43 replies to this topic

[Napoleon Solo]

http://www.hmss.com/


Multiple Casino Royale reviews and other new features.

[zencat]

Excellent! Great interview with Purvis & Wade. So they knew from the start they weren't writing CR for Pierce, eh? Certainly not what they said at the time, but I guess they had to, um, fib. Good boys. Here's another film.

[Napoleon Solo]

In addition to the Casino Royale reviews, there are also mini-reviews of all the earlier movies:

http://www.hmss.com/films/survey/

click on the titles on the left and you'll be directed to a page with the mini-reviews. They were written primarily in late 2002 and early 2003. For example, here are the mini-reviews of Goldfinger:

http://www.hmss.com/...survey/03gf.HTM

[Qwerty]

Very cool.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

In addition to the Casino Royale reviews, there are also mini-reviews of all the earlier movies:

http://www.hmss.com/films/survey/

click on the titles on the left and you'll be directed to a page with the mini-reviews. They were written primarily in late 2002 and early 2003. For example, here are the mini-reviews of Goldfinger:

http://www.hmss.com/...survey/03gf.HTM

Glad to see it up and running. Even though I get tired of seeing my beloved Moonraker picked on.It's my first Bond film in the cinema so I could never hate it. In many ways I prefer to the vastly similar The Spy Who Loved Me though I freely admit it may have been because I saw MR first of those two. Do like Dean Kilbride's defense of it. At least, AVTAK is rightly listed as worst and I am glad to see TLD ranking higher than all the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s Bond films including the overrated FYEO. I agree with you all that TLD and CR are the 2 best Bond films made post-OHMSS.

[DaveBond21]

Hey lay off my FYEO and I'll be nice to your Moonraker.

[DLibrasnow]

I've always thought that HMSS was a great Bond site. I remember the fascinating write-up on the location scouting Benson did for The Man With The Red Tattoo that they ran several years ago.

[stromberg]

Ah, great news. Good to see HMSS back on track. Can't wait to read it.

Still, since this thread isn't really a "Member review", I'm moving it to the general CR section.

[SecretAgentFan]

Excellent! Great interview with Purvis & Wade. So they knew from the start they weren't writing CR for Pierce, eh? Certainly not what they said at the time, but I guess they had to, um, fib. Good boys. Here's another film.

Absolutely. And very interesting to hear from them what Haggis contributed. Seems like Haggis only polished some of the dialogue while most of it was already in there.

[RazorBlade]

I just found it. Maybe CBn could make a list of sites like this one. I like what I've read so far. Thanks for turning me on!

[Major Tallon]

Always an excellent read. Glad to see them back.

[stromberg]

I just found it. Maybe CBn could make a list of sites like this one. I like what I've read so far. Thanks for turning me on!

Maybe you should check out the CBn Links page.

We aim to please

[David Schofield]

Because this is the sort of thing that irritates me - and is symbolic of the "oh, we've never seen a Bond film as good as CR" garbage - is the fact that P & W maintain that Bond's relationship with Vesper is unique because he resigns for her, but not for Tracy.

Clearly, Lazenby line "I'll have to find something else to do" meant something different to P & W. : It's pretty clear to me, though.

Just something I thought I'd ponit out.

[Mr_Wint]

Interesting read! I would love to read that Jinx script to see if it really is that good.

As for the reviews: These guys must be an extreme bunch of Moore-haters if they rate DAD/TWINE above TSWLM.

[Loomis]

Fascinating. So the JINX project was "a fairly down-to-earth espionage picture" (does this explain why Stephen Frears - a director not exactly renowned for CGI-stuffed action extravaganzas featuring invisible cars and outer space death rays - was attracted to the script?), while Fidele Barbey (Bond's ally in Fleming's short story THE HILDEBRAND RARITY) was going to be in CASINO ROYALE at one point!

I infer from this interview that the JINX screenplay was very much of a piece, in terms of content and tone, with CASINO ROYALE and BOND 22, and that "unseen" Fleming characters like Sir James Moloney and Ronnie Vallance may appear in the upcoming films. If BOND 22 will be, in some ways, the Fleming's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE to CASINO ROYALE's ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, it has an obvious role for Sir James.

[JimmyBond]

I would love if Sir James Moloney popped up in a future Bond film. I've always enjoyed him from the novels and wanted to see him in a Pierce or Tim film.

[00Twelve]

Great interview with P&W. I feel myself starting to lighten up on these guys (and not just because they agree that Judi Dench is playing a different M! ) lately. I'm way more open to what they write for a different actor (than Pierce). The idea of Fidele in CR sounds a little wacky but, thankfully, it was dropped. And I'm glad to know that they (apparently) never planned on DAD being that "two-sided" and huge. That gives me some relief as far as they're concerned as writers.

The survey was a nice inclusion. Thought they went a little hard on old LALD, but oh well. Their guest reviewer, Vern (whom I'd seen numerous times on AICN), was pretty funny in his "outsider's" take on TB and GE. LMAO at the accuracy of his comment on Russian names in movies. He's 100% on the money with that.

The M:I article was interesting, IMO, and all the other goods made it a great issue all around.

[byline]

FWIW, I very much agree with their overall ratings. I never was much of a fan of the Moore era, and really only liked "For Your Eyes Only" (though, having recently seen "The Spy Who Loved Me," that was much better than I thought it would be). Enjoyed Connery's first three films, loved Dalton, thought Brosnan was OK ("The World Is Not Enough" was his best acting effort, with the one-liners mercifully kept to a minimum). And then "Casino Royale" is my favorite.

[Genrewriter]

Glad to see a new issue, I really missed the site.

[Johnboy007]

"P&W: We don't believe Bond is just a transferable codename - and don't like the idea at all. Bond is a character, a special individual, who happens to have been played by different actors."

[spynovelfan]

Very interesting interview with Purvis and Wade. Lots of meaty stuff. Jinx looks to have been a massive missed opportunity - they raise it several times, too. Wonder if it will ever resurface? The current critical and commercial rejuvenation of the franchise could be a good time to put it to use.

And great to see this site again.

[ACE]

Her Majesty's Secret Servant is a fantastic site. As a magazine site (as opposed to the full service functions of CBn and MI6), it is in the Rolls-Royce class.

The Neal Purvis & Robert Wade interview shows those guys know their Fleming, their Bond and also shows us how much control they really have. The Jinx insight was fascinating - I think we'll see a lot of that in the next films as well as shards of unused Fleming. A great interview.

Double Tap ( ) to Tom Zielinski and Paul Baack and the rest of the HMSS team. It's good to have some James Bond Journalism out there. The Fanalysis was amusingly anal

[Loomis]

Jinx looks to have been a massive missed opportunity

Finally! Someone else who thinks this!

I think this is an historic moment: the first ever piece of news about the content of the JINX script. Not that "a fairly down-to-earth espionage picture" tells us all that much (although it indicates that the screenplay was, staggeringly enough, closer to that of CASINO ROYALE than to that of DIE ANOTHER DAY), but it's a veritable torrent of information compared to the previous total silence from all quarters (even from the uninformed rumour mongerers of fandom).

Considering how close the completed JINX script came to being filmed (with Stephen Frears directing, which suggests a perhaps surprising level of quality about the project), and considering how voracious us Bond fans are for info, it's odd that next to no details have been unearthed about this enterprise, this effective lost Bond film sans Bond.

[Harmsway]

Fascinating that the JINX script was down-to-earth, in the veing of CASINO ROYALE: "It was an attitude that began with the Jinx script and we have continued through CR to this new one. We're close to finishing the script. Very close." Suddenly it makes a little more sense that Frears was involved with JINX.

It's great to have an explanation of why they re-booted, a concrete explanation that CASINO ROYALE's M is a different character than the M in GOLDENEYE.

Also interesting to note that there seems to be some dissatisfaction with DIE ANOTHER DAY, that in the end, it wasn't the film P&W intended: "The first we thought was great - but still veering close to comic book-like. In the second half the comic book took over."

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Also interesting to note that there seems to be some dissatisfaction with DIE ANOTHER DAY, that in the end, it wasn't the film P&W intended: "The first we thought was great - but still veering close to comic book-like. In the second half the comic book took over."

Agree with P & W there. I thought up to about the time of the action sequence where Miranda is revealed as the traitor, DAD was the most entertaining Brosnan Bond film then it turned into a videogame. TND was probably better on the whole since it didn't decend into CGI in its final 1/3 but DAD did feature a little more spying and international intrigue in addition to the action and a tougher, less-PC more hagard performance as Bond from Brosnan which I liked.

[Qwerty]

Fascinating that the JINX script was down-to-earth, in the veing of CASINO ROYALE: "It was an attitude that began with the Jinx script and we have continued through CR to this new one. We're close to finishing the script. Very close." Suddenly it makes a little more sense that Frears was involved with JINX.

Agreed. After Die Another Day, down-to-earth was certainly not the first word I was tagging to the Jinx project.

Great interview.

[Mr_Wint]

It's easy for P&W to say that they are responsible for everything that was good in the DAD-script, but not the rest. They are still the only credited writers.

As for the Jinx-script. Can anyone see Halle Berry's character Jinx in a serious spy-film? I can't.

"World peace, unconditional love, and our little friend with the expensive acne."

[DLibrasnow]

Jinx looks to have been a massive missed opportunity

Finally! Someone else who thinks this!

No. I have always thought that it was a missed opportunity.

[RazorBlade]

I just found it. Maybe CBn could make a list of sites like this one. I like what I've read so far. Thanks for turning me on!

Maybe you should check out the CBn Links page.

We aim to please

Thanks Stromberg.

[Judo chop]

I sense still a little discomfort when Haggis