Rolling Stone ranks the Bond movies

135

Comments


  • And Travers is actually a highly regarded film critic on this side o' the Pond.

    Is he really? How amusing, but then rather like your cheese counter in the supermarket and team sports you Yanks do seem happy to settle for lower standards.

    This from a citizen of a nation that considers The Guardian and the BBC to be the alpha and the omega of truth and journalistic integrity.

  • Creasy47 wrote:
    I don't understand how Travers is highly regarded. Anytime I see his name on something, it's usually a pile of trash that he's praising. I never seem to agree with him.

    I didn't say he's good, merely that he is highly regarded. There is quite a bit of difference between the two.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I don't understand how Travers is highly regarded. Anytime I see his name on something, it's usually a pile of trash that he's praising. I never seem to agree with him.

    I didn't say he's good, merely that he is highly regarded. There is quite a bit of difference between the two.

    I didn't say that you said he's good. I stated that I don't see how he is highly regarded when all he praises is trash.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117

    I didn't say he's good, merely that he is highly regarded. There is quite a bit of difference between the two.

    Quite. After all TB seems to generally quite highly regarded.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 157

    I didn't say he's good, merely that he is highly regarded. There is quite a bit of difference between the two.

    Quite. After all TB seems to generally quite highly regarded.



    Same old, same old.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 3,327

    I didn't say he's good, merely that he is highly regarded. There is quite a bit of difference between the two.

    Quite. After all TB seems to generally quite highly regarded.



    Same old, same old.

    14 posts in, only been on here for just over a week, and you are already getting bored of an opinion.....?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I mean, I'm completely used to people trashing Brosnan's films and using ranking the entirety of his tenure from ranks 15 - 23, but I feel most of you, Brosnan haters or not, would agree that DAD deserves no spot at #10 and in no way could really be seen as that much better than Brosnan's first three installments.

    No matter how bad I find Brosnan I'll never agree with someone ranking GoldenEye out of the top ten. And that's me making a HUGE compromise, I don't think it should be out of anyone's top FIVE.

    Agreed. GE is as terrific as DAD is awful.

    I confess
    I rank GE at 21, DAD at 26.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    Brosnan's worse film for me is TWINE, followed by TND. I place DAD ahead of both, only because it's no where near as dull and generic as those two.
  • Posts: 7,653
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).

    DAD has far more enjoyable bits than QoB has for me, both PB & DC are excellent in their roles. QoB's actionscenes are mostly poor and done better before. So while both are somewhat trainwrecks I can enjoy DAD better for all its lack of pure pretentiousness.

  • QoB? Does that stand for Quantum of Bollox?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    QoB? Does that stand for Quantum of Bollox?

    I believe it stands for 'Quantum of Bourne,' as quite a few have stated that on these forums.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).

    DAD has far more enjoyable bits than QoB has for me, both PB & DC are excellent in their roles. QoB's actionscenes are mostly poor and done better before. So while both are somewhat trainwrecks I can enjoy DAD better for all its lack of pure pretentiousness.

    I agree QOS's action is poor or - let me qualify that - poorly filmed and edited. The opening car chase, the rooftop chase and the rope fight would all be decent if you could see what was happening. And the Slate fight is superb. I agree the boat chase and plane/freefall scene are rubbish.

    However up against that we have Vic Armstrong's totally over choreographed PTS (surfing aside) and sword fight, the parasurfing abortion and some good driving on ice spoiled by tedious gadgets.

    So neither are the guvnor in the action stakes but what QOS doesn't do is piss all over Fleming with invisible cars and travesties like Jinx so however much you hate 'QOB' (that one never ceases to be hilarious) DC's performance and the scenes with Mathis and Yusef alone elevate it way above Tamahori's opus.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    SaintMark wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).

    DAD has far more enjoyable bits than QoB has for me, both PB & DC are excellent in their roles. QoB's actionscenes are mostly poor and done better before. So while both are somewhat trainwrecks I can enjoy DAD better for all its lack of pure pretentiousness.

    I agree QOS's action is poor or - let me qualify that - poorly filmed and edited. The opening car chase, the rooftop chase and the rope fight would all be decent if you could see what was happening. And the Slate fight is superb. I agree the boat chase and plane/freefall scene are rubbish.

    However up against that we have Vic Armstrong's totally over choreographed PTS (surfing aside) and sword fight, the parasurfing abortion and some good driving on ice spoiled by tedious gadgets.

    So neither are the guvnor in the action stakes but what QOS doesn't do is piss all over Fleming with invisible cars and travesties like Jinx so however much you hate 'QOB' (that one never ceases to be hilarious) DC's performance and the scenes with Mathis and Yusef alone elevate it way above Tamahori's opus.

    Well said @TheWizardOfIce.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Not a fan of QoS at all but, my God, I'll take it over DAD any day of the week. @TheWiz has it spot on once more.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited October 2013 Posts: 18,281
    Sandy wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).

    DAD has far more enjoyable bits than QoB has for me, both PB & DC are excellent in their roles. QoB's actionscenes are mostly poor and done better before. So while both are somewhat trainwrecks I can enjoy DAD better for all its lack of pure pretentiousness.

    I agree QOS's action is poor or - let me qualify that - poorly filmed and edited. The opening car chase, the rooftop chase and the rope fight would all be decent if you could see what was happening. And the Slate fight is superb. I agree the boat chase and plane/freefall scene are rubbish.

    However up against that we have Vic Armstrong's totally over choreographed PTS (surfing aside) and sword fight, the parasurfing abortion and some good driving on ice spoiled by tedious gadgets.

    So neither are the guvnor in the action stakes but what QOS doesn't do is piss all over Fleming with invisible cars and travesties like Jinx so however much you hate 'QOB' (that one never ceases to be hilarious) DC's performance and the scenes with Mathis and Yusef alone elevate it way above Tamahori's opus.

    Well said @TheWizardOfIce.

    I second the motion. Wise words from the Wizard.
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    It is somebody his opinion, and as such I do not mind.

    Each to his own.

    And some choices are rather odd in my view, but I agree that QoB does belong at the bottom of the list since it is a failed and very flawed movie that should have halted production untill there was a decent script and a decent director. As such the movie is worse than any of the Bourne quartet and as a 007 movie a promise of what could have been and a poor entry. imho

    All very valid criticisms of QOS but its still not as bad as DAD so cannot belong at the bottom of the list (I rate it a fair bit higher than Bourne 4 as well).

    DAD has far more enjoyable bits than QoB has for me, both PB & DC are excellent in their roles. QoB's actionscenes are mostly poor and done better before. So while both are somewhat trainwrecks I can enjoy DAD better for all its lack of pure pretentiousness.

    I agree QOS's action is poor or - let me qualify that - poorly filmed and edited. The opening car chase, the rooftop chase and the rope fight would all be decent if you could see what was happening. And the Slate fight is superb. I agree the boat chase and plane/freefall scene are rubbish.

    However up against that we have Vic Armstrong's totally over choreographed PTS (surfing aside) and sword fight, the parasurfing abortion and some good driving on ice spoiled by tedious gadgets.

    So neither are the guvnor in the action stakes but what QOS doesn't do is piss all over Fleming with invisible cars and travesties like Jinx so however much you hate 'QOB' (that one never ceases to be hilarious) DC's performance and the scenes with Mathis and Yusef alone elevate it way above Tamahori's opus.

    QoB does have redeeming qualities I admit but when it comes to pissing all over Fleming the franchise has had experience with that before and that proved to be NO problem except with some puritans.
    The invisible car was a bit of fun no more and Jinx was like QoB poorly written and could have been more interesting considering that they had a fairly decent actress to play with. (but like CR DC and his female companion and their cmbined actingskills were no enough for an acted finale instead EON chose for OTT sinking house scene) EON does have a track record chosing action over acting, and with SF they went the other way acting over action combined with a rather plothole ridden ending.

    As for the actionscenes in DAD, I found the race over the ice in Iceland an excellent actionscene worthy of the 007 franchise, the swordfight was great and fun.

    And indeed EONs choice to pay only for bargainbasement CGI is in my opinion a really poor financial choice.

    QoB's opening race was edited to hell, probably to edit out a third car which made the scene too long. SO little excitement for me. The rooftopchase had an exiting moment but was overal done before in the earlier Bourne-movie, they made a mess of it and ruined the Sienna scenery for me more than it added. The Slate fight is excellent no doubt about it. The planescenes were done better and without CGI in MR and the boatscene was awefull and made me miss the scene in LALD.

    QoB had a great basis idea for a 007 movie, then they hired a director and editor of the direct competition (Bourne series) and a arty director and a poor script (Haggis alone just is not that great) and we ended with what I consider the poorest movie in the franchise despite the great actors in the movie.

    ANd lets not talk about the death of Mathis, somebody should have shot the person who came up with that and then the one who decided to shoot it. That one pissed straigth over Flemings grave.

  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    When a critic is allowed this amount of self indulgance he can't really go with popular opinion, otherwise no one will read his comments.

    I'm not a Dalton fan, never have been, but TLD is a tidy and entertaining thriller with bags of humour. So he obviously hasn't seen it for years and is relying on half baked memories.

    Which means he hasn't really given any of this too much thought.

    But, this is subjective, so once you read the comments below his list, you relaise that 1000 people will give 1000 different lists, and no one will ever agree.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:

    QoB does have redeeming qualities I admit but when it comes to pissing all over Fleming the franchise has had experience with that before and that proved to be NO problem except with some puritans.

    Quite right - the slide whistle, Blofeld in drag and the double take pigeon were fine. Silence you Fleming puritans its officially 'NO problem' that poor old Ian is rotating at 10000 RPM in his grave.
    SaintMark wrote:
    The invisible car was a bit of fun

    You heard it here first people! You know that bit in DAD when you cringed into your seat hoping no one would realise you are a Bond fan while the rest of the audience laughed at loud at the mess unfolding in front of you? That was, in the immortal words of Keith Barrett, just 'a bit of fun'.
    SaintMark wrote:
    As for the actionscenes in DAD, I found the race over the ice in Iceland an excellent actionscene worthy of the 007 franchise, the swordfight was great and fun.

    And indeed EONs choice to pay only for bargainbasement CGI is in my opinion a really poor financial choice.

    I am drawn to a quote by David Mitchell here:
    'Why does everything have to be fun to be interesting? - 'Crick & Watson have discovered the double helix!' 'Did they do it on a skateboard?' 'No' 'Well f**k off then I'm not interested.' '

    I'd much rather have a film and action scenes that were suspenseful, exciting and actually felt dangerous rather than 'fun'.

    And just to clarify - so you're saying you'd be fine with the CGI parasurfing had ILM done it?
    SaintMark wrote:
    The rooftopchase had an exiting moment but was overal done before in the earlier Bourne-movie

    Remind me again which of the two franchises had a rooftop chase set in North Africa first?
    SaintMark wrote:
    QoB had a great basis idea for a 007 movie, then they hired a director and editor of the direct competition (Bourne series) and a arty director and a poor script (Haggis alone just is not that great) and we ended with what I consider the poorest movie in the franchise despite the great actors in the movie.

    You clearly have some issues with the Bourne franchise and while I'm obviously dead against Bond copying anybody I'd sooner they copy a good franchise like Bourne rather than a shit one like XXX which is what DAD did but apparently its only QOS that is derivative in your eyes.
    SaintMark wrote:
    ANd lets not talk about the death of Mathis, somebody should have shot the person who came up with that and then the one who decided to shoot it. That one pissed straigth over Flemings grave.

    I presume you are referring to the body being dumped in the skip here (which personally I can take or leave but I can see why some get irate about it) rather than the actual death scene which crams in more drama and good acting than a million DADs.
  • Posts: 7,653
    The rooftop chase with Timothy Dalton that ended in a "flying carpet" which got cut from the movie, and rightly so because it was more Moore than Dalton. It was kind of boring wasn't it?

    Compare that with the chase in the Bourne movie which had everything from brilliant filming to excitement as the Bourne franchise had already shown that they killed main characters without a problem. (the death of Marie seperated the filmseries from the bookseries for ever!)

    I would say that Bourne wins that hands up and was more original in its execution.

    And yes I prefer them copying from a good franchise, however copying it as much as QoB did was losing the 007 identity with taking a good idea and improving on it. In this case EON did only copy poorly.

    As for DAD copying xXx, that would be rather strange as EON never saw the movie before the filming of DAD was finished (and as for the 1st xXx movie I kind of liked it, mostly due to Vin Diesel). DAD's 1st half of the movie showed quite a lot of promise towards a down to earth movie with some patricide in it which makes the villain a real creep. Somewhere after the arrival of Iceland something went wrong. And the sinking of an hotel was not enough in CR they sunk another living accomadation. The learning curve of EON is rather large I figure.

    QoB was a real dissapointment for me and still remains so as CR was such a brilliant reinventing, even if EON chose for a DAD like ending with the actors they had on board.
    QoB just felt not finished and a Bourne movie on speed (which is quite a feat in my humble opinion). And a few great scenes makes it even worse, there should have been a great movie in it.

    And why the 007 movies should be fun? they are no more than escapist fun, always have been, just like the books were escapist fun and quite untrue to the real work of MI6. I do hope that DC gets the balance right in the next one, so far he also suffers in the hands of clumsy scripting occasionaly.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:
    as for the 1st xXx movie I kind of liked it, mostly due to Vin Diesel.

    I'm out.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Come on, Wiz. He'll only come back and say you were too chicken to answer the rest of his points. Finish what you started, if only for me.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Come on, Wiz. He'll only come back and say you were too chicken to answer the rest of his points. Finish what you started, if only for me.

    Sorry but there's no reasoning with a bloke who contravenes the Wizard's first rule of cinema: 'If a film stars Vin Disel, don't watch it.'
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Come on, Wiz. He'll only come back and say you were too chicken to answer the rest of his points. Finish what you started, if only for me.

    Sorry but there's no reasoning with a bloke who contravenes the Wizard's first rule of cinema: 'If a film stars Vin Disel, don't watch it.'

    You, Ice, remind me (unintentionally, I imagine) of "Gorgeous" George Galloway MP - "I don't debate with Israelis. I've been misled!" :)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,804
    the Wizard's first rule of cinema: 'If a film stars Vin Disel, don't watch it.'

    Nonsense; the Riddick movies are great.
  • Samuel001 wrote:
    Come on, Wiz. He'll only come back and say you were too chicken to answer the rest of his points. Finish what you started, if only for me.

    Sorry but there's no reasoning with a bloke who contravenes the Wizard's first rule of cinema: 'If a film stars Vin Disel, don't watch it.'

    I assume Saving Private Ryan has him in a small enough role that it passes? And I kind of liked The Pacifier.
  • Posts: 2,341
    That list is bullshytt.
    Why all the haight for Dalton's two films?
    Why is DAD rated so high?
    You friggin kidding me???
  • Whether it's Travers, or anyone else, that puts Goldfinger in a #1 position, it always generates a certain level of humor - if not bewilderment. I wouldn't even have it in the top 15 of all the releases, but then again, it's often perceived as 'everyone's favorite' (isn't it) - even though I can't see beyond it's a rather long and mundane road to travel. Even Connery looks bored throughout it all

    It gets worse with Die Another Day in the top ten (was this individual on some illegal substances), and Octopussy and Moonraker deserve far better than where they are placed, 16th and 15th respectively. Lo and behold, you have License to Kill and The Living Daylights in the bottom three ?

    After that, I kind of lost interest. Has Travers even seen a James Bond release ? That there list is not above chicken litter
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    NicNac wrote:
    I'm not a Dalton fan, never have been, but TLD is a tidy and entertaining thriller with bags of humour. So he obviously hasn't seen it for years and is relying on half baked memories.

    Which means he hasn't really given any of this too much thought.

    I agree 100 % with these statements. When someone puts all of one Bond actor's films at the bottom (no matter which Bond it is) they are just being ignorant.
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