list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Spy Who Loved Me on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/The_Spy_Who_Loved_Me/32543/default.aspx Title: The Spy Who Loved Me
Year: 1977
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Plot: Though not Ian Fleming's most famous James Bond novel, 1962's The Spy Who Loved Me was distinguished by the unique device of telling the story from the heroine's point of view; in fact, Bond doesn't make an appearance until the book is two-thirds over. This would hardly work in the film world's Bond franchise, so the original austere plotline of the novel was eschewed altogether in favor of a labyrinthine story involving outer-space extortion. The leading lady, a "hard-luck kid" in the original, is now sexy Russian secret agent Barbara Bach, who joins forces with Bond (Roger Moore, making his third appearance as 007) to foil yet another megalomaniac villain (Curt Jurgens), who plans to threaten New York City with nuclear weaponry. Beyond the eye-popping opening ski-jump sequence, the film's best scenes involve seven-foot-two Richard Kiel as steel-toothed henchman Jaws. Fifteen scriptwriters worked on The Spy Who Loved Me; only two were credited, including Bond-film veteran Richard Maibaum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 8
Number of Lists: 18
Number of blog posts: 6
Number of discussion threads: 2
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:02:17 GMTThe Spy Who Loved Me1977Lewis GilbertThough not <a href="/players/P____23863/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ian Fleming</a>'s most famous James Bond novel, 1962's The Spy Who Loved Me was distinguished by the unique device of telling the story from the heroine's point of view; in fact, <a href=/films/4041/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Bond</a> doesn't make an appearance until the book is two-thirds over. This would hardly work in the film world's <a href=/films/4041/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Bond</a> franchise, so the original austere plotline of the novel was eschewed altogether in favor of a labyrinthine story involving outer-space extortion. The leading lady, a "hard-luck kid" in the original, is now sexy Russian secret agent <a href="/players/P_____3127/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Barbara Bach</a>, who joins forces with <a href=/films/4041/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Bond</a> (<a href="/players/P____50375/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Roger Moore</a>, making his third appearance as 007) to foil yet another megalomaniac villain (Curt Jurgens), who plans to threaten New York City with nuclear weaponry. Beyond the eye-popping opening ski-jump sequence, the film's best scenes involve seven-foot-two <a href="/players/P____38075/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Richard Kiel</a> as steel-toothed henchman Jaws. Fifteen scriptwriters worked on The Spy Who Loved Me; only two were credited, including <a href=/films/4041/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Bond</a>-film veteran <a href="/players/P___100804/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Richard Maibaum</a>. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide8Taggedy Taggged (6-10)18623http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/u26338bdgna.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Spy_Who_Loved_Me/32543/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/11/12/37263.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 11/12/2008 5:02:17 PM
Body: Maxim has named Quantum of Solace actress Olga Kurylenko “the hottest Bond Girl ever.” How does one even make such an assessment, when there are so many memorable Bond Girl moments? Remember Ursula Andress, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Halle Berry, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Famke Janssen sex-attacking Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye? (Oh, Famke. You really know how to pick a paycheck.) If you answered “Sure. Whatever.” to one or both of those first two examples, I have a statistic that I’d like to share with you. Did you know that there’s an extremely high rate of death amongst Bond Girls who have worn a bikini? It’s true. Based on my extraordinarily scientific research, out of 11 Bond girls who had “bikini moments,” to borrow the terminology used on JamesBondWiki, five died before the end of the film. That’s 45 percent, making the wearing of a two piece bathing suit in the company of James Bond just about the most dangerous activity a woman could engage in anywhere on the planet at any time in history. In the hopes that future Bond Girls will learn the lesson of their forebears and stay away from the skimpy garments of death, I’ve compiled a five point dossier on how and why these bathing beauties met their mortal ends. Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) in Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger’s ladyfriend is quite the multi-tasker: the bikini-clad, binocular-toting Bond Girl manages to help her boyfriend cheat at cards and work on her tan at the same time! Apparently less impressed than I, Goldfinger eventually paints her gold and she dies of “skin suffocation.” Years later, Mythbusters investigated whether or not such a death is actually possible (answer: probably not), and actress Shirley Eaton appeared on the show to refute rumors that she actually died while encased in gold paint for the movie. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball This bad Bond Girl is a SPECTRE asassin who eventually takes a bullet that was meant for James. But not before, in the inimitable words of her character’s Wikipedia profile, “she waits for Bond in his bathtub, she seduces him and they have erotic sex.” That’s the best kind to have! Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) in Live and Let Die Another Bond villainess, Rosie was the first black Bond Girl. A rogue CIA agent, she checks into Bond’s hotel room as “Mrs. Bond” so that she can be there to seduce him when he arrives. Rosie manages to keep her true identity a secret through a day of deep sea fishing, but eventually James figures out that his new lover is actually a baddie and confronts her, at which point she runs away, only to be killed by another underling of the bad guy she’s been working for. Naomi (Caroline Munro) in The Spy Who Loved Me It is important for helicopter pilots to wear bikinis. Especially helicoptor pilots who flirt with James Bond while trying to shoot him. Unfortunately, this skimpily-dressed helicopter pilot/would-be 007 assassin didn’t get her man, in either a mortal sense or a sexy one, because James blew up her helicopter with a torpedo. Solange Dimitrios (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Solange, the wife of one of main bad guy Le Chiffre’s men, is first seen riding a horse on the beach in her bikini. After Bond wins her husband’s Aston Martin in a poker game, he gives Solange a ride back to his hotel. They’re all set to Do It when the phone rings, and Solange ends up leaking the info that Bond will need to thwart her husband’s terrorist attack on Miami. Yay for Bond (and Miami), bad for Solange, who is tortured and killed as a result. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:02:17 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog11/12/2008 5:02:17 PMMaxim has named Quantum of Solace actress Olga Kurylenko “the hottest Bond Girl ever.” How does one even make such an assessment, when there are so many memorable Bond Girl moments? Remember Ursula Andress, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Halle Berry, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Famke Janssen sex-attacking Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye? (Oh, Famke. You really know how to pick a paycheck.) If you answered “Sure. Whatever.” to one or both of those first two examples, I have a statistic that I’d like to share with you. Did you know that there’s an extremely high rate of death amongst Bond Girls who have worn a bikini? It’s true. Based on my extraordinarily scientific research, out of 11 Bond girls who had “bikini moments,” to borrow the terminology used on JamesBondWiki, five died before the end of the film. That’s 45 percent, making the wearing of a two piece bathing suit in the company of James Bond just about the most dangerous activity a woman could engage in anywhere on the planet at any time in history. In the hopes that future Bond Girls will learn the lesson of their forebears and stay away from the skimpy garments of death, I’ve compiled a five point dossier on how and why these bathing beauties met their mortal ends. Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) in Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger’s ladyfriend is quite the multi-tasker: the bikini-clad, binocular-toting Bond Girl manages to help her boyfriend cheat at cards and work on her tan at the same time! Apparently less impressed than I, Goldfinger eventually paints her gold and she dies of “skin suffocation.” Years later, Mythbusters investigated whether or not such a death is actually possible (answer: probably not), and actress Shirley Eaton appeared on the show to refute rumors that she actually died while encased in gold paint for the movie. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball This bad Bond Girl is a SPECTRE asassin who eventually takes a bullet that was meant for James. But not before, in the inimitable words of her character’s Wikipedia profile, “she waits for Bond in his bathtub, she seduces him and they have erotic sex.” That’s the best kind to have! Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) in Live and Let Die Another Bond villainess, Rosie was the first black Bond Girl. A rogue CIA agent, she checks into Bond’s hotel room as “Mrs. Bond” so that she can be there to seduce him when he arrives. Rosie manages to keep her true identity a secret through a day of deep sea fishing, but eventually James figures out that his new lover is actually a baddie and confronts her, at which point she runs away, only to be killed by another underling of the bad guy she’s been working for. Naomi (Caroline Munro) in The Spy Who Loved Me It is important for helicopter pilots to wear bikinis. Especially helicoptor pilots who flirt with James Bond while trying to shoot him. Unfortunately, this skimpily-dressed helicopter pilot/would-be 007 assassin didn’t get her man, in either a mortal sense or a sexy one, because James blew up her helicopter with a torpedo. Solange Dimitrios (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Solange, the wife of one of main bad guy Le Chiffre’s men, is first seen riding a horse on the beach in her bikini. After Bond wins her husband’s Aston Martin in a poker game, he gives Solange a ride back to his hotel. They’re all set to Do It when the phone rings, and Solange ends up leaking the info that Bond will need to thwart her husband’s terrorist attack on Miami. Yay for Bond (and Miami), bad for Solange, who is tortured and killed as a result. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/11/12/37262.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 11/12/2008 5:02:00 PM
Body: Maxim has named Quantum of Solace actress Olga Kurylenko “the hottest Bond Girl ever.” How does one even make such an assessment, when there are so many memorable Bond Girl moments? Remember Ursula Andress, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Halle Berry, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Famke Janssen sex-attacking Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye? (Oh, Famke. You really know how to pick a paycheck.) If you answered “Sure. Whatever.” to one or both of those first two examples, I have a statistic that I’d like to share with you. Did you know that there’s an extremely high rate of death amongst Bond Girls who have worn a bikini? It’s true. Based on my extraordinarily scientific research, out of 11 Bond girls who had “bikini moments,” to borrow the terminology used on JamesBondWiki, five died before the end of the film. That’s 45 percent, making the wearing of a two piece bathing suit in the company of James Bond just about the most dangerous activity a woman could engage in anywhere on the planet at any time in history. In the hopes that future Bond Girls will learn the lesson of their forebears and stay away from the skimpy garments of death, I’ve compiled a five point dossier on how and why these bathing beauties met their mortal ends. Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) in Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger’s ladyfriend is quite the multi-tasker: the bikini-clad, binocular-toting Bond Girl manages to help her boyfriend cheat at cards and work on her tan at the same time! Apparently less impressed than I, Goldfinger eventually paints her gold and she dies of “skin suffocation.” Years later, Mythbusters investigated whether or not such a death is actually possible (answer: probably not), and actress Shirley Eaton appeared on the show to refute rumors that she actually died while encased in gold paint for the movie. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball This bad Bond Girl is a SPECTRE asassin who eventually takes a bullet that was meant for James. But not before, in the inimitable words of her character’s Wikipedia profile, “she waits for Bond in his bathtub, she seduces him and they have erotic sex.” That’s the best kind to have! Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) in Live and Let Die Another Bond villainess, Rosie was the first black Bond Girl. A rogue CIA agent, she checks into Bond’s hotel room as “Mrs. Bond” so that she can be there to seduce him when he arrives. Rosie manages to keep her true identity a secret through a day of deep sea fishing, but eventually James figures out that his new lover is actually a baddie and confronts her, at which point she runs away, only to be killed by another underling of the bad guy she’s been working for. Naomi (Caroline Munro) in The Spy Who Loved Me It is important for helicopter pilots to wear bikinis. Especially helicoptor pilots who flirt with James Bond while trying to shoot him. Unfortunately, this skimpily-dressed helicopter pilot/would-be 007 assassin didn’t get her man, in either a mortal sense or a sexy one, because James blew up her helicopter with a torpedo. Solange Dimitrios (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Solange, the wife of one of main bad guy Le Chiffre’s men, is first seen riding a horse on the beach in her bikini. After Bond wins her husband’s Aston Martin in a poker game, he gives Solange a ride back to his hotel. They’re all set to Do It when the phone rings, and Solange ends up leaking the info that Bond will need to thwart her husband’s terrorist attack on Miami. Yay for Bond (and Miami), bad for Solange, who is tortured and killed as a result. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:02:00 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com11/12/2008 5:02:00 PMMaxim has named Quantum of Solace actress Olga Kurylenko “the hottest Bond Girl ever.” How does one even make such an assessment, when there are so many memorable Bond Girl moments? Remember Ursula Andress, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Halle Berry, rising from the sea in a bikini? Or Famke Janssen sex-attacking Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye? (Oh, Famke. You really know how to pick a paycheck.) If you answered “Sure. Whatever.” to one or both of those first two examples, I have a statistic that I’d like to share with you. Did you know that there’s an extremely high rate of death amongst Bond Girls who have worn a bikini? It’s true. Based on my extraordinarily scientific research, out of 11 Bond girls who had “bikini moments,” to borrow the terminology used on JamesBondWiki, five died before the end of the film. That’s 45 percent, making the wearing of a two piece bathing suit in the company of James Bond just about the most dangerous activity a woman could engage in anywhere on the planet at any time in history. In the hopes that future Bond Girls will learn the lesson of their forebears and stay away from the skimpy garments of death, I’ve compiled a five point dossier on how and why these bathing beauties met their mortal ends. Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) in Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger’s ladyfriend is quite the multi-tasker: the bikini-clad, binocular-toting Bond Girl manages to help her boyfriend cheat at cards and work on her tan at the same time! Apparently less impressed than I, Goldfinger eventually paints her gold and she dies of “skin suffocation.” Years later, Mythbusters investigated whether or not such a death is actually possible (answer: probably not), and actress Shirley Eaton appeared on the show to refute rumors that she actually died while encased in gold paint for the movie. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball This bad Bond Girl is a SPECTRE asassin who eventually takes a bullet that was meant for James. But not before, in the inimitable words of her character’s Wikipedia profile, “she waits for Bond in his bathtub, she seduces him and they have erotic sex.” That’s the best kind to have! Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) in Live and Let Die Another Bond villainess, Rosie was the first black Bond Girl. A rogue CIA agent, she checks into Bond’s hotel room as “Mrs. Bond” so that she can be there to seduce him when he arrives. Rosie manages to keep her true identity a secret through a day of deep sea fishing, but eventually James figures out that his new lover is actually a baddie and confronts her, at which point she runs away, only to be killed by another underling of the bad guy she’s been working for. Naomi (Caroline Munro) in The Spy Who Loved Me It is important for helicopter pilots to wear bikinis. Especially helicoptor pilots who flirt with James Bond while trying to shoot him. Unfortunately, this skimpily-dressed helicopter pilot/would-be 007 assassin didn’t get her man, in either a mortal sense or a sexy one, because James blew up her helicopter with a torpedo. Solange Dimitrios (Caterina Murino) in Casino Royale Solange, the wife of one of main bad guy Le Chiffre’s men, is first seen riding a horse on the beach in her bikini. After Bond wins her husband’s Aston Martin in a poker game, he gives Solange a ride back to his hotel. They’re all set to Do It when the phone rings, and Solange ends up leaking the info that Bond will need to thwart her husband’s terrorist attack on Miami. Yay for Bond (and Miami), bad for Solange, who is tortured and killed as a result. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/11/10/37148.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 11/10/2008 12:01:10 PM
Body: “Shaken, not stirred.” “Hello, Moneypenny.” “Bond, James Bond.” These are some of the classic lines you hear in nearly every James Bond film. Then there are lines that are unique to each film, and that stick with you after you’ve seen them. Lines like: “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” - Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger “Good choice, she is very sexiful.” - Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice “Now put your clothes back on and I’ll buy you an ice cream” - James Bond in For Your Eyes Only But what Bond movies excel at — besides action, intrigue, and sex — is pure, unadulterated cheese. These films have given us some of the cheesiest lines in the history of filmmaking, and the updated Daniel Craig movies are no exception. From Sean Connery on down, the actors in Bond films have had to deliver cringe-inducing dialog from time to time. We remember the worst after the jump. Goldfinger Pussy: “My name is Pussy Galore” Bond: “I must be dreaming.” Now, this isn’t exactly cheese per se, but it did establish the long-running gag of having women with names that drip with sexual innuendo. You could probably argue that Ursula Andress first established this in Dr. No as Honey Ryder, but there probably hasn’t been as blatant a name as Pussy Galore until Austin Powers met Alotta Fagina. Although Holly Goodhead from Moonraker might rate a close second, and you can’t forget Octopussy from… Octopussy. In the new Casino Royale they poke fun at this naming scheme when Daniel Craig’s Bond jokingly tells Vesper that her cover name is “Stephanie Broadchest.” Diamonds Are Forever Blofeld: “The satellite is at present over… Kansas. Well, if we destroy Kansas the world may not hear about it for years. Perhaps New York, with all that smut and traffic… might give them a chance for a fresh start. Washington, DC. Perfect. Since we have not heard from them, they will hear from us.” - Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever Admittedly, this is my favorite Bond film, and it pains me to include this line, but it just doesn’t work. Blofeld is a criminal mastermind, and preparing to obliterate a massive target with his diamond-powered superlaser, and this bit of cheese is the best thing they could come up with? Yes, he’s an evil arch-villain and all that jazz, but that doesn’t mean he’s coocoo for Cocoa Puffs. I wonder how people who lived in Kansas felt about this line. They probably either chuckled, or else swore off all Bond movies from that moment on. It’s just too goofy for a classic villain to be say before firing what amounts to a miniature Death Star. Even though the guy was bald and carried a white cat around, he was still a pretty creepy nemeis for Bond. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Bond: “This never happened to the other fellow.” - George Lazenby’s James Bond, directly to the camera When Sean Connery finally retired from James Bond duty, producers tapped George Lazenby to fill his shoes. In the opening scene of the movie, Lazenby’s Bond rescues a girl from drowning, carries her to shore, and then is attacked by thugs. Although he eventually beats them, the girl zooms off in her car, leaving Bond with only her shoes in his hands. Then he delivers the above line to the camera. In today’s terms the producers would have been texting each other saying “LOLZ! Get it?! OMG WTF! LMFAO!” Seriously, did we really need this line? Maybe in a tongue-in-cheek commercial or something, but not in the first film introducing a new Bond. It makes it all a bit too meta and goofy. The Spy Who Loved Me M: “Moneypenny, where’s 007?” Monneypenny: “He’s on a mission sir. In Austria.” M: “Well, tell him to pull out. Immediately.” Of course, the scene then cuts to a scene of Bond in bed with a woman. Ah, the comic high-larity! Roger Moore’s James Bond films somehow gave themselves a license to cheese, with Moore himself often delivering some of the campiest lines. In this movie’s final scene, Bond and his female Russian superspy counterpart Triple X (nice name, eh?) are found in bed together by their respective bosses. When asked what he’s doing, Bond replied, “Keeping the British end up, sir.” It wouldn’t be his last trip into the cheese. For Your Eyes Only The Prime Minister (on the phone): “Ah, Mr. Bond. I wanted to call you personally and to say how pleased we all are that your mission was a success. Thank you.” Parrot: “Thank you, thank you.” The Prime Minister: “Don’t thank me, Mr. Bond. Your courage and resourcefulness are a credit to the nation. Denis and I look forward to meeting you. Meanwhile, if there is anything I can do for you… Parrot: “Give us a kiss, give us a kiss.” The Prime Minster: “Well, really, Mr. Bond.” Continuing yet another tradition in the Bond movies of having Bond getting back into bed with a woman he’s met over the course of the film, this movie was no different. Except it continued Moore’s habit of cheesy lines at the end of the films. Bond puts the phone down near a parrot when the Prime Minister calls to congratulate him, and ends up speaking to the parrot. Were they saying that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was as stupid as a post and couldn’t tell when she was a talking to a bird? Still, as cheesy as it is, it’s still not as bad as… Moonraker Sir Frederick Gray, Minister of Defense: “My God, what’s Bond doing?” Q: “I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir.” At the end of this movie, the Minister of Defense calls to congratulate Bond on another job well done, and they dial him up on a space-age video phone to the space shuttle that Bond and Dr. Goodhead are in. Of course, they’re wrapped up in silver sheets and having some zero-gravity intercourse, which Bond must feel the urge to do every time he’s saved the world. In Q’s defense he’s looking at a graphical represenation of Bond’s flight, which still doesn’t forgive this ultra-cheesy line. A View To A Kill May Day: “Wow! What a view!” Max Zorin: “To a kill!” Easily my least favorite James Bond film, and it also has another pet peeve of mine in it: characters say the name of the movie script. Grace Jones’ May Day and Christopher Walken’s Max Zorin characters are hovering over Silicon Valley, about to see their plan work, and these are the two lines you get? Although you can’t really expect anything more out of this movie. Between Walken’s wild-haired Zorin, Grace Jones’ creepy May Day, and Roger Moore as James Bond in New York wearing a leather jacket to look “cool,” there wasn’t much to offer. Sadly, the Duran Duran title song was the best thing about this movie. License to Kill Bond: “I guess it’s… a farewell to arms.” Timothy Dalton’s Bond was a good deal darker and grittier than Roger Moore, and he played the role in a much more serious manner. In this movie, Bond hands in his resignation and goes rogue in order to take down the killers who brutally murdered the new wife of his close friend Felix Leiter. M immediately strips him of his Double 0 status and demands he hand in his firearm. This scene would have a lot more impact if Bond could have managed it without the quip at the end. In Dalton’s previous outing as Bond, The Living Daylights, he refers to a female sniper, “Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her.” GoldenEye Xenia Onatopp: “You don’t need the gun.” James Bond: “Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex.” Besides giving us a brand new Bond who represented a complete return to the joking days of Roger Moore with Pierce Brosnan, this movie also gave us another Bond girl with a sexual name, Xenia Onatopp. It also gave us new cheesy lines, like the one above. James Bond making a safe sex joke about a gun is certainly something you’d never experience back in the Connery days. Somehow Brosnan was able to pull off his glib remarks better than Moore ever did. Moore always seemed like he was about to crack up, but Brosnan kept it under a cool exterior. Although he did provide us with the cheesiest line in the history of James Bond movies… The World Is Not Enough James Bond: “I was wrong about you.” Christmas Jones: “Yeah, how so?” James Bond: “I thought Christmas only comes once a year.” People I know still groan and quote this line from the end of the film which finds Brosnan’s Bond and Denise Richards’ Dr. Christmas Jones in post-coital bliss. You had to know there was going to be some kind of a Christmas joke based on past Bond movies, but this one really was like a punch in the stomach. I remember thinking, “Oh he didn’t just say… he did. Holy crap, Pierce Brosnan, you’re dead to me.” I’ve probably mellowed out these past few years, but you just can’t buy Denise Richards as an extremly busty girl who dresses in short shorts and is trying to pass herself off as a nuclear physicist. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:01:10 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com11/10/2008 12:01:10 PM “Shaken, not stirred.” “Hello, Moneypenny.” “Bond, James Bond.” These are some of the classic lines you hear in nearly every James Bond film. Then there are lines that are unique to each film, and that stick with you after you’ve seen them. Lines like: “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” - Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger “Good choice, she is very sexiful.” - Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice “Now put your clothes back on and I’ll buy you an ice cream” - James Bond in For Your Eyes Only But what Bond movies excel at — besides action, intrigue, and sex — is pure, unadulterated cheese. These films have given us some of the cheesiest lines in the history of filmmaking, and the updated Daniel Craig movies are no exception. From Sean Connery on down, the actors in Bond films have had to deliver cringe-inducing dialog from time to time. We remember the worst after the jump. Goldfinger Pussy: “My name is Pussy Galore” Bond: “I must be dreaming.” Now, this isn’t exactly cheese per se, but it did establish the long-running gag of having women with names that drip with sexual innuendo. You could probably argue that Ursula Andress first established this in Dr. No as Honey Ryder, but there probably hasn’t been as blatant a name as Pussy Galore until Austin Powers met Alotta Fagina. Although Holly Goodhead from Moonraker might rate a close second, and you can’t forget Octopussy from… Octopussy. In the new Casino Royale they poke fun at this naming scheme when Daniel Craig’s Bond jokingly tells Vesper that her cover name is “Stephanie Broadchest.” Diamonds Are Forever Blofeld: “The satellite is at present over… Kansas. Well, if we destroy Kansas the world may not hear about it for years. Perhaps New York, with all that smut and traffic… might give them a chance for a fresh start. Washington, DC. Perfect. Since we have not heard from them, they will hear from us.” - Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever Admittedly, this is my favorite Bond film, and it pains me to include this line, but it just doesn’t work. Blofeld is a criminal mastermind, and preparing to obliterate a massive target with his diamond-powered superlaser, and this bit of cheese is the best thing they could come up with? Yes, he’s an evil arch-villain and all that jazz, but that doesn’t mean he’s coocoo for Cocoa Puffs. I wonder how people who lived in Kansas felt about this line. They probably either chuckled, or else swore off all Bond movies from that moment on. It’s just too goofy for a classic villain to be say before firing what amounts to a miniature Death Star. Even though the guy was bald and carried a white cat around, he was still a pretty creepy nemeis for Bond. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Bond: “This never happened to the other fellow.” - George Lazenby’s James Bond, directly to the camera When Sean Connery finally retired from James Bond duty, producers tapped George Lazenby to fill his shoes. In the opening scene of the movie, Lazenby’s Bond rescues a girl from drowning, carries her to shore, and then is attacked by thugs. Although he eventually beats them, the girl zooms off in her car, leaving Bond with only her shoes in his hands. Then he delivers the above line to the camera. In today’s terms the producers would have been texting each other saying “LOLZ! Get it?! OMG WTF! LMFAO!” Seriously, did we really need this line? Maybe in a tongue-in-cheek commercial or something, but not in the first film introducing a new Bond. It makes it all a bit too meta and goofy. The Spy Who Loved Me M: “Moneypenny, where’s 007?” Monneypenny: “He’s on a mission sir. In Austria.” M: “Well, tell him to pull out. Immediately.” Of course, the scene then cuts to a scene of Bond in bed with a woman. Ah, the comic high-larity! Roger Moore’s James Bond films somehow gave themselves a license to cheese, with Moore himself often delivering some of the campiest lines. In this movie’s final scene, Bond and his female Russian superspy counterpart Triple X (nice name, eh?) are found in bed together by their respective bosses. When asked what he’s doing, Bond replied, “Keeping the British end up, sir.” It wouldn’t be his last trip into the cheese. For Your Eyes Only The Prime Minister (on the phone): “Ah, Mr. Bond. I wanted to call you personally and to say how pleased we all are that your mission was a success. Thank you.” Parrot: “Thank you, thank you.” The Prime Minister: “Don’t thank me, Mr. Bond. Your courage and resourcefulness are a credit to the nation. Denis and I look forward to meeting you. Meanwhile, if there is anything I can do for you… Parrot: “Give us a kiss, give us a kiss.” The Prime Minster: “Well, really, Mr. Bond.” Continuing yet another tradition in the Bond movies of having Bond getting back into bed with a woman he’s met over the course of the film, this movie was no different. Except it continued Moore’s habit of cheesy lines at the end of the films. Bond puts the phone down near a parrot when the Prime Minister calls to congratulate him, and ends up speaking to the parrot. Were they saying that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was as stupid as a post and couldn’t tell when she was a talking to a bird? Still, as cheesy as it is, it’s still not as bad as… Moonraker Sir Frederick Gray, Minister of Defense: “My God, what’s Bond doing?” Q: “I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir.” At the end of this movie, the Minister of Defense calls to congratulate Bond on another job well done, and they dial him up on a space-age video phone to the space shuttle that Bond and Dr. Goodhead are in. Of course, they’re wrapped up in silver sheets and having some zero-gravity intercourse, which Bond must feel the urge to do every time he’s saved the world. In Q’s defense he’s looking at a graphical represenation of Bond’s flight, which still doesn’t forgive this ultra-cheesy line. A View To A Kill May Day: “Wow! What a view!” Max Zorin: “To a kill!” Easily my least favorite James Bond film, and it also has another pet peeve of mine in it: characters say the name of the movie script. Grace Jones’ May Day and Christopher Walken’s Max Zorin characters are hovering over Silicon Valley, about to see their plan work, and these are the two lines you get? Although you can’t really expect anything more out of this movie. Between Walken’s wild-haired Zorin, Grace Jones’ creepy May Day, and Roger Moore as James Bond in New York wearing a leather jacket to look “cool,” there wasn’t much to offer. Sadly, the Duran Duran title song was the best thing about this movie. License to Kill Bond: “I guess it’s… a farewell to arms.” Timothy Dalton’s Bond was a good deal darker and grittier than Roger Moore, and he played the role in a much more serious manner. In this movie, Bond hands in his resignation and goes rogue in order to take down the killers who brutally murdered the new wife of his close friend Felix Leiter. M immediately strips him of his Double 0 status and demands he hand in his firearm. This scene would have a lot more impact if Bond could have managed it without the quip at the end. In Dalton’s previous outing as Bond, The Living Daylights, he refers to a female sniper, “Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her.” GoldenEye Xenia Onatopp: “You don’t need the gun.” James Bond: “Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex.” Besides giving us a brand new Bond who represented a complete return to the joking days of Roger Moore with Pierce Brosnan, this movie also gave us another Bond girl with a sexual name, Xenia Onatopp. It also gave us new cheesy lines, like the one above. James Bond making a safe sex joke about a gun is certainly something you’d never experience back in the Connery days. Somehow Brosnan was able to pull off his glib remarks better than Moore ever did. Moore always seemed like he was about to crack up, but Brosnan kept it under a cool exterior. Although he did provide us with the cheesiest line in the history of James Bond movies… The World Is Not Enough James Bond: “I was wrong about you.” Christmas Jones: “Yeah, how so?” James Bond: “I thought Christmas only comes once a year.” People I know still groan and quote this line from the end of the film which finds Brosnan’s Bond and Denise Richards’ Dr. Christmas Jones in post-coital bliss. You had to know there was going to be some kind of a Christmas joke based on past Bond movies, but this one really was like a punch in the stomach. I remember thinking, “Oh he didn’t just say… he did. Holy crap, Pierce Brosnan, you’re dead to me.” I’ve probably mellowed out these past few years, but you just can’t buy Denise Richards as an extremly busty girl who dresses in short shorts and is trying to pass herself off as a nuclear physicist. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/aidanbrack/archive/2008/8/15/34047.aspx Post By: aidanbrack
Post To: The Bigger Picture
Post Date: 8/15/2008 1:27:05 PM
Body: It's been a while since I last did a top 5 list but my appetite for Bond has been whetted by the news that there will be Blu-Ray releases this year for Dr No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die and Die Another Day. Now, one of those films may be my least favourite Bond movie of all time (and another one of those is certainly bottom half of my league table) but nonetheless the news has me pumped. So when I thought to myself "What top 5 should I tackle next?" the choice was obvious. Bond has been in my blood since I first saw The Spy Who Loved Me when I was five or six and I quickly became hooked on the series. The first films I bought on DVD when I went to University were the Bond films and I watched and rewatched them throughout my time there, on at least two occassions marathoning the films and watching them back to back. I have seen only two movies at the theatre - the last two - and I cannot wait to see Quantum of Solace on the big screen. Suggestions that we might see a return to the gadgets disappoint me but hopefully Daniel Craig's performance will give me something to really latch onto. Without further ado - here are my top 5 Bond movies: 5. Licence to Kill - The two Dalton movies were the last two "classic" Bonds I saw but both rank amongst my favourites these days. Licence to Kill is an interesting picture - certainly darker and more bloody than other Bond films but with a focus on the character that I found irresistible. I love the way Bond's history is used to give him a personal connection to what is taking place - it really adds something to the storyline and helped me to invest in it. Sure, this film has its flaws. It feels distinctly of its time period (but then, don't the films from the 60s and 70s?) and its female lead feels a little bland. However its dark humour and excellent action sequences are amongst the best the series ever offered and for that reason it makes the cut. 4. From Russia With Love - No doubt some people would accuse me of pushing out Goldfinger to make room for From Russia simply to be iconoclastic but permit me a second to make my case. From Russia With Love is gritty and has three wonderful performances at its heart. Robert Shaw is superb as Red Grant - smart and brawny, he also has an intensity that complements Connery's style beautifully. The actress playing Rosa Klebb is a very different, interesting Bond villain - smart and manipulative. The action sequences are excellent and the supporting cast of characters really stand out. Little wonder that Sean Connery himself lists it as his favourite movie from the series. 3. Live and Let Die - Moore's debut is thrilling and a real departure of style from the previous entries. The action is superb, the humour cheeky without being too over the top and it features the magnificent Jane Seymour. It is a shame that Moore's Bond would quickly degenerate into wisecracks and eyebrow raising but here he is charming, ruthless and cold all at the same time. His best performance and one of the best Bond movies. 2. Casino Royale - No, not the Woody Allen version - this is the 2006 Bond blockbuster that really put the franchise back on the right track, at least as far as I am concerned. Daniel Craig is intense and really plays beautifully off Eva Green. The romantic scenes between the two of them are full of tension and layers of understanding. There is one scene which gets to me every time. Not to mention a scene which holds the honour of being the only torture scene to make me laugh. 1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Lastly my favourite Bond film and one of my favourite films, period. Lazenby is under-rated as Bond, turning in a gripping and emotional performance opposite Diana Rigg. The setting is stunning (and definitely cries out for Blu Ray conversion) whilst the action is gripping. I love the texture of this film and the awkward alliance between Bond and Tracy's father. There is so much going on here that at some point soon I'll have to give it a review-type post of its own, but from its opening scene to its self-aware quips to its sixties "free love" influences this never puts a foot wrong for me. It's just a shame that Lazenby did not want to do more of these - he could well have developed into a great Bond.
]]>Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:27:05 GMTaidanbrackThe Bigger Picture8/15/2008 1:27:05 PMIt's been a while since I last did a top 5 list but my appetite for Bond has been whetted by the news that there will be Blu-Ray releases this year for Dr No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die and Die Another Day. Now, one of those films may be my least favourite Bond movie of all time (and another one of those is certainly bottom half of my league table) but nonetheless the news has me pumped. So when I thought to myself "What top 5 should I tackle next?" the choice was obvious. Bond has been in my blood since I first saw The Spy Who Loved Me when I was five or six and I quickly became hooked on the series. The first films I bought on DVD when I went to University were the Bond films and I watched and rewatched them throughout my time there, on at least two occassions marathoning the films and watching them back to back. I have seen only two movies at the theatre - the last two - and I cannot wait to see Quantum of Solace on the big screen. Suggestions that we might see a return to the gadgets disappoint me but hopefully Daniel Craig's performance will give me something to really latch onto. Without further ado - here are my top 5 Bond movies: 5. Licence to Kill - The two Dalton movies were the last two "classic" Bonds I saw but both rank amongst my favourites these days. Licence to Kill is an interesting picture - certainly darker and more bloody than other Bond films but with a focus on the character that I found irresistible. I love the way Bond's history is used to give him a personal connection to what is taking place - it really adds something to the storyline and helped me to invest in it. Sure, this film has its flaws. It feels distinctly of its time period (but then, don't the films from the 60s and 70s?) and its female lead feels a little bland. However its dark humour and excellent action sequences are amongst the best the series ever offered and for that reason it makes the cut. 4. From Russia With Love - No doubt some people would accuse me of pushing out Goldfinger to make room for From Russia simply to be iconoclastic but permit me a second to make my case. From Russia With Love is gritty and has three wonderful performances at its heart. Robert Shaw is superb as Red Grant - smart and brawny, he also has an intensity that complements Connery's style beautifully. The actress playing Rosa Klebb is a very different, interesting Bond villain - smart and manipulative. The action sequences are excellent and the supporting cast of characters really stand out. Little wonder that Sean Connery himself lists it as his favourite movie from the series. 3. Live and Let Die - Moore's debut is thrilling and a real departure of style from the previous entries. The action is superb, the humour cheeky without being too over the top and it features the magnificent Jane Seymour. It is a shame that Moore's Bond would quickly degenerate into wisecracks and eyebrow raising but here he is charming, ruthless and cold all at the same time. His best performance and one of the best Bond movies. 2. Casino Royale - No, not the Woody Allen version - this is the 2006 Bond blockbuster that really put the franchise back on the right track, at least as far as I am concerned. Daniel Craig is intense and really plays beautifully off Eva Green. The romantic scenes between the two of them are full of tension and layers of understanding. There is one scene which gets to me every time. Not to mention a scene which holds the honour of being the only torture scene to make me laugh. 1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Lastly my favourite Bond film and one of my favourite films, period. Lazenby is under-rated as Bond, turning in a gripping and emotional performance opposite Diana Rigg. The setting is stunning (and definitely cries out for Blu Ray conversion) whilst the action is gripping. I love the texture of this film and the awkward alliance between Bond and Tracy's father. There is so much going on here that at some point soon I'll have to give it a review-type post of its own, but from its opening scene to its self-aware quips to its sixties "free love" influences this never puts a foot wrong for me. It's just a shame that Lazenby did not want to do more of these - he could well have developed into a great Bond. http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/13/28874.aspx Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/13/2008 4:48:15 AM
Body: As I've said before, it's getting hard to write reviews of these James Bond films because they are more like episodes of a TV show then films in a series, in that each on does basicilly the same thing. The pleasure comes from the differences and varitions. The Spy Who Loved Me is generally considered to be the best of the Roger Moore Bond films, but I don't think it's as good as it's predecessor, The Man with the Golden Gun. I think it could have been though, that's what make the movie frustarting. It's good, but it missed the oppurtinity to be great.The premise was certainly promising- a British and a Soviet submarine are sunk by unkown forces, each goverment blames the other and dispatches a secret agent to investigate. We know who the British agent is, but the Soviet is XXX, aka Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach). Although they are first enemies, Bond and Amasova quickly realease that a third party was involved in the crime and that their goverements must work together to stop the bad guy (Curd Jurgens). Despite an obvious physical attraction, their are other problems, namley, Bond killed Amasova's boyfriend in an intelligence operation at the beginning of the film.This is a great setup for a really fun spy thriller that might actully be suspenseful. The problem is the movie's campiness. It as if they were afraid that audineces wouldn't actully want to see a thriller that thrills and therefore undermined the materail with a lot of Schwezenegger-type action jokes. Also, when the finally do reveal what's going in, it's a little unbeleivable, because we have already seen a lot of weird gagdets (such as a car that turns into a submarine), and are not that surprised. There is not much chemisry between Moore and Bach, although Amasova is so underwritten it's hard to blame the actors. The movie does work, however, on an aestheical level. This is the best looking of all the Bond films so far. Production desinger Ken Adam, well known for his sets on previous films of the series as well as the maginicent design for Dr. Strangelove really out does himself here, he probably deserved an Academy Award nomination for Art Direction. A scene set in an Egpytion pyramid really looks like a pyramid even though it was a set. Even more impressive is bad guy's lair at the end of the movie, Adam's set was so big that a new soundstage had to be constructed just to hold it. The cinematography by Claude Renoir, is very impressive as well.I suppose I liked The Spy Who Loved Me more for how it looks and feels as opposed to what it says. If they had somehow managed to get the humor out of this movie and treat the material just a little more seriously, they might have had a really amazing spy thriller. What they indeed up with is worth a look, but only to look. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
]]>Tue, 13 May 2008 08:48:15 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/13/2008 4:48:15 AMAs I've said before, it's getting hard to write reviews of these James Bond films because they are more like episodes of a TV show then films in a series, in that each on does basicilly the same thing. The pleasure comes from the differences and varitions. The Spy Who Loved Me is generally considered to be the best of the Roger Moore Bond films, but I don't think it's as good as it's predecessor, The Man with the Golden Gun. I think it could have been though, that's what make the movie frustarting. It's good, but it missed the oppurtinity to be great.The premise was certainly promising- a British and a Soviet submarine are sunk by unkown forces, each goverment blames the other and dispatches a secret agent to investigate. We know who the British agent is, but the Soviet is XXX, aka Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach). Although they are first enemies, Bond and Amasova quickly realease that a third party was involved in the crime and that their goverements must work together to stop the bad guy (Curd Jurgens). Despite an obvious physical attraction, their are other problems, namley, Bond killed Amasova's boyfriend in an intelligence operation at the beginning of the film.This is a great setup for a really fun spy thriller that might actully be suspenseful. The problem is the movie's campiness. It as if they were afraid that audineces wouldn't actully want to see a thriller that thrills and therefore undermined the materail with a lot of Schwezenegger-type action jokes. Also, when the finally do reveal what's going in, it's a little unbeleivable, because we have already seen a lot of weird gagdets (such as a car that turns into a submarine), and are not that surprised. There is not much chemisry between Moore and Bach, although Amasova is so underwritten it's hard to blame the actors. The movie does work, however, on an aestheical level. This is the best looking of all the Bond films so far. Production desinger Ken Adam, well known for his sets on previous films of the series as well as the maginicent design for Dr. Strangelove really out does himself here, he probably deserved an Academy Award nomination for Art Direction. A scene set in an Egpytion pyramid really looks like a pyramid even though it was a set. Even more impressive is bad guy's lair at the end of the movie, Adam's set was so big that a new soundstage had to be constructed just to hold it. The cinematography by Claude Renoir, is very impressive as well.I suppose I liked The Spy Who Loved Me more for how it looks and feels as opposed to what it says. If they had somehow managed to get the humor out of this movie and treat the material just a little more seriously, they might have had a really amazing spy thriller. What they indeed up with is worth a look, but only to look. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) http://www.spout.com/groups/Bond_Beyond/Re_Rank_James_Bond_Films/10/17827/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: pgiglio
Post To: Bond & Beyond
Post Date: 8/11/2007 1:50:59 AM
Body: As a long time fan of the James Bond franchise, I have altered this list many times over the years. This is where I currently stand.On Her Majesty's Secret Service (4 stars)From Russia With Love (4 stars)Casino Royale (3 1/2 stars)Dr No (3 1/2 stars)Goldfinger (3 1/2 stars)The Living Daylights (3 1/2 stars)For Your Eyes Only (3 stars)Diamonds Are Forever (3 stars)The Spy Who Loved Me (3 stars)Thunderball (3 stars)Goldeneye (3 stars)Octopussy (3 stars)You Only Live Twice (2 1/2 stars)The Man with the Golden Gun (2 1/2 stars)License To Kill (2 1/2 stars)The World is Not Enough (2 1/2 stars)Live and Let Die (2 stars)Tomorrow Never Dies (2 stars)Die Another Day (2 stars)A View To a Kill (1 1/2 stars)Moonraker (1/2 star)The only two films listed here that I really thought were out of place in the series were A View to a Kill and Moonraker. Daniel Craig does a nice job of filling the role of bond and I look forward to the Casino Royale sequel. For those interested, Never Say Never again and the original Casino Royale are not part of the James Bond franchise. Interesting side note: Bond titles that mention death in any of its wonderous forms for some reason usually don't meet the expectations of the series. Thank you.
]]>Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:50:59 GMTpgiglioBond & Beyond8/11/2007 1:50:59 AMAs a long time fan of the James Bond franchise, I have altered this list many times over the years. This is where I currently stand.On Her Majesty&#39;s Secret Service (4 stars)From Russia With Love (4 stars)Casino Royale (3 1/2 stars)Dr No (3 1/2 stars)Goldfinger (3 1/2 stars)The Living Daylights (3 1/2 stars)For Your Eyes Only (3 stars)Diamonds Are Forever (3 stars)The Spy Who Loved Me (3 stars)Thunderball (3 stars)Goldeneye (3 stars)Octopussy (3 stars)You Only Live Twice (2 1/2 stars)The Man with the Golden Gun (2 1/2 stars)License To Kill (2 1/2 stars)The World is Not Enough (2 1/2 stars)Live and Let Die (2 stars)Tomorrow Never Dies (2 stars)Die Another Day (2 stars)A View To a Kill (1 1/2 stars)Moonraker (1/2 star)The only two films listed here that I really thought were out of place in the series were A View to a Kill and Moonraker. Daniel Craig does a nice job of filling the role of bond and I look forward to the Casino Royale sequel. For those interested, Never Say Never again and the original Casino Royale are not part of the James Bond franchise. Interesting side note: Bond titles that mention death in any of its wonderous forms for some reason usually don&#39;t meet the expectations of the series. Thank you. http://www.spout.com/groups/Bond_Beyond/Rank_James_Bond_Films/10/16722/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Windbreaker
Post To: Bond & Beyond
Post Date: 7/28/2007 3:27:46 PM
Body: I haven't seen any signs of recent life on this board, but will throw out a suggestion... RANK THE BOND FILMS. Against each other, of course, not necessarily individual ratings. A friend of mine challenged me to re-watch them chronologically and as quickly as possible. We each made our own notes along the way and ranked them. The ranking below was created prior to DIE ANOTHER DAY, so I need to consider where it fits in. I will tell you exactly where CASINO ROYALE fits in (see below). This is all very subjective, but I'd be interested to see other's thoughts. For example, do you loathe YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE because of its finale or do you forgive that portion and rank it higher? Enough babbling, on with my ranking.From Russia with LoveThunderballGoldeneyeCasino RoyaleOn Her Majesty’s Secret ServiceThe Living DaylightsDr NoTomorrow Never DiesThe Spy Who Loved MeLicense To KillGoldfingerFor Your Eyes OnlyLive and Let DieThe World Is Not EnoughOctopussyThe Man with the Golden Gun Die Another DayA View To A KillDiamonds Are ForeverMoonrakerYou Only Live TwiceThe order will certainly change, but I doubt too dramatically. I'm now re-watching the newly remastered DVDs. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE looked and sounded awesome.
]]>Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:27:46 GMTWindbreakerBond & Beyond7/28/2007 3:27:46 PMI haven&#39;t seen any signs of recent life on this board, but will throw out a suggestion... RANK THE BOND FILMS. Against each other, of course, not necessarily individual ratings. A friend of mine challenged me to re-watch them chronologically and as quickly as possible. We each made our own notes along the way and ranked them. The ranking below was created prior to DIE ANOTHER DAY, so I need to consider where it fits in. I will tell you exactly where CASINO ROYALE fits in (see below). This is all very subjective, but I&#39;d be interested to see other&#39;s thoughts. For example, do you loathe YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE because of its finale or do you forgive that portion and rank it higher? Enough babbling, on with my ranking.From Russia with LoveThunderballGoldeneyeCasino RoyaleOn Her Majesty&rsquo;s Secret ServiceThe Living DaylightsDr NoTomorrow Never DiesThe Spy Who Loved MeLicense To KillGoldfingerFor Your Eyes OnlyLive and Let DieThe World Is Not EnoughOctopussyThe Man with the Golden Gun Die Another DayA View To A KillDiamonds Are ForeverMoonrakerYou Only Live TwiceThe order will certainly change, but I doubt too dramatically. I&#39;m now re-watching the newly remastered DVDs. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE looked and sounded awesome. http://www.spout.com/blogs/hairylime/archive/2007/2/5/5270.aspx Post By: HairyLime
Post To: HairyLime Blog
Post Date: 2/5/2007 11:24:00 AM
Body: I have to admit, I have been away from the Bond franchise for some time. The last one I saw was 'Goldeneye', and while I thought it was a cut above the previous few entries, I was getting a little tired of the concept, thinking "how long can they keep milking this?" -- Well we had heard that this new Bond Daniel Craig was worth a look, so we ventured out to our local multiplex to check him out around December. Additionally, the 'Encore' channel started running all the old Bonds around the New Year (and if you got the 'on demand' option with your cable service, you could watch all of them at your leisure in widescreen no less!), so around here, we've been thoroughly drenched in Bond for the past few months. This weekend, we were snowed in and watched one of the more recent Pierce Brosnan entries, so with all this is mind, I thought I'd do an overview of the 007 pantheon (at least the ones I've seen, who knows how many times by now).I have to start by qualifying some of my prejudices about the series. I cut a lot of slack for the early ones. Budgets were low, the mindsets were different, audiences weren't quite so demanding of constant 'bang for the buck' as they are today. Sean Connery is still the favorite, and I will never understand how Roger Moore survived as long as he did.Dr. No (1962) - The franchise started the year I was born, but I didn't actually see this film until the mid-eighties video boom. Recently revisited it thanks to the Encore channel last month. Sean Connery sets the standard for the cool playboy secret agent, handles himself well in fights, makes snappy double entendres and Ursula Andress in her bikini and knife-belt combo is probably the most iconic of 'Bond girls'. Action-wise, the film is a little slow, but it has the proto-typical 'evil genius' and 'hidden island lair'. From Russia With Love (1963) - Haven't seen this one since the seventies, so its not fair to review this one. I seem to remember Robert Shaw was an impressive baddie, and the weird little woman with the pointy shoes was probably the model for the female evil sidekick character in the 'Austin Powers' movies.Goldfinger (1964) - Good villain, wierd henchman (with a lethal bowler hat no less), and Bond girl with the best name ("Pussy Galore") - Great car, good memorable lines "I expect you to die, Mr. Bond!" and the best of the theme songs.Thunderball (1965) - Remade as 'Never Say Never Again' in the eighties. Never a good idea to include scuba chase scenes, they really slow down the action. Good Tom Jones theme song. Haven't seen this one since the eighties, so I'll pass on more comments.You Only Live Twice (1967) - The goofiest of the Sean Connery films. Check out Bond in Japanese makeup made to pass as a native. Very cliche villain and volcano hideaway which was probably the model for Dr. Evil in the 'Austin Powers' films. Bond flies around in a mini helicopter with 4 distinct weapons onboard, and is chased by and dispatches - you guessed it - 4 helicopters. You can usually tell how weak the franchise is getting by how many techno gadgets get introduced.Casino Royale (1967) - A testament to how stale the franchise was becoming, it was ripe for lampoon. Not worth a look, this is a total mess. But maybe worth a peek at the final reel just to catch Woody Allen's bit as the evil 'James Bond Jr.'On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Saw this for the first time last month. Not as bad as I was expecting. Telly Savalas makes a rather lame villain which is probably the biggest flaw. Diana Rigg is appealling and a nice tough mate for James. George Lazenby is a little on the dry side, but handles himself well, has a lot of good one liners. Ski chase scenes aplenty (and we'll be getting many more of them in the future, unfortunately).Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery comes back, looking a little pudgy, but still holding his own. This one has my favorite Bond double entendre when he comments on Jill St. John's wig change : "as long as the cuffs and collars match" - colorful villainous henchmen, just bordering on spoofery, the usual evil genius villain with an exotic hideaway that needs to be stormed. Not bad, but needs fresh ideas badly.Live and Let Die (1973) - Enter Roger Moore. Great theme song. Colorful villains and voodoo setting. A nice boat chase. Overall though, this Bond seems to play everything a little too much for laughs. A constant smirk on his face and the fact that he never looked believable in the fight scenes always left me a little cold on Roger Moore.The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) - More silliness. Killer midgets, another boat chase with the same southern sherrif along for the ride. We are in serious 'sequel-itis' territory now. Just treading water.The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Tried watching this one last month, couldn't get interested. 'Jaws' makes his first appearance. It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Moonraker (1979) - More 'Jaws'. Slow motion outer space climax (pardon the pun). Tied for a three way "worst bond film ever" award.For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Almost palatable Roger Moore bond. (more skiing though - probably easier to hide the stunt man beneath all the protective gear). Topol makes a good ally/sidekick. Revenge seeking crossbow weilding bond girl is a nice touch.Octopussy (1983) - More silliness. Maud Adams again for some reason (wasn't she killed off in 'Golden Gun'?) Girly Circus Troupe. Ok. (three way "worst bond film ever" winner)Never Say Never Again (1983) - To underscore how badly the franchise needs a facelift, but not quite the facelift it needed, Sean Connery goes back at it again in this 'unofficial' remake of 'Thunderball'. Beats the current 'official' Bond movies hands down, but still needs a younger actor in the role. Good villain turn by Klaus Maria Brandauer. A View To a Kill (1985) - Badly in need of a makeover now. Roger Moore is looking quite old and frail by this time and the pairings with the young girls is starting to earn catcalls. Grace Jones and Christopher Walken and Duran Duran title song. (three way "worst bond film ever" winner)The Living Daylights (1987) - Timothy Dalton takes over. While he has a good British theatrical delivery and seems to have a lot of severe intensity, he strikes me as being a bit of a 98 lb weakling in the brawn department. 'AIDS awareness Bond' spends much more time out of bed in the next few movies and more time with small potatoes bad guys and outlandish action sequences. An improvement on Roger Moore at any rate.Licence to Kill (1989) - Revisited last month. Good final chase scene (if not a little improbable - semi trucks doing wheelies?) - Grim determined Timothy Dalton goes on a revenge spree and brings Q along for the ride. Good creepy villain. Funny cameo by Wayne Newton as a new age guru.Goldeneye (1995) - Pierce Brosnan takes over. Refreshing to see the sex jokes back in the mix. Good over the top action sequences (love the tank chase scene). Bond is back in a good way. But oddly enough its not enough to sustain my interest and I end up missing the next three at the theater. Nice touch bringing in Judi Dench as M. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - haven't seen it yetThe World Is Not Enough (1999) - Saw this one last weekend. Good villain, good 'bad bond girl' - extremely silly 'good bond girl' (who buys Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist?) - Good enough Bond flick, but we seem to be getting back to a bit of Roger Moore-ishness in the spoof/seriousness ratio.Die Another Day (2002) - haven't seen it yetCasino Royale (2006) - Wow. Bond taken a bit more seriously ala 'Batman Begins'. Daniel Craig actually looks like he can 'take a licking and keep on ticking'. And I love the 'Bond with an attitude' persona he puts forward, reminds me of Connery in his youth. Favorite line: Bond: "give me a vodka martini" Bartender: "shaken or stirred?" Bond: "do I look like I give a damn?" - And doesn't everyone need a car with a built-in defibulator?Looking forward to where this goes next... addendum: A few other 'Spy Films' that might help take away the bad taste of 'too much Bond' - "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" with Richard Burton, "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford, and recently "The Constant Gardener" with Ralph Fiennes -- they treat the 'glamorous world of spy-dom' with a generous dose of skepticism and a refreshingly bleak world view.
]]>Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:24:00 GMTHairyLimeHairyLime Blog2/5/2007 11:24:00 AMI have to admit, I have been away from the Bond franchise for some time. The last one I saw was &#39;Goldeneye&#39;, and while I thought it was a cut above the previous few entries, I was getting a little tired of the concept, thinking "how long can they keep milking this?" -- Well we had heard that this new Bond Daniel Craig was worth a look, so we ventured out to our local multiplex to check him out around December. Additionally, the &#39;Encore&#39; channel started running all the old Bonds around the New Year (and if you got the &#39;on demand&#39; option with your cable service, you could watch all of them at your leisure in widescreen no less!), so around here, we&#39;ve been thoroughly drenched in Bond for the past few months. This weekend, we were snowed in and watched one of the more recent Pierce Brosnan entries, so with all this is mind, I thought I&#39;d do an overview of the 007 pantheon (at least the ones I&#39;ve seen, who knows how many times by now).I have to start by qualifying some of my prejudices about the series. I cut a lot of slack for the early ones. Budgets were low, the mindsets were different, audiences weren&#39;t quite so demanding of constant &#39;bang for the buck&#39; as they are today. Sean Connery is still the favorite, and I will never understand how Roger Moore survived as long as he did.Dr. No (1962) - The franchise started the year I was born, but I didn&#39;t actually see this film until the mid-eighties video boom. Recently revisited it thanks to the Encore channel last month. Sean Connery sets the standard for the cool playboy secret agent, handles himself well in fights, makes snappy double entendres and Ursula Andress in her bikini and knife-belt combo is probably the most iconic of &#39;Bond girls&#39;. Action-wise, the film is a little slow, but it has the proto-typical &#39;evil genius&#39; and &#39;hidden island lair&#39;. From Russia With Love (1963) - Haven&#39;t seen this one since the seventies, so its not fair to review this one. I seem to remember Robert Shaw was an impressive baddie, and the weird little woman with the pointy shoes was probably the model for the female evil sidekick character in the &#39;Austin Powers&#39; movies.Goldfinger (1964) - Good villain, wierd henchman (with a lethal bowler hat no less), and Bond girl with the best name ("Pussy Galore") - Great car, good memorable lines "I expect you to die, Mr. Bond!" and the best of the theme songs.Thunderball (1965) - Remade as &#39;Never Say Never Again&#39; in the eighties. Never a good idea to include scuba chase scenes, they really slow down the action. Good Tom Jones theme song. Haven&#39;t seen this one since the eighties, so I&#39;ll pass on more comments.You Only Live Twice (1967) - The goofiest of the Sean Connery films. Check out Bond in Japanese makeup made to pass as a native. Very cliche villain and volcano hideaway which was probably the model for Dr. Evil in the &#39;Austin Powers&#39; films. Bond flies around in a mini helicopter with 4 distinct weapons onboard, and is chased by and dispatches - you guessed it - 4 helicopters. You can usually tell how weak the franchise is getting by how many techno gadgets get introduced.Casino Royale (1967) - A testament to how stale the franchise was becoming, it was ripe for lampoon. Not worth a look, this is a total mess. But maybe worth a peek at the final reel just to catch Woody Allen&#39;s bit as the evil &#39;James Bond Jr.&#39;On Her Majesty&#39;s Secret Service (1969) - Saw this for the first time last month. Not as bad as I was expecting. Telly Savalas makes a rather lame villain which is probably the biggest flaw. Diana Rigg is appealling and a nice tough mate for James. George Lazenby is a little on the dry side, but handles himself well, has a lot of good one liners. Ski chase scenes aplenty (and we&#39;ll be getting many more of them in the future, unfortunately).Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery comes back, looking a little pudgy, but still holding his own. This one has my favorite Bond double entendre when he comments on Jill St. John&#39;s wig change : "as long as the cuffs and collars match" - colorful villainous henchmen, just bordering on spoofery, the usual evil genius villain with an exotic hideaway that needs to be stormed. Not bad, but needs fresh ideas badly.Live and Let Die (1973) - Enter Roger Moore. Great theme song. Colorful villains and voodoo setting. A nice boat chase. Overall though, this Bond seems to play everything a little too much for laughs. A constant smirk on his face and the fact that he never looked believable in the fight scenes always left me a little cold on Roger Moore.The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) - More silliness. Killer midgets, another boat chase with the same southern sherrif along for the ride. We are in serious &#39;sequel-itis&#39; territory now. Just treading water.The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Tried watching this one last month, couldn&#39;t get interested. &#39;Jaws&#39; makes his first appearance. It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Moonraker (1979) - More &#39;Jaws&#39;. Slow motion outer space climax (pardon the pun). Tied for a three way "worst bond film ever" award.For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Almost palatable Roger Moore bond. (more skiing though - probably easier to hide the stunt man beneath all the protective gear). Topol makes a good ally/sidekick. Revenge seeking crossbow weilding bond girl is a nice touch.Octopussy (1983) - More silliness. Maud Adams again for some reason (wasn&#39;t she killed off in &#39;Golden Gun&#39;?) Girly Circus Troupe. Ok. (three way "worst bond film ever" winner)Never Say Never Again (1983) - To underscore how badly the franchise needs a facelift, but not quite the facelift it needed, Sean Connery goes back at it again in this &#39;unofficial&#39; remake of &#39;Thunderball&#39;. Beats the current &#39;official&#39; Bond movies hands down, but still needs a younger actor in the role. Good villain turn by Klaus Maria Brandauer. A View To a Kill (1985) - Badly in need of a makeover now. Roger Moore is looking quite old and frail by this time and the pairings with the young girls is starting to earn catcalls. Grace Jones and Christopher Walken and Duran Duran title song. (three way "worst bond film ever" winner)The Living Daylights (1987) - Timothy Dalton takes over. While he has a good British theatrical delivery and seems to have a lot of severe intensity, he strikes me as being a bit of a 98 lb weakling in the brawn department. &#39;AIDS awareness Bond&#39; spends much more time out of bed in the next few movies and more time with small potatoes bad guys and outlandish action sequences. An improvement on Roger Moore at any rate.Licence to Kill (1989) - Revisited last month. Good final chase scene (if not a little improbable - semi trucks doing wheelies?) - Grim determined Timothy Dalton goes on a revenge spree and brings Q along for the ride. Good creepy villain. Funny cameo by Wayne Newton as a new age guru.Goldeneye (1995) - Pierce Brosnan takes over. Refreshing to see the sex jokes back in the mix. Good over the top action sequences (love the tank chase scene). Bond is back in a good way. But oddly enough its not enough to sustain my interest and I end up missing the next three at the theater. Nice touch bringing in Judi Dench as M. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - haven&#39;t seen it yetThe World Is Not Enough (1999) - Saw this one last weekend. Good villain, good &#39;bad bond girl&#39; - extremely silly &#39;good bond girl&#39; (who buys Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist?) - Good enough Bond flick, but we seem to be getting back to a bit of Roger Moore-ishness in the spoof/seriousness ratio.Die Another Day (2002) - haven&#39;t seen it yetCasino Royale (2006) - Wow. Bond taken a bit more seriously ala &#39;Batman Begins&#39;. Daniel Craig actually looks like he can &#39;take a licking and keep on ticking&#39;. And I love the &#39;Bond with an attitude&#39; persona he puts forward, reminds me of Connery in his youth. Favorite line: Bond: "give me a vodka martini" Bartender: "shaken or stirred?" Bond: "do I look like I give a damn?" - And doesn&#39;t everyone need a car with a built-in defibulator?Looking forward to where this goes next... addendum: A few other &#39;Spy Films&#39; that might help take away the bad taste of &#39;too much Bond&#39; - "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" with Richard Burton, "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford, and recently "The Constant Gardener" with Ralph Fiennes -- they treat the &#39;glamorous world of spy-dom&#39; with a generous dose of skepticism and a refreshingly bleak world view. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/love/MemberTagFilms.aspxlove
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]]>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:02:23 GMT6882354Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/conflict/MemberTagFilms.aspxconflict
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