DVD Review: The 355

The 355

(DVD 355)

 

The 355 is a fast-paced and intelligent suspense thriller, from writer/director Simon Kinberg, better known as the producer of numerous similar action films from the past 15-20 years.

 

The key difference in this one is that most of the main characters are women, instead of the stereotypical men. Jessica Chastain is Mace, a disgraced American agent, out to avenge the death of the ex-flame she had recently reignited with (played by Sebastian Stan — Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes in the Avengers movies). Diane Kruger is vengeful German intelligence agent Marie. Penelope Cruz is Graciela Rivera, a psychologist called upon to become a woman of action. And Lupita Nyong’o is Khadijah Adiyeme, a wizard with surveillance technology. When all four women end up on the run and being hunted, they decide the turn the tables on the leaders of an international conspiracy (and attempt to clear their own names while they’re at it).

 

There’s a tremendous amount of well-choreographed action, fight sequences, chases sequences, and explosion, all in service of a plot that, if not brilliant, at least holds together well enough. All the performances across the board were excellent, but especially Chastain and Kruger, who grow from antagonists to allies.

 

Is it the best action film ever? No, but for taking the chance and breaking the mold from what audiences are used to seeing, I really enjoyed this one. Although the explanation for where the title of the movie came from could have been clearer.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Facebook page for The 355 )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love (1963)
based on a novel by Ian Fleming (DVD From)

Mad at Bond (Sean Connery) for taking out Dr No, members of SPECTRE devise a plan to lure him out. They trick a Russian agent named Tatiana Romanov (Daniela Bianchi) into claiming she wishes to defect and will also turn over a Russian decoder machine called a “Lektor” as part of the deal. MI6 and Bond know this is a trap but as it’s too good to be true they send him anyway. Bond meets Tatiana in Istanbul where they break into the Russian Consulate and steal the Lektor. They then board a train posing as a married couple. A Soviet Secret Agent (Robert Shaw) is also aboard the train. Bond kills him and jumps off the train with Tatiana. Following that there is a boat chase scene where the bad guys try to throw explosives at him from their boats. Bond releases fuel barrels which were on his boat and then shoots at them with a flare gun, alighting the fuel and the bad guys. It seems that Bond and Tatiana have succeeded and make it all the way to Venice when Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), the SPECTRE Agent in charge of this plan, shows up at the hotel and holds Bond at gunpoint. Tatiana knocks the gun out of her hands, Bond kills Klebb, and as always, the movie ends with Bond and the Babe getting together.

 

There were a lot of random moments in the one, including a whole scene where Bond hid at a Gypsy camp and was forced to pick a woman to marry another man…but it also had its moments and with a few good one-liners it was a worthy addition to the Bond collection.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the James Bond movies or books — check out our exhaustive The Name is Bond…James Bond list here on BookGuide!]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official James Bond web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Dr. No (1962)

Dr. No (1962)
based on a novel by Ian Fleming (DVD Dr)

A British agent and his secretary go missing in Jamaica. Agent 007, aka James Bond (Sean Connery), is assigned the case and goes to Jamaica where he gets help from a boat captain named Quarrel and a CIA agent named Felix Leiter (Jack Lord, before he starred in Hawaii 5-O). Bond learns the missing British agent was investigating a mysterious island called Crab Key. Upon his arrival at Crab Key he meets Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a blonde in a bikini (of course) collecting sea shells. They’re soon under attack by armed guards and are forced to hide. Unfortunately, they’re caught and are covered in radiation. After being cleaned of the radiation by the staffers of Crab Key they’re then tricked into drinking spiked coffee, and forced to eat supper with a mysterious metal-handed man named Dr. No. After further investigation Bond discovers Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) is planning to destroy a NASA rocket that is about to be launched. Dr. No places him in a prison cell, which Bond breaks out of. He then disguises himself as a worker and sabotages Dr. No’s plan by blowing up his base. Bond and Honey Ryder escape Crab Key in the nick of time before it’s blown to pieces. The movie ends, as most Bond movies do, with him and the Bond Babe getting together.

 

While this movie was not the first James Bond movie to be filmed (there was a 1954 adaptation of “Casino Royale” for the American TV series “Climax”, which starred Barry Nelson as an Americanized James Bond), it is still considered by many to be the first “official” James Bond movie. I had never really seen any of the early Bond movies but did enjoy this one as it introduced many of the important characters — M, Moneypenny, Felix, Q, etc. — while also laying the groundwork for future recognizable James Bond themes.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the James Bond movies or books — check out our exhaustive The Name is Bond…James Bond list here on BookGuide!]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official James Bond web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Get Smart (starring Don Adams)

Get Smart
[DVD Get]

“Would you believe…?”

 

Get Smart was a weekly, half-hour television comedy series that spoofed the James Bond and Inspector Clouseau films. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, it ran for five seasons (1965-1970) with only the pilot episode being filmed in black and white.

 

“Missed me by that much.”

 

The stories revolved around CONTROL, a bungling secret spy agency in the US government based in Washington, DC with offices throughout the world. Its major adversary was KAOS, an equally inept, international spy agency staffed with former Nazis, evil scientists, and other dastardly criminals with outrageous plots to take over the world.

 

“Sorry about that, Chief”

 

It starred Don Adams as inept Secret Agent 86 Maxwell Smart, Barbara Feldon as competent Secret Agent 99 (we never learn her real name), and Edward Platt as the long-suffering Chief of CONTROL.

 

“The old bomb-in-the-snack-truck trick.”

 

Much of the fun revolved around the gadgets such as his shoe phone, the protective devices installed inside Max’s apartment, a giant cannon that no one would hear go off because of the equally giant silencer, and the Cone of Silence – which rarely worked.

 

“I asked you not to tell me that”

 

Not to mention Agents 13 and 44 always assigned to ridiculous locations on stakeout such as a locker at the airport, a trash can on the street, and a washing machine at a laundromat.

 

“This is KAOS, we don’t ‘shush’ here.”

 

A favorite villain was Siegfried from KAOS, a former Nazi with an extravagant German accent played by Bernie Kopell (who would go on to play Doc on “Love Boat”) and his enthusiastic sidekick Starker (always pronounced “Shtarker!”) played by King Moody (who would play Ronald McDonald in the 1960s and 1970s).

 

“I asked you not to tell me that.”

 

We also meet Hymie the Robot (played by Dick Gautier), initially created by KAOS but reprogrammed by Max “for goodness and kindness.” Unfortunately, as a logical robot he is literal in the extreme.

 

“Missed me by that much.”

 

As inept as Max is, he somehow manages to save the world for another day.

 

“And, loving it.”

 

The library owns all five seasons. A fun, well-written, witty, hilarious series that also managed to make sly comments on our government, current fashion, and politics. The show won several awards for Best Comedy, Best Writer, Best Comedy Series, and Best Actor. Keep an eye out for cameos by stars from that time period.

[Surprisingly, there were several Get Smart tie-in novels published back in the 1960s when the show was on the air. You can see a list of those on our TV Tie-Ins booklist on BookGuide.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this TV series ] | [ Get Smart description on Wikipedia ]

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

This Means War

This Means War
[DVD This]

CIA agents FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are partners and best friend until they each fall in love with Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon). Each determined to win her affections they sabotage each others' dates, but when real bad guys get involved they're forced to work together again. A good date movie with a lot of good comedy and action moments. [If you like this, you may also enjoy The Bounty Hunter starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, Killers with Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher, or Star Trek starring Chris Pine.] -- recommended by Carrie K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official This Means War web site ]

Have you seen this movie/dvd? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

New Booktalk Booklist - Silence Means Security

Silence Means Security

Bethany Branch Library

March 6, 2009

Sean S.

Sean gave a booktalk as part of the Bethany BooksTalk series, on the theme of contemporary espionage fiction.

• Assassin by Ted Bell


• The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson


• The Silent Man by Alex Berenson


• Spy Hook by Len Deighton


• The Sleeper by Christopher Dickey


• Hard Rain by Barry Eisler


• Rain Fall by Barry Eisler


• Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett


• The English Assassin by Daniel Silva


• Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva


• A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva