Live and Let Die (1973) Moore's introduction as Bond. Not bad and before the silliness took over. Kananga is definitely not a Blofeld level master villain, but still serves his purpose to the story well. There is a strong blaxploitation vibe through the movie, along with the cartoonish redneck trope embodied in Sheriff Pepper. Those aspects that have not aged well over the past 40+ years, but taken in context of the times it's not a bad movie.
I used to obsess about trying to figure out a way to edit this into a tight, serious Bond movie. The tones are jarring. It's got so much awesomeness though...the best Bond song? The most gorgeous Bond girl? The coolest Bond kills? But there's just rampant wackness, and much of it not camp, just bizarre '70s stuff.
The Invincible Armour (1977)
Some people say this is a kung-fu classic, but it was
mostly fairly typical for me. I think everyone just remembers it for the ending scene where they show that a villain can pull his testicles up into his body with an insert shot of birds eggs playing in reverse so they fall upwards into a basket. And one other shot of the eggs...
Nixon (1995)
Continuing my Oliver Stone marathon...on the commentary track for JFK, he called this "my
Godfather Part II", but it's more like his
Godfather Part III. A huge cast, an impressive production, but bloated, unfocused, and ultimately
not very fulfilling.
Thief (1981)
Michael Mann's theatrical debut, the first 30 minutes are perfect cinema. It's a heist neo-noir that Nicolas Winding Refn clearly homaged and then improved upon with his
Drive (2011). The strength in that film is the only weakness here: the central relationship just isn't developed or engrossing, but
the movie just oozes style.