The James Bond Thread

[soupytwist]

My favorite Bond movie is "The Spy Who Loved Me", but in reading the books, I'm actually thinking I'm in for a grand reassessment.  As I've read each book, I've taken a gander at each of the movie plots, and they are, in some cases, VERY different. 

The Spy Who Loved Me book couldn't be anymore different from the film.  The book is also the worst of the Fleming Bond Novels by some way (in my opinion).  The film is a good one though, Rogers best.

I forgot if I said this or not (and am too lazy to scroll back four posts! Hahaha), but I'm on "From Russia With Love" now. "Dr. No" is next (that's the first film, if memory serves) then "Goldfinger".

Are you just going to read the Fleming ones or continue on the novel franchise.  They tend to be a bit of a mixed bag (that includes the Fleming ones to be fair).  The two big contributions are by Raymond Benson and John Gardner - both wrote several Bond novels, I've read a couple of each.  They are both OK but rather workmanlike.  I would recommend Sebastian Faulks 'Devil May Care' - that's really good.

[Stadler]

My favorite Bond movie is "The Spy Who Loved Me", but in reading the books, I'm actually thinking I'm in for a grand reassessment.  As I've read each book, I've taken a gander at each of the movie plots, and they are, in some cases, VERY different. 

The Spy Who Loved Me book couldn't be anymore different from the film.  The book is also the worst of the Fleming Bond Novels by some way (in my opinion).  The film is a good one though, Rogers best.

I forgot if I said this or not (and am too lazy to scroll back four posts! Hahaha), but I'm on "From Russia With Love" now. "Dr. No" is next (that's the first film, if memory serves) then "Goldfinger".

Are you just going to read the Fleming ones or continue on the novel franchise.  They tend to be a bit of a mixed bag (that includes the Fleming ones to be fair).  The two big contributions are by Raymond Benson and John Gardner - both wrote several Bond novels, I've read a couple of each.  They are both OK but rather workmanlike.  I would recommend Sebastian Faulks 'Devil May Care' - that's really good.

I generally stick to the originals.  A couple authors I like - Robert Ludlum, for one - have had their characters (particularly Jason Bourne) live on, but I generally steer clear.   It's sometimes very hard to accommodate the style and tone without it being caricature, and I get distracted too easily by that. 

[DoctorAction]

I've read Dr No and another Fleming one about 20 years ago  and Devil May Care when it came out. Enjoyed them all. Was totally convinced by the tone of the latter, fwiw.

[jammindude]

People like The Spy Who Loved Me?

The last time I went through them, I found that one in particular to be incredibly boring.

If memory serves, my two favorite Moore films are FYEO and AVTAK. Followed closely by TMWTGG. TSWLM was mostly just plodding, but not terrible, and the less said about MR and LALD the better.

Oh, I almost forgot, Octopussy was a bit ridiculous as well, but not as bad as the last two I mentioned.

[Kotowboy]

I love Bond - but i find the most boring ones are the Sean Connery ones. Thunderball especially is tedious if I remember.

One day I will get all 25 movies on DVD and watch one a day to re-assess.

[Cool Chris]

People like The Spy Who Loved Me?

The last time I went through them, I found that one in particular to be incredibly boring.

I didn't see any Bond films in real time until Brosnan, and do not recall at what point in time, or it what sequence, I saw The Spy Who Loved Me. But that was my initial takeaway as well. I think it is one of the few Bond films (outside of the Craig ones) I have not seen multiple times.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I love ‘Spy’, it’s one of my big 4 of the franchise. Only 4 films in the franchise that I consider masterpieces:

Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me
GoldenEye
Casino Royale

[Phoenix87x]

My favorites:

Goldeneye
Spy who loved me
Casino royale
From Russia with love

Guilty Pleasures:

Tomorrow never dies
Moonraker
Quantum of solace

[soupytwist]

Top 5 for me..

1. The Living Daylights.
2. Casino Royale.
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
4. From Russia with Love.
5. Goldeneye.

Bottom 5..

5. Diamonds are Forever.
4. The Man with the Golden Gun.
3. The World in not Enough.
2. Thunderball.
1. Quantum of Solace.  (Worst by a mile).

Quilty Pleasure... View to a Kill. 

[Cool Chris]

Personal favorites:
Goldeneye: I maintain it was the right film, with the right actor, at the right time.
The Man With the Golden Gun
Skyfall

Ones I seem to like a lot that are not highly regarded by Bond fans:
Live and Let Die - Yep
The World is Not Enough - has some flaws but still highly enjoyable

Ones I enjoy but don't get the reverence for from the fanbase:
Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me (but apparently this is not as highly regarded by forum members here, maybe I overestimated its appreciation...)
Casino Royale

Least Favorites:
Dr. No
Thunderball
Diamonds Are Forever

I didn't enjoy it the one time I watched it, but it was so long ago I cannot say why. Maybe it just made no discernible impression on me:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Licence to Kill
The Living Daylights

I fell asleep in the theater and never saw the whole film (it's a long story):
Quantum of Solace

[The Curious Orange]

I agree that I'd put Goldeneye as the best and Quantum as the worst, but other than that:

Personal favorites:
Goldeneye: Utterly Brilliant. Reinvented a dying franchise. Love it.
The Spy Who Loved Me: Fun, fun, fun - everything a Bond film should be. Plus Barbara Bach.
You Only Live Twice: A bit racist viewed through today's filter, but Donald Pleasance nails it.
Casino Royale

Ones I like a lot that are not highly regarded by Bond fans:
Oh Her Majesty's Secret Service: The last of the glamour 60s Bonds, and a more mature and vulnerable approach to the character
For Your Eyes Only: A proper old fashioned spy caper, criminally underrated.
Never Say Never Again: I always enjoy this one.
The Living Daylights: The franchise was looking a bit tired by this point, and was struggling to compete with big budget movie blockbusters, but what's not to like about Timothy Dalton and Maryam D'Abo ski-ing down a mountain on a cello?
Licence to Kill: Its basically an episode of Miami Vice, but still fun

Ones I enjoy but don't get the reverence for from the fanbase:
From Russia With Love: It's just alright
Thunderball: ditto
Diamonds are Forever: Plenty O'Toole - "named after your father, no doubt"
The Man With The Golden Gun: Christopher Lee is seriously underused in this.
A View To A Kill: Fun, but Roger Moore is old enough to be her great-grandfather - icky
Tomorrow Never Dies
Skyfall

Least Favorites:
Dr. No
Goldfinger: Bond does nothing, he's totally passive throughout, the plot would have unravelled in exactly the same way if he hadn't been there.
Live And Let Die
The World Is Not Enough: One of the least believable things in any Bond movie - Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist.

Awful:
Spectre
Octopussy: Bond defuses a bomb dressed as a clown and there are plenty of hijinks with a man in a gorilla suit in a sub-plot lifted straight out of an old Marx Brothers film.
Moonraker: The Space Cavalry arrive to save the day with space laser guns. Let me say that again just in case you failed to appreciate how daft it is - The Space Cavalry arrive to save the day with space laser guns.
Die Another Day: The invisible car. Need I say more?

I walked out of the cinema and never saw the whole film it was that bad:
Quantum of Solace

[Kotowboy]

Last time I rewatched QOS I didnt hate it. But Die Another Day is still terrible.


Goldeneye and Casino Royale are clearly the two best.

[Stadler]

Timothy Dalton and Maryam D'Abo ski-ing down a mountain on a cello?

AND

One of the least believable things in any Bond movie - Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist.

HAHAHA.   

[soupytwist]

Last time I rewatched QOS I didnt hate it. But Die Another Day is still terrible.


Goldeneye and Casino Royale are clearly the two best.

If they'd only kept Dalton on for Goldeneye, it might be the best one.   As it is we get a great film with a dull Bond - Hell even swap the roles with Sean Bean as Bond and Brosnan (or someone else) as Trevelyan and it'd be a better film.

Die another Day is terrible, but it's never boring - so that's why it's above a few others for me.

Octopussy: Bond defuses a bomb dressed as a clown and there are plenty of hijinks with a man in a gorilla suit in a sub-plot lifted straight out of an old Marx Brothers film.

No matter how many times I watch this film I still have no idea what the hell is going on with those faberge egg's at the start.

[Kotowboy]

Pierce had the perfect look but after goldeneye his films were poor.

[Phoenix87x]

Its a shame Pierce didn't get better material to work with:

Goldeneye - awesome

Tomorrow never dies- Dumb but fun

The world is not enough- boring and dull

Die another day- Absurd cartoon and ridiculous

[Kotowboy]

I need to see Tomorrow Never Dies again but I remember The World Is Not Enough being his 2nd best one after Goldeneye.

Upon first viewing I think TND had a weak story and poor villain who just sort of died at the end... I remember an Austin Powers kinda death where there's a drill coming at him

and he just sort of stands there.

[DTA]

I think TND is the single most underrated Bond film there is. There's so much cool stuff going on in that one that I really can't see how it's labeled as inferior in any way. The whole Dr. Kaufman/unbreakable-car segment is one of the best moments in any Bond film and the corrupt media aspect feels pretty relevant nowadays.

[Cool Chris]

Man, when TND was in production, I thought Jonathan Pryce was born to play a Bond villain. It was ultimately a lackluster and disappointing result - though I'll attribute much of that to the writing. I have not seen it in years but I remember liking it at the time. As someone said earlier, it was a fun movie, if not a stellar one.

[Phoenix87x]

TND had the potential to be a lot better than it was. The whole media manipulating world events angle is pretty brilliant imo and scarily something very real honestly. If they played it a little less goofy, it could have been something very cool.

Regardless, I have always been entertained by it and always have a good time. The run time just flies by.

[soupytwist]

TND is pretty decent mid tier Bond, hampered by the dullest Bond actor, but Michelle Yeoh is a lot of fun.
The World is Not Enough is lackluster and boring with some of the blandest action in the series oh and Denise Richards   .  I will say that Sophie Marceau is beautiful in this movie though!
Die Another Day is Moonraker part 2 - dumb, like really dumb, but at least its never boring.

[Kotowboy]

I love Pierce Brosnan as Bond

I thought he was absolutely perfect in Goldeneye.

[soupytwist]

I love Pierce Brosnan as Bond

I thought he was absolutely perfect in Goldeneye.

I think he looks like a bland clothes model, the only thing he brought to the role is snugness.   I just can't buy him as a tough spy (at least Roger had charm!).

[Phoenix87x]

I like Pierce but only in Goldeneye and TND. After that, it just fell apart.

Would have liked to have seen more Dalton though.

[Cool Chris]

TND had the potential to be a lot better than it was. The whole media manipulating world events angle is pretty brilliant imo and scarily something very real honestly. If they played it a little less goofy, it could have been something very cool.

Yes, Bond has gone up against several one-dimensional, "I want to take over the world, mwah ha ha!" villains, iand they had a chance with Pryce to do something unique. I liked how they had the Bond girl (lame as she was) have a link with both Bond and Pryce (that character was so lame I cannot even recall what it was).

[Zantera]

Dalton is my favorite Bond but I always liked Pierce. I think GoldenEye is one of the great Bond films (top3, maybe even nr1), Tomorrow Never Dies is solid and underrated and I would even say The World is Not Enough is a lot of fun and has a bunch of memorable set pieces - and also a very interesting Bond girl (Elektra) though the movie seems to get overshadowed by the "haha Denise Richards is a nuclear scientist named Christmas Jones". Die Another Day is terrible but the first 20 minutes or so I think is decent and even after that it's entertaining in a "so bad its good way".

Never really cared much for Craig as Bond personally. Casino Royale is great but I don't really care that much for his other films.

[Kotowboy]

I don't think QOS is as bad as everyone says. Not when compared to Die Another Day.

Craig's Bond films have been mostly solid. Skyfall is great and Spectre was good but a wasted opportunity.

No Time To Die looks really good. It would be great if Craig could bow out on a high.

[Phoenix87x]

I don't think QOS is as bad as everyone says. Not when compared to Die Another Day.
.

With the exception of the villain Dominic Green who I think sucks, I strait up love QOS and always have. Die another day is like the Batman and Robin (George Clooney) of the Bond series. Just ridiculous.

Never really cared much for Craig as Bond personally. Casino Royale is great but I don't really care that much for his other films.

Right off the bat, I found Craig to be very wooden in his performance, like The Terminator version of Bond. Everything he does in his performance is super subdued and I just don't see the Charm or charisma of the other bonds. And that's not to say I hate him, I'm just ready for someone new.

[Zydar]

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ix0vo9/french_actor_michael_lonsdale_moonraker_passes/

The actor who played Hugo Drax in 'Moonraker' has passed away.

[Kotowboy]

Wow he survived all this time in space without a suit and a dart in his heart ?

Mad Respect.

[Cool Chris]

Goldfinger: Bond does nothing, he's totally passive throughout, the plot would have unravelled in exactly the same way if he hadn't been there.

I seem to recall this was basically the summary of Cinemasin's video on Goldfinger.

[Phoenix87x]

No time to die delayed for a 2nd time, now to april

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54396415

[fadetoblackdude7]

This is actually the 4th delay. But yes, 2nd delay from COVID

[Max Kuehnau]

This is actually the 4th delay. But yes, 2nd delay from COVID

at least the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer isn't affected by this delay (AFAIK anyway), but it certainly has been by some of the prior ones beforehand.

[Phoenix87x]

If they released on streaming platforms, i would gladly pay to watch it. This delaying thing is getting old.