Dr No, for our April podcast. This movie was the first one that I got on VHS (waaaaay back in the day) so I must have watched it at least 50 times when I was young. Because of that I haven't revisited often the last years but I did watch it again last week. What a great start of the franchise! They got so many things right, straight from the get go.
Dr No, it is better watching it with the family, or in my case what's left of it.
Dr No was, it turned out, the last film my mother watched - with me - before she passed away in the nursing home in, well, Kingston (Surrey, not Jamaica), October 2017.
Anyway, this time round was better, hey Ms Trench, the Childcatcher called, he wants his nose back! I can't take No's meeting with Dent seriously once I realise that No's voice is the spit of Withnail (Richard E Grant), in particular when Withnail is being disparaging about not getting any soup or his cigar commercial. 'You don't understand, he's a British spy!' 'Then the f**** will rue the day!'
You can also imagine Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory doing that scene. Later you'd have Howie as Bond, goading Sheldon over his science credentials at dinner. Mind you, Howie would be better at being an astronaut in YOLT than Connery's Bond was.
Monty Norman's score gets stick but it does lend an eerie feel to it, oddly the ventilator scene near the end does seem to use sci-fi effects that Barry used in Ipcress, did he participate in that scene?
QOS this morning, looks fantastic in High quality and a big screen.
My last watch as well. It's taken 6 or 7 goes, but I can finally see some good in it, one of them being cinematography which is superb. Daniel looks at his very best and has chemistry with Camille.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Welcome swaise -{ Christopher Lee was a fantastic villain.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
BIG TAMWrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
I've just finished my personal Bond extravaganza. Every couple of years ITV show the films in order over a series of Sunday afternoons. This year has been sporadic, their showings interrupted by football or rugby cup matches. I take the opportunity to get out my DVDs/Blu-rays & watch a succession of double or triple-bills over a shorter period. It's also an opportunity to 'bond' with Dad. Every time I seem to change my opinion of which I like better. My Dad's doesn't. He's an ardent Connery fan, though he's warmed to Moore over the years. I find myself currently liking the ten year period from 1969 to 1979 best. Lazenby's energetic, Connery exhibits nice world-weary humour & Moore has a pleasing persona. I also like the unpretentious fun of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME & MOONRAKER. It feels refreshing after the personalising of Bond in the Craig era. Or perhaps it's simply nostalgia for a bygone age. But my opinion will probably change again when I re-watch them in another couple of years. The joy of 007!
I also think he had some of the best suits in QOS, before they
Went for that tight look.
Agreed. I'd say the shoulders are a teeny bit wide on his suits in QoS but otherwise the costumes are the best bond has had in the Craig era. I particularly like his simple casual outfits in it. In contrast, his suits are.too baggy in cr and far far too tight in Skyfall and spectre.
Watched it with my girlfriend. She was kinda puzzled why go to all the effort to show Bond getting married only to bump her off right away? I think she has a point considering the films didn’t even make the slightest mention of it again until 1977.
She also thought Blofeld in that film was the best, most evil Bond villain.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Just watched The world is not enough tonight. Its been a while since i watched it through the whole movie, but this time i decided to watch with complete concentration through the whole movie. And i think its quite good actually! So my Brosnan list is like this:
Goldeneye really good bond movie (one of the best) second, The world is not enough, its better than i remembered and i truly enjoyed it, so this time the movie climbed higher on my list. And as for the other two, there's no need to even mention them for me. Maybe he should have just made Goldeneye and The world... and then maybe people would put Pierce on a higher scale?
fyeo last week.
a great british cast of julian glover, michael gothard (a personal favourite), john wyman, jack klaff and charles dance ( who im sure would have been a main villain if he had half of the career he has had since).
"You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
James Bond- Licence To Kill
I love FYEO a lot, it feels refreshing that its not so convoluted in its plotting, and that its not yet another remake of YOLT for once. That said... it does feel patchy, like they added action scenes at the end of each key scene. Its Michael G. Wilson's first script, and it shows in that regard. It also shows, however, in the emphasis on Bond's psyche, which is a touch I think we can all appreciate.
Last night I began a marathon - I'm going to re-watch all 20 "Ultimate Edition" DVDs complete with docummentaries. The amount of bonus material hasn't been bested since, imho (do the "Bond 50" blu rays include this features, btw?).
Began with Dr No, of course. The feature on Dowry Digital restoration is very interesting. Shocking to see how technology has evolved (their equipment would be obsolete nowadays), and good to know there are 4K versions of the camera film somewhere.
"Enjoy it while it lasts."
"The very words I live by."
Bond films are now being shown once again on television. I watched Diamonds Are Forever on Sunday. I am still not a fan of this film and did not finish watching to the end. This time I got to where Plenty O'Toole was thrown into the swimming pool. I must say though that my wife was nagging at me because she says I have seen James Bond films too many times or I would have watched more. 8-)
Last night I began a marathon - I'm going to re-watch all 20 "Ultimate Edition" DVDs complete with docummentaries. The amount of bonus material hasn't been bested since, imho (do the "Bond 50" blu rays include this features, btw?).
Began with Dr No, of course. The feature on Dowry Digital restoration is very interesting. Shocking to see how technology has evolved (their equipment would be obsolete nowadays), and good to know there are 4K versions of the camera film somewhere.
Ι would really encourage you see NSNA in its restored picture in BD, it looks beautiful in there, never looked better in any version before (and I liked the DVD edition, myself). And it has some nice features on the making of it, though not as extensive as either I would've liked or how the EON are (reasonably) treated.
Last night I began a marathon - I'm going to re-watch all 20 "Ultimate Edition" DVDs complete with docummentaries. The amount of bonus material hasn't been bested since, imho (do the "Bond 50" blu rays include this features, btw?).
Began with Dr No, of course. The feature on Dowry Digital restoration is very interesting. Shocking to see how technology has evolved (their equipment would be obsolete nowadays), and good to know there are 4K versions of the camera film somewhere.
Ι would really encourage you see NSNA in its restored picture in BD, it looks beautiful in there, never looked better in any version before (and I liked the DVD edition, myself). And it has some nice features on the making of it, though not as extensive as either I would've liked or how the EON are (reasonably) treated.
Been meaning to for a long time now. As I foolishly passed on the DVD, I'll be sure to track a copy down. Thanks for the suggestion!!
"Enjoy it while it lasts."
"The very words I live by."
Last night I began a marathon - I'm going to re-watch all 20 "Ultimate Edition" DVDs complete with docummentaries. The amount of bonus material hasn't been bested since, imho (do the "Bond 50" blu rays include this features, btw?).
Began with Dr No, of course. The feature on Dowry Digital restoration is very interesting. Shocking to see how technology has evolved (their equipment would be obsolete nowadays), and good to know there are 4K versions of the camera film somewhere.
Ι would really encourage you see NSNA in its restored picture in BD, it looks beautiful in there, never looked better in any version before (and I liked the DVD edition, myself). And it has some nice features on the making of it, though not as extensive as either I would've liked or how the EON are (reasonably) treated.
Been meaning to for a long time now. As I foolishly passed on the DVD, I'll be sure to track a copy down. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Be sure its not the earliest, 2001 DVD, but the newer one, that coincided with the blu-ray release. Its got the said extras, including Barbara Carrera and Kersh himself talking about the experience.
Afterwards, and only afterwards, you could seek out a certain fan-edit that was made on this particular film...
Ι would really encourage you see NSNA in its restored picture in BD, it looks beautiful in there, never looked better in any version before (and I liked the DVD edition, myself). And it has some nice features on the making of it, though not as extensive as either I would've liked or how the EON are (reasonably) treated.
Been meaning to for a long time now. As I foolishly passed on the DVD, I'll be sure to track a copy down. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Be sure its not the earliest, 2001 DVD, but the newer one, that coincided with the blu-ray release. Its got the said extras, including Barbara Carrera and Kersh himself talking about the experience.
Afterwards, and only afterwards, you could seek out a certain fan-edit that was made on this particular film...
Hmmmm. Now I'm intrigued. As I did watch the movie back then (what I've been meaning to do is own a copy and watch it nowadays), please tell me more about this fanedit.
"Enjoy it while it lasts."
"The very words I live by."
Octopussy - It just keeps getting better with every viewing.
The sheer amount of action is superb and they never lose sight of Bond’s character amidst the chaos.
Bond is really put through the wringer in this film and it’s not surprising he is bed ridden with several injuries by the end. Whoever thinks RM’s missions were a cakewalk needs to revisit OP.
There was a time when I considered TSWLM as “by far” the best of the RM era
but I have to say that his other ones are catching up fast. I suppose the same could be said about Goldfinger as it’s regarded as the definitive Bond film by every mainstream critic, yet very few Bond fans on here rank it as #1
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
A bit of NSNA. Really, it seems to me that Connery is not playing Bond in this movie. He seems hesitant and apologetic about everything, like a narcissist without his enablers. I have watched the bootleg vesion with mostly John Barry on the soundtrack, so watching this I get surprised by how awful some of the music is, and the other stuff too, cringey moments that get cut out of the other version.
Die Another Day seemed better than I remembered, largely because it's now so topical. References to the danger of North Korea are more potent, plus we have China and Hong Kong in the mix. Much of that passed me by at the time, and the writers were doubtless hoping to anticipate events, which they did but by nearly two decades! Even Madonna's awful theme sounds quite contemporary now.
The whole premise of the minefield and Moon getting around it with hovecrafts is simply ingenious. Bond shooting the minefield so it would blow up and deter his pursuants passed me by too.
In my defence, there is a lot of information and exposition early on and Wade and Purvis have the usual problem of producing a droll script (sometimes) with nobody directing or acting who can quite carry it off. 'It's a minefield out there' is a good line, a joke phrase that in this case also informs, but Brosnan has a mumbly bored delivery and the soundtrack just isn't quite clear enough for it to carry, you have to strain to hear the jokes which you don't anticipate because the tone is so dry.
In the pts chase the music level is all wrong, it's rubbish. That said, there is a real sense of dread and foreboding when Bond is stranded there that we haven't seen in another film.
In the era of Alexa, the whole invisible car thing isn't quite as bonkers as it might have seemed.
Of course the film is rubbish really and the main problem is that unfamiliar information piles up, as do so many different settings and set pieces just thrown at us, it doesn't charm at all. It doesn't settle into a theme. Again, it's hard to hear the dialogue quite, the nadir being that Cuban agent and his cigar, why like Matthis they keep insisting on these actors you can never quite make out I do not know.
Brosnan has some odd posturing in this film, puts me in mind of Beavis and Butthead, has anyone else noticed this?
Doesn't the film give away that Moon becomes Graves early on for anyone paying attention, in the DNA clinic where a photo of Moon is on the right showing his eventual destination Graves?
Still one of the worst and almost wholly charmless that said it does throw a lot at you and there have been many disappointments since.
For some reason, my wife wanted to rewatch Die Another Day.
Anyway, I agreed on the condition that I don't have to watch beyond the point where Bond arrives in Iceland. When Bond pulls up outside the ice palace and has that exchange with Mr Kil - 'There's a name to die for." - my wife agreed that we need watch no further.
In some ways DAD is a nostalgic film for me. In fact, it was the first Bond film I saw in the cinema, even though I'd been a Bond fan since before the release of TND. There a few bits in the first half of the film that I do still find enjoyable, but they are mostly limited to the pre-title sequence, the scenes with Raoul in Cuba, the underground scene with M isn't too bad, and some of the Blades stuff is decent. But beyond that, my enjoyment comes mostly from David Arnold's score.
The Vanquish's V12 roar and the ice chase barely makes it worth watching but we share most the same moments that make it watchable.
But you know, I actually find the fencing scenes enjoyable aswell. After that it's all downhill before a jolt with the ice chase and then it's dead again. Poor Diablo
Re NSNA, I forgot to mention Largo's dialogue during the Tears of Allah or whatever it's called sequence. Something like 'The people who used to run this place had power, but not like we have now got!' which seems straight out of the Ernie Wise school of scriptwriting.
Re NSNA, I forgot to mention Largo's dialogue during the Tears of Allah or whatever it's called sequence. Something like 'The people who used to run this place had power, but not like we have now got!' which seems straight out of the Ernie Wise school of scriptwriting.
While Lorenzo Semple Jr wrote the screenplays for some fantastic films, like Three Days of the Condor, he also wrote for the 1960s Batman. NSNA is along the lines of the silly Batman show/film.
Well, she's not such a great actress in the Bond films, okay but not as good as elsewhere. I mean, she got an Oscar for 11 mins as Elizabeth I... a tad overrated.
But I really meant Brosnan, and now Craig, not great with the laughter lines.
Comments
Dr No was, it turned out, the last film my mother watched - with me - before she passed away in the nursing home in, well, Kingston (Surrey, not Jamaica), October 2017.
Anyway, this time round was better, hey Ms Trench, the Childcatcher called, he wants his nose back! I can't take No's meeting with Dent seriously once I realise that No's voice is the spit of Withnail (Richard E Grant), in particular when Withnail is being disparaging about not getting any soup or his cigar commercial. 'You don't understand, he's a British spy!' 'Then the f**** will rue the day!'
You can also imagine Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory doing that scene. Later you'd have Howie as Bond, goading Sheldon over his science credentials at dinner. Mind you, Howie would be better at being an astronaut in YOLT than Connery's Bond was.
Monty Norman's score gets stick but it does lend an eerie feel to it, oddly the ventilator scene near the end does seem to use sci-fi effects that Barry used in Ipcress, did he participate in that scene?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
My last watch as well. It's taken 6 or 7 goes, but I can finally see some good in it, one of them being cinematography which is superb. Daniel looks at his very best and has chemistry with Camille.
Went for that tight look.
Agreed. I'd say the shoulders are a teeny bit wide on his suits in QoS but otherwise the costumes are the best bond has had in the Craig era. I particularly like his simple casual outfits in it. In contrast, his suits are.too baggy in cr and far far too tight in Skyfall and spectre.
Watched it with my girlfriend. She was kinda puzzled why go to all the effort to show Bond getting married only to bump her off right away? I think she has a point considering the films didn’t even make the slightest mention of it again until 1977.
She also thought Blofeld in that film was the best, most evil Bond villain.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Yep the clothes were good.
Dalton puts in a great performance and R Davi is a superb villain
Goldeneye really good bond movie (one of the best) second, The world is not enough, its better than i remembered and i truly enjoyed it, so this time the movie climbed higher on my list. And as for the other two, there's no need to even mention them for me. Maybe he should have just made Goldeneye and The world... and then maybe people would put Pierce on a higher scale?
a great british cast of julian glover, michael gothard (a personal favourite), john wyman, jack klaff and charles dance ( who im sure would have been a main villain if he had half of the career he has had since).
James Bond- Licence To Kill
And, of course, Moore is so good in this.
Began with Dr No, of course. The feature on Dowry Digital restoration is very interesting. Shocking to see how technology has evolved (their equipment would be obsolete nowadays), and good to know there are 4K versions of the camera film somewhere.
"The very words I live by."
Been meaning to for a long time now. As I foolishly passed on the DVD, I'll be sure to track a copy down. Thanks for the suggestion!!
"The very words I live by."
Afterwards, and only afterwards, you could seek out a certain fan-edit that was made on this particular film...
Hmmmm. Now I'm intrigued. As I did watch the movie back then (what I've been meaning to do is own a copy and watch it nowadays), please tell me more about this fanedit.
"The very words I live by."
However, do buy it, first.
EDIT: The original DVD/Blu-ray, I mean.
The sheer amount of action is superb and they never lose sight of Bond’s character amidst the chaos.
Bond is really put through the wringer in this film and it’s not surprising he is bed ridden with several injuries by the end. Whoever thinks RM’s missions were a cakewalk needs to revisit OP.
There was a time when I considered TSWLM as “by far” the best of the RM era
but I have to say that his other ones are catching up fast. I suppose the same could be said about Goldfinger as it’s regarded as the definitive Bond film by every mainstream critic, yet very few Bond fans on here rank it as #1
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Die Another Day seemed better than I remembered, largely because it's now so topical. References to the danger of North Korea are more potent, plus we have China and Hong Kong in the mix. Much of that passed me by at the time, and the writers were doubtless hoping to anticipate events, which they did but by nearly two decades! Even Madonna's awful theme sounds quite contemporary now.
The whole premise of the minefield and Moon getting around it with hovecrafts is simply ingenious. Bond shooting the minefield so it would blow up and deter his pursuants passed me by too.
In my defence, there is a lot of information and exposition early on and Wade and Purvis have the usual problem of producing a droll script (sometimes) with nobody directing or acting who can quite carry it off. 'It's a minefield out there' is a good line, a joke phrase that in this case also informs, but Brosnan has a mumbly bored delivery and the soundtrack just isn't quite clear enough for it to carry, you have to strain to hear the jokes which you don't anticipate because the tone is so dry.
In the pts chase the music level is all wrong, it's rubbish. That said, there is a real sense of dread and foreboding when Bond is stranded there that we haven't seen in another film.
In the era of Alexa, the whole invisible car thing isn't quite as bonkers as it might have seemed.
Of course the film is rubbish really and the main problem is that unfamiliar information piles up, as do so many different settings and set pieces just thrown at us, it doesn't charm at all. It doesn't settle into a theme. Again, it's hard to hear the dialogue quite, the nadir being that Cuban agent and his cigar, why like Matthis they keep insisting on these actors you can never quite make out I do not know.
Brosnan has some odd posturing in this film, puts me in mind of Beavis and Butthead, has anyone else noticed this?
Doesn't the film give away that Moon becomes Graves early on for anyone paying attention, in the DNA clinic where a photo of Moon is on the right showing his eventual destination Graves?
Still one of the worst and almost wholly charmless that said it does throw a lot at you and there have been many disappointments since.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Anyway, I agreed on the condition that I don't have to watch beyond the point where Bond arrives in Iceland. When Bond pulls up outside the ice palace and has that exchange with Mr Kil - 'There's a name to die for." - my wife agreed that we need watch no further.
In some ways DAD is a nostalgic film for me. In fact, it was the first Bond film I saw in the cinema, even though I'd been a Bond fan since before the release of TND. There a few bits in the first half of the film that I do still find enjoyable, but they are mostly limited to the pre-title sequence, the scenes with Raoul in Cuba, the underground scene with M isn't too bad, and some of the Blades stuff is decent. But beyond that, my enjoyment comes mostly from David Arnold's score.
But you know, I actually find the fencing scenes enjoyable aswell. After that it's all downhill before a jolt with the ice chase and then it's dead again. Poor Diablo
Roger Moore 1927-2017
While Lorenzo Semple Jr wrote the screenplays for some fantastic films, like Three Days of the Condor, he also wrote for the 1960s Batman. NSNA is along the lines of the silly Batman show/film.
But I really meant Brosnan, and now Craig, not great with the laughter lines.
Roger Moore 1927-2017