The James Bond Topic

[Dr. Homem]

 

A long running film franchise based on Ian Fleming's novel series about British secret agent James Bond, code-named 007. It has featured six different Bonds - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig - and ranged in tone from comic to gritty.

 

Over the years, 007 has had a huge impact on the culture of the world. Martinis are always ordered, "Shaken, not stirred,", people introduce themselves with their last names first, and in many ways defined all of modern spy fiction, with Bond himself having become the quintessential action hero. When it all boils down to it, James Bond is the epitome of what every man wants to be. He drinks immense amounts of alcohol, has sex with innumerable women and has killed dozens of people. He also locked a midget inside a suitcase, which sounds like a lot of fun.

 

 

What was your favorite movie? Who's your favorite Bond? What are moments that you liked or disliked, and what are your feelings about it?

 

 

PLEASE KEEP SKYFALL DETAILS IN A SPOILER TAG!

 

[Linkabel]

My favorite James Bond actors are Sean Connery and Daniel Graig with Pierce Brosnan coming in second. The few first films are good, Goldeneye is great, but I really got into the franchise with Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall (which was better than great).

Also who hasn't play Goldeneye the video game. I've spend hours playing that game.

People should also read the books/short stories since they add more elements to the characters.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Jaime Bond

[TheOcelot]

Legendary scene. Roger Moore and Christopher Lee in:

 

The Man With The Golden Gun.

 

 

A fantastic dual.

 

I like Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Sean Connery and Timothy Doulton, but Roger Moore is my favourite bond.

 

My favourite Bond films are Let and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Man With The Golden Gun, Golden Eye, Casino Royale and Skyfall.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Robin John Blake

[Lady Soniko]

Having seen the majority of the titles, I still think Goldeneye is the best James Bond I've seen, and feel Pierce Brosnan is my preferred James Bond actor, however it is the Gadgets, Vehicles (and Wimminz) that makes me love the series over all, and you can't get enough of Q's sarcasm towards 007 for always wrecking his budget and cars.

 

Another thing that is the best thing about every James Bond movie, is the musical introduction to each movie I think it's great how they stuck with the whole thing through all the movies (although I hate the abysmally crappy Skyfall theme song :S ) But I loved Chris Cornell's "You Know my name" 

 

Edited January 2, 2013 by Black☆Rock Shooter

[Crash]

(I think there is a topic like this.)

 

I have seen most of the Roger Moore films, but at a younger age so I don't really remember them all that well.

The ones I can remember because I watched them recently are The World is Not Enough and Skyfall. Both of the films were great!

[-Mark-]

Okay, I'll step in and admit that I have an absolute shedload of bias against the Bond franchise before I post. I'm aware of this, I'm aware it's unfair and not entirely grounded, so...

 

...yeah. I pretty much despise the 007 franchise. I had zero interest in it but was indifferent before, although now it's sadly something I associate with my ex (as he was a die-hard fan), adding to the negativity. The three he made me sit through (all the Brosnan ones bar Die Another Day, so that would be Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough and Goldeneye, I believe?) were among the worst movies I've ever seen. Goldeneye was the most tolerable of the the three, but that by no means made it enjoyable. 

 

The main beef I had with the three I saw were that the plots were paper thin and that the movies as a whole put style over substance to the extreme. What little plot there was ultimately ended up being little more than reasons for people to shoot each other, things to blow up and for Bond to have sex with as many women in each movie as he possibly could. The few times the plot showed anything somewhat resembling interest were completely eclipsed by their focus on ridiculous, drawn-out and tedious action sequences that far outstayed their welcome in almost every instance, if not all. There's only so long I can sit through mindless 'action' without finding it mind-numbingly dull and insulting to the intelligence. Don't get me wrong, I love the odd action scene; but when they make up the core of a movie, it's just boring. Any action scene that lasts more than 3-4 minutes or so just surpasses the threshold of how long I can switch my brain off and watch mindless cool stuff happen (and, in my opinion, the Bond action scenes weren't particularly 'cool'). 

 

I will say that the one redeeming (well, no, nowhere near 'redeeming', but rather the one factor I consistently and thoroughly enjoyed) was Judi Dench as M. Partly because she spends much of her role telling Bond how useless he is, and partly because she's the spitting image (voice and all) of my first-year Uni tutor who was totally awesome.

 

I'll admit that it's unfair to detest an entire franchise based on three of its films, as I've heard some people say that the Brosnan era was well-known for putting action before plot. However similarly I'd generally heard that Goldeneye is considered one of the better movies. I've heard that the series has genuinely picked up since Craig took over and there's far more emphasis on telling a decent story. However sadly my negative experiences with the franchise have put me off far beyond the point of ever wanting to give it a second chance. The series never interested me to begin with really, and having to sit through three I didn't like with someone I'd rather forget existed means I've pretty much had my fill of Bond.

Edited January 3, 2013 by -Mark-

[Autosaver]

We actually already have a general James Bond thread.

 

 

(Which includes the video games)

@Mark - Those films were mostly awful. Go see a good Bond movie like Casino Royale.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Autosaver

[-Mark-]

Ahh, right. 

 

At least it wasn't just me, then! 

[Toby]

Would be a great idea to check out the good classic ones too. You pretty much watched the bottom of the barrel as far as Bond movies go.