Tell us all about your BONDATHON

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  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    Following in the footsteps of @MayDayDiVicenzo and @Creasy47, I've also started a summer Bondathon!

    Doctor No
    This is, I believe, the 5th time I've seen it this year so far. Do I get tired of it? No! The film keeps surprising me at how fast it moves a long, and shockingly, the film feels shorter and shorter. Also, the soundtrack greatly improved in my liking. The songs (Underneath a Mango Tree and Jump Up) are very good, but this time I found myself humming the actual soundtrack. Sure the music is very basic and dated, but it's simplicity is its strenght, it's very easy to remember and it makes you humming cues as the film goes along.

    Connery seems better and better in this outing. He is an absolute alpha male here, not one line of dialogue he says or movement of the body seem too much or awkward. I also noticed how much he enjoys himself, when looking at his face you can see his eyes glowing like a kid who has just entered a candy store.

    All in all, this film is now a solid 10/10 from me and may very well have entered my top 5 once this Bondathon is over.

    Great one! I'm a big fan of your Dr. No reviews, one of my absolute favs! =D>
  • Posts: 11,119
    I hope this is a topic for Bond movie marathon's as well. I mean, were lots of your friends come to your place and decide to watch 4 to 6 films in a row until 5:00 AM or so :-P.

    Well, I'm going to do that. September 12th to be precise. And we're going to show these films. Take also into account that some visitors are not die-hard Bond fans ;-). And off course, the films are to prepare for "SPECTRE":

    iJXdXG.jpg

    Anyone else organizing a Bond-Marathon with friends in the run-up to "SPECTRE"?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Someone has started a snowball effect in getting all of us to do a Bondathon! Time to fire up FRWL.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I'm afraid it's me. Sorry about that old boy. :p
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Murdock wrote: »
    I'm afraid it's me. Sorry about that old boy. :p

    No need for apologies, I had forgotten just how fun a proper Bondathon was.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    I'm afraid it's me. Sorry about that old boy. :p

    No need for apologies, I had forgotten just how fun a proper Bondathon was.

    I never attempted one before. I thought I would be burnt out halfway through but I'm almost done now. :)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Wow, this is your first one? I had no idea, glad you've enjoyed it and managed to stick with it! It'll obviously have its highs and lows, but the payoff is always worth it and I am seldom bored with the runthrough.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I've always just usually watched a Bond movie I felt like watching. After watching a few i would get burnt out and not watch any for a while but this is the most fun I've had watching Bond movies in a real long time. And @Birdleson, I will certainly finish strong. The final stretch is full of excitement and fun from here. :D
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited July 2015 Posts: 15,718
    From Russia With Love
    What a cracker of a film this is! FRWL is one of the best spy films ever made, the script is a total winner. I really like how in contrast to DN, where you piece the bits of the puzzle with Bond, here the whole villain scheme is exposed in the opening 15 minutes. Which leaves the rest of the film to witness Sir Sean expertly beat the villains at their own game! Bond is at his most intelligent in this outing, beaten only by LTK, in my opinion.

    I also noticed something new for me: I now believe the finest bits of acting by Connery as Bond are all the scenes where Kerim Bay appears. I don't know what kind of magic happens, but Pedro Armendariz and Connery really 'click' together, and they bring out their A-game and seem to totally love acting with each-other. Dare I say the chemistry between Bond and Kerim Bay is bar none the best between 2 characters in the entire franchise. It is an absolute joy to watch them together. And I must say the 15 minutes of film that starts with the gypsy camp and end with the killing of Krilenku is IMO one of the highlights of not only the Connery era, but the entire franchise.

    From the opening bars of music when Grant activates his killer watch in the PTS, you know John Barry is THE man, and he will keep impressing you for his whole work on the franchise.

    To conclude: FRWL is a film that will always be in my top 5.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    'From Russia With Love'

    Classic, classic Bond. It's hard to say anything that hasn't been covered here, but you really don't get much better than this in terms of one stellar spy movie. We have Connery - excellent as always in the role - alongside one of the most beautiful Bond girls as he battles arguably the greatest Bond villain in the series. The faceoff in the train between Bond and Grant is terribly intense and never manages to disappoint. BUT, for some reason, at the end of the day, I prefer DN. I don't know what it is, I can't figure it out, but DN has always stood out as my favorite of the two. I know I'm in the minority in saying that, and I don't want it to undermine the perfection that is FRWL, but it's the truth.

    2015 Bondathon Rating:
    1.) DN
    2.) FRWL
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    @Creasy47, I felt the same way at the same way about FRWL. I enjoy it tremendously, but I felt it was a bit bleaker than Dr. No. DN is so full of color and life, you feel like you're there in Jamaica. I couldn't feel the same way about FRWL.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Murdock wrote: »
    @Creasy47, I felt the same way at the same way about FRWL. I enjoy it tremendously, but I felt it was a bit bleaker than Dr. No. DN is so full of color and life, you feel like you're there in Jamaica. I couldn't feel the same way about FRWL.

    Perhaps that's it. DN is so fun to me, while FRWL takes itself much more seriously, I suppose? That could be it, I'm not sure, it's really tough for me to try and describe it.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    @Creasy47, I felt the same way at the same way about FRWL. I enjoy it tremendously, but I felt it was a bit bleaker than Dr. No. DN is so full of color and life, you feel like you're there in Jamaica. I couldn't feel the same way about FRWL.

    Perhaps that's it. DN is so fun to me, while FRWL takes itself much more seriously, I suppose? That could be it, I'm not sure, it's really tough for me to try and describe it.

    What I've discovered is, that Dr. NO is a very Bond centric movie. All the action is always on Bond where FRWL is heavily focused on the villains. While that's not a problem, it's something I discovered in my last viewing. It's very interesting.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @Murdock, and like you said, not that that's a problem, but you're right, it does tend to somewhat take the focus away from Bond for a good bit of the film here and there. Hell, Bond doesn't even appear in the movie until we're 18 minutes into it.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    I am currently watching all Bond movies. I do this every two to three years. The "newer" ones I watch in between whenever I feel like it.

    I watch them chronologically and I have finished the Brosnan movies and only the Craig movies are left.

    Everytime I re-watch all of them my opinion on some of the Bond movies change a bit resulting in a different ranking in my Top Bond list.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,589
    I hope this is a topic for Bond movie marathon's as well. I mean, were lots of your friends come to your place and decide to watch 4 to 6 films in a row until 5:00 AM or so :-P.

    Well, I'm going to do that. September 12th to be precise. And we're going to show these films. Take also into account that some visitors are not die-hard Bond fans ;-). And off course, the films are to prepare for "SPECTRE":

    iJXdXG.jpg

    Anyone else organizing a Bond-Marathon with friends in the run-up to "SPECTRE"?
    I don't have any Bond friends
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited July 2015 Posts: 15,718
    @Birdleson this time I found myself only having a problem with the helicopter action scene. The boat chase seemed better, and I love seeing Bond fire the flaregun in the oil barrels to wipe out the enemy.

    Goldfinger
    This one keeps improving, after years of being bored by this film. I kept having this image of Connery being useless for half the film, that he was bored while captured and it just dragged on and on. Well, in my recent viewings, I discovered I was greatly mistaken. Sure Bond is captured for a while, but the movie keeps going at a fast pace, and there is still a lot going on in the 2nd half. It can't be boring when in this section of the film features the world record for having the biggest amount of actors over acting in the same room (the gangster sequence).

    Again, GF flips the template of the previous film on the head. This time, we are introduced to the main villain immediatly, but are offered zero info on what the scheme is about. The movie also greatly differs from DN and FRWL in the sense that there are 'two' plots going on - the gold smuggling and then the 'Grand Slam' operation at the end. A template I will compare in the other films which copies this formula (OP, AVTAK, TLD, and there's bound to be some I will remember during this Bondathon).
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    Wow what a coincidence! I too recently reassessed my Bond rankings and found DN superior to FRWL, despite the lesser production quality. The film just seems to have such a charm of it's own right down to the minimalist score and of course the songs.
  • eddychaputeddychaput Montreal, Canada
    Posts: 364
    From Russia With Love

    Yeah, it's pretty much perfect, isn't it?

    I'll gladly echo the sentiment. It's been my favourite Bond film for years. In fact, it's my favourite film, period.

  • eddychaputeddychaput Montreal, Canada
    Posts: 364
    I hope this is a topic for Bond movie marathon's as well. I mean, were lots of your friends come to your place and decide to watch 4 to 6 films in a row until 5:00 AM or so :-P.

    Well, I'm going to do that. September 12th to be precise. And we're going to show these films. Take also into account that some visitors are not die-hard Bond fans ;-). And off course, the films are to prepare for "SPECTRE":

    iJXdXG.jpg

    Anyone else organizing a Bond-Marathon with friends in the run-up to "SPECTRE"?
    I don't have any Bond friends

    They don't have to be Bond friends, necessarily. Casual fans of the franchise can make the marathon fun too. Heck, inviting people over to watch some of the films they haven't seen is almost as exciting.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Most of my friends suck so I always do these Bondathons alone.
  • eddychaputeddychaput Montreal, Canada
    Posts: 364
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Most of my friends suck so I always do these Bondathons alone.

    LOL.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Goldfinger
    This one keeps improving, after years of being bored by this film. I kept having this image of Connery being useless for half the film, that he was bored while captured and it just dragged on and on. Well, in my recent viewings, I discovered I was greatly mistaken.
    I found that as well! It's now much higher in my rankings, and I'm also another that likes DN just slightly better than FRWL... wow, agreement here is flowing like free Martini's!
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @chrisisall, this type of agreement on these forums is a rare thing, we better soak it up while we can!
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Never Say Never Again: Kevin McClory may have had the idea for the novel, but Fleming was the one who executed it well. I don't even know where to start... Unmemorable cast, absymal score, uninteresting story. NSNA won't be in my next Bondathon, that's for sure (I'm still unsure about Casino Royale '67 because of David Niven and Peter Sellers).

    Ranking:
    01. OHMSS
    02. FRWL
    03. DN
    04. FYEO
    05. TMWTGG
    06. TSWLM
    07. GF
    08. MR
    09. OP
    10. DAF
    11. TB
    12. LALD
    13. CR '54
    14. NSNA
    15. YOLT
    16. CR '67
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,589
    eddychaput wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Most of my friends suck so I always do these Bondathons alone.


    LOL.

    My wife will sometimes watch a Bond film with me, but it usually has to be a Moore one to keep her interest.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    Thunderball
    Let me start by saying that Sean Connery is THE man in this film. His performance alone makes me understand why so many picked this film as the one they'd like to experience. Escaping the villains by flying with a jetpack? Seducing what is hands down the sexiest collection of women in cinematic history? Spending your time swimming in the bahamas? Tell me where to sign in! Barry really hits the mark here, even if his work on FRWL and GF were very good, this is where he starts reaching the rarified atmosphere of musical achivement.

    However, what bothered me wasn't the end underwater battle, but the whole SPECTRE plan at the start. It lasts 20 minutes or so, and while it's very interesting to see the plan set in motion, I keep waiting to see Connery getting his assignment from M and wiping out the entire enemy single-handidly.

    In conclusion: While this film was and still is a small boy's dream for me, I believe GF is now higher than TB in my ranking. But not by much, mind you.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited July 2015 Posts: 5,080
    Goldfinger

    As soon as we see Connery emerge from the water with a seagull hat on his head, it's an indication that the tone of this film is very different from the two that came before. And this isn't complaint. Goldfinger manages to tell an OTT story with a straight face, and I buy it (machine gun toting nanny notwithstanding). It doesn't need to be said, but this film is just so damn iconic.

    Goldfinger suffered somewhat in regards to my opinion of the film when I last watched it, but it's safe to say that I enjoyed much more this time around- not quite getting to the heights of second position, however. It could enter my top ten once again. We'll see if there will be any casualties later on in my Bondathon.

    Love the score, love Auric and Oddjob, love Pussy (Galore, that is), love the plot, love Adam's sets, and I love Connery's performance. I found the pacing much better this time around, too.

    In terms of its ranking position, I prefer FRWL- I just find it a much more thrilling experience.

    I can once again join the pro-Goldfinger camp.

    Mayday's Bondathon Summer 2015- The Run-up to SPECTRE

    -FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)
    -GOLDFINGER (1964)
    -DR. NO (1962)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Goldfinger

    Sadly, my opinion on this hasn't changed during this Bondathon, as I find it to be relatively weak and containing odd pacing as usual. Sure, it contains some really iconic lines and scenes, but for me, that's all it has going for it. The finale is okay, but it doesn't save the rest of the movie for me, and I struggled to get through it once again. Better luck next time!

    2015 Bondathon Ranking:
    1.) DN
    2.) FRWL
    3.) GF
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    @Creasy47 that's how I felt when I watched a few months ago. But I think today I was just in the right mood for the film, and it's shot up in my estimation.

    Something I noticed today- I really love how Connery delivers the "I know" line when replying to the room service woman when she exclaims "that's Mr Goldfinger's room!". That smirk.
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