Top Ten Spy movies of all time according to Channel 4 in the UK

the lives of others is more of an espionage movie than a spy movie

>Skyfall in place of multiple other Bond films
>ZDK, Argo, and, Imitation Game in the top ten or on any 'top of all-time' list
>Spy Who Came in From the Cold nowhere on a list voted on by fucking British people

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING

>No love for the Good Sheppard
>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy #1

totally not biased at all

is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy really that good? I marathoned the first 10 minutes, but the pacing was slow, so I stopped. Should I just suck it up and watch?

>>87235307
Zero Dark Thirty is not a goddamn spy movie you fuckin pleb

>>87236248
it is honestly good, but it is terribly terribly British and is more focused on actual spycraft then Bourne and Bond like spy movies

>>87235307
>The Bourne Identity higher than The Lives of Others
Don't let anyone tell you that /tv/ isn't full of shit-eating plebs

>>87235307
Did Skyfall only get it's spot because of it's opening.

>>87235307
By setting it on fire.

>>87235307
What movie is this picture from?

>>87236248
It sucked. I forced myself to finish it. Boring as hell

>>87236398
looks like a young Michael Caine, maybe The Ipcress File?

Guys please this is supposed to be a constructive thread about spy movies I hoped there'd be some good feedback and recommendations but instead everyone's shit talking me and it's not even my list. What's going on here?

>>87236248
No, but the book is good.

t. watched the movie before reading the book

>>87236450
Looks like it.
Thanks man.

>>87236248
Don't listen to >>87236307 and >>87236430 - it's pretty much the best spy film ever made. Brainlets and ADHD kiddies need not apply.

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>>87236460
im in charge

>>87236460
we didn't like the list so we are shitting on the list

this isn't leddit where we have to follow "your topic" rules

>>87236498
I said it was good, but I did point out what the common complaints about it are

Skyfall could be in the top ten for best cinematography of all time desu

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>8. Spy
hmmm

Both the best and worst bond films of all time were back to back, skyfall and spectre

>>87235307
>6. Skyfall

list invalidated

>>87236647
I liked Spectre, but I'm also a sucker for MC's dealing with their arch enemies

>>87236647
Skyfall was a Dark Knight photocopy.

>>87236319
>I can't read.

>>87235627
the sense for nuance of this poster is acceptable

>>87235307
>1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I don't care about the rest, this one alone is good enough for me.

>Skyfall anywhere on that list.
Honestly invalidates the whole list.

>>87235307
>not one Austin Powers movie
SHIT LIST

>>87236647
True say.

>>87236248
as a fan of the book, I liked the movie, but it's quite sloppy and almost incomprehensible if you haven't read the book.

The characters actions seems completely inexplicable because none the back story is explained, not to mention the use of spy-slang that in the film is so devoid of detailed context that it's basically meaningless and confusing.

Most of all the complexity of the relationships between the spies (probably the main theme of the novel) is simply not explored in the movie, and therefore it seems to lurch from event to event incongruously.

>>87236634
Please tell me there's another movie called Spy

>>87237102
t. never seen or read either
stop faking fucker, you're in the wrong thread

Marathon Man

>>87237102
I dunno who does this fag think he's fooling but everything he says here is untrue.

I never read the book and I understood the plot very well, and the characters made sense. And unless we expect a 6 hour movie, there's no way to make super detailed backstories for each of the characters.

>>87235307
>How would you improve this list?
Add more Le Carre

>>87235307
>No bridge of spies
>no man from uncle
>no spygame
trashlist

>>87237136
>>87237215
samefag pseudo intellectual

>>87235307
fucking garbage list holy fuck

>>87235307
Skyfall and the Lives of Others are the only ones I agree with.
You have to have Dr No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and For Your Eyes Only.
I don't know what "Spy" is.
Billion Dollar Brain was superior to Ipcress, and not just because it was the first appearamce of Donald Sutherland.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a masterpiece I rewatch multiple times a year and the rare spy film that is also a perfect date movie.
>The Imitation Game
>Zero Dark Thirty
KILL THEIR CHILDREN KILL THEIR PETS LET NONE BE SPARED

>>87237308
>people expose my shitty and uninformed opinions on the internet, t-this cant be real!
>I know what I'll do, call them samefags!

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The Third Man.

>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

That movie was unimaginably fucking dull and people only say they liked it because they felt obliged to. Yet it's not even as good as The Lives of Others if that counts as a spy movie if you're not looking for an action flick.

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>>87236248
Don't listen to people who say it isn't good. It's awesome. It's just not a "shoot 'em up" but instead focuses on intrigue and suspense and character development. It's a pretty good adaptation of the book according to most sources, although time constraints forced some editing of the plot. But it's a great film, just don't expect a lot of shooting or explosions.

>>87237341
The only Bond film that should be on that list is From Russia With Love.

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>>87237405
Pleb filtered.
The far slower TV version is even better.

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>>87235307
>skyfall at #6 ipcress at #7

How do you know it's time to make a leCarre thread? Like do you have the entire week mapped out and on weekend nights you figure is the proper time to make what you consider a dad thread because all the kids are out getting smashed? Do you make probing threads first to gauge which demographic is on depending on the replies?

What text analysis software do you use to craft and disguise your posts? I was partial to InGenue myself but they haven't updated their suite in years.

How much do you make per soceng gig?

>>87235307
>Argo and Imitation Game
>spy movie
wat

bourne movies > anything
dont @ me

>>87237371
>I loved it! I s-swear it's my favourite movie!

>>87235307
The Constant Gardener is not strictly a spy movie, but it's LeCarre, it's extremely good, and it has most of the spy elements. Two British diplomats (Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz) uncover big pharma using Africans as human guinea pigs.
A Perfect Spy is a very good spy series, quintessential LeCarre in both theme and execution. Two accidental friends on either side of the Iron Curtain collaborate to screw both sides of the Cold War, friendship trumping ideology.
The Russia House is worth watching for its dialog alone, but it also has uniquely good cinematography as it was the last Western film made in the Soviet Union.
A Most Wanted Man is a fitting capstone for that one suicidal heroin addict who had been a uniquely good actor, it's pretty much a Cold War intelligence veteran looking with disgust at USAPATRIOT.
Not LeCarre but also look at The Ugly American (both versions) and Our Man In Havana, from Graham Greene novels.
These titles are far superior to anything on that list besides The Lives Of Others.

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>tfw you were waiting for a second series and missed the announcement two years ago it wasn't going to happen.

>>87237551
Well it's certainly one of my favorite movies from recent years. The difference is that I'm not pretending to be an intellectual whilst throwing nonsense arguments against the movie hoping to impress people on a Bhutanese wool-weaving table.

>>87237422
That one was extremely good. It is often held up as the one indispensable Bond. I put forward a diverse spread, assuming nobody just sees one, but totally forgot about that one.
>Why FYEO?
I put it in randomly one night not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Because it is so downtempo and unambitious, they concentrate on getting details and chemistry rather than on big explosions.
>Why OHMSS?
Diana Rigg, and because it's so damn different. This is a Bond movie in which Bond cries.
>Why the first two
Well, you have to.
But Diamonds Are Forever is a painful pastiche of early-Seventies fetishes, like a inferior Charley Varrick (which see), and Live And Let Die should have taken its own advice.

>>87237640
>had Mad Men production values
>Brian Cox as bossman
>lead is wooden as wooden can be
Shame they cast a face model instead of an actual actor

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>>87235307

>>87237467
No, it was genuinely a shit movie everybody fucking came in their pants over because Gary Oldman and a bunch of other British A-list twats starred in it. When watching it, I was painfully aware it was a super compressed miniseries/book adaption as a result of the sheer number of plot holes. That fucker was over two hours long, all over the place, and still didn't feel like shit got wrapped up satisfactory. The script was the worst part about that movie yet people seem to want to jerk themselves off to it for some reason. Never got around to reading the source material though, not sure I ever will, given my reaction to the adaption, maybe if I go on a spy bender.

Bourne and MI deserve to be on that list for their cinematography and score, The Lives of Others is simply arguably the best "Spy film" of all time, and literally everything else on the list is garbage.

If we're defining "Spy movie" this loosely, I'd go for Casino Royale (2006), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Goldfinger, MI, Bourne Identity, Burn After Reading, Hunt for Red October, The Lives of Others, Inglorious bastards, North by Northwest. I'll put an honourable mention in for Enemy of the State which is a bad spy movie which became good on the pure merit of being 100% correct about everything the government was doing.

>>87238230
I haven't watched ipcress though so I can't speak as to if it's good or bad.

>>87237872
Massive sucking, does not age well at all, never achieves the same finesse as Butch Cassidy or the Sting.
With that said look into MISSING.

>>87238264
Ipcress was the first of the Harry Palmer movies, funny but in parts suspenseful spy half-parodies that ask, what if James Bond was a streetwise cockney?

>>87236634
>>87237127
Spy was surprisingly good, it's certainly the best thing Melissa McCarthy ever made, possibly the only passable work she has ever done, there's just better Spy comedies out there.

>>87236500
>le irish conspiracy
Shlomo's best trick of all, in my opinion. Turning the anglo's hereditary hatred and mistrust of the mick against himself.

>>87235307
>How would you improve this list?

By dropping an atomic bomb on Londonistan.

>>87238410
Viral marketing is not permitted here sir.

>>87237302
>>no spygame
Fucking this. Spygame was kino

>>87238230
Is that it?

>>87238410
It may be the best she's done, but it's not good mate

>>87236248
>I marathoned the first 10 minutes
How the fuck does that even work? Are you trying to say you have attention span of a toddler?

Where's GoldenEye and From Russia With Love?

>>87236248
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a movie that requires your full attention in order for you to fully understand everything. The information is given to you, but it's not spoon fed or delivered in hamfisted exposition. It's slow, yeah, but in the way a nice drink or a cigar are enjoyed slowly unlike a shot of tequila or a cigarette.
First watch:
>7/10 well made but confusing
Second watch:
>10/10 unironically kino

this review/analysis does a really good job of explaining why you shouldn't dismiss it as "too slow":

http://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/tinker-tailor-critic-eye-a-great-movieinspires-some-excellent-writing

>>87237341
>>87237422
>>87237743

>not one mention of fucking Goldfinger
the fact that Skyfall is on the list over at least 10 other Bond films is stupid enough, but Goldfinger not being on it is just a fucking travesty. It should at least replace Zero Dark Thirty since calling that a "spy movie" is really a stretch in and of itself, despite the fact that it's also not that great regardless (especially as number 2 of all time wtf)

>>87236248
i hope you are ready for 2 and half hours of a bunch bongs sitting at table acting snobby and suspicious

>>87237743
For Your Eyes Only is such a weird Bond film for me and is so hard to rank because it has such high highs and such low lows. You have a Moore movie that doesn't feel like a parody and is played straight in terms of the villains, plot, Bond girl, etc., but then there's that fucking awful Bill Conti score that sounds so out of place where it almost feels like he thought he was scoring a completely different film, as well as that whole subplot with the blonde American girl (I think she was someone's niece? I always confuse her with the american blonde Bond girl in A View to a Kill since they were both unbearable and looked similar)

>>87239355
Any film with a deliberate sex-pun character name should be automatically disqualified.

>>87239620
lel. seconded.

>>87238845
lurk more fag

>No Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

I don't understand how a list can have a Melissa McCarthy comedy at number 8 and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at number 1. There's no overlap between the audiences of those two movies, they're polar opposites.

>>87236608
>of all time
No
>of all spy movies
Yes

>>87235307
>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
top fucking kek. I tried to watch that garbage one time. literally everyone I was with fell asleep trying to get through it.

>>87239655
In the show they talked about how realistic Melissa McCarthy's character was for a spy. They say because she's not some karate expert marksmen extraordinaire dressing up in other people's faces and instead just a regular women who gets roped into doing a job for her country that it's one of the more accurate portrayals of spycraft in movie history.

>>87239655
That feature programme in the format of a list is really an ad for whichever streaming service C4 is partnered with. It's criterion for judging is non-existent, it's judges are just its executive producers. It's also two years old. There are a lot of other top tens of spy films out there, some are themed, some affect a patina of authenticity, all arbitrary as all lists are.