Anyone think GE looks/sounds dated?

walther p99 · August 2011

I was watching GE the other night and my girlfriend asked "when was this made?"..."1995, why?"..."it looks so much older then that", and then i finally saw it too, the film really hasn't aged well. I think its because the films effects are a bit cheap, and the SFX are mostly atrocious, extremely dated bullet,explosion, and gun sfx that have been used probably since the 50s.

WordsAndDreams · August 2011

I know what you're talking about, especially when Bond's plane gets shot down in the jungle towards the end. However, i find it part of the charm of the movie, especially compared to the over the top flashiness (at least in my opinion) of TND, TWINE, and DAD. But overall i think it looks and sounds about right for its time period, and to be fair 1995 was 16 years ago, which is actually kind of a long time.

CJ007Goldeneye · August 2011

What are you talking about 'walther p99'?!

Golrush007 · August 2011

I can't say that I necessarily agree with you.

I can see where you might be coming from, and there are perhaps one or two instances in the film which I could understand such a comment, but overall I think GE looks about right for its time. I think it has a less glossy feel than TND did, but I feel that is a good thing.

Thunderpussy · August 2011

Watched it again myself just the other night, And can't see it Myself. The sfx was before CGI and was the best for its time. If you watch some of the excellent extras on the dvd, It's amazing how much work went in to, the In camera Special effects, Foreground Matt work is still Impressive and still fools People. -{
I think CGI Has made many Movie makers Lazy instead of using their Imagination to come up with a different angle on a problem they just fall back on cgi, which when done badly is even worse than some slightly off model work. As in DAD or Spiderman.

boothroyd13 · August 2011

I can see maybe the score being dated, but that was the mid-90s, and what was popular at the time. On another note, GE has one of the most thrilling stunts in any Bond movie (well, ANY movie) with the Bungee jump. Not many movies at the time (and TODAY) were doing real stunts, but GE kept with that great tradition. From the first shot of the gate opening with Bond SPRINTING with all that rope on his back, to the actual jump...there's just such a sense of urgency. One of my fave moments in the series.

walther p99 · August 2011

im not knocking the ACTUAL stunts, like the bungee jump, motorcycle off a cliff, etc., and i only mention the SFX because HEAT came out the same year and had incredible SFX.

Higgins · August 2011

Who cares about SFX, when someone gets Famke and Izabella for one ticket price

Napoleon Plural · August 2011

All the internet stuff inevitably dates it, and Medding's work has been criticised by some.

007 · August 2011

I think GE has dated. When you look at Heat - also made in 1995 - I know they're different types of films but that could almost have been made today.

SilentSpy · August 2011

Dated is almost a code word for a bad movie these days. I don't watch Goldeneye much anymore. I always thought the music and feel was a bit off. As for the look. Everything dates itself in someway or another which is why I rarely use that word.

thesecretagent · August 2011

I don't like Brosnan's hair, it's a little 90's now, and I HATE the music score throughout. I think it would have been better if Bono/the edge had compiled more besides the opening song. Bond's DB5 is timeless, but the Ferrari looks dated now. Other than that (and the obvious end of the cold war setting) it holds up for me. Goldeneye is still one of my favourites.

Thunderpussy · August 2011

Anything with Computers will date very quickly, As a kid I loved Space1999, Looking at it now It looks so dated it's as if they were using Old atari consoles to run the station.

)

SilentSpy · August 2011

thesecretagent wrote:

I don't like Brosnan's hair, it's a little 90's now, and I HATE the music score throughout. I think it would have been better if Bono/the edge had compiled more besides the opening song. Bond's DB5 is timeless, but the Ferrari looks dated now. Other than that (and the obvious end of the cold war setting) it holds up for me. Goldeneye is still one of my favourites.

All Ferraris are timeless to me. I can't believe you think one of the best Ferrari designs is dated. The F355 Spider is my favorite. The GTS version in Goldeneye is pretty cool too. Famke Janssen is hot in that scene.

Anyway, Goldeneye was on tonight. I haven't seen it in widescreen since it was in theaters. I only have the VHS version...I still feel that Casino Royale is a work of art compared to Goldeneye. However, I don't feel that it's dated. The look is interesting. Almost a dreamy look at times especially with the music. But it also doesn't feel as large and open as a Bond movie should. Bond's arrival in Russia is a good example. There is a close shot of the British Airways jet followed by another close shot of Bond exiting the airport terminal. Anyway, the same guy did the cinematography on Goldeneye and Casino Royale. I think both Martin Campbell and Phil Meheux (the cinematographer) improved their techniques for Casino Royale. But dated? No. If anything the main problem with all Brosnan Bond films is they are too personal and at times push the cartoonish element too far. Something only Roger Moore can handle well.

pyrat · August 2011

TP you are absolutely right, the scene where Natalya tells the IBM guy she wants 500M HDs and 14.4 modems not to mention the look of the computers always makes me smile, but then remember Goldeneye was released in 95 so the production time period would have been pre-Windows 95.

As to Goldeneye itself, I quite enjoy the film, just watched it last night on Bravo.

Thunderpussy · August 2011

It actually seems odd now to watch a show with Technology and Not see everyone using a Tablet Computer. although give it a couple of years and even these will look terribly dated. But as with Many others I still Like Goldeneye. In the same way I love North by North west, etc and other movies set in the 50's or 60's. It even gives the Early Bonds a certain Place in time and history.
It funny to watch a movie and realise that at that time they didn't have. Colour TV let alone HD, or Mobile phones. An old episode of the X-Files had them thinking of a case from the early 80's, It was so funny to see the size of the Mobile phones

)

thesecretagent · August 2011

SilentSpy wrote:

thesecretagent wrote:

I don't like Brosnan's hair, it's a little 90's now, and I HATE the music score throughout. I think it would have been better if Bono/the edge had compiled more besides the opening song. Bond's DB5 is timeless, but the Ferrari looks dated now. Other than that (and the obvious end of the cold war setting) it holds up for me. Goldeneye is still one of my favourites.

All Ferraris are timeless to me. I can't believe you think one of the best Ferrari designs is dated. The F355 Spider is my favorite. The GTS version in Goldeneye is pretty cool too. Famke Janssen is hot in that scene.

Anyway, Goldeneye was on tonight. I haven't seen it in widescreen since it was in theaters. I only have the VHS version...I still feel that Casino Royale is a work of art compared to Goldeneye. However, I don't feel that it's dated. The look is interesting. Almost a dreamy look at times especially with the music. But it also doesn't feel as large and open as a Bond movie should. Bond's arrival in Russia is a good example. There is a close shot of the British Airways jet followed by another close shot of Bond exiting the airport terminal. Anyway, the same guy did the cinematography on Goldeneye and Casino Royale. I think both Martin Campbell and Phil Meheux (the cinematographer) improved their techniques for Casino Royale. But dated? No. If anything the main problem with all Brosnan Bond films is they are too personal and at times push the cartoonish element too far. Something only Roger Moore can handle well.

Oh no. It was the last of the wedges. All wedges are seriously dated now (that's just my opinion!

). The 360 still holds up wellin design and you can see many of its design ques in the new 458 Italia. The F355 is a lovely car and I've driven my friend's GTB a couple of times, but it's very dated in both looks and performance today. My M5 (E60) absolutely annihilates it to the point of embarrassment. So much so he's remortgaging to get a 430!

)

thesecretagent · August 2011

Silentspy - there's no way I'd criticize Famke Janssen. She's amazing... :v

GaddGeneGadd · August 2011

Bondtoys wrote:

Who cares about SFX, when someone gets Famke and Izabella for one ticket price

I'm with you all the way on this one Bondtoys. Those two are a couple of sexy ladies.

The one area that I think you could say it looks dated is when they do a voice frequency wave check at the Golden eye facility. With todays computer technology that scene does indeed look very dated. But for my money, the more times I watch the film, the more it really has a classic BOND movie feel to me. I would really like to see Martin Campbell direct another Bond film. B-) B-) B-)

Thunderpussy · August 2011

I wonder what the posts will be like in 15 years or so on all the high-tec stuff in QOS, at the moment M's new office looks very state of the art. With misted walls that can project images etc. Will we be looking back at these scenes as we do now when you see M in Thunderball listing to a reel to reel tape machine, Thinking "Couldn't they of got something smaller"

)
Thats why I think for Bond The meeting with M in His/her office, should always be kept fairly Traditional, sure fashion may change But I think the sight of Bond sitting across the desk From M, is as Iconic as any from the series. :007)
Mabey we shouldn't use the term Dated at all but rather Matured, like a fine wine -{ or an Old Cheese

pyrat · August 2011

The dated look is an issue for any film which is not a period piece. You can do a film about Horatio Hornblower and twenty years from now it still looks good. Sure the special effects may not be state of the art, but otherwise it works.

Now look at a contemporary or science fiction film. Not only GE, but all of the Bond films suffer from this issue, not to mention Fleming's books. In Thunderball, Fiona's rocket firing motorcycle was in the book a guy on a motorcycle who throws a grenade. This change was made specifically because the filmmakers wanted to make the film more up to date. Like TP said, the films dealing with technology are glaringly out of date. Take a look a things like "Hackers" for films that were contemporary to their time period. If you want a an example of this over time look at the different bridge designs used in Star Trek. ST Enterprise was interesting because they tried to make it look older than the other designs by going for a more submarine look and using displays which were not builtin but looked more like current flat panel displays. This approach along with Star Wars ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. ...") which it copied brilliantly do an end run around the tech issue. The scene with the Stormtroopers in the dessert is a classic example, a Lewis gun from WWI looks futuristic.

IMHO, instead of looking at films like GE and thinking them dated, perhaps it is better to think of them as snapshots of the period in which they were set.

Anyone think GE looks/sounds dated?

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