I’ve had a busy week. I finished a 5,000 word freelance assignment and got a chance to take in Interstellar. I’ve also worked a bit on my Borderlands-esque fiction and a short story I started. Be that as it may, I have three choice viewing options for you, though not all are available on Netflix.
Ronin: This is one of my favourite movies. I’m not saying it is the best movie ever, but I can sit down and watch this at any time and enjoy it. I’ll watch clips. I’ll watch the movie on broadcast TV, cut up and riddled with commercials. I don’t care. This movie is just straight up awesome for me. I love the chemistry between DeNiro and Reno. For rogue intelligence operatives set adrift, this movie can’t be beat.
Goldeneye: Pierce Brosnan’s entry into the James Bond franchise and one of his better efforts. I really would have preferred Brosnan be the star of the Living Daylights, which seemed to me like an attempt to reboot the franchise in a framework closer to the novels well before Casino Royale. It also has Sean Bean as a rogue MI6 operative. Frankly, I wish Bean had been playing the hero spy, a kind of working-class Bond, but we had to wait until Cleanskin for that.
Burn Notice: The story of CIA agent case out of the agency who becomes a rogue operative, trying to uncover the facts behind his spurious “burn notice,” and acting as a kind of more light-hearted Equalizer in sunny Miami. Not only did the first couple of seasons have outstanding writing, it also had Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar as series regulars. Lots of fun.