Last Bond movie you watched.
BondJasonBond006
SwitzerlandPosts: 870MI6 Agent
Please feel free to tell us which Bond movie you have just watched, or watched last.
Give us your thoughts about the film if you like.
Give us your thoughts about the film if you like.
Dalton Rulez™
Comments
GOLDENEYE
I am so in love with this film. It's one of six films that are legendary to me of my three beloved franchises.
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye
Star Trek The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek First Contact
Batman 1989
Batman Begins
GoldenEye is maybe the Bond film that is best structured. I view it as perfect really.
Everything makes sense and the cast is fantastic. Just look who many future stars it brought out.
Even the score is great overall. So many iconic moments.
Brosnan's introduction is the best since Connery's in DN. So many iconic images within a few minutes only. Campbell knew how to present Brosnan to the public.
I have seen this film, I don't know, must be over 50 times. Same for TLD.
Doesn't matter, I watch it about three times a year, same for TLD.
It never gets old, it never gets boring, it stays funny, exciting and I'm tempted to say it's the most important film of my adult life.
I was 14 when TLD hit the theatre.
It's fantastic how 22 years later you see actors like Famke Janssen, Sean Bean, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Cumming still going strong, stronger than ever in some cases.
Though with the current warm weather thunderball is calling me.
Just a fun movie, easy & comfortable to watch.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
And I agree with BondJasonBourne006. GE and TLD are both special to me. I also prefer those Batman movies over their sequels.
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-{ yeah, those first Batsy in both eras were the best -{
my username is BondJasonBond006
It's a classic, but it does come across as a bit flat to me sometimes. And I have to say, I do now more than ever find Moore's line delivery hard to get on with, it's incredibly arch and camp. It is odd to see him in The Persuaders and The Saint and find he's a far more natural actor. It's like he can't really admire or believe in James Bond, so he has to send it up all the time.
Moore's style of leading man - Cary Grant, David Niven - is not in fashion now, so that also doesn't help.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Lol I'll get it right next time man.
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It's the film, the film I admire till its end.
A stroke of genius. Such a cooooool fiiiilm.
How can you not like its brilliance, its divine excellence?
The true benchmark for future Bond films.
(most of the first part is meant to be read as if you're singing Goldfinger, LOL)
That's not to say that I didn't honour Sir Roger.
I watched The Man With The Golden Gun and Moonraker
Goodnight, goodnight Sir Roge. You were the best.
The girls are just mindblowing, but the movie is too long until Bond gets to Nassau.
I've watched YOLT before that and enjoyed it much better
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
And then I discovered The Saint on Austrian TV, they showed all the episodes in the mid eighties and I followed them religiously.
Simon Templar was my hero.
And then came James Bond...
I started to watch his films and TV shows to honour the great man.
LALD and TMWTGG I've already seen.
Tonight on the menu: THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER the perfect double feature.
The PTS of TSWLM certainly must be the most iconic in the series. The idea of the parachute with the British flag is a stroke of genius. Not to mention that stunt work.
I think it's that kind of thing that makes a movie a true and lasting classic.
But TSWLM certainly doesn't stop at being great at the PTS. Roger Moore's third James Bond film sees him getting his image of James Bond perfected to the last eyebrow movement :P
I often think this might be the most important film in the franchise even. Who knows if the series had survived if TSWLM had been different and much less successful.
It's difficult to look for such an iconic important Bond film since TSWLM. Only GoldenEye and Casino Royale come to mind.
Marvin Hamlisch's is a part of that iconic image imho. I love his score and Bond77 is the best re-invention of the Bond theme since the original of Monty Norman. The theme song, if cheesy, is iconic as well and it's easy listening yes, but highly enjoyable and it mirrors the romantic tone of the film very well.
I also need to note that Major Anya Amasova, Agent XXX is one of my favourite Bond girls.
My comments on Moonraker will follow when I've seen it. Needless to say I love it very much as well with all its flaws it has.
There are many more iconic items, moments. Just take Jaws for instance. He must be, to this day, the most iconic and famous of all the henchmen. Even more than Oddjob I would say.
When he appears first in the film in Stromberg's fantastic dining room, he "smiles" and you see those metallic silver teeth. Quite frightening actually and I think back then in 1977 it must have felt quite that way seeing him for the first time.
There are some images and sounds that certainly belong to the best moments in the franchise. The impact is huge and it's these moments that are remembered forever and make TSWLM the classic it is. I'd go so far to say only GF is as iconic.
Also watched a couple random episodes of The Saint, but they don't hold a candle to Bond.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Ha, I also thought his name was Bourne.
You mean hanging upside down in the bathroom stall grinning?
I totally agree! Also, everything you said about TSWLM being iconic etc is spot on.
Great thread. -{
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
I agree. Jaw is far from being my favourite Henchman.
What I think though is that he has become the most iconic of the lot, maybe closely followed by Oddjob.
Even in TSWLM signs were there that he is used as a comic relief, the big stone on his foot, Moore toying with him with the big magnet. But of course it worked imho.
In Moonraker though it got completely off the chart with the comic relief.
About Kiel being British, I feel stupid for saying this but I thought the same thing. Only when he said "here's to us" did I think that something was off in his accent and he was American instead.
The PTS of Moonraker already shows that this is as silly as it gets for a Bond film. After DAF hardly imaginable but yes MR manages to be more funny, more silly, and even quite a bit like a comic book film.
Jaws falling into the circus tent, animated no less is proof to that.
In some way this film marks the end of an era for Bond, Shirley Bassey for the last time gives her impressive vocal talents to Bond, it's Lewis Gilberts last film and from FYEO on it will be John Glen for the whole decade.
Ken Adam's last work.
Even the link of John Barry is not made into FYEO, but of course Barry again will be heard in OP, AVTAK and TLD.
The film goes overboard early on with the humour and silliness. Hugo Drax is a wonderful villain and that he is somewhat obsessed is shown pretty early when Bond is flying over the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, about 55 kilometres southeast of Paris, but in fact the fictional character of Drax has bought that Château and let it move from Paris to California to be rebuild stone by stone.
Utterly ridiculous and utterly fun.
And naturally he has bought the Eiffel Tower as well, but couldn't get permission to import it to the US, poor Drax
Quite a bit of famous French locations are used in Moonraker like the 5th Floor of Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris where I have personally been several times. It is used as Holly Goodhead's office and Drax's space-shuttle plant.
There is one particular moment that belongs to my favourite Moore moments in the series, when he crawls out the centrifuge machine, obviously very shaken and stirred. That's always making me moved and even a bit teary. The look and body language is fine acting there.
Holly Goodhead is one of my favourites. I have a soft spot for all the Moore girls and she is no exception.
It helps that I have first known her as Holly Harwood in Dallas and she is one of my favourite characters of that long lasting show.
As for Hugo Drax, he is a favourite of mine as well and I dare to say, he has the best dialogue ever of any Bond villain, Goldfinger may be close or even better arguably.
"Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him." The way Michael Lonsdale plays Drax is wonderful and I can't get enough of him.
The whole venice section is quite amusing, the gondola race is OTT and bordering parody and it may be the most silly thing in the franchise.
Jaws is pretty frightening again in his first scene in Rio. It's only later when his character is turned into comic relief galore.
Moonraker may be one of the only Bond films that has a weaker first half and a stronger second half. Imho, many Bond films see a very good first hour or 70, 80 minutes and then begin to have problems.
Not Moonraker, what happens on the cable car is truly memorable, the Amazonian boat chase is fantastic and especially Barry's score elevates that scene to highest heights.
The Moonraker base and the following very long sequence in Space and on the space station belong to my favourite things in the series.
The whole bloody thing is fantastically filmed with state of the art special effects that hold up well to this day imho.
Heartbroken Mr. Drax...indeed, every time the film ends and Shirley belts out her disco version of the Moonraker theme I think, ah...already finished...and then I think, how can this film not be in my Top 10?
With a franchise that has only good films, Moonraker may be most fun and entertaining, but it has flaws that will let it end up in the lower half of my ranking.
Thinking outside of rankings though, Moonraker is a fun romp from start to finish with a Roger Moore that is just brilliant in every single scene.
I remember watching some of this on YouTube and the comments were very similar - that they're both so charming and beautiful people. One comment called out some of the stupid questions they were being asked!
I wish that Lois Chiles was as charming in the film - on her own she's fine, but there's limited on-screen chemistry between the two. Hampered by the way her character was written IMO...
"Better make that two."
I think the lack of chemistry had to do with the quick pacing of the film. So much was put in, including the requisite Bond girl encounter "life cycle" that starts with the acrimonious meeting, the warming up, and the team work in resolving the movie's main crisis. However, the scenes with Holly seemed crammed in, in-between the other encounters with Corinne, Manuela and other action sequences. Compare to Bond's interactions with Melina in FYEO and to a smaller extent, with OP, in which more tenderness was infused. Along these lines, maybe Christopher Wood's writing resulted in less tenderness, since his approach with Bond's couplings were more fantasy based in which girls just gave it up to Bond in 70's soft-porn fashion
There are some things that could be said about YOLT, criticising it. Sean certainly was past his prime in YOLT but he still owns the screen and there are more than enough great scenes with Connery. Overall a minor complaint.
Other than that it may be the one location only that makes YOLT a little bit less interesting than the other films. Turning Bond into a Japanese is silly and never very believable. I do like that sequence anyway, the wonderful Japanese wedding procedures and the tragic end to Aki.
There is a lot I love about YOLT though, we get to see the "Capsule in Space" sequence that is awesome and so is the John Barry score to it. Bond's funeral is great and hey, we get to see Bond's actual funeral! So we know what it would like be if he really had died.
And of course Sean Connery in his Navy uniform!
And then Moneypenny, oh how I love her in her Navy secretary dress! Imho, Maxwell never looked better than in YOLT (and OHMSS).
The Henderson scene is another favourite thing of mine. It's one scene in Henderson's flat but it's memorable and there's some of the best dialogue ever
Henderson giving Bond his Martini: "That's stirred, not shaken. That was right, wasn't it?" Bond: "Perfect." A favourite moment.
YOLT also features one of my favourite Bond cars. The Toyota 2000 GT and it gets a lot of screen time.
Here my homage to the five Bond cars I love most:
Then there is the ultimate Ken Adam set. The crowning achievement in set building.
Here is my homage to Ken Adam.
The fight at Osato's Company is one of the strongest in Connery's tenure. Personally I rank it second even after the elevator fight in DAF.
Tiger Tanaka Well, there's an ally I love completely, one of the best. I love the fact Tiger is in Dynamite's FELIX LEITER comic.
Karin Dor's Helga with her weapon of choice. Nasty, nasty! She's not really one of my favourites but that scene is rather devilishly delicious.
The Capsule in Space scene from the PTS gets repeated after one hour and this time we get to see where it lands and the breathtaking volcano set of Ken Adam gets its screen time.
Then it's Bond turns Japanese time and the film falls a bit flat from this point until the grand finale in the volcano which actually makes up for that quite a bit. I love the scenes with Blofeld and find Donald Pleasence quite right for the role.
YOLT and DAF strangely enough are the Connery films I can go to the most easily. I rate YOLT higher than TB for instance.
I have YOLT at No 18 in my ranking, so it's not really near the bottom. As I said before when you have a franchise with so many wonderful films some will have to be lower than others.
Great to hear and of course you had your own OHMSS moment before!
From the episode: Swiss Miss
That episode is top 5 for sure.
Absolutely! And they allowed me to play Archer's stunt double in those scenes luckily