The Borgified Corpse wrote:
As for the Daniel Craig films:
I like Casino Royale but I think it's way overrated. It's excellent whenever it's doing its own thing but grinds to a halt every time it goes back to the poker table. Still, every director in the business needs to watch the opening chase sequence to see how to do a chase sequence that's exciting AND completely comprehensible. (I'm looking at YOU, Paul Greengrass & Peter Berg!  )
But I hate Quantum of Solace. To me, Daniel Craig isn't James Bond. He's a dour, joyless thug and I have no desire to watch him. I'm sure it's not his fault. I think he's being intentionally directed that way. Still... ugh! Plus, Quantum is filled with all of these contemporary references to the shitty current world situation. It can't go more than 5 minutes without reminding us that we're running out of oil or that our governments are in league with unsavory dictators or that global warming will destroy everything! I prefer my Bond movies, even at their grittiest, to be escapism, not An Inconvenient Truth. |
Yes but it isn't like Bond hasn't reflected the world situation at the time, just off the top of my head:
the man with the golden gun talks a lot about the energy crisis, relating to the OPEC stuff going on at the time.
A View to a Kill with the whole silicon chip nonsense!
The Living Daylights featuring the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan/the opium trade.
I am pretty much the only person in the world who likes QoS though
By the way I agree about Connery, blasphamy it may be but in many respects he's my least favourite Bond, and his films just aren't as fun to rewatch as Moore's. Just a pacing issue between the two decades, though having said that I'm not fond of Diamonds with is Connery in a proto Moore film.
Another vote here for Tanya Roberts as the worst Bond girl ever. Denise Richards is horrible casting from a time when the producers obviously felt the franchise needed a
name American actress (Hatcher, Richards, Berry). That said I often think she's better than she has any right to be as Christmas Jones.
I think Live and Let Die is one of those films that's been reappraised over the years, for a time the blackploitation elements did disturb me a bit, but by all accounts Kotto raves about being in it, and I think it marked something of a watershed, with a black actor playing the big boss villain, not just the comedy henchman.