Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007

Did you know that Eon Productions, the company responsible for producing the James Bond films, takes its name from the phrase "everything or nothing"? This is one of many interesting tidbits planted in Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, a new documentary premiering today on EPIX that chronicles the creation of the iconic British super spy character by writer Ian Fleming and charts Bond's roller coaster history to the big screen, as well as his adventures on it.

Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007
Writer/Director: Stevan Reilly
Starring: Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Daniel Craig

Taken 2

It's telling that Taken 2 director Olivier Megaton started as a graffiti artist before he became a filmmaker, because you often stumble out of his movies in a daze feeling lightheaded and dizzy, as if you just spent the past 90 minutes huffing fumes. After the disastrous Transporter 3 and the critically reviled Columbiana, it's shocking that Megaton was given another chance to direct an action picture, and Taken 2 is just as good as that resume would indicate. Which means, of course, that it's terrible.

Taken 2
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija

Looper

Rian Johnson's 2005 teen noir Brick and 2008 con man film The Brothers Bloom are two of my favorite films of the past decade, so naturally I was curious to see if Johnson's talents would continue to grow with an ambitious science fiction idea and a comparatively huge budget this time out. The writer/director gamely rose to the challenge; Looper is easily one of the best films of the year, and instantly positions itself as one of the best time travel movies ever made.

Looper
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt

The Master

Paul Thomas Anderson makes films, not movies. For those who don't think there's a difference, watch The Master and then watch practically anything else; there's an undeniable craftsmanship that pervades every frame, and a certainty and singularity of vision that is very rare in the "film by committee" age of Hollywood in which we're living. Anderson has grappled with religion before, most recently in There Will Be Blood, but this movie isn't quite the searing critique on Scientology you may have heard. From the opening moments of the film, in which the camera pans over the top of a quiet sea and suddenly we're blasted with the loud opening notes of Johnny Greenwood's score, Anderson seems determined to challenge our preconceived notions about what we're about to see.

The Master

Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams