New watches
The League of Gentlemen (Basil Dearden, 1960)
Well constructed British heist film that has a couple of great heist sequences. Enjoyable stuff.
We Own The Night (James Gray, 2007)
I just love James Gray films, the way he handles compositions, scenes, actions with such care and beauty. He captures stories in a way that feels personal and emotional but also on a much grander, mythical scale. A really powerful and tragic film that I can hardly stop thinking about.
Two Lovers (James Gray, 2008)
Didn't know what to expect from this as the plot is much different from the other Gray films I've seen but I again found myself quietly hypnotised by this. The way the main character Leonard acts is quite relateable and I found myself both sympathetic towards him and incredibly frustrated. Men are complex creatures, often making bad mistakes and incapable of seeing the good they have so close to them that they end up falling for things that are dangerous and unattainable (actually very prevalent in all of Gray's films I've seen). One of the best romance films I think I have seen, amazing how you can get something so different in plot but so masterfully executed in style.
Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh, 2017)
I grew up on David Suchet as Poirot thanks to my mum and I think Lumet's film is decent if not a little overrated. It doesn't do much in terms of style and relies on its cast. I know this film got a lot of hate but I think because of the source material people went into it ready to stick the dagger in - pun maybe intended.
I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, Branagh's little changes add bits of excitement and the introduction of one character also makes his next film more interesting. I thought the third act, which I've again seen lambasted, was actually really powerful and well executed.
Rewatches
The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987)
Been a while since I had seen this and I had forgotten almost everything about it. Really thought it was great although the Afghanistan parts go on a little too long. Love how the story is actually focused on the Bond girl and it goes for a grittier, more realistic approach.
Licence to Kill (John Glen, 1989)
Similar things here that I like, like the grittier approach. In a way, these Dalton films don't feel much like Bond films at all. I did find the attempts at comedy pretty cringe though, it's like someone told them to camp it up after the last film and they really overdid it badly.
GoldenEye (Martin Campbell, 1995)
A lot cheesier than I remembered, I quite like Brosnan as Bond but there's not much I really enjoy about this film that goes beyond the ridiculous on far too many occasions for my liking.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969)
Over the last few years this has already become my favourite Bond film, so after the disappointment of
GoldenEye I really wanted to revisit this.
I just absolutely love it. I know people don't like Lazenby but I think he's great, and I actually think his one-liners get the best balance in that their funny but not too stupid.
We have a great villain, the best Bond girl, the best love story, one of the best songs, an awesome plot, great settings (Switzerland) and set-pieces, the best ending. It's a shame this wasn't met well and the series didn't build on the maturity of this film. Deserves a proper sequel.