James Bond

Ath

Ath

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Today marks 50 years since Dr. No premiered so I figured now would be as good a time as any to start this thread!

I've always been a massive James Bond fan, so I'm getting really excited for Skyfall! I actually thought Quantum of Solace was decent (though it definitely had its flaws) but all the trailers for Skyfall suggest that it'll be a step up in every way.

Adele's title track has been stuck in my head all day. I think it's terrific, a very classy number that reminds me of Diamonds are Forever (my favourite Bassey intro).


Anyone else is looking forward to Skyfall? I'm going to try and watch all the Bond films this month again. The Bond 50 boxset is out of my budget for now, so I shall have to rely on either my good ol' DVDs or I'll go over to my sis' and catch em on Sky Movies.
 
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I'm looking forward to Skyfall too. The trailers are with every film right now, but am honestly not sick of seeing them, I just want to see more of the film because of it, especially Javier Bardem.

Agree that Adele's song is excellent. It's so much in the vain of classic Bond themes, my friend actually made a good observation earlier by saying it was a combination of Bassey's Diamond's Are Forever vocally and Tomorrow Never Dies musically and I agree. It's a fantastic combination of classic and modern Bond songs.
 
I've started rewatching the Bond movies in order before Skyfall. I'm only up to Thunderball however so I'm not sure I can finish before it comes out.

The first impressions of Skyfall are beginning to trickle in from people who've seen the first press screening. It's been a very positive response so far which is very encouraging. Also it's been classified as a 12A and is 142m48s long, making it the 2nd longest Bond film just behind Casino Royale. I think this is a good thing, as I felt Quantum of Solace was too short and it felt like there were chunks missing.

Also, Sir Roger Moore is making an appearance at HMV Oxford Street to sign copies of his book "Bond on Bond" on the 22nd of October. I'm seriously considering going, I'd love to meet him!
 
I've not seen the last Bond film, but I thought Casino Royale was pretty decent, if somewhat different in vibe to the Bond films I'd previously known. I'd be interested to see this one. I don't think I've even seen the trailer for it yet.
 
I haven't seen Quantum of Solace all the way through yet. I started watching it, some family drama happened, had to stop, haven't had the motivation to rewatch it. I have watched Bond films since I was a little kid and ITV did a marathon of them what must be over a decade ago now. I am really looking forward to Skyfall and my Mum wants to see it too.

Apparently the area around my local cinema is at a gridlock tonight (no surprise). I didn't want to see it today anyway - too packed, no chance of good seats. I'll probably try and see it some time mid-day in the middle of next week.
 
Was that the 00 Heaven marathon that ended with the ITV premiere of Tomorrow Never Dies? That's how I saw most of them too :wink: My first one was You Only Live Twice a couple of years before that though. My dad was talking earlier about going to see the old Sean Connery movies at the cinema in the 60's over in Bangladesh, this was back when it was still East Pakistan. I showed my mum Casino Royale a while back and she seemed to like it, like my dad she liked the Connery films in the 60s.
 
Well I saw Skyfall and I absolutely loved it. I wrote my thoughts about it elsewhere and am shamefully copying and pasting it here :p

I've been a James Bond fan since I was about 8 years old and I think Skyfall is right up there as one of the best of the lot. Some of my other favourites are From Russia with Love, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, GoldenEye and Casino Royale. (I also have a soft spot for You Only Live Twice, as it was my first Bond film).

Minor spoilers for the film follow:

I thought it did a terrific job at maintaining the smarter, tougher approach of Casino Royale whilst bringing back some classic James Bond elements. The opening segment in Istanbul and the mid-section in Shanghai in particular had all I could ever ask for in a James Bond film.

What really surprised me were the segments in the UK. All of a sudden the situation is flipped and instead of Bond going after the villain, it's the other way around. I thought this was a very interesting shift and made for an incredibly tense last third. Mark Kermode, in his review, likened it to Straw Dogs which I definitely agree with.

I also thought the film looked absolutely beautiful, the cinematography was stunning all round, especially in Shanghai. I think this is definitely Daniel Craig's best performance as James Bond, I like the wry humour he brought around this time whilst still having the emotional depth that he had in Casino Royale. Javier Bardem was a total force of nature and will be talked about for a very long time when Bond villains are brought up I'm sure. Of course, I can't talk about Skyfall without talking about Judi Dench as M. She really was the emotional core of the film and definitely this film's Bond girl if I had to pick one. A shout out to Daniel Kleinman for the title sequence as well, he was missed in the last film and it's good to see him return for this one.

So yeah, I thought Sam Mendes did a great job and I really enjoyed the film!
 
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I've put my thoughts on this in the "Rate the last movie..." thread and even though I found Quantum of Solace to be incredibly dull, I think this might actually be worse than it for being such an insulting and muddled mess. The more I think about it the more and more I hate it.
 
Ah well, it's a shame you didn't like it. I will say that the multiple agents using James Bond as a codename theory doesn't work. James Bond has always been one person. His half Scottish, half Swiss heritage comes straight out of the Ian Fleming books. Also there have always been little references to his past with every actor, including to his dead wife Tracy.
 
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I still prefer this theory for the films. Hints are fine as if nothing is explicitly given away and shown then connections are minimal and can be chalked up as coincidental, or just overlooked. This film just went too far for me, I felt like going into Alan Partridge mode 'Stop getting Bond wrong!' (even if it is technically right) and completely removes the mystery of the character which comes with being a Super Spy. The theory has always made the most sense to me in the world of espionage.
 
Weird, I felt like this was Bond done right. After the rather by the numbers action film formula that Quantum of Solace took I found it refreshing to have a different take into Bonds character and his relationship with M. Something that's never really been explored before.
 
Finally found some time to rewatch the Bond films. Been going at a fairly steady rate all week and I'm now up to Die Another Day. I still don't think I'd be able to rank them all outright, but my opinions on a few of them have changed. It's been an interesting experience though! Will finish off with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace fairly soon.
 
Well Sam Mendes has officially turned down directing the next Bond film. I thought he did a magnificent job on Skyfall so it's a shame. Wonder who's going to step in now? We all know Christopher Nolan's been dying to do a Bond film forever (I still love Mark Kermode's description of Inception as On Her Majesty's Psychiatric Service :p ) but I'm not sure the producers will go for him. My money's on someone like Rupert Wyatt or David Yates.
 
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