James Bond: The Ultimate Collection (1962-2012) + Volume Collections

[BluProofie]

I enjoyed them all. Spectre has its story issues but, I thought it was a lot of fun.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I sympathise with your comment with regards to the action, because normally I would agree with you. For example, I hate the action in the Bourne sequels. However, for some reason, it doesn't bother me in QOS.... and I can't really explain why? Everything in it just works for me. Whereas with Skyfall it's the opposite -- some things I liked (photography), but an awful lot (plot, character, tone) I didn't.

I didn't find the film to be that good. Maybe I was so harsh it due to the love for Casino Royale, but I can't remember enjoying anything about it.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I personally enjoy the underwater sequences, they may slow the pace down at times but I don’t mind that. Not everything needs to be fast paced and I like the underwater environments.

But the major underwater action is at the climax of the movie and in a Bond movie if one thing should be fast paced its the climax.

I agree with the other guy about QOS. The action scenes do sink the movie because they are almost incomprehensible so rather than taking in the action and watching the vehicles crash and burn you just sit trying to work out exactly what is going on.

Compare the superb and rather low key car chase near the start of Goldeneye. A million times more enjoyable than the chase in QOS

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by jackinbox

You raise some great points and you obviously know your Bond history. My main objection is with those who want to dismiss it as if it doesn't belong in a discussion of the Bond films.

[/IMG]

Depends what area the discussion is covering.
To be fair, when talking about different aspects of the Bond movies NSNA doesn't get a mention because its made by different people so the aspects in question are not always part of NSNA.

Familiarity with many aspects of the movies, like sets, characters, actors etc relate to the official series only because NSNA was a one off so there is no familiarity with anything in it or anyone (bar Connery)

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by lateralspin

It seems that maybe Spectre might be the "weakest" in the Craig Bond series. There are many things that I like about Quantum of Solace..

Spectre was the movie that finally offered some familiarity to Bond fans rather than being a Bourne clone as the other Craig movies are

[jackinbox]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

Depends what area the discussion is covering.
To be fair, when talking about different aspects of the Bond movies NSNA doesn't get a mention because its made by different people so the aspects in question are not always part of NSNA.

Familiarity with many aspects of the movies, like sets, characters, actors etc relate to the official series only because NSNA was a one off so there is no familiarity with anything in it or anyone (bar Connery)

All good points. I do find the fact that it's a one-off with Connery returning makes for a lot of interesting discussion and comparisons.

- Connery's performance compared to his previous entries. Did he improve on his phoned-in performance in Diamonds Are Forever? How did he hold up after returning after more than a decade?

- Barbara Carrera compared to other Bond girls.

- Lani Hall's theme song compared to other Bond theme songs.

- How is the overall tone and feel of the film compared to the EON-produced films from that time period?

- The actors playing Moneypenny, M, Q, Blofeld, and Felix Leiter compared to others who have played those roles.

- How did the gadgets and technology hold up compared to the EON-produced films?

Things like that. I hadn't seen the film in probably 20 years or so until I viewed it again about a month ago. Those were all things that went through my mind and I found the comparisons pretty interesting. It held up surprisingly well and I have a much more favorable opinion of it now than I used to.

[jackinbox]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I didn't find the film to be that good. Maybe I was so harsh it due to the love for Casino Royale, but I can't remember enjoying anything about it.

That's probably why I felt so let down when seeing it opening weekend. Casino Royale was so good that Quantum Of Solace just had the feeling like it was thrown together. I guess in a way, it sort of was. I think the script was abandoned due to a writer's strike and much of the 3rd act was discarded? Others with a better memory might correct me here, but I remember reading that somewhere years later.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by jackinbox

That's probably why I felt so let down when seeing it opening weekend. Casino Royale was so good that Quantum Of Solace just had the feeling like it was thrown together. I guess in a way, it sort of was. I think the script was abandoned due to a writer's strike and much of the 3rd act was discarded? Others with a better memory might correct me here, but I remember reading that somewhere years later.

You're basically right. The strike hit them mid-production (or maybe just before?), so only Forster and Craig were allowed to work on the script. Even Craig admitted he wasn't the best person for that particular job. But hey, I love me some Quantum of Solace. Whatever crap the production went through, I'm fine with the results. (Except that title song, which had nothing to do with the strike...)

I found the Bond on Set book for QoS recently ($20 so I had to grab it), it's a lovely little collection of BTS photos and info. Need to get the ones for the other Craig movies but these things are so expensive after they go out of print.

[jackinbox]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

The all-powerful Rotten Tomatoes critics agree: Spectre 63%, Quantum 65%, Skyfall 92%, Casino Royale 94%.

Here's the Metacritic numbers for comparison...

Casino Royale 80%
Quantum Of Solace 58%
Skyfall 81%
Spectre 60%

I like Metacritic's method of scoring better because they are taking a score from each critic (0-100) and averaging it. RT just has a percentage of overall "thumbs up" vs. "thumbs down".

[imsounoriginal]

I also prefer Metacritic, but most people here don't know/trust it. In general people need to move away from aggregates...

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

But the major underwater action is at the climax of the movie and in a Bond movie if one thing should be fast paced its the climax.

I agree with the other guy about QOS. The action scenes do sink the movie because they are almost incomprehensible so rather than taking in the action and watching the vehicles crash and burn you just sit trying to work out exactly what is going on.

Compare the superb and rather low key car chase near the start of Goldeneye. A million times more enjoyable than the chase in QOS

Are you talking about the chase at the beginning of QoS when they come out of the tunnel and the music slowly builds up? Because I thought it was superb, loved every second of it.

[Markgway]

I thoroughly enjoyed Spectre, a lot more than Skyfall, but even I would admit the Blofeld twist was ill-advised and poorly handled.

[StingingVelvet]

Honestly in my opinion Casiono Royale is the only great Craig movie so far. Skyfall is amazingly beautiful but the script is trash IMO, and the other two were meh oversall (outside of the opening scene of Spectre, which might be the best Bond opening ever).

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

Spectre was the movie that finally offered some familiarity to Bond fans rather than being a Bourne clone as the other Craig movies are

Anyone who thinks the Craig movies are like Bourne haven't actually watched the Bourne movies beyond a trailer.

[lateralspin]

BOURNE vs BOND | Trailer - YouTube

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Anyone who thinks the Craig movies are like Bourne haven't actually watched the Bourne movies beyond a trailer.

Quantum of Solace has some similarities in the action sequences, but I wouldn't say that any of the other Craig films do.

[Verisimilitude1984]

I think Never Say Never Again should be included in any Bond discussions, although not an official production.

I remember seeing it when I was very young and not really liking it, despite recognising Sean Connery. I knew he was older (a bit too old imo) and the lack of the usual Bond theme and different actors playing M, Q and Moneypenny was really confusing!

Having said that, fancy seeing it again all these years later. It would have been nice to see Kim Basinger as an official Bond girl, she was gorgeous. Barbara Carrera rightly got the plaudits too, I think I read somewhere that she turned down a role in Octopussy for it!

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude1984

I think Never Say Never Again should be included in any Bond discussions, although not an official production.

I remember seeing it when I was very young and not really liking it, despite recognising Sean Connery. I knew he was older (a bit too old imo) and the lack of the usual Bond theme and different actors playing M, Q and Moneypenny was really confusing!

Having said that, fancy seeing it again all these years later. It would have been nice to see Kim Basinger as an official Bond girl, she was gorgeous. Barbara Carrera rightly got the plaudits too, I think I read somewhere that she turned down a role in Octopussy for it!

and yet he was actually younger than Roger Moore who not only did Octopussy the same year but A View To A Kill 2 years later!

[MJD64]

Just want to drop in and say that although his screen time was brief, Max Von Sydow in Never Say Never Again remains my favorite Blofeld.

Mads Mikkelsen was a superb Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and had he not starred in that film, I believe he'd have made a truly menacing and memorable Blofeld in SPECTRE.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Anyone who thinks the Craig movies are like Bourne haven't actually watched the Bourne movies beyond a trailer.

I've seen all the Bourne movies thanks.
I actually never got round to seeing them until after QoS.
So when I finally saw them I realised from the opening minutes that CR was very much in the style of a Bourne movie which it certainly resembled far more than it did any previous Bond movie.

Skyfall was a move away from Bourne but the influence is still there. So your comment is inaccurate guesswork but don't let that stop you from calling me a liar.

The biggest issue I have with NSNA is the video game which seems to make it look more dated than any of the official series.

Watched You Only Live Twice today. The earliest one with no upgraded documentary so its 4:3 SD