All about James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

Gothamite

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Right, that's it. There needs to be a James Bond Discussion thread. I'm too tired to write anything worth discussing now, but I'll have something worth discussing, tomorrow. In the mean-time, I'll let you guys get the ball rolling with the obvious question: Which is your favourite Bond movie?

Comment on your favourite actors and books (if anyone has read any of them), as well.

EDIT: A poll can't be done, since there are only 20 options allowed and there are 25 Bond films altogether (if you count the spoofs and the unofficial ones). So, just specify your favourite one of the following:

NELSON

Casino Royale (Climax! Episode)


CONNERY


Dr. No
From Russia, With Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
Diamonds Are Forever
Never Say Never Again



NIVEN

Casino Royale


LAZENBY

On Her Majesty's Secret Service


MOORE

Live and Let Die
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octo*****
A View to a Kill



DALTON

The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill



BROSNAN

GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day



CRAIG

Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace


My personal favourites:

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

No, seriously. Yep. That's right. Go and watch it again. It's one of the most human, realistic and heartbreakingly romantic of any of the 007 films and certainly the bravest. Connery had left at this point and instead of just taking Lazenby (who they made into essentially Connery's clone) and making a 'safe' gadgets-guns-and-girls movie, they made a realistic thriller with an excellent romantic subplot and the best ending of any of the films.

2. Casino Royale

Basically the perfect amalgamation of what made the early Connery films great, what made OHMSS great, what made the Dalton films great, what made the Ian Fleming books great; combined with the generally good idea that exists a lot in Hollywood today, to tell the story of an established character's roots. As Planet-Man has said a number of times, Craig is basically the best Bond, ever.

3. Here's the tough one. I can never figure out what to put in here. Depending on my mood, it's either one of the following:

--From Russia, With Love

Arguably Connery's best, with a rich, inventive plot that builds on the novel and still stays faithful to it, with Bond as a cold and threatening killer as well as a suave gentleman. Not a lot of action, but a whole lot of suspense and Connery is at his best, here.

--Goldfinger

The first of the films to use sassy humour and high-tech gadgetry and it works so well. Bond is truly larger than life, the music is superb and you just can't go wrong with the villain.

--The Spy Who Loved Me

The tagline was 'Bond and Beyond' and it shows. This movie is basically what the Roger Moore era was all about; in the best possible way. The jokes work, Jaws is awesome, the action is immense and the generally light feel of the movie makes for perfect rainy-day viewing.

--The Living Daylights

After the fantasy, whimsy and constant penis-jokes that either gifted or besieged Roger Moore's twelve-year run, Bond was literally back with a vengeance in this intelligent Cold War thriller, where 'the darkest Bond ever' (even by Craig's standards) is easily 'just as bad as them' (in Dalton's own words). Definitely the most under-rated of all the movies and a truly excellent outing. Better than all of the Brosnan movies, by far.

4. Licence to Kill

Basically a typical 80s action-revenge movie...except it's James Bond, which makes it more badass. It's not perfect, but it's still very, very good and Dalton is once again, superb. Some of the stunts in this one are unreal and make you want to stamp on the face of the guy who invented CGI.

5. Again another tough spot. Brosnan's run is a difficult one to rate as his Bond movies can look like sheer out-of-this-world excellence or bottom-of-the-barrel crappiness depending on one's mood. Some Bond fans really dislike him, describing him as the worst combination of Moore and Connery. I could never bring myself to dislike him, since he was the Bond I grew up with. These two are my favourites though and are in the running for the number 5 spot.

-- Tomorrow Never Dies

Basically Bond-vs-Rupert Murdoch, with all of the usual elements one would expect from a Bond movie. Pierce is more at ease in this one and he looks more like Bond, having gained a bit of weight. The scene with Teri Hatcher is probably the highlight of the entire Brosnan era and it's such a pity they cut her part short in favour of Michelle Yeoh's infinitely less interesting character. Some great action, as always and an excellent 'gadget-car' sequence. The reason why this installment is so dear to me though, is the inspired use of the James Bond theme throughout the movie. It's used more than usual in the score and as a result, the whole score is fantastic. Unfortunately, Sheryl Crow's song is uninspired and crappy. Stay for the end credits for a far more Bondian song in kd Lang's 'Surrender'.

-- Die Another Day

One of the most maligned James Bond films, ever, I was one of its staunchest haters for a brief period in the run-up to Casino Royale, when it was cool to call this film the worst James Bond film ever made. Now that Craig has starred in two very good, realistic 007 thrillers, this one is really quite enjoyable as a silly, guilty pleasure 'turn your brain off' film. It's basically a send off to the 'OTT sci-fi silliness Bond' and the only way they could go from here was to make a super-serious Bond film, which they did. The scale of this film was so ridiculously large and there was such a sense of finality to it (Bond makes out with Moneypenny in a fantasy sequence at the end) that there was no way Brosnan could ever have made another one after it. Plus, it has the most epic car-battle/chase of any Bond film. :rockon:

Octo*****

Are you ****ting me?! WE CAN'T SAY THE COMMONLY USED NICKNAME FOR A CAT?!?!
 
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Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

James bond is a General? I thought he was a spy! :lol::lol::lol: Hilarious pun.





I'm sorry
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

James bond is a General? I thought he was a spy! :lol::lol::lol: Hilarious pun.

Well you could still be a General and a spy. James Bond is a Commander.

Would a mod change the name of this thread to the 'All about James Bond thread' or something?
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

I never seen the old ones. Only some of the Bronson's ones and the new ones.
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

Arrgh! I was so gonna come here and say "Actually, it's Commander Bond. Rookie mistake.". Oh well.

I'll do more on this later. In the meantime, my three favourite Bond films are Casino Royale, GoldenEye and Thunderball.
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

I was going to start one of these a couple months ago but never did.

My favorite movies from each official Bond are - Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (duh!), The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, and GoldenEye.

I haven't seen Quantum of Solace yet, so I can't say how I feel about it, but from what I hear I'll like it more than I liked Casino Royale.
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

Licence to Kill is so bad.

It's just an 80s-era action movie about drug dealers, just a ridiculous story for Bond to get involved in.
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

From Russia With Love
OHMSS
Casino Royale
Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me.

Goldeneye gets an honorable mention.
 
Re: The General James Bond 007 Discussion Thread

I saw some of the 1967 Casino Royale (the one with Peter Sellers) last week and it was terrible. Simply terrible.
 
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Though I haven't seen most classic Bond films all the way through, Casino Royale and Goldeneye are my favorite
 
GoldenEye is hideously over-rated, in my opinion. The score by Eric Serra is spectacularly awful, the plot is boring and the whole film is about as interesting as M's pressed butterfly collection. Brosnan's performance is run-of-the-mill and isn't consistent with his other three at all, and he's far too pretty in this one to look like Bond. The whole 'M is a woman' idea got the ball rolling, but it's too pretentious in this one, to be interesting. Judi Dench isn't as strong as she is in the Craig ones.

The only redeeming features of this film are Izabella Scorupco who was an excellent Bond girl; Famke Jannsen, who was a very memorable femme fatale; Tina Turner's song which is one of the best of the whole series; and the glorious return of the Aston Marting DB5 for an old-school chase. Everything else about this film makes me want to fall asleep.

Licence to Kill is so bad.

It's just an 80s-era action movie about drug dealers, just a ridiculous story for Bond to get involved in.

Bond's Shakespearean-like psychological manipulation of the villain is so much like the Bond from the books and is brilliantly scripted. The action is brilliant and satisfyingly bloodier than most Bond films...I really couldn't care if there were a lot of movies about drugs in the 80s. This one rules.

Are you ****ting me?! WE CAN'T SAY THE COMMONLY USED NICKNAME FOR A CAT?!?!

Ah yes, very good. My other dirty words were conspicuously removed by a Mod, with no comment as to the absurdity of this problem.

And yet...Octo*****.

Nope. Still can't say the nickname for a cat.
 
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GoldenEye is hideously over-rated, in my opinion. The score by Eric Serra is spectacularly awful, the plot is boring and the whole film is about as interesting as M's pressed butterfly collection. Brosnan's performance is run-of-the-mill and isn't consistent with his other three at all, and he's far too pretty in this one to look like Bond. The whole 'M is a woman' idea got the ball rolling, but it's too pretentious in this one, to be interesting. Judi Dench isn't as strong as she is in the Craig ones.

I agree that it's genuinely overrated, but I'd still rate it above Bronsan's other films.
 
I agree that it's genuinely overrated, but I'd still rate it above Bronsan's other films.

Most people do and it probably is a deeper, more character-driven film than his other three, but there's virtually no enjoyment factor at all and very few of the characters (007 included) in the film are interesting.
 
Ah yes, very good. My other dirty words were conspicuously removed by a Mod, with no comment as to the absurdity of this problem.

And yet...Octo*****.

Nope. Still can't say the nickname for a cat.
There is no problem. It's called a SWEAR FILTER.

The filter already has words in it to catch and will always censor it.
 
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I've seen FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, GOLDENEYE, DIE ANOTHER DAY, CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
 

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