Last Bond Movie You Watched? 2.0

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

It's a shame that this film is terrible. Not a shred of Bond in it until the very end.

You know your movie is bad when David Arnold's score is one of its only redeeming qualities. But, in all seriousness, he did a pretty decent job, considering his past work on the Bond films.

QUANTUM was easily Arnold's best work, for both the franchise and his career. I was initially sad when everyone was tap-dancing on Arnold's temporary grave when Newman was announced as the composer for SKYFALL because of this. As it turns out, Newman far exceeded what Arnold might have made.

Tubes wrote:

QUANTUM was easily Arnold's best work, for both the franchise and his career. I was initially sad when everyone was tap-dancing on Arnold's temporary grave when Newman was announced as the composer for SKYFALL because of this.

I was too, though then I remembered Arnold saying in an interview how Forster pressured him to not fall back on his old tricks, and come up with a more organic, internal cloudscape, or words to that effect. He had to come up with the melodic material from just reading the script.

It's much like the collaboration between Ang Lee and Danny Elfman on HULK. A seasoned Hollywood composer having a foreign art house director guide him away from cliché, and going on to write one of the best scores of his career.

The World is not Enough

I used to not enjoy TWINE very much, ironically. Even DAD used to be better than it in my eyes! I realized quickly enough, however, that it really is pretty great. And my original dislike for it was not a Brosnan Era dislike, or even a Brosnan dislike, because as most of you know, I am a huge Brosnan Era and Brosnan fan! I just had difficulty getting through TWINE previously, because it used to seem slower to me. As time goes on, one figures out that it actually has one of the best pacings of any Bond movie in the series! Welcome to the Brosnan Era, where pacing is your friend (except for DAD)! The World is not Enough is aided by many other factors that go along with its pacing, as well. Brosnan gives us a very slick and polished performance as 007, using all the right manners such as class, style, commanding authority, lethal cunning, and sheer brutality (for reference on that last point, check the scene where Bond uses one of Renard's men as a human shield during the shoot-out in the submarine). His performance really drives the movie in the direction it intends to go, which is not necessarily dark like some of the predecessors (LTK and GE particularly), but rather mature, psychological, and professional. He really nails it here! Adding to that, you've got two great primary villains in Elektra King and Victor "Renard" Zokas, with special emphasis on Renard, who is one of my favorite villains in the series. My only qualms on this note are that Elektra's deception could be pretty easily deduced, and sometimes doesn't seem believable enough, and Renard's inability to feel pain was severely under-used. This point was especially seen during the final fight on the submarine with Bond, which, for a man who can drive himself longer than most men, turned out to be rather disappointing. However, both were great enemies for Bond, and far better than many of those we have seen in the Craig era thus far, which has been exceedingly drab for its villains (excluding Silva and Le Chiffre). TWINE also benefits from a variety of nifty locations and a pretty epic soundtrack from David Arnold, with special emphasis on such tracks like what plays during the PTS boat chase and the caviar factory shoot-out. All in all, I really enjoy TWINE, and its a worthy top ten entry, or at least #11 or #12.

Nice write up! I felt the ending between Bond and Renard was good, but given the calibre of other endings in the Bond films, it's not up there with the best.

With Elektra's deception, I always pray when I watch it that she is innocent. Always. That's good writing, good acting or both.

00Beast wrote:

the Craig era thus far, which has been exceedingly drab for its villains (excluding Silva and Le Chiffre).

Hmmm, doesn't saying that the Craig-era villains have been drab and then saying that 2 out of 3 of them actually weren't undermine your point somewhat?

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987)

Is a good.

LICENCE TO KILL (1989)

Noticed that during the first casino scene, when Dalton is rocking that terrible Dracula 'do, Pam's hair looks kinda Connery-esque with its side-part and quiff. Did Lowell and Dalton mix up their hair appointments?

GoldenEye, last weekend.

Skyfall...

SKYFALL :5*:

I don't remember what I gave the film when I saw it in theaters (I believe it was 4 stars), so this review may differ slightly from my theatrical review.

Saw it on Blu-Ray over the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it held up. Unlike some films (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for example), this one seems to have gotten better as it went to home video, instead of regressing.

I picked up more of the nuances and subtle shadings that probably got lost on the big screen (particularly with M, where I felt like some of her close-ups may have revealed her own foreboding and foreshadowing, sensing she was going to die in Bond's Scottish home).

My nits and picks with the theatrical viewing still stand: would have liked to see more of Severin, would have liked to see more of Shanghai (particularly real, on-location footage of Craig, not back-lot fakery)....I think there's room for Harris to grow in her role, but I thought in this one she was on firmer footing when she was shooting a gun or driving; when she was in her offices scenes as "Eve" and "Moneypenny" she came across as a bit gawky, at one point walking like a teenage girl.

This is clearly Craig's best Bond film and it's a shame that it took three films for them to finally let the guy show a lighter side: the look on Craig's face as he tells the woman on the train to "Open the door!" said it all. It was perfect without being campy, which is all the more sad that Mendes chose to follow up that moment by Bond telling the woman "Health and Safety". The scene was perfect as it is, because everyone can relate to running after a train, or a taxi, or an airplane. It didn't really require an explicit joke, per se.

I think I appreciated the scenes in Scotland more now than I did in the initial review. Seeing Bond, and M, and Kincaid setting up old-fashioned booby-traps, using the "old ways", was much more impressive to me than Bond wielding a machine gun in each hand or Wai Lin throwing a Chinese death star in TOMORROW NEVER LIES. This is the sort of "back to basics" approach that has been talked about for a long time, but it's the first time I really recall seeing that since, well, FYEO.

I felt the ice pond battle was too much; it could have been totally cut from the film and you'd never miss it. It added nothing to the story. I also thought M's final scene was underplayed, but I guess it's better than hamming it up with a cliched, Hollywood-style death. And the tube sequence runs a little longer than necessary.

This was the first film I felt like Craig was really James Bond and not some brutish thug in a tux calling himself Bond. Just allowing a little light into Bond's soul...a bit of levity or humor....a slightly more intriguing villain than we've had in a while...and down-to-earth stunts have made all the difference. And it has been a long, long time since I can recall being moved or affected by a supporting Bond Girl's death (probably not since Corrine's death in Moonraker). Mendes does a fantastic job building up the suspense and dread, even though we are all but certain she's about to die.

Overall, SF was not simply just Craig's best Bond film, but maybe the best since GE.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

SKYFALL :5*:

I don't remember what I gave the film when I saw it in theaters (I believe it was 4 stars), so this review may differ slightly from my theatrical review.

Saw it on Blu-Ray over the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it held up. Unlike some films (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for example), this one seems to have gotten better as it went to home video, instead of regressing.

I picked up more of the nuances and subtle shadings that probably got lost on the big screen (particularly with M, where I felt like some of her close-ups may have revealed her own foreboding and foreshadowing, sensing she was going to die in Bond's Scottish home).

My nits and picks with the theatrical viewing still stand: would have liked to see more of Severin, would have liked to see more of Shanghai (particularly real, on-location footage of Craig, not back-lot fakery)....I think there's room for Harris to grow in her role, but I thought in this one she was on firmer footing when she was shooting a gun or driving; when she was in her offices scenes as "Eve" and "Moneypenny" she came across as a bit gawky, at one point walking like a teenage girl.

This is clearly Craig's best Bond film and it's a shame that it took three films for them to finally let the guy show a lighter side: the look on Craig's face as he tells the woman on the train to "Open the door!" said it all. It was perfect without being campy, which is all the more sad that Mendes chose to follow up that moment by Bond telling the woman "Health and Safety". The scene was perfect as it is, because everyone can relate to running after a train, or a taxi, or an airplane. It didn't really require an explicit joke, per se.

I think I appreciated the scenes in Scotland more now than I did in the initial review. Seeing Bond, and M, and Kincaid setting up old-fashioned booby-traps, using the "old ways", was much more impressive to me than Bond wielding a machine gun in each hand or Wai Lin throwing a Chinese death star in TOMORROW NEVER LIES. This is the sort of "back to basics" approach that has been talked about for a long time, but it's the first time I really recall seeing that since, well, FYEO.

I felt the ice pond battle was too much; it could have been totally cut from the film and you'd never miss it. It added nothing to the story. I also thought M's final scene was underplayed, but I guess it's better than hamming it up with a cliched, Hollywood-style death. And the tube sequence runs a little longer than necessary.

This was the first film I felt like Craig was really James Bond and not some brutish thug in a tux calling himself Bond. Just allowing a little light into Bond's soul...a bit of levity or humor....a slightly more intriguing villain than we've had in a while...and down-to-earth stunts have made all the difference. And it has been a long, long time since I can recall being moved or affected by a supporting Bond Girl's death (probably not since Corrine's death in Moonraker). Mendes does a fantastic job building up the suspense and dread, even though we are all but certain she's about to die.

Overall, SF was not simply just Craig's best Bond film, but maybe the best since GE.

Excellent points. A really good summary of the film's strengths. It has more strengths than have already been mentioned on the forums.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Excellent points. A really good summary of the film's strengths. It has more strengths than have already been mentioned on the forums.

Thank you. I was pressed for time, so I'll be adding more later. But I do believe that Mendes, or whomever else directs, will have a very, very high bar to maintain. But if EON keeps the same creative team in place, I really, truly believe they'll make a Bond movie for the ages; they've had their first dry run; now they'll come back a bit wiser and stronger, knowing what works and what doesn't.

Or hire Christopher Nolan. But please, do not go back to the tepid villains of CR and QOS. Let Bond relax a little. Breathe a little. Smile just a little. There was a personality that came out of Bond in this story that I'd not sensed in the previous two. Let's go with that.

Watched Goldfinger the other night on my big new TV, via my Blu Ray player which does the oddest of things in that it actually dissuades me from wanting to buy Blu Rays, because the upscaling of standard DVDs in this player is bloody tip-top. Goldfinger looked great through this player (despite this being the Special Edition DVD release from way back in 2000), which helped me tolerate (and even ever-so-slightly enjoy) the film more than I have done in a long, long time.

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Blu-ray all the way baby.

Largo's Shark wrote:

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Is that because it's 30 fps or something? I always thought that was a good thing? :study:

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Is that because it's 30 fps or something? I always thought that was a good thing? :study:

Digital compression when watching a film is never a good thing.

Largo's Shark wrote:

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Blu-ray all the way baby.

Maybe that could have been a factor in me finding FYEO strangely unenjoyable on Blu Ray recently, something just felt different about it, at the time I thought the main problem I had was with the sound mix, it lacked the usual ping and the score didn't quite give me the kicks it usually does, plus on top of that I was highering and lowering the volume practically the entire way through the movie. Maybe the PAL version is just so ingrained into my brain that I can't enjoy the film any other way.

Largo's Shark wrote:

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Blu-ray all the way baby.

Yup, the 4% is enough to make me dismiss the PAL DVDs entirely because of how it effects the music. I have no idea why the UK and other regions tolerated it for too long. Thankfully that has been put to an end with HD. So yeah, go blu no matter what in that region.

Lazenby. wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

The thing that keeps me away from DVDs is PAL which speeds up a film by 4%, raising music by about a semitone (and therefore changing its mood and character). Luckily yanks don't get this with NTSC.

Blu-ray all the way baby.

Maybe that could have been a factor in me finding FYEO strangely unenjoyable on Blu Ray recently, something just felt different about it, at the time I thought the main problem I had was with the sound mix, it lacked the usual ping and the score didn't quite give me the kicks it usually does, plus on top of that I was highering and lowering the volume practically the entire way through the movie. Maybe the PAL version is just so ingrained into my brain that I can't enjoy the film any other way.

I know what you mean. I think VCRs must have done a similar thing, because I remember playing along to stuff like Out of Africa and other film scores when I was a kid, and when I finally heard the soundtrack on iTunes, it didn't sound right. I was so used to hearing and playing it in a different key.

I kind of had the same experience with Goldsmith's "Kick the Can" THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE. Before a CD was ever released, I got to download a track that somebody recorded off of a vinyl but whoever did the recording set the speed too high, so for a whole decade I only knew the track at a certain pitch. Once I finally got the entire score on a remastered CD it was at the proper level but it felt incredible off for me for so long it took awhile to get used to.

Having gone through that, I can imagine that's 100 times worse for film enthusiasts living in PAL regions.

Indeed, Python. That's happened to me when upgrading old vinyl soundtracks to expanded CD editions.

As for films, thank God for my player's excellent upscaling. I think I'll just use Blu Ray for new films (ie Skyfall when I get around to it, or if it ever comes out with acceptable artwork) and just use standard DVDs for old films I love and would hate to suffer a FYEO-style audio-inflicted underwhelmment (word?) with. I've even got those much-derided Star Wars original edition DVDs looking good through this player (watched bits of each the other day) and look forward to watching those in their entirety.

I can now understand Americans by and large not liking AVTAK as much as me, I can imagine Rog's slower voice putting at least an extra five years on him.

Quote :

(ie Skyfall when I get around to it, or if it ever comes out with acceptable artwork)

Wait till the steelbook comes back in stock on Amazon. I managed to order mine just in time (early February).

RE: PAL 4% compression. AWTD sounds 10x better up a semitone. It's over quicker too.

Octopussy

Not generally one of my favourites but once again the Blu Ray really sells the film well.

The story is one of the stronger elements here, intriguing enough to draw the viewer in and with scope to justify the location hopping that sometimes comes across as arbitrary or gratuitous. As to the cast & characters, Roger is reliable here though certainly showing his age, Berkoff is a joy to watch albeit underused, Gobinda and the Twins are great hench-people but, for me, Jordan and Adams really let the side down, which is a shame as they are more interesting characters than anything offered in FYEO. Likewise the action is a mixed bag, too much humour burdens the India sequences, but once we get on the train the film steps up several gears and here the Blu ray sound mix makes for some breathtaking thrills, sadly the final palace assault and plane antics just feel anticlimactic once the Bomb has been defused.

All in all it's decent rather than great Bond, but it is nevertheless great fun, the Blu Ray is to be particularly commended for its incredible audio mix which really adds punch to the action and does justice to a beautiful score (even if I consider the main titles themselves something of a low for both Binder and Barry).

lachesis wrote:

Octopussy

Not generally one of my favourites but once again the Blu Ray really sells the film well.

The story is one of the stronger elements here, intriguing enough to draw the viewer in and with scope to justify the location hopping that sometimes comes across as arbitrary or gratuitous. As to the cast & characters, Roger is reliable here though certainly showing his age, Berkoff is a joy to watch albeit underused, Gobinda and the Twins are great hench-people but, for me, Jordan and Adams really let the side down, which is a shame as they are more interesting characters than anything offered in FYEO. Likewise the action is a mixed bag, too much humour burdens the India sequences, but once we get on the train the film steps up several gears and here the Blu ray sound mix makes for some breathtaking thrills, sadly the final palace assault and plane antics just feel anticlimactic once the Bomb has been defused.All in all it's decent rather than great Bond, but it is nevertheless great fun, the Blu Ray is to be particularly commended for its incredible audio mix which really adds punch to the action and does justice to a beautiful score (even if I consider the main titles themselves something of a low for both Binder and Barry).

So very true.

I don't think so. The final third of Octopussy is amongst my favourite in the entire franchise. The aerial stunts are absolutely breath-taking.

Mind you, the final third of Octopussy for me begins with the bomb-defusing sequence.