SPOTLIGHT: BOND BEYOND BOND BOOKS
Nobody Lives Forever
Released in 1986, Nobody Lives Forever has a similar feel to the movie For Your Eyes Only, in that both are essentially one chase scene after another.
Role of Honour
Whatever good will was built up with the brisk action of For Special Services and the intriguing locations of Icebreaker is undone with Role of Honor, a dreadful entry in the series.
Icebreaker
In Icebreaker, Bond does almost nothing—which is for the best, because when Bond does do something, it’s usually some of the worst espionage work he’s ever done.
For Special Services
For Special Services, maintains all the ties to Ian Fleming’s original novels, but gets more breathing room since it isn’t saddled with re-introducing Bond.
SPOTLIGHT: SPY CINEMA
Ypotron
Ypotron is a light and airy espionage adventure with sci-fi elements and almost no interest whatsoever in its own plot, so enamored is it instead with low-budget globe-trotting and extremely large hats.
Asambhav
This movie is a total bomb, and that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. Don’t listen to me, because I’m going to tell you to go ahead and see Asambhav. The near universal chorus of bad reviews this movie received are right, and I am wrong. Don’t do it.
From 007 to Gogol 13
Golgo 13 was (is) a long-running Japanese comic book aimed primarily at bitter guys in dead-end salaryman jobs who harbored daydreams of being tough-as-nails murderous sex machines but, in reality, were just nerdy guys reading a comic book on the train.
Scorpions and Miniskirts
If you can roll with the first five minutes of Scorpions and Miniskirts, then you are probably going to be able to walk away with a sense of having been entertained while feeling like you didn’t quite get everything for which you’d hoped.
ON LOCATION
Aboard the African Queen
The African Queen stayed unseaworthy until 2012, when Key Largo locals Lance and Suzanne Holmquist bought it and set about once again making it a functioning boat.
Pan Am Worldport
Terminal 3 at New York’s JFK airport, known as the Worldport, was once the distinctive flying saucer shaped home of Pan Am. It was, during the heyday of jet-set travel, a model for the sleek, modernist style that defined journeys by air.
Prague Museum of Communism
Nestled with irony between a McDonald’s and a casino is Prague’s Museum of Communism (only the KGB Museum has a more deliciously ironic location, next door to the heavily guarded U.S. embassy).
RECENT LISTENS
You Only Listen Twice
Put on the headphones and prepare yourself for another swinging, occasionally baffling, journey through James Bond themed cash-in records.
The Sound of Spying
In the 1960s, there were dozens of James Bond music cash-in industry, offering nondescript but professionally competent renditions of popular Bond espionage TV show themes.
When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head
Riding the tide of popularity his portrayal of Jason King brought him, Peter Wyngarde was approached by RCA with the prospect of recording an album. Thus we start down the road toward infamy.
RECENT DRINKS & EATS
Blending In with Bond
James Bond, one of global culture’s most recognized imbibers, drinks no fewer than 317 drinks throughout the series of books authored by Ian Fleming.
Barflies and Boulevardiers
The Boulevardier appears in a section called “Cocktails Round Town,” — a boulevardier being someone who prowled the Parisian boulevards in search of revelry.
CONNECT WITH BOND VIVANT
