Last Bond Movie You Watched? 1.0

I think that's my favorite poster of the Bond films. Another contribution of Brownjohn.

Watched TND last night. This is an underrated Bond film. Yes, there's a surfeit of action, yes, some of the dialogue is clunky, yes, Cheryl Crow is a caterwauling piece of trailer trash, and yes, Hatcher and Yeoh are pretty wooden. But otherwise, dam' good. TND never flags, it builds tension well, is soundly plotted and the production is not bad either.

PS--K.D. Lang's Surrender obviously influenced Garbage's The World Is Not Enough hugely. Some of the latter's phrasing is ripped directly from the former.

With TND I seem to like more than any other moments the Arms Bazaar if but for some element of tension with the Sea Dart missile or at that the loss of the Devonshire and the end moments as HMS Bedford pursues the stealthboat.

Yes, Hilly, those are probably the best action bits. The motorcycle chase through Saigon, while inventive, just doesn't press my buttons. I liked the parking garage car chase more than usual on this viewing, though.

That said, the saw device the BMW uses to cut through the steel cable is absurd, and why does Bond wantonly endanger civilians by piloting the BMW off the garage and into the Avis shop? The action "bang" does not justify what that act does to the character of James Bond, IMO.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Yes, Hilly, those are probably the best action bits. The motorcycle chase through Saigon, while inventive, just doesn't press my buttons. I liked the parking garage car chase more than usual on this viewing, though.

That said, the saw device the BMW uses to cut through the steel cable is absurd, and why does Bond wantonly endanger civilians by piloting the BMW off the garage and into the Avis shop? The action "bang" does not justify what that act does to the character of James Bond, IMO.

the bike chase flags after a short while and is kind of pointless. The car park chase is probably better.

The Beemer off the roof might be up there with Bond's driving through Paris in VTAK in terms of recklessness. Suspect it was done almost just to show Brosnan blowing a kiss (sort of).

On my last viewing of TND (last year), I found the motorbike chase to be more exciting than the car. But glad you're fond of TND, PK. I don't think Paris and Wai Lin are wooden...

In terms of recklessness goes, I'd say the tank chase tops the list.

FieldsMan wrote:

On my last viewing of TND (last year), I found the motorbike chase to be more exciting than the car. But glad you're fond of TND, PK. I don't think Paris and Wai Lin are wooden...

In terms of recklessness goes, I'd say the tank chase tops the list.

In the tank chase, Bond was doing what he had to do to tail his quarry. Sailing the car off the garage was needless and pointless. It served no purpose whatsoever except to provide "style."

It was only done for the pathetic attempt at humor (oh ho ho Bond returned it to the rental agency, yuk yuk yuk!!)

Ah! That one sailed right over me head--so to speak. I thought Q branch issued Bond's cars--didn't realize you could rent a remote-controlled BWM with an electrified theft-prevention system from Avis.

Live and Let die for the second time. Quite different to the novel, but still good.
One of the very few Bond movies without Q, and this hurts me.

I thought Bond crashed the 750 in order to buy time to leave Hamburg while he was still presumed dead (hence the cutting of the scene where he tells the Avis girl that the keys are in the car as he passes by the shop). And remember, PK, he was supposed to have rented the car from Avis, although of course he didn't really.

I've been making a week out of watching 60s & 70s spy movies, e.g.: The Macintosh Man, The Contract, The Saint (in colour!), and I've decided to round of this fest with FRWL, which I usually only watch when I've had enough of big-budget spectacle - only in this case, I wanted to segue from kitchen sink dramas back into spectacle, and FRWL fits the bill.

I'm posting because I'm curious to know: has anyone else ever noticed that, in the chess match scene in Venice, there are 80 tiles on the floor, rather than 64 as there are on a chessboard?

Also, in the titles for an old British show called The Protectors (starring Robert Vaughn) there is a brief clip of the helicopter/flower truck chase from FRWL.

How did they get away with that?

Well, back to the main feature.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Sailing the car off the garage was needless and pointless. It served no purpose whatsoever except to provide "style."

And to end the scene.

Octopussy

It had been a little bit longer than my usual time frame for watching each Bond movie, so I popped in this OP DVD for another round. I always did love OP, it just has that Bond sensation I often refer to when judging my tastes for a Bond movie. You've got the exotic Indian locations compared with the Cold War Germany locations, the well-handled plot that balances between smuggling and nuclear devestation, the action which always captivates me, and the characters which get deep enough to be familiar with but not to the point where you feel like you're watching a soap opera, like OHMSS or CR. If we were to take it to a vote, I'd say that OP features one of Roger's top three performances, along with possibly LALD and AVTAK, and maybe FYEO as well. OP currently sits at #6 in my rankings, and I don't think it'll move for a long time!

MOONRAKER

The awesome disco version of the theme in the end credits is almost enough to convince the weak-minded that what they've just watched isn't a total piece of shit.

I love all of the scenes with the old Mi6 staff.

"Good God..."

You Only Live Twice

The usual - the sets, music and cinematography are superb, Helga Brandt is hot, Kissy is pointless. Connery didn't appear as bored this time around, except for that "which girl?" line with Moneypenny. The dialogue annoys me in parts, but I don't think the story is as weak as some make it out to be. It definitely could have been stronger, but it generates quite a bit of tension, which can't be said for the seventies Bond films.

8/10

2012 Bondathon Ranking:

From Russia With Love
Thunderball
Dr.No
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice.

FYEO last night.

One of the classiest Bond flicks. Somewhat of a poor man's OHMSS. I love the whole Mediterranean vibe, and the Cortina setting is quite lovely. Indeed, the settings go a very long way to making this film a success. The Bond girls, including Bibi, are also quite good.

I'm not at all crazy about the PTS, nor most of the film prior to the arrival in Cortina. A bit too much silliness for my taste. I also wish Cubby had found a singer capable of doing the title track justice, because it's a good song. Sheena Easton, however, is a terrible singer. Almost as bad as Sheryl Crow.

Hey, Easton is a goddess. I have much of her material in the pop diva section of my collection. I recommend her smash hit Sugar Walls.

Her FYEO does get much supermarket muzak play. Almost as much play as any given song by Belinda Carlisle.

Watched FYEO as well, the other day,as part of my new random-selection Bondathon method. The film holds up very well. Must visit Greece and the mediterranean someday. I thought Rog seemed a tad haggard. All that running about and physical exertion seemed to be a bit much for his Bond. Although he did seem a little more energized in OP.

The pts is abominable. Such a great disrespect to the iconic Ernst S. Blofeld. When I first saw the film, I almost wanted to walk out, much as I almost wanted to walk out during the infamous Beach Boys interlude in AVTAK.

The Rog era could be trying.

I think Sheena is okay when singing songs that are not overly taxing. FYEO, IMO, was out of her range.

Moonraker

Despite its reputation for being a really comedic and silly Bond movie, I will say that I found MR to be slightly more enjoyable this time around than I previously have. There were some really stand-out moments that made me glad I decided to watch MR that night and then moments where I second-guessed myself as to why I watched it. Even so, I'll say that these things stood out to me the most: Roger Moore's brilliant performance, the exotic locations, a swiftly moving pace, and John Barry's soundtrack. These are the best aspects of Moonraker! I'm still not one for the goofy scenes, especially Jaws and Dolly, but it's not enough for me to put MR in last place or anything. That "honored" spot will always go to OHMSS. I'll keep MR around spot #17 or so for now, because like I said, it's not horrible and is still quite entertaining.

The greatness of FYEO can be summarised with this:

CJB, you are absolutely right. That track alone says what it needs to say for not only Bill Conti's score, but the movie as a whole. Truly awesome!

Haven't updated this in a while. Last Bond I saw were Goldfinger (at the cinema) and The World is Not Enough. The latter was a better experience than previously. I must've been in a jolly mood. Even Dr. Jones wasn't as cringe-inducing as usual. I kept an eye open for things that Skyfall appears to be borrowing from TWINE. It's no relief knowing that P&W are still involved, but at least I can't imagine most of the other faults of TWINE being replicated so easily.

1. FRWL
2. OHMSS
3. CR
4. TB
5. Dr. No
6. Goldfinger
7. GE
8. TLD
9. FYEO
10. YOLT
11. QOS
12. TND
13. LALD
14. TWINE
15. TMWTGG
16. AVTAK
17. DAF

GeneralGogol wrote:

Goldfinger (at the cinema)

Wait, this might sound stupid, but... you haven't watched Goldfinger for almost 50 years, or did they show it at the cinema recently?

Walecs wrote:

GeneralGogol wrote:

Goldfinger (at the cinema)

Wait, this might sound stupid, but... you haven't watched Goldfinger for almost 50 years, or did they show it at the cinema recently?

There are brandnew copies of GF traveling around the cinema's of the world. I saw it last year in a nearly full cinema of Bond fans.

Given it's the 50th anniversary it's not surprising that many theaters across the world are running Bond showings of all 22 films or selected titles. Especially in this age of digital cinema.