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Rank the Bond films

Best James Bond actor?

  • Sean Connery

    Votes: 36 53.7%

  • George Lazenby

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Roger Moore

    Votes: 4 6.0%

  • Timothy Dalton

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pierce Brosnan

    Votes: 9 13.4%

  • Daniel Craig

    Votes: 22 32.8%

  • John Turner

    Votes: 4 6.0%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
#121
Alvaro Martín Gómez A.;13787357 said:
Oh, and "You Only Live Twice" isn't usually listed as one of the best Bond entries, but I like that it's the first Bond that really makes a conspicuous display of gadgetry. Actually, the only thing that makes me go like :eyebrow: about it is Bond's Japanese disguise.
Click to expand...
Spot on in all respects.
 
#122
I did the "watch every Bond film in chronological order" thing just a couple of months back, and it was kind of depressing. They are ALL terribly dreadful, dreadful movies. And it worried me that I'm still a fan, even though they are undeniably crap of the very worst sort.

Oh well, at least I didn't like "Skyfall". :D
 
#123
Today: Die Another Day

Wow.
I actually wanted to like this movie, just because of Rosamund Pike. She's definitely one of my favorite actresses out there now. Shoot, I even watched Pride and Prejudice for her!

But this sucked.

Almost everything about it, primarily Madonna's theme song. Undoubtedly the worst Bond theme I've heard yet. The villain was dull, his plot was ridiculous, and the Icarus contraption was a crappy ripoff of Blofeld's device in Diamonds Are Forever.

I'd read the primary point of criticism of this movie was the invisible car, but that's actually not too far-fetched. There have been experiments into that sort of thing, so having that isn't too crazy.

But yeah, everything else totally sucked. Even Halle Berry was lame.
Anyway, preaching to the choir here. You all know what you hate about it.
Still, Rosamund Pike saves this turkey from the bottom.
(Miranda Frost > Christmas Jones)

OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. The Man With the Golden Gun
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Licence To Kill
9. Thunderball
10. A View To a Kill
11. GoldenEye
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Octopussy
14. Dr. No
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Live and Let Die
17. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
18. Die Another Day
19. Moonraker
20. The World Is Not Enough

Up next: Casino Royale
 
#124
bassybill said:
I did the "watch every Bond film in chronological order" thing just a couple of months back, and it was kind of depressing. They are ALL terribly dreadful, dreadful movies. And it worried me that I'm still a fan, even though they are undeniably crap of the very worst sort.

Oh well, at least I didn't like "Skyfall". :D
Click to expand...

I think that's a joy of them, they are never overly serious in any real fashion, they're just good entertainment and it's a likeable franchise.

Though if you want grittier spy stuff you could always watch Spooks (MI:5 as it was called in the US), the first few seasons were especially good, if somewhat brutal at times.
 
#125
Today: Casino Royale

I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't let me down. Craig pulls off the best of Dalton's grittiness mixed with the best of Moore's romanticism.
Sadly lacking Connery and Brosnan's wit, but I imagine they'll get to that soon enough.

As far as the production, this is definitely among the best Bond movies. The story is built well, the pacing is perfect, they were even able to make a game of Hold 'Em into a tense scene!

However, the movie does lose a few points, due to a lack of Bond humor, no Q, and no Moneypenny.


OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. Casino Royale
6. The Man With the Golden Gun
7. Tomorrow Never Dies
8. Diamonds Are Forever
9. Licence To Kill
10. Thunderball
11. A View To a Kill
12. GoldenEye
13. You Only Live Twice
14. Octopussy
15. Dr. No
16. For Your Eyes Only
17. Live and Let Die
18. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
19. Die Another Day
20. Moonraker
21. The World Is Not Enough

Up next: Quantum of Solace :crying:
 
#127
Today: Quantum of Solace

Instead of a review of the movie, as I've been doing so far, allow me to instead share what went on through my mind while I watched the first few minutes.

"Oh good, shaky cam. That's what these movies have been missing. Imcomprehensible action." (<- Note: sarcasm)

"Wait, are they really going to... NOOOOO! Speedboat chase!! Curse you Marc Forster!"

"Yay, Felix Leiter is back! He was pretty good in Casino Roya.... wait, has he forgotten how to act? Emote! Do something!"


I think the pitch for this may have been "Hey, let's take one of the coolest, most enduring film series of all time, and make it exactly like every other action movie in the world!".
I'm guessing the execs shot down the lens flare idea.


OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. Casino Royale
6. The Man With the Golden Gun
7. Tomorrow Never Dies
8. Diamonds Are Forever
9. Licence To Kill
10. Thunderball
11. A View To a Kill
12. GoldenEye
13. You Only Live Twice
14. Octopussy
15. Dr. No
16. For Your Eyes Only
17. Live and Let Die
18. Quantum of Solace
19. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
20. Die Another Day
21. Moonraker
22. The World Is Not Enough

And next, the final day of my Bond movie marathon. This makes me sad.
However, I'm looking forward to Skyfall a lot. I already saw it (in theaters) but I can't wait to see if and how my opinion of it changes after getting all these other movies watched.
 
#130
jmattbassplaya said:
I grew up on James Bond movies. I currently own all of them (sans Skyfall), and I've seen each one at least a dozen times. I won't claim to be the biggest fan out there, but I'm definitely more into this franchise than most people I know. It's actually really hard for me to pick a best Bond or a best movie because I genuinely love them all for what they are. And that's the trick - you have to accept each Bond for what they are. Moore's Bond is comedic. If you're expecting a Brosnan movie then you're going to be disappointed, but if you are expecting it to be slightly zany then Moore's Bond can be really fun to watch.

Bond rankings:
1. Connery
2. Tie between Moore and Brosnan
3. Dalton
4. Craig
5. Lazenby

Connery gets first place because he defined the franchise. TBH, I'm not positive James Bond would of been nearly as successful had Connery not been the first Bond. He had the perfect mixture of suaveness, masculinity, and humor, and it made Bond someone that men wanted to be and women wanted to be with. He arguably starred in the best movies in the entire series, too.

Moore and Brosnan both get a solid tie for second. Moore gets this place because all his movies were decent. They weren't the best flicks in the franchise, but none of them were weak (which is something I can't say about Brosnan). That in mind, Brosnan is a better Bond. He returned to the suaveness of Connery's bond while simultaneously giving the character a more modern edge. Moore's comedic approach, while fun for what it is, can definitely make a movie go from cool to slightly embarrassing to watch at times.

Third place goes to Dalton (aka, the black sheep in the franchise). Personally, I never understood why no one likes him. I found the movies not only enjoyable but a breath of fresh air from Moore's style. Likewise, Dalton brought a more realistic, darkness to the franchise that mimicked the books better than any other Bond before him. To me, he actually gets the closest to Flemming's character than any of the others. Honestly, I think people only dislike him because they hear other people say they dislike him. I can't even begin to count the number of times people have said he is the worst only to later admit they had never actually seen one of his films.

I'm going to skip Craig for now and hit Lazenby (who I ranked in last). I honestly don't think he was a horrible Bond. Rather, I just think OHMSS was just a dull movie. Nothing about it was truly memorable, and a lot of the film just fell flat. I really don't have much else to say about him or OHMSS, unfortunately.

And now to hit on Craig, who I ranked in 4th place behind Dalton. There's a lot I can say about him and his films. Seeing as I still haven't seen Skyfall I'm going to construct my argument as if it currently doesn't exist. Casino Royal was a great movie. It's arguably one of the best films in the series, and the direction is took was fresh and fun to watch, while simultaneously giving a nod towards Connery's character. That said, it lacked certain aspects that makes a Bond movie a Bond movie. There were no gadgets, no Moneypenny, innuendos were kept to a minimum, and certain stylistic aspects that define Bond cinema were absent. I was pleased, but I was also a little skeptical.

Then came Quantum of Solace, which is arguably one of the worst films in the series. There was so much wrong with this movie that I almost left the theater the first time I saw it. For one, it is not a Bond film. It is a Jason Bourne film with James Bond's name attached to it. Had it been a Bourne movie I would of been okay with it, but as a Bond film it was horrible. Once again we saw no gadgets, no Moneypenny, the fight scenes were made unwatchable due to extreme overuse of fast cutaways, the character development was ridiculous, and don't even get me started on the plot. We also had this guy make an appearance:

haircut.jpg


I mean, what the heck were they thinking putting a guy with that kind of haircut in the movie? Menacing henchman? This guy looks like a reject from an Austin Powers movie. And the love scene between Bond and the redheaded agent came totally out of left field and seemed completely unbelievable due to Craig's lack of suaveness and meaningful interaction with said character.

I thought Craig was great in Casino Royal, and had that been his only movie so far I could definitely see ranking him in 3rd place on that one movie alone. However, QOS was so incredibly bad that I can't give him higher than 4th place. Had Casino Royal only been decent I would be ranking him in dead last. His Bond lacks suaveness, devilish humor, and charisma. He just comes across as a brooding beast and not as a Bond. It might seem hypocritical given what I said in my first paragraph about accepting each Bond for what they are, but when it's not even a Bond movie I have a very hard time following my own rule. I'm hoping Skyfall turns his take on the franchise around, because if it's another QOS then I'm moving him to dead last.

Anyways! I wrote a lot so I'll rank the movies later :p
Click to expand...

I agree with this.
 
#132
Today: Skyfall

Yeah, shouldn't have watched this a second time.
When I first saw it, I was new to James Bond. As such, I really enjoyed the movie. It had neat action sequences, a cool villain, etc.

But not so good after getting acquainted with the franchise. Definitely better than QOS, and probably better than most movies released last year, but just doesn't work as Bond.

That said, Skyfall took steps toward getting the series back on track. Q, Moneypenny, good dose of humor, memorable villain... the future looks good.


OVERALL RANKINGS (WITH EMOTICONS!):
1. From Russia With Love :bassist:
2. The Spy Who Loved Me :bassist:
3. The Living Daylights :bassist:
4. Goldfinger :D
5. Casino Royale :D
6. The Man With the Golden Gun :D
7. Tomorrow Never Dies :D
8. Diamonds Are Forever :smug:
9. Licence To Kill :smug:
10. Thunderball :)
11. A View To a Kill :)
12. Skyfall :)
13. GoldenEye :rolleyes:
14. You Only Live Twice :rolleyes:
15. Octopussy :hmm:
16. Dr. No :hmm:
17. For Your Eyes Only :hmm:
18. Live and Let Die :hmm:
19. Quantum of Solace :(
20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service :(
21. Die Another Day :mad:
22. Moonraker :mad: :spit:
23. The World Is Not Enough :mad: :spit: :crying: :atoz: :eyebrow: :eyebrow:
 
#133
BOND ACTORS
1. Timothy Dalton
2. Sean Connery
3. Roger Moore
4. Pierce Brosnan
5. Daniel Craig
6. George Lazenby

BEST MOVIES
1. From Russia With Love
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. The Living Daylights
4. Goldfinger
5. Casino Royale

BEST VILLAINS
1. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) - Goldfinger
2. Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) - A View To a Kill
3. Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) - Tomorrow Never Dies
4. Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) - Licence To Kill
5. Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) - Skyfall

BEST BOND GIRLS
1. Solitaire (Jane Seymour) - Live and Let Die
2. Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) - From Russia With Love
3. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) - The Spy Who Loved Me
4. Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) - Die Another Day
5. Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) - Dr. No

BEST THEME SONGS
1. Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)
2. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell)
3. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
4. A View To a Kill (Duran Duran)
5. Skyfall (Adele)


Anybody else wanna give it a go?
 
#134
nutso42 said:
OVERALL RANKINGS (WITH EMOTICONS!):
1. From Russia With Love :bassist:
2. The Spy Who Loved Me :bassist:
3. The Living Daylights :bassist:
4. Goldfinger :D
5. Casino Royale :D
6. The Man With the Golden Gun :D
7. Tomorrow Never Dies :D
8. Diamonds Are Forever :smug:
9. Licence To Kill :smug:
10. Thunderball :)
11. A View To a Kill :)
12. Skyfall :)
13. GoldenEye :rolleyes:
14. You Only Live Twice :rolleyes:
15. Octopussy :hmm:
16. Dr. No :hmm:
17. For Your Eyes Only :hmm:
18. Live and Let Die :hmm:
19. Quantum of Solace :(
20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service :(
21. Die Another Day :mad:
22. Moonraker :mad: :spit:
23. The World Is Not Enough :mad: :spit: :crying: :atoz: :eyebrow: :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

Currently I don't have enough spare time, but on vacation I'll revisit my Bond collection (and check "Quantum Of Solace" and "Skyfall" - haven't seen them yet) and post my rankings. In the meantime I can tell for sure that, compared to yours, there are some big differences:

- "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a terrific Bond movie.

- "Diamonds Are Forever" is exactly the opposite.

- "Goldeneye" is the best Brosnan film in the franchise, and an overall great Bond movie.
 
#137
I finally got around to watching Skyfall! :hyper:

My first reaction after seeing the movie is to say that it's genuinely good! IMHO, this should have been the follow-up to Casino Royal. It had everything Casino Royal did right, but it added in all the elements that were missing in it (Q, Moneypenny, cheeky one-liners, memorable villains, a smart (albeit a self-convenient) plot, and it discovered new things about Bond's character that haven't been fleshed out in any of the past Bond movies.

If there is anything bad I can say about it it'd be that the plot is self-convenient. By that, I mean things just seem to happen at the right time which then allows the plot to progress. It sometimes feels artificial and not realistic. However, it is done in a way that is still miles above the latter Bronson movies.

What I really enjoyed about this movie is that it felt like a Bond movie and not a Jason Bourne movie. If there was one major problem I was having with the Craig films it was that. This movie, however, turned that around and added in the slight amount of fantasy to the films that gave them their classic charm and charisma. There's still some grit to its tone, but it's done in a way that seems more reserved and tasteful than the Bourne movies. I also thought the way this movie wrapped up leaves the series open for a VERY successful and diverse future. We're finally entering a new era of Bond, and for the first time I'm VERY excited to see what the next chapter has in store for us :)
 
#138
I was very disappointed by Skyfall. To me, it's one of the worst in the series. Everything about it just felt gratuitous, starting with the first scene, in which Mendes presented his (flawed, IMO) philosophy that vehicles exist purely to be crashed into things. It didn't get better from there, with the too-sweet eye candy sets and the absolutely nonsensical plot. Are these all things you normally expect from a Bond film? Yes but let's have some good sense of proportion, please.
 
#139
colcifer said:
I was very disappointed by Skyfall. To me, it's one of the worst in the series. Everything about it just felt gratuitous, starting with the first scene, in which Mendes presented his (flawed, IMO) philosophy that vehicles exist purely to be crashed into things. It didn't get better from there, with the too-sweet eye candy sets and the absolutely nonsensical plot. Are these all things you normally expect from a Bond film? Yes but let's have some good sense of proportion, please.
Click to expand...

I heard that a lot of people didn't like the plot. While I can say it wasn't the strongest ever, it did everything a plot needed to do. What did you think was so nonsensical about it?
 
#140
Not to be the "won't dignify your question with a proper answer" guy but it's late so I'll just leave you with this plot hole for now: where did Silva get the helicopter that he flew to Skyfall in? MI6 arrests him but let's him keep his aresenal? Or did he somehow steal a military helicopter which somehow was not followed to Skyfall? After you answer that, we can get started on how he coordinated the train-he-tried-to-kill-Bond-with thing. Now THERE's a marvel of scheduling.
 

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