Octopussy

The James Bond series is an interesting one that typically starts fairly seriously, gets a bit campy, then gets really campy and then swings back to the ultra serious. Most recently Pierce Brosnan exited as the movies were getting cheesier and Daniel Craig came aboard with a near tangible shift in tone, not even a hint of humor was to be found between the fast paced action sequences.

Roger Moore's tenure as Bond occupies the campier side of this ebb and flow of the series. Though it seems like it would be difficult to top the bizarreness of "Moonraker's" laser space battles and Jaws as the comedic relief, 1983's "Octopussy" does a pretty good job. It may just be because it was weirder all around. Moore was relying on gags and other comedic aspects of his character due to the fact he was 55 years old when the film was made.

After the title sequence the movie goes from circus clowns to stolen fabergé eggs. The villain, Kamel Khan, is an art thief/forger who not very menacing at all. He is selling his fakes, which seems like a possible nod to the much superior Sherlock Holmes villain Professor Moriarty in the "Final Problem" story. Anyhoo, Bond steals the egg at an auction in maybe the worst sleight of hand ever.

A whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't make a whole lot of sense happens, more circus stuff, James Bond in a gorilla suit, an all female island (it was bound to happen in one of the Bond films), and best of all Bond in a Crocodile water craft.

The plot is not really important, this movie is pure enjoyable escapism. It has some action and babes and cheesy lines. Sadly the movies have since shied away from this level of zaniness. These were the movies that other movies were making fun of when they would reference the Bond films. But even though these movies were pretty tongue in cheek you still get the impression that someone thought including a human cannon and the old killer-octopus-on-a-man's-face were good ideas.

Bio-Dome - Happy Earth Day!

So the posting is a little late, but for Earth Day we watched the 1996 Pauly Shore movie "Bio-Dome." I would like to apologize to the earth and say that we'll do better next year.

This movie didn't hold up. Sure when Stephen Baldwin can't say photosynthesis, that was pretty funny and when when they hit each other with nitrous tanks there were some guffaws, but like the nitrous scene things can drag out a bit too long. Most of the movie was spent watching the Shore-Baldwin team run around and then groaning every time one of their jokes went awry. If you are looking for a Pauly Shore movie that still holds up, head straight to "Encino Man," the title character was the role Brendan Frasier was born to play.

Not wanting to waste a precious blog post I want to use this entry to highlight one of the actors of "Bio-Dome." William Atherton, the antagonist of Bio-Dome and many of the other movies he is in. He is the guy you love to hate, Walter Peck and that reporter from "Die Hard" that gets punched out by John Mclain's wife.

One of the unsung character actors, Atherton has been acting in movies for nearly 40 years. He got his start in Steven Spielberg's debut "The Sugarland Express" and played some larger roles in the 70s and early 80s. Then in 1984 Ghostbusters changed it all for him (and cinema in general) as he played the mega weasel Walter Peck who forced the poor city worker to shut down the eco-containment system releasing all the ghosts that had already been captured. There is even an action figure for Peck!

Popping up in small but memorable roles quite frequently he has been doing a lot more TV acting as of late. If you see him shake his hand and tell him that he is cinema's best loved dickhead (or maybe an actual compliment). Viva la Atherton!