From Russia With Love, OHMSS, For Your Eyes Only, Tomorrow Never Dies (!) and Casino Royale bring me the most pleasure.

I am currently in the middle of catching up on my the old Bonds since the new Bonds just make me so damn mad... I own and love the Brosnan Bonds and watched most of the old ones a very long time ago, so i am starting from the beginning with Connery. As of now though:

1. Tomorrow Never Dies (I'm a journalist and this movie is so damn over-the-top, its crazy fun!) (A/A-)
2. Golden Eye (A-)
3. Goldfiner (A-)
4. Die Another Day (B+)
5. The World is Not Enough (B+)
6. Casino Royale (B)
7. Dr. No (B)
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8. Quantum of Solace (D+/C-)

I can ignore the deficient Quantum of Solace rating. But Die Another Day over Casino Royale and Dr. No? You're insane.

Maybe... But the way i look at movies is i either need to be entertained or emotionally drained to consider it good. To consider it bad, it needs to be extremely cliched, unoriginal, and it has to either bore or aggravate me.

All of the Brosnan Bonds entertain the hell out of me. Sure they might be outlandish and silly, but its fun watching Bond have so much fun doing all the shit he does. Dr. No is good, but not that entertaining. Casino Royale is a really well made movie, but it streches on a half hour too long and i don't like Craig's Bond...

This is just how i categorize the nearly 200 movies i watch every year... Is that so bad?

Die Another Day is seriously underrated here at KJ - - people have an altogether irrational hate for it...

That's because it's a bad movie. It starts off well (minus surfing), has a good first hour up until the fencing, and then the whole thing goes to shit. The finale on the plane is just miserable.



If your barometer only goes to "entertained" or "emotionally drained," then... yeah.

See! That's what I'm talkin' about!

I don't hate it, I think it's a bad movie. There's a difference. I don't have a particular grudge against it or anything.

Die Another Day just sort of (I don’t mind the film) crossed the line when it came to being absurd. For me I thought Live and Let Die was just able to keep a perfect balance, voodoo and all. Throw in Moore being a badass (in this film he had the perfect mix of his own take on Bond and Connery’s), overusing the Bond theme, Jane Seymour, Wings, the perfect “Bond, James Bond” scene, Yaphet Kotto, the real Felix Leiter, a long boat chase, and Jane Seymour, and you’ve got the perfect Bond film.

Die Another Day was pretty darn good (some tiny problems aside) for about an hour. Then we got to Toby Stephens. He wasn’t bad at first. The sword fight was cool. Then we got this…..

nothing will ever top goldfinger

bump

1. From Russia With Love A+
2. Goldfinger A+
3. Casino Royale A+
4. Goldeneye A+
5. You Only Live Twice A+
6. License to Kill A+
7. On Her Majesty's Secret Service A+
8. Skyfall A
9. The Spy Who Loved Me A
10. The Living Daylights A
11. Dr. No A-
12. Thunderball B+
13. Quantam of Solace B+
14. For Your Eyes Only B+
15. The World is Not Enough B+
16. Diamonds are Forever B
17. Live and Let Die B
18. Never Say Never Again B
19. Tomorrow Never Dies B-
20. Die Another Day C+
21. A View to a Kill C
22. Moonraker C-
23. The Man With the Golden Gun C-
24. Octopussy D+

I can usually find good things about most of them, only really 22-24 I really had major problems with.

1. Skyfall

Massive Gap

2. Casino Royale
3. The Living Daylights

Big Gap

Goldfinger
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
From Russia with Love
Goldeneye

Massive Gap

Quantum of Solace
Dr. No
Live and Let Die

Has anyone seen the original screen production of James Bond - - Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre in Casino Royale? I haven't... yet.


I have seen the Peter Sellers version of Casino Royale a couple times on TV back in the day, and have no fond memories of it - - it's a mess.


And finally, it was sure fun to see Sean Connery back as Bond in Never Say Never Again (aka Thunderball reboot) - - but it was far from a memorable James Bond movie.

1. Skyfall
2. Casino Royale
3. Goldeneye
4. From Russia With Love
5. Goldfinger
6. Thunderball
7. Live and Let Die
8. The Spy Who Loved Me
9. The Man With the Golden Gun
10. Tomorrow Never Dies
11. You Only Live Twice
12. The Living Daylights
13. Licence to Kill
14. Dr. No
15. Moonraker
16. The World's Not Enough
17. Octopussy
18. Diamonds Are Forever
19. A View to a Kill
20. Die Another Day

Have not seen: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace

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

Updated my list on the first page.

Jmart, why exactly is that you liked Tomorrow Never Dies so much? I mean it was good, but I find Goldeneye to be an just another level than that movie.

The villain, the score, Brosnan is at his best, and it was my first Bond in theaters.

As for Goldeneye, Eric Serra came dangerously close to sabotaging it. I like some of his themes,



but his score belongs in another movie. I also think it's very obvious that the film was written with Dalton in mind. The movie takes itself a little too seriously. It's still a very good movie, I just prefer Tomorrow Never Dies.

You see I'm of the opposite opinion, I really liked the score for Goldeneye, as I found it memorable even though, yes, it is vastly different than the rest of the series. But I think that's okay, as it has a Soviet Union vibe to it as it sounds cold and mechanical, like the robotic heart pounds of a dying machine. And I think that musical theme matches this post-USSR Bond film that is still very much about the USSR in many ways.

Oh, and yes, this did seem like it was written for Dalton, but I'm okay with that, it's nice to see Brosnan in a more serious Bond role. Meanwhile Campbell still brought that Bond flaire to it was well.

GoldenEye being written for Dalton helps it; Brosnan's Bond has a harder edge there ("How can you be so cold?" "It's what keeps me alive.") than he has in his other films.

The problem though is that Brosnan wasn't quite as good dramatically as Dalton was. That scene seemed like it was straight out of a soap opera.

Brosnan's the best of the Bonds at being able to play both serious and silly. The World Is Not Enough is a perfect example. One moment he's executing an unarmed woman and taking a moment to grieve, and in another he's straightening his tie while underwater. And he makes it work.

True. It still doesn't mean the Brosnan era isn't without its share of cringeworthy soap opera-like moments (The World is Not Enough especially).

Well, yeah. And plotting. Look at Tomorrow Never Dies. Carver has his wife killed because she's recorded asking Bond if he still sleeps with a gun under his pillow. Cheater! Except for the fact that Paris' cover was that Bond dated her roommate, and thus she'd probably actually have access to that sort of information.

Carver jumps to that conclusion simply because the movie needs Paris dead to piss Bond off.