ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

From IMDB: CIA agent Miles Kendig decides to get out of 'the game' and to ensure he's left alone he threatens to send his memoirs to the world's intelligence agencies. When the CIA doesn't believe him, he calls their bluff and starts writing and sending out chapters one by one. Realizing that their operations would be compromised, the CIA (led by Myerson and Cutter) set out to put an end to Kendig's plan by whatever means necessary. The heart of the movie follows a game of cat and mouse between a fumbling CIA and an artful Kendig.

[oilgun]

Super-spy Flint takes on a cabal of women plotting to rule the world.

[Fran]

From IMDb:

Compared to "Rumble in the Bronx" and "Supercop", "Jackie Chan's First Strike" packed a major punch! All the sabotage, the espionage, Jackie Chan was really ready to rumble.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Ventriloquist Jerry Morgan has failed with another love affair. The reason: when the relationship reaches the point when it is time to discuss marriage, his doll Clarence becomes mean and jealous. His fiancée Audrey leaves him and Jerry smashes his two dolls, Clarence and Terrence. Morgan's dollmaker Papinek is member of a spy ring who has stolen the secret plans to the top secret Lafayette airplane. Since Morgan is leaving for Zurich the same night, he decides to use Morgan's dolls as a mailbox and hides the secret plan in the heads of the dolls. Another secret spy ring also wants to get their hands on Jerry's luggage and they *also* follow him. Eventually, Jerry is chased by both these organizations as well as the police, who suspects him of murder.

[Ellemeno]

Tagline: He went to bed an all-American kid and woke up the son of Russian spies.

[oilgun]

Cronenberg Takes on a Classic Opera Espionage Twister,
Jeremy Irons plays the lead role as French diplomat, Phillipe Bouriscot, who falls in love with an absolutely seductive Chinese woman opera singer (John Lone). As Irons pursues the diva he's attracted to, she toys with his foreign ignorance of the cultural differences between their Western & Eastern societies.

In a sense, she keeps the diplomat at a distance for 18 years while their affair continues by becoming his teacher of cultural difference. The romantic & erotic chemistry between the diplomat & opera singer is a very famous true story written by David Henry Hwang--"Madame Butterfly." There have been numerous stage & screen renditions of the story.

I like this (1994) version best because David Cronenberg is undoubtedly the finest director to deal with the most important topic in the story: gender bending. "M. Butterfly" is the Canadian Cronenberg's first Hollywood funded debut. The surprise plot of the sorted true love story is one of espionage. An adults only film, it is one of intrigue, sizzling romance, twists & turns, deception & betrayal.

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Kevin Costner stars in this stylish remake of THE BIG CLOCK, a 1948 film noir that starred Ray Milland and Charles Laughton. The setting has been changed from a publishing house to the Pentagon and the time period updated. Some extra plot twists have been added and it all adds up to riveting entertainment after a slow start.

Costner romances Sean Young after a brief flirtation and then discovers she is the mistress of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman). In a fit of jealousy, Hackman accidentally kills Young and then must concoct a plot to keep his identity as her lover a secret. He assigns Costner to lead the investigation and this leads to a suspenseful turn of events that has Costner caught in a net from which he has a hard time escaping. A series of suspenseful chases take place with some excellent camerawork following the chase by car and on foot.

Only weakness here is the rather contrived ending which seems to have been added on for a final twist that is never quite convincing.

Kevin Costner, looking spiffy in his smart Navy white uniform, does an excellent job as a desperate man realizing he must keep his own affair with the victim a secret. Gene Hackman is excellent too but it is Will Patton as his loyal henchman and protector who gives the film's most penetrating performance, especially when his diabolical nature is revealed.

The first twenty-five minutes are much too slow in getting the story off the ground but once it does you'll want to stay tuned until the final denouement. One of the best thrillers produced in the '80s.

[Fran]

From Amazon:

In THE OPERATIVE, Brian Bosworth gets to play a double role... one of an ex-CIA operative screwed by the government, and a flashy Texas billionaire.  While Brian will probably never see an Oscar on his mantelpiece, the durable action star has learned to at least put life into his characterizations and take the punches he so often gets.  Brian is bogged down in this one though by a confusing, inarticulate script and Russian dialogue that tends to hinder the understanding of what's going on.  A subplot involving an ambitious FBI agent adds a little color to the proceedings.  There's enough action, however, to keep you entertained and by the end of the movie, the plot's maelstrom almost makes sense. A good time waster, if nothing else.

[oilgun]

When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.

[southendmd]