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Post by mightyjack on Feb 9, 2007 13:47:42 GMT -5
Dr. NoThough not the high octane gadget filled thriller it will come to be. Dr. No establishes 007 for future tales, and tells a pretty decent story as well. Director Terrance Young was a major force behind the creation of the movie character, he coached Sean in all things sophisticated, they developed that deadpan humor and when we see 007 kill and unarmed man, we know that "license to kill" isn't just lip service. The Jamaican locations are beautiful, Dr. No is cool, Hawaii 5-0's Jack Lord is the first man to play Felix, and Honey Rider makes a memorable entrance that captured the hearts of many in that day and still ranks among the best Bond girls. My only complaint was with the Quarrels character. I'm not one to pull the race card out at the drop of a hat, but sometime the interplay between Bond and Quarrels made me a bit uncomfortable and when James orders the man to fetch his shoes, I wanted the Jamaican boatman to shout, "Get your own damn shoes whitey!" ;D Other than that I like this film a lot. [glow=red,2,300]The Lists[/glow] Of those I've seen so far... Ranking the MoviesSee revised list below The BondsThe Great: Connery, Brosnan The Good: Moore, Lazenby The Dull: Dalton The Songs1. Live and Let Die, Paul McCartney and Wings 2. The World is not Enough, Garbage 3. Goldfinger, Shirley Bassey 4. We Have All the Time in the World, Louis Armstrong (Majesty's) 5. Tomorrow Never Dies, Sheryl Crow (sorry, but I liked it 6. The Spy Who Loved Me, Carly Simon 7. You Only Live Twice, Nancy Sinatra 8. Thunderball, Tom Jones (Not a great tune, but Jones sells it) 9. Goldeneye, Tina Turner 10. For Your Eyes Only, Sheena Easton 11. A View to a Kill, Duran, Duran The Henchmen/sub villians1. Oddjob 2. Jaws 3. Red Grant (Robert Shaw's character in FRWL) 4. Rosa Klebb 5. Nick Nack 6. Gobindo (Octopussy) 7. Zao, Die Another Day 8. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd 9. Tee Hee (LALD) The Bond Girls/WomenSee revised list below
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Post by Shep on Feb 9, 2007 16:20:11 GMT -5
Dr. NoMy only complaint was with the Quarrels character. I'm not one to pull the race card out at the drop of a hat, but sometime the interplay between Bond and Quarrels made me a bit uncomfortable and when James orders the man to fetch his shoes, I wanted the Jamaican boatman to shout, "Get your own damn shoes whitey!" ;D Other than that I like this film a lot. Yeah, that line about the shoes made me wince, too, MJ. Hey, that new Bond girl (Eva Green) is pretty hot, too!
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 9, 2007 20:48:26 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to seeing this new film. I wasn't at first (Craig looks like a troll) but with all the good press I can't wait now.
I went to Blockheads and they had all that I still needed to see except for Man With The Golden Gun (and they charged me an arm and a leg, for general titles? Which is why I hate going to blockheads) So the marathon continues! Yipee.
Tomorrow Never Dies I have no recollection of this flick at all. Hell I couldn't even remember the Sheryl Crow Theme (oft criticized, but I loved it!)
The movies first half hour is strong, action packed with lots of humor and Q, my how I miss him. He and Brosnan were really good together, their interplay was among the best in the series.
Then it all kind of goes in the toilet. For one, I think someone forgot they weren't making a Roger Moore 007. Some of the humor is low grade and silly and got on my nerves.
The melodramatic romance with Terri Hatcher (who really bugged me for some reason) was soapy opera caliber garbage.
And the strange little pinched look on Judi Denches face reminded me of Ernest Borgnine in "Marty".
The plots old hat - and while that's not odd for a Bond flick, Pryce's over the top perforce made it all the more difficult to sit through this time round.
Michele Yeoh was good and the action scenes were exciting for the most part. It was just all the stuff in between that made this the weakest Brosnan flick in the series.
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 10, 2007 13:35:38 GMT -5
Other lists...
Best Reaccuring Characters[/u] 1. Q 2. Moneypenny 3. M 4. Felix
Favorite Scenes (forgotten in reviews)[/u] 1. Bond checks out a Goya at Dr. No's headquarters (The painting had recently been stolen in real life) 2. The clock on the bomb in "Goldfinger" stops at 007. ;D 3. One of the Moore flicks (FYEO or TSWLM?) The pre-credit opening: Bond is skiing and is sent flying to his death off a cliff. Suddenly a chute opens emblazoned with the Union Jack. Audiences cheered in theaters in both the UK and even the US.
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Post by Shep on Feb 10, 2007 13:40:23 GMT -5
3. One of the Moore flicks (FYEO or TSWLM?) The pre-credit opening: Bond is skiing and is sent flying to his death off a cliff. Suddenly a chute opens emblazoned with the Union Jack. TSWLM. Awesome moment. There's an ep of "I'm Alan Partridge" where Alan re-enacts the entire sequence, including the opening credits. Hillarious!
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 11, 2007 11:18:18 GMT -5
The Living Daylights[/color] Once more with James Bland Watching closely I truly believe Dalton is an actor of limited ability. He lacks charisma, has poor comedic delivery and employs, oh, 2 expressions. The primary one is equitable to something found on an upset gassy infant. -POW! Rimshot! ;D That the man was out acted by an inexperienced model (Lazenby) speaks volumes about his skills as a thespian. Aside from the toad face with the pretty accent playing 007. Daylights at least feels like a "Bond" movie (Unlike LTK). Though the first half suffers from a Roger Moore hangover (silly, camp humor) it eventually settles down and provides some high spirited action and is rife with cool gadgetry. Q is hillarious as always (Though there is zero chemestry between Llewelyn and Dalton) and the ending sizzles. Overall I had a fun time, but there are huge letdowns: * The "Aha" theme sucks on toast * Caroline Bliss is a weak Moneypenny (Thankfully the superior Samantha Bond is soon to arrive) * Joe Don Baker as Whitaker is a cartoonish villain (He has a collection of sculptures of dictators and tyrants which all bear a striking resemblance to himself) * Bond girl Maryam D'abo has one fewer expression than Dalton; Which means she can out act a cereal box... barely!
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Post by Shep on Feb 11, 2007 12:24:35 GMT -5
[/color] Once more with James Bland Watching closely I truly believe Dalton is an actor of limited ability. He lacks charisma, has poor comedic delivery and employs, oh, 2 expressions. The primary one is equitable to something found on an upset gassy infant. -POW! Rimshot! ;D That the man was out acted by an inexperienced model (Lazenby) speaks volumes about his skills as a thespian. Aside from the toad face with the pretty accent playing 007. Daylights at least feels like a "Bond" movie (Unlike LTK). Though the first half suffers from a Roger Moore hangover (silly, camp humor) it eventually settles down and provides some high spirited action and is rife with cool gadgetry. Q is hillarious as always (Though there is zero chemestry between Llewelyn and Dalton) and the ending sizzles. Overall I had a fun time, but there are huge letdowns: * The "Aha" theme sucks on toast * Caroline Bliss is a weak Moneypenny (Thankfully the superior Samantha Bond is soon to arrive) * Joe Don Baker as Whitaker is a cartoonish villain (He has a collection of sculptures of dictators and tyrants which all bear a striking resemblance to himself) * Bond girl Maryam D'abo has one fewer expression than Dalton; Which means she can out act a cereal box... barely! [/quote] Dalton's definitely a controversial figure among Bond fans. Personally, I've been a fan of his ever since I saw the 80s version of "Jane Eyre." Dalton's Bond...well it took some time to grow on me. Of course, I grew up loving the Roger Moore films. LOL And here's what the actor who played Q has said about Dalton's Bond (from answers.com): In an interview before his death, Llewelyn stated that of all the actors to have portrayed James Bond, he felt that Timothy Dalton's performance was the closest to the way Bond was portrayed in the original novels.High praise from an actor who worked with Connery.
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 11, 2007 12:39:08 GMT -5
Poor silly old fool ;D But again, see my rules. Books are books and movies are movies. That Dalton acts like a book means little to nothing. I.E the Richard Dreyfus character in the novel Jaws bears little resemblance to the movie version of Hooper - and the movie Hooper was a much better character than the book version. If Dalton's the closest to the character in the books then I say, thank God they didn't follow the novels too closely in that regard.
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 11, 2007 12:54:31 GMT -5
Moonraker I didn't like this when it was first released to theaters. I know my expectations were way to high, there was the return of Jaws, the return of my favorite Bond director and coming off the heals of the spectacular Spy Who Loved Me, the movie would have had to have been a masterpiece to live up to the hype and hope.
But time has softened my view. Watching it now I find it not so horrible as I originally thought. The director likes to use the same themes but he manages to make it work. I liked Draco, the actors understated but effective in portraying a modern day Hitler, bent on creating his "master race" (In the SWLM the baddie also want to remake the world in his image). I also liked the female spy counterpart (In SWLM it was a Russian, here it's an American CIA, Holly Goodhead).
But what spoils the brew is the same thing that will hurt the follow-ups (FYEO and Octopussy) - It's all too campy at times. I liked having Jaws back, but I hated seeing him used as comic relief (The original had humor, but respected the character and gave him real menace) and the big laser battle at the end looked pretty cheesy.
Yes I did laugh, but strangely my laughter made me sad. The Bond franchise went from sophisticated dry wit, to a type of camp Vaudevillian routine (Music swells melodramatically when Jaws lays eyes on his future girlfriend. A bad guy does a pratfall into the water, reminding me of the dorky guy in Catalina caper. A bird does a double take as Bond rides a Gondola through the streets of Venice)
Raker along with FYEO and Octopussy are all cut from the same cloth. I can't really rank one ahead of the other. All are decent adventures undercut by the camp elements.
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 11, 2007 13:03:51 GMT -5
Revised Rankings 1. Goldfinger 2. From Russia With Love 3. The Spy Who Loved Me 4. Goldeneye 5. You Only Live Twice 6. The World is Not Enough 7. Dr. No 8. On Her Majesty's Secret Service 9. The Man With the Golden Gun 10. Die Another Day 11. Thunderball 12. For Your Eyes Only 13. Octopussy 13. Moonraker 15. The Living Daylights 16. Tomorrow Never Dies 17. Diamonds Are Forever 18. A View To A Kill 19. License To Kill 20. Live and Let Die
The Bond Girls/Women 1. Honey Rider 2. Domino 3. Elektra 4. Pussy Galore 5. Melina Havelock (FYEO) 6. Solitaire 7. Octopussy 8. Holly Goodhead 9. Tracy (OHMSS) 10. Hmm, I gotta think about this one. Not Jink (sorry Hali fans but I liked Miranda Frost better), Maybe Michelle Yeoh, Barbara Bach, Jill St. John, The gold girl in Goldfinger?
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Post by Shep on Feb 11, 2007 14:05:43 GMT -5
. I.E the Richard Dreyfus character in the novel Jaws bears little resemblance to the movie version of Hooper - and the movie Hooper was a much better character than the book version. Agreed. In many ways Benchley's book isn't all that terrific, though the shark attack descriptions are pretty good.
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 11, 2007 16:55:43 GMT -5
Another top 10 list. This one from David Letterman!
Top Ten Signs You're Watching A Bad James Bond Movie 10. Asks everyone to call him "Jimbo" 9. Villain's private "lair" is the corner booth at Pizzeria Uno 8. It's set backstage at "Saturday Night Live" 7. The Aston Martin won't start, so Bond drives a '95 Ford Focus 6. It's about Dr. No's even more evil brother, Dr. Phil 5. Most impressive gadget? A clock that's also a radio 4. Bond's new catchphrase: "Git R Done" 3. Goodbye license to kill, hello license to inspect meat 2. Soundtrack by Kevin Federline 1. Halfway into the movie, James Bond is shot in the face by Dick Cheney
#4 cracked me up, I can just hear that smooth Brit accent saying that line. LMAO
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 13, 2007 12:15:18 GMT -5
The Man With The Golden Gun OHMSS made money and received generally good reviews on its release. But Lazenby alienated his Producers and the flick didn't make as much as the Studio wanted - so from this point on the suits got more involved - And as studios do when things don't go exactly as they like, they panic, tamper and mostly screw everything up. They were happy with LALD but when TMWTGG generated low ticket sales, it spelled the end of cool and the beginning of camp for 007.
I'm not sure if I've ever seen this movie before. But I'd known of its poor reputation among fans... and maybe it was the low expectations, but I rather dug it.
It is far from perfect. There's that damn Sheriff Pepper from LALD, which brings the whole film to a shattering halt. When they spoil one of the series best stunts (The astral spin) by accompanying the jump with slide whistle, I threw up my hands... as well as my lunch.
But what I liked is that MWTGG is so damn surreal. There's a palpable skewed texture to it all. Even the sets contribute to the feeling (M-16s base of operations is straight out of Dr. Caligary).
And while Roger Moore didn't care for it, I was pleasantly surprised that he was able to pull off being such an SOB when needed. The movie is violent and I liked that. Moore has a real edge and I felt it was his best -almost Connery like- performance in his run.
Christopher Lee's assassin, with henchman Nick Nack (Herve Villachez) are perfect together. Lee is so flipping cool as Bonds dark half. The film provides the usual global threat, but that takes a back seat to the actual thrust of the picture. Golden Gun is an old fashioned western "Gunfight", straight out of Shane (In fact, Jack Palance was considered for the role of the baddie).
The score has a cool Morriconio (sp?) feel to it (The mellower sequences are accompanied by music that reminded me of music heard in "Once Upon A Time In The West" in similar quiet scenes) - and while fans seem to hate her. I didn't have a problem at all with Brit Eckland's Mary Goodnight.
This isn't traditional Bond. There's no Blofeld type evil genius with diabolical scheme. It was very violent (Blood spatter and bullet holes. Though tame by todays standards) and the whole tone is surreal.
I can understand how fans would react to this the same way I do to "License To Kill". Because while there is humor, cool gadgets and stunts, MWTGG isn't like any 007 before or after.
But I've got a bad brain. I like things that drift slightly off the beam (Not meaning "Goofy", but abstract, other wordily, off kilter etc. Probably explains why I react so favorably to the Russian epics on MST3K)
The Man With the Golden Gun isn't for every taste, but it really appealed to my Dada-esque mind.
Oh and I'm not sure what I think of the much hated theme song. I know they considered many (I'm an Alice Cooper fan but the theme he wrote, wow, big time sucking there. I haven't heard the others considered to see if I felt they made the right choice)
I've revised my top 20 above and now only have one more from the official series. I did watch the unofficial "Never Say Never Again", but I haven't had the strength to review it (it was pretty sorrowful, really poor production values and Sean seemed bored to death)
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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 13, 2007 13:18:13 GMT -5
I've never been a huge Bond fan. And that will be reinforced by the following comments:
I thought Dalton was a close second to Connery as top Bond.
One of the first VHS tapes I had as a kid was "Never Say Never Again", and I loved it, knowing nothing of its place in the official canon. I especially liked the video game sequence. When I saw Thunderball much later, I was quite unimpressed.
Once, in high school (pre-Brosnan), I watched all of them in order. They all ran together and were immediately forgettable. Except one: Goldfinger.
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Post by Shep on Feb 13, 2007 19:33:09 GMT -5
Once, in high school (pre-Brosnan), I watched all of them in order. They all ran together and were immediately forgettable. Except one: Goldfinger. "Goldfinger" is just classic movie fun. The golden girl, the ejector seat car, Bond and Pussy Galore wrestling in the stable, etc. It's still my fave.
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