The Towering Inferno (1974)

Previously it was a watery death that an ensemble star cast had to run from, now it's a fiery one. They're opposing elements, but the end result is a similar kind of disaster movie, again produced by Irwin Allen (Dir. John Guillermin).
With a story adapted from two different novels (The Tower by R.M. Stern; The Glass Inferno by T.N. Scortia and F.M. Robinson), the script doesn't rush to the big event, but nor does it dally. An epic establishing scene effectively gets us to where the (hot) shit goes down. Thereafter the two male leads, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, are cleverly kept apart for the longest time but are dependent on each other's skills at crucial moments throughout.
The villains of the piece are hobnobbing rich folks who feel that their life is somehow worth more than that of the average Joe.

3½ corners cut out of 5

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Austin’s first flirtatious outing is an effective slice of James Bond parody and irreverent comedy sketches that never feel like they’re separate from the larger whole, but it’s dragged down by one thing: Liz Hurley. She sure looks good in clothes, but as an actress she’s worse than useless. It's Mike Myers as the paradoxically auspicious Austin that holds the attention and keeps the laughs coming.

3 conveniently placed objects out of 5

Austin Powers: Goldmember (2002)

The first half hour is eye-torture. The middle section, which stops all the asinine cameos and gets on with the 'story', is the most entertaining part.
What I like most about the Austin character is he’s a parody not just of the British, his antics highlight how America view the British, who are nothing like that in reality, so it secretly rips the ass out of both cultures; Myers is Canadian, so has a unique view of both.
The Dr Evil character lacks that duality and there's a lot of him in this one.
Too much flaffing around. Not enough Fat Bastard. It's a turd.

1½ gilded tallywhackers out of 5

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

A James Bond spoof that for me is a hell of a lot more entertaining than 90% of the real James Bond movies. Austin has to travel back to the swinging sixties to reclaim something that the baldy Dr Evil, the Blofeld-esque villain, has stolen from him. In typical Bond bullshit style he'll save the world and get the girl with the innuendo name.
Unfortunately, everything that takes place in Dr Evil’s lair is more miss than hit, except for the wonderful Frau Farbissina. However, the Austin Powers character is piss-inducing funny, so makes up for the failings of the other.
Comedy is one of the most subjective genres, so many will hate it.

3 pairs of machine gun jubblies out of 5