Last Bond Movie You Watched? 2.0

TWINE would probably be at number 3 and TSWLM would be at number 2.

Good to see TWINE so high up!

AVTAK - still a classic in my book. The Chantilly scenes, including the Steeple Chase and Tibbet's death, and continuing into Zorin's meeting scene is a continuous portion of classic Bond (and throw in City Hall and Mine/Golden Gate Bridge sequence too), up there with the gypsy camp-death of Krilencu-Bond meets Tanya and Bond steals the Lektor-Orient Express sequences in FRWL, and the first half of GF.

Probably Glen's most colourful Bond film - figuratively and literally.

Every time I hear Barry's score for it, I grow more and more appreciative and fonder of it. Probably one of his sexiest, most dangerous sounding scores.

Stacey Sutton is resourceful, vulnerable and courageous and Tanya Roberts lends her a sassiness - and of course sexiness - that I find so appealing that I can't help but like her. I can see why some wouldn't like her, but I strongly disagree with those sentiments. In fact - and tiffanywint would be proud - I'd probably have her in my top 10 Bond girls.

And May Day is potentially my favourite henchman of the series. She oozes bizarre and a curious sexuality that I imagine she'd fit in nicely in a Fleming novel. Grace Jones was a great choice for the role, and John Glen provides some striking shots of her, particularly the opening shot of her fight with Zorin at Chantilly, when she spots Bond in her bed, the shots in the blimp, the shot of the wind blowing her headdress in the mine, and of course, her demise on the dolly with the bomb.

AVTAK makes a strong case of knocking FYEO off the top spot of Moore's best Bond film.

Some say Roger Moore is still fucking Tanya Roberts in that shower while Q watches.

So much so she can't stand up straight:



For anyone who gives a shit, my ranking so far this year:

A View to a Kill
Octopussy
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day

I know Rog pumped her full of something, but I didn't expect it to be Botox.

^ Ha!

The Man With The Golden Gun

Pros:
- Christopher Lee
- Cinematography
- Local Colour
- Colour Palette
- Britt Ekland does well with what she's given
- Maud Adams sells Andrea better than Octopussy
- The atmosphere of the film
- J.W. Pepper

Cons:
- Merging of the soles energy crisis and Bond's hunt for Scaramanga doesn't always work.
- The usual suspects - butt grabbing sumo wrestlers, girls kung fu fighting and Bond watching, slide whistle (though these things didn't both me all that much this time round)

The Man with the Golden Bondathon - 2016 Edition:

A View to a Kill
Octopussy
The Man With The Golden Gun
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day

Licence to Kill.

So good. Pam is growing on me, though when she acts as Miss Ms Kennedy and ingratiates Wayne Newton, that's when she grates on me most. But behind Wai Lin and Camille, she's definitely competent as an agent. Of which, if I was to rank them on overall preference (and not just competency), I'd probably go with:

Wai Lin
Camille
Aki
Anya
Pola
Kissy
Pam
Goodnight
Holly Goodhead
Jinx

But back to LTK, great action, great set design, great villains, Lupe is sexy as hell and a cracking score.

Licence to Bondathon - 2016 Licence Renewal.

A View to a Kill
Octopussy
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day

You Only Live Twice - by way of tribute to the late Ken Adam.

Probably the first properly OTT Bond, and as such tremendous fun. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Did:

FYEO - Perfect.

GE - Perfect

TWINE - Perfect.

Eyes Only: so, Goldeneye exists in the World Bondathon - 2016

Goldeneye
For Your Eyes Only
The World Is Not Enough
A View to a Kill
Octopussy
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day

YOLT, SP and MR.

As you may have noticed, I've been cramming a bit of Bond in. I wanted to see how SP would go in between an array of different Bond films. I probably enjoyed it more than ever today. Not to say it's gunna enter my top 5 - not even my top 15 - but it's great to see Craig in something closer to the traditional formula. It's just that it could have done with another polish. I'm still hoping for Franz and Blofeld to be seperate characters, a fix retconned in an future instalment, or purely forgotten about. It's interesting watching YOLT and seeing the Bond/Blofeld dynamic in that and it's utterly absurd to think these two men knew each other before they ventured into their chosen fields. It's even more absurd to think Pleasance's Blofeld is capturing space shuttles in order to start a war because his dad taught his younger, temporary foster brother how to ski and climb. Cuckoo! Yeah right. I'm surprised Mendes' SPECTRE didn't elaborate on the idea that Blofeld adopted Mr Bigglesworth so that he can catch the bird that is supposedly James Bond.

Sarcasm aside, I enjoy SP immensely up until just after the meteorite scene. It always wins me over with the absolutely brilliant opening, the inclusion of Bautista's Hinx, Bellucci's Lucia and the train scenes. Awesome to see the villain's lair again in a Bond film - the crater idea is intriguing - and a SPECTRE meeting. C is only worth mentioning because of Fiennes' joke. From the torture sequence onwards, it's a bit of a shambles. And the Blofeld thing is a big flaw, not just for the film, but potentially the entire series.

YOLT - it's a classic. Not so much overall, but it has so many classic, iconic moments, images and ideas that it just works. Minor plot contrivances but as the film doesn't take itself seriously (SP?), it gets away with it. It's fun. Bond is intuitive throughout, which is a department SP needed to improve on. The music, photography and retro charm wins me over in this, and the sense of urgency - perhaps why TND rates highly for me as well.

MR - watching MR after SP makes me appreciate it a whole lot more. The goofiness is cosmetic, and there is an interesting story beneath the superficial gags. One particular scene that stood out for me this time was Bond snooping around Venice/the lab at night time. Bond - and Moore - seemed so focus and the backdrop of this Italian city only adds to the intrigue.

2016 Bondathon:

Goldeneye
For Your Eyes Only
The World Is Not Enough
A View to a Kill
Octopussy
You Only Live Twice
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Moonraker
SPECTRE
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day

Never Say Never Again

Purest Bond - a man who always has a Martini at five, smokes in abundance, smuggles a hamper to Shrublands full of the finest food, has "too much red meat and white bread", drives a Bentley, rides a motorbike, engages in casual sex at every opportunity ("Your place or mine?"), competent at a wide variety of skills (dancing the Tango, massaging, scuba diving), beats the villain at his own game (withstanding immense pain in the process) and leave the service with M fearing for the safety of the entire world. Nail on the head. Arguably the best portrayal of the character since, well, From Russia With Love and not matched until Dalton and Skyfall.

Meanwhile, Brandauer, Carrera and Von Sydow make three stupendous villains - perhaps some of the best in the entire series, whilst the dialogue is crisp and frequently witty.

★★★★

You make a solid case for NSNA, Mr G.

I feel like we've watched a different NSNA....

Connery is undoubtedly marvellous, but NSNA's 'unofficial' status has always bothered me ... the gunbarrel, Bond theme, and the series regulars (Brown, Llewellyn, Maxwell) are much missed. Insipid song, too.

I'll take Thunderball over it any day.

I keep it at arms length. Or the arse-end of ITV4 as it's sometimes known.

Haven't updated this in a while but having immensely enjoyed TLD tonight:

2016 Bondathon:

Goldeneye
For Your Eyes Only
The World Is Not Enough
The Living Daylights
A View to a Kill
Octopussy
You Only Live Twice
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Moonraker
SPECTRE
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day
Casino Royale

TND and TB.

Both have sharp dialogue, a great sense of urgency, colourful characters, a more playful Bond and a brassy Bond sound. Still two of my favourite Bond films.

2016 Bondathon:

Tomorrow Never Dies
Goldeneye
Thunderball
For Your Eyes Only
The World Is Not Enough
The Living Daylights
A View to a Kill
Octopussy
You Only Live Twice
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Moonraker
SPECTRE
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day
Casino Royale

The Living Daylights

It's been a while since I visited this one and damn it feels good to visit it again after sometime has passed. This film really hits the sweet spot between the hard-edged spy thriller of today and the action extravaganza of the Moore era. The plot itself is fairly complex but the film still has time for some thrilling action scenes such as the pre-titles which is pure Bond and introduces Dalton in a way that could not be bettered and the Russian air base battle was just epic. Watching it again the only faults I have would seem minor such as the less enthusiastic Felix Leiter (although his World War III line delivery is priceless) and Whittaker's exit from the film didn't quite have the same punch to it as Necros and even the one Colonel Feyador did back at the airbase. Otherwise though this is Bond at his best and Dalton delivered. Maybe even more impressive a performance now that I've become more acquainted with book Bond over the years.

Diamonds Are Forever and Live And Let Die, as tribute to Guy Hamilton.

I have to say I enjoyed DAF a whole lot more than last year. The whole laser plot is ridiculous, but the colourful characters and humour are brilliant. The film isn't perfect, and it really starts to show its cracks just after Bond meets Willard Whyte, which is interesting given he is great character. But Tiff approaching Q, Blofeld in drag and Tiff suddenly becoming a bimbo when she showed so much sass and gusto up until the point is a little disappointing. But something about the aerial raid always enhance the ending of DAF for me.

Live and Let Die will never be a favourite of mine, but the music is so damn cool that I was always find enjoyment in this film. DAF's music is better - one of my favourite scores in the series - but LALD's best hand is Martin's music and McCartney's title song, which is arguably the best in the series. Despite some great scenes, colour and solid performances, it just falls a little flat.

Also did Skyfall a little while ago, and realised I hadn't posted here about it. It's a brilliant Bond film - no questions asked. In terms of my enjoyment this year, I enjoyed TLD that little bit more (probably because of a greater interest in the Cold War, and as we know, its presence is much more prominent in the film).

2016 Bondathon:

Tomorrow Never Dies
Goldeneye
Thunderball
For Your Eyes Only
The World Is Not Enough
The Living Daylights
Skyfall
A View to a Kill
Octopussy
You Only Live Twice
Licence to Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Diamonds Are Forever
Moonraker
SPECTRE
Quantum of Solace
Die Another Day
Live and Let Die
Casino Royale

Watched DAF and LALD as a tribute to Guy Hamilton. Both fun films!

Throw my cap in for DAF as my tribute viewing. It's a quoteathon and strangely enjoyable. Fear Miss Case grated something fierce on this viewing, I got more of a kick out of Bruce Glover than in recent viewings (his reaction on the jet to Kidd's "Miss Case is quite attractive...for a lady") and the music is topnotch. As Willard Whyte on the late lemented MI6forum said, it'd have been something to see Lazenby in scenes set to that music (I think chiefly of the lift fight with Franks, utterly savage).

Shoud've used the batho-sub end for Waltz in Spectre.

Goldfinger for my Hamilton tribute ... still one of the most flat-out enjoyable things ever made.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Goldfinger for my Hamilton tribute ... still one of the most flat-out enjoyable things ever made.

+1 It's my favourite Connery Bond film.

Finally got through my first home viewing of Spectre after several failed attempts. It'll also, most likely, be my last viewing of the film unless I do another marathon. It just might be the worst of the franchise.