788 replies to this topic

[DaveBond21]

Here is my list:-

 

FYEO - my joint favourite of all, with FRWL

 

TSWLM - one of the most exciting

 

Octopussy - great fun

 

Moonraker

 

TMWTGG

 

LALD

 

AVTAK

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

[S K Y F A L L]

AVTAK           Tibbett and St. John Smythe, hilarious! I also love the settings.

FYEO             Still has best ski chase, maybe of all time

MR                 Love the ski dive sequence

TMWTGG       I little more interesting then TSWLM IMO

TSWLM          It was sweet seeing Bond in uniform

LALD             Most hilarious villein death of all time?

OP                 To much clowning around, great PTS and stunt work

[MISALA1994]

FYEO.

[sharpshooter]

Moonraker has overtaken The Spy Who Loved Me. I love that movie.

[Tiin007]

Moonraker has overtaken The Spy Who Loved Me. I love that movie.

 

It's only recently than Moonraker has been given some love by the fans. And it's about time!

 

So many things to love about Moonraker.

 

Very underrated. 

[Dustin]

For many years my answer has been FYEO, Moore's toughest, most thriller-like entry. Looking back at it now, I have to admit my reasons for this choice have more to do with circumstances outside the film than with the film itself.

I still enjoy FYEO to this day. But for sheer fun, for spectacle and also for thrills MOONRAKER has now overtaken its successor for me. It has the better villain, the better fight with the henchman, bizarre moments and horror elements. Granted, not all of it is top-notch. But the mix is solid and well-crafted. The silly elements for me don't get in the way of the whole thing, they are taken in stride with the confidence of a circus act.

[sharpshooter]

Moonraker has overtaken The Spy Who Loved Me. I love that movie.

 
It's only recently than Moonraker has been given some love by the fans. And it's about time!
 
So many things to love about Moonraker.
 
Very underrated.

It could very easily be my favourite film in the franchise. That's how much I like it.

[SecretAgentFan]

Since THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was my introduction to the Bond universe nothing really can surpass that experience.

 

But MOONRAKER was the next one I saw in theatres.  Three times.  Which was a big deal at that time.  To this day, I love the film despite all its flaws, and it is definitely one of the most fun Bond films in the whole series.  And the score is maybe the best Barry score ever.

 

Oh, if a future Bond film could only conjure that much adventure...

[MISALA1994]

MR is in a middle on my list, not the best and not the worst...

Edited by MISALA1994, 01 December 2016 - 08:28 PM.

[Daddy Bond]

Here's my revised list...

#1 - TSWLM

#2 - MR

#3 - TMWGG

#4 - FYEO

#5 - OP

#6 - AVTAK

#7 - LALD

I would really like to see another Bond movie in the lines of The Spy Who Loved Me.  Yes, I know parts are over the top, but I'd like to see a Craig Bond with brighter colors, great set pieces, car gadgets...more in lines of TSWLM.

By the way, I agree with several recent posts above.  Although TSWLM remains my favorite, MR is my solid #2 - Roger Moore film.

[sharpshooter]

John Barry. Ken Adam. Shirley Bassey. All the big guns are in Moonraker. It follows the basic template of The Spy Who Loved Me, but I think the set pieces are better. It's a film with humour, no doubt, but it offers a whole lot more too. Particularly horror and suspense - the centrifuge is one of the best death traps in the franchise.

[SecretAgentFan]

Yes!  And once again... my childhood nightmare: the dark alley in Rio, with a giant slowly making his way forward, revealing to be Jaws...

 

Horror and suspense indeed.

[MISALA1994]

My list:

1.FYEO

2.TSWLM

3.OP

4.MR

5.AVTAK

6.TMWTGG

7.LALD

[sharpshooter]

Yes!  And once again... my childhood nightmare: the dark alley in Rio, with a giant slowly making his way forward, revealing to be Jaws...
 
Horror and suspense indeed.

Corinne getting ripped apart by dogs and the scientists getting gassed are also worthy of mention. Bond's struggle with the python is also rather dramatic, and of course the Nazi master race scheme by Drax. Who is absolutely one of the best villains in the franchise, bar none. His dialogue is razor sharp.

[SecretAgentFan]

Oh, absolutely!  And that all those moments are paired with silliness and yet it all works splendidly - that is a directorial quality I have not seen again in the following Bond films.

[sharpshooter]

Yeah. I like the Craig films, but a movie like Moonraker is such a breath of fresh air these days. No personal vendettas or anything too serious. Just a big budget extravaganza with all the money on the screen. We're probably never going to see the likes of Moonraker again, which makes it seem all the more like a special sanctuary of sorts. I've been watching the 66 Batman TV series lately, and that same nostalgic warmth is present, particularly in Moonraker. It's a fun world where you forget your problems, and your imagination carries you away.

[SecretAgentFan]

Exactly, and that kind of escapism would not only be embraced today, IMO, but also be needed to sustain the series for years to come.

 

I also like the Craig era - but I think it´s high time that the Bond films encourage pure adventure again.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Moonraker has overtaken The Spy Who Loved Me. I love that movie.

 

 

For many years my answer has been FYEO, Moore's toughest, most thriller-like entry. Looking back at it now, I have to admit my reasons for this choice have more to do with circumstances outside the film than with the film itself.

I still enjoy FYEO to this day. But for sheer fun, for spectacle and also for thrills MOONRAKER has now overtaken its successor for me. It has the better villain, the better fight with the henchman, bizarre moments and horror elements. Granted, not all of it is top-notch. But the mix is solid and well-crafted. The silly elements for me don't get in the way of the whole thing, they are taken in stride with the confidence of a circus act.

 

 

 

 

Moonraker has overtaken The Spy Who Loved Me. I love that movie.

 
It's only recently than Moonraker has been given some love by the fans. And it's about time!
 
So many things to love about Moonraker.
 
Very underrated.

It could very easily be my favourite film in the franchise. That's how much I like it.

 

 

 

Since THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was my introduction to the Bond universe nothing really can surpass that experience.

 

But MOONRAKER was the next one I saw in theatres.  Three times.  Which was a big deal at that time.  To this day, I love the film despite all its flaws, and it is definitely one of the most fun Bond films in the whole series.  And the score is maybe the best Barry score ever.

 

Oh, if a future Bond film could only conjure that much adventure...

 

 

MR is in a middle on my list, not the best and not the worst...

 

 

I would really like to see another Bond movie in the lines of The Spy Who Loved Me.  Yes, I know parts are over the top, but I'd like to see a Craig Bond with brighter colors, great set pieces, car gadgets...more in lines of TSWLM.

By the way, I agree with several recent posts above.  Although TSWLM remains my favorite, MR is my solid #2 - Roger Moore film.

 

 

John Barry. Ken Adam. Shirley Bassey. All the big guns are in Moonraker. It follows the basic template of The Spy Who Loved Me, but I think the set pieces are better. It's a film with humour, no doubt, but it offers a whole lot more too. Particularly horror and suspense - the centrifuge is one of the best death traps in the franchise.

 

 

Yes!  And once again... my childhood nightmare: the dark alley in Rio, with a giant slowly making his way forward, revealing to be Jaws...

 

Horror and suspense indeed.

 

 

 

Yes!  And once again... my childhood nightmare: the dark alley in Rio, with a giant slowly making his way forward, revealing to be Jaws...
 
Horror and suspense indeed.

Corinne getting ripped apart by dogs and the scientists getting gassed are also worthy of mention. Bond's struggle with the python is also rather dramatic, and of course the Nazi master race scheme by Drax. Who is absolutely one of the best villains in the franchise, bar none. His dialogue is razor sharp.

 

 

 

Oh, absolutely!  And that all those moments are paired with silliness and yet it all works splendidly - that is a directorial quality I have not seen again in the following Bond films.

 

 

Yeah. I like the Craig films, but a movie like Moonraker is such a breath of fresh air these days. No personal vendettas or anything too serious. Just a big budget extravaganza with all the money on the screen. We're probably never going to see the likes of Moonraker again, which makes it seem all the more like a special sanctuary of sorts. I've been watching the 66 Batman TV series lately, and that same nostalgic warmth is present, particularly in Moonraker. It's a fun world where you forget your problems, and your imagination carries you away.

 

 

Exactly, and that kind of escapism would not only be embraced today, IMO, but also be needed to sustain the series for years to come.

 

I also like the Craig era - but I think it´s high time that the Bond films encourage pure adventure again.

 

 

I second all of these. Love to see love for the underrated MR. The first one I saw in the theater as a child. It's just pure, unpretentious escapist fun that never pretends to be anything more than that. My favorite Moore Bond film.

[DaveBond21]

I'm enjoying the Moonraker-Love on here. It also has some beautiful locations.

[Dustin]

I rewatched MOONRAKER only the other day, smashing good fun.

One thing I noticed: Moore's suits are quite roomy, it looks as if you could tailor a full Craig suit just from one of his jackets.

[sharpshooter]

I'm enjoying the Moonraker-Love on here. It also has some beautiful locations.

I love how self-aware/matter of fact the film is to its own brand of high adventure. Case in point these exchanges between Bond and Moneypenny:

 

“Why are you so late?”

“I fell out of an aeroplane without a parachute…you don’t believe me do you?”

and

“James, you look as though you’ve just fallen off a mountain”.

“Well it’s funny you should say that Moneyenny, as a matter of fact I was in a cable car, and…never mind”.

 

Plus, even if some fans aren’t exactly thrilled about the space scenes and the laser guns, it’s hard to deny the last few moments of the film. “I think he’s attempting re-entry” is perhaps the ultimate Moore era pun. And when the disco version of Bassey’s song starts, it’s feel good to the point of being bittersweet. I think that’s Moonraker right there. Ethereal but full of fun. 

[PrinceKamalKhan]

 And when the disco version of Bassey’s song starts, it’s feel good to the point of being bittersweet. I think that’s Moonraker right there. Ethereal but full of fun. 

 

 

I think the disco version of MR's theme is the best possible ending not only to the film but also to the whole wild and wacky decade of 1970s Bond films of DAF through MR.

[Professor Pi]

Corinne Clery. 

[sharpshooter]

And when the disco version of Bassey’s song starts, it’s feel good to the point of being bittersweet. I think that’s Moonraker right there. Ethereal but full of fun.

 
I think the disco version of MR's theme is the best possible ending not only to the film but also to the whole wild and wacky decade of 1970s Bond films of DAF through MR.

Definitely. I don't hate FYEO, but I do view it as a misstep of sorts. I'm glad they went back to that lavish adventure template with Octopussy. And also A View to a Kill, which is severely underrated.

[SecretAgentFan]

Interesting new review of AVTAK by the great John Kenneth Muir on his blog.  Check it out: http://reflectionson...ew-to-kill.html

[David_M]

 

 

Interesting new review of AVTAK by the great John Kenneth Muir on his blog.  Check it out: http://reflectionson...ew-to-kill.html

 

Well, that could have been about 1/5 the length, and it's plodding as all get-out, but there are a few good points once he gets around to them, especially the observation that they'd have gotten more mileage out of a script that highlighted Moore's age instead of ignoring it.

 

I have mixed feelings about FYEO, but one of the things I definitely like about it is the way it seems (if often subtly) to acknowledge the passage of time and its effects on Bond:  The visit to Tracy's grave, the weary admonition to Melina that revenge comes at high cost, the acceptance that some girls are too young even for 007 to bed...it all works for me.  I think this kind of thing could have been woven into AVTAK as well, especially with Macnee around as a sidekick.  

 

The problem there, of course, is that it reinforces the idea that "Roger Moore IS James Bond," so if Roger is older, Bond is older.  If Roger has to deal with being a little slower, and more tired, and more jaded with the never-ending battle against these nutjobs, then so does Bond.  That worked fine with a franchise like Star Trek: it added gravitas to acknowledge the mortality of the aging leads, since (at least back then) the roles were so strongly tied to the actors.  But Bond has always been positioned as a character more important than the actor playing him at the moment; 007 will endure even as actors are sidelined, or put to pasture.

 

This has always been the elephant in the room with Bond: nothing really important or life-changing can ever really happen to him in any entry, because we'd be stuck with it from then on.  He can't get older, then suddenly younger.  He can't get married unless we want the wife around forever.  And so on.  

 

I agree with the author that the main problem with AVTAK is that it can't decide on a tone.  That's not a unique issue in this series, but in this instance it's profound enough to sink the enterprise.

[Mr_Wint]

I stopped reading when he mentioned "critical consensus". The average of all opinions out there is simply not interesting enough.

As for age: NSNA highlighted Connery's age and built the film around a 'retired' Bond. I think that turned out to be a disaster, and cannot understand why you would want that in an official movie.

[David_M]

Well, I didn't say I wanted it, exactly.  But -- and I say this as a guy who loves Roger and counts him as his favorite Bond -- if you're bound and determined to build your action movie around a 57-year-old leading man, you either acknowledge his age and use it in your favor, or you ignore it and make the whole enterprise look awkward at best and laughable at worst.  The best option would have been to let Roger retire with OP -- a great film that fit his strengths -- and start a new actor in AVTAK, which in turn should have been re-thought itself.  So much of this movie feels like just going through the motions, from "let's get Roger again" to "let's find another variation on Oddjob" to "let's borrow the villain's plot from 'Goldfinger'" to "hey, it worked last time to hang Bond from a plane, this time let's make it a blimp."  There is no life or spark to AVTAK, and the living, breathing avatar for that sense of tiredness is poor old Roger.  A new Bond might have led to some energy on other levels as well. But if you're going to put Rog in the movie, don't pretend he's still 30.  It's not fair to him or anyone else.

 

If I could change history, my "want" would be for AVTAK not be on Rog's resume.  For his sake.

 

As for NSNA, the "getting older" bit figured at the beginning of the film but after the Shrublands scenes, it's dropped and never picked up again.  NSNA is another film made without much of a plan or any kind of tonal consistency.  But to the extent that age is a factor, it's because the film's made not by EON, with their vested interest in keeping Bond supernaturally young with interchangeable faces, but by a rival company who knew the one ace in their whole deck was Connery.  The entire film is based on the idea that Connery is the one, true Bond, so by making his age a talking point, they reinforce the idea that he's been off doing something else all these years while we've been watching imitators.

 

And as I said before, letting characters age with the actors works for Star Trek, but it doesn't for Bond, at least not Bond as EON's chosen to define him. Specifically it hasn't worked with Craig, who went from too young and reckless in CR to too old and "past it" in SF, then back to the pink of health for SP.  The age thing is probably a subject best left untouched, but the best way to avoid it is to never feature a lead actor older than 50.  It might be intriguing to imagine how Bond would handle aging, but it's not a recipe for keeping a franchise going.  And the answer is he probably wouldn't handle it well, anyway: Bond should die young(ish).

[SecretAgentFan]

I agree that a Bond approaching retirement is not working for the purpose of the films.  However, Moore had the chance of staying very successful while aging - and the films were tailored to that.  As a huge Moore fan I am glad that he got the chance to make AVTAK.  Although at the time I was disappointed by the result, now I appreciate the film for the many things it achieves.  I also appreciate NSNA using Connery´s age to its advantage.

 

But in the end, Bond will always have to be attractive and agile in order to fend off the villains - and that´s where every verisimilitude of aging goes out the window.

 

So, I approach this aspect from this angle: I´m grateful to have seen AVTAK and NSNA - but EON should not go down that route again for diminishing creative returns.  

 

Which means: hurry up, DC... 

[sharpshooter]

I wouldn't want it to become the norm, but an older Bond doesn't really bother me that much. Part of Bond's appeal is how he uses his strengths to compensate for his limitations. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what Bond is all about? A flawed human with no superpowers who uses his skills and intellect to level the playing field against impossible odds.

 

I know people hate NSNA, but that's their business. I've always enjoyed it. It has cracking dialogue and some enjoyable set pieces. I like to pretend its in Connery universe canon because it does give an ending of sorts to his portrayal. We see that's he's older and he finally seems to have settled down. Highlighting Bond's age makes things better in terms of ending an era in my opinion. 

 

I quite like the idea Bond went to Shrublands as a young agent in 1965 for health issues. Because he would never give up his lifestyle, he's back at Shrublands in 1983 and the problem is now a lot worse. Renaming characters such as Fatima Blush allows for a suspension of disbelief, and I can just pretend SPECTRE are giving one of their old extortion attempts another go. 

 

As for AVTAK, my appreciation for it has really grown over the years, along with Octopussy. I wouldn't give up AVTAK for anything, but I do wish it had a similar ending to Octopussy, where Moore's Bond goes off into the sunset with his woman. It was a downgrade to go from that to kissing Stacey Sutton in a shower. But that's history.