Last Bond Movie You Watched? 2.0

Loomis wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Say, is Quantum even mentioned in SKYFALL? Just asking. I've tried to find an answer, to no avail.

Only as "my organization."

Which character's dialogue are you referring to here, Harms? Are you saying that it's implied that Silva may be a member of Quantum?

Sorry. I had a brain fart. Tux wrote SKYFALL and I read CASINO ROYALE.

Salomé wrote:

Vesper wrote:

I will post a full review later, but oddly I think it is probably most comparable to Die Another Day.

If you are talking about the final hour, that comparison makes sense.

Pretty much. They have a different strain of the same virus.

I won't post a review until I see it on the big screen, though.

Quote :

There I go, being long-winded. But those things have always stuck in my craw. How can he be an assassin if he's no good at sneaking up on people? Why is he promoted to such a senstive postion if his boss doesn't even trust him?

Spoiler:

Vesper wrote:

Spoiler:

Bond needed to question him first.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

DIE ANOTHER DAY :4*:

I had to purge the memories of QOS and get that bad taste out of my mouth by watching a real James Bond movie. Movies that used to have big ideas, big concepts, big entrances, willing women, villains with crude deformities or sexual perversions. With DAD we've got it all.

Ewwww.....

I just watched Roger Moore with the crocs in L&LD...now THERE was some suspense...and real crocodiles too.

First of all, I saw LALD yesterday, just didn't have time to review it. Sunday is a day devoted to football around here. Anyway...

LALD benefits tremendously from blu-ray. The colors in this one are more vibrant and crisp. There's a lot of red in the picture and it comes out beautifully. And yes, the crocodile scene was very suspenseful. Not only that, but Hamilton does a great job teasing the audience into believing Bond will be able to get out of his situation by using a gadget. Bond's exit across the back of the alligators was great; if that had been attempted today they would have used poor CGI effects (like in ERASER).

LALD is still one of Moore's best. It holds up very well. Moore has a great foil opposite him with Yaphet Kotto. When I was young and first saw LALD I was fooled by the difference between Kananga and Mr.Big. Kotto is also surrounded by a great case of henchmen: Whisper, Tee Hee, Baron Samedi....all bring their own unique stamp onto the series. The funeral scenes were bizarrely Fleming-esque. Seymour is A+ playing a conflicted mistress. She goes from virgin fortune-teller to sex-hungry whore with a seamless transition.

LALD: :4*:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

DIE ANOTHER DAY :4*:

I had to purge the memories of QOS and get that bad taste out of my mouth by watching a real James Bond movie. Movies that used to have big ideas, big concepts, big entrances, willing women, villains with crude deformities or sexual perversions. With DAD we've got it all.

DIE ANOTHER DAY is vastly superior to QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

Will you be seeing SKYFALL this week, Grav? I'm looking forward to reading your views on it.

Loomis wrote:

DIE ANOTHER DAY is vastly superior to QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

DAD skirts a bit too close to MOONRAKER/BATMAN & ROBIN territory a couple of times, but doesn't quite go over the cliff. Tamahori does a few things I could have done without (speeding up the frames is one of them). Jinx is a fairly good Bond Girl; I wouldn't have had her being rescued twice in a row, though. I might've found a way to have her have her own tricked-out car and turn the battle between Zao and Bond into a three-for-all, as Bond and Jinx herd Zao into the crumbling, melting Ice Palace.

A few things that entered my mind last night: why does Zao still have the diamonds in his face 14 months later? If I understood the film correctly, he was not in custody after the incident in the PTS, and was used as trade-bait after his bombing of the peace conference occurred, which was a few weeks or days before Bond was let out of Korea. Could he not have afforded a doctor's visit to have the diamond's removed? Asthetically speaking, it makes his character stand out, particularly later with the bald-head, the deathly-white parlor that has come over him, and his ice-blue contact lenses, but there seems to be no logical reason for why he still has the diamonds in his face.

But say what you will about DAD, it does aim high, unlike QUANTUM OF SOLACE. QOS feels like a bare bones action picture. It has no heart, no emotional core, nothing really driving the film except raw adrenaline. You feel like you've been shot out of a canon during the first 30 minutes, but it's ultimately an unsatisfying ride directed by someone who probably loves to smell his own farts. The movie hits on all the repetitive themes of "trust", revenge, emotions, duty, honor....not to mention Haggis lacing the film with his anti-American politics in order to give the film "balance".

DAD aims high and misses a couple of times, but overall is enormously entertaining. QOS aims extremely low and manages to hit the target every time.

Quote :

Will you be seeing SKYFALL this week, Grav? I'm looking forward to reading your views on it.

Yes, I will be seeing it Friday. Should have some thoughts up about it by 3:00 pm EST.

GeneralGogol wrote:

Sounds like a great time! Hopefully I'll catch a couple in the coming months. Should make for a good date night... especially a film like OHMSS or TLD. How big are those theatres, tiff, compared to the typical cineplex ones?

Yes, its a great date night because the place is so classy. The ticket stubs are even like souveniers. I'm hanging on to mine. They are made of good sturdy cardboard with the film-name boldly displayed. The seats are real confortable. The screen is about 3/4 size of a big multiplex-sceen, which is still pretty big. It seems they are showing the hi-def blu-ray versions of the films, as the Lowery credit boards briefly appear at the end of each film. What I really like is the sound. They crank it right up to get the full Bond experience. When I saw the special screening of GF earlier this year at the big downtown multiplex, they scrimped on the sound, which was really annoying, especially for a film like Goldfinger with all its great music.

Movies are $12.00 each. The exhibit is $17.00. Exhibit plus a film is $22.00. Blue-snuggers lobby display is free.

btw if there is a guy who seems to be in a trance, blocking the Andress bikini display, just tell me to get out of the way.

snuggies update; this gets more interesting. An entertainment journalist, tells me she thinks the snuggers are probably the same ones that were sold at auction, and now on loan to the Barbican show. She thinks there may be just the one game-worn pair. Stay tuned!

I'll bring it up again. Is Quantum mentioned, in passing, in SKYFALL? Just want a yes or a no.

Largo's Shark wrote:

saint mark wrote:

The flippant remark after the execution of ******** really pissed me of, just like the rteatment of Mathis in QoB.

Spoiler:

Compare with Fleming's Bond nearly losing it on Big's,The Robber stooge, because he blew away a Pelican.(Death of a Pelican).

But lest we forget, Craig is a "serious" Bond. He keeps reminding us. I just finished FRWL re-read btw. Mathis of course turns up at the end, now running the Deuxieme Bureau. In Craig's Bond, Mathis turns up again, but is tossed in a dumpster. Flammingesque.

When I take power, CR and QoS will be airbrushed from history. :twisted:

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly was going on with Mathis in QOS.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I'll bring it up again. Is Quantum mentioned, in passing, in SKYFALL? Just want a yes or a no.

I think not, didn't Babs say so.

btw, enjoyed your CR review. You were actually gracious. I think CR qualifies as the Bond-movie that gets worse with each viewing. The film seems to unravel further, in whole new ways, with each sitting, after initially seeming to impress.

For me, CR is closing in on worst Bond ever, moreso than its sequel. QoS actually gets better with each viewing I find. I have no expectations for it. It's varied conceits and failings were apparent from the outset

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly was going on with Mathis in QOS.

The part about how he only buys cheap wine was at least funny. I could relate to that.

tiffanywint wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I'll bring it up again. Is Quantum mentioned, in passing, in SKYFALL? Just want a yes or a no.

I think not, didn't Babs say so.

btw, enjoyed your CR review. You were actually gracious. I think CR qualifies as the Bond-movie that gets worse with each viewing. The film seems to unravel further, in whole new ways, with each sitting, after initially seeming to impress.

For me, CR is closing in on worst Bond ever, moreso than its sequel. QoS actually gets better with each viewing I find. I have no expectations for it. It's varied conceits and failings were apparent from the outset

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly was going on with Mathis in QOS.

The part about how he only buys cheap wine was at least funny. I could relate to that.

I do find a lot about CR to be worthy. I like the casino sequences, and the film takes it time more than the last few Brosnan action fests. It felt a little more like a Bond adventure film.

I say...

-Compress the plot. Make the film about two hours and get to the casino a little sooner. Also introduce Vesper sooner.
-Make the Vesper role sharper and more defined.
-Make Bond more traditional.

It's far from the worst Bond film to me.

CASINO ROYALE still entertains me a great deal. It has some very obvious weaknesses, but I think it still holds up for the most part.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I'll bring it up again. Is Quantum mentioned, in passing, in SKYFALL? Just want a yes or a no.

This is only a spoiler if you don't want to read a simple yes or no answer....

Spoiler:

Bunch of boring sods really. Even the the real EU is more sinister.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Could he not have afforded a doctor's visit to have the diamond's removed? Asthetically speaking, it makes his character stand out, particularly later with the bald-head, the deathly-white parlor that has come over him, and his ice-blue contact lenses, but there seems to be no logical reason for why he still has the diamonds in his face.

Grav, you sure you're okay mate? Unless that was a big typo, you just searched for a moment of logical reasoning in Die Another Day.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

DAD skirts a bit too close to MOONRAKER/BATMAN & ROBIN territory a couple of times, but doesn't quite go over the cliff.

Erm... Grav, Die Another Day sees Bond going over a pretty bloody enormous cliff. And when he lands.... well... erm....




"Well, there was something like that in the first Fleming novel, erm, Doctor No....."

Quantum of Solace

Boy, what a mess.

Otay. I like the idea of a chase movie with Bond fighting an evil organization. And I actually like parts of the film and some of the characters. I like the locations, and I think the film looks nice when you can make out what you're seeing. The penultimate scene is actually pretty good, I think, with the Canadian.

But the script and editing are a shambles. Forster's lame attempts at being arty don't help. And the CIA will apparently hunt down and kill British agents. Ugh.

1. GOLDFINGER
2. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
3. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
4. DR. NO
5. THUNDERBALL
6. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
7. OCTOPUSSY
8. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
9. CASINO ROYALE
10. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
11. MOONRAKER
12. GOLDENEYE
13. A VIEW TO A KILL
14. LICENCE TO KILL
15. LIVE AND LET DIE
16. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
17. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
18. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
19. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
20. DIE ANOTHER DAY
21. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
22. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

That one's dropped a bit since you last watched it, Tux. I'm hardly a big fan of QOS, but four places below GE seems a bit cruel. Simply Daniel Craig's presence and the film's more masculine approach to the character make QOS the clear winner out of those two IMO. Though I'd probably agree that they're both bottom-half Bond films. And I won't even bother having my 10,000th argument about GF..... ;)

But yeah, if GF was dumped about ten places and GE was in the bottom 5, I could go along with much of that list.

Brozza's one of the few weaknesses in GOLDENEYE, whereas with Craig in QUANTUM, he's one of its very few strengths. I can understand Tux's ranking from that perspective. There's too much quality in GE to dump it at the bottom.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Quantum of Solace
And the CIA will apparently hunt down and kill British agents. Ugh.

Didn't we get that impression from Madsen in DAD as well? I doubt it was the CIA that made up the hit team in QoS, probably something like Delta Force placed under a civilian's control for a single op. Then again, he gets away so easily that perhaps it does have to be the CIA with the bad aim.

Lazenby. wrote:

That one's dropped a bit since you last watched it, Tux. I'm hardly a big fan of QOS, but four places below GE seems a bit cruel. Simply Daniel Craig's presence and the film's more masculine approach to the character make QOS the clear winner out of those two IMO. Though I'd probably agree that they're both bottom-half Bond films. And I won't even bother having my 10,000th argument about GF..... ;)

But yeah, if GF was dumped about ten places and GE was in the bottom 5, I could go along with much of that list.

QOS I'm of two minds on. I usually enjoyed it in the past a lot more. Next time to go through these films, who knows what could happen.

As for GF. I'd never call it the "best". I completely understand it not being a favorite with everyone, though it strikes me as odd that it's sooo unpopular on this forum. At least from what I've seen. It's hardly a bottom half Bond for sure. Maybe I just have more of a sense of humour than most people. I dig the film as a big, jovial romp.

trevanian wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Quantum of Solace
And the CIA will apparently hunt down and kill British agents. Ugh.

Didn't we get that impression from Madsen in DAD as well? I doubt it was the CIA that made up the hit team in QoS, probably something like Delta Force placed under a civilian's control for a single op. Then again, he gets away so easily that perhaps it does have to be the CIA with the bad aim.

I think they were on loan from the Galactic Empire.

Lazenby. wrote:

Simply Daniel Craig's presence and the film's more masculine approach to the character make QOS the clear winner out of those two IMO. .

Yeah, I've long held that QOS's sole redeeming feature is Craig de-pansifying the character. It's been a while since we've had a Bond who convincingly looked like he could kick ass (and not just kiss ass). Not since Laz really.