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That’s exactly how I feel about it x he seems a lot more confident .
I think this illustrates the biggest problem with AVTAK - its tone is all over the place. One moment you're watching Zorin and goons dropping a Russian agent into a whirling propeller, a horrible death, and then goofy humor with Pola Ivanova and Gogol.
There's a dramatic tension-filled escape from an inferno intercut with a drunk hobo watching the escape unfold, undermining the drama.
Then it's a comic chase through the streets of San Francisco knocking off camper tops and Keystone Cops in pursuit followed by the harsh scenes of Zorin gunning down miners and giggling just a bit later.
You've got Bond hanging on for dear life on a mooring rope and punctuated by watching his lower half get threatened by antennas and the return of the funny cops.
It's these types of moments that have always made the Moore era sometimes harder to watch and AVTAK was maybe the most glaring example. Without Walken and the villains this film would be borderline unwatchable.
True. It is a reaccuring problem in the Moore era. Tonal inconsistency is the only thing preventing FYEO from being a pure classic in my opinion. You get a sense that they felt an obligation to balance all the darker scenes with silly gags in order to not push too far away from the established lighter atmosphere of the era. And at the time it was perhaps even a valid concern. (Just think of the reaction Dalton's films got). In hindsight though it hurts the films slightly.
DN: Her obvious charms aside, as a character Honey Ryder is rather grating, inconsequential, and belongs in the lower echelon of girls prototypical more to Mary Goodnight than the best of them, artificially propped in stature due to "first" reputation inflation rather than much deserved merit.
FRWL: Kronsteen, for as compelling a character actor they all thought they had found in Sheybal, doesn't pop whatsoever and is a quite wasted opportunity.
GF: For as "iconic" as its tone and setpieces have become...most of its "iconic" action scenes struggle to suffice. Not excused by the low budget hand wave, as it didn't really have to cut the corners of its two predecessors (both of which surpass GF's tension and mood and editing of action, if not quantity). GF is better as a harbinger of what is possible to come on this front rather than what is good action, per se. E.g. the DB5 chase is awkwardly shot, salvaged by the novelty of the car itself, not the execution of the chase. The Oddjob fight is stilted and best remembered for its set and pales (in tension) compared to say, Red Grant or Colonel Bouvar...
TB: The dumb-luckiest Bond plot of perhaps them all, which makes it too silly for its own good, which most don't notice because of its slick/slow/unsilly tone. I don't like that Bond goes to the Bahamas because he sees a photo of a sister he wants to bang, not knowing who she's with. I don't like that he conveniently discovers the Lippe's crime connections because he's not investigating anything but instead playing at resort hijinks/pissing matches with Lippe. Honestly, just add a touch more plot touch up to the screenplay to connect a few more dots, please.
YOLT: Connery is not bored/uninterested. Rather, he is playing Bond as nonchalant.
OHMSS: Has been called underrated so many times it has become overrrated.
DAF: Re nonchalance, see YOLT. Also, as silly/dumb-lucky plotpointing goes, this is the way to do it. Embrace it. Go down the rabbit hole and revel in the weirdness of broken Bond plotting like DAF, and the results are truly funny and funky. To be fair, the run from DAF through MR is pretty much the pinnacle of making plot stupidity work well. Before and after, not so much.
LALD: It would have been interestingly good, not bad, to continue to build upon rather than forsake the unConneryisms such as the bourbon, the S&W, even the cappucino. But alas, they end up more as one-shot abandoned ideas/traits.
TMWTGG: The slide whistle ruins nothing.
TSWLM: More Bond movies would benefit from cardboard cutout/painted James "cameos", a la Roger behind the rock at the pyramids. Sort of as a "where's waldo" game for us, once per movie, spot the mannequin stand-in shot.
MR: It's not ludicrous that Bond goes to space; its appropriate. That's where the mission leads. That's where Bond always goes, if you haven't noticed: wherever the location is that must be infiltrated/dismantled. Besides, you knew from YOLT he was so inclined to try to rocket hitchhike.
FYEO: The theme song is one of the best.
Disagree. Yes, she was the prototype Bond girl and (despite following two others who appeared earlier in the film) rightly considered the first true Bond girl. I guess her 'obvious charms' you refer to is her incredible bikini clad figure, but the character is clearly strong and independent when she is in her comfort zone, (on the beach), and only becomes the sweet, naïve creature after Dr No captures them. The impact she makes in a short screen time takes her out of the inconsequential zone. When one considers a character like Lupe in Licence To Kill. A beautiful girl with plenty of screen time, she makes no impact at all onscreen. Ursula Andress is a worthy blueprint for all who follow.
Been saying this all my adult life. The pace of You Only Live Twice is brisker than the previous films, and Connery's laconic, easy style may not sit as well as it did. It isn't any different though, he still delivers.
The 'Connery looks bored' angle was mentioned once in a book somewhere and everyone has jumped on that bandwagon ever since. Lazy observation.
The best way is to ask for actual moments, scenes, anything to prove that Connery looks bored. And I will show you a moment in an earlier film where Connery is exactly the same.
It doesn't as such, but it detracts from the full impact. Some blistering musical build up, followed by deathly quiet as the car spins, and the music slamming back in as the wheels land may have given the moment some real quality. Even John Barry regrets his decision.
One man's Barry is another man's Madonna.
Honestly, for the Moore era, the trip to space is played rather straight, and I appreciate it for that. The movie as a whole gets far too much hate.
I only started to really dislike some Bond songs during the Brozza and Craig eras. Same goes for the scores.
Connery and Dalton’s title songs were also pretty good. TLD and LTK songs are underrated.
[insert complaint that Surrender should have been the TND title theme]
Not liking Nobody Does It Better definitely is controversial! :D
I liked TND (I realize I'm in a minority. There's something a bit disjointed about the tune and Sheryl's crowing is a bit much, but I still think it's better than Surrender which is a bit pastiche) but disliked TWINE.
I really love that song!
In the immortal words of Alan Partridge: "Clang, clang a lang a lang a lang a lang a lang....clang a lang..!"
I sometimes do the "Clang, clang a lang a lang a lang a lang a lang....clang a lang..!" bit when I hum the NDIB tune! :))
It really is!
That's a fantastic montage. So many great scenes.
I think you're right! That's very strange.
You wrote one 'a lang' too much. Check the rythm again...
He’s quoting Alan Partridge.
I know (duh). But Alan sang the correct rythm...
Oh, I have nothing against slow music as long as the arrangement is good.
It's correct, actually. It's the first fifteen piano notes of the introduction of the theme.
One note = Clang
(pause)
Eleven notes = clang a lang a lang a lang a lang a lang
(pause)
Three notes = clang a lang!
Partridge sings it like that, and then goes on to finish the intro by clang-a-langing his way through the five remaining notes (clang a lang a lang, IIRC).
(Geekiest comment of the year? Vote for me at geek.com/mattjoes)
I know SF is basically the same,but it at least was original,and had some nice moments (Bond approaching Silva's island on the boat,Bond approaching the casino etc.)
All Time High is not only the greatest Bond theme song, but the greatest song in the history of recorded sound.
Actually it was my grandmother's favorite Bond theme. To her credit, she wasn't well versed in Bond music, and probably hadn't heard too many of the other songs.
Not quite understanding this newfound hatred of Nobody Does It Better, though. I suppose we'll next start hating on We Have All The Time in The World.
I'll have to agree on that one, sadly. I remember exiting the theater trying to rationalize the score. I tried to convince myself it could have been worse. It least it wasn't like Newman recycled Serra's Ladies First and played it on loop.
Nope, he produced a Bond score completely devoid of it's own identity.
Words fail me. Damn, even the gun-barrel music is out of sync and crappy, IMO. Craig finally gets to shine in his first opening gunbarrel, and Newman has to spoil that moment for him. I can completely overlook the gun being visible as he swings his right arm. Daniel is off the hook on that one. It's all Newman and Mendes' artistic licence that ruined that moment once again. Unforgivable.