No Time to Die (2020)

Blunt Instrument wrote:

900 mill for it just to break even was bandied about.

That is pretty grim.

Current box-office is just shy of 670 mill.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Current box-office is just shy of 670 mill.

Those are honestly great numbers in the post-COVID-19 era. But having to make near one billion at the box office just to break even suggest the business model is broken.

Welcome back, BTW.

Yeah, it's looking like NTTD will need to do Skyfall-type business in order to turn any sort of profit. And Skyfall it ain't.

Saw a headline it just crossed $700m. Oz just had its opening weekend but I don't imagine we'll get further than $20m. From memory, that's what we achieved for SP.

I've normally booked out a small cinema to go with family and friends. That's not happening this time round so those who would only go out of obligation to the tradition, probably won't. I certainly haven't contributed to opening weekend figures.

A couple of behind the scenes photographs of Ana de Armas on set for No Time To Die that were shared online this week.

It's a tiny bit sad that she stood out so positively partially because we now rarely see an actress who is genuinely enjoying herself/having fun with a Bond girl role.
Why did we have such a long series of actresses who almost felt the need to apologize for being in a Bond film?

One of the priorities for me for Bond 26 is casting someone in the main Bond girl role who actually wants to be there and is happy for the opportunity (and generally thinks it's good fun to be in a Bond film).

I assume Phoebe is responsible for the slight uptick in entertainment value during the De Armas stuff, and I'm not sure if she is going to be back, so who knows if there will ever even be a sense of fun to Bond again?

I just realized I'm older than everybody in this movie. When did I age out from not playing Bond to not playing M?

FMD.

We needed more yoga pants in this movie.

trevanian wrote:

I assume Phoebe is responsible for the slight uptick in entertainment value during the De Armas stuff, and I'm not sure if she is going to be back, so who knows if there will ever even be a sense of fun to Bond again?

I just realized I'm older than everybody in this movie. When did I age out from not playing Bond to not playing M?

Phoebe?

Perilagu Khan wrote:

trevanian wrote:

I assume Phoebe is responsible for the slight uptick in entertainment value during the De Armas stuff, and I'm not sure if she is going to be back, so who knows if there will ever even be a sense of fun to Bond again?

I just realized I'm older than everybody in this movie. When did I age out from not playing Bond to not playing M?

Phoebe?

I think that's her name, she starred in and wrote FLEABAG, tall brunette lady who Craig wooed/recruited to punch up the script for NTTD and then she wound up doing more than just punching up, apparently. FLEABAG is supposed to be really good, but I've only seen 10 minutes (where she is with the C guy from SPECTRE.)

Perilagu Khan wrote:

trevanian wrote:

I assume Phoebe is responsible for the slight uptick in entertainment value during the De Armas stuff, and I'm not sure if she is going to be back, so who knows if there will ever even be a sense of fun to Bond again?

I just realized I'm older than everybody in this movie. When did I age out from not playing Bond to not playing M?

Phoebe?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The lady behind Fleabag and the first season of Killing Eve.
Brought on board (largely by Babs I'm guessing) to spruce up the screenplay a bit.

Grazie.

Finally caved in and watched this film tonight. Until the last five minutes I was pretty fine with it. I'm accepting of most recent Bond villains being a bit sh*te, I'm accepting of most modern film music scores being a bit sh*te, I'm accepting of most superhero franchises being one film away from another reboot, that's just the way cinema is right now and why I by and large swerve the whole experience nowadays.

But the moment pieces of music which should solely have been left associated with George Lazenby's Bond (an era completely disowned the moment Bond was "rebooted") turned up at the end of this film, it just ruined the whole experience for me. It was lazy and cannibalistic beyond belief, the Broccoli heirs rinsing the emotion from a film they'd spent 30+ years practically disowning. These themes belong to Bond and Tracy. Any other music used at this point in NTTD would have made the finale so much more acceptable to me, despite the debatably bad decision to kill Bond off.

Despite shortcomings across all of his five films except for Skyfall, Daniel Craig was a great Bond in my eyes, he passed muster on pretty much every level I could have asked of him. What could have been a great swansong for him with Skyfall ended up being rinsed with two films which, despite their obvious flaws, Craig still gave it his all in both of them. He'll be missed. The black, female and gay Bond of 2025 will have very big shoes to fill.

Laz, that's a good point about the Babsarchy simultaneously trying to bin classic Bond while regurgitating it at dam' near every opportunity. Here's something for them to consider--if classic Bond is so meritorious that you feel the need to steal from it in every fifth scene, maybe you shouldn't have abandoned it to begin with.

I also agree with you about Craig. He gets plenty of flack around here, and I don't like him as a person, but I think he was a very good Bond, and I never once got the impression that he was phoning it in the way Seanery did in YOLT.

Good to see you, Laz.!

Most modern franchises tend towards "lazy cannibalism" as you say. They will subvert and, pardon the French, shit on everything that came before it, while attempting to throw scraps to the rusted-ons to make things seem familiar enough.

The OHMSS cues were lazy fan service that did not belong in this travesty.

I have to disagree with you on Craig, though. I think he and Babs were a match made in hell, as both went into this with a fundamental hatred of the character and franchise. Years from now, when Connery, Moore, and - yes for the 90's kids - Brosnan are synonymous with James Bond, Craig's Bond-in-name-only will be remembered as a grunting beefcake who got vapourised five films too late. Craig's BINO was a charmless automaton no different to John Wick or Steven Seagal and I think most people would rather watch Goldfinger on a continuous loop than try and find joy in a single re-watch of NTTD.

If the next Bond is even more far removed from Fleming's creation, then it is Craig and his co-conspirator Brussel Sprout who paved the way.

Good to see you back Laz. I’m with CJB on this one regarding Craig.

PK wrote:

I never once got the impression that [Craig] was phoning it in the way Seanery did in YOLT.

You’re right. Craig did it worse than Sean in YOLT.

Laz wrote:

Until the last five minutes I was pretty fine with it.

I honestly thought there’d have been enough bloated nonsense in the first hour of NTTD to dethrone TWINE’s position in your ranking.

Great to see you back 'round these parts, Mr Bang!

Such nice round parts in the updated avatar, as well.