Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "There's no news like bad news." -Elliot Carver Media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) is determined to provoke a war between Great Britain and China.  James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to investigate Carver and stop war from breaking out.  To make matters more complicated, the Chinese government has sent in an agent of their own and Carver's wife is Bond's ex-girlfriend. What Works: We've seen Bond movies before where the villain is trying to provoke two different countries into war.  That's pretty much a staple of the series at this point.  What's interesting is the reason why.  Carver is doing this to expand his media empire and basically sell more newspapers.  That's by far the most interesting reasoning for this type of Bond villain and it's actually would be kinda hilarious if it didn't hit so close to reality. Jonathan Pryce is an excellent Bond villain and one of the most cartoony of the series.  He's having a blast every...

 "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 ...