Weekly Theme

Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

In this day and age when parents begin spying on their children in the crib with baby monitors and the elderly can purchase earpieces that give them superhuman hearing to keep up with their neighborhood gossip, anybody can become a spy. With everyone so paranoid it's no wonder that movies that glorify secret agents and international men of mystery do so well at the box office. So let's spend this week talking about those lucky few individuals who's business card reads spy and those unfortunate others that unwittingly fall into the mysterious world of twisted alliances, fancy gadgets and licenses to kill.

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If Looks Could Kill and The Man Who Knew Too Little top my list of inadvertent spies that get to experience the life for a short while before their boring true identities are revealed.

D.E.B.S. and The Long Kiss Goodnight are great flicks with woman doing all the dirty work.

And Spy Kids is a great family film that goes all out with the action, adventure and nifty gadgets.

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

I've always enjoyed The Long Kiss Goodnight. Samuel L. Jackson is hilarious. :)

I can't think of anything else right now because I'm trying to write this post, but as soon as I'm done something will come to me.

Like that one with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.

I want to see Flame & Citron (2008) soon, which I believe has the espionage theme.

Of course there are all of the Bond films, and most recently Quantum of Solace came out, which I felt was quite good despite the less than enthusiastic reviews of others.

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Definitely a classic espionage themed film. :) I do really like the film, especially Whoopi Goldberg in her element.

The Net

Almost more of a chase / escape thriller, but the overlying theme is about rogue corporate hackers spying on the government and the American populace.

Get Smart

I'm just kinda eh about this flick. Didn't really do anything for me. Was a little too Charlie's Angels meets Austin Powers with nothing new to offer. Maybe I just need to take a vacation from Steve Carrell. 

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

rjsprague:

I've always enjoyed The Long Kiss Goodnight. Samuel L. Jackson is hilarious. :)

Yeah, Samuel L. Jackson definitely made the film what it is.

"Everyone knows, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of "u" and "umption."

"I'm always frank and ernest with women. In New York I'm Frank and in Chicago I'm Ernest."

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

I feel like Austin Powers is the greatest of all espionage movies (I'm sorry, I said it...).  I laugh every single time I see that one..."Russian intelligence, are you mad?!"

I'm sorry rjsprague, but I think Quantum of Solace had a case of the sucks.  The story took second pier to an angry James Bond, killing people for fun and throwing his friends in dumpsters and stealing their money.  Some scenes were great, such as the opera house one, and the entire desert sequence.  But there was no cohesive story holding anything together, and nothing was really solved besides Bond's heartache.  There was no sexual tension and no great villain--Mathieu Almaric was decreased to a bit part with no memorable scenes.  I'm sorry for the rant, but Bond was completely compromised in that one.  I guess that's what they get for choosing Marc Forster to direct an action movie...he was completely out of his element.

The Constant Gardener was a decent exercise in spydom concerning pharmaceuticals...Ralph Fiennes is great in that one, as is the typically underwhelming Rachel Weisz(?).  On the subject of John le Carre movies, has anyone seen The Spy Who Came in From the Cold?

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

I thought Spy Hard was pretty funny.  Pretty good James Bond title sequence parody by Weird Al at the beginning.

Anyone ever seen The President's Analyst.  It's got some spys in it.

Re:Weekly Theme for December 8: Good Old Fashioned Espionage

There was a discussion on the Filmcouch group about this subject, though it focused more on modern spy movies that are more about the espionage than the action (i.e. not Bourne or Bond)