1111 replies to this topic

[Cruiserweight]

Moonraker

So you clearly had fun

Sure did.

Seeing as Bond says "play it again, Sam" you've just gotta follow instructions.

As for myself, I just watched the marvellous Thunderball. I can't see why any one would find it dull which I've read a lot of critics say it is. This is an exciting, fast moving epic full of style, beautiful women, gorgeous locations, exciting action, unforgettable music and clever gadgets. First generation Bond cinema in its prime with Connery at the top of his game. I love all the underwater scenes and would live in a place like the Bahamas if I could afford it, so I think that's another reason I deeply love this film.

That's on my mental what Bond to watch next list.

Go for it, Bondian! Thunderball and Moonraker actually make for a good double feature. Both feature the Bond actor in his 4th turn in the role. In both films, the Bond actor is at his most slick and superconfident before either tiredness or age would start showing. Bond feature Bond being trapped and tortured by the villain in a machine(the rack in TB, the centrifuge trainer in TB), Bond being assisted by a lovely local MI6 agent(Paula in TB, Manuela in MR), parade scenes(Junkanoo in TB, Mardi Gras in MR), a big final battle between the good guys and the villains(underwater in TB, in outer space in MR. Both films were the most financially successful for their respective Bond actor, and both were huge colorful epics. TB is my favorite Connery film and MR is my favorite Moore film(see my sig).

The Living Daylights

And how was it this time around??

Great as always.It's my second favorite film of the 80's(After Octopussy) & after i watch it Dalton always makes me rethink who my favorite bond actor really is.I'm a Moore fan but after watching TLD Dalton always comes close to toppling him as my favorite bond.Plus i love the war games fight at the end between Bond & Whitaker.(Probably my favorite bond fight)

Great review of The Living Daylights, Cruiserweight The Living Daylights and Octopussy are my 2 favorite 1980s Bond films also.

Both with two villains.
Hmmmmmm...
Coincendence?
I think not!

And in both films, at least one of the villains was a Soviet General who was battling another Soviet General(Pushkin in TLD, Gogol in OP). Both films had suspenseful and intriguing plots that involved the Cold War, both films featured excellent and moody scores by John Barry, both films involved a final battle between Bond and the henchman atop a plane, both films feature the 2 Bond/Bond girl couples(Moore/Adams and Dalton/d'Abo) who had(IMHO, anyway) the most plausible onscreen chemistry. Both films are classics that deserve to be rated higher than they are.

I watched Octopussy last night

How was it?

Classic! I love Kamal & Orlov. The fact that it uses my favorite Fleming story(The Property Of A Lady) is big plus.Roger's best IMO.

& you're right about the scores.Just great!

The Palace Fight from Octopussy & Ice Chase from TLD have to be my two favorite tracks of any bond film score.

[double o ego]

LALD. Very entertaining and underrated movie.

[solace]

Im actually watching FYEO right now on ITV4. I love James Bond but sorry to say even though I try - I just dont get RM as Bond at all. Sorry Moore Fans.

[Hotwinds]

Not straight through but Diamonds Are Forever UE and watched many extras.
I want that piton gun.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Moonraker

So you clearly had fun

Sure did.

Seeing as Bond says "play it again, Sam" you've just gotta follow instructions.

As for myself, I just watched the marvellous Thunderball. I can't see why any one would find it dull which I've read a lot of critics say it is. This is an exciting, fast moving epic full of style, beautiful women, gorgeous locations, exciting action, unforgettable music and clever gadgets. First generation Bond cinema in its prime with Connery at the top of his game. I love all the underwater scenes and would live in a place like the Bahamas if I could afford it, so I think that's another reason I deeply love this film.

That's on my mental what Bond to watch next list.

Go for it, Bondian! Thunderball and Moonraker actually make for a good double feature. Both feature the Bond actor in his 4th turn in the role. In both films, the Bond actor is at his most slick and superconfident before either tiredness or age would start showing. Bond feature Bond being trapped and tortured by the villain in a machine(the rack in TB, the centrifuge trainer in TB), Bond being assisted by a lovely local MI6 agent(Paula in TB, Manuela in MR), parade scenes(Junkanoo in TB, Mardi Gras in MR), a big final battle between the good guys and the villains(underwater in TB, in outer space in MR. Both films were the most financially successful for their respective Bond actor, and both were huge colorful epics. TB is my favorite Connery film and MR is my favorite Moore film(see my sig).

The Living Daylights

And how was it this time around??

Great as always.It's my second favorite film of the 80's(After Octopussy) & after i watch it Dalton always makes me rethink who my favorite bond actor really is.I'm a Moore fan but after watching TLD Dalton always comes close to toppling him as my favorite bond.Plus i love the war games fight at the end between Bond & Whitaker.(Probably my favorite bond fight)

Great review of The Living Daylights, Cruiserweight The Living Daylights and Octopussy are my 2 favorite 1980s Bond films also.

Both with two villains.
Hmmmmmm...
Coincendence?
I think not!

And in both films, at least one of the villains was a Soviet General who was battling another Soviet General(Pushkin in TLD, Gogol in OP). Both films had suspenseful and intriguing plots that involved the Cold War, both films featured excellent and moody scores by John Barry, both films involved a final battle between Bond and the henchman atop a plane, both films feature the 2 Bond/Bond girl couples(Moore/Adams and Dalton/d'Abo) who had(IMHO, anyway) the most plausible onscreen chemistry. Both films are classics that deserve to be rated higher than they are.

I watched Octopussy last night

How was it?

Classic! I love Kamal & Orlov. The fact that it uses my favorite Fleming story(The Property Of A Lady) is big plus.Roger's best IMO.

& you're right about the scores.Just great!

The Palace Fight from Octopussy & Ice Chase from TLD have to be my two favorite tracks of any bond film score.

Indeed those are two great pieces. John Barry's a major reason I prefer TLD and OP to the non-Barry scored 1980s Bond films FYEO, LTK and the "unofficial" NSNA. And Barry's score for AVTAK is that film's strongest redeeming feature.

I would also add to my list of TLD/OP connections: both films end with the leading lady sighing and happily saying "James!"

[Shot Your Bolt]

Just watched The Living Daylights

I don't know if I'm a Dalton fan or not. I hated License to Bore almost as much as Thunderbore, but The Living Daylights was pretty damn good. It had a great plot, with lots of twists and interesting characters. Dalton is actually pretty awesome as Bond in this movie, don't know WTF happen in LtK. The bond girl this time around had some actual chemistry with Bond, even though she does some pretty stupid **** in the last 30 or so minutes("stay put" "Duh...ok*does the exact opposite*"; "Hey, I bet if I open the back door of the airplane for no apparent reason it'll make this action scene more exciting...hey it worked!"). I think the Bond girl works best when the script allows them time for actual character development instead of Bond saying some cheesy one-liners and she falls for him because the script says so. The action set pieces are very cool, and I have to take special mention to that great opening PTS. Giant exotic training island? Thats 8 kinds of badass. I HAVE to commend John Barry for creating what is easily one of his greatest soundtracks, and it makes the beautiful locales in the first 2/3rds of the film even more classy and elegant.

Its not all perfect though, and I think the biggest flaw is that it doesn't have a strong main villain. Thats the big problem with Octopussy as well, but that movie had Kamal Khan's scene chewing awesomeness("Spend the money quickly, Mr.Bond) and bug-eyed crazy dude as back-up carrying the show. Here, the only thing we get is Necros, who is definitely one of the series' better henchmen(and has a pretty cool fight scene near the end, too). The nature of the plot means that it couldn't really have a main villain for most of the movie(i.e. all is not what it seems, Yogi didn't really defect, Sallah from Indiana Jones isn't really the bad guy, etc), but it still kinda off-putting to be in the middle of this great movie and be like "wait, who is James fighting against?" WTF @ Jack Wade appearing as a bad guy earlier on, they should have put more focus on him. I love the way he was introduced standing among his wax statues and playing with all his war collectibles. That last stand-off between him and James is one of my faves in the series too.

All and all though, a great film, and excelling in everything LtK fails at: a compelling plot, a lead actor who's not angst-filled and no fun to watch, a beautiful presentation both in soundtrack and in locales, fun action scenes, a Bond girl with a relationship/chemistry thats almost actually plausible, etc.

So far, in my Bond-a-thon

TSWLM > GE > CR > FYEO > TLD > GF > OP > FRWL > DAD > or = TND > MR > YOLT > TB > LtK > AVTAK > DN

Next up, OHMSS

[bondrules]

CR

[DamnCoffee]

I watched Thunderball last night. Great movie.

[double o ego]

TB is a masterpiece imo. Connery at his best. Young, Connery and Barry is the ultimate triple threat.

Edited by double o ego, 28 September 2008 - 10:34 AM.

[DaveBond21]

I watched TMWTGG introduced by Sir Roger Moore, on Fox Classics last night. This followed Bill Collins' excellent interview with him.

This movie is starting to creep up my list of Bond movies. It's a lot more serious than some people think (myself included, in the past).

If we lose Sheriff Pepper, the karate schoolgirls and Goodnight, we actually have one of the more darker movies in the entire franchise.

[SolidWaffle]

I just saw Casino Royale last night, and it was still fantastic as ever. Very good writing. Loved it. Moved even higher on my list. I think it's the second place in number of times watched, just behind GoldenEye, my very first film.

[Shot Your Bolt]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Eh. It was ok. Kinda like Lazenby himself; he wasn't horrible, but lets just say I'm not losing sleep over the fact that he isn't going to be Bond anymore. Telly Salavas, good actor, but he sure as hell wasn't Blofeld. WTF @ that terrible outfit/voice Bond had to do for 1/3rd of the movie. Who was the ****ing amateur that filmed those fight scenes. Lazenby can actually fight, but its wasted by some of the worst editing in the entire series. WTF @ Blofeld's plan. The whole thing relied on them not using the perfume or whatever...that was just odd. Bond relationship with Traci seemed almost real, but WTF @ that awful(and I do mean AWFUL) song that played doing that montage. Completely ruined it and took me out of the film. The action scenes, poorly shot as some of them were, were made even worse by the fact that A) they are all back-loaded at the end, making the longest Bond film ever feel even longer, and they really all that entertaining. Theres a somewhat fun chase at the derby and the concept of Bond's escape on the pulley system is cool. Thats it.

It does have its moments however. All the scenes with Moneypenny are gold. The ending is superb, maybe the best ending in the entire series besides Casino Royale. When Bond walks in room 8 and finds that old woman might just be the funniest scene in the whole series, I swear I rewinded that almost half a dozen times. The way Lazenby was like "Oh snap, funny seeing you here" and the unnecessary slow-motion shot that looked silly as hell cause me to break out with uncontrollable laughter. Also, when Traci's father smacks her the mouth and says "Spare the rod, spoil the child, huh?" is the second funniest.

But again, its simply "okay". Don't WTF you guys see in it, but you guys love Thunderbore and License to Bore so...whatever.

Luckily the Fugitive came on TNT, and I never saw that movie. Damn good film; I can see why it got nominated for Best Picture that year. MUCH better than OHMSS.

Bond-a-thon so far...

Top Tier - films that go into my personal favorite films
----
TSWLM
GE
CR
FYEO

High Tier - good/great Bond films
----
TLD
GF
OP
FRWL

Mid Tier - Decent Bond movies
----
DAD/TND
MR
YOLT
OHMSS

Low Tier - I MIGHT not change it on TV, unless I feel like going to sleep
----
TB
LtK
AVTAK
DN

Next up, Live and Let Die and The World is Not Enough

Edited by Shot Your Bolt, 29 September 2008 - 03:32 AM.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Just watched The Living Daylights

I don't know if I'm a Dalton fan or not. I hated License to Bore almost as much as Thunderbore, but The Living Daylights was pretty damn good. It had a great plot, with lots of twists and interesting characters. Dalton is actually pretty awesome as Bond in this movie, don't know WTF happen in LtK. The bond girl this time around had some actual chemistry with Bond, even though she does some pretty stupid **** in the last 30 or so minutes("stay put" "Duh...ok*does the exact opposite*"; "Hey, I bet if I open the back door of the airplane for no apparent reason it'll make this action scene more exciting...hey it worked!"). I think the Bond girl works best when the script allows them time for actual character development instead of Bond saying some cheesy one-liners and she falls for him because the script says so. The action set pieces are very cool, and I have to take special mention to that great opening PTS. Giant exotic training island? Thats 8 kinds of badass. I HAVE to commend John Barry for creating what is easily one of his greatest soundtracks, and it makes the beautiful locales in the first 2/3rds of the film even more classy and elegant.

Its not all perfect though, and I think the biggest flaw is that it doesn't have a strong main villain. Thats the big problem with Octopussy as well, but that movie had Kamal Khan's scene chewing awesomeness("Spend the money quickly, Mr.Bond) and bug-eyed crazy dude as back-up carrying the show. Here, the only thing we get is Necros, who is definitely one of the series' better henchmen(and has a pretty cool fight scene near the end, too). The nature of the plot means that it couldn't really have a main villain for most of the movie(i.e. all is not what it seems, Yogi didn't really defect, Sallah from Indiana Jones isn't really the bad guy, etc), but it still kinda off-putting to be in the middle of this great movie and be like "wait, who is James fighting against?" WTF @ Jack Wade appearing as a bad guy earlier on, they should have put more focus on him. I love the way he was introduced standing among his wax statues and playing with all his war collectibles. That last stand-off between him and James is one of my faves in the series too.

All and all though, a great film, and excelling in everything LtK fails at: a compelling plot, a lead actor who's not angst-filled and no fun to watch, a beautiful presentation both in soundtrack and in locales, fun action scenes, a Bond girl with a relationship/chemistry thats almost actually plausible, etc.

Glad to read a great review of The Living Daylights. For me, its the film that saved the series after the tiresome and highly disappointing A View to a Kill. Dalton is indeed awesome in his debut(my favorite debut performance for a Bond actor). The first 20 or so minutes of TLD up to the point Dalton says "Whoever she was, I must've scared the living dayights out of her." is probably the most accurate depiction of Fleming's literary character on screen. And Dalton's chemistry with d'Abo is spot on. They actually seem like a real life couple. I like how TLD's script reads like an actual Cold War spy novel rather than just a fun/OTT fantasy adventure(not that I mind that kind of Bond film. After all I adore Moonraker also.).

On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

But again, its simply "okay". Don't WTF you guys see in it, but you guys love Thunderbore and License to Bore so...whatever.

That's OK. I don't know what you quite see in Bore Your Eyes Only or GoldenBore but hey there's room for Bond fans of all types here.

I do agree with you that The Spy Who Loved Me and Casino Royale are excellent. And that A View to A Bore is my vote for the nadir of the series.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

I watched Thunderball last night. Great movie.

TB is a masterpiece imo. Connery at his best. Young, Connery and Barry is the ultimate triple threat.

As always, I'm thrilled to read about Thunderball love. All together now,

"He always runs while others walk....."

I watched TMWTGG introduced by Sir Roger Moore, on Fox Classics last night. This followed Bill Collins' excellent interview with him.

This movie is starting to creep up my list of Bond movies. It's a lot more serious than some people think (myself included, in the past).

If we lose Sheriff Pepper, the karate schoolgirls and Goodnight, we actually have one of the more darker movies in the entire franchise.

Indeed, DaveBond21. Sir Rog excelled at being a serious Bond long before FYEO came along. TMWTGG features my favorite Moore as Bond performance. Scaramanga and Andrea are both very serious characters, reminiscent of Largo and Domino in TB and foreshadowing of Sanchez and Lupe in LTK. There is an underrated, serious film in TMWTGG. I love the scene when Bond first spots Andrea at the Casino de Macau and a wistful, melancholic version of John Barry's title song plays at that moment.

[DaveBond21]

Indeed, DaveBond21. Sir Rog excelled at being a serious Bond long before FYEO came along. TMWTGG features my favorite Moore as Bond performance. Scaramanga and Andrea are both very serious characters, reminiscent of Largo and Domino in TB and foreshadowing of Sanchez and Lupe in LTK. There is an underrated, serious film in TMWTGG. I love the scene when Bond first spots Andrea at the Casino de Macau and a wistful, melancholic version of John Barry's title song plays at that moment.

Andrea Anders is a truly tragic and doomed character.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Indeed, DaveBond21. Sir Rog excelled at being a serious Bond long before FYEO came along. TMWTGG features my favorite Moore as Bond performance. Scaramanga and Andrea are both very serious characters, reminiscent of Largo and Domino in TB and foreshadowing of Sanchez and Lupe in LTK. There is an underrated, serious film in TMWTGG. I love the scene when Bond first spots Andrea at the Casino de Macau and a wistful, melancholic version of John Barry's title song plays at that moment.

Andrea Anders is a truly tragic and doomed character.

Indeed. Although, Maud Adams' acting is a little stiff at times in her first Bond girl performance, she successfully conveys a melancolic sense of sadness and exudes some of the strong chemistry with Moore she would later have with him in OP. Definitely one of the more effective "sacrificial lamb/villain's woman in distress" type Bond girls.


I caught some of the Bond soap opera As The World Is Not Enough Turns yesterday. Of all the pre-Craig era films, TWINE has dropped in quality the most for me. It's so obviously an attempt to be a more serious type of Bond film but it overloads it with so much Moore-era type comedy to be on the safe side it really hurts the final result. Kinda like mixing Moonraker and Casino Royale together. I love MR and CR separately as individual films that effectively serve as a comedic Bond film and a serious Bond film, respectively. But to blend these styles together as TWINE did does not work. Add to the fact, the "serious" aspects of TWINE seem more akin to soap operas rather than Ian Fleming, I think TWINE is rivaling AVTAK as my least favorite Bond film. For all the criticism DAD got, at least it brought Bond back to the world of international espionage and intrigue and Bond acted a lot less sentimental in it.

[The Dove]

Watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service a couple of nights ago.. It's still in my top 5 favorite Bonds of all time.. Lazenby holds his own but after seeing how great Craig is as Bond, I can now spot some of George's weaknesses..He just doesn't come across as an angry enough Bond when he's trying to get Tracy to tell him who the guy in her hotel room was.. Now Daniel Craig..I would have loved to see him play that scene!

[Daddy Bond]

Indeed!

BTW, I just watched CR about 2 hrs. ago.

[Cruiserweight]

Moonraker

So you clearly had fun

Sure did.

Seeing as Bond says "play it again, Sam" you've just gotta follow instructions.

As for myself, I just watched the marvellous Thunderball. I can't see why any one would find it dull which I've read a lot of critics say it is. This is an exciting, fast moving epic full of style, beautiful women, gorgeous locations, exciting action, unforgettable music and clever gadgets. First generation Bond cinema in its prime with Connery at the top of his game. I love all the underwater scenes and would live in a place like the Bahamas if I could afford it, so I think that's another reason I deeply love this film.

That's on my mental what Bond to watch next list.

Go for it, Bondian! Thunderball and Moonraker actually make for a good double feature. Both feature the Bond actor in his 4th turn in the role. In both films, the Bond actor is at his most slick and superconfident before either tiredness or age would start showing. Bond feature Bond being trapped and tortured by the villain in a machine(the rack in TB, the centrifuge trainer in TB), Bond being assisted by a lovely local MI6 agent(Paula in TB, Manuela in MR), parade scenes(Junkanoo in TB, Mardi Gras in MR), a big final battle between the good guys and the villains(underwater in TB, in outer space in MR. Both films were the most financially successful for their respective Bond actor, and both were huge colorful epics. TB is my favorite Connery film and MR is my favorite Moore film(see my sig).

The Living Daylights

And how was it this time around??

Great as always.It's my second favorite film of the 80's(After Octopussy) & after i watch it Dalton always makes me rethink who my favorite bond actor really is.I'm a Moore fan but after watching TLD Dalton always comes close to toppling him as my favorite bond.Plus i love the war games fight at the end between Bond & Whitaker.(Probably my favorite bond fight)

Great review of The Living Daylights, Cruiserweight The Living Daylights and Octopussy are my 2 favorite 1980s Bond films also.

Both with two villains.
Hmmmmmm...
Coincendence?
I think not!

And in both films, at least one of the villains was a Soviet General who was battling another Soviet General(Pushkin in TLD, Gogol in OP). Both films had suspenseful and intriguing plots that involved the Cold War, both films featured excellent and moody scores by John Barry, both films involved a final battle between Bond and the henchman atop a plane, both films feature the 2 Bond/Bond girl couples(Moore/Adams and Dalton/d'Abo) who had(IMHO, anyway) the most plausible onscreen chemistry. Both films are classics that deserve to be rated higher than they are.

I watched Octopussy last night

How was it?

Classic! I love Kamal & Orlov. The fact that it uses my favorite Fleming story(The Property Of A Lady) is big plus.Roger's best IMO.

& you're right about the scores.Just great!

The Palace Fight from Octopussy & Ice Chase from TLD have to be my two favorite tracks of any bond film score.

Indeed those are two great pieces. John Barry's a major reason I prefer TLD and OP to the non-Barry scored 1980s Bond films FYEO, LTK and the "unofficial" NSNA. And Barry's score for AVTAK is that film's strongest redeeming feature.

I would also add to my list of TLD/OP connections: both films end with the leading lady sighing and happily saying "James!"

On a side note of the two villains in each film,in each film i find the non general villain(Kamal Khan & Brad Whitaker) more interesting then the generals.(Orlov & Koskov)Whitaker along with Rosa Klebb are probably my two favorite villains of the bond series.


I watched FRWL last night.

[DaveBond21]

Indeed. Although, Maud Adams' acting is a little stiff at times in her first Bond girl performance, she successfully conveys a melancolic sense of sadness and exudes some of the strong chemistry with Moore she would later have with him in OP. Definitely one of the more effective "sacrificial lamb/villain's woman in distress" type Bond girls.


I caught some of the Bond soap opera As The World Is Not Enough Turns yesterday. Of all the pre-Craig era films, TWINE has dropped in quality the most for me. It's so obviously an attempt to be a more serious type of Bond film but it overloads it with so much Moore-era type comedy to be on the safe side it really hurts the final result. Kinda like mixing Moonraker and Casino Royale together. I love MR and CR separately as individual films that effectively serve as a comedic Bond film and a serious Bond film, respectively. But to blend these styles together as TWINE did does not work. Add to the fact, the "serious" aspects of TWINE seem more akin to soap operas rather than Ian Fleming, I think TWINE is rivaling AVTAK as my least favorite Bond film. For all the criticism DAD got, at least it brought Bond back to the world of international espionage and intrigue and Bond acted a lot less sentimental in it.

Watched Roger Moore's excellent interview with Bill Collins on Sunday night where he talked about TMWTGG and lots of other great stuff.

Very candid, and some nice stories about his friendships with Maurice Binder and John Glen, Bernard Lee's love of alcohol, Lois Maxwell, and getting annoyed with Grace Jones and Tanya Roberts on AVTAK. He also said that he and George Lazenby chat on e-mail and send jokes to each other.

Also how Lana Turner taught him how to kiss!


Other comments:-

He really liked "Chris Walken" as Zorin

Moonraker was not one of his favourites

His excellent work for Unicef and his praise of others in the same role

The girl who leads Bond to Drax's Amazonian headquarters having a funny eye

He has a fear of heights, and this affected his performance during the end sequences of FYEO

The guy who played the agent in LALD killed by the snake, actually fainted at that moment in the PTS, and the snake was real!


Also nice comments by John Glen at the end, praising all the actors who've played 007 including the comment that Daniel Craig being excellent.


Re TWINE - I've always liked it. But what I love most about it is the PTS. It's the best of the lot for me. Love the boat chase, especially the in-joke with the clampers (traffic cops). They were from the UK TV show, The Clampers! (basically the most hated men in Britain at the time). And they weren't told how wet they were going to get by Vic Armstrong who directed the stunt.

[The Dove]

I watched Octopussy last night... Hadn't seen it in a while so it was fun to revisit it..

[Cruiserweight]

FYEO

[sharpshooter]

Live and Let Die. I hadn't seen this one for a lengthy duration.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Watched some of Moonraker today in French. It's interesting that Michael Lonsdale dubbed his own voice for the French version. I believe Curt Jurgens did that for The Spy Who Loved Me as well but I'll need to verify that on my DVD copy.

Then, I watched some of Casino Royale. MR/CR is not as wild a double feature choice as one might think. MR shines as a lighthearted Bond and CR shines as a serious Bond film. Both happily co-exist in my personal Bond universe. Side by side in fact since CR is my current #5 and MR my current #6.

[00Twelve]

Watched OHMSS with a Bond geek friend of mine last night who had actually never seen it.

He thought it was odd, mostly in the pacing and in the elements that broke away from the BIGGER, LOUDER!!! trend that had been escalating since Goldfinger and came back in the 70s, but he liked it overall, and was floored by the ending (despite knowing she dies).

As for me, it's still #3 on my list (a compliment). Laz showed more natural instinct than I'd bothered to look for before, and jeez, did he have a talented supporting cast (minus the humming, flamethrowing henchman he beat up in the hotel room). Dame Diana was fantastic, and I see more and more of those skills every time I come back to this between bouts of studying acting.

[DaveBond21]

Watched the first half hour of Die Another Day last night. I switched it off, once we got to Cartoon Jinx diving backwards off a cliff into the sea.

The first 30 minutes are pretty good, I think. I love the scenes in Cuba, and the accompanying music. There is a cool shot of Bond getting out of his car from the point of view of the road, which is great.

I also enjoy the wheel-chair scene from hotel room to clinic!

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Watched the first half hour of Die Another Day last night. I switched it off, once we got to Cartoon Jinx diving backwards off a cliff into the sea.

Was that all you could stand, DaveBond21? I remember actually thinking DAD was my favorite Brosnan Bond film (at least, up until the CGI tsunami scene) when the film was new but I haven't actually watched it in at least 4 years. I almost afraid to watch it again post-CR since my memory of DAD was generally positive but there's been so much of an anti-DAD backlash since then. I don't want to join in with its critics and keep my positive memory of it.

The first 30 minutes are pretty good, I think. I love the scenes in Cuba, and the accompanying music. There is a cool shot of Bond getting out of his car from the point of view of the road, which is great.

That was a great scene. I love the car, the music and atmosphere of that scene.

I also enjoy the wheel-chair scene from hotel room to clinic!

I remember thinking the actor playing the South African mercenary did an impressive job with his Afrikaans accent.

[Colossus]

I too watched DAD, 2 days ago, and was thoroughly entertained! Taken as it is, a action-driven blockbuster and it's not so bad. There is no energy exerted on groaning during the CGi parasailing, Jinx from me anymore, just chuckling at the shamelessness. Also there's a real unintentional funny part in the PTS when Col. Moon is stuck on the hydrofoil fan about to crash and he starts going AAAAH! a second after the take starts. The movie though is an improvement in its action over TWINE, whose director couldnt be bothered doing the action.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

I too watched DAD, 2 days ago, and was thoroughly entertained! Taken as it is, a action-driven blockbuster and it's not so bad. There is no energy exerted on groaning during the CGi parasailing, Jinx from me anymore, just chuckling at the shamelessness. Also there's a real unintentional funny part in the PTS when Col. Moon is stuck on the hydrofoil fan about to crash and he starts going AAAAH! a second after the take starts. The movie though is an improvement in its action over TWINE, whose director couldnt be bothered doing the action.

I do remember being more impressed with the action scenes in DAD than in TWINE. Also, I liked how Brosnan in his 4th turn in the role exuded the kind of superconfidence Moore did his 4th time around in MR and likewise, Connery did his 4th time around in TB. I also liked how the plot was less soap opera-ish and more espionage/internationally intrigue related than TWINE. I also liked how Brosnan politically incorrectly smoked his cigars and acted less like a sentimental sap and more like a suave ladykiller. His "Put your back into it, eh?" line to Miranda was a pure Connery line if there ever was one. I also like how he reacted to learning of Miranda's treachery. I remember more of this movie than I thought. I really need to watch it again.

[Cruiserweight]

Diamonds Are Forever