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Watched TMWTGG last night because I somehow skipped over it or something during my last one. Hadn't seen it in quite awhile
Some aspects got better and I enjoy it more everytime. I like Nick Nack now, I used to really not like him at all. There's still troubling bits. It feels like a missed opportunity with Lee's Scaramange being such an excellent villain.
Good locations and really good camera work I must say. Barry's weakest score I feel however.
Defense Minister Mishkin's facial hair steals the scene right out from under him. Can't really blame him, we'd all be powerless against such whiskery brilliance as well.
1. Beating the goon on the yaught
2. His meeting with M
3. The archive shootout
4. The standoff in the train ("kill her...she means nothing to me")
As much as I love GE I must admit I sort of see what people mean when they talk about the "soap opera-y" nature of the beach scene. Just for a bit of fun I decided to change the music of the scene:
to this :))
It changes the tone of the scene and makes it look cheesy :))
Nonetheless GE is certainly a lot of fun...and John is excellent in it.
:)>-
I'm a Brozzer fan and GE is, in my opinion, one of the best Bond films of all-time.
:))
The Spy Who Loved Me
This was the film that started my fandom in James Bond. The film that hooked me. And because of this, it will always have a special place not only in my ranking, but a film I hold dear. Of course we start off with the classic PTS. The British and Russian submarines that mysteriously vanish.The skiing sequence followed by, that stunt. Never fails to impress and made all the better with blu-ray crystal clear quality. The film itself holds up well I feel. It never lags or gets boring. The idea might be an almost direct rip off of YOLT. But I never watch Spy and think, hey I've seen this before. I think largely the location really help. Along with the action. But most of all because Roger Moore is so bloody good in this film. He really becomes his own Bond in Spy. Although he has always been a different Bond than Sean Connery. I think with Spy he really looks comfortable in the role. I love the grandiose epicness of Spy. Stromberg as a Blofeldesque villain who has a penchant for all things beneath the sea. His home that rises and sinks under the waves is something that the Bond films had been lacking for some time. Despite it's over the topness, it's fun. And that's what Spy is for me. Two hours of fun. For some reason I get caught up in it all and go along for the ride. Atlantis is an awesome set piece. The introduction of Stromberg's goons in Sandor and Jaws is another highlight. At this point Jaws is still scary and formidable. I love the scenes in Egypt where he's offing all the people who come into contact with the microfilm. The eerie death of Fekkesh in the tomb, followed by the death of Kalba. I also like the continuity of having XXX discuss Tracy and Bond cutting her short. Although it wasn't Moore in Majesty's it's still a nice little touch methinks. The following pursuit of Jaws around the ruins is tense and exciting. Bond and Russian agent XXX trying to get one up on the other as they try to recover the microfilm for their respective governments. Up until the point Jaws drops the boulder on his foot, he was a menace. After this point he loses some of that. I can't understand why they (the film makers) decided to do this with the character. As Bond and XXX aka Anya Amasova team up to find out who stole their missing submarines, the film takes us from Egypt to Sardinia. With a train scene and another fight with Jaws along the way. It's still a pretty good train fight with Richard Kiel's sheer size really showing. He's really big. And then of course we're introduced to Roger Moore's infamous car. The white Lotus Espirit. Again it still looks good, and perfectly fits the film. After Bond has had a rather brief meeting with Stromberg on Atlantis, posing as a marine biologist, we're treated to the Lotus showing off its weaponry. First a motorcycle, then a car full of gun firing goons and then a machine gun firing helicopter all trying to stop Bond and Anya in their tracks. It's a well staged action set piece which results in Bond driving off a pier into the ocean. Where the Lotus' set piece is revealed. It becomes a submarine!
Over the top and implausible, but you just don't care. If you've come this far, then you're already sold. It's something you'd only see in a Bond film. After arriving back in dry land Bond and Anya discover Stromberg has a massive tanker. The Liparus, that has never made port after a year in service. With the help of Commander Carter of the US Navy and boarding his submarine, it isn't long before the sub is swallowed up by the Liparus and all aboard are taken prisoner. It is the Liparus that swallowed up the British and Russian subs in the PTS. Stromberg intends to fire a nuclear missile into New York and Moscow causing World War 3, which will somehow result in everyone having to live beneath the sea. Quite why or how this is going to happen is never explained. It just is. But for our benefit we're posed to have a mad man destroy the world, and James Bond has to stop him. After being held captive very briefly, Bond quickly escapes and releases the submarine crews who then have an all out fight aboard the Liparus against Stromberg's orange clad crewmen. Of course the good guys prevail but not before Bond and Commander Carter send new firing co-ordinates to the stolen subs that sees them destroy each other, rather than New York and Moscow. All that remains is for Bond to rescue Anya who has been taken to Atlantis with Stromberg. Of course Commander Carter has been ordered to destroy Atlantis, giving Bond only one hour to get Anya off, before it is destroyed. The final confrontation between Bond and Stromberg is rather brief. And Bond is rather excessive I feel with the amount of bullets he uses on the obviously dying villain. But it's not that easy for Bond to rescue his lady friend. He has to do battle with Jaws once again. Which finds them both in a room with a shark pool beneath them, and for some reason a large industrial magnet in a large winch. What this is for, again is never explained. But Bond uses it to grab Jaws by his metal teeth and dump him in the shark tank. Not to worry though as Jaws eats the shark. Why not.
OO7 saves XXX just as the torpedoes start hitting Atlantis and they escape just in time in an escape pod. Only to be picked up by a cruising British Navy ship which contains their superiors, allowing Bond to keep the British end up as the credits roll.
As I said before the locations are a real asset to this film. Lots of colour and use of the local scenery. Some well staged action set pieces and the interior set and resulting fight aboard the Liparus are all impressive. I've never really had a problem with Barbara Bach on the whole as some fans do. Yes, her acting is rather wooden. But then when have the Bond up till now had a really great actress as a lead. Curt Jurgens as Stromberg is a little underused I feel. He never gets a chance to be menacing despite feeding his secretary to a shark. He poses little threat to Bond. Jaws in this film remains a menace till the end, and in Spy can still hold his head up as a villain.
The colours and cinematography on the blu-ray again shine through. It's like watching this film for the first time. So clear and sharp. A real treat to get caught up in the film that changed my life.
Still a winner for me, and of course nobody does it better.
Benny's Blu-Ray Bondathon ranking:
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
4. Goldfinger
5. Thunderball
6. Doctor No
7. Live And Let Die
8. You Only Live Twice
9. The Man With The Golden Gun
10. Diamonds Are Forever.
A middle of the road Bond film, me. J Dubya Pepper.. well frankly, I don't think there's a place in Bond for slapstick characters like him. Hey kids, look, it's the comedy sherrif. And Rosie Carver is one of the most useless Bond Girls, what purpose exactly, did she serve?
To counter those gripes, there's the etheral Jane Seymore, the boat chase and the Bus decapitation. The latter of which alway brings a smile to my face as my dad is an ex-Bus driver, and i'm sure there we days when he wanted to do the same as Bond. Rog's Bond looks quite set in his style, even this early.
With all the voodoo, this is the closet a Bond film has gotten to the horror genre, so there's that, as well.
2014 Bondathon
1. From Russia With Love
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. You Only Live Twice
6. Live And Let Die
7. Goldfinger
8. Diamonds Are Forever
They first went with SF. Then decided to go back to the original classics so we served up GF and TB back to back. Next night I suggested FYEO and OP as a Rog double-bill.
The two Rog films looked spectacular on blu.
All five films were double-plus awesome. Bond looks and sounds so good in hi-def and a decent sound system.
btw I suggested FYEO and OP as they were next on my Bondathon order, so that helped me propel that thing along. This will be my last Bondathon in film release order though. Bondathon 2015 will involve different orderings of viewing.
As for the movie, I still consider it the second best of the Moore Bonds, after FYEO. The great moments overshadowed the silliness present in that era. And as for Miss Bach... Well, she's still the sexiest Bond Girl of them all. Sent me in a state of Fugue at the time, still does. Mr. Ringo Starr is a very lucky man. As for her acting, however... Well, after Diana Rigg, most of the Bond Girls come a little short.
Gilbert's two YOLT tribute films are ultimate Bondian escapist romps. I don't think that envelope can be pushed any further or needs to be. SPY and MR are top of their class along with YOLT.
That's true. Although I'd say Spy is the only one of them that's really well made...
All three are genuinely well made from a technical standpoints (despite a few dodgy moments), but YOLT and Spy are the two that feel like proper spy adventures. MR just pisses around.
I don't think YOLT either manages to match Spy's class in terms of plot development, pacing and acting. Yolt's main virtue are the sets and cinematography, not much more, and it has just too many issues to make it a Bond classic. Neither of these films are amongst my top favourites subjectively speaking, but from an objective point of view there's no doubt Spy is a masterpiece. I can't say the same thing about the other two though...
Christopher Lee is the best (only good) thing about this film. Scaramanga should have been the lead in this film. I did laugh when M actually called Goodnight an effective field laison. Effective at what, being the stereotypical dumb blonde?
1. From Russia With Love
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. You Only Live Twice
6. Live And Let Die
7. Goldfinger
8. The Man With The Golden Gun
9. Diamonds Are Forever
Yes he did, back in 2008 when I saw him give one of his interviews in London. It was kind of awkward hearing him talk to her during that Reunion programme the other day.