[6] The stakes are lower than usual and the action in short supply, but Roger Moore’s second outing as James Bond almost makes up for it in character. The colorful supporting cast includes Christopher Lee as a three-nippled baddie and diminutive Hervé Villechaize (TV’s Fantasy Island) as his lethal handy-man. Britt Ekland and Maud Adams are the Bond girls this time around, and I’d rank both of …
[6] This may be Roger Moore’s quintessential outing as James Bond, but The Spy Who Loved Me suffers from a wretched co-starring performance from Barbara Bach (Mrs. Ringo Starr) and a boisterous, sloppily choreographed climax on the sea. This is also the Bond that begins to tilt the franchise’s tone from ‘tongue-in-cheek’ to slapstick, thanks primarily to the introduction of the goofy Jaws (Richard Kiel) …
[5] James Bond (Roger Moore) goes into outer space to stop a bad guy’s plot to… you know, destroy the world. While Moonraker packs more action than most other Bond films, it’s also sillier than most. Richard Kiel’s ridiculous Jaws character makes an unwelcome return and the final act aboard the space station is laughably inappropriate for the franchise. At one point, after Bond has …
[6] Jack Nicholson directs this slice-of-life story adapted from the Jeremy Larner novel about a obstinate college basketball player (William Tepper) whose pretentiousness almost keeps him from being drafted into professional sports. But the film also centers on two other characters. Karen Black plays Tepper’s girlfriend, a character who can’t decide whether to leave him or stay with him. (Is she confused by the women’s liberation …
[6] Lethal tarantulas take over an Arizona town in this remarkably well-paced, well-put-together little B-movie. And William Shatner is the star! How frickin’ cool is that? He actually delivers a decent performance. And Shatner fans will be happy to know that old Shat ain’t afraid of no spiders — to juice up the climax of the movie, it was his own idea to glue a …
[6] This Disney flick may be a minor effort in comparison to the company’s more perrenial classics, but there’s a dated, folksy charm about this all-animal take on the classic Robin Hood legend. The simple story is populated with fairly memorable, endearing characters and a couple of catchy tunes. It’s one of the only Disney movies where even the bit parts shine, from the narrating …
[6] Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Chaplin) reenacts the elaborate but doomed Operation Market Garden, a World War II strategy the Allied Forces valiantly attempted to execute in order to defeat German Forces in the Netherlands. A Bridge Too Far is a three-hour Cliffs Notes version of a historical event, largely plot-driven, with a lot of cross-cutting storylines being juggled at all times. The all-star cast get little …
[5] With a script by Neil Simon and an incredible all-star cast, I expected more from this spoof of murder mysteries. Most of the ensemble are confined to playing the same note throughout the film, including Peter Sellers as a simile-spewing Charlie Chan and Alec Guinness as the blind butler. The squeaky-clean humor is in dire need of some double-entrendres or naughty subtext. Still, it’s kinda …
[3] Linda Blair’s still got demons, and Richard Burton’s trying to figure out what happened to the nice priests who got pea soup all over them in the first movie. Exorcist II: The Heretic is convoluted and esoteric, the action is minimal, and the horror non-existent. John Boorman (Excalibur, Deliverance) delivers a highly odd, surreal, and ultimately terrible sequel to The Exorcist. The cheap sets, …
[6] Robert Altman uses the circus-like atmosphere of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for a commentary on racism and the whitewashing of American history. It’s actually a pretty light-hearted film built around Buffalo Bill’s contentious relationship with Sitting Bull. Paul Newman is reliably good as the exasperated Bill, pushed to his wits’ end by a stubborn but commercially valuable Indian who quietly challenges his authority …
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