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Best '90s Bond Cinematographer


18 replies to this topic

#1 Mr. Blofeld

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 01:57 AM

In honour of tim partridge, I've decided to create a thread to ascertain your opinions on:

Who is the Best '90s Bond Cinematographer?


Your choices:

Phil Meheux (GoldenEye)
Robert Elswit (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Adrian Biddle (The World Is Not Enough)
I've decided to stay impartial in this survey; let the sport commence! B)

#2 PrinceKamalKhan

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 04:32 AM

Definitely Phil Meheux (GoldenEye). Like the sleek and slick look he gave to GoldenEye. Especially, the Monte Carlo sequence and the "006 returns from the dead" graveyard scene.

#3 Cruiserweight

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 05:05 AM

Robert Elswit

#4 O.H.M.S.S.

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 07:51 AM

Phil Meheux, GoldenEye has a unique atmosphere due to that post Soviet, heavy industrial feel that it has. Perfectly accentuated by the music and cinematography.

#5 Double-Oh Agent

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 08:09 AM

This is another tough one but I guess I'll go with Phil Meheux.

#6 Rufus Ffolkes

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 08:10 PM

Another vote for Elswit here. He was the Freddie Young of the 90s.

#7 Nicolas Suszczyk

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Posted 31 July 2009 - 09:14 PM

1. Mehéux (Superb!)
2. Biddle (Good)
3. Elswit (Nothing amazing)

#8 Mr. Somerset

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 12:05 AM

I think I'll go with Biddle, although I feel TWINE looked much different in the theatre than it does on dvd- haven't seen the blu- ray. I recall the film having a greenish hue that dominated the look.

#9 Mr. Blofeld

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 01:09 AM

Just going to ask the mods: Could the subtitle Meheux, Elswit, or Biddle? be added under the main title, to synch up with the other threads covering each decade's Bond cinematographers? Thanks.

#10 Forward Look

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 03:02 AM

Meheux, but just barely. He was very good in GE, however, he did even better in CR.

#11 Mr_Wint

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Posted 03 August 2009 - 08:40 PM

It's interesting that Phil Meheux gets so many votes. I mean, outside Bond fandom Elswit and Biddle are both famous and respected DP's while Meheux did... Highlander II... The Quickening!

Anyway, based on these 3 films, I'll give my vote to Meheux. But there's a very small difference between them (Tattersall's work on DAD is the best from the Brosnan era!).

#12 Double-Oh Agent

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Posted 04 August 2009 - 08:11 AM

It's interesting that Phil Meheux gets so many votes. I mean, outside Bond fandom Elswit and Biddle are both famous and respected DP's while Meheux did... Highlander II... The Quickening!

Anyway, based on these 3 films, I'll give my vote to Meheux. But there's a very small difference between them (Tattersall's work on DAD is the best from the Brosnan era!).

I agree with you there. Unfortunately for David Tattersall, due to the parameters of this thread, Die Another Day occurred in the wrong decade. While his effort is really really good, it still falls short of Phil Meheux's in Casino Royale.

#13 glidrose

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Posted 02 May 2014 - 08:55 PM

Updated post:

 

Robert Elswitt, all the way! The other two aren't even close. One of the best-shot Bond films and one of the best photographed films of its era. TND has delicious saturated colors throughout. The building Bond breaks into in Hamburg has a lovely, airy European art film feel. Some minor flaws: as our own Tim Partridge pointed, the Vietnamese safehouse sequence has a lousy shot of the red decoder box with an ugly bluish tinge. Yikes! Can't understand why Tim Partridge thinks this film looks like tv.

 

Meheux's work on GE is adequate. Crisp imagery but bland, muted colors. I don't think I've ever noticed this much blatant use of wide-angle lenses in an *official* Bond film. The framing of the shots appears to have tv-cropping in mind. "Sight and Sound" magazine also noticed the excessive "safe area" problem. Smoky rooms and cold computer imagery do not create atmosphere. The film looks and feels like a big-budget direct-to-cable movie.

 

Biddle's work on TWINE is appalling. Easily the worst shot Bond film. Grainy-looking, muddy colors, horrible skin hues, dingy lighting. Looks like a twelfth-generation video transfer. Was he trying to intentionally shoot the film this badly?



#14 Grard Bond

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Posted 02 May 2014 - 11:07 PM

Phil Meheux!

It just happens I saw GoldenEye on blu ray again this very day and it's realy beautifull shot.

TND looks sometimes very grainy and TWINE has it's moments, but is most of the time not very impressive to me.



#15 The Krynoid man

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Posted 03 May 2014 - 11:23 AM

Phil Meheux. It has a unique look to it that none of the other Bond films have. I think it might be the film stock but I'm not sure.



#16 Satorious

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Posted 03 May 2014 - 07:46 PM

I can tell you who it isn't and that's Biddle. I'd be happy to split the vote with the other two, who were both solid if unspectacular. Okay, I'd probably go Elswitt if pushed.



#17 jmarks4life

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Posted 23 May 2014 - 05:43 AM

Phil Meheux

#18 glidrose

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Posted 24 May 2014 - 08:35 PM

Anybody else agree that TWINE is the worst shot Bond film?



#19 tdalton

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Posted 25 May 2014 - 12:56 AM

None of the 1990s films look all that great.  If forced to go with one, I'd go with Elswit, as I did like the whole techno-vibe they were going with during stretches of the Hamburg sequence as well as some of the visuals towards the end of Tomorrow Never Dies.