The Next Incarnation of Bond
The James Bond franchise is amazing. And not necessarily for the right reasons. Of the twenty-five official movies, I’d posit there’s only one truly great film – From Russian With Love. It’s a grounded spy thriller with brilliant performances from Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, and Lotte Lenya. Then the series becomes more gimmicky, which irked Connery, and which the Roger Moore era truly embraced – perhaps to accommodate an era were movies were growing sensational in their storytelling. Of the other twenty-four movies, I’d suggest there’re a handful of good ones, and the rest are middling, forgettable, and – in some cases – terrible. I grew up when Roger Moore…
Where is My Rockyverse?
In its first season, Cobra Kai did a great job of expanding The Karate Kid universe into a TV series. My only real problem is that at the end of The Karate Kid, Johnny Lawrence seizes the trophy, and gives it to Danny, telling him, “You’re all right, LaRusso.” That implies Johnny’s swallowed his pride, anger, and vengeance, and now begrudgingly respects Danny. The series bypasses this moment to maintain open grievances, and doesn’t offer a callback until its sixth and final season. Otherwise, Cobra Kai’s brilliant in imagining where these characters’ lives went. So open when properties revisit characters, they vandalize both the character and – worse – their…