Goldfinger

Ahh, the impractical gadgets, the unbelievable villains, the wild locations, the improbably plots, the chauvinistic star. Bond at its pre-Craig finest.

Goldfinger
1964, 110 minutes, directed by Guy Hamilton

District 9

From the popping-head school of kill shots comes a refreshingly-independent film with big-budget ambitions. The first half of this film is brilliant science fiction, with an intriguing story, seamless mix of multiple camera feeds for a realistic-documentary style, and a fantastic performance from Sharlto Copley as Wikus Van De Merwe. The second half devolves a bit too much into a shoot-em-up but still retains the quality cinematography and special effects, and does an exemplary job of winding up a story that clearly starts out with little chance for a happy ending.

I enjoyed this tremendously and dearly hope that there is never a big-budget sequel.

District 9
2009, 112 minutes, directed by Neill Blomkamp

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Yet another of an interchangeable mix of generic high-explosive action movie loosely based on a half-nostalgic exploitable source. It's very . . . siffy. Like 80% of SyFy's programming: watchable but lacking.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
2009, 118 minutes, directed by Stephen Sommers