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The World is Not Enough, a review by Tom

Title: The World Is Not Enough
Year: 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 123 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Stars:
Pierce Brosnan
Sophie Marceau
Robert Carlyle
Denise Richards
Robbie Coltrane

Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

Never one of my favorite Bond movies. After "Tomorrow Never Dies" a real disappointment for me. And Denise Richard as nuclear physicist is really ridiculous. At the time this movie bragged that it had the longest pre-opening title sequence of all Bond movies. It was nice, but nothing special.
The highlight for me in this movie was the introduction of John Cleese as Q's successor ("a young fellow" ). At the time I thought they knew that Desmond Llewelyn will die before the next Bond, with all the hints they did here. It was a good passing of the torch here. I was surprised to learn later, that it was a car accident, of which the actor died. So they made this "exit strategy" simply because of the advanced age of the actor and not because he was ill.

Rating:

(From James Bond Marathon on June 6th, 2009)

Chelovek s kino-apparatom, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are:  The Soviet Union
wikipedia

What We Watched:


Chelovek s kino-apparatom (Man With a Movie Camera)
Year of Release:  1929
Directed By:  Dziga Vertov
Starring:  The people of Moscow and Odessa
Genre:  Documentary

Overview:
Dziga Vertov's MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA is considered one of the most innovative and influential films of the silent era. Startlingly modern, this film utilizes a groundbreaking style of rapid editing and incorporates innumerable other cinematic effects to create a work of amazing power and energy.

After his work on The Commissar Vanishes, a multi-media art event in 1999, composer Michael Nyman (The Piano) continued researching the period of extraordinary creativity that followed the Russian Revolution. His artistic inquiry resulted in a new, celebrated score for MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERAMy Thoughts:
First, the obvious disclaimer.  This is a non-linear, non-narrative, experimental film.  The average movie-goer would likely be either confused or bored, or both, by this film.  I can't think of one of my friends to share this film with.  That having been said, this is one of the most innovative, interesting films to watch.  There are dozens upon hundreds of modern films that don't have even one tenth of the creativity demonstrated here. 

The camera work and editing are simply amazing.  Jumps, stops, split-screen, frenetic movement, trick work, every little technique is used to create a look at the Russian people at work and play. 

There are a lot of reasons to watch this film - for its innovative camera work, for its place in cinema history, for its view of everyday life in 1929 Russia, for a look at a successful style of propaganda film.  This is, after all, a celebration of the working class, an everyman's picture.  There are no stars but the people themselves, and the magical world of the cinema is the world of the worker, of society, working together in harmony. 

I'd say it's absolutely essential viewing for cinema enthusiasts, recommended for art film lovers, but blockbuster lovers should skip it.  I found it a dazzling piece of work and enjoyed it quite a lot.

Bechdel Test: not applicable

Overall: 4/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on August 27th, 2013)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Extras: Series One (2006/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 174 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Plot:
Meet Andy Millman, Actor. Never forgets his lines because he never gets any.

Andy (Ricky Gervais) is a desperate man. He's been an actor for five years but thanks to his useless agent (Stephen Merchant), he's never done any real acting. Instead, he's a lowly film extra, making his mark in the background while the stars do their work. His partner in arms is the pitiable Maggie, a fellow extra and a hopeless romantic.

Andy may be an extra, but he's a star in his own right.

Too bad nobody else agrees.


Extras
1.01 Kate Winslet (2005-08-04)
Writer: Ricky Gervais (Writer), Stephen Merchant (Writer)
Director: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Cast: Ricky Gervais (Andy Millman), Ashley Jensen (Maggie Jacobs), Stephen Merchant (Agent), Charlotte Palmer (Suzanne), Francesca Martinez (Francesca), Kate Winslet (Herself), John Kirk (Mike), Kevin Moore (Father), Lucinda Raikes (Lisa), Pamela Lyne (Old Lady), Paul Pariser (Spark)

This episode predicted Kate Winslet's Oscar win in a Holocaust movie. The great thing about this series is, that famous actors appear as a parody of themselves.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 10th, 2011)