While trying to corner the members of the shadowy organization responsible for Vesper's death, James (Daniel Craig) crosses paths with a beautiful secret agent (Olga Kuryleko) acting as a mistress to a ruthless entrepreneur (Mathieu Amalric) seeking to corner the Bolivian water market. Dominated by overblown kinetic action sequences in vogue a decade ago a la Jason Bourne, Quantum of Solace is lazily written which lends itself to a hard to follow 007 entry that clumsily follows up on storylines from Casino Royale, its superior predecessor. However, it doesn't overstay its welcome like many films in the series and contains a malignant villain in Amalric and one of the most stunning Bond girls in Kurylenko.

** 1/2 out of ****

After her father is murdered by a psychotic villain with a lodged bullet in the brain constantly empowering his senses (Robert Carlyle), an oil pipeline heiress (Sophie Marceau) is tasked to 007 (Pierce Brosnan) who allies himself with a beautiful short shorts wearing nuclear physicist (Denise Richards). Michael Apted's treatment of the The World is Not Enough is another excellent outing for Brosnan, contains an exciting opening and close and the one-liners at their best, but is still marred by overlength. Carlyle has the makings for a better villain and still should have made one, Marceau is supremely sexy and a superb Bond girl, and Richards is an insufferable joke playing a scientist.

*** out of ****

007 (Pierce Brosnan), with the aid of a Chinese agent (Michelle Yeoh), is summoned to thwart a media mogul (Jonathan Pryce) who generates the news in order to corner the market, currently plotting to instigate war between China and Britain. Tomorrow Never Dies is another solid Bond entry, with Brosnan effectively settled into the role, that is marred once more by overlength and redundant action sequences (although one involving a remote control automobile is outstanding). Pryce is a solid, somewhat offbeat villain and, as for the women, Teri Hatcher makes a too brief appearance and Yeoh is strong as an action star.

*** out of ****

A former, thought to be dead MI-6 agent (Sean Bean) plots with an onerous Russian General (Gottfried John) and a viperous, thigh crushing female operative (Famke Janssen) to steal the title weapon, a nuclear space device with mass destruction implications setting 007 (Pierce Brosnan) on the case with a beautiful computer analyst (Izabella Scorupco) in tow. Brosnan in his Bond debut is in the same mould as predecessor Timothy Dalton: nononsense, humorless, but really showing aptitude in the action sequences. The movie has one of the better (though still typical) Bond storylines, strong villains in Bean, Janseen, and John, a fine Bond girl in Scorupco, and great stuntwork, but like many of the other entries it just goes on way longer than it should.

*** out of ****

James (Timothy Dalton) and Felix (David Hedison) decide to nab a drug lord (Robert Davi) right from out of the sky before parachuting into the CIA operatives wedding. Soon, the ruthless kingpin bribes an American officer, escapes, and badly maims 007's pal leading him on a hellbent quest for vengeance. Dalton returns for his second and final Bond outing with another against the grain picture this one a harsh, violent revenge flick. The movie gets bogged down by a sloggish midsection, overlength, but the stuntwork is spectacular (including the phenomenal diesel truck finale), and the special agent meets his match in charismatic Carey Lowell and sexy Talisa Soto. Davi makes a nasty villain.

*** out of ****

As Double-0 agents are being targeted for assassination, Bond (Timothy Dalton) exists in the extrication of a duplicitous KGB agent (Jeroen Krabbe) claiming to have damning information on a highly respected Russian General, leaving 007 and the agent's victimized girlfriend (Maryam d'Abo) on a hazardous tour of Prague, Tangiers, and Afghanistan. The Living Daylights introduced Timothy Dalton in his short run as a more serious minded, humorless Bond, these attributes being mostly in his favor. The plotting is more realistic (at least comparatively) and the stuntwork is exciting, especially the opening (incidentally, the film bears my favorite title in the series. The only thing lacking is strong villain (or any centralized villain at all really).

*** out of ****

007 (Roger Moore) is sent on the trail of psychotic billionaire and horse race cheat (Christopher Walken) who seeks to corner the microchip market by causing massive earthquakes to destroy Silicon Valley. Moore's last appearance, although he settled into the role over time, is one of the weakest entries in the series in spite of some good action sequences some good action sequences. Walken is a surprisingly bland villain, Tanya Roberts a feeble bond girl, and Grace Jones is just bizarre as the femme fatale.

** out of ****

After the "Double-0" program is suspended, James (Sean Connery) is recalled from a health spa when two nuclear missiles are hijacked by charismatic oil tycoon Maximilian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), whose unwitting mistress (Kim Basinger) is sister to the pawn used to retrieve the weapons of mass destruction. Connery's final appearance as Bond, after a 12 year hiatus, is a welcomed return and the film, an unofficial, non-Eon Studios production remake of Thunderball is a nice change of pace from the formulaic series if it is a little overlong and just as tacky. Brandauer is a great, colorful and humanized villain, Barbara Carrera a sizzling femme fatale, and Basinger ideal as a Bond girl.

*** out of ****

When Agent 009, undercover as a clown in a Russian circus, is assassinated by a pair of knife throwing twins, the trail leads Bond (Roger Moore) to a Faberge egg smuggling ring led by a beautiful maven (Maud Adams) whose cohorts have greater plans of mass murder and global subversion. Dubious, confusing, and preposterously plotted Bond outing features an awfully aged Moore, decent villains in Louis Jordan, Kabir Bedi, and Steven Berkoff and an excellent female lead in Adams. The set pieces are impressive though the finale is unending and ridiculous while bordering on laughably absurd.

** 1/2 out of ****

After a shuttle is spacejacked, 007 travels to a billionaire's (Michael Lonsdale) Californian compound and then the far reaches of space while, with a the help of a sensual CIA agent (Lois Chiles) posing as a research scientist, uncovering a genocidal plot to wipe out the world's population and start anew with only the most beautiful members of each of race. After a series peak with The Spy Who Loved Me, the Bond series returned with this curious piece of cheese and obvious Star Wars ripoff that approaches so bad its good territory. Lonsdale makes an adequate villain and Richard Kiel's return as Jaws is much welcomed.

** out of ****

After British and Russian nuclear subs are hijacked by a maniacal billionaire (Curt Jurgens), with a gargantuan metal mouth henchman (Richard Kiel), a penchant for sharks, and hellbent on submerging the planet and creating an underwater civilization, Bond (Roger Moore) is called into action and paired with a slinky Moscow agent (Barbara Bach) with a deadly vendetta against the British spy. The Spy Who Loved Me is a surprisingly strong, well made, and often spoofed entry with Bach a game Bond girl and Moore finally settling into the role nicely. Jurgens makes a less than formidable villain but Kiel's entry into the series is both fun and menacing.

*** 1/2 out of ****

On his own private island buried deep in the seas of Red China, Francisco Scaramanga, the world's most deadly assassin with a just a rare birth mark, hunts the top men of his trade before setting his sights on MI6's top agent who, upon receiving word, treks to Macau, Hong Kong, and Thailand in search of a solar device while bedding his stalker's mistress and a beautiful and jealous fellow agent all before the final showdown. The Man with the Golden Gun is a vapid and cruder than usual 007 entry with Moore still an effete, ineffectual Bond in his second outing. Stupid throwbacks to previous movies don't help and a Lady from Shanghai inspired ending is anticlimactic. The villains and the women continue to be the reasons for these movies with Christopher Lee making a formidable baddie and Britt Eckland and Maud Adams lovely Bond girls.

** 1/2 out of ****

Three MI6 agents are killed simultaneously in New York, New Orleans, and a voodoo island nation putting Bond on the tail of a highly coordinated black market organization seeking to corner the world heroin market and their well mannered leader (Yaphet Kotto) also posing as a Harlem kingpin/pimp while enslaving a high priestess fortune teller (Jane Seymour). Moore's first showing as 007, who is astonishingly even more nonchalant and coy than Sean Connery, is an amusing but totally forgettable and ponderous blaxploitation exercise with villains and set pieces that leave a lot to be desired, Seymour a beautiful Bond girl, and Paul and Linda McCartney's great theme song put to good use.

** 1/2 out of ****

Diamonds Are Forever, the last official Connery appearance as 007, is incredibly cheesy and stupid, though often fun and more bawdy than other series entries up to that point, with a plot involving some incomprehensible nonsense regarding Blofeld (a worthy portrayal by Charles Gray) supplanting a Howard Hughes type figure in a Vegas high-rise while using diamonds and cassette tapes to set off nuclear missiles.

*** out of ****

Bond globe trots on the sly to determine the true reason behind Blofeld's involvement in a seemingly above board business venture (do these movies really need plot descriptions?). In his only outing as 007, George Lazenby leaves a lot to be desired in a performance that seems to be a Connery sendup and little more. Diana Rigg is a weak Bond girl and Telly Savalas makes an effective villain. Much silliness ensues intermingled with some impressive chase sequences.

After operating without orders to thwart a terrorist plot in Mexico City, a lead from his most recently dispatched target leads 007 to the shadowy titular organization that has dogged his entire career, all without the cover of MI6, who are facing disbandment resulting from a global surveillance alternative to their secret agent outfit. With a hand to hand combat sequence on a moving train, a high speed chase through the hills of a chalet, and a major revelation on Bonds' #1 nemesis (among other elements) Spectre, Daniel Craig's purported final outing as the archetypal British agent and director Sam Mendes' second go round following the dazzling Skyfall, tries too hard to recapture specific Bond moments effectively setting the series back, all of which is further inflamed by overplotting, overlength, about four endings too many, and an incredibly stupid screenplay. That being said, the film is expectedly punctuated by moments of intensity, excitement, and dazzling set pieces. Christoph Waltz makes a terrific foil and the film contains surprisingly spectacular camerawork, particularly in an opening tracking sequence and in several magnificent vistas. When considered on a whole, it all results in the kind of entertaining mixed bag popcorn you'd thought the series had grown out of or were possibly banking on.

** 1/2 out of ****

When an American space capsule vanishes, the Soviets are immediately suspected, and when a Soviet craft similarly vanishes, both sides are pushed to the brink of imminent disaster. Discovering a suspicious crash off the coast of Japan, MI6 sends in their most valued agent into the Land of the Rising Sun where he must not only must adapt Japanese culture, but also actually become Japanese, train as a ninja, and infiltrate Blofeld's volcanic lair to prevent the onset of WWIII! "You Only Live Twice" is a lame and exceedingly bizarre Bond installment. With a script by Roald Dahl (?!), and one of the last films to feature Connery, it is barely credible  as camp, let alone a top spy picture.