So I'm a BIG fan of spy/espionage thrillers, I've grown up watching the Bond and Bourne movies and have recently gotten into more serious fare like the le Carre adaptations and so on. Thought it would be a good idea with all the ranking and list threads going on to make one for this as well!
Please list at least 20 films, no more than 25 total. Your #1 choice will get 20 points, #2 will get 19 points, and so on down with #20-#25 getting 1 point each. Results will be tallied up and listed here.
Lists must be ranked numerically, if not then I'll just assign points in the order the titles are in from top to bottom.
If you have any questions about what counts, let me know via a post here or a PM and I'll answer. I'm gonna be pretty lax about it, I think it should be fairly obvious what counts and what doesn't. If you need a guiding hand, IMDb's genre classification is usually a good indicator. If you think something's questionable, go ahead and add it and I'll take a look. If enough people think something counts, it'll get enough points to possibly make the list; if enough people don't think it counts, it won't make the list anyway.
Action-oriented movies like the Bond movies, Bourne movies, and the like (even something like Knight and Day or Kingsman) DO count. Corporate espionage thrillers like Duplicity DO count. Something like The Lives of Others DOES count, but something like The Departed DOES NOT count. Also, miniseries like The Night Manager or the Alec Guinness TTSS or Smiley's People DO NOT count, but I WILL allow made-for-TV movies like the Johnny Worricker trilogy. Also, spoofs like Austin Powers or the Melissa McCarthy "Spy" DO count. Something like Bridge of Spies DOES count. And since it deals with the tradecraft of intelligence gathering, I WILL allow Zero Dark Thirty. Inglorious Basterds and Eastern Promises are borderline but I'll allow them. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Brangelina) counts.
I welcome foreign and obscure titles that most people may not have heard of; the more diverse and varied a list we can create, the better it'll be for everyone.
Please make only ONE list, and I encourage you to write a brief blurb about your picks if you can. Blurbs will be included for the titles in the final list that have them.
Since I don't see any spy movies on the horizon minus Kingsman 2, I'll make
the deadline April 15th (tax day!). I'm open to pushing that a bit if people need a day or two extra; this time of the year can get busy.
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!