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For me, it's Brosnam best and ranks among my Top 10. And if it wasn't for that rather poor climactic battle in the stealh boat, it could be fighting to be on my Top 5.
PLus (+)
- the OST by David Arnold
- the pace and rythim
- Pierce at his best as JB
- the car park remote control BMW scene
- Q & Monneypenny,..
Minors (-)
- the stealth boat final scene
- the ending scene between Bond and Way Lin
- Way Lin (not that Michelle Yeoh is a bad actress, but i just thought her character was not Bondian enough)
- the villains motivations are a bit ridiculous...
Next JB movie to (re)watch.. FRWL
Rewatched these in the last two days. Some thoughts that struck me:
MR is nowhere near as awful as many make it out to be. Sure, the gags with Jaws and the gondola are naff beyond reprieve and the space battle is delirious - but I made a conscious effort to list the things I really like about it and it is surprisingly long.
PTS, score, well filmed locations, some witty scripting in places and a few genuinely memorable set pieces.
I'd rank MR well above DAD, DAF & even TMWTGG right now. In fact it doesn't even come close the the bottom of my personal rankings...
GE is, well... still GoldenEye. I loved this a a teenager when I first saw it on the big screen in '95. It blew my mind. Now it just mostly blows.
There is so much potential in there, but it feels rushed and amateurish in places. Probably more to do with the budget more than any real failings of the creative team.
And Brosnan is too darn smug. He tries FAR too hard here. So conscious is he of mimicking Sean and Rodger that you almost expect him to break the 4th wall and ask the audience if he got the squinting smirk just right or not...
But it's atmosphere, edgy-ness and excellent adversary save it. The tank chase is inspired, classic 007 cinema (even if the rest of the action rather falls flat).
What I liked: Bond's escape from the banker's office, the boat chase, come in 007 your time is up, the Q scene ( :-S ), "Q's not going to like this", the attack on the caviar factory & the accompanying score.
What I didn't like: Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist is stretching credability beyond breaking point, Barnd.. James Barnd and there is a little too much melodrama for my taste (though not as much as Skyfall, thank heavens).
The 2014 00Heaven
1. The Living Daylights
2. Licence To Kill
3. From Russia With Love
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. Tomorrow Never Dies
6. For Your Eyes Only
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
***8. The World Is Not Enough***
8. Octopussy
10. GoldenEye
11. Dr No
12. Thunderball
13. You Only Live Twice
14. Live And Let Die
15. The Man With The Golden Gun
16. A View To A Kill
17. Goldfinger
18. Moonraker
19. Diamonds Are Forever
1. Casino Royale still the best
2. On her majesties secret service. this is really amazing
3. Quantum of Solace
4. The living Daylights dark mysterious a great film all around
5. For Your eyes Only Moore at his absolute best
6. From Russia with love
7. Octopussy this one surprised me does it have a bit too much humor yes but honestly it isn't bad at all.
8. The World is not enough
9. Live and let die I love this film from Moore to the girls to the action to the theme song the only low point JW Pepper and even he isnt that bad
10. Dr. No
11. Tommorow never dies
12. The Man with the golden gun
13. You Only Live Twice what should be top 10 is kind of ruined for me considering how uyou can tell Connery really doesnt care at all. great mystery and the supproting characters are brilliant too
14. Skyfall this is really starting to grow on me I still feel the lack of locations hurts it but Finnes' Mallory and the rest of the mi6 team. I love the macau scenes and ther closing and opening sequences and silva is good but again a lack of locations kinda ruins it for me.
15. Goldfinger: Bond does nothing in the second half and this is it's downfall
16. Diamonds Are Forever: Connery is still out of place and Jill is still annoying but over all what saves this film is Wint and Kidd.
17. Moonraker (the action peices are nice but over all this is really weak save for Drax and the mi6 regulars everyone else is bland.
^^ I quit reading after #3
I get that most don't like Quantum of Solace (when people are complaing about QOS when talking about Spectre in spite of having a whole film in between the two films one tends to notice) but to me I feel people don't get something most tell me about skyfall the water plot is inconsquential and is really a sub plot the main plot is Bond trying to figure out who are these people why do they have so much power who can I trust etc
To me the film works to others it doesnt I suppose it's all in what you want out of a bond film for me the villians allies etc all come secondary i love the films that focus on Bond the most and discuss the challanges he has to face I also love when 007 is trying to resolve a mystery. it make the film all the more intriguing. And of course the Opera scene... so much atmosphere so well shot ends with a hilarious quip that got a ton of laughs in the theater I saw it in the first metion of Quantum....
we all have our favorites and least favorite I can understand why people wouldn't like the film in the same way I can understand people like Moonraker in spite of it being so horrible.
When I find the final box set and sit down and watch Thunderball The Spy who loved me A view to a Kill Licence to Kill and Die another Day I will have a more and complete description of my faves and least faves... but yeah Quantum will at the very least always be top ten if not top 5.
As an unflinching Brosnan Bond fan, TND has consistently remained at the top of my rankings for as long as I've been watching it. Thankfully, that has not changed on this most recent viewing! TND is such a fast-paced, get in/get out Bond adventure; if you blink, you'll miss it. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't have any "deeper" qualities. Is TND defined by its action sequences? Well, not entirely- yeah, it boasts some kick-butt action, but when you throw in other elements such as the role of Elliott Carver, Brosnan's cool, calm, and collected performance, a soaring soundtrack from David Arnold, and a little backstory between Bond and Paris Carver (no matter how awful of a character she might be), there's a lot more to TND than what the back cover of the DVD might suggest. The only negatives I see with TND is the choice in Bond girls- Wai Lin and Paris are absolute jokes, and frankly, pretty annoying. Other than that, Brosnan's 2nd adventure as 007 is definite Bond gold! Might I quote Elliott Carver and say, "Delicious."
2014/2015 Winter Bondathon
1. Tomorrow Never Dies
2. Thunderball
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
Although the parts of melodrama in Skyfall were handled 3,000,000 times better. The "melodrama" you're referring to in Skyfall rarely if ever feels like it. In TWINE we feel every second.
She could handle herself fairly well, I'll give you that- still though, I just can't get past her feminist "I don't need your help" attitude. It gets on my last nerve! When you compare her non-damsel qualities to that of Natalya Simonova, just one Bond girl prior to Wai Lin, you'll see that while Natalya was very much independent, she could still rely on Bond's help and come across as both competent and grateful for Bond's services. I think Wai Lin was poorly handled, but that's just my take!
The next Bond movie I chose to watch in my Winter Bondathon was none other than Sean Connery's 5th 007 outing:
You Only Live Twice
Coming off the heels of TSWLM and TND, YOLT truly is the grandfather of the "pit two countries against each other" plot, and if I may say so myself, contains the best interpretation of such a storyline. Mainly due to the time period in which it was released, YOLT is loaded with plenty of good Cold War espionage as our favorite superspy travels to Japan to get down to the bottom of a potential imminent crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union. SPECTRE's involvement in the crisis, which is the entire reason for the crisis in the first place, is highly intriguing, simply because they involve a third party, China, in the conflict. When I was younger, I used to be very confused as to why SPECTRE was involved in a USA-USSR conflict, but I had overlooked that crucial scene in which Blofeld speaks with his Chinese investors about provoking war between the two superpowers. Needless to say, the plot of YOLT is certainly one of its better qualities.
Another high point for YOLT is the soundtrack by John Barry- true to his nature, Barry knows precisely how to fit his music in place with the atmosphere of seemingly every individual scene. Additionally, the location work of YOLT is stunning. Working with the scenic mountains and coasts of Japan probably was no difficult task as far as shooting beautiful movie scenery is concerned. Also, from the action standpoint, which is always a key element in my enjoyment of a Bond adventure, YOLT does not disappoint in any way. Its blend of hardcore fisticuffs, slick shoot-outs, and full scale battles keeps a Bond fan eagerly waiting for more.
Regretfully, one of the most glaring drawbacks in the entire movie- and one which plagues it from start to finish- is the horribly awful casting. It's been said a thousand times that Sean Connery dropped the ball with his 5th time around as 007, and man, it is beyond true. He's very dull and uninspiring throughout the movie and looks as though he'd like to find a way to actually kill off Bond so that he can leave the scene. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if he had other cast members to bring him up, but let's face it, it's slim pickens with YOLT. The actor portraying Tiger Tanaka does his best, but he's really the only one giving an honestly good effort- that is, until Donald Pleasance comes along as Ernst Stavro Blofeld to steal the show, but that's all of 20 minutes, maybe 10 of which contain him speaking, so you can't really count that. The only other serious flaw in YOLT is its plot holes, which should be a very important issue, but it's a Bond movie, and one of the more intentionally outlandish at that, so I try not to consider their weight too heavily.
All things considered, YOLT deserves much praise for its high points and significance in being one of the most instantly recognized, "classic" Bond movies. However, I couldn't find myself ranking it in the Top Five, and I hesitate to say the Top Ten either, at least for now. Still, for some reason, I find it to be a little more entertaining than TSWLM, oddly enough.
2014/2015 Winter Bondathon
1. Tomorrow Never Dies
2. Thunderball
3. You Only Live Twice
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
Found it really entertaining this time. The PTS, swordfight, and car chase are really good action scenes. I also found Graves lines to be very funny, I live my dreams, there's plenty of time to sleep when your dead. Rosamund Pike is also very hot, while Jinx is annoying. I think this movie has a very good pace which helps it alot in my opinion.
There are of course some huge minuses, like the invisible car and CGI surfing, but all in all i found it quite fun, therefor it climbs one spot on my James bond ranking.
Bondathon 2014
1. On her majesty’s secret service
2. From russia with love
3. The spy who loved me
4. Goldfinger
5. For your eyes only
6. The living daylights
7. Thunderball
8. Dr No
9. Goldeneye
10. Licence to kill
11. Live and let die
12. Moonraker
13. The man with the golden gun
14. Octopussy
15. The world is not enough
16. You only live twice
17. Diamonds are forever
18. Tomorrow never dies
19. Die another day
20. A view to a kill
I always chuckle at the way he says the line:
"You see Mr Bond...you can't kill my dreams"
Other corkers:
"Armed...and very dangerous"
"Global warming...it's a terrible thing"
"My my...you do get around"
"Japan is a bug waiting to be squashed"
All Oscar-worthy ;)
Actually I wish the bloke who played the original Colonel Moon was in it longer. He was good :(
Well the original at least, which i couldn't find =/
I went through, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever and License to kill.
Tonight I am watching The Living Daylights.
I think that the majority of us can agree that this was one too many for Moore. It's been talked about ad nauseam so I don't want to focus on it past the obligatory mention. Instead, I'd like to talk about the things that I really enjoyed. In no particular order...
1) The John Barry score - Just think of how much worse this film could have been without his music throughout. He helped to elevate many scenes and breathed some life and magic into some rather mundane sequences.
2) Christopher Walken - Obviously. One of the greats. He's charming, menacing, ruthless and sometimes downright bizarre. He truly comes off as a psychotic who thinks he's destined and entitled to destroy Silicon Valley.
3) Zorin's estate/ horse sale - I know that some people find this part boring but I've always liked it, for the most part. The place is absolutely gorgeous. I would absolutely love for Jenny Flex to give me a guided tour. The chemistry between Moore and Macnee is wonderful. When Tibbett dies it really hits you in the gut. Moore's reaction is gripping. I like the strange relationship between Zorin and May Day. Bond's little race with Zorin was amusing and I enjoyed how he had to use his wits (not gadgets) to save himself from drowning.
4) The City Hall sequence - The confrontation between Bond and Zorin is great. You can just feel the tension between them. Rog did a great job with that scene. The escape from the burning elevator is top notch. Perhaps we could do with less screaming though. Strange, but I was reminded of SF when Scarpine was in the lobby with the dead guard. The dramatic climb down the ladder is always exciting. I didn't drop my drink though, as the unfortunate homeless man did.
5) The mine sequence - I know that Roger Moore didn't approve but Zorin gunning down all his workers was a nice dark twist. The chaos of all the explosions and flooding was magnificent to behold. I enjoyed May Day's conversion from the dark side (a woman scorned) and thought it was handled better than the Jaws affair in MR. Roger really did a great job of looking heroic and sometimes even stoic in this film.
6) The Golden Gate Finale - Another obvious choice but there is a reason that it is so highly regarded. They did a good job of editing the mix of actual shots from the bridge and the stuff on the set. It really feels like you're there. It's intense and I love how aggressively Zorin attacks Bond. Reminded me a bit of Greene in QoS. This could have looked extremely fake but I feel like they really pulled this off.
Other observations include how easy Tanya Roberts is on the eyes. We all (obviously) could have done without the infamous Bond/May Day bedroom scene. Bond beds four women in this film, which is the most in any Moore film. Wow, was that really necessary considering his age? I was reminded of a great lost opportunity in the Pola Ivanova scene. How great would it have been if it had been Barbara Bach instead? It would have been a nice tribute to Moore's greatest moment as Bond. Also, how is General Gogol able to just drive around undetected in San Francisco during the Cold War? Klotkoff's death down the shaft is pretty horrifying. There were a couple of times when it so obvious that the stunt double wasn't Roger Moore that I thought I was watching Spaceballs. Oh, and the obvious dummies falling into the Bay are humorous to this viewer but I don't hold it against the film. Twas life before CGI, kids.
All in all I enjoyed this. If you go in with the right attitude then you just might be surprised by how many good moments are to be found here.
I agree! ;) Its not only about the lines either but also the looks and snarls. One would think they were making a comedy. :) Its one of the few enjoyments I get from the film, so I don't complain! ;))
But I don't know what happened to Stephens. I have seen him in quite a few English productions, Poirot and such, and I think he is quite good in all of them. Not spectacular, but good. And the arrogant, posh English brat is usually his standard repertoire. Graves, although not very well written, should have suited him perfectly. Maybe nerves got to him? Or maybe Tamahori just cocked up everything?
A big yes to this first big screen Bond outing. Watch an actor create a role and own it. By today's standards this film is sparse, yet uncluttered by stunts, set pieces, and emotional ties.
My first Bond film back in the day, and yet refreshing to revisit. Craig is my next favorite Bond, but Connery owns this role. DN is often overlooked in discussions, but this an excellent film.
Precisely.
:-h