007 Bond Movies and Fans

[Jayspawn]

I'm curious as to how many James Bond fans are here. I'm looking forward to "Die Another Day" this Friday.

I have not seen all of the 007 movies but I'd have to say that "The Man with the Golden Gun" is my favorite of them. Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) has to be my favorite villian too. I'm not sure who my favorite Bond is. Probably Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore are tied for second with me right now.

Anybody else? Favorite movie? Villian? Girl? Car? Bond?

[James Boba Fettfield]

I was always partial to Oddjob. I liked when he would throw his hat and it looked so non-threatening.

[The Overlord Returns]

DR. No wil always be the coolest Bond Villain..........

And Goldfinger will always be the ultimate Bond film...

any movie that can get away with a female lead called "***** Galore" is tops with me!


P.S. I can't believe you can't say ***** on this site. Come on, what if I was talking about a cat???

[Mandalorian Candidat]

Actually it's Pooooshy Galore. You have to say it with that hybrid scottish-english Connery accent. :)

I probably won't see DAD until it comes out at the $ theatre. I'm really turned off by Halle Berry and all the hype piled on her by the MGM/UA PR machine. Plus that Madonna song blows chunks. I do hope the film is good, though.

As for my favorites...

Movie: 'Goldfinger'
Villain: Toss up between Christopher Walken, Christopher Lee, and Donald Pleasance
Henchman: Jaws
Girl: Cary Lowell
Car: Aston Martin from 'Living Daylights'
Bond: Connery (Take that Trebek!)

Edit

I'll also throw in my two favorite theme songs.

Rock-based: A View to a Kill by Duran Duran
Nonrock-based: License to Kill by Gladys Knight

OK, OK. I know it's a cop-out, but I can't choose which one I like more. :)

[bobafett07728]

I probobly won't see Die Another Day this weekend. . .but I will see it. I have seen them all up to this point, and don't plan on stopping now. As for my favorites. . .

Favorite Movie - I still have to go with Goldfinger. . .its just a classic!
Favorite Bond - Sean Connery. . . simply the best. . .
Favorite Villain - Blofelt. . .simply because he spans over numerous films
Favorite Henchman - tossup between Jaws and Odd-Job
Favorite Bond Girl - why do we insist on asking THIS question. . . 97% of them friggin' rule!!!!!! I refuse to dignify this question with an answer
Favorite Bond Girl Name - now THIS I can see answering. . . Holly Goodhead, with Ms. Galore & Plenty O'Toole battling for runner up.

I'm hoping the movie is great. . .and Pierce keeps up with his quality portrayal of 007. Too Bad Q isn't around though.

[The Overlord Returns]

my personal fave Bond girl is still the FIRST bond girl.....honey...aka..Ursula Andress.........

[Pendo]

I'm a big Bond fan. Went to see DAD last night and I must say it's the best bond film in a long time. OK, it aint nothing compared to the old movies, and I still feel that GoldenEye is the best Brosnan Bond film but it really had some of the elements that the older movies had. I felt like I was a child watching them again :).

There were a few elements I didn't like about the movie such as Gustav Graves parachuting into Buck Palace - how CORNY!!!

Anyway, here's my 007 faves:
Bond- Connery
Movie- Goldfinger
Bad Guy- That one who is across between Blofeld and Oddjob. What's his name again???

...Oddfeld ;)

Henchman- Jaws
Girl- Ridder and Ms Galore
Location- Cuba
Car- Aston Martin DB5
Gadget- Ejector Seat :D

PENDO...
DANNY PENDO! ;)

[wedgeA]

Film: Either Goldfinger, followed closely by Thunderball.
Villian: Either Gert Forbe from Goldfinger or Sean Bean from Goldeneye.
Girl: Michelle Yeoh from Tomorrow Never Dies
Bond: Connery, but Brosnan is close.
Theme: Tie between "For Your Eyes Only" and "A View to a Kill" (dance into the fire!!)

As for DAD, I am hoping it will be good, I loved the first two Brosnan films, but I was hugely disappointed by The World is Not Enough. In fact, the only worse films in the franchise are the Dalton ones (IMHO).

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by Mandalorian Candidat
I'm really turned off by Halle Berry and all the hype piled on her by the MGM/UA PR machine. Plus that Madonna song blows chunks. I do hope the film is good, though. I feel the same way about all that, but I'll be seeing it next week or the week after at regular price 'cause I'm a sucker. ;)

I'm a big fan of Bond, favorites have never been my strong point though. I can't decide on ANY of the categories here, the music especially since I play ALL the songs at least twice a week.

Originally posted by wedgeA
I loved the first two Brosnan films, but I was hugely disappointed by The World is Not Enough. In fact, the only worse films in the franchise are the Dalton ones (IMHO). While I too was very disappointed by TWINE, I feel very differently about the Dalton films, especially Living Daylights. To each his own, of course, but I feel that TWINE was right down there with View to a Kill and the 2nd half of Moonraker; while Living Daylights is up near the top and Licence to Kill (the first Bond picture I saw on my own) is somewhere in the middle with Octopooshy ;) and Live and Let Die.

[scruffziller]

I hear that Halle Berry just kills the movie.

[Pendo]

Originally posted by scruffziller
I hear that Halle Berry just kills the movie.

Well because I'm in love with Halle I wouldn't say she killed the movie. I think the movie could have been done without the character, but Halle Berry was, IMO, perfect in the role.
Perhaps the movie would be better without the character, or a smaller role for the character (Bond needs a sex interest), but I think Berry was perfect for the role.

:)

PENDO!

[Jayspawn]

I was a little put off when I heard Halle Berry was in the movie. But why not, Bond has to nail 2-3 women per movie. So Halle won't be the only one.

[wedgeA]

JT,

Funny, there seems to be two extremes regarding Dalton. I am one of those who feel that he, along with his "inner child" Bond performances, nearly killed the franchise. However, some fans I know feel that he is actually the closet to Fleming's original character, and put him near the top. Actually, they also feel that License to Kill is the better of his two. I have not seen it, as I was so turned off by The Living Daylights.

[Jayspawn]

While Dalton is not my favorite Bond, I kinda liked "License to Kill."

The papers gave "Die Another Day" 2 1/2 stars. But the papers wouldn't know a good movie if they saw one.

[QLD]

Surely Halle Berry is TONS better than Denise Richards was. She was freaking PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by Quite-Long Dong
Surely Halle Berry is TONS better than Denise Richards was.That is saying very little. That's like saying eating brussel sprouts is tons better than eating your own foot. ;)


As for Dalton, he had a more serious tone and was new, I think that's what put a lot of folks off, he was the cold character that every other Bond is accused of being by the woman he's currently with. I'm not sure I understand the "inner child" reference though wedge. But to me, that coldness just made it feel like the version of Bond in For Your Eyes Only. Plus, The Living Daylights had cool gadgets and reasonable villains and a plot to go along IMO, so I don't understand how it gets so badly bashed by so many. Then again, many 007 fans hate OHMSS but besides being too long (TLD is also guilty of that crime), it seems like a fairly good Bond pic despite Lazenby's shortcomings.

Oh well, Dalton makes a better bad guy anyway, see the Rocketeer as proof.

[wedgeA]

JT,

The inner child reference is actually inaccurate, I merely use it as a reference to Dalton trying to make Bond a much deeper character than he should be, and in my opinion, failing at that. I believe Brosnan referred to it as "method Bond" when he took over the role. Sorry, it was the best pseudo-witty reference that I could think of.

As for Die Another Day, at least it was better than the last one, but not by much. Overall it was disappointing, the action scenes were clumsy and uninspired, and the plot was horribly developed. The villian stunk as well. I thought the scene with Q was brilliant though, and the sly reference to one of Cleese's most famous films was classic. The franchise needs to go back to using action directors. Using more respectable directors may sound good, but in the end, they have no effect on the dramatic quality of the films, and the action scenes come off as amatuer.

[Imperial Monarche]

Die Another Day was perhaps Brosnan's best James Bond, but Goldfinger is the best. what movie was christopher lee the bag guy? I mean, is that guy like the bad guy in the three biggest movie franchises of all time (Star Wars, LOTR, James Bond)

[Jayspawn]

Christopher Lee was the villian in "The Man with the Golden Gun" He played Francisco Scaramanga. One of the best Bond movies.

[Jayspawn]

I saw Die Another Day and thought it was pretty good. And it wasn't poisioned my Madonna's cameo. The action scenes were pretty good. One of my favorite parts was when the person on the snowmobile smashed into Bond's invisible Astin Martin. Zao was a pretty good bad guy too.

[JediTricks]

wedge, I see what you're getting at, but I felt like Brosnan pulled the same stuff in Goldeneye and I forgave both... though it took about 3 years for each film for me to forgive, I'm fickle that way. ;)

As a kid, I really enjoyed Roger Moore's 007, but by the time I hit double-digits, the character felt really thin because I felt like "how many men can one man kill without reacting psychologically some way and still remain a protagonist the audience can enjoy watching?", so a little colder Bond was needed, one who could turn his charisma on and off as needed. And of course, there is always a balance, too much of it and it's a character study, too little and it's a video game - TLD never felt like it pushed too hard in either direction for me.

[2-1B]

I liked Die Another Day. It was a fun movie, very entertaining. MUCH better than the last movie, but I guess that isn't saying much . . .

Anyway, I didn't mind Halle Berry, I thought she did just fine.

Michael Madsen was cool to see. :D

I REALLY liked Miranda Frost, she was a nice addition. I never heard of the actress who played her, I'll have to check into some other films she's done . . .

[Jayspawn]

The actress who played Miranda Frost is Rosamund Pike. She's done some TV work but thats about it. "Die Another Day" is her big screen debut. I'm sure she'll have more now.

Michael Madsen was good. I rolled my eyes when I heard Halle Berry was casted but I thought she did great.

[scruffziller]

Finally saw it. I thought it held its own and was one of the better ones that we have seen. TWINE and DAD were better than Goldeneye and Tomorow Never Dies. So hopefully they will continue to improve. I liked this one and the last one about the song. Madonna's song was very wrong for the movie. Too techno for Bond. TWINE's song is THE best Bond song ever!!!!!!
The only problem that I had with the movie is that it seemed very cookie-cutter Bond. But it did have a great deal of stimulating moments such as the sword fight which was excellent.

[JediTricks]

I finally spied Die Another Day (hah! a pun! ... anyway) and was seriously disappointed in this film both as a fan of adventure/action films and as a fan of 007. Madonna played her part fairly wooden, but it wasn't particularly offensive -- I wish I could say the same for Halle Berry. For me, she's totally unbelievable and uninteresting in this film, I don't even find her attractive here so Ms Oscar-winner isn't even on par with Denise Richards' horrible turn as a Bond-girl. Jinx is played flat and wimpy and bland, and more than that, this disposable part has been written up into a full partner player for Bond; rewritten from TND's Wai Lin into a character that they want to spin-off into its own franchise! Bah humbug to that idea - damn MGM suits.

As for the rest of the film, it suffered long before Jinx made the scene. Having Bond in a concentration camp for 14 months was not only ridiculously excessive, but also made for unbelievable Bond-writing -- I could buy at most 4 months (and of course Bond gets out of prison a year and a half later and is still in such good shape that he can take down several guards and swim half a mile in the freezing water... right), but this felt like a subtle way to have Bond out of the picture during Sept 11th as well as add some totally-foreign-to-the-series drama - not to mention possibly the most unattractive opening credits for a Bond movie, even worse than TWINE's! Madonna's song sucked too, sounded like she didn't put half a lick of talent into making that dog, just put it in a computer and spit out a high-ticket tune. The cinemtography really made me unhappy at times, the Matrix-wannabe stop-speed-up/slomo crap was gimmicky and overused and seemed to be in the film in the most arbitrary of ways (though "arbitrary" certainly describes many other things about this film as well), and then there were these facial close-ups that simply felt out of place especially in reaction shots.

Action scenes like the surfing were too stupid, so many opportunities and characters were wasted, the directing and cinemtography was not to my liking, the gadgets kinda sucked (the cloaking device on the Vanquish was especially obnoxious), there was an offensive amount of product placement, and the characters were generally too stupid (like MI6 wouldn't have done a background check on Mirand Frost, shyeah!). And darn them to hell for making a henchman with a cool name like "Mister Kill" and then not using him!

Some reviewers have said that with DAD, "James Bond is dead", but I disagree, I think he just wasn't in the film. This is not the note I want Brosnan to exit upon, nor is it the film that should be celebrating 40 years of 007.

[Jayspawn]

Wow JT, thats pretty harsh.

[JediTricks]

I wish I didn't feel that way, I've actually come to like nearly every 007 film except View to a Kill - there's something so wrong about that film - but for me DAD was really that frustrating.

[Jayspawn]

I've not seen it, but I was curious what everybody thought of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" w/ George Lazenby as 007? I've heard good and bad things about it. Is Lazenby the inferior Bond?

[scruffziller]

However I thought that DAD captured alot of the classic Bond feel that alot of these past ones had been lacking. And in saying that, I DO believe that was their intention to do that, unfortunately many people were not very receptive.

Originally posted by JediTricks
I wish I didn't feel that way, I've actually come to like nearly every 007 film except View to a Kill - there's something so wrong about that film - but for me DAD was really that frustrating.

Now JT, to take Devil's Advocate of your feelings on DAD:D, what good can you say of the film? And something detailed.....not just a "well this was okay or that was kinda cool...." please?

However for me, the worst Bond was Tomorrow Never Dies.
That movie is one boring long hum with drool coming out of mouth because I don't know where I'm at.

[JediTricks]

Jayspawn, I feel that Lazenby brought NOTHING to the film, he's plain white toast with big ears, but the film itself is not too bad provided you keep in mind that it's more Dr No than Goldfinger... and it's badly paced... and wayyyyyy too long... and Telly Savalas is impossible to believe as Blofeld. ;) It's an adequate spy movie but not really cinematic James Bond, though I still think it's better than DAD, VTOAK, and Thunderball.


scruffziller, I'm hard-pressed to remember liking much of anything about DAD, some of the stuff I started to like was quickly warped into stuff I didn't enjoy. Hmm... what was "ok"? The name "Mister Kill". :D Some of the Bond vs Zao car battle. Bond's sleeper contact in Cuba. Still thinking... nothing, sorry. There was not much about this movie I would have liked if it wasn't Bond, there was not much about this movie I did like as a Bond fan, I felt this film was dreck. Hell, I can even find a few brief nice things to say about TWINE and that film ranks right near the bottom of my personal 007 list.

[scruffziller]

What about the sword fight??

[JediTricks]

I was going to put that as "the first half of the swordfight", but reflecting upon that statement after I had typed it out yesterday, I felt it wasn't so much a "like" as a "didn't dislike" so I erased it. I'll be able to say more about the film when it comes out on DVD I guess.

[General_Grievous]

I want to breathe some life back into this thread not only because of Casino Royale but those new nifty Ultimate James Bond Collection DVDs. There are four volumes, two of which are out now, the others will be out by Christmas. I just picked up the first one, which includes "The Man with the Golden Gun", "Goldfinger", "The World is Not Enough", "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Living Daylights". I've seen all the Bond movies and I've always wanted to own them. Now I have a chance to. They're two discs per movie, which means the whole collection will total forty discs. This first box set was a must buy for me, since it includes "Goldfinger" and "Golden Gun", two of my favorite Bond movies. Anyway, thought I'd give my opinions on the Best of Bond questions on the first page of the thread.

Best Bond: Connery, with a tie between Brosnan and Craig for second.

Best Movie: Goldfinger

Best Villain: Gotta give it to Blofeld, simply for staying power. He was the best in "You Only Live Twice" with his scar.

Best Henchman: Tie between Jaws and Oddjob

Best Bond girl: Anya from "The Spy Who Loved Me"

Best Car: The Aston Martin (I think) from "The World Is Not Enough"

Best Song: "A View To A Kill" by Duran Duran

If you can't tell, I'm in a Bond state of mind right now. :D

[JON9000]

no more DVDs until I have an HDTV, an HD-DVD player, and HD DVDs to buy.

I think the films should be available separately. I only like about 8 or so, and some, like "Diamonds Are Forever", I downright loathe.

[JediTricks]

I bought 2 DVD box sets 2 rounds ago, they are incomplete though but do cover a good range of films, to the point where I'm only longing for "From Russia with Love" and "The Living Daylights". They did a good job with the DVDs extras, I watched just about all of 'em and enjoyed it immensely. I wish they'd offer the films as individuals though, I'm not going to shell out another $70 for another boxed set which I already have some of the films.

[Tycho]

I rented 9 Bond movies to start with and I'll be reviewing them in this thread.

I've never seen most of them.

I looked up James Bond on Wikipedia and got a list of all the movies:

1 Dr. No
2 From Russia with Love
3 Goldfinger
4 Thunderball
5 You Only Live Twice
6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
7 Diamonds Are Forever
8 Live and Let Die
9 The Man with the Golden Gun
10 The Spy Who Loved Me
11 Moonraker
12 For Your Eyes Only
13 Octo*****
13a Never Say Never Again*
14 A View to a Kill
15 The Living Daylights
16 Licence to Kill
17 GoldenEye
18 Tomorrow Never Dies
19 The World Is Not Enough
20 Die Another Day
21 Casino Royale
22 Quantum of Solace

* This one isn't officially counted according to Wikipedia.

These are the ones Blockbuster had available - and I'm limited to 9 rentals at a time anyway.

I'm going to watch them all in order if I can. I did see Casino Royale the other night and as I understand it, it's sort of a prequel when Bond first gets his "00 status."

[jonthejedi]

You can just skip all the Roger Moore's...or review them last. They're high-camp & not very good spy thrillers. I love the two Daniel Craig Bonds, and take the comparison to the Bourne movies as a supreme complement. Craig seems to fit Ian Flemings description of Bond even better than Connery.

[Rocketboy]

I did see Casino Royale the other night and as I understand it, it's sort of a prequel when Bond first gets his "00 status."I've understood that the Daniel Craig Bond movies are more of a reboot a la Batman Begins rather than prequels.

[Tycho]

I finished From Russia With Love.

It was entertaining. I finally sort of connected with a hero-interest in Sean Connery's James Bond. It took me a little while whereas I usually like a Harrison Ford, Ewan McGreggor, or Christian Bale character almost instantly.

The motorboat chase with the flaming oil drums at the end was cool. I wanted to do a scene like that for the ending of my novel, only it would be set on the Mississippi River and the US Coast Guard and organized crime would provide the pursuit craft.

I saw stuff like Miami Vic and the boat chase in Venice in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Actually the whole Bond thing is just like Indiana Jones - or rather Indy was a 1930's era copy of Bond (Lucas and Spielberg have even said so, and that was part of the humor in having Sean Connery in a Jones movie).

Meanwhile, speaking of Sean Connery in Jones movies, the helicopter strafing was just like the WWII fighter plane strafing (but I don't know why Bond took forever to assemble his rifle). And the jet-setting: Venice, Paris, Belgrade, Instanbul - mirrored in Indiana Jones' adventures though Jones takes place in a more interesting era as so much was happening in the world in the earlier half of the 20th Century.

Bond's spy gadgets in Russia With Love weren't that impressive - the exploding briefcase (had an Oscar Goldman action figure from Kenner with one of those for the Six Million Dollar Man collection - remember those?). But I guess the whole thing gets crazier down to the car that turns into a submarine.

But overall I'm glad I saw this one. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is campy but fun. I totally see it as COBRA in GI Joe lore. Oh - and I noticed how in that era they portrayed lesbians as evil (like the gym teacher from hell).

But the gypsy girls fighting in skimpy little outfits also had lesbian undertones to it that were far better.

As the Russian agent, the "Bond girl" in this one was far more wholesome than they've become in later years. Kudos for change with the times, as I am very appreciative of the ascension of the slut in Hollywood film culture. Where would we be today without Denise Richards?

Anyway, I think I'm going to watch From Russia With Love a second time before I move on to the next movie. Since I'll be viewing some of these out of order (just because Goldfinger and Thunderball, etc. were checked out when I went to Blockbuster) I hope it won't mess me up and I will understand everything. I think that's the case as I've heard that Casino Royale is the first to-be-continued Bond film ever.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

I picked up all of the Bond boxsets when CR came out and watched them all over the last year and a half. The Connery era is pretty solid, aside from "Diamonds are forever" which is pretty bad. But Connery is a pretty fantastic bond as he has the demeanor, attitude, and capability to do the action and whatnot.

The Moore era is largely hit or miss. Flicks like "moonraker" are SO BAD while "Live and Let Die" and "Man with the Golden Gun" have their great moments. My biggest problem with the latter was easily the worst Bond girl ever in the films franchise. But Moore, despite being campy, does have a great flick with "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "For Your Eyes Only" were two fantastic Bond entries. "A view to Kill" wasn't too shabby either.

The Dalton era is really solid for the most part. "The Living daylights" is sorta jumbled, but it comes together at the end and I LOVED "license to kill" as it unleashes bond with some revenge and uses Felix Leiter a bit, which was great to see.

Brosan starts off strong with "Goldeneye" but it all falls from there. Each one of his movies got progressively worse and "Die Another Day" is SO. AWFUL.

I LOVE Daniel Craig as Bond. I thought "Casino Royale" was awesome and I also really liked "Quantum of Solace." I know some folks complain about the lack of gadgets and whatnot, but it interjects the series with some seriousness and more realistic action sequences. :thumbsup:

[Slicker]

I LOVE Daniel Craig as Bond. I thought "Casino Royale" was awesome and I also really liked "Quantum of Solace." I know some folks complain about the lack of gadgets and whatnot, but it interjects the series with some seriousness and more realistic action sequences. :thumbsup:I wasn't the happiest when they announced Craig but after watching CR and QoS I like him a bit more. The one thing that got me was the lack of gadgets. These movies are almost like National Treasure with James Bond.

[Jargo]

Daniel Craig's bond is much closer to the bond of the books. but i think that's a conscious decision to move Bond away from the lame quips and cartoonish superhero image. Connery i think looked the most like Bond is described but Daniel is a close second. Roger Moore ruined bond and timothy dalton was really too wet for the role. brosnan was too smooth and the lazenby bond was a bit weird.

it's a shame the whole thing didn't start with Daniel. i'd like to see more literal book to screen versions of past bond movies.

[Rocketboy]

I'm just glad that Jason Bourne's success on the big screen made the Bond guys realize how much of a cartoon James Bond had become over the years.

[Tycho]

I started You Only Live Twice and I'll update this post when I've gone further than the teaser of the space capsule capture and the theme song. I just realized I'd left my computer online while I watched From Russia With Love for a 2nd time. It was pretty good on the 2nd viewing.

Meanwhile I like the music from You Only Live Twice better already - and I like the fine Asian girl they feature in this movie (though the Russian girl was very nice, too!).

[Tycho]

You Only Live Twice is awesome and far better than From Russia With Love.

I wonder if each successive Bond movie will try to top the previous one.

In any case, I wonder if Slicker is having such an awesome adventure in Japan?

Why do they call him Bond-son? I think in Karate Kid they called him Daniel-son.

What's the cultural significance of that?

The Japanese bath girls are awesome. It would be so cool to go to Japan just to take a bath if I knew it was going to be like that.

I like Bond's "Little Nely" helicopter. With as much weaponry on it as an F-4 Phantom, LOL.

Does that girl drive an Aston-Martin? Where in Japan is there room for high-speed car chases?

Asian girls are hot.

Asian girls driving suped-up sports cars are even hotter.

The Sumo-Wrestling match was a cool way to establish the movie's setting.

I like Tiger's spymaster outfit.

[Lord Malakite]

Why do they call him Bond-son? I think in Karate Kid they called him Daniel-son.

What's the cultural significance of that?

Its san Tycho, not son. ;) The following quote explains the cultural significance of it.

While family members, spouses and lovers sometimes call each other by their given names, they are otherwise used only rarely, even among close friends; most people call each other by the surname plus the suffix -san (Tanaka-san). An exception is schoolgirls, who often call each other by the first name, plus the fond diminutive suffix -chan. Even within the family, there is a marked tendency to avoid the use of names in favour of titles like "older brother," "younger sister" and so on. It is not uncommon for people, particularly older people, to be unsure of their friends' given names.

Indeed, even so the use of the suffix -san (さん), meaning roughly "Mrs., Mr., Ms., Master, Miss, Mistress." is customary in addressing a person by name. This suffix is used with both surnames and given names, and failure to use it is called 呼び捨て (yobisute, literally "throwing away the name") and is considered exceedingly rude. The respectful equivalent of -san is -様 (-sama), and the fond diminutive equivalent is -chan (-ちゃん). Young boys and younger men are often addressed as -kun (-くん、君).

[Tycho]

Thank you Malakite-san.

That was very interesting. It's cool to learn other culture's customs - sometimes they are curiousities and sometimes they have superior ways.

For example, the title Darth. I would consider it most polite if people refered to me as Darth Tycho, for example. :D

Anyway, I started watching Diamonds Are Forever. Thus far it is not as interesting as You Only Live Twice which is my favorite Bond movie thus far.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Not much of a comment on the films, but I liked how in QoS the titles of the newest location weren't in the same font, but one close to the style of that particular country/area. The London one got run over by a car (sort of).

[El Chuxter]

I saw what, as far as I know, was all the Bond movies, in the previous packaging, for $4 each at Big Lots tonight. I'm thinking of going back and scoring some, but don't know which to get, as I can't afford them all, and I still haven't watched a damned Bond flick.

Daniel Craig I don't consider to be Bond. The guy looks like he was run over by a truck and then crapped on by a horse. He cannot physically play the same character as Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery. I'd change teams for those two. Daniel Craig can make gay men change teams. I once heard that Perseus tried to kill him, but had to use a mirror.

[JediTricks]

I rented 9 Bond movies to start with and I'll be reviewing them in this thread.

I've never seen most of them.

I looked up James Bond on Wikipedia and got a list of all the movies:

1 Dr. No
2 From Russia with Love
3 Goldfinger
4 Thunderball
5 You Only Live Twice
6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
7 Diamonds Are Forever
8 Live and Let Die
9 The Man with the Golden Gun
10 The Spy Who Loved Me
11 Moonraker
12 For Your Eyes Only
13 Octo*****
13a Never Say Never Again*
14 A View to a Kill
15 The Living Daylights
16 Licence to Kill
17 GoldenEye
18 Tomorrow Never Dies
19 The World Is Not Enough
20 Die Another Day
21 Casino Royale
22 Quantum of Solace

* This one isn't officially counted according to Wikipedia.

These are the ones Blockbuster had available - and I'm limited to 9 rentals at a time anyway.

I'm going to watch them all in order if I can. I did see Casino Royale the other night and as I understand it, it's sort of a prequel when Bond first gets his "00 status."From the ones available, the following are lesser entries: You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker (well, the last 40 minutes anyway), Octo*****, and Never Say Never Again (which is a remake of Thunderball from a different production company but with Sean Connery back in the lead role). "From Russia With Love" is one of the most underrated, and one of my absolute favorites - lots of real spy material, lots of fun, decent action on a good scale. It and "Dr. No" are the most true to the original Bond.

From the ones they don't have, do yourself a favor and see Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, License To Kill, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale - that will give you a real overall taste for the whole series with the various actors and styles and budgets. I can loan you all of those but Living Daylights on DVD, and I can loan you Living Daylights on tape.

Make sure to see "From Russia With Love", "The Man with the Golden Gun" (Count Dooku is the bad guy), and "The Spy Who Loved Me" (the original Boba Fett is in this as a tertiary good guy). Perhaps also "For Your Eyes Only" (General Veers is the bad guy, this one is more true to the spy genre and less fun, but a good thriller and great locales) & "You Only Live Twice" (Bond becomes a ninja, it's got some charm even if it is a little one-note).


Casino Royale isn't a prequel exactly, it's more like a reboot, starting over with the first Bond story (which was coincidentally the only one never made into a movie).


You can just skip all the Roger Moore's...or review them last. They're high-camp & not very good spy thrillers. I think you're selling them short, especially For Your Eyes Only which is a pretty darn solid spy story, and Octo***** which is a little weak and gets lost in the trappings but does focus strongly on spy elements.

I love the two Daniel Craig Bonds, and take the comparison to the Bourne movies as a supreme complement. Wow, that's just sad to enjoy the Bourne comparison, that series is a Bond knockoff that lacks the depth, characterization, and focus on spy trade of the original - the comparison to Bourne is what kept me from going to see the new movie. I mean, where in Bond would a foot chase for 20 minutes solid take place? That's just cinematic action for action's sake, it kills time.


You Only Live Twice is awesome and far better than From Russia With Love.

I wonder if each successive Bond movie will try to top the previous one.

In any case, I wonder if Slicker is having such an awesome adventure in Japan?

Why do they call him Bond-son? I think in Karate Kid they called him Daniel-son.

What's the cultural significance of that?

The Japanese bath girls are awesome. It would be so cool to go to Japan just to take a bath if I knew it was going to be like that.

I like Bond's "Little Nely" helicopter. With as much weaponry on it as an F-4 Phantom, LOL.

Does that girl drive an Aston-Martin? Where in Japan is there room for high-speed car chases?

Asian girls are hot.

Asian girls driving suped-up sports cars are even hotter.

The Sumo-Wrestling match was a cool way to establish the movie's setting.

I like Tiger's spymaster outfit.Oh man, we've just entered crazytown! You Only Live Twice better than From Russia With Love? Wow.

Kissy Suzuki isn't driving an Aston Martin, it's a Toyota 2000GT.



BTW, the start of Diamonds Are Forever is a continuation of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", I won't spoil that though in case you want to watch Bond do nothing interesting for 2 hours in an Alpine Chateau.


Daniel Craig I don't consider to be Bond. The guy looks like he was run over by a truck and then crapped on by a horse. He cannot physically play the same character as Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery. I'd change teams for those two. Daniel Craig can make gay men change teams. I once heard that Perseus tried to kill him, but had to use a mirror.Craig looks like a mangled Euro-thug that Bond would be beating up, and he shifts from interesting to stone-faced way too often. Oh, and he gets the hottest girl in Casino Royale WAY too early... and ditches her to go to Miami!

[Jargo]

you crazy. Dan Craig is gorgeous even with his jug handle ears and icey blue eyes. They should have dyed his hair though. including his eyebrows.

that aside, i think the main reason i like dan's bond more than any other is that he gets hurt. he's not infallible. reading the books it's very clear that bond is all too human and at times gets seriously hurt. However, the naked torture scene in casino royale does lead me to wonder how bond could remain a ladies man afterwards.... perhaps he's just a cunning linguist.

[JediTricks]

He looks like the ugly stick was beaten with him.

They all got hurt, if you look for it, they just didn't brood about it or get so stupid that they let themselves nearly die over it. Dr. No makes it clear that Bond getting shot and laid out for months at a time is no good for these movies.

[Tycho]

I've been away at my brother's and watched as much as I could of The Man With The Golden Gun.

I'm not particularly liking it that much. The Louisiana sheriff that's linked up with Bond is craptastically cliche.

Miss Goodnight is nice though. Why Bond threw her in the closet and went for the other girl (the assassin's) is only a rational choice given the context of his mission (and I guess he'd already been with Miss Goodnight). But she's a great catch. The Assassin (Dooku) agrees at any rate.

His third nipple is disgusting.

The car that got a pair of wings is mildly amusing, but not a greatly impressive "Bond movie moment" for me.

I'm going to try and finish this film tomorrow.

Oh, the Fantasy Island midget annoys me, too.

But Rodger Moore looks more like I pictured James Bond, though Connery plays the character much better with more class IMO.