Oh, and I keep forgetting to grade these damned films...
Live and Let Die — C-
It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. Jane Seymour was great, Yaphet Kotto was only so-so, and Geoffrey Holder was the bomb. Great song by Paul McCartney and Wings; the score by George Martin was okay. Of the non-Barry composers they've used before David Arnold joined up, Martin's score remains the least dated. And goddamn, I hate Clifton James.
The Man with the Golden Gun — D-
Awful, awful, awful. The only redeeming thing in this film is Christopher Lee. They did an awesome car jump and ruin it with Clifton James (again! oy!) and a slide whistle. I've already sounded off on Bond and the schoolgirls, but if that wasn't embarrassing enough, there's all the shit with friggin' Tattoo. I half expected him to shout "De plane, boss, de plane!" when Bond landed at Scaramanga's island. The energy crisis stuff is dated, and Mary Goodnight is possibly the worst Bond Girl ever. And as the final insult, Moore defeats Scaramanga by impersonating his own wax dummy. If ever there was a moment that summed up Moore's tenure, this was it. Well, that and the clown suit in Octopussy.
The Spy Who Loved Me — A-
Now this is more like it. Yeah, Stromberg is basically a poor man's Blofeld, but this film is so much fun... Jaws is totally badass, there's some spectacular location work in Egypt, and Moore finally finds a balance between his attempts to be too Sean Connery in the first two films, and his excessive silliness in the last two films. Wet Nellie is still one of my favorite Bond cars. Horribly dated disco score by Marvin Hamlisch.
Moonraker — B-
This one gets a bad rap, although I'm willing to let most of its offenses slide until we get to the climax... FUCKING SPACE MARINES! HAVING A LASER BATTLE! IN SPACE! The pigeon doing a quadruple take is a bit much. And yeah, this is just The Spy Who Loved Me set in space. But it's all good fun, and it's Bernard Lee's last appearance as M, so it'll always have a place in my heart just for that reason.
For Your Eyes Only — A
Nice, taut Cold War thriller in the vein of From Russia With Love. Moore proves he can still deliver despite wrinkles, no gadgets, and a P.O.S. Citroën. The oogie scenes between Rog and Lynn-Holly Johnson are perhaps the first sign that he's getting too old for this shit. Topol is a lot of fun, and the scene between Bond and Gogol — "That's detente, comrade!" — is a great resolution. Perhaps could have done without the antics of Margaret and Denis Thatcher at the end, but hey. And while Bill Conti's score hasn't aged well, it's at least not as obnoxious as Hamlisch's.
Octopussy — C+
God, Roger is getting too old for this shit. At least they paired him up with a Bond Girl closer to his age. He and Maud Adams had great chemistry here. Sadly, despite the great train sequence, in my mind it always pales in comparison to the horror that is Bond in a FUCKING CLOWN SUIT.
A View to a Kill — D+
Roger is way too old for this shit. And so is Lois Maxwell. Their day at Ascot is embarrassing at best. Tanya Roberts can't act her way out of a wet paper bag. Christopher Walken is slightly amusing, but in general the film is very meh. A sad ending to Moore's tenure, but IMO only the middle three are worth repeat viewings.
