Bond #24: SPECTRE

was of two minds about how much this one wanted to be from russia with love

our society is a self-congratulating compost pile
otm

not my favorite Morrissey album tbh

haha

To get me to re-watch this, you'd have to pay me maybe like $10 a minute, and that might not be enough. Most other Bond movies I don't loathe this much.

I like a bunch of things about this film in isolation but when out together it displeases me

put together, that is

it is fun to imagine the desert base explosion and the helicopter crash, meeting each other for the first time, then awkwardly settling on drinks, not coffee

then mh glances at them out together, from his booth, and thinks "this displeases me"

... and wonders 'should i be enjoying this?'

the shadowy silhouette of Waltz looks on as one assassin auditions for the job by killing another

then a minute later he's addressing Bond with too much dialogue

Genuinely forgot most/all of the plot points on this.

A month(ish) later, I already find the film fading from memory, but I still think that Waltz's brand of ham is just what the series needed.

Nolan doing Bond #25?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-68zccXoAsD3mi.jpg

From

IMDbPro - because this is totally info worth paying for. pic.twitter.com/jW4LwWwqbv

— Phil Nobile Jr. (@PhilNobileJr) May 3, 2017

uh-oh

might be a good time to start that 'nolan vs mendes: which is lix's most bad and hated' poll i've had in mind for a while

i can imagine a Nolan 007 being better than the Mendes ones. i mean i think Nolan is capable of making movies that are not boring and ever so slightly less portentous.

Might nip to the bookies and put a tenner on Tom Hardy as next Bond.

Mendes is the director who portrays in his films a dumb person's idea of an emotional, thoughtful man
Nolan is the director who portrays in his films a dumb person's idea of a thinking man

or maybe they make movies for people who think they're emotional/deep thinkers but are not

otm

the best Bond director since the peak era has been Martin Campbell, who is exactly what Bond requires: someone skillful and unflashy and who understands exactly what makes Bond movies good. the humorously smug, very smart, and slightly more woke Bond of Casino Royale was pretty damn perfect, it's actually kind of depressing how the last three films made him humorlessly smug, dumb, and completely retrograde.

otm

Agree. Also, weirdly, License to Kill has some exceptional action scenes - exciting, well-choreographed and shot, nifty stunt ideas - and the slow bits are luxurious and fun. It's (obvs) much better than Glen's other Bonds. I don't really understand second units and editors and cinematographers - presumably a change of hands there?

I wondered if anyone would rescore the opening sequence, they dropped the ball by not using the Radiohead song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4mIWoLg69Y

It's better, not that it's hard to top the Sam Smith doodle. Tomorrow Never Dies's intro rescored with kd lang's song is the best of these.

i love that kd lang song

I love the Radiohead theme, though I can sort of see why they didn't go with it - you can't really make out the lyrics.

But yeah the Sam Smith one really is crap.

The Kd Lang song is nice, yes, but the actual Sheryl Crow theme is one of the best in Bond.

Really? Not even top 10, tbh.

Surely there has been a poll for the bond songs, right ?

I think the much hated post-Goldeneye Brosnan era was strong in terms of themes that were just playful enough and not just Shirley Bassey pastiche ala Adele and Sam.

A poll would be good

I'm convinced there's already been one, but I can't find it.

voilà !

What's the best Bond theme?

but it's a bit old... might need a re-match

The rightful winner is shamefully low.

The Kd Lang song is nice, yes, but the actual Sheryl Crow theme is one of the best in Bond.

― abcfsk, Friday, December 8, 2017 5:11 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

I love kd but the sheryl tune has a way better melody, and an actual chorus, whereas the kd is just an (admittedly fun) mess of Bassey pastiche atmospherics

Still better than Smith or Adele though

Imo "license to kill" is the great underrated bond theme

I somehow don't hate the Smith one but it's still not a contender in the Bond theme sweepstakes

also the moody string bit after the 2nd chorus on the sheryl is goooorgeous

I don't understand why they haven't asked Goldfrapp yet, or would that be too obvious?

presumably it's because they look at how much of a profile the act has in the US, unfortunately

do usa’ers give a fuck about sam smith?

Right before he performed the SPECTRE theme:
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, held on 8 February 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Smith performed "Stay with Me" and also received four Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Stay with Me") and Best Pop Vocal Album (for In the Lonely Hour)

with a few exceptions (Cornell, maybe) nearly all of the last 20 years of Bond themes has been artists either at their commercial peak in the US, or with a couple top singles within the last year

they just offer it to whoever got the most solo vocal artist grammy awards half the time

I assume there's a preference towards acts on Sony labels -- Cornell, Jack White, Alicia Keys, Adele were all on Sony. Sam Smith wasn't.

A View To A Kill is the only one that seems to get regular play as just a pop song from its era. Just heard it played in this restaurant in fact.