James Bond

[Moe_Syzlak]

My wife decided to introduce our kids to Bond movies with Casino Royale this evening. I’ve seen it many times but watching it with two first time Bond viewers caused me to watch it with a bit of different eye. This movie is really very very good. I realize that many fans of the franchise felt it left behind some of the Bond trademarks, but its really hard for me to not see this as the best Bond movie. It’s over 15 years old now and still holds up quite well. And it functions as a real, complete, self-contained story; not a continuation of a previous story meant to be an episode before the next episode. It really had no business being this good and I’m amazed it exists. Imagine a Star Wars movie coming out right now that is better than eps 4 or 5. I like Goldeneye but it is nowhere near as good as this movie and, as far as I’m concerned, the franchise was on life support when this came out.

 

[Canon Editor]

My wife decided to introduce our kids to Bond movies with Casino Royale this evening. I’ve seen it many times but watching it with two first time Bond viewers caused me to watch it with a bit of different eye. This movie is really very very good. I realize that many fans of the franchise felt it left behind some of the Bond trademarks, but its really hard for me to not see this as the best Bond movie. It’s over 15 years old now and still holds up quite well. And it functions as a real, complete, self-contained story; not a continuation of a previous story meant to be an episode before the next episode. It really had no business being this good and I’m amazed it exists. Imagine a Star Wars movie coming out right now that is better than eps 4 or 5. I like Goldeneye but it is nowhere near as good as this movie and, as far as I’m concerned, the franchise was on life support when this came out.

I agree with every letter.

 

[Jrzag42]

My wife decided to introduce our kids to Bond movies with Casino Royale this evening. I’ve seen it many times but watching it with two first time Bond viewers caused me to watch it with a bit of different eye. This movie is really very very good. I realize that many fans of the franchise felt it left behind some of the Bond trademarks, but its really hard for me to not see this as the best Bond movie. It’s over 15 years old now and still holds up quite well. And it functions as a real, complete, self-contained story; not a continuation of a previous story meant to be an episode before the next episode. It really had no business being this good and I’m amazed it exists. Imagine a Star Wars movie coming out right now that is better than eps 4 or 5. I like Goldeneye but it is nowhere near as good as this movie and, as far as I’m concerned, the franchise was on life support when this came out.

But what did the kids think?

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

But what did the kids think?

Loved it.

Edit: I was in a hurry earlier, but I’ll add it was probably too “grown up” for them. They needed some plot clarifications as to what was going on and the * ahem * torture/interrogation scene was uncomfortable for mom and dad. 🤣 But they were enthralled throughout. These are kids that have grown up with so much action they find Raiders of the Lost ark to be “kinda boring,” but they liked this. It helps that we’ve been to a lot of the European locations recently.

 

[Racerx1969]

My wife decided to introduce our kids to Bond movies with Casino Royale this evening. I’ve seen it many times but watching it with two first time Bond viewers caused me to watch it with a bit of different eye. This movie is really very very good. I realize that many fans of the franchise felt it left behind some of the Bond trademarks, but its really hard for me to not see this as the best Bond movie. It’s over 15 years old now and still holds up quite well. And it functions as a real, complete, self-contained story; not a continuation of a previous story meant to be an episode before the next episode. It really had no business being this good and I’m amazed it exists. Imagine a Star Wars movie coming out right now that is better than eps 4 or 5. I like Goldeneye but it is nowhere near as good as this movie and, as far as I’m concerned, the franchise was on life support when this came out.

I also agree with every bit of it.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

This getting bumped reminds me to share my thoughts on the next Bond movie I revisited (sans kids this time). I watched the Living Daylights because I know those Dalton movies are respected by Bond devotees and somewhat overlooked by the more general populace. I found it to be a diamond in the rough. It feels more dated than the Connery movies, but there’s a lot of good stuff here and it may be one of the better candidates for a fan edit. I have no doubt a few exist and I suspect some of my favorite Bond editors like @LastSurvivor, @Problem Eliminator, and @lapis molari have tackled it. I’ll check ‘em out in September nach der Sommerzeit!

 

[TM2YC]

GoldenEye (1995)
I distinctively remember seeing the 3rd Pierce Brosnan film at the cinema but I don't think I'd seen this one on the big screen until today. I was a little bit down on 'GoldenEye' when I last rewatched it on blu-ray last year but it's still very entertaining. Martin Campbell's handling of the action is outstanding. I don't think the Bond theme is used enough in 'GoldenEye' but withholding it until an hour in, when 007 erupts through a brick wall in a stolen Russian tank is such a terrific moment, it's the kick-off to one of the best and most ridiculous chases (in a very good way) in the whole franchise. There is a shot where it looks like the careening tank accidentally crushes the side of one of the stunt cars, so Campbell inserts a shot a few seconds later of the people getting out of the car, just so we the audience know our hero didn't horribly kill some guy under his tank tracks... even if he was a "henchman". It's a a touch of class and attention to detail, lacking in some more modern action movies where Directors don't seem to care if the protagonist is implied to have killed thousands through carelessness. Once again, I found Joe Don Baker's CIA Agent Jack Wade to be a ton of fun, much better than any incarnation of Felix Leiter. Izabella Scorupco's Bond-Girl is one of the best, matching Bond in wits and witticisms, I loved her little callback where their roles are reversed and Bond has a gun to his head, so she says "Go ahead, shoot him, he means nothing to me", cut to a priceless reaction shot from 007.

A 35mm fan scan trailer:

 

[lapis molari]

[...] the Bond theme [...] until an hour in, when 007 erupts through a brick wall in a stolen Russian tank [...]

Goldeneye's music is composed by Eric Serra, except for the tank chase which is composed by John Altman.
To my ears, Altman's score stands the test of time while Serra's is dated and not very Bond. If they ever release Goldeneye with a clean center channel, I will rescore Serra's part in the film.

 

[TM2YC]

Goldeneye's music is composed by Eric Serra, except for the tank chase which is composed by John Altman.
To my ears, Altman's score stands the test of time while Serra's is dated and not very Bond. If they ever release Goldeneye with a clean center channel, I will rescore Serra's part in the film.

I didn't know that. It's just the car chase music at the beginning that sounds dated to me but the fact that every other element of that Ferrari/DB5 chase is perfection largely overrides that factor. At this cinema screening of 'GoldenEye'... just after Bond stops the car to romance the phycologist lady, he presses a button in the DB5 and a panel slides back to reveal an ice cold bottle of Bollinger and two glasses... a guy behind blurted out "F*ck off!?!" while laughing. Everybody else then laughed as well. Good times.

 

[Wraith]

I didn't know that. It's just the car chase music at the beginning that sounds dated to me but the fact that every other element of that Ferrari/DB5 chase is perfection largely overrides that factor. At this cinema screening of 'GoldenEye'... just after Bond stops the car to romance the phycologist lady, he presses a button in the DB5 and a panel slides back to reveal an ice cold bottle of Bollinger and two glasses... a guy behind blurted out "F*ck off!?!" while laughing. Everybody else then laughed as well. Good times.

Today...a caption would appear below ...

"Drink responsibly" (sponsered by Bollinger)

 

[TM2YC]

FYI: Amazon have added the whole Bond catalogue to Prime again, plus a feature length new doc:

The Sound of 007 (2022)
There is far too much focus on 'No Time To Die' over the other 24 films for my liking (some barely get a mention as a consequence) and it occasionally veers close to EON sanctioned self-congratulation but this new retrospective of all the music from the Bond movies across the years is still a magical 90-minutes. There are some juicy bits of Bond music trivia that I'd never heard before. There are a few bits where they play short scenes with the isolated score and it's spine tingling, can we not have full isolated scores on future blu-rays please? It could have done without the half-hearted gesture towards critiquing a couple of the tunes just for the sake of variety, the suggestion that 'All Time High' is a bad tune, is shear madness. It's impressive how many of the singers and composers agreed to appear on camera. My highlight was Jack White first acknowledging the general low esteem in which his Bond song is held (personally I love it and own the 7" single), then secondly dropping an anecdote about the late-great Prince telling him "I thought it was REAL strong!". Surely if Prince rated 'Another Way To Die', then the rest of the world is wrong .

The Sound of 007: Live From The Royal Albert Hall (2022)
Another bit of new Amazon Prime bonus Bond content, to accompany the 'The Sound of 007' documentary. It's nice that this highlights package has gone onto Prime the day after it was recorded live, so more than the audience in the hall could see and hear it. I just wish they'd put the whole concert on Prime. From what I can gather, the stream mostly omits the instrumental tracks, so you're missing out on some blazing OHMSS I'm sure. David Arnold and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra do a splendid job recreating the classic tunes. Skin belting out 'Live and Let Die' was my favourite performance.

 

[drvrjon]

FYI: Amazon have added the whole Bond catalogue to Prime again, plus a feature length new doc:

The Sound of 007 (2022)
There is far too much focus on 'No Time To Die' over the other 24 films for my liking (some barely get a mention as a consequence) and it occasionally veers close to EON sanctioned self-congratulation but this new retrospective of all the music from the Bond movies across the years is still a magical 90-minutes. There are some juicy bits of Bond music trivia that I'd never heard before. There are a few bits where they play short scenes with the isolated score and it's spine tingling, can we not have full isolated scores on future blu-rays please? It could have done without the half-hearted gesture towards critiquing a couple of the tunes just for the sake of variety, the suggestion that 'All Time High' is a bad tune, is shear madness. It's impressive how many of the singers and composers agreed to appear on camera. My highlight was Jack White first acknowledging the general low esteem in which his Bond song is held (personally I love it and own the 7" single), then secondly dropping an anecdote about the late-great Prince telling him "I thought it was REAL strong!". Surely if Prince rated 'Another Way To Die', then the rest of the world is wrong .

The Sound of 007: Live From The Royal Albert Hall (2022)
Another bit of new Amazon Prime bonus Bond content, to accompany the 'The Sound of 007' documentary. It's nice that this highlights package has gone onto Prime the day after it was recorded live, so more than the audience in the hall could see and hear it. I just wish they'd put the whole concert on Prime. From what I can gather, the stream mostly omits the instrumental tracks, so you're missing out on some blazing OHMSS I'm sure. David Arnold and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra do a splendid job recreating the classic tunes. Skin belting out 'Live and Let Die' was my favourite performance.

Literally just finished watching the documentary. i thoroughly enjoyed it, but i am a ho for 007 movies and music. i own every bond movie ever made including Never Say Never (the not a Bond..Bond movie). there has been songs i didn't like and was surprised to hear some of the artists that made songs for the movies.