740 replies to this topic

[DamnCoffee]

- OHMSS Is my most favorite Bond Movie
- My favorite music video is Die Another Day and i like the song
- Daniel Craig will be one of the most fantastic Bonds ever
- Judi Dench wont go away

[Matt_13]

Lazenby was a good Bond.

[triviachamp]

I think we should be more specific than we have been in why our opinions are "unorthodox". For example, I find movies such as Moonraker and Die Another Day are far more well-loved here than some people seem to think. It's not very unorthodox if everyone agrees, is it?

Unorthodox opinions are someone's orthodox opinions. Which is why this thread is pointless.

[Jim]

I think we should be more specific than we have been in why our opinions are "unorthodox". For example, I find movies such as Moonraker and Die Another Day are far more well-loved here than some people seem to think. It's not very unorthodox if everyone agrees, is it?

Unorthodox opinions are someone's orthodox opinions. Which is why this thread is pointless.

James Bond smells of spanners.

I am unaware of that orthodoxy.

[DamnCoffee]

Lazenby was a good Bond.

Agreed its just a shame that he didn't get his chance in the spotlight

[zencat]

I think we should be more specific than we have been in why our opinions are "unorthodox". For example, I find movies such as Moonraker and Die Another Day are far more well-loved here than some people seem to think. It's not very unorthodox if everyone agrees, is it?

Unorthodox opinions are someone's orthodox opinions. Which is why this thread is pointless.

I think most here are taking unorthodox to mean opinions they hold in their heart and gut that typically fall outside the dogma of official "expert" fandom and the mainstream media. These are opinions I value and enjoy hearing because they are real, not "learned", and require a measure courage to express.

This is a great thread.

[Publius]

I think most here are taking unorthodox to mean opinions they hold in their heart and gut that typically fall outside the dogma of official "expert" fandom and the mainstream media. These are opinions I value and enjoy hearing because they are real, not "learned", and require a measure courage to express.

This is a great thread.

Agreed, but I think the dogma of casual fandom and mainstream media is that Connery, Moore, or Brosnan are "acceptable" answers to who the best Bond is, while Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Goldeneye (which "resurrected" Bond) are the classics, with Moonraker and a few others also frequently mentioned, and Die Another Day cited as the most "successful". This is what I've encountered.

Even here, where we're "learned", those opinions often hold. But the difference is the refreshing diversity. If you subdivide it, though, then you might be able to find "orthodox" opinions even here, such as "FRWL and OHMSS are great Bond movies" or "Kevin McClory is the worst thing to happen to Bond". But a lot of the ones you might think, like "Halle Berry is the worst Bond girl", surprisingly don't really seem as widespread as I'd think. Unfortunately.

[00Twelve]

Blofeld should never have been made bald, or worn those ugly khaki suits.

The films aren't near as compelling as their counterpart novels, except TSWLM.

Moore's Bond is a fop. God bless him.

Lazenby would have been great.

TND should have remained Tomorrow Never Lies. It would have actually made sense, and it sounds infinitely more Flemingesque.

Edited by 00Twelve, 28 October 2006 - 10:25 PM.

[Skudor]

I think it's a refreshing thread - if anything it seems to show that there is far more diversity in opinions than you'd sometimes think. Moonraker for example seems to have a lot of [closet] fans.

[1q2w3e4r]

-Moonraker is tied with TSWLM as my 2nd favorite Moore as well.
-I like You Only Live Twice more than Thunderball.

This makes sense, as they are all the same movie

I think OHMSS is pretty much as perfect a adaptation we've ever got of Fleming's work. And I don't mind that Lazenby did it instead of Connery.

[dinovelvet]

Xenia Onatopp is the most embarrassing creation in the entire Bond series. The character feels like a rejected idea from Austin Powers, and I can't ever get through either of her two "sex" scenes without cringing.

[Santa]

- Barbara and Michael know better than the fans.

Oh! There's the real shocker

[spynovelfan]

COLONEL SUN is good, but over-rated by fans.

Ian Fleming's James Bond is not a ruthless assassin - he is only ever assigned two assassinations as part of the plots, and he fails spectacularly in one of them precisely because he's ruthful (TLD).

Fleming's plotting was often dire, his continuity was up the spout, and he knew bugger all about guns. He was brilliant for other reasons.

Geoffrey Jenkins was one of the best thriller-writers of the 20th century and he could have been a great continuation author.

The film THUNDERBALL is poorly written, silly and dull. Some of NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN improves on it.

Oh, and James Bond is German.

[Jericho_One]

I think Laz was a great Bond.

I don like that much Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die.

[Jericho_One]

...And again, Laz could have been a great Bond for years.

[killkenny kid]

Jinx rocks. I still dont get all the hate. Ms. Berry helped Die Another Day.

[Double-O Eleven]

* GoldenEye is one of the worst Bond films ever made.
* "Moonraker" is the best theme song of the series.
* Die Another Day is the best of the Brosnan films (a weak field, but...)
* The novel You Only Live Twice is overrated
* The novel Moonraker is underrated
* Sean Connery is a good actor but isn't the quintessential James Bond
* Timothy Dalton is the quintessential James Bond

[Mister Asterix]

• Nick Nack is one the top three henchmen of all time
• Never Send Flowers is a great Bond novel
• If Roger Moore had stopped at three films he’d have been the best James Bond ever
• Ian Ogilvy’s Simon Templar is better than Roger Moore’s
• Steve McQueen’s Thomas Crown is better than Brosnan’s
• Ian Fleming has never turned over in his grave
• Mary Goodnight was a fantasic character
• The slide whistle ain’t all that bad (The Evel Kneivel line prceding it is a much worse sin)
• Mickey G & Babs are the good guys
• Kevin McClory is not evil
• Eon needs to tighten up their security to prevent massive leaks
• Timothy Dalton was not PC
• Kara Milovy was very nearly the ideal Bond girl
• George Lazenby is the most natural James Bond
• Max Zorin was the worst Bond villain of the series
• Never Say Never Again is a great Bond film
• Linda Hunt’s Ilsa Grunt from the spoof If Looks Could Kill is as perfect a take on Rosa Klebb as Lotte Lenya’s was
• Sharky was just Quarrel Jr’s nickname

[00Twelve]

(I admit, this is my second go)

- Robert Brown never stopped playing Admiral Hargreaves.
- LTK was one of the most Flemingesque Bond films, minus the fake locale.
- A young, fit Laz would have been much better in DAF than Sean.
- Connery wasn't slacking in his Bond portrayal yet in TB.
- The cat served no purpose in making Blofeld more interesting.

Edited by 00Twelve, 24 October 2006 - 08:36 PM.

[Kara Milovy]

1. Diamonds Are Forever is in my top five favorite movies (somewhere in 2-5; those positions aren

[Lazenby880]

COLONEL SUN is good, but over-rated by fans.

Surely you jest, hardly any fans have read the thing!

I'm not sure if any of the following opinions are unorthodox, although they do *tend* to stand in stark contrast with most others:

Colonel Sun is an incredible thriller weaved with dark exoticism and political manoeuvring. Tense, riveting and thoroughly violent; Amis' novel is radically different from Fleming and more resonant for that.

Ian Fleming, by most accounts, was a horrid fellow and not someone with whom I would like to spend any length of time. Great writer, though.

That being said, his plots *were* hogwash.

Moreover, Fleming changed his mind all the time; did Bond look like a film star or was he suspiciously foreign-looking? The consequence has been that pro- and anti-Craig chaps scour the books and hold up an individual description as supportive of their viewpoints: "But look, Fleming said..."

There are works of fan fiction, few and far between though they may be, that are really rather good.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the best Bond picture and in George Lazenby the producers found the best Bond (thus far).

Timothy Dalton (or, more accurately, the Dalton films) had a *far* larger impact on the series than is commonly accepted, casting a large shadow over the Brosnan era.

Moonraker contains some of the darkest moments of the cinematic series.

The World Is Not Enough, while flawed, is enjoyable overall and nowhere near as bad as many contend.

Sophie Marceau, in addition, is criminally underrated.

Robert Brown was the best M.

Edited by Lazenby880, 25 October 2006 - 12:48 PM.

[spynovelfan]

I don't find any of those too hard to agree with, Lazenby880, though I might object to the word 'riveting' to describe our favourite bone of contention. It's not a word I would normally use for a text that has chapter on chapter of some secret agent chappie up a hillside doing bugger all but smoking the occasional cigarette while some Greek sailor character we've never even heard of before has some internal dialogue with himself and we all wait for some blasted thing to happen on an island. The opening and closing are riveting, certainly, but there are large swathes of Amis' "adventure" that are about as riveting as the First Book of Chronicles, and with less sex.

Only joshing, really.

[Lazenby880]

I don't find any of those too hard to agree with, Lazenby880, though I might object to the word 'riveting' to describe our favourite bone of contention. It's not a word I would normally use for a text that has chapter on chapter of some secret agent chappie up a hillside doing bugger all but smoking the occasional cigarette while some Greek sailor character we've never even heard of before has some internal dialogue with himself and we all wait for some blasted thing to happen on an island. The opening and closing are riveting, certainly, but there are large swathes of Amis' "adventure" that are about as riveting as the First Book of Chronicles, and with less sex.

Only joshing, really.

As far as Colonel Sun is concerned, personally I find the journey as engaging as the destination. Drenched in a dank dream-like atmosphere the build-up to the finale makes for great reading, and how could you forget the all the excitement in, for instance, chapter seven ('Not-So-Safe-House')

[Mike00spy]

Some of the opinions aren't too out there. I figured, with all the diversity, that someone would hate a certain film while others love a certain film.
However, are there any opinions that 99% of you agree with? I thought of a few opinions in which I would be very surprised to see agreement, in an effort to find some "common ground" sentiments.

Who agrees with these statments?


A) I LIKE the DAD ice surfing scene.
B) I think Desmond Llewelyn should have never been Q.
C) Pre title sequences are a waste of time.
D) The Moonraker Gondola scene is one of the series best
E) Samantha Bond's Moneypenny was better than Lois Maxwell's.
F) The books are better than the movies.

Edited by Mister Asterix, 23 April 2007 - 06:01 PM.

[Jim]

Some of the opinions aren't too out there. I figured, with all the diversity, that someone would hate a certain film while others love a certain film.
However, are there any opinions that 99% of you agree with? I thought of a few opinions in which I would be very surprised to see agreement, in an effort to find some "common ground" sentiments.

Who agrees with these statments?


A) I LIKE the DAD ice surfing scene.
B) I think Desmond Llewelyn should have never been Q.
C) Pre title sequences are a waste of time.
D) The Moonraker Gondola scene is one of the series best
E) Samantha Bond's Moneypenny was better than Lois Maxwell's.
F) The books are better than the movies.

B and F I agree with.

Wholeheartedly.

[jake speed]

Moonraker is a great film. The last epic Bond. If you've got Roger Moore you might as well make at least one OTT fantastical piece of nonsense.

GoldenEye is over-rated. Gloomy photography and Campbell blew that tank chase.

TWINE is the best Brosnan film but Roger Spottiswoode was the best director he got.

John Glen gets a lot of unfair flak from Bond fans.

George Lazenby was a great James Bond and far more believable than Connery would have been in OHMSS.

Madonna's theme song for DAD was fine and at least a stab at something new.

Daniel Craig is miscast as James Bond.

Lewis Collins should have made a couple of early eighties Bond films.

[JimmyBond]

Some of the opinions aren't too out there. I figured, with all the diversity, that someone would hate a certain film while others love a certain film.
However, are there any opinions that 99% of you agree with? I thought of a few opinions in which I would be very surprised to see agreement, in an effort to find some "common ground" sentiments.

Who agrees with these statments?


A) I LIKE the DAD ice surfing scene.
I think Desmond Llewelyn should have never been Q.
C) Pre title sequences are a waste of time.
D) The Moonraker Gondola scene is one of the series best
E) Samantha Bond's Moneypenny was better than Lois Maxwell's.
F) The books are better than the movies.

Here are the ones I agree with:

A)It's pretty fun, cheesy looking. But still fun (:tup)
C)Depends really, the ones that set up the main story work, but for the most part, they are (doesnt meant they arent fun though).
F)This I cannot agree with more, the books (Gardner and Benson too) put the movies to shame.

[Captain Grimes]

001. George Lazenby is unattractive.

002. YOLT and Moonraker, the films, are better than YOLT and Moonraker, the novels.

003. Moonraker's outer-space finale is more engaging than any other finale.

004. Diana Rigg's Tracy is unlikable.

005. In the movies, the non-Leiter sidekicks are better than the Leiters.

006. Fleming's short stories are better written than his novels. (And his novels, contrary to public perception, are very well written indeed.)

007. Bond fans really are pathetic.

[moorebond82]

Some of the opinions aren't too out there. I figured, with all the diversity, that someone would hate a certain film while others love a certain film.
However, are there any opinions that 99% of you agree with? I thought of a few opinions in which I would be very surprised to see agreement, in an effort to find some "common ground" sentiments.

Who agrees with these statments?


A) I LIKE the DAD ice surfing scene.
I think Desmond Llewelyn should have never been Q.
C) Pre title sequences are a waste of time.
D) The Moonraker Gondola scene is one of the series best
E) Samantha Bond's Moneypenny was better than Lois Maxwell's.
F) The books are better than the movies.

F defintley
it also seems that Moonraker does have alot of fans that may be in the closet but i for one am not in the closet i pronounce my love for Moonraker.

Edited by moorebond82, 28 October 2006 - 08:51 PM.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

Moonraker is a great film. The last epic Bond. If you've got Roger Moore you might as well make at least one OTT fantastical piece of nonsense.

GoldenEye is over-rated. Gloomy photography and Campbell blew that tank chase.

George Lazenby was a great James Bond and far more believable than Connery would have been in OHMSS.

I cannot disagree with those statements by any stretch of the imagination.

Especially the first one. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Although I thought the tank chase was alright, GE is indeed way overrated. Great villain, rubbish plot.