Last Bond Movie You Watched? 2.0

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The World Is Not Enough - hard to escape the feeling that a potentially great Bond film is buried somewhere within this not-bad one.

The film was so good Mendes did a remake.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Robert Carlyle as a can't-feel-pain anarchist terrorist should be one of the most intimidating enemies 007's ever come up against but he just ISN'T

The angle about him not being able to feel pain was originally written for Stamper then dropped, only to be brought up again in TWINE. Probably would've worked better with Stamper. Carlyle, on the other hand, doesn't need such a gimmick: he was a great actor that I found totally fascinating, along with Dench and Marceau.

In fact, this is really an actor's film. I thought it was one of the best acted films in the entire series. Unfortunately, people don't go see Bond films primarily for their acting pedigree, so TWINE tends to be forgotten or underrated. It's also really a film about Marceau, Dench and Carlyle, with Bond almost an outsider in his own movie.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

and although she looks mighty fine, Denise Richards is about as convincing a nuclear scientist as I am (but I guess we can put that down to 'Bond film-ness').

Richard's and Brosnan's first scene together provides a glimpse of what could have been; she nails the scene. It was pitch perfect. And then, curiously, she stumbles through the rest of the movie. Her character was always underwritten from the first draft; she's never made totally relevant to the story; only hanging on peripherally; standing in the background while the adults do all the talking and acting. If EON had been willing to be more of a risk taker back then as they are now, they would've simply let Bond have no Bond Girl at the end; let Marceau be it. If this movie had been made today, Christmas would be telling Bond at the end of the movie that he's a prisoner in his own mind and she can't set him free, or that he's too old for her and she won't give up the goods to him.

Yes, I remember reading that Stamper having 'reversed pain centres' or somesuch was the original plan for him ... there's a remnant of it when Bond stabs him during their stealth-boat fight and the expression on Stamper's face seems to indicate that he's actually enjoyed it.

'Standing in the background while the adults do all the talking and acting' perfectly sums up what Richards ends up doing. Still, you can't knock the wet t-shirt action she provides near the end.

On that note, I think I spotted a Marceau nip-slip ... watch carefully during her and Brosnan in bed just after he says 'That's enough ice for one day' and she turns over onto her back.

We'll do it the old fashioned way...

Tomorrow Never Dies

alas it's descended so rapidly in my rankings as to be mistaken for a Premier League footballer. Bits and bobs of a good film appear amidst the explosions (seems for at least the first half, every explosion shown is then zoomed in on) and gunplay. Maybe the previous few films were enough for me that this is lacking or maybe something else.
Jonathan Pryce is on some form, enjoying the role somewhat. Carver's cold, calculating and somewhat lacking in conscience. His death is a high-point of the film and Bond's line deserved. (Bond's appearance on the upper deck, bloodied and bruised, a look on his face of 'enough of this shit')
Stamper is a decent enough villain, in the Necros mould almost. (Bond's frown as he stabs him)
My New Adventures of Superman viewings coloured me towards Teri Hatcher as a kid and I always have room for her but that's about it.
Wai Lin is Brosnan's Amasova, there's the rival secret agent business and acting wise it's about there. The high-kicking feels tiresome and mockable in a Carver sort of way (even her "ya!" when she pivots to shoot the console).
And then much like in Thunderball, the Royal Navy comes to the rescue with some of British TV's familiar faces doing their bit for Queen and Country (always good to see Michael Byrne).

A favourite moment is at the Carver HQ where Bond is getting ten bells knocked out of him then proceeds to turn the tables using whatever's at hand and finally, hefting the ashtray, feeling it, and crashing it over the German's head. Or Bond cupping his hands to fool the Carver man on his way to Wai Lin's flat.

It just feels flat or perhaps Dalton Withdrawal Symptom continues.

6/10

Pumping for information-athon

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
From Russia With Love
The Living Daylights
Licence To Kill
Dr No
Thunderball
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice
Live and Let Die
Goldeneye
The Spy Who Loved Me
A View To A Kill
Tomorrow Never Dies (last rated 6.5/10, placing 18th)
The Man With The Golden Gun

Enjoying these, Hilly. Looking forward to seeing (after my recent rewatch) whether our views on TWINE converge, as it's (obviously) next up for you.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Enjoying these, Hilly. Looking forward to seeing (after my recent rewatch) whether our views on TWINE converge, as it's (obviously) next up for you.

thanks Blunty. I had a similar style on MI6 I think, well, maybe and like there I always tend to write this stuff as if I believe no one ever reads them. Ha. I only wish I did my serious writing the same way.

I dare-say looking at your TWINE review we will converge. I vaguely remember when I last did the films in 2013 early last year, that TWINE killed me. The sad thing is that it was the first Bond film I ever saw at the cinema (and indeed, the first film ever at the then new Odeon in our town).

It's DAD and QOS I'm wary of. The former for various reasons and the latter for the fact I just can't do it.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

A favourite moment is at the Carver HQ where Bond is getting ten bells knocked out of him then proceeds to turn the tables using whatever's at hand and finally, hefting the ashtray, feeling it, and crashing it over the German's head.

Bond getting gang-banged (is that the right term?) in a sound-proof room is theoretically brutal, but in true Brosnan fashion he leaves without so much as a bruise and a hair out of place.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Wai Lin is Brosnan's Amasova,

Perhaps, but her story arc follows Holly Goodhead. They're both undercover when they first meet Bond. The second time they run into each other they are on a mission to uncover the villain's headquarters (Bond catches Holly trying to break into the Venini Glass Company; Wai Lin trying to break into Carver's secret HQ areas in Hamburg). Third time they meet up they are in a new country, attacked by a villain, and are forced to team up with each other to help each other survive.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Enjoying these, Hilly. Looking forward to seeing (after my recent rewatch) whether our views on TWINE converge, as it's (obviously) next up for you.

thanks Blunty. I had a similar style on MI6 I think, well, maybe and like there I always tend to write this stuff as if I believe no one ever reads them. Ha. I only wish I did my serious writing the same way.

I dare-say looking at your TWINE review we will converge. I vaguely remember when I last did the films in 2013 early last year, that TWINE killed me. The sad thing is that it was the first Bond film I ever saw at the cinema (and indeed, the first film ever at the then new Odeon in our town).

It's DAD and QOS I'm wary of. The former for various reasons and the latter for the fact I just can't do it.

My first at-the-cinema Bond was Octopussy, I was 12. Family holiday in Wales, if memory serves.

At least at 105 minutes QOS will be over quickly, and you know what follows is quality.

CJB wrote:

Hilly KCMG wrote:

A favourite moment is at the Carver HQ where Bond is getting ten bells knocked out of him then proceeds to turn the tables using whatever's at hand and finally, hefting the ashtray, feeling it, and crashing it over the German's head.

Bond getting gang-banged (is that the right term?) in a sound-proof room is theoretically brutal, but in true Brosnan fashion he leaves without so much as a bruise and a hair out of place.

Yes, in the same fashion as Roger Moore in the Saint. Always gets into fracas aplenty and afterwards his hair is top notch.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Wai Lin is Brosnan's Amasova,

Perhaps, but her story arc follows Holly Goodhead. They're both undercover when they first meet Bond. The second time they run into each other they are on a mission to uncover the villain's headquarters (Bond catches Holly trying to break into the Venini Glass Company; Wai Lin trying to break into Carver's secret HQ areas in Hamburg). Third time they meet up they are in a new country, attacked by a villain, and are forced to team up with each other to help each other survive.

Didn't think of the Goodhead comparison. Suppose it lines up better than Amasova.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

My first at-the-cinema Bond was Octopussy, I was 12. Family holiday in Wales, if memory serves.

At least at 105 minutes QOS will be over quickly, and you know what follows is quality.

Would rather Octopussy myself to be honest or even VTAK. I at least got to see OHMSS at the BFI which made up for the experiences previously. But as for QOS, yes, brief. Dizzingly so.

The insurance company is never going to believe this!

The World Is Not Enough

As Colonel Bloodknok would have said: thunder my cringing screws. Like TND it's rapidly dropped a bit and in that, like TND, it's just there. I can't add much to what Blunty said above but I'll do a little bit. After what seems a vaguely good start (though the one-liners had me groaning with despair after a while. Maybe it's Brozzer's delivery) it sort of just goes down and down with no real impoetus. I don't mind the boat chase, like most of the movie's music it's not helped by the techno nonsense underlying key tracks (I found a video on YouTube where some orchestra covered Come in 007, Your Time Is Up and it was an improvement). After the song where do we go? Oh yes, oil wells and pipelines, disgruntled locals, idiot security men, glimmers or lack thereof and then, oh back to Istanbul and some submarine and end. I'm not expecting Lawrence of Arabia but TWINE just feels like a magic trick. We're fooled by the illusion of a film.

Grav mentions the acting and it has its moments, not least in the scene Blunty highlighted where Bond kills Elektra (after her churlish: "You'll never kill me, not in cold blood!") or Judi Dench and Elektra but it's clouded by the rest.

Renard is so inconsequential and Carlyle wasted. Renard should've been a henchman a la Necros/Stamper/Heller (if we go back a few films) than some kind of villain but not main villain. Elektra is servicable, attractive, but somehow is lacking as a villain in spite of her plan. Feels like Stromberg (what, Hilly?). Lot of hot air but no trousers.

Now, for bits we liked. One thing I've always chuckled at for whatever reason is in the boat chase. Just after clearing Canary Wharf Cigar Girl blows the shit out of some old barge. Just before where Bond first gets drenched he reacts accordingly ("Christ that's cold! And filthy!") but when the boat goes sky high his reaction seems greater ("Shit, did she just blow up some museum piece!?").

For perhaps the first time since Thunderball, at MI6's Scotland branch we see (I presume they are) the other Double O's (and a portrait of Bernard Lee on the wall).

On the submarine after Bond shoots the hell out of the controls the exchange with Jones.
"So, we're going up then!"
"There may have been a slight miscalculation!"

Zhukovsky's good for his money, that whole Caviar Factory scene in spite of Arnold's techno mess after a while, is enjoyable if not for Zhukovsky alone. Something about Coltrane's delivery of "absolutely not!" that makes me laugh. His death is a moment, the look from him to Bond after he shoots the bolt and Bond with his eyebrow arch. (I like to think Zhukovsky didn't die. Bond was on his way to check the body but imagine that ol' Valentin would've returned in a Brosnan Casino Royale)

On that note Bond's "haven't you heard, so's she!" to Renard and yes his "she's waiting for you line" is worth a mention perhaps, albeit the passing exchange of looks as if in the final moment Renard gives Bond some respect.

Now, without jumping on the Brosnan bashing bandwagon I have to mention his, er, face. I guess it's this painface we talk off but in TWINE they really were irritating. At least I found myself thinking how past Bonds could have that 'hard' look of the PTS where we have the zoom on Bond's face after everyone is shot but Brosnan's always felt obvious. Or that painface. Off the top of my head you had Connery in Thunderball after being shot or DAF when Bambi and Thumper are kicking ten shades of brick dust out of him, Moore could do a hard face -"that's for 009" or kicking Locque off the cliff, Dalton in the bar fight in LTK (excluding his wide eyes after the swordfish goes through the chair)...and yet Brosnan...pfft.
Even when he was making pain noises, grunts if you will, during scenes and t
hey were over his stunt double just felt odd. Whereas Moore's "Oof" and whatnot when done over his stunt double falling down a slope or whatever seemed, well, in place even if sometimes more Carry On-esque than Bond.
(The exception is when Bond lands on the Dome. That had to hurt -though I always felt that the Dome was only in this film to promote it being in time for the Millennium).

And finally, (more, Hilly?), criticism was levelled in VTAK at Bond's reckless taxi drive but consider TWINE's boat chase. Once off-road Bond barrels through a fish market and then a cafe with no regard for safety. In fact in TWINE he doesn't seem to have much thought as on the sub. Maybe it was an off-week.

Tongue firmly in cheek.

6/10

Doctor Warmflash's Check-up rankings

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
From Russia With Love
The Living Daylights
Licence To Kill
Dr No
Thunderball
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice
Live and Let Die
Goldeneye
The Spy Who Loved Me
A View To A Kill
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World Is Not Enough (last rated 6.5/10, placing 19th)
The Man With The Golden Gun

I always thought of Renard as a henchman to Elektra. Sure he had a lot more to do than the average sidekick, but it's Elektra pulling the strings. He's a mere terrorist for hire who's fallen in love but can't make love. Interesting dynamic in my opinion.

FieldsMan wrote:

I always thought of Renard as a henchman to Elektra. Sure he had a lot more to do than the average sidekick, but it's Elektra pulling the strings. He's a mere terrorist for hire who's fallen in love but can't make love. Interesting dynamic in my opinion.

I guess so. I just went skew-whiff when I got down to writing. Something about these films since LTK that do my nut in :)

On this note, we might as well press with this:

Oh, I intend never to go at all

Die Another Day

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears for we're going to go boldly.

Now if Bong had not given up on the internet entirely, he might get a tickle out of this but I'll risk being shunned and plunge readily.

Initially there are traces of a decent (for Brosnan anyway) Bond movie. For what feels like the first time since Goldeneye, ol' Pierce seems to be putting some back into it. Perhaps being the 40th anniversary film helped or what. For the first time Bond's fallen foul of a known state and there's an element of danger when Bond is faced with the firing squad.
Back up. Should say what goes wrong it seems with the film is that Bond comes home. Would've been easier if he went all LTK and went after Zao off his bat, John Cleese comes out to Cuba in a Hawaiian shirt, Bond has Little Nellie Mark II and...
In this first half as I say Brosnan isn't too bad, the film thus far is marred by the puns/one-liners that sometimes grate but otherwise aren't too bad. Brosnan's Bond has a good scene with M which is as close to the OHMSS Bond/M or LTK Bond/M (farewell to arms scene) Brosnan gets. The whole "I threw it years ago...what the hell is this!" and wanting to get Zao. Raoul is Brosnan's Mathis in a way or at least he has that warm feel. There's that moment I can't help but like of Bond strolling into the hotel all bearded, wet and in a surgical gown to the Bond theme...
It's not perfect but somehow feels a bit better than elements of the preceding two films. (Like I said, I think I bashed my head before I watched it last night).

But there are warning signs. Jinx alone is one -sorry, but she just gets worse on every repeat. I don't know if it's Berry or direction or what, the lines, the delivery and just her...there's the backprojection to Jinx's dive off the clifftop...

And then Bond comes home. Again not too bad a Bond/M moment but then we have the Vanish which though done as logically perhaps as a Bond film can is mindboggling. At least there's half an attempt of Bond doubting it with his "Maybe you've been down here too long". Was good to see past gadgets though Skyfall did anniversary stuff better.
The sword fight is the last vestige. Ignoring Madge's cameo (if we can, I'd sooner have had Maud Adams cameo. "Have we met?"/"Perhaps, I have tentacles everywhere") it wasn't too bad then or now. It demonstrates early on the ego Graves/Moon has (his continuing anger management problem) and draws Bond in quick. The fact it goes as long is neither here nor there. Bond isn't impressed, is a bit pissed...
And there's Pike. I'm sure she's a decent actress but here there's something about her delivery of lines that's irksome ("I can read your every move!" and most when they pretend to be lovers). She does the icy bitch routine well.
In fact if we eliminate Jinx from this it might have lessened some impact. Toby Stephens' hams it up but I always got the impression from interviews he felt Bond beneath him somehow.

As we creep along with Brosnan doing his best he steals Jurgen Klinsmann's car which brings in all manners of CGI. I remember watching this for the first time in the cinema, a stupid 17 year-old seeing Bond pass by the camera with the Bond theme going as he wrestles with the 'chute thinking, crikey that looks grim (a tricky spot for 007) and then...boom, paragliding a CGI icefloe. I sometimes think, what with this being the Royal Premiere film or whatever it was called in 2002, what the Queen thought at the sight of 'her best agent' doing this crap.

The car chase is a bit much though this film is the most we've seen Bond use a car probably since Living Daylights (not really counting TND). The Vanquish looks all right but it's the fact it boils down to rockets, mortars and machine guns popping off.

The end is as good as it gets. The stupid space-suit for Graves/Moon aside, the fight is handled well when you consider the SFX that went off and that finally Bond is able to exact some kind of payback. As grimacing as it might be, can't help but like the "time to face gravity" line. Alas, around the same time Jinx does her yo, momma bitch thing.

So there we have it. Skipping past Penny's sex dream about Bond and the diamond foreplay (I belatedly twigged that Icarus is some DAF tribute I suppose, i.e. Blofeld's space-laser) the film feels like an attempt to drag Bond fully into the new century and millenia. I find myself thinking that Brozzer could've done one more (my views on CR now is that it's almost a Brosnan film with collapsing homes and the rest) and maybe done all right. DAD feels that his Bond is incomplete personally. Maybe it's just the way he ended up leaving the franchise, like Dalton and Lazenby, without the knowledge that "This is my last film" like DAF and VTAK were for Connery and Moore.

I almost bumped this to a 6.5/10 but 6/10 will do. I was thinking, is this really better than TSWLM and VTAK?

I suppose DAD's guilty pleasure.

Bond rankings

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
From Russia With Love
The Living Daylights
Licence To Kill
Dr No
Thunderball
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever
Moonraker
You Only Live Twice
Live and Let Die
Goldeneye
The Spy Who Loved Me
A View To A Kill
Die Another Day (last rating 6/10, last placing 21st)
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World Is Not Enough
The Man With The Golden Gun

-

I went straight onto CR for a little bit so that'll follow sooner or later.

Casino Royale - the last 80 minutes could do with more of the pace of the first hour at times, the 'backroom staff' are nondescript and make you yearn for Moneypenny and 'Q', I'd happily lose some of the 'drippier' exchanges between Bond and Vesper at the clinic and possibly the 'rookie Bond' stuff might have carried more resonance if the early-20s Henry Cavill had been cast as opposed to the late-30s Daniel Craig.

All that said, it's a pleasure to see a 007 film with as much of the Fleming source material present as you could reasonably expect in the 21st century. The action is top-notch, there's more humour than Craig's casting might have at first indicated, Mads Mikkelsen makes Le Chiffre a memorably nasty piece of work and minor age quibbles aside, Craig is great.

Edit - moved to Spectre Review thread.

Are we able to keep the SPECTRE reviews and thoughts in the thread Ambler created? Just so people who haven't seen it don't look through this thread and stumble across spoilers….

FieldsMan wrote:

Are we able to keep the SPECTRE reviews and thoughts in the thread Ambler created? Just so people who haven't seen it don't look through this thread and stumble across spoilers….

Apologies, have edited and moved.

Fortunately I averted my eyes by knocking my cup of tea off my table at a rate of knots.

G section wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

Are we able to keep the SPECTRE reviews and thoughts in the thread Ambler created? Just so people who haven't seen it don't look through this thread and stumble across spoilers….

Apologies, have edited and moved.

All good… Cheers!

Hilly KCMG wrote:

I'd sooner have had Maud Adams cameo. "Have we met?"/"Perhaps, I have tentacles everywhere"

Heh, I like that one.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

I sometimes think, what with this being the Royal Premiere film or whatever it was called in 2002, what the Queen thought at the sight of 'her best agent' doing this crap.

I imagine Her Majesty walked out of the theatre with an intent to execute the responsible party. Alas, Lee Tamawhore craftily disguised himself as a broad and took refuge in Baker Street.

Currently watching A VIEW TO A KILL...some preliminary thoughts:

I can't tell you how many times i've watched this over the years. A LOT! It's probably as good as its ever going to get for me, so what I'm left with now on multiple viewings is looking for things I may not have spotted before.

One thing I have spotted before was Robert dodgy performance. In this viewing, she's just downright awful. I mean, she's basically camping it up and vamping it up in every single scene. The simple stuff most actresses could handle but she rips apart. Such scenes Zorin kissing her hand (she rolls her eyes and looks away)....later she fails miserably to provide witty banter to Bond while the two of them are on the bridge at Zorin's party. The best part of the scene was when Grace Jones ges in between the two of them to break them apart. Jones dominates every scene she's in. She's easily in The Top Five best Henchman category.

What bugged me, though, was that she couldn't remember the face of the man she just tried to kill only 3 weeks prior. Or in Octopussy, when magda had forgotten that she'd just met Bond at the Sothebys auction. But I digress.

This movie really has one of the more interesting, if underused, plots in the series, and I like the way the investigation into Zorin's horseracing activities led to Operation Mainstrike being uncovered.

Roberts was not only god-awful in the role, she was delusional as well (must'been doing cocaine already; she as big junkie back in the 80's and 90's; think she lost her home and her money). In some of on-set interviews done with her, she claims that Stacy is really central tot he movie and wouldn't work without her. Yeah baby, right, Keep plucking that chicken.

A more interesting approach would have been to either bring Goodhead back (and get rid of Chuck Lee) and let Bond team up her her, or turn Pola Ivanova into Amasova and let her team up iwth Bond again. The role of Stacy could be cut so easily I'm convinced it never belonged there in the first place.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Currently watching A VIEW TO A KILL...some preliminary thoughts:

I can't tell you how many times i've watched this over the years. A LOT! It's probably as good as its ever going to get for me, so what I'm left with now on multiple viewings is looking for things I may not have spotted before.

One thing I have spotted before was Robert dodgy performance. In this viewing, she's just downright awful. I mean, she's basically camping it up and vamping it up in every single scene. The simple stuff most actresses could handle but she rips apart. Such scenes Zorin kissing her hand (she rolls her eyes and looks away)....later she fails miserably to provide witty banter to Bond while the two of them are on  the bridge at Zorin's  party. The best part of the scene was when Grace Jones ges in between the two of them to break them apart. Jones dominates every scene she's in. She's easily in The Top Five best Henchman category.

What bugged me, though, was that she couldn't remember the face of the man she just tried to kill only 3 weeks  prior. Or in Octopussy, when magda had forgotten that she'd just met Bond at the Sothebys auction. But I digress.

This movie really has one of the more interesting, if underused, plots in the series, and I like the way the investigation into Zorin's horseracing activities led to Operation Mainstrike being uncovered.

Roberts was not only god-awful in the role, she was delusional as well (must'been doing cocaine already; she as big junkie back in the 80's and 90's; think she lost her home and her money). In some of on-set interviews done with her, she claims that Stacy is really central tot he movie and wouldn't work without her. Yeah baby, right, Keep plucking that chicken.

A more interesting approach would have been to either bring Goodhead back (and get rid of Chuck Lee) and let Bond team up her her, or turn Pola Ivanova into Amasova and let her team up iwth Bond again. The role of Stacy could be cut so easily I'm convinced it never belonged there in the first place.

Aww I love Stacey… Maybe because she's smoking but I do love the stuff at Chantilly, the dinner scene at her house and her in that uniform at the mine.

Also, I do believe Pola was supposed to be Anya. That would have been cool to bring her back, but I think Fiona Fullerton is a stronger actress than Bach, so whatever. Out of the agent Bond girls, the only one's I wouldn't mind seeing back would be Wai Lin and Camille - but I don't think the former will.

Die Another Day in a hospital waiting room whilst awaiting to have my leg amputated.

Great fun. Does what is sets out to do. Uncomplicated. Unpretentious. 10/10.

Shame Tamawhori failed in getting us Halle and Ros' norks on screen though. Maybe the b-roll is out there somewhere.

Vesper wrote:

Die Another Day in a hospital waiting room whilst awaiting to have my leg amputated.

Great fun. Does what is sets out to do. Uncomplicated. Unpretentious. 10/10.

I see the general anaesthetic hasn't worn off yet. Good to have you back, Vesper, legless and all.

Glad that drinking a bottle of tequila and five pints before swimming in a university campus creek littered both with shopping trolleys, broken glass, blue green algae and sewage run-off could bring me here.

How does SPECTRE compare? Without spoilers where possible. Should I bring endone?