The slimebags who made the movies turned Mr. Phelps into a traitor. Disagree. Unconditionally. Burnout I could have understood. Pick a different, later team leader to go bad, ok. But they undercut the series and for that the movies just rot.
@cengland0 I love Mission Impossible and always make it a point to DVR any episodes that come up on cable. Some modern audience might find it slow because it focuses less on the action and shows so much detail in regards to the mental gymnastics and how the plan was devised. But it is those details that I find so cool. Whereas most present day movies might take two seconds to mention “we bugged the room” in passing, MI might have a 10-minute sequence actually showing all the surreptitious activity involved in planting those bugs.
@cengland0 Anybody but me remember the short lived 1988 reboot of the series? I’d like to see it again. Hey, I see there’s an episode or two on you-tube, yay!
@DrWorm Exactly my thoughts on the series. I like action sometimes but the old series was more focused on how to accomplish a mission with tricky methods. Making someone believe it’s the future so the statute of limitations has run out creating fake newspapers of future dates and things like that. It was fascinating to watch and didn’t have much shooting scenes.
Too many action movies today have loud music so you cannot hear the dialog. 10 bad guys can be shooting at the hero with machine guns and nobody gets a hit and the hero then does some backwards dive and shoots all 10 guys perfectly with one shot each using a simple pistol or throwing a knife. Very unrealistic and it annoys me so much it nearly makes the movie unpleasant to watch.
@eonfifty The 2009 reboot with Jim Caviezel (from the Person of Interest series) wasn’t quite as gripping, but the original also hasn’t held up well with time.
@hchavers Yes. especially the earlier ones with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peale. Along with The Prisoner, the best of the British spy series that careened off into the surreal …
@DrWorm@moondrake In retrospect you guys are right. It was what jumped into my head when I saw the poll topic, but I hadn’t really given it any specific thought. Y’all are way to detail oriented to be hanging out at a site called Meh…
Are we no longer allowed to say I Spy since the downfall of Bill Cosby? I wouldn’t say it was my favorite, but it holds up better than many of the other shows from the 60’s spy boom.
I recall the Eddie Murphy/Owen Wilson film adaptation being hard to sit through.
@heartnyThe Man From U.N.C.L.E. (the original series, not the recent film adaptation) was one of those shows that I remembered loving as a kid and upon revisiting as an adult, I didn’t find it as awesome as I remembered it.
Man… it’s a tie between Bourne and The Americans. I like(d)a lot of the ones mentioned here but the Bourne movies are a staple go-to around here and The Americans was one of the best series ever created as far as I’m concerned. They’re both great in different ways. Couldn’t choose one.
I’M ALL ABOUT JASON BOURNE BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVE SOME OF THAT CIA/NINJA KNOWLEDGE LOCKED AWAY IN MY HEAD BY THE ILLUMINATI!!! I JUST NEED TO FIND THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF NATURAL HERBS AND BOTANICALS TO UNLOCK IT AND THEN WATCH OUT WORLD!! !! !!
In terms of attempted-objectivity quality, The Americans by far. I’ve seen parts or all of most other things posted here, and nothing is even in the same league as that show. Bourne was good, but I think the second two movies got a bit too twist-y for their own good and relied a lot on action.
For the comedy side, I’ll take Archer over Austin Powers and Bond (I choose to categorize most 1960s to mid 2000s Bond as self-aware dramedy rather than schlocky action), though I’m looking forward to watching Patriot.
Not the film of one of the books. (Way too stylish; did not “get” the greatness of the source material)
Not even the two excellent BBC Alec Guinness-led miniseries of two of the books (the BBC could not, at the time, afford to film the middle book due to location and complexity costs)
Child was not yet married and was applying for the job under her maiden name, McWilliams, according to previously top-secret records released by the National Archives on Thursday.
Not to worry. She did well on her OSS job interview.
“Good impression, pleasant, alert, capable, very tall [she was 6 feet, 155 pounds],” her unnamed interviewer wrote.
She was hired in the summer of 1942 for clerical work with the intelligence agency and later worked directly for OSS Director William Donovan, the personnel records show.
@f00l Yup. Hubs and I watched a program on tv yrs ago about it. Pretty interesting really. Hubby, who hadn’t been real fond of her previously did an about face and said no more Julia Child jokes…she’s earned my respect!.
Get Smart
@rand3y Yes, yes, yes!!! Loved that goofy show!!!
Uhh…
Archer?
@2many2no Duh and/or hello?!
@2many2no
That’s exactly what the gypsy lady said!
The original TV series Mission Impossible with Peter Graves, not the Tom Cruise movies.
@cengland0
This!
The slimebags who made the movies turned Mr. Phelps into a traitor. Disagree. Unconditionally. Burnout I could have understood. Pick a different, later team leader to go bad, ok. But they undercut the series and for that the movies just rot.
@cengland0 I love Mission Impossible and always make it a point to DVR any episodes that come up on cable. Some modern audience might find it slow because it focuses less on the action and shows so much detail in regards to the mental gymnastics and how the plan was devised. But it is those details that I find so cool. Whereas most present day movies might take two seconds to mention “we bugged the room” in passing, MI might have a 10-minute sequence actually showing all the surreptitious activity involved in planting those bugs.
@cengland0 Anybody but me remember the short lived 1988 reboot of the series? I’d like to see it again. Hey, I see there’s an episode or two on you-tube, yay!
@DrWorm Exactly my thoughts on the series. I like action sometimes but the old series was more focused on how to accomplish a mission with tricky methods. Making someone believe it’s the future so the statute of limitations has run out creating fake newspapers of future dates and things like that. It was fascinating to watch and didn’t have much shooting scenes.
Too many action movies today have loud music so you cannot hear the dialog. 10 bad guys can be shooting at the hero with machine guns and nobody gets a hit and the hero then does some backwards dive and shoots all 10 guys perfectly with one shot each using a simple pistol or throwing a knife. Very unrealistic and it annoys me so much it nearly makes the movie unpleasant to watch.
The Prisoner
/youtube the Prisoner
@eonfifty The 2009 reboot with Jim Caviezel (from the Person of Interest series) wasn’t quite as gripping, but the original also hasn’t held up well with time.
@eonfifty
I AM NOT A NUMBER!
Also famously parodied by Austin Powers in the “Who does Number 2 work for?” scene.
@mike808 Rover becomes reality.
Anyone remember The Avengers? Not the Marvel movie, but the British tv series.
@hchavers Yes. especially the earlier ones with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peale. Along with The Prisoner, the best of the British spy series that careened off into the surreal …
@hchavers yes, one of my dad’s favorite shows. i love it too. fond memories.
@hchavers As a girl growing up, Mrs. Peele and Cat Woman were pretty much my only action hero role models.
@hchavers Yes!!! Thank you!
Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, and Fearless Leader
Burn Notice
Person of interest
@rtjhnstn See above for Jim Caviezel in The Prisoner (2009) reboot.
This guy:
and then this guy:
@shahnm Loved the movie, but I don’t know I would say it was spy-related.
@DrWorm @shahnm Yeah, it was more of a caper.
@DrWorm @moondrake In retrospect you guys are right. It was what jumped into my head when I saw the poll topic, but I hadn’t really given it any specific thought. Y’all are way to detail oriented to be hanging out at a site called Meh…
@DrWorm @moondrake *too (way too detail oriented)…
I’m grammar policing myself. I have dishonored my family.
/giphy seppuku
threw me a curveball with the americans at the end there, such an amazing show. fantastic series with an outstanding soundtrack as well.
@jerk_nugget Great series!
I was a fan, but they kind of lost me with the last 2 seasons. I mean, I watched them anyway, but didn’t really enjoy them.
@macromeh I was riveted.
Chuck
@thePenrod Who?
@therealjrn What’s the confusion?
@thePenrod What?
Are we no longer allowed to say I Spy since the downfall of Bill Cosby? I wouldn’t say it was my favorite, but it holds up better than many of the other shows from the 60’s spy boom.
I recall the Eddie Murphy/Owen Wilson film adaptation being hard to sit through.
@DrWorm You just said it. Besides, I think people are still eating Jello pudding.
#metoo
Wasn’t Mr. Bean a spy?
/giphy Mr. Bean
@jst1ofknd
/youtube Johnny English trailer
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
@heartny The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (the original series, not the recent film adaptation) was one of those shows that I remembered loving as a kid and upon revisiting as an adult, I didn’t find it as awesome as I remembered it.
Man… it’s a tie between Bourne and The Americans. I like(d)a lot of the ones mentioned here but the Bourne movies are a staple go-to around here and The Americans was one of the best series ever created as far as I’m concerned. They’re both great in different ways. Couldn’t choose one.
La Femme Nikita
More the series than the movie, although I am a fan of Luc Besson’s work. But I like series better than movies.
I’M ALL ABOUT JASON BOURNE BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVE SOME OF THAT CIA/NINJA KNOWLEDGE LOCKED AWAY IN MY HEAD BY THE ILLUMINATI!!! I JUST NEED TO FIND THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF NATURAL HERBS AND BOTANICALS TO UNLOCK IT AND THEN WATCH OUT WORLD!! !! !!
NOW VISIT MY SHOP AND BUY MY STUFF!!!
@AlexJones Rachel, that’s the first sensible thing you’ve said all day!
In terms of attempted-objectivity quality, The Americans by far. I’ve seen parts or all of most other things posted here, and nothing is even in the same league as that show. Bourne was good, but I think the second two movies got a bit too twist-y for their own good and relied a lot on action.
For the comedy side, I’ll take Archer over Austin Powers and Bond (I choose to categorize most 1960s to mid 2000s Bond as self-aware dramedy rather than schlocky action), though I’m looking forward to watching Patriot.
Get Smart.
In novel format.
Not the film of one of the books. (Way too stylish; did not “get” the greatness of the source material)
Not even the two excellent BBC Alec Guinness-led miniseries of two of the books (the BBC could not, at the time, afford to film the middle book due to location and complexity costs)
Kingsman, hands down. With a nod to Archer as well.
Alex Rider. They are a book series, but they did make one movie based off the first book.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Rider
Jessica Jones. She’s a PI, but that’s the same thing, right?
@JoetatoChip So is Magnum. So no.
Not sure if it falls into Spy category, but I’m a big fan of The Man in the High Castle. It has a helluva lot of spying and secret agenty stuff!
Spies are so hot! Right?
/image la femme Nikita
/image james bond
/image aldrich ames
/image Kim Philby 4
/image Anthony Blunt
@f00l And don’t forget this one
@lseeber
Wow. I missed that headline. The OSS!
@f00l Yup. Hubs and I watched a program on tv yrs ago about it. Pretty interesting really. Hubby, who hadn’t been real fond of her previously did an about face and said no more Julia Child jokes…she’s earned my respect!.
How can you overlook Condorman?
@melliott Really easily, unless you are, say 6. Holy crap was it bad when I made my kids watch it.
Patriot. On Amazon Prime.
The Structural Dynamics of Flow is some gripping reading, too.