James Bond Films

I are Bond Rockist.

He is NOT Roger Moore, and, while Sean Connery got it closest, we need a Bond who just don't give a fuck except for his mission and his jollies.

i can't get into it.

look yeah so roger moore is shit but the moore films are better.

The soundtrack to For Your Eyes Only is also totally brilliant but for different reasons.

In 2077, nobody will remember anything about McCartney except that he did the tune for Live And Let Die.

Thunderball would be an order of magnitude better if they never made him wear that dinky helmet when he uses the rocket belt.

The ones Lewis Gilbert directed are all fucking smashing, not a one of them makes a lick of sense and all end in ludicrous crowd-panic gunfights.

Goldfinger is played out. I blame cable.

Pierce Brosnan makes Timothy Dalton remind you of Sean Connery. I can't countenance any of his contributions to the series, I wish they'd retcon him out of existence. Everybody hates Lazenby because he's just about two ounces less totally awesome than Connery is, but OHMSS is one of the best Bond films ever made. Moore's perfectly enjoyable but he doesn't give you the impression that he's hatefucking all the bitches like Connery does, which I think is really part of the character.

Search: From Russia With Love (my favourite, just a fantastic thriller), The Living Daylights (Enormously underrated, some great set pieces and an actual plot), OHMSS.

Destroy: All Brosnons except for Goldeneye, License to Kill, most of the Moores.

Live And Let Die=Blaxploitation + The French Connection

The Man With The Golden Gun has got Christopher Lee (w/a 3rd nipple!), Tatoo, Britt Ekland & a American Motors-powered car chase!

I don't think I agree with the premise that Bond films are "mediocre;" I know I have shit taste in movies because I spent $25 to get the long cut of Lynch's DUNE, but there have been occasions when watching Connery films that I've had to catch myself and remember that there are probably lots of reasons we have color film technology, not just this one.

I do remember Daylights being pretty strong despite Dalton but License To Kill is a steaming pile. Horrific.

(signed)
JAMES BOND
DOUBLE
O
SEVEN

Favorite Moore scene: when he kicks the car over the cliff in For Your Eyes Only

but tombot is so largely otm! john barry, check. sheena easton, check. ohmss (art direction! dialogue!) and esp. soundtrack, check. i'd add:

thunderball remains the masterpiece, period. is too goddamn long for cable to ever play out. song best bond theme and best tom jones song at once.

live and let die is the only 100% successful moore film. next up is view to a kill. the first thirty minutes of the man with the golden gun are the best of the moore films.

lazenby rules. the only bond to ever play a spy actually playing someone else (prosthetic eyebrows don't count), a la h. bogart's bookstore nerd in big sleep or h. ford's decency commission dude in blade runner. his sissy-ass kilt get-up is fucking awesome, and he wears it like a pro. his only problem is that he's not connery. also: blofeld savalas is awwwwwwesome. all the blofelds rule, but man.

the cinematography, esp. the interiors, in the greats, like, say, frwl, is so accomplished and handsome it makes you wanna cry.

brosnan wasn't sooooo bad the first couple times around, before he started looking like fred mcmurray. there's no saying how good he might've been if there'd been no remington steele write-in campaign etc. & he'd gotten the role when he was really young enough (see also roger moore)

dalton is mostly just depressing but whoa! the living daylights while probably the worst is also the most entertaining of his bunch. wayne newton! benicio del toro! anthony fucking zerbe, for heaven's sake!

my favorite line in the entire series is in thunderball where bond is getting into his wetsuit and felix leiter says, "on you anything looks good." gayest moment ever. (though the ludicrous sped-up boat footage is close behind.) second favorite moment is in view when walken does his quintuple-take at bond's info under his desk.

if i ever get a car i'll call it the disco volante. peter sellers is the most underrated bond of all.

thing with connery is...:

dr no -- just plain bad
russia with love -- good
goldfinger -- played
thunderball -- YES. his best film.
you only live twice -- drags a bit, dunnnit.

that's only five films (i won't mention 'diamonds', total dud) and only four of them worth considering. it's not much of a golden age. i say it on every bond thread but 'living daylights' owns. 'license' IS really bad, but it's not dalton's fault.

As far as this kind of thing goes, the extras are not bad. For instance, I learned that Roger Moore is quite a good laugh, both on set and off.

You do get a pretty good idea of what is involved in making a Bond film, rather than just a load of PR twaddle.

Having said that, not worth the money, really.

Has anyone picked up the all new bells and whistles Ultimate Edition James Bond DVDs?

Paul Greengrass on Bond: "Personally, I spit on those values. I think we've moved on a little bit from all that, the martini shaken, not stirred."

He's essentially an imperial adventurer of a particularly English sort.
I guess this is a valid comment although is it worth pointing out that Bond is half Scottish/half Swiss.

james bond would kill jason bourne with his own cell phone

the first bourne movie is exceptional but the second one starts to fall apart when he goes to moscow, I think. Maybe needs a rewatch.

james bond being of a "particularly english sort" is true inasmuch as bond clearly has class warfare issues spewing out of every pore

RIP Dr. No

nrq completely wrong about everything on this thread (except FRWL being good)

james bond would kill jason bourne with his own cell phone

^^^^ This, especially Daniel Craig.

Wow Stephen Berkoff is a giant ham isn't he...

Is Octopussy on telly or something? It's a shit film.

Actually what am I talking about, Octopussy is always on Telly.

It was, and it is. Roger Moore's eyebrow looks like it was making a space-launch attempt, it was so far up his forehead.

xp the ITV website keeps screwing up and listing the wrong Bond movie - for instance it said that Octopussy was on last week as well. Pointless trivia: Louis Jourdan looks like my secondary school Geography teacher.

It's a shit film.

Came out the same year as 'Never Say Never Again'. Connery's is by far the better film. Berkoff's performance is what saves Oct', from the conference room presentation to "Follow that car!". Walter Gotell on top form as always as Gogol. Moore puts in his absolute worst smirking ironic eyebrow raised take on Bond. At least he dialled it down for 'View To A Kill'.

peter sellers is the most underrated bond of all.

^^^ The scene where he plays baccarat against Orson Welles is the best 'Bond beats villain at cards' bit in any Bond film, official Eon prod or otherwise. Connery vs Adolpho Celli in 'tunderball is a pretty close second.

octopussy was on last week as well.

view ta kill is on today, as well as two anticipated footy matches. i ain't goin nowhere today

all the india stuff in octopussy is super boring and kinda racist

i loves me a good train chase tho

Poll for most racist line in a Bond film? "That should keep you in curry for a while" would probably top it.
Oct' train chase is good - although iirc the stuntman hanging off the train was seriously injured?

view to a kill... surely the second worst bond after man with the golden gun. DESPITE some memorable villains they fuck it completely up. I've still watched it probably ten times and I'll watch it again if it's on the telly

If you're in the UK it's on ITV1 at 3:50pm. Otherwise some ILXors might be liveblogging it here. I really have some work to get on with, but after roast pork and apple pie & custurd I will probably be sitting here going "buh" and counting the lines on R. Moore's forehead.

Oh man I was reading the Thunderball liveblog yesterday, we really shd do it again.

Moore himself said that by that point he was about "a few hundred years old for the part".

i have deepseated hatred / loathing for the Brosnan Bonds that rewatching them is always mostly unpleasant -i usually skip them

robert carlyle was a solid villain; jonathan pryce maybe less so

denise richards was awful; michelle yeoh was amazing

i think there was another one that i can't even remember

anyway the craig bonds are the best

licence to kill - oof, sadly this is my least favorite one in a while. feels so anonymous once you get past the initial premise of 'bond goes rogue', theres not much you can point to and say this is the only time you'll get to see bond do this. the 18 wheeler stunts at the end are the only unique thing (and the only thing i remembered). i don't think the screenplay is up to the usual standards either, lots of clunker lines and few good ones.

also there's a couple surprisingly grisly deaths in here that are out of line with the rest of the series so far, like benicio del toro (!) getting grinded to death. i don't remember the craig movies going in for gore either? but its been a while. not really what i'm looking for out of bond.

rosamund pike in her first major role is an all timer

I love License to Kill even though you could literally have made it with characters outside of the Bond universe and it would have been fine. It's definitely Bond at his least Bond.

I quit Die Another Day after ten minutes on last attempt.

Pretty sure that and Spectre are the only Eon ones I have left to see.

I might be the only Spectre defender here

does that make you a ghost rider

also there's a couple surprisingly grisly deaths in here that are out of line with the rest of the series so far, like benicio del toro (!) getting grinded to death. i don't remember the craig movies going in for gore either? but its been a while. not really what i'm looking for out of bond.

― ciderpress

yeah that del Toro death is an indelible one. also Anthony Zerbe exploding in the depressurizer iirc?

rosamund pike in her first major role is an all timer

― Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac)

certainly a perfect match of character and character name and actor (a compliment)

License to Kill is very Bond IMO! The book Bond if not the film one. There's lots of un-unsed bits from the Live and Let Die and Moonraker books in there.

*un-used

denise richards was awful

will never agree with this

i think it's ok to let the voting record show the prevailing opinion on this one

the cheese (ivy) stands alone

will never agree with this

i would (seriously!) love to hear your case for her

she’s as bad as the writing for her character, they’re just bad in different ways

that performance could have fit a Brosnan if actually tailored for her

mookie otm tho

i don't *blame* her -- her entire character was nothing more than a lead-up to a joke

but other actresses did better/overcame that

i like die another day which mostly is because it is so damn fluffy and stupid that's it's sorta surreal to think it's from this century. it's a lot more fun than TWINE.

i'm always a bit cautious about catching license to kill (which is pretty fantastic) on tv even in the evening cus i assume the heavy cuts will spoil the effect. afaict itv made their own somewhat anomalous edit in the 90s which had different ideas than james ferman on which parts to keep and ditch.

and yeah re:gore, that's the reason it had to be cut to avoid an 18 in the uk (but this was when the bbfc really had it in for action films). in uncut form it's a 15 today and feels like one too - a few brosnans and casino royale also have 15 versions available but not for reasons of blood.

or not especially for reasons of blood i should say.

goldeneye - yeah this was good. about the best you could hope for from 90s action movie james bond, not much else to say. definitely hadn't seen it before though i was amused by how accurate some of the sets were to their video game level reconstructions, or vice versa as it was

tomorrow never dies - was pretty down on this one until the parking garage remote controlled car sequence halfway through which is some classic bond hijinks. the second half with michelle yeoh was better though the screenplay is still kinda bad. feels like the first bond movie thats truly in conversation with video games, the motorbike vs helicopter chase especially is constructed and framed exactly like every modern action game setpiece. "they'll print anything these days" when the guy dies in the printing press is a top tier one-liner, wish these brosnan ones had a bit more of that.

the world is not enough - some good Silly Vehicle action in this one. flying snowmobiles, helicopters with chainsaws, an attempted hot air balloon escape. i appreciate it. much like the last one though its weak outside of the action, some really clunky dialogue and another lame terrorists and nuclear weapons plot. when do we get back to bond villains building orbital lasers?

I’ve been rewatching these over the holidays— I would take ten minutes of a Le Carré adaptation over 60 minutes of any Bond— really looking forward to MacFeydan as Smiley

Connerys ranked:

From Russia
Goldfinger
Dr No

(Shippable:)
Twice
Thunderball
Diamonds

Lazonby is awesome

Moore’s ranked, haven’t seen them all:

Spy Who Loved
Live And Let Die
View To A Kill— I may be this films sole defender but they worked hard with senior Bond and it’s a load of fun

Both Daltons are awesome

Skip all Brosnans except Goldeneye (pity, too, he’s a great Bond)

Craigs ranked:

Casino Royale (fave Bond overall)
Quantum (better than they say)
Skyfall (worse than they say, so long and serious)

The others are 🗑️

Challop maybe but the world does not need another Bond film

for all that they try to make him love Vesper (and later Madeleine) the purest Bond moment is in Casino Royale when, in Nassau, having seen the tortured corpse of a woman Bond fucked, M says:

I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached but I don't think that's your problem, is it, Bond?

the way he answers 'no' is incredible. kinda wonder how many takes they did just to capture that level of disdain

he's a psycho!

when do we get back to bond villains building orbital lasers?

die another day - lol ok never mind, i wished for the wrong thing, sorry. just make a good movie next time

I’ve never understood the love for Skyfall. It isn’t terrible, it just isn’t the best. Spectre is DIRE.

QoS was (I believe) written without a solid script but isn’t as bad as you think if you just go with it

Supposedly the script was delivered for QoS right before the 2007 writers guild strike, but Daniel Craig has mentioned several times that it was pretty bare bones and he and the director had to kind of come up with stuff on their own when filming started. Given how overwritten some of the later chapters were, it was kind of nice.

SPECTRE was so bad it cured me of James Bond

I’ve never understood the love for Skyfall. It isn’t terrible, it just isn’t the best.

i assume you meant 'the hate'?

other ridiculousness aside (you are MI6; why on earth would you take M to scotland to be protected by a couple shotguns? and also can you not prevent a guy from bringing in helicopter gunships?)

i was *extremely* put off by the way bond identified bardem's accomplice (sévérine) as a sex slave, then fucked her, then led her to her death

i mean yes, that's pure bond, but i don't have to enjoy it

casino royale - this was fine. i think i just fundamentally prefer silly bond though, i don't need him to go undercover in a clown suit but i do need some one-liners and silly gadgets and slapstick collateral damage. also dramatized poker always offends my sensibilities as a math/statistics guy and there's a lot of that here. the structure is weird too like there's almost no final act.

I was cool with Bond shedding the silliness for one installment, but pretty soon…

slapstick collateral damage

Read this as 'slapstick colonial damage,' which also works.

only recently discovered this song... apparently rejected for the end credits for 1999's The Worlds is Not Enough... really sounds more like one of his 1970 torch tunes, I thought he had long given up on that stuff in favor of his more avant garde explorations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCt4O4gJifQ

quantum of solace - i hate the way this one is shot and edited, especially the action. has to be the most poorly-made bond movie. don't have much else to say. near the end when bond jumps down onto the car and yells "YOU AND I HAD A MUTUAL FRIEND" is insanely funny, not sure what they were going for there

skyfall - i saw this one in theaters when it came out! i really liked it then and i still do. what i didn't appreciate then but do now is the perfect reintegration of the sillier elements of bond they cut from the last two into the craig formula - the ramp of crushed vw beetles in the intro sequence, the komodo dragon pit, the return of Q as a technobabble hacker kid, the villain attacking bond with a tube train, etc. there's even some classic style one-liners again. a plot full of contrivances designed to produce the coolest-looking sequences in the franchise one after another. that's how you do it baby.

spectre - i'd seen this one when it came out too, but the only part i remembered is the opening day of the dead sequence. upon revisit, maybe that's because it's the only scene in the movie that is lit

Only scene where anything remotely interesting happens iirc, also Waltz and his entire plotline have not shown up yet so that also helps.

The opening scene is the only worthwhile part of that film. The rest is brutal, uninspired, joyless.

I like Spectre until they get to the Walz lair - all the stuff in Rome, and the Alps, and Tangier & the journey on the train are all quite good & very classic Bond if you like that kind of thing which I do & don’t mind if it’s a little corny

The lair is when I start feeling like I’m watching cosplay & it kinda falls apart for me

(The stuff in Tangier & on the train w Swann is especially good imo)

OK, I’ll give you the train scene (had forgotten about that)

I just read the plot summary on Wiki and am drawing a blank on almost all of this convoluted gibberish. To be fair, some substances may have been involved, back in those heady days of 2015.

I remember thinking Bautista was good in it. And that Bellucci was good but underused.

And Bond in the desert in a suit (or tux) never gets old

I’m just now realizing that the last three Bond movies are the only ones I’ve watched only once each.

Yeah it’s like they used Bellucci as a hot dress-filler & “we need u to get felt up against this mirror ok great v sexy k thx bye”

Yeah, that was weird

I’ve rewatched spectre a couple of times, it mildly sets up some of the emotional stuff w Swann but I wish it had honestly done more with that & less (or nothing) with dumb Walz/Blofeld. why not give Andrew Scott the villain. he didn’t have much to do.

BTW if you haven’t been picking up the classic John Barry scores via the hypereditions on La-La Land, you’re missing out. They sorta roll out haphazardly — still haven’t done the first two and You Only Live Twice — but what’s there is legit great.

https://lalalandrecords.com/releases/james-bond/