The James Bond thread

[Wayne]

Well it won't be as in depth as the Dracula Movies thread (or indeed Carol's vervoid reviews) or anything like that.
My interest in Bond plumetted after 'Live & Let Die'. (apart from 'The Man With the Golden Gun', but that's mostly because of Christopher Lee)
I've seen 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'Moonraker', & 'Never Say Never Again' before, but apart from that they've been lost in a blur of indifference for many years. I've seen some of the modern ones on tv, ('modern' to me basically means post Roger Moore) but i can't remember which ones are which. After seeing the first Dalton one i decided he was shit, & gave up on them altogether until i happened to see one of the Brosnan ones (can't even remember which one) which left a good impression of his Bond, even though the film was a bit 'generic action movie', although enjoyable enough.
I think i've seen 'Goldeneye' & possibly 'Die Another Die' before, but i get all the modern ones mixed up.

[Carol Baynes]

Are you dissing The Dalton, Wayne?!

He's amazing! He was more Fleming's Bond than that Craig fellow!

But, you've missed Moore in "For your eyes only" (where he's actually more of a ruthless git and Roger acts! )

I can be a Bond film snob though. If it hasn't got a Maurice Binder or Robert Brownjohn title sequence, a John Barry music score or a Ken Adams or Peter Lamont set design I'm liable to be a bit more critical!

[Wayne]

I found Dalton very bland personally, but to be fair to him, i'm basing that mostly on his first film, & i'm very much overdue a re-appraisal of the post 'Live & Let Die' movies as i'm not very familair with the majority of them. (Golden Gun being the obvious exception)
I don't consider you a Bond 'snob', i think it's great that your passionate about the whole franchise, & just the fact that you've read the books (i haven't) makes you more of an expert on what Bond is all about.

[Stuart Wallis]

I didn't like QOS at all. The editing in what action scenes there were was so rapid that I couldn't follow what was happening in them; on the other hand, the bits in-between didn't have much happening in them at all. The plot was slim and incredibly uninvolved, and told us nothing new about this new SPECTRE clone except its name and its logo. Just as it looked as though we might have come across some tidbit of information, the film ended even more abruptly than The Living Daylights. Dominic Greene was a bog-standard villain, as, unfortunately, are most of them after Goldfinger. Talking of which, suffocating the girl in something and leaving her on the bed covered in it has been done before. And Daniel Craig, compared to last time, seemed to be on autopilot. Judi Dench was the only good thing in it. Apart from a Smurfs film I saw about thirty years ago, which barely had the Smurfs in it,* I've never been as bored in a cinema before, and that includes H2G2. I'm in no hurry to see it again.

As an aside, Carol may be able to correct me if I'm wrong, is this the first time that Bill Tanner's been mentioned in the films? he's normally only found in Fleming's novels.

*Is this actually a good thing? Discuss.

[Carol Baynes]

As an aside, Carol may be able to correct me if I'm wrong, is this the first time that Bill Tanner's been mentioned in the films? he's normally only found in Fleming's novels.

*Is this actually a good thing? Discuss.

oooh, well spotted! I'm going on a limb here, as I might be rememebring wrong, but I'm sure he appeared once before in the film series, in "For your eyes only". Bernard Lee had passed away and 'M' doesn't appear inthat one, but I'm sure Tanner does (as a sort of temporary 'replacement').

[Stuart Wallis]

oooh, well spotted! I'm going on a limb here, as I might be rememebring wrong, but I'm sure he appeared once before in the film series, in "For your eyes only". Bernard Lee had passed away and 'M' doesn't appear inthat one, but I'm sure Tanner does (as a sort of temporary 'replacement').

I think you're right, now you mention it. He's the one regular character from the books that I thought, until now, had been overlooked by EON.

[Jeff]

after Goldfinger. Talking of which, suffocating the girl in something and leaving her on the bed covered in it has been done before.

That's why they call it a "homage" (and it was crude oil : Quantum was trying to misdirect everyone into thinking they had found oil in the useless tract of land they were buying. That's why he gave Greene the motor oil to drink later.
In fact, many of the interior sets were meant to by stylistically similar to the early Ken Adams sets...

I saw this yesterday and loved it. I had no problems following the action or the story, and so I greatly enjoyed it. Miranda expressed the same as many others though, that she felt there was a bit too much action and it made the story hard to follow.

For anyone who felt lost by the plot, the wiki entry covers the whole movie from beginning to end, and may be able to answer questions about anything that didn't make sense.

[Dirk Gently]

That's what I like to see, Wiki telling people what the movie was about because watching it isn't enough.

[Jeff]

That's what I like to see, Wiki telling people what the movie was about because watching it isn't enough.

It's a great way to refresh yourself on what happened in a movie you haven't seen for awhile without re-watching... especially if you're about to go see a sequel... Quite a few people probably would have benefitted by refreshing themselves with the Casino Royale plot directly before seeing this, as so much of it dealt with stuff from that movie. I imagine anyone who hasn't seen CR at all and didn't realize this is a direct sequel would probably be quite lost.

[Carol Baynes]

I think you're right, now you mention it. He's the one regular character from the books that I thought, until now, had been overlooked by EON.

Actually Stu, I was wrong- Tanner actually appears in four previous EON films!
According to IMDB he is played by Michael Goodliffe in "The man with the golden gun" (1974) and then by James Villiers in 1981 for "For your eyes only", as I recalled. He also appears in two Pierce Brosnon films played by Michael Kitchen!

[Stuart Wallis]

Ah, well I've *gasp* not seen any of the Brosnan films, so I for one am pleading ignorance. You might want to blame the headaches...

[Brian]

I saw it the night of the London premiere......

It sucked BOLS. As far as I was concerned it completely lacked the style and quality one would normally get from a Bond. Apart from the 'BOND WILL RETURN' at the end of the credits... which didn't even have the name of the next film *mumble mumble pants mumble

[Rob McCow]

After 'Quantum of Solace', the next Bond film is entitled: 'On Indefinite Hold'.

From The Independent:

One fan wrote on Empire online: "Really disappointed by this news, It does seem to mirror the whole (Timothy) Dalton era when after a six-year gap he upped and left.

"I hope this doesn't happen to Craig, he's arguably the best thing to have happened to this franchise."

Another wrote: "Acclaimed re-invention with a more Fleming-esque serious Bond, followed quickly by an inferior revenge-driven sequel...followed by a long wait due to legal wrangling.

"Maybe Craig will be like Dalton and pack it in for Bond 23 in 2014 and give Clive Owen his shot."

A film-goer who was not a Craig fan said: "I do believe this will be the end of Craig, he'll get bored of waiting and move on, and he will be too old, and to me that's good news."

One fan wrote: "If it gets delayed indefinitely and Craig decides to leave, the Bond franchise could die on its ass. It would be such a shame that after all the hard work put in".

Another added: I hope it doesn't get to the point where we see a repeat of what happened with Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig has to walk. That would be a f****** travesty!"

OMFG ROFL Independent is a LOLSPAPER!

[Philipnet]

After 'Quantum of Solace', the next Bond film is entitled: 'On Indefinite Hold'.

So he's tried dialling our IT Support Desk then?

[Darren]

This is a shame.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Don't really know how to feel about this. I did like the bold and brutal direction they tried to take Bond in. But although I kind of enjoyed Quantum of Solace, I've never felt the urge to rewatch it.

[Si Hunt]

"Quantum of Solace" was the least enjoyable one for me because the direction went from fast to silly-fast where you couldn't actually tell what was going on, and there was Godawful continuity to the last film which I'd seen once, three years before.

But it's still a great shame, and somewhat mystifying - "Solace" took £300m or something at the box office and was the most successful Bond, ever. Surely the way to help the studio's finances would be to make another one, not NOT make it. Part of me wonders if this is to kick some arses into gear and get the studio sold - as in "We're serious - and we're not making another Bond film until this is sorted" kind of thing. They'd have to be daft not to make the next film.

Si.

[Darren]

I thought MGM (the last independant studio) was sold to Sony *before* Casino Royale was even made.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

OMG!!!

The rumour mill is already started about who might be the next Bond. There is a candidate in there who is just so wrong ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8635409.stm

British actor Christian Bale is 7/1 to take on the highly coveted role - as is Hollywood star Will Smith.

Actually - scrap that - they're both terrible choices. Will Smith - it's not cos he's black - I'd quite happilly watch a black Bond, indeed I think Colin Salmon would have been superb cos he's just the right kind of suave to play it. But it's cos he's just so awful, and pretty much plays the same "Hell yeah" character in all his action movies.

[Stuart Wallis]

I can see Christian Bale being Batman. I can see the air turning bluer than the tory party conference as well...

[SiHart]

Will Smith is American... surely that rules him out to play a British secret agent...

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

He's supposed to be English ... and so far we've had the most Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Australian people you can imagine to play him. Moore English but bloody awful.

I have to admit though, the more I watch Dalton's performance, the more I realise how underrated he it.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Time to dust this thread down a bit.

A funny story, but true, we spent a good portion of last Sunday trying to tail a yellow Rolls Royce like Goldfingers. It's put me in a Bond mood, so I'm starting to rewatch some of the Sean Connery era.

You really forget just how good these are eh? Watched From Russia With Love, despite a fairly simple plot with a few diversions in it, it's a fun film.

[MacNimon]

He's supposed to be English ... and so far we've had the most Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Australian people you can imagine to play him. Moore English but bloody awful.

I have to admit though, the more I watch Dalton's performance, the more I realise how underrated he it.

But IS Bond actually supposed to be English? There's a passage in one of Flemings original novels which regarded Bond's Scottish schooling. Although it's such a long time since I read it, and I can't remember exactly where it appeared, but I'm not sure now whether it meant that Bond was English and studied at Edinburgh (?), or he was Scottish? I may be misremembering the passage but it was a long time ago when I read it. Can anyone clarify?

[Anthony Williams]

But IS Bond actually supposed to be English? There's a passage in one of Flemings original novels which regarded Bond's Scottish schooling. Although it's such a long time since I read it, and I can't remember exactly where it appeared, but I'm not sure now whether it meant that Bond was English and studied at Edinburgh (?), or he was Scottish? I may be misremembering the passage but it was a long time ago when I read it. Can anyone clarify?

In the original novel of You Only Live Twice, it's mentioned that Bond's father is Scottish and his mother Swiss.

As for his education, he was at Eton College for a very short time, before getting expelled, and then went off to Fettes College, Edinburgh, where his father was educated.