Questions for those who have done a Bond marathon.
Brosnan_fan
Sydney, AustraliaPosts: 521MI6 Agent
1. Whether it was from DN up to any of the last 4 films, what was your experience like?
2. How did you space out your viewing time between films?
3. How would you prefer to watch them - alone or with friends?
4. Would you recommend a full-on marathon to Bond fans who have not tried it?
2. How did you space out your viewing time between films?
3. How would you prefer to watch them - alone or with friends?
4. Would you recommend a full-on marathon to Bond fans who have not tried it?
"Well, he certainly left with his tails between his legs."
Comments
Hmm I did it when the Blu Ray set came out - think I did a film once a night or 2 nights.
Def watch alone, hate chatting when watching movies lol
The experience was..interesting. I dont think you get the best out of some movies if you watch them this way because the mood of your day really reflects in the viewing. For example if you'd had a terrible day and you go to watch Moonraker - your day will only get worse. Whereas if you'd had an amazing day and you watch Moonraker, you could probably have a good laugh watching it. I felt I found good in many I hadn't before because of this.
I'm pretty sure I watched most alone. Every now and again when a friend came over I didn't throw them out because I had to watch a Bond movie, we just watched it together. By about half way through all my friends knew what I was doing and left me in peace!
I would reccomend a Bondathon to a proper Bond fan - we are the only type of people who'd actually make it to the end. It tests your dedication to Bond and is a VERY good way of proving to yourself which Bonds you actually prefer - I've been through it myself, y'know, the whole telling people you prefer this Bond over that Bond or whatever. When you're 'under pressure' to watch one every night, you'll know deep inside which ones you enjoy more than others because you can't choose which one comes next!
"Kara, we're inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan."
My Dad hadn't seen them in years so requested a fortnight's marathon viewing session. You're right what you say in the second paragraph. A good example for me is GOLDENEYE. I'd always previously enjoyed it on its own terms - a film that embraced the classic elements of old with a '90s spin. But watched directly after LICENCE TO KILL it seemed a bit, dare I say it, safe. And Brosnan lacked the hardman charisma of Dalton. Then I watched TOMORROW NEVER DIES, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH & DIE ANOTHER DAY on the same day. All three blurred into one high-octane myriad of stunts & explosions. More interesting was watching QUANTUM OF SOLACE directly after CASINO ROYALE. It really does work better in a double-bill, acting almost as a fast-paced coda to the previous film.
So, all in all an interesting experiment, but one which I wouldn't wish to repeat in a hurry.
Alan Partridge attempted a Bond marathon in the episode 'Never Say Alan Again'. All his VHS tapes were destroyed by orange juice and 'The Spy Who Loved Me' was accidentally wiped.
He then went on to reenact the whole opening sequence.
Kevin Spacey's characters in American Beauty wanted to watch a Bond marathon instead of seeing his daughter perform as a cheer leader. Sam Mendes directed American Beauty. He also directed Skyfall.
I agree with the people who said watch them alone. I want to concentrate on the film not talking to other people haha Will always remember watching films a few years back when my cousin stopped at mine and he wouldn't stop asking who was who and why this was happening, so annoying!
I think it's pretty clear the 6 year gap between Licence To Kill and Goldeneye did the latter a lot of good. Think of the anticipation for that! They could have delivered a 7/10 movie and it would have felt like a 10/10 - which is probably exactly what happened. Although saying that, over time it seems Goldeneye is still extremely well respected. That's probably because TND, TWINE and DAD aren't up to par. Another example of this is the 4 year gap between DAD and CR!
I did try to watch Dr No, FRWL and GF on consecutive nights, but went off the idea because GF seemed a bit cheap and frivolrous, almost vulgar after the first two - and GF is my favourite!
It did rub it in that the first three are the main ones, they cover it all, and the others are just continuing the joke, celebrating the world they've created with a few adjustments and minor alterations.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
In my own case, I work later hours than my fiance', so she goes to bed several hours before I do usually. I pop in a Bond movie then.
I just finished watching most of them, though out of sequence. I've not gone through the Brosnans or Craigs yet.
I did it Partridge style just before Die Another Day came out, 20 films over 2 days including Never Say Never Again.
I had a bit more energy back then so lack of sleep didn't bother me so much but I would probably struggle to do it again now though I'm thinking of attempting. I watched them alone, not exactly out of choice but more I couldn't find anyone daft enough to do it as well
At the moment I'm watching at least one a day mainly because they're on 24 hours a day on Sky Movies 007
We are watching one a week, me, my wife, and the kids. Friday is Bond Night, baby!
Yes, you're right. One wouldn't expect EON to chance it after LICENCE TO KILL's lower than expected box office returns in the US. GOLDENEYE's the '90s equivalent of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME in this respect. A last roll of the dice after a notionally substandard previous film filled to the brim with popular elements to bolster its appeal. And as in 1977, it worked a treat.
It is one of the better ways to spend a Saturday with friends. We've done a couple of marathons with my friends. One was the whole Band of Brothers at one go.
Bondathon was organised in a span of a couple of summer weekends. We started at noon in Saturday and watched 6 in a row, we had a screen and a video projector set up in a backyard, so that we could do bbq while we watched the movies. Plenty of beer and scotch to go with the food. Wives and girlfriends were absolutely furious, because it took up 4 week ends off of the all ready short Finnish summer!
-Mr Arlington Beech
I watched all Bond movies with a good friend of mine, over the course of about two weeks. (Just a bit longer probably) We usually watched about two movies a night, sometimes three. I did it with a friend who never really watched much of the Bond movies, except the most recent one's with Brosnan and Craig. So it was pretty fun to introduce him to the older movies, we started from Goldfinger actually, as I kind of thought that movie would convince him best. (I thought Dr. No and From Russia With Love despite being very good movies might not really blow him away yet.) He was very impressed with Goldfinger, so we immediatly watched Thunderball afterwarts and from there on in we watched them all up to Tomorrow Never Dies.
Right now I don't have as much free time on my hands anymore, but right now I have the Bond Blu Ray box and I'm very eager to do something like this again. So I am going to start watching the Bond tonight with a different friend, in blu ray quality. And we'll see if we can keep that up all the way to Skyfall.
I have never really done a full complete non-stop marathon though, I would be very intrested in doing it though!
I think the best thing to do when watching all of the Bond movies is watching them in order. That way, you can see the times change, get more of the continuity and for some reason it actually changes your view a bit on some movies as you are mostly comparing them to the previous one. It were some really enjoyable evenings, which is why I am doing this again a year later!
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I did try to introduce my Kids to the star wars films a couple of years ago, ine same way by showing them back to back but they hated them, and apart from Empire strikes back and the clones one they now look pretty crap.
http://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/the-007-files-my-rankings-of-all-23-james-bond-movies/
That sounds awesome. I want to do it now!
Bond Reshaken
The second post is the start of my film reviews for the series. It's interesting to see how the films regress (not in a negative way) when you do reverse chronological. It also meant that I never have to think that I'm watching a characters last film, because I end up seeing them first in their last film...? If that makes any sense. Seeing Desmond in TWINE and knowing I'm going to get to see him so many more times makes it really fun. I get to see the scope of the series get slowly smaller in various ways bit by bit. I recommend this approach. I've never done a chronological watch before, but I will whenever I get round to it next. I watch about a film every other night, on average.
1. Liked watching them (as always), it's always interesting to see the new challenges Bond faces.
2. I averaged at 5-6 films a day, not very long between each one (though as I was on holidays I could afford to stay up and whatnot)
3. Prefer to watch them by myself, no particular reason, but in my group of friends, I'm unfortunately the only one that actually likes them.
4. I wouldn't advise someone new to Bond hit them flat out (like I did lol...). Take it slow, take in all the scenery and action sequences, try to understand all the plot, it's much more entertaining that way. I was just bored and wanted something to do
I did a true, uninterrupted marathon about 10 years ago (Dr. NO - Die Another Day) and I can safely say it was one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I started Dr. No at noon and by the time I got to Moonraker the next day my mind had turned to mush.
QoS-> DN and then skyfall, figured it would be fun to go in reverse order.
http://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/the-007-files-the-future-of-james-bond/
If I was doing it again, I would probably do something like one a night. One a week was just dragging it out too much but more than one a night and I would probably get fed up after a bit.