The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Genre

Action | Thriller

Director

Guy Hamilton

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Hervé Villechaize, Richard Loo, Soon-Tek Oh, Clifton James, Bernard Lee, Marc Lawrence, Desmond Llewelyn, Marne Maitland, Lois Maxwell, James Cossins, Carmen du Sautoy

Storyline

When a golden bullet with 007 engraved on it arrives at the headquarters of British intelligence, the British believe that James Bond (Roger Moore) is the next target for international hitman Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). Bond's assignment is to kill Scaramanga before he kills Bond.

Opinion

After the fine "Live and Let Die", Roger Moore is back in action easily at his worst but the script is to be blamed. Infact, "The Man with the Golden Gun" suffers from an uninteresting story, a lack of gadgets and actual fights, and a villain that overshadows Bond.

The script is so weak it could have won the Oscar this year. It's filled with useless moments, and repeated scenes because believed to be funny. The re-introduction of Sheriff JW Pepper is quite funny here, but it's just too improbable, and has no reason. Like I just said, a desperate attempt to repeat a joke.

Then there are the Bond girls. How could Maud Adams not be the lead in the film? How? Right when there is a Bond girl that shows more depth than they usually do, the character is (predictably) killed off. Too soon. The other one, Goodnight, is a British agent and arguably one of the most clumsy and stupid women in the Bond franchise (so far).

The villain, Francisco Scaramanga, isn't much threatening - the way it is written is to be blamed -, but overshadows Bond, and Nick Nack, Scaramanga's helper, is some sort of minion version of Goldfinger's Oddjob. Does anyone know what originality is?

The theme song, Lulu's "The Man with the Golden Gun", is catchy but nothing more. An awful attempt to turn the title into a song.

Roger Moore is so serious at times, it almost seems like he's trying to play Sean Connery's James Bond. When he is not busy being serious, he smiles. A lot. Christopher Lee easily steals the show as Francisco Scaramanga. The villain may not be the greatest ever but Lee brings a very sinister screen presence, and will probably have you rooting for him. Maud Adams does a fine job but she's killed off too soon, and Britt Ekland is beautiful but unattractive and her acting is just poor.

Thursday Movie Picks: Storms/Adverse Weather

Hello and welcome (back) to Thursday Movie Picks, a weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.

This week's topic is adverse weather. Personally I'm not a big fan of these films, but I have to admit they are perfect when everything seems to go wrong. I mean, what a better way to cheer yourself up than watching a film about other people's misfortunes? I highly doubt there's a better way. Here's my picks:

All Is Lost (2013)

Robert Redford is on his yacht, alone. Everything is just fine until he accidentally hits a container adrift on the sea, and the boat takes on water. But it does get worse. The poor man loses his navigation and communication equipment and a violent storm is coming. Kudos to the director for making this film interesting, and to Redford for communicating with his facial expressions and hands only.

Force Majeure (2014)

A Swedish family travels to the French Alps to enjoy a few days of skiing. The sun is shining, the slopes are spectacular and the family is having a good time, but an avalanche turns everything upside down, and the family vacation quickly becomes a family drama. Not my favourite, it's occasionally boring and dragged, but it fits quite well.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

A paleoclimatologist tries to save the world from the effects of global warming which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age, and must make a dangerous trip to New York to rescue his son. But the cold is a hell of an adversary. It's illogical and unscientific, the story is quite ridiculous, but, uhm, well, it has top notch effects, and it's not as bad as people say. At least from what I remember. 

Whoever said "Tomorrow is another day" didn't check the weather. 

Clue (1985)

Genre

Comedy | Mystery

Director

Jonathan Lynn

Country

USA

Cast

Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, Lee Ving, Bill Henderson, Jane Wiedlin, Jeffrey Kramer, Kellye Nakahara, Howard Hesseman, Leslie Hoffman

Storyline

Six guests are invited to a stranger's house and must cooperate with the butler (Tim Curry) and the maid (Colleen Camp) to solve a mystery murder.

Opinion

The classic board game comes to life in Jonathan Lynn's "Clue", a lovely and hilarious blend of comedy and mystery elevated by a great cast.

The film has the same dynamism of the board games, with characters that come to life and start a game that involves and cleverly deceives the viewer with a series of clues that makes it difficult and quite exciting unmask the culprit.

It does have its flaws though. Like the script that is not actually that great. Even though there is some smooth and witty dialogue, memorable lines and lines funny enough to make you almost fall of the chair, the 3 different endings spoil the film. It is indeed a very original concept, but 2 out of the 3 endings are quite absurd and don't make lot of sense.

Avoiding to spoil anything, I'll jump to the funniest moment, the scene where Wadsworth, the butler, is running around the house while repeating the events that happened throughout the film at an insane pace.

Anyway what makes this film great is the cast. Tim Curry is excellent in the role of Wadsworth the butler, bringing so much energy into the film, and steals the show. I can't imagine anyone else to play the role. Madeline Kahn is hilarious as Mrs. White as she gives an hysterical, in a dramatic way, performance. Eileen Brennan plays Mrs. Peacock to perfection, and the others, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren, does a great job as well.

Absolutely a must-see, especially for Tim Curry's fans. 

Songs from the Second Floor (2000)

Original Title

Sånger från andra våningen

Genre

Comedy | Drama

Director

Roy Andersson

Country

Sweden | Norway | Denmark

Cast

Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C. W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström, Sten Andersson, Rolando Núñez, Lucio Vucina, Per Jörneliu, Peter Roth, Klas-Gösta Olsson, Nils-Åke Eriksson, Hanna Eriksson, Tommy Johansson, Sture Olsson, Fredrik Sjögren

Storyline

A magician (Lucio Vucina) screws up and saws a volunteer from the audience in half. A man (Lars Nordh) tries to claim insurance from the shop he burnt down himself. In the meantime outside, business managers take into long marches through the streets of Stockholm, and the city itself is paralyzed by a never ending traffic congestion.

Opinion

First installment of the Living trilogy by Roy Andersson closed by the better known "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence", this film won the Cannes Film Festival award in 2000, and there is a good reason for that.

"Songs from the Second Floor" is a unique, witty and fantastic film poem that examines the society we live in.

Through a sarcastic declination of reality, Roy Andersson provides a splendid portrait of society, a society where individuals do not communicate or interact anymore, and that depersonalizes people by subtracting the meaning of our lives, transforming us into zombies who identify themselves with their job instead of who they really are.

Those who call it a series of meaningless vignettes clearly didn't understand anything about the film, because if there's something in the film is meaning. You can say it's slow, boring, not engaging, but you can't say it's meaningless.

Andersson's direction is one of the film's strengths: no camera movements, no shot reverse shot, sound/noise reduced to a minimum. The camera is literally still - only one scene makes exception -, the actors on the other hand move on the scene.

Mainly made of depressed middle-aged men, the cast primarily consists of non actors who made an impression on Andersson, and they will make an impression on you too.

Worth checking out.

What can I say? It's not easy being human. - Kalle