James Bond 25 Countdown Marathon

[TM2YC]

A great rewatch thread TM2YC... I found it fascinating to read your thoughts on each film in the series and also your ranking. As a Bond fan myself, i thought I'd entertain you with my ranking ?

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

Some of those choices are very different to mine e.g. 'The Man with the Golden Gun' near the top / 'Licence to Kill' above 'The Living Daylights' / 'You Only Live Twice' just above 'Quantum of Solace'. I see you also placed 'For Your Eyes Only' higher and 'Skyfall' lower than most fans would (or I get that impression). 'Tomorrow Never Dies' is pretty low down, if you haven't watched it recently you should give it another go. It's probably the one that went up the most in my estimation this time. I doubt many fans would disagree with having those last three somewhere near the bottom of the pile.

One of the few good things about lockdown is videos like this happening:

At what other time are you gonna get celebrity super-fans popping onto the internet for a 40-min chat about Bond. Walliam's love for the franchise really comes across and many great anecdotes about meeting Bond cast and crew. Well worth your time.

 

[TM2YC]

At least the first 6 Bond movies are slated to be re-released into Cinemas nationally in January (UK Vue anyway) which is pretty cool.  I'd love to see 'Goldfinger' and 'You Only Live Twice' on the big screen.  However, it's looking increasingly likely cinemas will shut again soon, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

EDIT: Looks like they are going to screen the entire Bond run across jan/feb.

 

[TM2YC]

Nearly 2-years since I started my Bond 25 countdown and it's still not out. LOL.

In better news, actor Duncan Casey and film director Brad Watson are doing a Val Verde Broadcasting watch party for Licence to Kill tonight from 8pm:

This should be brilliant! Brad usually talks with uber enthusiasm about films he likes and Duncan is a bit of a Bond superfan.

 

[TM2YC]

Spectre (2015)
I only rewatched this as a refresher for the new movie. 'Spectre' isn't the worst Bond movie but it might be the most boring. You can feel every one of those 148-minutes, it's still the longest in the franchise, until the latest film arrives tomorrow and reportedly will top it by 15-minutes. Sam Mendes' direction and the pace of the editing is inert and ponderous. Thomas Newman's wallpaper score relentlessly soundtracks everything with the same sort of sub-Hans Zimmer tension music, whether it's a car chase, or just somebody walking through a room. It'll be interesting to see if the real Zimmer can do better. Andrew Scott's performance as C is truly terrible, his over-acting is only highlighted by sharing most of his scenes with the steely, commanding gaze of Ralph Fiennes as M. Ben Whishaw is delightful as "Q" but Naomie Harris is a waste of screen time as Moneypenny. She's good in the role but either use her as M's secretary in one or two scenes, or have her as a full field agent in the whole movie, don't have her in every other scene but give her nothing to do. Lastly, how did Mendes manage to get a dull performance out of Christoph Waltz, that takes real skill.

By the way, David Zaritsky of The Bond Experience youtube channel appeared on UK breakfast TV:

 

[TM2YC]

Amazon Prime (in the UK at least) have just added every Bond movie ever to their library, including the latest 'No Time to Die', plus the unofficial 'Never Say ever Again', the spoof 60s 'Casino Royale' and the official 50th Anniversary doc 'All or Nothing'. There is a 'Bond Girls Are Forever' 46min doc too, so maybe there is other stuff?

Vue Cinemas in the UK are screening the whole run too, every week 'til late September, starting this Sunday with 'Dr. No'. Good times!

 

[Hymie]

I wish they were re-showing the films here in the states through Fantom or the like. While I wouldn't see every film, it'd be nice to see some of my favorites on the big screen, as the first Bond on saw in theaters was Casino Royale so the rest were all at home. Definitely jealous of you guys in the UK.