75 replies to this topic

[Miles Miservy]

I think Bond fans the world over were cheated last night.  For months and months we'd been led to believe that the Golden Anniversary of the MOST SUCCESSFUL MOVIE FRANCHISE OF ALL TIME was going to be an unprecedented, star-studded spectacular; the likes of which The Academy Awards had never SEEN!!

 

So... what do we get for our unyiedling patience and escalating anticipation?  Seth McFarland, seething with mediocrity... sock puppets and a very old and bloated William Shatner. Tactless, yet rude to be sure, but we remind ourselves that it's going to be worth it because we've been waiting for so long for this "Once-in-a-Lifetime" event,

Come back from commercial and the moment has arrived.....

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you.... (wait for it...)

Halle Barry and a clip reel!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wait... what? (oh, there's more... there must be.)

 

And now... Shirley Bassey sings just one of her OO7 theme songs (she did THREE).

Um... OK. So... when are all 6 guys going to come on stage together like you promised?  They'd been saying for so long that this was what they were planning to to.  It was going to be great! Why hadn't they at least put forth a collection of artisits from each era to do a medley,

 

 say:

Shirley Bassey then Oh I don't know...

Carly Simon... Gladys Knight... Tina Turner and ending with Adele?

That would have captured the significance of each decade, perhaps.

But no, I got the sense that ABC's production value bordered somwhere around....... CHEAP.

I think, "We been ROBBED!"

Edited by Miles Miservy, 25 February 2013 - 09:57 PM.

[Matt_13]

Yeah I wasn't pleased. Shirley was great though. 76 years old!

[Vauxhall]

And a shame that Naomie Harris didn't get to join in with the celebrations, as she was actually there, which I only discovered almost 24 hours later.

[The Dove]

http://movies.yahoo....-032056843.html

 

I heartily agree...see my post in the "Skyfall: Award Nominations/Wins" thread for my complete take on the ceremony..

[plankattack]

Considering how much the "special tribute" was promoted, it definitely appeared an after-thought. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was a cynical attempt to grab some ratings.........!

[DamnCoffee]

I found myself very disappointed as well. Goldfinger and Skyfall live were definitely brilliant, though. The only thing I liked about the actual tribute, was the Dr No style main title sequence over the badly edited footage. I was definitely expecting more. I'd even be happy with a Seth MacFarlane sketch with all the previous actors. Anything to make it different. It was a joke. 

[crheath]

I agree.  What a let down.  The video montage was very disappointing.  Why couldn't they do what they did when Albert R. Broccoli received the Irving Thalberg award?  They showed a video of each Bond introducing himself, then various clips of action scenes with one liners, then they closed it out with the ski jump from TSWLM.

 

Here they just showed some images to music.  Even the images from the films were blocked out by silhouettes.  My guess is they tried to get all of the actors to come, then gave up when they weren't all available.

[FredJB007]

It sucked beyond sucking.

[bill007]

Well, Hades didn't freeze over, so I was pretty sure Connery wasn't going to be there.  And, I had read that Brosnan was giving the Oscars a cold shoulder as well.  Even without the union of all 6, the half-hearted attempt at a 50-year salute was pure rooster poop.

 

The BAFTA's was where it should have happened, anyway.

[marktmurphy]

So basically pretty much the same as the Baftas managed (they got Tom to sing Thunderball) only the Baftas actually managed to do it in the year Bond actually celebrated 50 years. As opposed to the year after.

[007jamesbond]

What they should have done is each Bond saying the famous line and then even have each Bond talk about their experience and the 50th anniversary..........even Everything or nothing is better than this and worse no mention of Ian Fleming ! 

[larrythefatcat]

I had heard that there wasn't going to be a reunion weeks ago, so I decided to skip the awards.

 

It's awesome that 'Skyfall' got 1 1/2 Oscars, though!

[Kelly Smith]

Absolute waste of time. I was so pumped to see the tribute and so disappointed in what they did. Why bother? Here's the longest-running series in the history of motion pictures and the best they can come up with is a yawner of a clip reel and two out of 23 songs done with uninspiring arrangements? Thank God for Dame Shirley Bassey who single-handedly almost salvaged the whole mess. The producers completely fumbled the opportunity to do something unforgettable and spectacular in tribute to 007.

 

Why didn't Zadan and Meron turn it over to Broccoli and Wilson if that's the best they could come up with?

 

Epic fail!

[delfloria]

It sucked beyond sucking.

This says it all. Shame on them.

[007jamesbond]

As I said before the academy don't give the crap about Bond and the 50th anniversary, it a british icon in a american award show, obviously there won't be that much effect.......have to wait until 60th anniversary to see if it better 

[lazenbyland]

I strongly suspect two of the problems were permissions and commercial breaks. You wouldn't be able to string together a decent tribute with the amount of ad breaks in the USA compared to the BAFTA's. This is why I always watch the highlights. The complete show being a disjointed mess.

 

And would other film companies want a large part of the proceedings devoted to  one particular franchise?

 

The Bond tribute was pretty much what I expected. Dame Shirley was great and Adele also. The rest was pathetic.

[Professor Pi]

"Watching your TV shows is torture enough." -- James Bond

[doublenoughtspy]

Um... OK. So... when are all 6 guys going to come on stage together like you promised? 

 

Show me where The Academy promised all 6 would be there?

 

It was nothing more than tabloid/fanboy speculation from the outset, and debunked by Connery's, Lazenby's, and Moore's people, and Brosnan himself weeks ago.

 

I'm as disappointed as the next person that the tribute wasn't better, but come on, getting all 6 together has been "speculated" and nothing more, that it would happen at the Skyfall premiere, or an after party, and practically every event since.

 

The Academy has never gotten together all the people who have played Superman, or Batman, or Sherlock Holmes, or Tarzan, or anything of that sort on stage - why would they do it for Bond?

[Baccarat]

I wasn't able to see it. Bond-wise, I gather Adele's gong was pretty much the highlight of an otherwise mediocre evening.

[Spectre Cat]

Well, I enjoyed it.  Maybe it helped that I never expected anything more than a cool montage and Dame Shirley singing.

[Hockey Mask]

I would have enjoyed it had I not known it was coming. Just as some sort of fun bonus. But for them to promote it. Blah.

[Stubris]

Eh...the montage was mediocre, but as a previous poster stated..a British Icon is not going to get all the attention during a Hollywood ceremony. From what I saw, we got Halle Berry. "Tribute" video. Dame Shirley (fab by the way). Adele. 'Nobody does it better' playing before best actor noms. All in all...can't complain.

[seawolfnyy]

I must be the only one who did not enjoy Bassey's performance of Goldfinger last night. It didn't sound right to me.

[Professor Pi]

I must be the only one who did not enjoy Bassey's performance of Goldfinger last night. It didn't sound right to me.

 

I got her CD of "The Performance" and her voice is definitely among lower registers now.  But I was impressed she held the last note.

[JimmyBond]

I must be the only one who did not enjoy Bassey's performance of Goldfinger last night. It didn't sound right to me.

 

You're not the only one. I thought Adele did a far better job. 

 

What really bugs me about Bassey singing Goldfinger is that it's not even a song that celebrates Bond. If they wanted to use a Bond theme that celebrates the character they could have (and should have) gone with "Nobody Does it Better," or "You know my Name." Both are wonderful songs about Bond himself while Goldfinger is just a song about...Goldfinger. Good song and all, but I'm getting tired of this perception that Goldfinger is the only "good" Bond film. There are 22 other films for crying out loud, it's time to get off of this line of thinking.

[Trevelyan 006]

I must be the only one who did not enjoy Bassey's performance of Goldfinger last night. It didn't sound right to me.

 

You're not the only one. I thought Adele did a far better job. 

 

What really bugs me about Bassey singing Goldfinger is that it's not even a song that celebrates Bond. If they wanted to use a Bond theme that celebrates the character they could have (and should have) gone with "Nobody Does it Better," or "You know my Name." Both are wonderful songs about Bond himself while Goldfinger is just a song about...Goldfinger. Good song and all, but I'm getting tired of this perception that Goldfinger is the only "good" Bond film. There are 22 other films for crying out loud, it's time to get off of this line of thinking.

 

I really don't get the whole 'Goldfinger-trumps-all-other-Bonds' thing either... It is kind of annoying to tell you the truth. God forbid anybody go out on a limb and actually use one of the themes more fitting of the series as a whole (aka "Nobody Does It Better").

 

"What do they all say the best 007 film is?"

"They liked that Goldfinger film, right?"

"Well, go with that theme then."

[copperhead1]

With all due respect to Dame Shirley....Halle Berry and a clip reel.....not exactly Christmas was it?

[00 Brosnan]

What were you expecting seriously? The rumor that all six Bonds would be there was simply that...a rumor, and a very bold and highly contested one at that considering Connery and possibly Brosnan's beef with EON. Though Brosnan did participate in EON's 50th Anniversary documentary....EoN.

 

What else could they do but a highlight reel and possibly a musical performance (we got two by the end of the night)?

[tdalton]

The tribute was fine.  They dedicated a good amount of the evening to Bond, with the video tribute and then the performances by Shirley Bassey and Adele.  The six Bond actors were never going to appear on the stage together.  It was never a part of the plan, as has been said as such by both the president of the Academy and the producers of this year's show on multiple occasions and far enough in advance of the show for it to be apparent that it was never going to be a part of the show.

[The Dove]

http://m.youtube.com...h?v=t10mNXtfdUw

Now THIS is what should have been shown yesterday at the Oscar's..Standing ovation to the guy who put this together...