which is the best James Bond movie?

James Bond is irrelevant in a post-Urban-doctorate world

0 votes for Goldeneye, wtf.

Goldenbrowneye

I think that's a James Bound movie

http://cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/frosting_vanillaspread.php

When Halle showed up, she was in a bikini, so your thesis statement is tragically flawed

Tragic attempt to invoke Ursula Andress. The only thing worse than her in DAD is the invisible car.

better an invisible car than a bucky blue ball

For Your Eyes Only is really great!

Definitely one of the most interesting of the latter Moores.

lotta trolling in this poll

prime example:

I can't tell any of these films apart
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 6:15 PM (5 years ago)

'007 And Counting' is my favourite Bond music

― blueski, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:37 AM (5 years ago)

Gotta be March in Space

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

Sorry, Space March.

They're playing every film here starting in a couple of weeks:

http://tiff.net/bond#

I've seen almost nothing--bad rep prints of a couple of early ones, Live and Let Die when it came out--so I'm looking forward to at least seeing all the Connerys, and also some of the "other Bonds."

I was not trolling fwiw

the bond films are so different in tone and style and even mise-en-scene that i honestly dunno how you could say that -- like even 'from russia with love' is completely different than 'goldfinger.'

structurally they are all nearly identical in terms of plot mechanics, the sequence of scenes, the overarching themes ("British empire is sexy and authoritative! Also violent!" - the entire premise of which I find alternately laughable and offensive). Moorcock was right about Fleming.

essentially they're movies where nothing of consequence happens - the viewer can rest assured that no matter what, there will always be another Bond film a few years later with the same requisite villain/Bond girl/theme song/car chase/explosions etc

well yeah, but you can say the same of any action film series. just in terms of the way the films are put together -- on a shot-by-shot level -- the first three bonds are completely dissimilar.

fleming's books are terrible, but they aren't the films.

i think even the lesser films are so markedly different that every time i see one on TV it takes me about a minute to figure out which one it is. and i mean there are some that are clearly remotely unlike any other bond, like bond in space or "bond vs the cocaine cartels" or bond + i walked with a zombie + southern caricatures + blaxploitation.

i guess for anyone who doesn't like bond it really is best to just start w/casino royale and the first few connery films.

well yeah, but you can say the same of any action film series

don't think this is true, Bond is kind of unique in this regard. what other action film series' are you thinking of?

essentially they're movies where nothing of consequence happens - the viewer can rest assured that no matter what, there will always be another Bond film a few years later with the same requisite villain/Bond girl/theme song/car chase/explosions etc

― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, October 8, 2012 12:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah well christmas and the high holy days come around every year too

halloween, new years... how does anyone have a good time??

Sorry, Space March.

Space March owns, but my favorite is still On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I like to play it when I'm in the car and pretend I am on some sort of spy caper.

Kinda with Shakey on this -- the Moore/Dalton/Brosnan Bonds all blur into 3 decades of smugness and explosions for me, with bonus dyspepsia from Dalton and flat attempts at laughs from Moore.

nicole otm

peak moores are likely 'the spy who loved me' and 'live and let die', i like the two dalton flicks a fair amount, and the brosnans peaked w/goldeneye imo. i think having a couple of ace eurobabes like famke janssen and izabella scorupco are in keeping w/bond tradition a lot better than subsequently trying to juice up bond w/halle berry, denise richards, & teri hatcher. i realize i'm not mentioning michelle yeoh or sophie marceau but they felt so out of place, idk.

yeah well christmas and the high holy days come around every year too

holidays are like movies in what way now?

frequently involve hours of uncomfortable silence surrounded by people you barely know while you crave booze

uh in the way you just described

xp well maybe that too

shoulda gone with "people you'd normally avoid"

being drunk in a movie theater sounds terrible

omar otm

uh in the way you just described

movies are not rituals

let me submit to you to consider that maybe they are sometimes

altho maybe for you guys watching Bond films are a ritual - you go through the motions in order to be comforted by their unchanging nature? I dunno.

xp

I take it you haven't seen this, SMC.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281724/

bond movies are constructed more like a long running tv series where these regular notes the films hit become like, idk, norm walking into cheers with another joke or columbo coming back with "one more question" or rod serling's VO. it's also probably overstated how much the films rely on those series tropes, and also they've been kind of messing w/the formula a bit ever since felix leiter got half eaten by a shark.

omar otm x 2 - eurobabes are key. or just ridiculously beautiful women that haven't been over publicized by Maxim's hottest thousand list every 2 months. Berry & Richards were gorgeous at the time but eveyrone knew it so it was almost boring to have them there...whereas those lesser-known/exotic beautiful women add more intrigue or something idk

and Nicole def otm with OHMSS -- EXCITEMENT! DANGER! around every corner when it's playing

omar stop being otm

shakey otm

ty

yeah idg how the rules and conventions of bond films are really any different, more ritualized or restrictive than any genre conventions or dramatic conventions in general.

tbf, the titles are not particularly useful when trying to tell 23 movies over 50 years apart

dr. no, goldfinger and the man with the third nipple at least tell you who the villain is. the latter three brosnans are particularly unhelpful

particularly

pierce brosnan's delivery of the de-rigeur Bond puns was always u_u

like that whole Christmas coming once a year or w/e

lol

i think the denise richards and the second dalton are the only ones i haven't seen, though several i haven't seen in forever. thank you ted turner.