James Bond 007: You Only Live TwiceLewis Gilbert  
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The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organization SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilized Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius Willy Wonka?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert (Alfie). But the movie can't hold a candle to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, or Goldfinger. —Tom Keogh

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ThunderballTerence Young  
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James Bond's fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a tony health spa (where he tangles with a mechanized masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE's number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resourceful "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn), agent 007 escapes an ambush with a personal-size jet pack and takes to the water as he searches for the undersea plane, battles Largo's pet sharks, and finally leads the battle against Largo's scuba-equipped henchmen in a spectacular underwater climax. This thrilling Bond entry became Connery's most successful outing in the series and was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, with Connery returning to the role after a 12-year hiatus. Tom Jones belts out the bold theme song to another classic Maurice Binder title sequence. —Sean Axmaker

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Goldfinger (Widescreen, Special Edition)Guy Hamilton  
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Dry as ice, dripping with deadpan witticisms, only Sean Connery's Bond would dare to disparage the Beatles, that other 1964 phenomenon. No one but Connery can believably seduce women so effortlessly, kill with almost as much ease, and then pull another bottle of Dom Perignon 53 out of the fridge. Goldfinger contains many of the most memorable scenes in the Bond series: gorgeous Shirley Eaton (as Jill Masterson) coated in gold paint by evil Auric Goldfinger and deposited in Bond's bed; silent Oddjob, flipping a razor-sharp bowler like a Frisbee to sever heads; our hero spread-eagled on a table while a laser beam moves threateningly toward his crotch. Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore is the prototype for the series' rash of man-hating supermodels. And Desmond Llewelyn reprises his role as Q, giving Bond what is still his most impressive car, a snazzy little number that fires off smoke screens, punctures the tyres of vehicles on the chase, and boasts a handy ejector seat. Goldfinger's two climaxes, inside Fort Knox and aboard a private plane, have to be seen to be believed.—Raphael Shargel, Amazon.com—

On the DVD: Featuring interviews with Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, the late Desmond Llewelyn and most of the surviving core cast and crew members, great on-set footage (Blackman and Connery look like they clearly had the hots for each other even when the camera weren't rolling) and a strong argument about how this firmed up the gadget-orientated, thrills-and-spills formula for the franchise, John Cork's "making of" featurette for this DVD is one of the most rewarding in this series. The two commentary tracks have moderately interesting observations by director Guy Hamilton, the cast and crew (many of their comments recycled from the documentary), and on both Bond superfan-and-author Lee Pfeiffer filling in blanks and explaining in exhaustive detail the history of the Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in this film. Also included is an open-ended 1964 interview with Sean Connery, designed so that American radio disc jockeys could pretend they had an exclusive interview with the star, in which he extols the series' "sadism for the family" among other things. —Leslie Felperin

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From Russia with LoveTerence Young  
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Directed with consummate skill by Terence Young, the second James Bond spy thriller is considered by many fans to be the best of them all. Certainly Sean Connery was never better as the dashing Agent 007, whose latest mission takes him to Istanbul to retrieve a top-secret Russian decoding machine. His efforts are thwarted when he gets romantically distracted by a sexy Russian double agent (Daniela Bianchi), and is tracked by a lovely assassin (Lotte Lenya) with switchblade shoes, and by a crazed killer (Robert Shaw), who clashes with Bond during the film's dazzling climax aboard the Orient Express. From Russia with Love is classic James Bond, before the gadgets, pyrotechnics and Roger Moore steered the movies away from the more realistic tone of the books by Ian Fleming. —Jeff Shannon

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Dr. NoTerence Young  
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Released in 1962, this first James Bond movie remains one of the best and serves as an entertaining reminder that the Bond series began (in keeping with Ian Fleming's novels) with a surprising lack of gadgetry and big-budget fireworks. Sean Connery was just 32 years old when he won the role of Agent 007. In his first adventure James Bond is called to Jamaica where a colleague and secretary have been mysteriously killed. With an American CIA agent (Jack Lord, pre-Hawaii Five-O), they discover that the nefarious Dr No (Joseph Wiseman) is scheming to blackmail the US government with a device capable of deflecting and destroying US rockets launched from Cape Canaveral. Of course, Bond takes time off from his exploits to enjoy the company of a few gorgeous women, including the bikini-clad Ursula Andress. She gloriously kicks off the long-standing tradition of Bond women who know how to please their favourite secret agent. A sexist anachronism? Maybe, but this is Bond at his purest, kicking off a series of movies that shows no sign of slowing down. —Jeff Shannon

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James Bond Gift SetGuy Hamilton, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Roger Spottiswoode, Terence Young  
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Seven films. Four Bonds. One set. This sprawling collection surveys over 30 years of James Bond skullduggery, from the cold war tensions of the 1960s to the international free-for-all of the present. Sean Connery remains the coolest of the Bonds, a ruthless agent with dry martini wit and a way with the women, and in Goldfinger his steely presence helped forge the Bond formula of tongue-in-cheek wit, wondrous secret agent toys created by Q, and megalomaniac supervillains bent on world destruction. Thunderball upped the Bond ante with the most ambitious adventure—and budget—to date. Roger Moore brought an altogether lighter tone to 007 with Live and Let Die, softening Connery's rough edges with a more romantic persona as the films became even more exotic. After a brief digression into outer space, For Your Eyes Only returned Bond to globetrotting high adventure and teamed him with his most endearing ally (Topol as a gregarious smuggler). Timothy Dalton made his second and final appearance as Bond in Licence to Kill, the toughest of the Bond films since Connery's early efforts. Though not a fan favorite, it's a sleek, solid adventure with an edge missing from the Moore pictures. Pierce Brosnan is the latest to take on 007's licence to kill, combining the best of Connery's cool and Moore's humor. GoldenEye is the best Bond film in years, a grand globetrotting adventure with lovely Bond girls and a tough new M (Judy Dench). Tomorrow Never Dies doesn't recapture that magic mix of action, gadgetry, and romance, but does feature the first Bond girl to match 007 blow for blow: Hong Kong action superstar Michelle Yeoh. Taken together, this set is a veritable cross-section of the many faces of James Bond. All that's missing is George Lazenby. Do I hear a nomination for set 2? —Sean Axmaker

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It's a Wonderful LifeFrank Capra  
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Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feelgood communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War Two). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming—in the teary-eyed final reel—his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. —Robert Horton

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The Witches of Eastwick (Widescreen/Full Screen)George Miller (II)  
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Jack Nicholson was born to play the devil, and in George Miller's adaptation of John Updike's novel he plays it for all he's worth. As a wolfish womanizer summoned by three bored women in a picturesque New England town, he's sating all of his appetites with a rakish grin. Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer play the women who discover their untapped magical powers by accident. The smart and sexy singles, out of place in the conservatism of their village, find happiness, however briefly, in the arms and bed of the libidinous devil, but he's got his own ulterior motives. Miller revels in the sensual display of sex, food, and magic, whipping up a storm of effects that finally get out of hand in an overblown ending. It's a handsome film with strong performances all around, but the mix of anarchic comedy and supernatural horror doesn't always gel and Miller seems to lose the plot in his zeal for cinematic excitement. The performances ultimately keep the film aloft: the hedonistic joy that Nicholson celebrates with every leering gaze and boorish vulgarity is almost enough to make bad form and chauvinism cool. —Sean Axmaker

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When Harry Met SallyRob Reiner  
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With the proliferation of so many lackluster deleted scenes on DVDs, it's nice to see something on this DVD that's worth watching. The seven scenes gathered here all have good laughs and could have easily been included in the film. Highlights of the 35-minute documentary (produced in 2000) include the genesis of the film (director Reiner's return to dating after years of marriage) and the deconstruction of many of the movie's best moments. New and old interviews are included, with Reiner, writer Nora Ephron, and Billy Crystal taking center stage. Lifelong friends Crystal and Reiner should have done the commentary together—Reiner's monotone delivery doesn't work against the lively comedy. Besides, the juiciest facts have been covered in the documentary. Also, Barry Sonnefeld's cinematography is a real treat to view in the widescreen format. —Doug Thomas

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When Harry Met Sally...Rob Reiner  
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With the proliferation of so many lackluster deleted scenes on DVDs, it's nice to see something on this DVD that's worth watching. The seven scenes gathered here all have good laughs and could have easily been included in the film. Highlights of the 35-minute documentary (produced in 2000) include the genesis of the film (director Reiner's return to dating after years of marriage) and the deconstruction of many of the movie's best moments. New and old interviews are included, with Reiner, writer Nora Ephron, and Billy Crystal taking center stage. Lifelong friends Crystal and Reiner should have done the commentary together—Reiner's monotone delivery doesn't work against the lively comedy. Besides, the juiciest facts have been covered in the documentary. Also, Barry Sonnefeld's cinematography is a real treat to view in the widescreen format. —Doug Thomas

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West Side StoryJerome Robbins Robert Wise  
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The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, West Side Story stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighbourhoods—and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colourful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. —Tom Keogh

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Wayne's WorldDVD  
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TV's Saturday Night Live has been like the evil twin of the legendary alchemist's stone, which supposedly could turn lead into gold. SNL usually does the opposite, taking rich comic premises from short skits and extrapolating them into overblown and unfunny full-length films. ("The Coneheads"? Puh-leeze!) But this film proved to be the exception, thanks to Mike Myers's wonderfully rude lowbrow humor and his full-bodied understanding of who his character is. Wayne Campbell (Myers) and his nerdy pal Garth (Dana Carvey) are teens who live at home and have their own low-rent cable-access show in Aurora, Illinios, in which they celebrate their favorite female movie stars and heavy-metal bands. When a Chicago TV station smells a potential youth-audience ratings hit, the station's weasely executive (Rob Lowe) tries to coopt the show—and steal Wayne's new rock & roll girlfriend (Tia Carrere) at the same time. It's filled with all kinds of knowing spoofs of movie conventions, from Wayne talking to the camera (and forbidding other characters to do so) to hilariously self-conscious product placements and labeling a moment a "Gratuitous Sex Scene." Dumb—and very funny. —Marshall Fine

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