Last Bond Movie You Watched

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  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    edited May 2014 Posts: 1,731
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I think its very flawed but the goofy tone doesn't take up all of the film.

    Although I do find it very entertaining I don't think I'd quite call OP "top notch". Its #10 on my list at the moment. Stuff like the auction, Bond and OP, the train sequence, Bond frantically disarming the bomb and of course Kamahl Kahn give the film some class and make up for the silly bits.

    Yes,THIS
    I think that the scenes at the Fabergé Egg auction (taken from Fleming's Property of a lady story) are exactly what has been missing in the modern day 007 film - a slow set up some & intrigue to precede the action and adventure!
  • Posts: 11,425
    AceHole wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I think its very flawed but the goofy tone doesn't take up all of the film.

    Although I do find it very entertaining I don't think I'd quite call OP "top notch". Its #10 on my list at the moment. Stuff like the auction, Bond and OP, the train sequence, Bond frantically disarming the bomb and of course Kamahl Kahn give the film some class and make up for the silly bits.

    Yes,THIS
    I think that the scenes at the Fabergé Egg auction (taken from Fleming's Property of a lady story) are exactly what has been missing in the modern day 007 film - a slow set up some & intrigue to precede the action and adventure!

    Absolutely. To be fair, I did think SF did that moderately well up to the end of the Silva's island sequence. After that it goes abit awry.

    I do really recommend 'The Two Faces of January'. The tension builds brilliantly and satisfyingly slowly. I'd love to see that approach in a Bond movie, leading to a traditional grand confrontation.

  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,731
    Getafix wrote:
    I do really recommend 'The Two Faces of January'. The tension builds brilliantly and satisfyingly slowly. I'd love to see that approach in a Bond movie, leading to a traditional grand confrontation.

    That's settled then. I was considering going to see this, and your endorsement has sold me on the idea :)
    Plus Viggo Mortensen is such a class act (he, incidentally, has a bit of the Dalton about him, both in looks and thespian-ness). If he was British he'd have been an excellent 007.
  • edited May 2014 Posts: 11,425
    AceHole wrote:
    Getafix wrote:
    I do really recommend 'The Two Faces of January'. The tension builds brilliantly and satisfyingly slowly. I'd love to see that approach in a Bond movie, leading to a traditional grand confrontation.

    That's settled then. I was considering going to see this, and your endorsement has sold me on the idea :)
    Plus Viggo Mortensen is such a class act (he, incidentally, has a bit of the Dalton about him, both in looks and thespian-ness). If he was British he'd have been an excellent 007.

    Mortensen is excellent. A brilliant trio of actors in the main parts actually. They work brilliantly together. I long for this kind of real tension between the actors in a Bond movie - you can almost taste the friction, loathing, distrust. I think the closest Bond has come to this is Connery and Shaw in FRWL - which is of course one of the greatest confrontations and face offs in the entire series.

    Yes, Mortensen is incredibly adaptable. Come to think of it, he would have made an excellent Bond. Why not have a Scando as Bond? Our Danish and Swedish cousins often speak better English than we do! He convinces utterly as an American in this film (IMO). A brilliant portrait of a man imploding under the weight of his own failed dreams. Excellent acting.
  • Posts: 2,483
    Birdleson wrote:
    TOMORROW NEVER DIES

    It's falling a spot to #20. Previously I would defend the first half of this picture, but this time I had serious problems throughout. Possibly the worst dialogue in the franchise. Senseless, over choreographed, nauseatingly routine, loud action scenes. Not unique to this film, but definitely pushed to a maximum level, is the incessant automatic weapons fire. It is nearly endless, and Bond apparently has some kind of teflon coating because he doesn't even seem to be concerned, and rightfully so. They just pour bullets at him, from all directions, just can't seem to hit him. So why is it even there? If anything, the tension decreases when such fireworks become the norm.

    I like the sets. I still liked the scenes in his hotel room with Paris (alive scene and dead scene), the PTS was decent, but that really is about it.

    All that's left in my latest journey through the Bond films is GOLDENEYE. After that I'm going to try putting them away until some time around July of next year and then run through the series again leading up to Bond 24. Going to be rough. I'm sure I'll still check out any that happen to come on television.

    Except for the animadversion about the dialogue, I agree with your assessment. This is Arnold's worst score, yet many regard it as his best. What can one say? And the "action" in the back half of the film is quintessentially generic and thus dull as dirt. Clearly, the Powers ran out of ideas and substituted mindless explosions and machine gun fire. A pity, because near to the first half of the film was classic Bond. If they could have sustained it, TND would be a slam dunk for the Top 10, IMO.

  • Posts: 2,483
    Getafix wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    OP is pretty goofy at times but I can't help but find it my "guilty pleasure" Bond film. Also, is it me or could the PTS easily have Leslie Nielsen in it?

    No need to feel guilty about this one. The daft comedy bits in the first half seem to have convinced some fans that it's not worthy of serious consideration as a top notch Bond movie. But the second half more than makes up for any supposed failings at the start. (Although, I have to admit, I really enjoy a lot of the silliness).

    The problem with OP's silliness is that it is silly without being clever. I can easily forgive the silliness in DAF because it is also witty as hell.
  • Posts: 2,483
    Getafix wrote:
    Totally agree. TLD is the better Bond movie overall. LTK has the better villain perhaps, but Necros is an excellent henchman and while Davi is definitely good, I've always wondered if this type of villain is really right for a Bond movie. He is pure evil sadist, but in a very realistic way. The acting is great and he imbues the character with total believability, but I do think the Bond villains require just a little touch of the fantastical, otherwise the fun can become a little lost amongst the seriousness.

    LTK has always felt to me, a little overly serious for a Bond movie. It has some enjoyable sequences and I think still feels more like a Bond film than all the Brosnans, but it rings a slightly off key note for me, that in many ways heralds the loss of purpose and direction that was to characterise the following decade.

    I have no doubt that the end of the cold war had something to do with this.

    There is plenty about Sanchez that is "fantastical," even comedic. The iguana, the dark sense of humor lighten Sanchez just enough. For a truly grim and sadistic Bond villain, see the inexplicably underrated Stromberg.

  • edited May 2014 Posts: 11,189
    I think Stromberg is very good, but kind of underused. There are long stretches of the film where we don't see or hear anything from him.
  • Posts: 2,483
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I think Stromberg is very good, but kind of underused.

    Yes. The Bond films have occasionally squandered, or at least underused terrific characters. Severine and Julius No spring readily to mind.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I'm happy to see that there are a lot more OP fans than I initially believed. I think it's fantastic and criminally underrated.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Truly cannot understand how someone can love GE.

    It is a mystery.

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Last time I watched OP a tornado tore through the city a few minutes to the south of us right in the middle of the flick. I'm sort of scared to watch it again.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    Octopussy is a solid Bond release, with some truly great scenes in the second half. Perhaps some scenes in the first half pulls it down a little, but it still has some if the most tense scenes in the franchise. It sits just outside of my top ten.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    'Tomorrow Never Dies'

    Didn't sit that well with me this time around, and I think the film has an abundance of action that just falls flat for me. The fight scenes are undermined by the horrendous fake punching sounds, some of the dialogue is terrible (though some of the lines are fantastic, so it's half-and-half), and I think Elliott is just a terrible villain. His cheesy dialogue, his mocking of the kung-fu (which is so cringe-worthy), and his overall plot is pathetic. I think he's a loser, personally. He comes across as a nerd who got bullied one too many times, so he's still keeping with his interests and killing people just to be on TV and have a popular newspaper. Spooky. Now it's time for TWINE.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    *Bond slaps Creasy*

    politely
  • Posts: 6,396
    Creasy47 wrote:
    'Tomorrow Never Dies'

    Didn't sit that well with me this time around, and I think the film has an abundance of action that just falls flat for me. The fight scenes are undermined by the horrendous fake punching sounds, some of the dialogue is terrible (though some of the lines are fantastic, so it's half-and-half), and I think Elliott is just a terrible villain. His cheesy dialogue, his mocking of the kung-fu (which is so cringe-worthy), and his overall plot is pathetic. I think he's a loser, personally. He comes across as a nerd who got bullied one too many times, so he's still keeping with his interests and killing people just to be on TV and have a popular newspaper. Spooky. Now it's time for TWINE.

    You're being too kind to the film. It's much, much worse.
  • chrisisall wrote:
    *Bond slaps Creasy*

    politely

    Like this, perchance?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Apologies! It's just how I felt about it this time around. I also failed to mention the gun battle in the finale, it's just...goofy, I suppose. Bond wields an MP5 one-handed the entire time, gets on my nerves. Even when he drops the P99, he still holds it like that. Then you also have him wielding the gun around at enemies at times with no rounds coming out. Takes me out of the experience.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    We'll always have GE... ^:)^
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    chrisisall wrote:
    We'll always have GE... ^:)^

    Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy TND, it just isn't as fantastic as I remembered it. GE, on the other hand...never fails to impress me.

    Watching TWINE now. This PTS is wonderful.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    GE is the last part of my favourite unofficial trilogy; TLD/LTK/GE.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited May 2014 Posts: 13,978
    Die Another Day

    I'm watching it on ITV as I type, Bond has reached Cuba. I mind wandered for a moment, and it dawned on me that I was 16 when I first saw DAD in the cinema.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    'The World Is Not Enough'

    Fantastic PTS, thrilling and suspenseful the whole way through, all the way leading up to what could've been a fantastic battle between Bond and Renard, but it was filled with bad dialogue and a mediocre fight scene. "Welcome to my nuclear family." Don't make me cringe, Renard. Having said that, it's my second favorite Brosnan Bond film. I love it. Finally, we've made it to DAD.
  • Posts: 51
    Came home from work last night (Friday), and was pleasantly surprised to see Casino Royale playing on Chinese television! Because it was dubbed and subtitled in Chinese, it was interesting to see what was kept and lost in translation. The "Christ, I miss the Cold War" line, for example, was simplified to something like "the generation that follows is always worse than the one it precedes." Several scenes were cut out as well, partly due to censorship and cutting the film down to an hour and a half. The scene with Bond picking up Solange, for example, cut to Bond getting out of a taxi in pursuit of Dimitrios. The action sequence at Miami International was shortened, and cut to when Bond is poisoned. The rest of the film was pretty much intact, if I remember correctly. Nevertheless, it was a great way to start the weekend :)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Don't make me cringe, Renard. Having said that, it's my second favorite Brosnan Bond film.

    *Takes the Bond slap back*
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Thank you! I'm glad it was redacted. Watching DAD right now, so enjoyable if you just sit back and expect nothing but goofy entertainment.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited May 2014 Posts: 40,976
    I would say I prefer OP to TND.

    'Die Another Day'

    I'll cut to it, it's entertaining enough for what it's worth.

    Pros:
    - It has its moments, mainly the PTS, the scene in Cuba, the sword fighting scene, and the Iceland car chase.
    - Halle Berry is smoking hot.
    - Brosnan doesn't look as old as Moore did in his final outing, which is good.
    - Dare I say I like the score? Sans the theme song. I mean, it is catchy, but just listening to the lyrics makes me cringe.

    Cons:
    - You know what goes here: the horrible CGI, parasailing scene, the invisible car (nifty idea but comes off as cheesy in numerous parts), Madonna's cameo, the entire gene therapy plot, that horrid electro-suit, and the very disappointing finale, along with the dialogue.
    - Michael Madsen is horribly miscast and doesn't belong anywhere near a Bond film, and the even more upsetting fact is someone thought "You know what? Madsen isn't doing anything lately, let's ask him to be in this trainwreck."
    - But, none of that compares in the slightest to the worst offender in the film: having MP and Bond kiss. Virtual reality or not, I don't care, it doesn't belong in the film at all. Shame on you.

    And that concludes my Bondathon. I've watched the Craig films way too many times lately to watch them again, so I'm moving on to my other films. But, it has been very fun!
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I forgot Madonna's cameo in my con's list. Awful idea. I was even preparing for the scenes that I think are the worst and just concocting ideas on how they could've fixed it. Take the parasailing bit: how about Icarus shuts off when Gustav believes he's gone off the side and died, and Bond just climbs back up and finds the snowmobiler there, or he simply parachutes (no para-skate-gliding trash, and make it zoomed further away so it's an actual stunt, no cut-ups of Brosnan's face) to safety. No ice falling, no fake tsunami, none of it.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    or have Bond and Zao duke it out with the spy cars - you could skip the entire ice-dragsters /CGI debacle completely. It would improve the pacing of the film, certainly.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Actually, that idea is leagues better. That would also shorten the timing that Jinx is in the pool. As soon as Bond and Zao take off (totally ignoring the land-speed scene while Bond runs from Icarus and returns to the Ice Palace), that's when Graves locks her in the room and escapes, and everything else plays out normally. Just do a little nip and tuck on the CGI and dialogue and throw out a few scenes, and the film would be much better.

    It also dawned on me last night that DAD was another opportunity for them to introduce Bond as a gritty, dark, smoking-and-drinking (I guess he accomplishes these last two) agent after being imprisoned and tortured for 14 months, but nope.
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