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I would reply to that normally but I'd just make myself angry.
oh snap and im dead serious when I say Moonraker is my 2nd favorite Bond film of all time and that its the best Moore Bond film
I can go along with that part of your opinion (Bach is down there with Berry and Richards as the worst main Bond girls), but not the rest of it. I think Spy's rating--at least among serious Bond fans--is about right. And what one man considers dated another man views with wistful nostalgia; that's the way I feel about Spy. As far as being charmless, I find that epithet far more appropriate to QOS.
Err where's the evidence he does it in 3 seconds?
There's a concept in cinema called the 'cut'. What happens is you 'cut' from one scene to another and it doesn't necessarily happen in real time.
God knows how you reconcile DN when Bond shags Sylvia, drives to the airport, goes through customs, has a fag and a drink in the departure lounge and flies to Jamaica. Did that all take place in 3 seconds too? And as for Pulp Fiction and Memento - they must have you beating your head on the floor in confusion.
I'll grant you the tears on the cheek are a step too far given Bond defused the bomb with one second to spare - I don't think the security guard would have rumbled him if he hadn't had them and the extra 30 seconds would have given him a little breathing space.
The fact that guards are swarming the trailers, and Bond is barely inside one before they get to it, yet alas, there's Bond in a clown costume!
But that was with practice....
But it's POSSIBLE!
I also like how it ties into CR and DAF. Nice bit of continuity. Plus, Bond is in an Aston for the first time. There's a lot to like there imo.
@minorMajor9th I think TSWLM is actually underrated, at least on this site. I don't see much love for it when I read the rankings thread.
The disco score hasn't aged too well but I don't mind it. It would've been better with Barry but then so would've every Bond film without him. I don't see how it's dated in any other way, all the special effects still look brilliant imo.
Don't see how it's charmless. Could you elaborate because I think there's plenty of charm, one of the wittiest scripts in the franchise.
Tedious bore? I think it's well paced. It's not too slow or too fast and I can't remember the film dragging at any point last time I watched it.
You say smug, I say confident. Moore has said that TSWLM was his favourite and it shows. He's having fun and seems much more comfortable than he was in LALD and TMWTGG. I think TSWLM is where he finally nailed his interpretation of Bond, there were no more hang overs from the Connery films (like when he pins down Andrea in TMWTGG).
XXX could've been better but she's not as bad as the likes of Jinx, Goodnight and Stacey. Wai Lin was essentially a better version of her but I don't mind and I like the sub plot she has (dealing with Bond killing her boyfriend). The film didn't do too much with it but for once we see that every henchman Bond kills is a real person who are leaving people behind. I think the films should show that more often.
I've always preferred MR over TSWLM myself, too.
We're along the same lines then. It was my very first Bond :-)
It does have something for sure, with the drama sub-plot and I do enjoy it immensely, but I think the action sequences are a little guilty of what Kingsley Amis called "second-sight sportsmanship":
http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/kingsley-amis-draxs-gambit-and-reform.html
^ An article from my The Bondologist Blog that may be of interest to you as it deals heavily with TSWLM! Martin Amis even gave a comment on it on the day it was published on the blog - 29 January 2013.
I thought Angela Roma's suits and the rest of the wardrobe (henchmen's jumpsuits and the banana ski-suit) are pretty dated, as is Claude Renoir's very 70s diffused/washed out (probably using flashing) cinematography. Though the score more than anything makes the film feel cheaper and more American than it really is. Some parts of Bill Conti's FYEO have a similar TV/small scale feel, but not to the same degree as TSWLM.
I thought all of Tom Mankiewicz's scrips were far wittier than any Christopher Woods (bar Drax's dialogue in MR), but the loss of charm is partly the loss of Harry's presence. His circus background gave the earlier films a local colour, a sense of place and a grittier, more down to earth atmosphere. They felt more like family produced films, rather than something dreamed up by a committee wanting to go for broke.
I find the Cairo stuff soporific - I tend to fall asleep at the same time Bond and Anya nod off in Jaw's van. The briefing and train fight are pretty dull too - the later a poor retread of a scene we've seen two films before, and both never coming close to the original. Once we reach Sardina, the pace goes up a few gears, but hits another speedbump with the confession scene (Moore's quite good here, but he might as well be talking to a brick wall).
I don't like it when Bond grills Andrea either, but as a whole I take Moore's performance in TMWTGG over his in TSWLM. He's tough, human, vulnerable, menacing and charming without being too smarmy (Bond mugging Anya when she tries to start the van has always mad me want to punch him in the face). There's a real sincerity to him in the dinner exchange with Scaramanga or his final scene with Andrea.
At least Jinx, Goodnight and Stacey had more than one emotion. Sure they were annoying and obnoxious, but I'd rather that than nothing at all.
I don't understand the hate for Barbara Bach / XXX, ok not a gifted actress but it is good performance and a decent character.
I thought that this was what set TSWLM apart from YOLT and MR too, the grafted on sub-plot involving the killing by Bond of Anya's lover. It added a bit of drama to the proceedings which was welcome, though it's not hard to be cynical about it all either. I think I've always just preferred MR to TSWLM, but I like them both. I think MR has a better written and better realised plot than the film that preceded it which is literally full to the brim with plot holes.
I agree. TSWLM should be better as it has the added drama of Bond teaming up with a Russian whose lover he killed but Bach is so awful and the script perfunctory at best when dealing with this issue (which it then tosses away in the final reel) that it has very little impact on proceedings.
I find TSWLM does lull in parts (Egypt mostly) whereas MR rattles along at a spectacular pace and showcases Rog's Bond and EON's 70s escapist pure entertainment Bond films at their absolute peak. MR just feels like the one where they got the Rog formula polished to perfection - although OP is probably my favourite Rog as I think the whole package is as polished as MR and Rog is again at his peak but the Cold War thrills of the final reel are better than everyone going to space.r
I've always laughed at that bit. Love the fact that Bond's taking the piss while Jaws is tearing the van apart.
..Then you've missed the point, perhaps, lol.
"tarzan swings from far too many vines."
Though not so much in the Fleming originals - blame the film versions for this "women coming out of the woodwork" approach.
"THEY FEAST"
Not in the least bit controversial in my book mate.