with Erika and Xander may be what carried him through.  It's hard to say for sure.  I also like that he was willing to vote for Danny.  The truth bomb he dropped at Tribal Council wasn't great.  He would have been better serv...

 "What the f**k's a chatroom?" -Chris Redfield Raccoon City is a corporate town that is pretty much run by the Umbrella Corporation.  When Umbrella starts moving their headquarters out of town, the population of Raccoon City starts to dry up.  However, Umbrella has a secret and that secret could prove fatal to those that remain. What Works: So I wouldn't call myself a super fan of the Resident Evil games.  I played the 4th one and really enjoyed it and watched a video play-through of the first game, so I'm somewhat familiar with the story.  Unlike the previous Resident Evil movies, this one is actually pretty faithful to the games.  It takes parts of the first and second games and combines them into one movie, so I'll give this movie credit where all of the previous movies failed. There are also a few creepy moments throughout the films.  It's a movie based on a horror video game.  Of course there is going to be tension and jump scares.  I do...