Jump to content

The James Bond Thread: RIP Robbie Coltrane


James Bond

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

TWINE is a really frustrating one for me. It did a lot of things well - good plot, exciting locations, formidable villains, an incredible PTS and a good title song...it really could’ve been one of the greats. But it just missed the mark on a few too many things - Denise Richards was horribly miscast, the dialogue is pretty cringey at times, the twist is unsuprising. It’s not enough to completely ruin the film for me, but it’s certainly enough to keep it out of my top 10. 
 

the funny thing about Brosnan’s tenure to me is, despite the fact that I consider DAD to be the worst Bond film by a pretty large margin, TND is the one I just can’t bring myself to ever watch. DAD at least has a great first act (sans the title sequence), and after that the train wreck is still fun to watch. TND is just unbelievably average across the board. It’s not that anything in it is terrible (Except maybe Carver - I consider Evil Steve Jobs the worst villain in the franchise), but it just bores me to tears. 

Not to say the same thing but I agree with this post 100% too, on both parts. 

DAD could've been an incredible film as well - the PTS is among the best in the series. Then it just falls apart completely and embarrasses itself for the rest of the film. I still enjoy watching it more than TND, however. 

LTK would be my other contender for most underrated film, btw. Depending on what happens here during May I might spend a part of that month just watching a few movies per week and getting my updated list going. 

  • GNFNR 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know it sucks, but would you want to be in a movie theatre with tons of people right now? I don't think so. Alot of movies are being postponed or going right to ON Demand. It sucks because a movie like James Bond has to be really enjoyed in a movie theatre, but what can you do?

I bet movies will be postponed until 2021.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

TWINE is a really frustrating one for me. It did a lot of things well - good plot, exciting locations, formidable villains, an incredible PTS and a good title song...it really could’ve been one of the greats. But it just missed the mark on a few too many things - Denise Richards was horribly miscast, the dialogue is pretty cringey at times, the twist is unsuprising. It’s not enough to completely ruin the film for me, but it’s certainly enough to keep it out of my top 10. 
 

They could have done a lot more with Renard who is actually a well conceived bad guy played by a fine actor. His death is a bit lazy, impaled by a rod. Picture the scenario. The bullet is slowly killing him. He is a sympathetic villain. They could have made him die from the bullet as he is about to kill Bond. They could have made it poignant. They could have even made him aid Bond as he feels himself dying. There are a lot of interesting byways they could have went but they just had him impaled.

  • Like 1
  • GNFNR 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

They could have done a lot more with Renard who is actually a well conceived bad guy played by a fine actor. His death is a bit lazy, impaled by a rod. Picture the scenario. The bullet is slowly killing him. He is a sympathetic villain. They could have made him die from the bullet as he is about to kill Bond. They could have made it poignant. They could have even made him aid Bond as he feels himself dying. There are a lot of interesting byways they could have went but they just had him impaled.

I wish he'd been beaten to death with a pool cue while trying to glass Bond. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 16.4.2020 at 9:44 PM, Dazey said:

I really liked Brosnan in the role but other than Goldeneye his films were unwatchable. Real shame because Goldeneye is really great. I kinda wish they'd kept Dalton on for a couple more movies. He was awesome as Bond and The Living Daylights is one of my all time favourite Bond movies.

TWINE unwatchable?? Strongly disagree there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dazey said:

It's fucking rubbish! Absolute cheese fest! 

"I thought Christmas only comes once a year" is a much classier and more iconic line than that horseshit Clark Gable spews out at the end of Gone With the Wind...or any other one-liner ever said in cinematic history

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

I know it sucks, but would you want to be in a movie theatre with tons of people right now? I don't think so. Alot of movies are being postponed or going right to ON Demand. It sucks because a movie like James Bond has to be really enjoyed in a movie theatre, but what can you do?

I bet movies will be postponed until 2021.

None of us are really arguing the film should’ve still been released as planned. Any of us in here that are frustrated because of the repeated delays - he this film not been delayed several times prior, we’d have had this film well before any of this happened. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn, the more I think about it the more I see a lot of similarities between what OHMSS/DAF would've been and what CR/QoS was. First movie for each actor, involving Bond falling in love and the next movie (if Lazenby would've came back) was a sequel based on revenge. 

Both are among the best movies in the series (OHMSS and CR, that is) with sequels that didn't live up to the hype (or likely wouldn't have for DAF). 

Speaking about "what if" scenarios, I wonder if a 3rd Dalton movie would've been as good as the other 2?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Crazyman said:

Damn, the more I think about it the more I see a lot of similarities between what OHMSS/DAF would've been and what CR/QoS was. First movie for each actor, involving Bond falling in love and the next movie (if Lazenby would've came back) was a sequel based on revenge. 

Both are among the best movies in the series (OHMSS and CR, that is) with sequels that didn't live up to the hype (or likely wouldn't have for DAF). 

Speaking about "what if" scenarios, I wonder if a 3rd Dalton movie would've been as good as the other 2?

I've warmed a lot to QOS over the years. I'll happily take that over DAF!

It's escaping me at the moment but the Some Kind Of Hero book has many plot details from the abandoned third Dalton film. Some of those ideas were later reworked into GoldenEye. Catch 22 - more Dalton, but no GoldenEye for Nintendo 64.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, James Bond said:

I've warmed a lot to QOS over the years. I'll happily take that over DAF!

It's escaping me at the moment but the Some Kind Of Hero book has many plot details from the abandoned third Dalton film. Some of those ideas were later reworked into GoldenEye. Catch 22 - more Dalton, but no GoldenEye for Nintendo 64.

I still maintain that this is one of the best sequences in a Bond film, even with that editing style. It's one of the only redeeming qualities of that movie imo (I'd take it any day over DAF too, however)

Interesting detail about the lost Dalton film. No offense to Timothy but I'd rather lose a 3rd film and keep Goldeneye, both the movie and the game. Is that book a good read?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Crazyman said:

I still maintain that this is one of the best sequences in a Bond film, even with that editing style. It's one of the only redeeming qualities of that movie imo (I'd take it any day over DAF too, however)

Interesting detail about the lost Dalton film. No offense to Timothy but I'd rather lose a 3rd film and keep Goldeneye, both the movie and the game. Is that book a good read?

That opera scene is one of the best scenes in the entire series in my opinion. While I find the editing of QOS in general to be atrocious, it fits like a glove there.

Also yes most definitely. It's probably the most in depth and well-researched book on Bond I've ever read. Lots of first hand accounts and little tidbits that I previously hadn't known despite my own lifelong research on Bond. It gives more of the "dirt" (if you call it that for Bond) than most other books on the series, and you quickly realize that many of the films had such production troubles that it's amazing we have a series at all.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I missed this live but Esquire has kindly posted it for us all to enjoy. Watch GoldenEye at the same time as Pierce as he takes questions. Skip to around 33 minutes in to hear him unleash nothing but praise for ol' Danny boy.

I haven't watched it all yet (mostly because it's interesting enough just listening to him and I haven't bothered putting the film on), but apparently he shits on DAD in it as well and says he finds his films after GoldenEye to be a blur. 😂

Top bloke this Brosnan is.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Crazyman said:

Just got the book you recommended, @James Bond - holy shit, it's about as thick as the bible :lol:

Looking forward to it!

The size came as a surprise to me as well. I thought I ordered a book so when a brick showed up at my door I was surprised. If you read it bed it gives you carpal tunnel. :lol:

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/29/2020 at 5:10 PM, James Bond said:

The size came as a surprise to me as well. I thought I ordered a book so when a brick showed up at my door I was surprised. If you read it bed it gives you carpal tunnel. :lol:

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I'm up to TSTLM chapter (right after the split between Harry and Cubby) and...holy shit, I've learned far more about this series from this book than any other source possible. 

So many small things could've changed the series in an innumerable amount of ways from what we ended up getting. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Damn, I'm up to Die Another Day now and there's a ton of good stuff in here about each era. Some interesting things I can recall:

Connery was originally signed up to do the movie past YOLT, but the Broccoli and Saltzman let him go early

Moore almost didn't return for FYEO (or Octopussy? It was one of those) over a contract dispute

Dalton was never gonna be in Goldeneye - his statement says he was resigning but the studio had actually moved on. The authors state his third movie (a different script from Goldeneye and released in '91) would've cemented his place as Bond and would've been really good. 

Somehow, despite all that, Brosnan is the one who I feel got fucked over the most. Production problems absolutely fucked TND - they rushed to finish it because the studio forced them so they could increase their value before going public or something. The studio also then fucked TWINE - Denise Richards was only cast because Sophie Marceau was French and they wanted an "American sex symbol" to appeal to that audience. Also she wasn't originally going to be a nuclear physicist but an insurance investigator, but they decided to change it after the same studio greenlit The Thomas Crown Affair (with Pierce as the lead) that featured an insurance investigator. Also the film was going to focus even more on Elektra and M but Brosnan wasn't very happy about it. And the grandaddy of them all - DAD wasn't going to feature all the CGI bullshit and was originally going to just be a high budgeted action movie (like the PTS), but Lee Tamahori wanted it to be more cartoonish. Also the original idea of the movie was supposed to be Bond getting home after the PTS but they decided against it. 

Then obviously they kinda gave Brosnan the Dalton treatment afterwards...

This book is incredible if you're a fan of the movies...can't wait until after this chapter to start with Craig's era!

 

Edit: not trying to make numerous posts in a row so I'll just edit this. Had an epiphany last night...DC's era of Bond is kinda getting the same exact treatment as Brosnan's. A "reboot" with the first directed by Martin Campbell (obviously CR is an actual reboot) that did tremendously well. However, the followup to both has a new director and were both rushed into production, had productions problems and ultimately were seen as disappointments. 

TWINE to me is one of the most underrated movies in the series, though I wouldn't hold it (or its success) to the same regard as Skyfall. Either way, to me the third film for each was easily the 2nd best for each actor (thus far). The 4th film for each came out 3 years after the last one and was a critical disappointment, despite the monetary success they each had. 

Hopefully No Time To Die is a great sendoff for DC's Bond. 

Edited by Crazyman
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Poor ol' Pierce. I agree that he's the one who got fucked over the most of all the actors. There wasn't a single film of his that didn't have all kinds of behind the scenes bullshit.

Basically - fuck MGM. ;)

Glad you're enjoying it! I thought it was a terrific read.

  • Like 1
  • GNFNR 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished it - a ton of info I had never heard about, even though I've read about the series before. The authors seriously deserve whatever praise they've received for writing that book. 

The biggest thing I noticed, especially with the later Bonds, is that when production is fucked with or rushed, or the director wants to make it more comedic, the movie ends up being not as good. TND/TWINE/QoS all fall into the first category, DAD/Spectre in the latter. Never realized how heavily Mendes and DC were influenced by LALD on Spectre. 

It almost seemed like NTTD was gonna fall into the rushed category but hopefully (and this is gonna sound ironic) covid ends up making it a better movie with the delay. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Crazyman said:

Just finished it - a ton of info I had never heard about, even though I've read about the series before. The authors seriously deserve whatever praise they've received for writing that book. 

The biggest thing I noticed, especially with the later Bonds, is that when production is fucked with or rushed, or the director wants to make it more comedic, the movie ends up being not as good. TND/TWINE/QoS all fall into the first category, DAD/Spectre in the latter. Never realized how heavily Mendes and DC were influenced by LALD on Spectre. 

It almost seemed like NTTD was gonna fall into the rushed category but hopefully (and this is gonna sound ironic) covid ends up making it a better movie with the delay. 

Cary Fukunaga was asked about the reshoot rumors on Instagram and he said the film was totally in the can and that he was happy with it. He basically said there would be no point in spending more budget on extra editing time due to the pandemic when the film was ready to go anyways. I think that's probably a good thing. He might get into Axl territory with too much tinkering!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, James Bond said:

Cary Fukunaga was asked about the reshoot rumors on Instagram and he said the film was totally in the can and that he was happy with it. He basically said there would be no point in spending more budget on extra editing time due to the pandemic when the film was ready to go anyways. I think that's probably a good thing. He might get into Axl territory with too much tinkering!

Interesting. Hopefully he's right and we get a good sendoff for DC. I get nervous (especially after reading that book) when I hear a bunch of problems/changes in production. Almost seems like the smoother that process is the better the movie ends up being...which shouldn't be a total shock.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/24/2020 at 5:14 PM, James Bond said:

Poor ol' Pierce. I agree that he's the one who got fucked over the most of all the actors. There wasn't a single film of his that didn't have all kinds of behind the scenes bullshit.

Basically - fuck MGM. ;)

Glad you're enjoying it! I thought it was a terrific read.

One of my all time favorite Bond moments in Brosnan laughing about the shit he had to endure while filming DAD in Everything Or Nothing. 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

One of my all time favorite Bond moments in Brosnan laughing about the shit he had to endure while filming DAD in Everything Or Nothing. 

He has quite the sense of humor about his films. He says some similar stuff in his GoldenEye watch along from a few weeks ago. He says all his films after GoldenEye are just a blur and he can't recall which is which. :lol:

  • GNFNR 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...