My recent Bond marathon

[Deleted]

So I've come to end of my Bond marathon and sadly I feel disappointed that I didn't enjoy as many films this time round. Diamonds was as fun as I remembered, The Man with the Golden Gun was perhaps the most surprising of bunch and one that I rate quite highly now and Moonraker is just a masterpiece. I also found stuff to like Spy. I lost some affection for Octopussy and I actually struggled through A View to a Kill the other day. For Your Eyes Only I've always found a bit dull and Live and Let Die is near the bottom of the pile. As for the Connery era, well, I like Dr.No a fair bit but From Russia With Love bored me a bit when I sat down to watch it recently. Goldfinger is a pile of shite (sorry) and Thunderball, despite being quite interesting, has moments that lag. You Only Live Twice is good though and of course Diamonds are Forever is one of my favourite Bond movies. OHMSS and the Dalton films have also gone down in my list, but I still enjoy them (except Licence).

My final rankings for the series:

1. Diamonds are Forever (1971)
2. Moonraker (1979)
3. The Man With The Golden Gun (1973)
4. Dr.No (1962)
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Best bond girls:

1. Holly Goodhead
2. Plenty O'Toole
3. Tiffany Case
4. Mary Goodnight
5. Naomi (gotta love Caroline Munro!)


Best villains:

1. Blofeld (Savalas)
2. Drax
3. Scaramanga
4. Blofeld (Gray)
5. Wint & Kidd

Best songs:

1. Moonraker (Bassey)
2. Diamonds are Forever (Bassey)
3. We Have All The Time In The World (Armstrong)
4. The Living Daylights (A-Ha)
5. A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)

Best soundtracks:

1. Diamonds (John Barry)
2. Moonraker (John Barry)
3. You Only Live Twice (John Barry)
4. The Living Daylights (John Barry)
5. Live and Let Die (George Martin)

[henshin]

Hard pass on your rankings, Pepsi - but with all of those choices, there's bound to be debate.

My turn.


My final rankings for the series:

1) From Russia With Love

2) Casino Royale (Campbell's film, of course)

3) The Living Daylights

4) Tomorrow Never Dies

5) The Man With The Golden Gun


Best villains:
1) Francisco Scaramanga

2) Elektra King 

3) Franz Sanchez

4) Raoul Silva

5) Le Chiffre


Best songs:
1) Goldeneye

2) A View To A Kill

3) Live and Let Die

4) Skyfall

5) The World Is Not Enough


Best to Worst Bonds:

1) Brosnan

2) Dalton

3) Connery

4) Craig

5) Moore

6) Lazenby

[iank]

1) Spy Who Loved Me
2) Moonraker
3) A View to a Kill
4) Live and Let Die
5) For Your Eyes Only

Best bond girls
1) Melina (Carole Bouquet)

Best to worst Bonds:
1) Roger Moore
2) Timothy Dalton
3) Connery
4) Brosnan
5) Lazenby
6) Craig

[henshin]

Forgot the girls!

1) Wai Lin

2) Elektra King

3) May Day

4) Xenia Onatopp

5) Sévérine

[Deleted]

I watched You Only Live Twice again earlier and I really liked it. I don't think I was crazy about the film as a teen (I always liked Thunderball more), but I've really come to appreciate it. The scenery is absolutely beautiful as is the score by John Barry. It is a larger than life film with some stunning action sequence and incredible stunts. I always like the bit where the Helicopter picks up the car and dumps it into the sea. Mie Hama is gorgeous as Kissy Suzuki and is perhaps more interesting than Domino from the previous film. The effects are dated, but I appreciate the ambitiousness of them all the same. It's a superb film and I've only really come to appreciate it fully. I would probably say that it is better than Goldfinger and Thunderball. Bond movies which deal with space always intrigue me. 

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Mar 23, 2021 22:23:07 GMT henshin said:

Hard pass on your rankings, Pepsi - but with all of those choices, there's bound to be debate.

My turn.


My final rankings for the series:

1) From Russia With Love

FRWL always used to be my favourite after Licence to Kill, but after watching them again I'm afraid I've fallen out of love with both of them. I still think FRWL is a good espionage thriller and it has a genuine cold war feel that really gives the movie atmosphere. I just think it gets a bit stale in the middle and I'm not exactly sure what the stuff with Krilencu really added to the story. I much prefer Dr.No these days mainly because the structure is better and I think the scenes on Crab Key are really intriguing. I didn't watch Goldfinger when I was watching the movies so I might view that tonight and see if my opinion has changed at all. I never expected MWTGG to jump into my top five so who knows. I might start reading the Fleming novels at some point. I've read a few and I really like them, even if some of them really aren't like the movies at all.

[Deleted]

Nope, my opinion on Goldfinger hasn't changed. I got about fifty minutes in and said "beep this" and took it out of my DVD player for the last time. I do quite like Tilly Masterson but the movie doesn't want me to have fun and unceremoniously kills her off within ten minutes of her first appearance. The sets are drab, Goldfinger himself is annoying (where's SPECTRE?) and the pacing is ridiculously slow even for the sixties. The game of golf is tediously dull and I'm surprised I continued watching the movie after that. This is nowhere near being the best movie in the series. I just don't understand how this is better than Thunderball or You Only Live Twice. I'm surprised how much I dislike it considering I love Guy Hamilton's Diamonds are Forever. That movie is such an improvement on this.