33 replies to this topic

[Von Hammerstein]

In the January 05 issue of Maxim magazine there's and article about how to save the 007 franchise. They basically say the same things that hve been posted on this board from the time to time. More formula and less "acting".

I'll post the points from their letter:

1 Replace Pierce Brosnan he was a magnificent Bond but his mission is over. Call Hugh Jackman, tell him to buy a tux and take up smoking.

2. Dont ever again degrade the legacy of Shirley Bassey by having a glorfied Karaoke singer like Madonna record the title song. And get some goddam horn back into the score.

3.Keep it real. Our suspension of disbelief snapped with Die Another Day. An Asian guy becomes a causcasian? An invisible Aston Martin? The last Bond made Moonraker look like a BBC documentary. Also take it easy on the CGI, stunt men bones are made to be broken.

4. Stop with the meaningless interchangeable titles before we end up with :THe GOlden World Never Dies The Day Before Yesterday.

5.Give the villian some personality! Think: "Man has climbed Mount Everest, gone to the bottom of the ocean. He's fired rockets at the moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every feild....except CRIME!" ---Auric Goldfinger. And we LIKE it when a criminal underling is executed for failure/incompetence FYI.

6.Bring back the climatic army battles like in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. You can never machinegun too many nameless ninjas as they repel into a fake volcano.


The article goes into who could direct a good Bond film and who could make good Bond girls. It's kind of like a delayed echo from CBn.



Official site

Edited by zencat, 14 December 2004 - 05:27 PM.

[Skudor]

Anyone prepared to bet on the chances of an official reply?

[hrabb04]

you mean the reply where EON proclaims that they do not know what to do anymore, someone please help us! We're creatively bankrupt! We're doomed!

[Jim]

Anyone prepared to bet on the chances of an official reply?

This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed at home
This little piggy ate roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy sprouted wings and shot off into the stratosphere.

[Scottlee]

That was really funny! lol

Agree with most of it, too.

[Tim007]

And how do you know about the content of Maxim's January issue, VH?

[Prav_007]

Man I so agree with that letter.

[DLibrasnow]

I agree with every single point made

[Mister Asterix]

[mra]All stuff that we have heard a thousand times, but this is significant because this will put these ideas in the heads of people beyond Bond fandom. If we fans cry for something Eon will not listen. If the general audience cries for something Eon miught listen and Sony/MGM most likely will. Whether they should or not is a separate debate. In this case I

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

Amen!

Though I'd have given Pierce another movie, everything else Maxim said is exactly right and along the lines of what most fans want. Hopefully EON listens...then again, hopefully I walk into my garage tomorrow to find an Aston Martin - it's just as likely.

[Von Hammerstein]

And how do you know about the content of Maxim's January issue, VH?

My amazing wife subscribed to it for me for my birthday. Subscribers get the issue a week or two before it hits the stands. Lucky me. Eva Longoria (drool drool) there's a real Bond girl for you!

[Agent Provocateur]

Eva Longoria in Maxim?

Mmmmmmm... Eva Longoria *sigh*

(snapping back to reality) Sorry, I lost focus there for a second.

I agree with all points mentioned above except for #1 (Pierce could do one more easily) and #6 (been there, done that... unless they make the next Bond extremely graphic, which they're not, it'll just be more of what we've already seen before).

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

Eva Longoria in Maxim?

Mmmmmmm...  Eva Longoria *sigh*

(snapping back to reality) Sorry, I lost focus there for a second.

I agree with all points mentioned above except for #1 (Pierce could do one more easily) and #6 (been there, done that... unless they make the next Bond extremely graphic, which they're not, it'll just be more of what we've already seen before).

I'd rather see a classic battle with Bond leading some massive force against the lair only to have a one on one showdown with him a few minutes later, than Bond as a one man army killing everyone effortlessly. I know what you mean about making it graphic though, they'd never do it and it might seen a little fake otherwise.

[RevolveR]

A MEN!

Atleast we aren't the only sane people on earth.

[Turn]

I agree with this as well. Personally, I thought Maxim would have been full of juvinile jokes, but it was to the point.

Nice to see magazines like this making some decent suggestions instead of harping on how bad Dalton was for the series and how we need more Jaws clones.

[Turn]

I agree with this as well. Personally, I thought Maxim would have been full of sophomoric jokes, but it was to the point.

Nice to see magazines like this making some decent suggestions instead of harping on how bad Dalton was for the series and how we need more Jaws clones.

[Wade]

Hear, hear! I agree with every single point, although, to us fans, they're nothing new. Despite a few differences here and there, I think most Bond fans truly ache for a movie that captures the first half of DAD: suspense, character, surprises, duplicity, drive and action. I LOVED the Cuban operative who helped Bond. I LOVED Bond being tortured and tested. I LOVED the whole Hong Kong hotel section.

I LOVED the shot of him driving through Cuba in a vintage Thunderbird. (I'm an old man. So sue me.)

Basically, much of what made "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy" good is what the Bond films are lacking these days: hard-edged, credible action. Yeah, every once in a while, it's nice to have a slight nod to the weird, to the wild, to the unbelievable. But DAD was wholly BASED on the weird, the wild, the unbelievable. (And don't get me started on the invisible Aston-Martin. Sure, the technology exists, but it would NOT look like that.)

Of course, the "Bourne" movies don't have the character of Bond. And that's REALLY what's missing. The whole HK hotel scene throbbed with Bond's character. But where was he later, when the glacier sheared and he flew off into the air?

Please!

Put the films back on the ground. Make them BELIEVABLE again. That ... THAT ... is the essence of Bond. He does what we WISH we could do. What we could SEE ourselves doing if we were him. We IDENTIFY with him and how he walks through the ordinary world (to quote our friends, Duran Duran) with more style, more menace, more purpose.

The whole surfing, flying, glacier thing? I didn't buy it for one moment, much less IDENTIFY with it.

Bond is not Spider-Man. Bond is not Wolverine. Bond is not Superman.

Bond is a British intelligence agent living in the real world.

Start from there.

And yes to #6, by the way. I would love to see an "in the nick of time" insertion of a few dozen troops, to the tune of "The 007 Theme." In fact, that's where I thought they'd go at the end of "GoldenEye."

Oh, well ...

[Bondian]

Proves that tits and bums DO have brains!.

[Roger Moore's Bad Facelift]

Nag, nag, nag. My, what a bunch of self loathing James Bond

Edited by Roger_Moore's_Bad_Facelift, 15 December 2004 - 12:38 AM.

[Roger Moore's Bad Facelift]

The whole surfing, flying, glacier thing?
I didn't buy it for one moment, much less IDENTIFY with it.

Bond is not Spider-Man. Bond is not Wolverine. Bond is not Superman.

Bond is a British intelligence agent living in the real world.

...

Yes. You're right, and the glacier scene demonstrated just that. He wasn't "flying" or acting like any sort of superhero.
If that was the case, P & W would've taken the easy route out and had him use one of Q's always conveniently handy & befitting gadgets.
Note, he didn't resort to using a single gadget in that scene.
The scene showed Bond as an ordinary man in a very deleterious voilatile position relying on nothing but his wits, and some quick impromptu human ingenuity.
Isn't that what we've been requesting to see more of?
Bond using his wits and not always relying on his gadgets?

If you want to make the case that the CGI looked cheap and undermined any potential impact the scene might have held, then you may be onto something.
However, to say the scene isn't what Bond is about is ridiculous.The Bond series has always been about him being put in scenes of jeopardy and us being captivated & enthralled in seeing how he gets out of it. Look at him being strapped to Goldfinger's table, about to surrender to death by lazer, look at him being thrown out of a plane minus a parachute in Moonraker etc etc

The glacier scene epitomizes the best of James Bond action.
An ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances outwitting the villain using his wits and nothing but.

However, the CGI still sucks.

Edited by Roger_Moore's_Bad_Facelift, 15 December 2004 - 01:14 AM.

[Turn]

[quote name='Roger_Moore's_Bad_Facelift' date='14 December 2004 - 22:52']Nag, nag, nag. My, what a bunch of self loathing James Bond

[Tarl_Cabot]

I agree 100% although there's nothing in this article that hasn't been said here but I guess we can't have the monopoly on trashing EON's crappy Bond films.

[rdh007]

Graves could've been a lot better without the fact that he was someone else for no real reason and that super-suit at the end. I'm still not sure what that was all about. The villain needs to be a simple man with simple needs, like committing a crime (not world domination) and Bond needs to be more like Timothy Dalton, because he was the best.<--Sorry, that's all I got.

[Alex Zamudio]

I agree with all points by Maxim except on the titles issue, I hope they don't go with a "Agent Under Fire" or "Nighfire" normal title, I really like the elegant and suave Fleming type movie names. I would also hire Brosnan for another film, but still I'm quite excited for a new 007.

Regards.

[Simon]

3. Keep it real. Our suspension of disbelief snapped with Die Another Day. An Asian guy becomes a causcasian? An invisible Aston Martin? The last Bond made Moonraker look like a BBC documentary. Also take it easy on the CGI, stunt men bones are made to be broken.

The CGI was bad, however, I still say the glacier scene was conceptually solid.

Have to disagree with that sir. How was the lake situated so far above sea level on seemingly nothing more than, more ice?

If the lake had a bed of rock / earth, then how do we suddenly find ourselves transported to an ice cliff? I know this is picking holes but movie makers now make movies knowing them to be seen several times through DVD etc, and these inconsistencies should never get passed the script stage.

[Blofeld's Cat]

3. Keep it real. Our suspension of disbelief snapped with Die Another Day. An Asian guy becomes a causcasian? An invisible Aston Martin? The last Bond made Moonraker look like a BBC documentary. Also take it easy on the CGI, stunt men bones are made to be broken.

The CGI was bad, however, I still say the glacier scene was conceptually solid.

Have to disagree with that sir. How was the lake situated so far above sea level on seemingly nothing more than, more ice?

If the lake had a bed of rock / earth, then how do we suddenly find ourselves transported to an ice cliff? I know this is picking holes but movie makers now make movies knowing them to be seen several times through DVD etc, and these inconsistencies should never get passed the script stage.

You've found another homage there, Loomis.

In GoldenEye Bond bungy-jumps off a dam wall and creeps about in the instalation under it, yet ends up on top of some snow-boud plateau near a mountain top.

[Tanger]

In the US monthly magazines come out the month before the cover date. So the January issue comes out in December. This allows them to keep the magazine on the shelves longer supposedly.

It's the same in the UK but there's no logic to it. There's no rhyme or reason as to why it should be this way, it just is.
Usually the Jan issues come out early to mid Dec and Feb early to mid Jan etc. But they're still only on the shelf for the same period as they would be if they came out at the beginning of the month they're alloted to. As soon as the new issue comes out the old one's taken down.

[TaoMike]

I think the most significant aspect of this article is not its list of points; it's the fact that it appeared at all. Here is a major, hip, youth-oriented magazine which is not simply trashing the Bond series, but is offering constructive criticism. MAXIM (or at least some person or persons on its staff) actually cares about the series. You must admit that although we (for the most part) are consumed with knowing the answer to the question "Who will be the next Bond?", the reaction of the public at large is an apathetic "Who cares?".

After reading so many opinions lately about how Bond pales in comparison to Bourne and about putting the franchise out of its misery, this MAXIM article comes as breath of fresh air. And from a quite unexpected source.

[The Girl With The Golden Gun]

Precisely - the article basically state what us folk here on CBn have been going on about for quite some time now. I remember watching the Bourne series and being reminded of the earlier Bond films, how they settled for story, plot and good old espionage over OTT style and substance - this is why the series doesn't need the likes of Silverfin (which, lets face it, will become films some day and will add to the cycle ala "james bond junior" ad nauseam) but an update of Casino royale, going right back to basics with Fleming's original novel.

Basically, much of what made "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy" good is what the Bond films are lacking these days: hard-edged, credible action. Yeah, every once in a while, it's nice to have a slight nod to the weird, to the wild, to the unbelievable. But DAD was wholly BASED on the weird, the wild, the unbelievable. (And don't get me started on the invisible Aston-Martin. Sure, the technology exists, but it would NOT look like that.)

Of course, the "Bourne" movies don't have the character of Bond. And that's REALLY what's missing. The whole HK hotel scene throbbed with Bond's character. But where was he later, when the glacier sheared and he flew off into the air?

[Jack Bauer]

I agree with it, except where they give ideas for the PTS. Bond killing himself, and being replaced by a "new Bond"?