Current Events > Bond movie November marathon 2018 (continued)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Scores of past movies (10 being the best possible James Bond movie)

Dr No: 7.5
From Russia With Love: 9
Goldfinger: 10
Thunderball: 9
You Only Live Twice: 6
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: 9.5
Diamonds are Forever: 4
Live and Let Die: 9

Tonight I watched:

The Man With the Golden Gun

This movie was... interesting to say the least. It had a lot of good going for it like Christopher Lee as Scaramenga, Roger Moore delivering yet another good performance as Bond, and Herv Jean-Pierre Villechaize as Nick-Nack (a good homage to Oddjob from Goldfinger).

It also had some weird campy stuff in it. The kung fu scene was absolutely ridiculous where Bond and 2 school girls take on a whole school of ninjas, the scenes with the sheriff from Live and Let Die were also really ridiculous too.

This movie didn't have the same feel that every other previous Bond movie did. It felt like the directors were going for a straight up action film made for the US audience. There is little to no gadgetry, the cars are American muscle cars, the "Enter the Dragonish" scenes with kung-fu. It just felt like you could take the James Bond title off and it would be a straight up Roger Moore action movie.

I liked the premise of the story and how Bond and Scaramenga kind of played a cat and mouse game. The solar energy stuff was ridiculous, and I thought it would have been better off as just a straight up story of Bond going after Scaramenga because he wants him dead.

Final score: 7.5/10

What happened to Diamonds Are Forever? (Or have you blocked that one from memory?)

Skye Reynolds posted...

What happened to Diamonds Are Forever? (Or have you blocked that one from memory?)

Oh dear I forgot that one and edited it in. I watched it last week

4

This has been a thing since the 90s. Is there a reason why Bond movies are shown during this time? As a kid, I use to watch them every year they came on TV at this time, now Amazon seems to do it.
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kinetika_ posted...

This has been a thing since the 90s. Is there a reason why Bond movies are shown during this time? As a kid, I use to watch them every year they came on TV at this time, now Amazon seems to do it.

Because Bond movies traditionally come out to theaters in November.

It's because Licence to Kill did poorly when it ran opposite Batman. Since then, Bond movies have been released in November to avoid competition.

Oh, that's it? Thought the reason would be more interesting than that lol.
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The Spy Who Loved Me

Wow this was fantastic from beginning to end. That's honestly about all I can say. This movie is action packed and a hell of a lot of fun.

Roger Moore continues to do a really good job portraying Bond and his acting is honestly at its peak right here. His wit and charm plays perfectly coupled with Barbara Bach as a *gasp* strong female counterpart to James Bond! She is really hot as far as Bond girls too, and is neck and neck with Ursula Andress as the most memorable Bond girl in the series thus far.

Karl Stromberg is a very memorable Auric Goldfingerish villain with a nuclear plot that is surprisingly not about money for a change, but the real star of the show is Richard Kiel as the menacing Jaws. Oddjob as finally been dethroned as the gold standard for henchmen. Jaws is like Jason Voorhees or the Terminator to Bond and is really portrayed as a threat.

I loved everything about this movie from the ski chase at the beginning to the exotic locations in Egypt and Sardinia, to the fast paced ending firefight, to the awesome Lotus Espirit that doubles as a submarine. This is everything a Bond movie should be, and is tied with Goldfinger as the finest entry in the series thus far.

Final score: 10/10

Definitely Roger Moore's best Bond movie.

Skye Reynolds posted...

Definitely Roger Moore's best Bond movie.

Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me are both 2 of the best so far

Spy Who Loved Me bores me to tears. Moonraker's ridiculous, but it's a better version of the same thing.
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Update:

Doesn't look like I'm going to get through them all in November (work has been busy), so I'm extending it to December as well.

i'm mostly liking your ratings, all except thunderball
i just never liked thunderball...
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Glad to see you liked OHMSS and Live and Let Die. Those two are kinda polarizing from what I've seen. OHMSS especially.

Live and Let Die somehow managed to be a enjoyable despite the goofiness. The same can't really be said for most of the Moore movies released after it. That, The Spy Who Loved Me, and For Your Eyes Only are the best Roger Moore ones for sure.

Guerrilla Soldier posted...

i'm mostly liking your ratings, all except thunderball
i just never liked thunderball...

Yeah I'm not a big fan of Thunderball either. I'd even say it might be the worst of the first five films. I think it was the underwater scenes that played a part in that. They were too long and dull.
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