DVD Collectors Online

The Living Daylights, a review by Rich

The Living Daylights



In this installment of the James Bond series, Agent 007 (Timothy Dalton) is assigned to protect a Russian defector (Maryam d'Abo) from the KGB. When the defection proves to be an elaborate ploy, Bond woos her anyway, and together they follow a trail to a crooked American arms dealer supplying weapons to Afghanistan. Dalton finally assumes the role of Bond after refusing it 16 years earlier with DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. The film is loosely based on Ian Fleming's short story.

Dalton brought a certain charm and seriousness to Bond, but never seemed to have an edge either in action or delivering the one-liners. The opening scenes racing across Gibraltor were excellent, and the cast work well together in what must be perhaps the last 007 film shot during the cold war.
This decent spy thriller would have deserved a better mark, but was really let down by what I thought was a disappointing ending.
 


(From Riches Random Reviews on May 14th, 2009)

Never Say Never Again, a review by Dragonfire

Sean Connery is back for his final performance as agent James Bond in this high-velocity action thriller...and now you can experience it as never before with this explosively entertaining Collector's Edition with all-new audio commentary and three nerver-before-seen featurettes! Angent 007 is hurled into a pulse-pounding race to save the world from armageddon when two atomic warheards are hijacked by the evil SPECTRE organization!

My Thoughts

I was only mildly entertained by this one.  The theme song sucks and the opening credits aren't that good.  M is acting like a new age idiot babbling on about free radicals and sending James off to that spa where the all the doctor seemed to want to do was order up colonics and enemas.  The plot was handled better in Thunderball.  The settings looked nice, but things just seem off.  The underwater scenes are nowhere near as good as the ones in Thunderball.  That computer game thing that Max and James played was just bizarre.  The cast is mostly ok.  Connery is still good, but he didn't seem like James anymore.  Blofeld wasn't as effective.  The action is ok, but nothing special.  I don't hate the movie, but I don't love it either.  I think I've actually seen this version more than Thunderball, but that version is so much better.

 

(From James Bond Marathon on May 4th, 2009)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Fringe

Pilot
When all the passengers and crew on Flight 627 Hamburg-to-Boston die in a hideous manner, FBI agent Olivia Dunham investigates the event. While following up a lead, her partner and lover, John Scott, undergoes life-threatening chemical contamination. A desperate Olivia looks for help and finds Dr. Walter Bishop, who cannot help her because he has been institutionalized. The only way to even question him is with the help of his son Peter.
Olivia continues her investigations and goes to Nina Sharp, a manipulative executive. Olivia, Peter and Dr. Bishop begin to discover what really happened on Flight 627 and start to uncover a larger truth.



A television drama centered around a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

The first part of this pilot is incredibly interesting and promised a great deal. A bit of x-files with more focus on the investigation, the characters were optimistically well thought out, and the pace gripping. I felt it lost its way in the middle as the storyline floundered, with a bit too much focus on introduction of the leads and providing backdrop to the series, but it picked up well with a good and surprising finish.
A definate series to revisit before year-end, this is good viewing for all.
 


(From My PILOT Marathon on September 27th, 2009)