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Comments
How good it was. ;)
As for OHMSS, I didn't like it as a kid. I appreciate it slightly more now, but I'm still not a huge fan.
@ThighsOfXenia: it's funny, it's not that I have an intentional disdain for them, but YOLT is sort of a drag, and TSWLM usually fails to excite me prior to the Liparus battle and Atlantis finale, which are legitimately thrilling. I'm thinking about ranking TSWLM at least above LALD though, because the latter of those two has truly disappointed me lately.
Moonraker
I was planning to watch MR next anyways, but after reading a few reviews of it on a discussion I saw here recently, I decided to hasten the process and pop it into the ol' VHS player today.
MR still finds ways to let me down, but it isn't for the same reason as it used to be. In the past, it was simply because I couldn't find anything worthwhile in the movie. The cheesy aspects hit me hard and the overall heightened "fantasy feel" left a sour taste in my mouth by the time the credits rolled. On this most recent viewing, my disappointments rest in this: MR could have been one of the best Bond movies ever made. There are multitudes of scenes where everything comes together so nicely. So what's the issue? For every glorious scene of total Bond splendor, there is a follow-up scene of goofy antics to backhand the previous good work. Take Venice for example: Bond does a little spying around the glass company and has a witty encounter with Dr. Goodhead. The flow of events here is excellent and genuinely interesting. Bond boards his gondola, and we expect to have a nice peek into the off duty time of our multicultural hero- NOPE. Instead, it's possibly the corniest scene in all Bond history. However, immediately after this is another fine example of Bond's spy work with his investigation of Drax's laboratory.
MR is loaded with these terrific book-end scenes containing some rather cheesy filling in the middle. It's a shame, really. This stop-and-go feel between the spectacular and the cringe-worthy is worse than being in bumber-to-bumper rush hour traffic. Thankfully, the always appreciated score from Barry remains pretty consistent, tying together the good and the bad; furthermore, the sensational location work coupled with this fabulous score nearly makes you forget all the useless gags.
A surprise for me this time around was my semi-enjoyment of Hugo Drax. In a sort of calmly bone-chilling way, Michael Lonsdale gives Drax a lot of life, even if his take in doing that seems to make the character lack any bit of life. By the time the movie reaches Drax's grand monologue aboard the space station, it's clear that this main villain is totally nuts, and not in the overly wince-worthy Gustav Graves way! He won't be topping my list of Bond villains any time soon, but I'll surely be paying further attention to his character on future viewings.
MR is a mixed bag when all is said and done. The good rests equal with the bad, and both are excessive in their own right. The score, locations, sheer beauty overall, and some decent performances by Moore and Lonsdale keep it from the bottom feeders, but the butchering of Jaws and all the intolerable gags will ensure that it doesn't ever reign too high.
2014/2015 Bondathon
1. From Russia with Love
2. Tomorrow Never Dies
3. Goldfinger
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Diamonds Are Forever
6. The Man with the Golden Gun
7. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
8. Thunderball
9. Moonraker
10. The Living Daylights
11. Live and Let Die
12. The Spy Who Loved Me
13. You Only Live Twice
Gilbert injected far too much fantasy and over the top 'comic' humour into his films. If Terence Young had directed his films they would have been a million times better for me. How does directing Alfie make one right to direct Bond in YOLT?...Answer....it doesn't. Cubby gave Gilbert more and more free reign until he made the parody that is MR. With careful editing all of Gilberts films could be improved......Jaws falling in love etc!!! Pure crap.
In terms of OHMSS, Peter Hunt was a hero. He understood Fleming and he understood Bond. He also drove a decent performance out of non actor Lazenby. His editing also 'bathed' the golden age of DN to TB.
It was probably a decision made jointly.
" It was probably a decision made jointly"
I agree, A Joint, was most certainly used for that decision ! :))
I still suffer from the side effects, but I will give Tamahorri some credit. The nosediving Antonov is the perfect analogy for the state of the Bond franchise at this point.
God damn it Roger Deakins cinematography is exceptional.
Hoyte has his work cut out, the bar is extrodonarily high.
As for the film, love it, same as the first time I saw it.
The Incredible thing is that I think he will deliver!
I actually think that shot looked better than anything in SF to be honest.
1 - because its a Bank Holiday (and what is a bank holiday without a Bond movie)
2 - because I've started a bit of a Bondathon in the run up to Spectre and GF is the next one I need to watch.
I thought the best shot in the trailer by far was the way he lit Waltz at the end and his cronies.
But this shows Gilberts ingorance. In LALD they (the producers and director) had Moore NOT copying SC. E.g. he never orders a martini he has bourbon.
Which is funny because in DAF, Hamilton directed Connery to act like Moore would do years later in MR.
Haha, good point.
Connery had that rough, slightly "common" edge to him, hence he could make it work. Moore usually portrayed himself as a suave, calm man. Maybe that's why the excessive nastiness feels exactly that coming from him...excessive.
These are my favourite performances from Moore, along with his work on the Man Who Haunted Himself. In all cases, he plays against type.
I'd say Young's Connery, personally.