740 replies to this topic

[thecasinoroyale]

Ooh, let's have a go a this. I'll give 10 little spouts:


1) 'Licence To Kill' was the first ever Bond I saw, and I may have different views every now and then, but 'Licence To Kill' will always come out to be my favourite James Bond film.

2) I think 'Goldfinger' is over-rated and an unfair benchmark used for Bond films, and actors.

3) 'Thunderball' bores me with all the dreary music and underwater scenes.

4) 'A View To A Kill' is the most under-rated Bond films in the series - it's my favourite Roger Moore film and it has far less cheese/slapstick than other Bonds, and although he is pushing it age wise, we still have great action seqences, plausable Bond girls and a fantastic villain, the best of them all, Max Zorin. Topped with a brilliant score by John Barry, this film is epic Bond!

5) I want to like Pierce Brosnan's Bond films more than I think I actually do on watching them again and again.

6) I still can't fully appreciate much of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and some of the sloppy Lazenby moments in there.

7) Inside, the lack of Bond elements frustrates the hell out of me with the Craig era films and I can't lie saying I'm worried we're losing our 'classic James Bond' and getting 'newer-modern James Bond' films.

8) I'm more excited about 'Skyfall' than I was with 'Quantum Of Solace'

9) All of Shirley Bassey's Bond themes get on my nerves and she's not a benchmark to the series as much as she's praised to be.

10) 'Dr.No' is one of the Bond films I would always use to promote the series to anyone a real benchmark of film-making and who 007 is.


Nice thread!

[bribond]

OK, here I go:

I find You Only Live Twice to be Connery's most entertaining Bond film even though some scenes are not well edited. As a whole the film moves well and has terrific locations and Tiger Tanaka is very appealing.

Sheryl Crow's song for Tomorrow Never Dies is one of my favorites.

I also loved Teri Hatcher in Tomorrow Never Dies (always had a weak spot for her) and loved that she played someone who got close to Bond.

The World Is Not Enough is my favorite Brosnan film. Goldeneye also has a good story and is well made but Brosnan is a little stiff in the dramatic scenes and the score pulls me out of the film.

Brosnan is very good in Die Another Day even though the film self destructs in the second half.

Quantum of Solace is too fast and the cinematography in the first few action scenes (car chase, foot chase, boat chase) makes it way too hard to see what is going on but after that the film settles into a nice rhythm and turns into a good entry.

[Dr. Metz]

1. Casino Royale '06 is extremely overrated, and is the only film in existence I have a hard time sitting through. I'm not joking with that either.
2. Roger Moore 70's Bond films are better than his 80's Bond films, save for Octopussy.
3. Daniel Craig's Bond is a cheap ripoff of Timothy Dalton's Bond, and he is praised for it.
4. The last great Bond film was Licence to Kill.
5. TMWTGG is Moore's best Bond film.
6. DAF is an extremely underrated Bond film.
7. Timothy Dalton would have been a better Bond in GoldenEye than Brosnan.
8. FYEO's score is the last really memorable Bond score. Although I did like GE's score for what it was.
9. James Bond since 1997 has been changed into a PC, bland action hero who is nothing special.
10. OHMSS was a sloppily made film, and could have been improved on in areas.
11. Thunderball is miles better than Goldfinger.

Edited by Dr. Metz, 20 January 2012 - 09:03 PM.

[OHMSS Fan]

<sub>I really appreciate this thread because i was worried that only I had unorthodox preferences and opions on the bond movies.Still enough about me here are mine.

1. A View To A Kill is one of my favourite movies along with O.H.M.S.S. and Diamonds Are Fovever (which everyone on here seems to dislike), The Living Daylights, and Licence To Kill,

2. Dr No. and Goldfinger rarely feature in my top ten lists of movies because the first because Connery looks half bored, the second because he is given nothing to do in goldfinger and then is imprisoned and looks bored most of the way through the movie. They both have good scenes in them but the later Bonds seem to be more fun.

3. Love Jill St John as Tiffany Case and Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier. Charles Gray as Blofeld, Stromberg, and Max Zorin are perfect Villains.

4. Licence To Kill, We Have All The Time In The World, Surrender b K D Lang, Man With The Golden Gun, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Thunderball.

5. Best Movie Posters, Licence to Kill (UK art work) ,A View To A Kill (Golden Gate Artwork), and Living Daylights Roundel Artwork (not the blue background poster with white dressed lady in the foreground). Goldeneye Teaser with the Tagline "You Know The Name. You Know The Number". There has never been a better tagline on any movie poster ever before, or since I don't think. And I don't believe any Bond Fan, casual fanatical or not, would disagree with me about that tagline,

6. Worst Posters, Quantum Of Solace (Boring, uninspired and obviously not very well thought out, rushed because of hurried production perhaps), same for Casino Royale and Man With The Golden Gun art which its too similar to Live and Let Die's Layout.

7. Worst Bond themes, All Time High, Die Another Day, Goldfinger (Bassey will insist on screaming it out).

8. Best Scores OHMSS, View To A Kill, Diamonds Are Forever, Living Daylights. Tomorrow Never Dies. Worst Scores Goldfinger, Uninspired and over brassy. Casino Royale, not enough bond theme in it for me and not enough memorable tunes, too wallpaper like. (Sorry David Arnold).

9. Best Pre Credits. For Your Eyes Only (but i do hate the stainless steel deli line), View To A Kill, Living Daylights, Octopussy, The Spy Who Loved Me, OHMSS, World Is Not Enough.

10. Favourite Scenes, the califonia gilrs track playing when bond escapes when skiing in A View To A Kill. Leiter Being Fed To Shark (the dialogue here is superb as is the acting by all concerned), M Admiral Roebuck banter in Tomorrow never Dies, the Saunders and Bond Car Scene from the Living Daylights brims with excellent acting and feeling "Whoever she was I Must have scared the living daylights out of her". The "hang on/thought had occurred to me" line from Moonraker always makes me laugh out lound. The Brosnan quip about being to russia before where he says "occasionally, I just shoot in and out"

Before I sign off, I would like to leave you all with one thought, we despite the dislike/hate/love etc we all like all the movies and actors who've played the role, as each film has something to like and something to dislike about it, and if we are all to look at ourselves honestly, none of them are unwatchable are they?</sub>

[SecretAgentFan]

Sheryl Crow's song for Tomorrow Never Dies is one of my favorites.

Yes! I never understood why that song is so hated. Great melody. Nicely performed. In contrast I always found "Surrender" weak, almost like a Bond song parody with the film title sung (reminding me of Bill Murray singing "Star Wars").

[mrevans]

OHMSS could be the worst Bond movie for me. It is logically all over the place (even for a bond movie). Like how Bond looks all shocked when M wants to take him off of operation Bedlam. Up to this point Bond was “beach combing”, gambling, and going golfing (All on the taxpayer money more than likely). In other words, doing anything but looking for Blofeld. Also why doesn’t Bond bother to walk up to the tree Blofeld is hanging in and make sure he’s dead. Even if he got out of the tree, he’s clearly (at least temporarily) handicapped and can’t go far without assistance. This makes me less sympathetic to Bond when Blofeld turns right around and kills his wife. Ladies at Piz Gloria are like nails on a chalkboard. They actually jar me from the tiredness I feel through that whole section of the movie. Then the editing goes haywire during the action and jars me out of the movie. However, I do think Lazenby is good and deserved a better movie than this and I would have loved to see him do more.

Love TMWTGG in spite of the fact that bond’s a total jerk to the unlikeable degree. After sleeping with Maud Adam’s charcter while Goodnight is hiding in the closet he consoles Goodnight by saying, “Don’t worry darling, you’re turn will come”. Wow… even for Bond. Wow… Aside from that Moore gives one of his best performances. Nick Nack’s just downright cool. Songs even pretty catchy. And the slide whistle effect doesn’t bother me.

I not the biggest fan of Moore but I love a view to a kill. The whole movie would have been much better if Bond didn’t look so aged. That’s really the sole problem for me. Walken’s great. Grace Jones is definitely memorable. The obnoxious “James! James!” are extremely annoying but laughable at this point. I can’t help but smile at Beach Boys sound clip from this movie. Yes it’s ridiculous but it cracks me up every time.

I think Bebe’s relationship with Bond in FYEO is extremely funny and probably one of the most memorable things from that movie. FYEO has a lot going for it but it’s definitely near the bottom of the list for me

I love the title song by Sheryl Crow from TND. Stuck in my head all the time.

I get a big kick out of NSNA though I admit it’s more in a TV reunion special sort of way.

Love LALD and Sherriff Pepper is absolutely hysterical. The movie wouldn’t be the same without him.

TWINE isn’t the sludge a lot of people think it is. It is a great concept. It definitely goes deeper into Bond’s character. It’s probably Brosnan’s best Bond performance. Still very flawed though.

Edited by mrevans, 20 January 2012 - 07:45 PM.

[Rufus Ffolkes]

1. Casino Royale '06 is extremely overrated, and is the only film in existance I have a hard time sitting through. I'm not joking with that either.
2. Roger Moore 70's Bond films are better than his 80's Bond films, save for Octopussy.
3. Daniel Craig's Bond is a cheap ripoff of Timothy Dalton's Bond, and he is praised for it.
4. The last great Bond film was Licence to Kill.
5. TMWTGG is Moore's best Bond film.
6. DAF is an extremely underrated Bond film.
7. Timothy Dalton would have been a better Bond in GoldenEye than Brosnan.
8. FYEO's score is the last really memorable Bond score. Although I did like GE's score for what it was.
9. James Bond since 1997 has been changed into a PC, bland action hero who is nothing special.
10. OHMSS was a sloppily made film, and could have been improved on in areas.
11. Thunderball is miles better than Goldfinger.

I agree on all the bolded points.

[Miles Miservy]

My # 1 unorthodoxy (and I have several) -- the Saab from the Gardner novels is my favorite Bond vehicle.

Oh He// no. Might as well have stuck him in a soccer mom's minivan. Ray Benson's self-mending Jag had MUCH more appeal.

[Dr. Metz]

I agree on all the bolded points.

It's better than not agreeing with any of them. I think so, at least.

Edited by Dr. Metz, 20 January 2012 - 09:09 PM.

[Miles Miservy]

Sheryl Crow's song for Tomorrow Never Dies is one of my favorites.

Yes! I never understood why that song is so hated. Great melody. Nicely performed. In contrast I always found "Surrender" weak, almost like a Bond song parody with the film title sung (reminding me of Bill Murray singing "Star Wars").

I remember that SNL bit (TOO FUNNY). Never undestood why TND theme song wasn't used throughout the film instead of KD Lang's Surrender whatever. Maybe it's because she & Bond have the same haircut???

[glidrose]

- Goldfinger is NOT "the quintessential Bond movie that truly launched the franchise." It's possibly the worst Bond film ever made and de-railed everything fantastic that had been accomplished in the previous two films. Most people going on about "classic Goldfinger" have never actually SEEN it, I'd guess.

And you'd guess wrong. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people who do haven't seen it.

Bashing GF is the fad of the moment.

FYEO = remake of FRWL
TSWLM = remake of YOLT
AVTAK = remake of GF
DAD = remake of DAF

AVTAK is not a remake of GF. There, I said it. Somebody had to. On the other hand MR is a partial remake of OHMSS. I think I hear Doublenoughtspy choking.

MR is miles better than TSWLM.

Timothy Dalton is NOT Daniel Craig twenty years ahead of his time. Those two are like chalk and cheese.

I think Daniel Craig is bloody outstanding, he may be the first Bond never to give a weak, let alone uneven performance, but I'm fairly fed up with the reboot/Bourne/no-fun approach.

None of the Bond actors are like Fleming's Bond, especially Dalton.

No way GoldenEye would have been a smash hit if Dalton had done it. Nothing would or will convince audiences to give Dalton a chance. The fault isn't theirs.

Robert Brown's M is Admiral Hargreaves.

Terence Young was no stylist.

Lewis Gilbert's films feel different due to different cinematographers. I would never have guessed the same director did them.

The women in TND are among the series' best. What do you have against Hatcher and Yeoh?

Denise Richards is good.

AVTAK's ski chase is much better than SWLM's. California Girls works wonders and I'm glad the producers used it.

[Binyamin]

- Goldfinger is NOT "the quintessential Bond movie that truly launched the franchise." It's possibly the worst Bond film ever made and de-railed everything fantastic that had been accomplished in the previous two films. Most people going on about "classic Goldfinger" have never actually SEEN it, I'd guess.

And you'd guess wrong. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people who do haven't seen it.

I wasn't referring to serious Bond fans -- I meant casual moviegoers. IE, talking Bond while sipping coffee and Some Bloke chimes in with "Connery is the best. What was the first 007 movie, Goldfinger? They should all be classic like that."

Goldfinger seems to be the "classic" movie that gets touted by people who haven't seen any classic movies. You know how non-cigar connoisseurs yap about "Cuban Cohibas" even though they've never actually smoked one? A bit like that.

That's my theory, anyhow.

[Vanish]

Sheryl Crow's song for Tomorrow Never Dies is one of my favorites.

Yes! I never understood why that song is so hated. Great melody. Nicely performed. In contrast I always found "Surrender" weak, almost like a Bond song parody with the film title sung (reminding me of Bill Murray singing "Star Wars").

Yes, agreed on all points. Surrender seems so typical to the point of parody, while the actual TND song threw me off guard the first time I heard it - in a good way.

And one more unorthodox opinion, just for fun - I think the series should really explore the tense, low-key PTS style that Casino Royale used rather than the usual over-the-top route.

Edited by Vanish, 21 January 2012 - 06:49 PM.

[glidrose]

You had me going, Glidrose, but you lost me at "John Gardner was the wrong man to write Bond. His books are no good"

I remember when it was unorthodox to like Gardner's Bond novels.

[larrythefatcat]

I'm sure I'll eventually think of a list of irreverent opinions I have on Bond, but most of the lists I've seen seem more like they're the opposite of "Two Truths and a Lie"... so: "a whole bunch of lies and one truth".

I guess that's the point of this thread, but some posters seem to merely be saying things that nobody could ever possibly think. Maybe I'm more conventional than I had even imagined.

Edited by larrythefatcat, 24 March 2012 - 09:17 PM.

[E S Blofeld]

My two most significant unorthodox Bond-isms may not be quite so unorthodox here, but for non-Bond fans they certainly are:

* I like the Dalton films. At least Dalton has a go at playing the role in a serious manner.
* I don't really like the Brosnan films. Brosnan comes off as too wooden and cheesy to me.

[mttvolcano]

I'm sure I'll eventually think of a list of irreverent opinions I have on Bond, but most of the lists I've seen seem more like they're the opposite of "Two Truths and a Lie"... so: "a whole bunch of lies and one truth".

I guess that's the point of this thread, but some posters seem to merely be saying things that nobody could ever possibly think. Maybe I'm more conventional than I had even imagined.

I totally agree with you. The only things that I can say I am unorthodox about are basically those that go against the grain what I see as the majority of Bond fans agree with.

OHMSS was awful. Don't get me wrong I love all Bond films, but one of the worst was OHMSS. There is no bloody emotion, I can't even believe Chris Nolan said that was his favorite because of emotion. Bond cries once at the end....hardly emotional, as if that makes it an emotional movie. Lazenby sucks as Bond, IMO. He can't act his way out of a paper bag from one scene to the next. Thank God he didn't return in DAF or any other ones if that's how he acted.

Licence to Kill is my favorite. Now that is one of the more emotional ones, now in the sense of raw anger and such. When we hear emotion we tend to think of crying and such girly style.
It's my favorite due to the unorthodox nature of his mission, abandoning MI6 to seek revenge. Dalton was the perfect Bond for it.

DAF is underrated except for maybe the last part with the oil rig, I mean what the heck happened to Blofeld?

And that's really all I can come up with....that is unorthodox at least in the sight of the fans here.

[DamnCoffee]

OHMSS was awful. Don't get me wrong I love all Bond films, but one of the worst was OHMSS. There is no bloody emotion, I can't even believe Chris Nolan said that was his favorite because of emotion. Bond cries once at the end....hardly emotional, as if that makes it an emotional movie. Lazenby sucks as Bond, IMO. He can't act his way out of a paper bag from one scene to the next. Thank God he didn't return in DAF or any other ones if that's how he acted.

Licence to Kill is my favorite. Now that is one of the more emotional ones, now in the sense of raw anger and such. When we hear emotion we tend to think of crying and such girly style.

I couldn't disagree with you more. OHMSS is perfect because it has a lovely balance between action and drama. Lazenby while I admit wasn't that great of an actor, he managed to hold the film together and I really wish he did more, because he could've been one of the best. His performance is more consistant than Brosnans. I find OHMSS emotional. The death of Tracy has got to be one of the best scenes in the franchise.

I adore Licence to Kill, but I hardly find it emotional in the least. The scene at the end bothers me greatly. Why does Felix act so happy in the hospital room? His wifes just been murdered.

[Pussfeller]

He just had a Texas-sized dose of morphine.

[Miles Miservy]

With the exception of Christopher Walken, EVERY actor (Roger Moore included) was miscast in AVTAK.

DAD was an over-the-top, kitchen sink of a movie; the most unwatchable of all of them.

I thought what CR did with the gun barrel was clever but it should NOT have been left for the end of QOS.

I'd always thought that a cameo of Daniel Craig's 5 predecessors in SKYFALL would seem appropriate (being 50th anniversary & all...)

Anne Hathaway would make an Excellent Bond girl.

[mttvolcano]

OHMSS was awful. Don't get me wrong I love all Bond films, but one of the worst was OHMSS. There is no bloody emotion, I can't even believe Chris Nolan said that was his favorite because of emotion. Bond cries once at the end....hardly emotional, as if that makes it an emotional movie. Lazenby sucks as Bond, IMO. He can't act his way out of a paper bag from one scene to the next. Thank God he didn't return in DAF or any other ones if that's how he acted.

Licence to Kill is my favorite. Now that is one of the more emotional ones, now in the sense of raw anger and such. When we hear emotion we tend to think of crying and such girly style.

I couldn't disagree with you more. OHMSS is perfect because it has a lovely balance between action and drama. Lazenby while I admit wasn't that great of an actor, he managed to hold the film together and I really wish he did more, because he could've been one of the best. His performance is more consistant than Brosnans. I find OHMSS emotional. The death of Tracy has got to be one of the best scenes in the franchise.

I adore Licence to Kill, but I hardly find it emotional in the least. The scene at the end bothers me greatly. Why does Felix act so happy in the hospital room? His wifes just been murdered.

I am glad you disagree with me, after all this is the unorthodox thread, and I can plainly say I probably disagree with everyone here in some extreme way and they with me.

[glidrose]

Louis Armstrong wrecks "We Have All the Time in the World".

[Baccarat]

Louis Armstrong wrecks "We Have All the Time in the World".

That's not unorthodox, it's sacrilege!

[Colossus]

Fleming's novels Moonraker and You Only Live Twice were unfilmable.

From Russia With Love may be the weakest of the first four films.

Goldfinger is the best Bond film although half a dozen Bond films are more fun.

Kingsley Amis, John Pearson, Christopher Wood, Sebastian Faulks at his best and in some ways Charlie Higson all write better than Ian Fleming.

Fleming was right: the book Bond was a cardboard dummy.

Thunderball is a boring book. The Spy Who Loved Me may be Fleming's best. The Property of a Lady may be his best short story.

YOLT has been said yes, but Moonraker? I did read it what's so crazy about it? I do not remember anything surreal , only the ending with the rocket engine portion.

FRWL weakest? Ok i'll go with that for a unique spin.

Yes Goldfinger has been a schizoid Bond on these boards going from love/hate, the hate probably stemmed from the general public's love of it and us Bond fans getting annoyed by it, as one poster paraphrased the public "the first one, Goldfinger, is the best! why cant they all be like that!".... however the force is strong with Goldfinger, nevermind it being a cultural phenomenon, etc. The pacing of it being slow is fairly unique taking its time just like the meandering The Good, the Bad, the Ugly for example, but it is intentional, like a hazy dream.

I admire your love for non-Fleming books and might even start reading up on them, this also goes double for the Conan the Barbarian stories NOT written by Robert E Howard...We have the knee jerk reaction of poo pooing them cause they're not by the original himself... but they can be damn good reading anywho.

[glidrose]

The TSWLM ski jump is overrated and rather embarrassing.

I wish the producers had brought Jaws back.

This shouldn't be an unorthodox opinion, but on this board it may very well be: Casino Royale has excellent writing. Eva Green is excellent. The Bond-Vesper relationship is entirely credible.

TLD doesn't work with Pushkin instead of Gogol.

Samantha Bond is the best Moneypenny. Never really liked Lois Maxwell tho' I admit she's iconic in the role.

[PierceConneryMoore]

I'll start from 50 years ago &amp;amp; work my way to today:

1.Dr.No is more memorable for being the 1st movie to me than for being one of the best. The little action there isn't great, it's kinda slow & even Sean Connery still has work to do. I still give it a positive review & seeing the 1st gunbarrel, 1st credit sequence, 1st utterance of "Bond, James Bond" are all memorable, but it would be films down the line that establsh Bond as a classic movie hero.

2.From Russia With Love's Tatiana Romanova is to me one of the weakest Bond women. It was a start of a tendency in many Bond films over the years of making the Blonde Bond women complete bimbos. Other than the famous 1st meeting with Bond that has been used for screentests, Daniela Bianchi's performance is pretty weak & the dubbing doesn't help either.

3.Pussy Galore I find an overrated Bond woman. It's not bad like in FRWL, but I just don't find Honor Blackman's performance one of the best nor one of the prettiest Bond women.

4.I've always been really torn between whether Goldfinger or Thunderball is the best Connery Bond film. Goldfinger has a better story & better villains, but Thunderball is a better looking & sounding movie on a technical level. I've always edged slightly towards Goldfinger, but I often question whether it's the right decision.

5.You Only Live Twice is less memorable as a good Bond movie but as inspiration for the Austin Powers films. From the hairy chest of the hero to the look & sound of the main villain to the volcanic lair among other things most of which were parodied from YOLT.

6.Many say that OHMSS would have been a better movie had Sean Connery starred in it instead of George Lazenby. I don't just agree Lazenby hurts the movie, but that any of the actors could've raised the quality. If it was possible to digitally insert Connery, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan or Craig into the movie, each of them I believe could nail the part & could make me rank it as one of the best instead of a middle of the pack, slightly overrated Bond movie.

7.DAF was almost the worst Bond movie in my opinion, but although Connery isn't what is was at his peak. He appears to have gotten some of his mojo back & clearly improved over YOLT.

8.I really love the Live & Let Die soundtrack & it's the best thing about the movie.

9.Some of the things that may bother some about The Spy Who Loved Me don't bug me. It's my favorite Bond movie & things that shouldn't work about it work. The sudden change is pace in the gunbarrel, the Navy version of "Nobody Does It Better" at the end. It's to me the perfect Bond package.

10.Moonraker scorned by many as one of the worst Bond films is panned for it's unrealistic cheesyness. It's unrealistic cheesyness is why I believe the movie works. It goes all out in terms of the scope & is one of the best Bond films in terms of pure fun.

11.For Your Eyes Only has arguably the worst supporting cast in any Bond film. The action, the soundtrack, the plot & Roger Moore are all very good, but it still is a middle of the pack Bond film. Carole Bouquet is ok & has nice chemistry with Moore, but the villains are all forgettable & the Bibi Dahl portion of the film is terrible & somewhat creepy. And the absence of M due to Bernard Lee's death is felt as the guy playing Villers is quite annoying.

12.Octopussy & all the elements of it are the Bond film that has the least passion for it good or bad from my point of view. There's some good action scenes, but not the best, Roger Moore is fine although his age starts to show abit. The women while beautiful are just sex objects & the story is too complex between a nuclear bomb & jewelry smuggling. But when I write those, I don't write with the passion of things such as "Goldfinger has an excellent main villain" or "Lazenby was a lousy Bond!" Octopussy is just kinda like "Eh, ok!"

13.As average as Octopussy is, A View To A Kill is a more bipolar movie. The theme song is my favorite, Christopher Walken is great, Grace Jones is great too & the locations are nice. On the other hand, Roger Moore looks too old to still be playing Bond & seems tired of the role, Tanya Roberts is terrible & her screaming is annoying & the action scenes while nice, do a largely terrible job of hiding the stuntmen's faces. Alot to love, alot to hate. Mixed like Octopussy, but with much more passion.

14.Timothy Dalton was a good Bond who had the potential to become a great Bond. His 2 Bond films are very good, each with their strengths & weaknesses, but neither standout as a good Bond film. The Living Daylights feels like a classic Bond movie, has some great action scenes, but the villains as weak & Maryam D'abo s a lousy Bond woman. Licence To Kill is a better fit for Dalton & the way he plays Bond, Robert Davi's a fantastic villain & the action scenes again great, but the movie's too long contains too much dialogue & too often feels like an episode of Miami Vice. Both films are good, middle of the pack Bond films.

15.If you're ranking each actor's films, most would say Sean Connery's were the best. I say Pierce Brosnan's Bond films were the best overall. Goldeneye ranks #3, Tomorrow Never Dies a few spots behind, Die Another Day also in the Top 10. The World Is Not Enough is my least favorite, but it's still better than half of Connery's films, 4 of Roger Moore's 7 films & far better than Quantum Of Solace. It has it's flaws, but is still very entertaining & it was the 1st Bond film I ever saw & without it would not be the Bond fan I am. Simply, Brosnan's worst film is far superior to Connery's worst, Moore's worst & Craig's worst.

16.One criticism of Pierce Brosnan is the Bond who plays in each of his 4 films is different than the others. After thinking about it, I have to somewhat agree with that. However, I don't believe this hurts any of his performances as Bond nor the quality of the films he did. All 4 performances were great, he helped introduce Bond to a new generation of audiences & will go down in history as one of the better Bonds.

17.I really like Die Another Day. Not as much as when I 1st saw it as a kid, but it's a fun entertaining Bond film. Sure, the parasurfing scene is faker than Heidi Montag's plastic surgery, but like TSWLM, things that bug lots of Bond fans I love. The bullet in the gunbarrel was a fun nod, Halle Berry's "yo mama" line was fun, the ice palace was a great set & Pierce Brosnan went out with a bang. It's imperfect & over the top, but it's still quite entertaining to watch.

18.When I heard Daniel Craig was going to be the next Bond, I had my doubts. But he sure proved me & I'm sure everyone else wrong. Not only was he fantastic in Casino Royale, but I think he gave the best debut performance of any of the Bond actors (Connery included). No actor owned the role the 1st time around the way he did & made me excited to see him play Bond in the future.

19.Craig's performance in Casino Royale mad me super excited for Quantum Of Solace. But I was very disapointed when I saw the film opening night. The action was terribly executed & edited, while the plot was dull & the villain was as bad as I've ever seen in a Bond film. And this is the only time in the Bond franchise where an actor's sophmore performance was less good than the 1st time. Connery, Moore, Dalton & Brosnan all improved the 2nd time regardless of how good they were. It's hard though to blame it on Daniel Craig. Never has the quality of a Bond film dropped so dramatically from one film to another. He's still terrific though & is the thing that probably keeps this from being my worst Bond film. I still think Craig is 2nd Best Bond to Connery & depending on how Skyfall is, he could in my mind dethrone Connery.

20.Some Bond films are better than others. Some have strengths, others weaknesses. But I believe no Bond film is terrible & each has something noteworthy good about it. In Siskel & Ebert style, the only Bond films that would get a thumbs down from me are Diamonds Are Forever, Live & Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy, A View To A Kill & Quantum Of Solace. Both OP & AVTAK are very close to a thumbs up & would recommend it for Bond fans certainly if not for all moviegoers.

[AMC Hornet]

TLD doesn't work with Pushkin instead of Gogol.

Even though I used to agree, or at least wish that Walter Gottel had been able to participate more, my opinion is now the opposite, and no less controversial.

I think TLD works better with Pushkin because:

I have come to see TLD as what I had hoped CR would be - a reboot for those who wanted it to be, and a continuation for those who didn't.

After watching Sir Roger age in his last two films, I was happy to see a younger man take over and yes, Gogol had become as much a part of the continuity as M, Q and Moneypenny, but Dalton's reinterpretation of 007 as a younger cold warrior sickened by some of the things he did for queen and country required a new backstory - one which did not include the likes of Drax and Zorin.

Moore's Bond crossed paths with Gogol occasionally (twice that he knew of, anyway), but having another KGB mandarin as TimBond's past nemesis helps reinforce the idea that this is a new timeline, despite having the likes of Robert Brown and Goeffrey Keene along for the ride (the same has happened with Dame Judi Dench, and most camps seem to have forgiven that indulgence).

In fact, perhaps Gogol shouldn't have been mentioned or wheeled out for one brief cameo, but having said that, I wouldn't change a thing - it was nice to see the old boy one more time.

I don't think anyone expected PierceBond to corner Gogol (or Pushkin, for that matter) in his St. Petersburgh night club/black market clearing house. They were content to accept Pierce's new backstory (dating back to 1986, anyway) and meet old friends and enemies we've never heard of before.

So I support the unorthodox opinion is that Sean, George and Roger are 007 MK I, Tim and Pierce 007 MK II and Daniel 007 MK III - and no, I'm not supporting the much-reviled 'code-name theory' - I just believe that the occasional and necessary reboot has already occured prior to CR. Just like replacing Sean Connery, EON has proven that it can work, and they will probably do it again.

Edited by AMC Hornet, 30 March 2012 - 04:25 AM.

[Dustin]

Unorthodox opinions? Quite a chore to find one that's not already been mentioned here.

My personal bee under the bonnet:
James Bond isn't the role of Sean Connery's career. Harry Flashman is.

[Messervy]

One "unorthodox opinion" I have, which I discussed with Zorin a while back (obviously he didn't agree with me...)

I'd like a Bond movie's plot and screenplay written by John LeCarré.

I know, at first hand, it seems to be opposite words (and indeed it is, if you think Tailor Of Panama or Absolute Friends), but if well though-out, a la The Spy Who Came In From The Cold or even bits of Russia House, one could come up with a great plot and tremendous screenplay ideas.

[AMC Hornet]

James Bond isn't the role of Sean Connery's career. Harry Flashman is.

Malcolm McDowell was Flashman.

Perhaps you mean Connery as Danny Dravit in The Man Who Would be King? That film had a lot in common with Royal Flash.

...Unless there's another Flashman film that I (and IMDB) don't know about. I'd be interested in seeing it.

Edited by AMC Hornet, 30 March 2012 - 02:11 PM.