Last Bond Movie You Watched

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  • Birdleson wrote: »
    SPECTRE. 13th time. Still #24, but I swear that I am developing the strangest relationship with this movie. I feel that I already know it as intimately as any of the others. And the more goofs I spot, the more shallow it seems, the more I enjoy viewing it. It's like I'm addicted. I've been watching it through my Amazon digital purchase. In two days my BluRay will arrive and it starts all over again. Weird.

    13 times in three months? That's certainly a lot of viewings.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Must be a love/hate relationship.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    @Birdleson you have a huge head start on me - I only saw SP twice in cinemas. I'm waiting for the Blu Ray to come out here (on march 11th) to watch it again.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Must be a love/hate relationship.

    Except that I am not really loving it at all. I'm just becoming obsessed with knowing it completely.

    Like me and the Abramic scriptures, then.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Must be a love/hate relationship.

    Except that I am not really loving it at all. I'm just becoming obsessed with knowing it completely.

    Like me and the Abramic scriptures, then.

    That is a somewhat larger undertaking.

    Yes, but I meant Abrahamic. Forget MI, ST and SW.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited February 2016 Posts: 23,883
    Just finished watching MR.

    I enjoyed the scale and ambition of the production, as I always do, but continue to be disappointed by the lack of tension in the action scenes and set pieces. Everything ends too conveniently and sometimes too quickly. Arguably the most tension is at the very end, when Bond/Goodhead are trying to shoot down the last of the poisonous globes and also when Bond is in the lab and one of the vials falls on the floor killing the two scientists.

    The best bits for me are the score, the locations & Drax’s great lines. That speech he gives in the space station is something else – pure verbal diarrhea from a megalomaniac.

    Moore is his cool as a cucumber and has some great moments like the centrifuge and the fight with Chang, but he plays it for laughs mostly, as he likely realized how ridiculous everything was, and what they were going for with this film.

    Interestingly, MR reminds me very much of SP. Large in scale, cost and ambition, but strangely lacking in tension, and with a Bond who appears to be coasting rather than engaged.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    Birdleson wrote: »
    and, to a lesser extent, Martin and Hamlisch

    Huh?
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited February 2016 Posts: 1,984
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    and, to a lesser extent, Martin and Hamlisch

    I'm saying they were successful at creating original scores that, though carrying the signature of author, were evocative of the traditional Bond motifs, though not as successfully as Barry.

    Oh, excuse that. I read it as "Marvin", which is why I thought you were referring to the same person twice. Turns out that I'm just dyslexic (and that I forgot about George Martin).
  • SP
  • I watched Spectre last night, after purchasing the shiny, new Blu-Ray on Thursday. It remains a disappointment, albeit a mostly entertaining one.

    The films flaws are its needless, half-hearted attempts at adding something to the story. The first, and most famous, is the Bond/Blofeld connection and the reveal that he was behind the events of the previous three films. It's already been talked to death, so I won't rehash it yet again, but it's certainly quite unnecessary, and one of the lamest motivations and retcons of all time. As an added bonus, they're paired with one of the most ridiculously flat reveals of all time. The name "Ernst Stavro Blofeld" means absolutely nothing to Bond, and he doesn't react at all, because he can't react to this new, useless piece of information.

    The second is Nine Eyes. The plot is woefully underdeveloped, a mishmash of Skyfall and The Winter Soldier but without the dramatic or thematic weight of either of them. Bond is barely even aware of it, nor does he make any attempt to stop it (the attack on Capetown that convinces the South Africans to join literally happens in the background. Why was it even in the movie?) C being a Spectre stooge is also entirely predictable, and I was left hoping against hope that he would assume the mantle of Blofeld, simply because it would be something new, and it would dispense with the ridiculous "cuckoo" motivation. But alas, it was not to be. We're left with a final countdown whose effects are completely nebulous and which is solved by the most tensionless of all storytelling devices, Q's dramatic typing.

    On a related note, we have Bond going rogue yet again. It serves absolutely no dramatic purpose and is brushed off relatively quickly. I suppose it's made necessary by the Nine Eyes plot, so that C wouldn't know everything Bond is doing, but he finds out quickly enough anyway. I am sick, sick, sick of Bond going rogue. If Craig comes back again, I would be more opposed to a "Bond goes rogue!" story than the return of Blofeld and the wacky daddy issues, and that's saying something. This, and the Nine Eyes plot in general, serve primarily to lengthen the movie, dragging it to be be the longest Bond of all. Compare this to OHMSS, CR, and SF, and see the difference in how the length serves the movies.

    Finally, we have the apparent "true romance" between Bond and Dr. Swann. Here, I think there was real potential. She's the daughter of a criminal lieutenant, who was responsible for the death of the love of Bond's life. Bond spent months chasing after him, and likely wanted nothing more than to kill him as revenge for Vesper. This was genuinely compelling material, so of course they didn't use it. Instead, we're left with a brief reflection on the train about whether Bond has a choice in his way of life, followed by Swann confessing her love for Bond, followed by Swann leaving Bond, Gala Brand-style, followed by Swann and Bond running off together, after he's apparently quit his job at MI6. Again, compare this to Bond's romance with Vesper, and his leaving MI6 for her, and the deficiencies will become obvious.

    Now that I've gotten my gripes out of the way, Spectre has plenty of classic Bondian moments. The PTS was a hoot, from the long tracking shot to the fight in the helicopter. I enjoyed the car chase with Hinx nearly as much as most people, and the plane chase in the Alps was rollicking fun and beautifully shot (so it doesn't make a lick of sense, this is James Bond). The fight on the train is almost certainly the best of Craig's era and the best since Bond's brawl with Alec in GoldenEye. The film could also be quite humorous when it wasn't bogged down in faux-weighty plots. I greatly enjoyed Bond's interaction with Q and Moneypenny, especially during the car chase in Rome. C's awkwardness is also quite amusing, when Bond dubs him C and when he tries to shoot M. Bond questioning the mouse is also an amusing commentary on the absurd paranoia of life as a spy, and his punching out the security guard at the clinic never fails to make me laugh (some say that this veers too close to MCU-style humor. I don't see it here, but I certainly see it in the retconning).

    Finally, there's the only dramatic scene in the movie that truly lands. Bond confronts Mr. White, haggard and cancer-ridden, in the latter's Alpine hideout. They talk over their situation, and Mr. White delivers easily the best line of the film "You're a kite, dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond," before committing suicide. This scene works because of the tension between Bond and Mr. White, calling on the memories from Craig's earlier tenure without running them into the ground.

    I don't see SP ever rising much above its current spot in my Bond rankings (16/24, just below TB and QoS and just above OP), but I can certainly enjoy it, especially if I drown out the stupid reveal and focus on the action and humor, as all Bonds are meant to be enjoyed.

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    We're watching it again... B-)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    SPECTRE! Great Bond. Solid #4. Rock solid.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    edited February 2016 Posts: 10,591
    chrisisall wrote: »
    SPECTRE! Great Bond. Solid #4. Rock solid.

    :)>-
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited February 2016 Posts: 40,959
    Took a small break from this and have continued it out of order by watching my SP and GE blu-rays, so I've picked it up randomly again by starting up TSWLM (EDIT: Finished and enjoyed it as always.)

    Random Bondathon, 2016:
    (Numbered by order of viewing, not ranking.)

    1.) GF
    2.) YOLT
    3.) QoS
    4.) OP
    5.) DN
    6.) TWINE
    7.) AVTAK
    8.) SF
    9.) TLD
    10.) DAD
    11.) CR
    12.) TMWTGG
    13.) SP
    14.) GE
    15.) TSWLM
  • Posts: 11,189
    TLD has some great scenes and is certainly one I appreciate more as I get older (It may even crack my top 10 eventually). The only aspect I still really dislike is some of the dated humour (" 'ere, 'old on your dead", the end of the PTS, the security man burying his head in the breasts of Rosita whats-her-face and Caroline Bliss).
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    OCTOPUSSY

    I've not had the chance to stick on a Bond for a while, but since illness struck today, what better way to cheer me up than to pop on Octopussy.

    Stellar as always. Considering whether to put it into my top five after this viewing.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Go on @MayDayDiVicenzo. What's the worst that could happen?

    Moonraker

    Doubtless if I was seeing Moonraker back in 1979, my views would not as generous as they are now. As it stands, Moonraker is my go to Bond epic. It's so undemanding. I can afford to watch every 4-5 months or so and let Moonraker's epicness wash over me.

    It wasn't always this way. When I was a nipper, I loathed Moonraker. It has three major sins when I judge a Bond movie -

    1. Overt humour
    2. Excessive gadgetry
    3. Inane plot

    It's a not very good Bond picture. But it is a very good film, being entertaining and fun. And that's what a movie is meant to do. Anyway, when it comes to the talents of Messrs Barry and Adam, I can forgive a lot.


    Worst Bit – Uhg, the Bondola sequence I guess.

    Best Bit – The reveal of Drax's space station. Gives me goosebumps every time.



    7/10

    Royale's Ranking

    Casino Royale
    Live and Let Die
    Moonraker

    CR
    LALD
    MR

    DAD
    DAF
    FRWL
    DN
    GF
    AVTAK 
    FYEO
    QoS
    GE
    LTK
    SP
    OP
    TLD 
    TSWLM 
    TND
    TB 
    OHMSS 
    YOLT 
    TMWTGG 
    TWINE
    SF
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    The outer space stuff, from a technical viewpoint at least, is superb.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Not really. Although I did enjoy both versions of LALD's use of Voodoo. Incidentally, the order I rank the Bond's - CR, LALD and MR - is the same for both novels and films.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited February 2016 Posts: 23,883
    LTK (1989)

    First time watching this one in a few months. Really enjoyed it as I've increasingly done with each watch, like with QoS.

    Highlights are of course Dalton and Davi. Wonderful to see these two in action, and their scenes together are some of the best in the franchise. There’s something very authentic about Dalton’s portrayal of Bond in this film. There’s no posing at all here. He is very raw. Not cool though, and that's what turned me off when I was younger. Now I can appreciate the angry authenticity of it much more than I could before.

    I love the gunbarrel music here. It's so ominous sounding - and what’s this I’ve been reading recently on here about Kamen's score being subpar? It’s great stuff. Intense, immediate. Like Dalton’s performance. Like the film. A perfect fit with the action on the screen.

    The opening scene sets the tone. There are some wonderful aerial shots of Key West. That stunt of the copter hooking the plane is tremendous - vintage Glen orchestrated stuntwork. The plot is coherent & tight. Wilson & Maibum did a great job. The finale with the tankers is also excellent and highly engaging. James Bond meets Duel. Superior stuntwork and colours.

    ---
    Unfortunately, there is a lot to bring this film down a few notches as well:

    1. Soto/Lupe –sadly she is in the pretitles, and her opening scene portends what is to come. Namely some of the worst acting ever committed to film. This rivals some of the clowns in TWINE for awfulness. Thankfully, she’s highly attractive, which provides some, but perhaps not adequate, compensation.
    2. The generic US tv actors in Florida at the start are very uncharismatic & just bad.
    3. Cary Lowell’s whiny and terribly annoying Pam Bouvier, as well as some of the locational work, which is average at best. The bar brawl is cringeworthy, as is Bond and Bouvier’s subsequent awful banter on the boat (horrendous overacting by both – I was fidgeting in my chair in discomfort). The final scenes with her in the pool are also very disappointing and highly cheesy in that 80's way.
    ---

    Fortunately, the good is far better than the bad. If it wasn't for the above, I would rate this film even higher. Right now it sits at 9 or 10 in my rankings, mainly because of Dalton, Davi & the story.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Birdleson wrote: »
    (except that, despite being a shitty actress, I'd keep Soto).
    She perfectly acted the Hell out of that part! No actress has EVER done brainless dope better! She should have gotten an Oscar for that turn.
    =D>
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited February 2016 Posts: 23,883
    chrisisall wrote: »
    No actress has EVER done brainless dope better! She should have gotten an Oscar for that turn. =D>
    If that was indeed her remit then yes, she deserved some kind of accolade. She convinced me on that front.

    I forgot to mention earlier, I really like a little glamour and style/class in my Bond films. Most of the ones I rank top 5 (except for perhaps DN) are quite classy and refined. LTK doesn't have that Bondian flair (at least not in my view, despite the casino scenes) but it makes up for it due to the one on one between Dalton/Davi. It's a very unique Bond entry - nothing really derivative about it at all, which is why I think it holds up with repeated viewings.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I think I'll watch it today.
    You think?
    This is not a country club, DoubleOhBirdleson!
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Birdleson wrote: »
    This LICENCE TO KILL Title Sequence is probably the worst aspect of the film.
    Not my favourite part either. But after that it begins to percolate...
  • Posts: 12,462
    Birdleson wrote: »
    This LICENCE TO KILL Title Sequence is probably the worst aspect of the film. It is bland and dull and says nothing about the singular brutality and darkness that this entry gives us. That song doesn't help much at all, either. Where's the menace?

    I should add that to the missed opportunities thread.

    I have to totally agree, even though it's one of my favorite Bond films. That's definitely the worst part.
  • edited February 2016 Posts: 1,596
    @bondjames

    In regards to your comments about MR "vs" SP:

    I know this is a bit late in reply, but I agree with a lot of what you said about MR. The reason I find it to be a considerably better film is simply that I think it does what it does much better. I agree, there isn't a huge sense of danger or stakes (Centrifuge, and chase of COrrine aside) in either film (just look at how Bond escapes Blofeld's lair in SP after being tortured by supposedly "disorienting" needles if you disagree with me). But yeah, I think it does what it does so much better (settings, MUSIC, cinematography, production design, VILLAIN, HUMOR, dialogue, production values, so on and so forth).

    I think the difference is is that MR knows this, and is fully, 100% going for pure over-the-top, every penny on the screen, escapist extravaganza. I also disagree about Moore being disinterested/disengaged. I think he's at his swaggering best and having a blast.

    By contrast, SP often wants to have its cake and eat it too in this regard. There are many moments where it is clearly channeling that "it's all just fun at the movies" (which I love, just to be clear). The downside is that A) it doesn't pull them off like Moore's movies do (doesn't have the charm or the cleverness more often than not) and B) there are enough threads of "Craig Bond" that demand that we take this seriously at times that I'm uncertain what to do with it.

    Never in MR does it attempt to shoehorn stakes in like Bond leaving the service for Madelaine etc. SP's insistence on its importance, I think, is one of its biggest shortcomings.


    I know I've spent a LOT of time shit talking this movie. And there are parts that really, really bother me, but there is quite a lot I like. Similar to @Birdleson, I'm gonna' be popping it in again soon. I would love to grow to love it. I'm not being cynical/negative because I enjoy hating and trashing on things, I just wished I loved it so much that it makes me all the more frustrated.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    Well, the sudden hype around Moonraker has prompted me to watch it. And, well... I still think it's the worst film because of what it does to the concept and culture of Bond, but for the first half, I found it very enjoyable, and something of a genuine spy movie. I never cringed, even during the "Bondola" sequence. Most of the second half I could do without, but as I expected, this film was entertaining. It gave me a couple of smiles and laughs. And it's just so different to Craig's Bonds and LTK. I appreciate the atmospheric disparity from time to time, because while we do have dark, angry and brutal Bond films (a fair few, in fact), we're really kind of short on the opposite extreme - we do have several lighthearted adventures, but none that take it to the polar end. That's probably what I appreciate most about Moonraker, in retrospect.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited February 2016 Posts: 23,883
    @ThighsOfXenia, I've yet to rewatch SP since the theatre. I'm waiting to get a 'deal' on the blu ray before purchasing it (I'm not paying list price). I've never done that with a Bond film before (I've always gone out on day one and purchased it no matter what the asking price). That should say something about how enthusiastic I am about watching it again. In other words, not very. I can wait.

    Where I think MR & SP are similar is in the complete lack of tension in any of the large set pieces. I think they both start off quite well with all these scenes (Bond fall out of a plane, Bond being chased in the boat in MR and Bond being chased in a car and chasing baddies in a plane in SP) but they all end in a very predictable and dull way. In the case of MR it's the gadgets and overt humour that kill the fun and in the case of SP it's just drab conceptualization (and unfunny & predictable humour, as in the aforementioned car chase).

    I also think they are similar in that both the Bond actors seem to be on autopilot, although I think that Moore on autopilot is far more engaging than Craig. That's because, in my view, Moore is just a far more charismatic and interesting actor to watch when he's not trying - no matter what he's doing. Craig, again only in my view, has to act as Bond, and when he's coasting as he is in SP, it doesn't come across well on screen - to me at least.

    I agree 100% with you on the tonal variations in SP being one of its major shortcomings, along with it trying to have its cake and eat it too. It confused me when watching it. I didn't know whether to take it seriously or not. It was almost like I was being f'd with, emotionally (particularly in the case of the torture sequence and when Madeline threatens to leave) and that left me not caring about it at all. I was as disinterested by the end of it as the actors themselves seemed to be on screen.

    Ultimately, MR is tonally balanced in comparison imho, although frustratingly it could have been so much more. Those standout scenes (shooting down the globes, the death of the two scientists, centrifuge, Corrine's death) are some of the best in the series.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    LIVE AND LET DIE

    Great all the way through. Love the voodoo and supernatural themes, villains are fantastic and Solitaire is one of the best Bond girls. Rog is as good as always. Top ten material.

    Watching this film on my new TV made me realise how good this film actually looks. I love the 70s aesthetic and the vivid colour palette.

    Bondathon 2016 ranking so far:
    -OCTOPUSSY
    -LIVE AND LET DIE
    -GOLDENEYE
  • Posts: 7,407
    LTK has always been high on my list because of Dalton, and the film was way ahead of its time, compared to the aged badly GE which came many years later! But I always found Michael Kamens music the worst aspect of it. Terrible score, but I love Gladys Knight theme, one of the very best imho! And it was the great Maurice Binders last title sequence, so I'm going to cut him some slack, there were good moments in it! Legend!
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