Rob introduces his Year of the Spy!
I’ve long been a fan of the spy genre. Growing up I would watch the Bond films or the Man from U.N.C.L.E tv show with my Dad before graduating to the Bond novels. I even spent a chunk of my time studying Ian Fleming’s novels for my undergraduate dissertation. So naturally I was very excited when Spectre (or is it SPECTRE?) was announced. It was only then that when looking through the film release schedule for 2015 did I notice that this year will be a thrilling an entertaining one. Many, many films that fit in to the spy genre are set to hit the big screen so why celebrate that?
I’m going to try and blog my trips to the cinema as well as couple them with a number of espionage novels I’ve been meaning to read. Here’s to a thrilling year!
January: Don’t Point at Mortdecai
Shoot to Kill by Steve Cole (Review here)
Don’t Point That Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli (described as Fleming meets Wodehouse!) (Review here)
February: Secrets
The Secret Service by Mark Millar
Kingsman: The Secret Service (film)
Blackhat (film)
March: Happy Birthday Sir Michael
The Ipcress File (film)
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
The Gunman (film)
April: John Buchan
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
The 39 Steps (film)
May: Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana (film)
Spooks: The Greater Good (film)
June: Q-Branch
Firefox – billed as the first ‘techno-thriller’
The Hunt for Red October (film)
July: Spoofs
Austin Powers (film)
Grimsby (film)
August: Say UNCLE
The Spy with No Face (film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E tv show)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E (film)
September: First and Last Bonds
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
New Bond Novel by Anthony Horowitz
October: Tinkering & Tailoring
John le Carre novel (undecided)
A Most Wanted Man (film)
St James’ Place (film)
November: Spectre-aculur
The Blofeld Trilogy by Ian Fleming
Spectre (film)
December: Impossible Missions
Mission: Impossible TV series
Mission:Impossible 5 (film)
Any spy novels or films I should be looking out for?
– Rob
WOW! What a great list. Can’t wait to read your reviews and opinions of these. I’m a big fan of the genre and really am looking forward to few of these that I wasn’t aware of.