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The James Bond Thread: RIP Robbie Coltrane


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Plus the PPK/S is 9mm not making it too classic.

Moonraker isn't as bad as people make it out to be, Sure the gadgets were a little out of hand, especially in both boat sequences. It was almost like they tried to cram as many Bond elements in a single film. Moore's Bond seems to cash in on what was popular at the time. Blackploitation, Kung fu and now space. The Spy Who Loved Me was a perfect blend of comedy, fantasy and seriousness. Moonraker went a little overboard with comedy and fantasy.

For Your Eyes Only may not be the favorite for everyone who posts here but to me it is a really good Bond film. The soundtrack is mostly cringeworthy apart from the gunbarrel scene and the funk Bond theme was alright. Bibi was annoying but that was the purpose. Melina was a great Bond girl, Moore proved he could play Fleming's Bond though he couldn't help but throw in a few quips. The villains were not impressive but the Monastary scenery was nice. Topol was great as Columbo.

Next up: Octopussy followed Never Say Never Again, been a long time since I watched it.

A bit off topic but I also bought the Bourne and Mission Impossible films on Blu Ray

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Moonraker is great for what it is. It came out at the height of Moore's popularity. It wasn't surpassed at the box office until GoldenEye. Sure, Bond in space is ridiculous but the whole film up until that fun is as much fun as TSWLM and has many of the same elements. Gilbert was a great director for Moore's Bond.

I just find For Your Eyes Only dull, even though I tend to prefer the more down to earth Bond films. It's never been one of my favorites. It's okay, but probably my second least favorite of Moore's. I agree about Topol though. Great choice for Columbo.

I still have to buy the Bourne films. Have all the M:I films on Blu already.

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I forgot to point out how much money Moonraker made. It took 16 years for the numbers to beat Moonraker. Adjusted for inflation it took 27 years when Casino Royale to be the highest grossing film since Moonraker. Skyfall has become the first James Bond film to top Moonraker in the US.

So in short, Moonraker deserves a lot of credit as a Bond film. It along with The Spy Who Loved Me has made a shit load of money. The numbers just went down until it finally came to Licence to Kill when the series went on hiatus.

I will pay attention to Moore in Octopussy, see if he is bored. I think it helps Maud Adams was 38 (and looks 48) since Moore was probably getting embarrassed with doing love scenes. I have noticed he hasn't slept with many women in For Your Eyes Only. Just Pierce's wife and Melina at the end.

I have only seen Mission Impossible II to IV and have not seen the new Bourne film yet though I heard it sucked. Really enjoyed that last MI film, thought it was a lot of fun and hope Cruise won't get too old to do V.

Edited by Georgy Zhukov
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I think Moore was pretty consistent in his performances. Even though age wise he was getting old, he always still seemed to be enjoying himself. I think one of the reasons Octopussy works so well as a Bond girl is the reason you mentioned - Maud was much closer to Roger's age (especially in appearance) which made Roger nearing 56 a little more acceptable. Plus, he still looked pretty good. Older, but good. A View To A Kill he looked terrible. It's amazing what two years and a bad facelift can do.

I guess we'll talk about the M:I movies too. :lol:

I though IV was the best so far. I really enjoyed it. The only one I flat out don't like is II. The first is more of a straight up spy thriller and works really well. 3 and 4 were nice combinations of thriller and action (though 3 was probably a bit too heavy on it). IV almost could have been a Bond film.

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Did he get a face lift after Octopussy? I wondered how he looked he aged ten years. He still managed to bang a 20 something Bond girl in Octopussy. Guess they couldn't resist. I remember it being the most risque love scene yet. Octopussy seemed to be pushing boundries but I will have to watch it to be more clear. Moore did say the films got too violent for him. Especially A View to a Kill when Zorin massacres like 200 people. AVTK really stacks up the body count to Arnold and Stallone numbers.

I remember II sucking but I needed it to complete the set, same with The Bourne Legacy. Will have to watch that. I agree that IV could have been a great Bond film. It does seem a lot more gadget oriented than the Craig films.

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There was never any confirmation of the sort but it's been long rumored, pretty much since production of A View to a Kill began. It would explain his weird, perpetually surprised look in the film and the lack of his famous mole. He also looks like he spent too long in a tanning bed and they dyed his hair too light. All of that plus the fact that he was 57 and there you go, he looks awful in that film. Aged ten extra years since Octopussy.

It could have worked if they pulled a NSNA and made it an older Bond. Instead, you've got a 57 year old Roger trying to be younger and it shows. Granted, his performance is okay.

IV has all the elements. Great locations, exciting action, solid plot, and some fun along the way. Lots of gadgets too. When I looked at the box office for it (nearly $700 million) I knew Skyfall would be a smash.

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I was wondering where that mole went? He should have gotten it around Moonraker when he was starting to look like a toad. Moore was one vain guy.

Yeah he seemed to play his Bond as the same age was Live and Let Die. He still looked better than Grace Jones.

MI:VIwas like an experiment. People are looking for a little escapism. MI:IV and Skyfal delivers. No need to see the other films, just enjoy them.

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Why does Brosnan get such a bad rap today? As I remember it, when he was Bond, he was pretty popular and liked and almost regarded as well as Craig is now.

An embarassing fact: While the first Bond film I saw ever was Goldfinger, followed I think by Goldeneye, the first Bond film I saw in theaters was Die Another Day.

Edited by Vincent Vega
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Because only one of his movies was good.

In retrospect.

But when he was Bond, people seemed to regard him well.

I just think there's been a general consensus change about him in the last few years. Before Craig, everyone I'd talk to would put him either second to Connery or third from Connery and Moore.

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Because only one of his movies was good.

In retrospect.

But when he was Bond, people seemed to regard him well.

I just think there's been a general consensus change about him in the last few years. Before Craig, everyone I'd talk to would put him either second to Connery or third from Connery and Moore.

Before Craig he was the 2nd best at playing Bond after Connery. Now he's 3rd best, especially now that Craig actually has more than one movie under his belt.

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Tomorrow Never Dies was the first Bond I saw in theaters.

Brosnan was just a Bond we were fine with. He was just average. The box office numbers show that. I wouldn't say he was terrible, just not my favorite and I felt his films suffered from bad writing. His Bond was nothing spectacular, just a mixture of Connery and Moore and I guess Lazenby and Dalton. I've heard he was just Remington Steele again. It doesn't help he was given awful material to work with. Hard to say how much of it was Brosnan, Cubby's kids, producers and writers but Brosnan seems a little bitter he was never given a good role.

Would have been great if we got at least one more film out of Dalton.

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Tomorrow Never Dies was the first Bond I saw in theaters.

Brosnan was just a Bond we were fine with. He was just average. The box office numbers show that. I wouldn't say he was terrible, just not my favorite and I felt his films suffered from bad writing. His Bond was nothing spectacular, just a mixture of Connery and Moore and I guess Lazenby and Dalton. I've heard he was just Remington Steele again. It doesn't help he was given awful material to work with. Hard to say how much of it was Brosnan, Cubby's kids, producers and writers but Brosnan seems a little bitter he was never given a good role.

Would have been great if we got at least one more film out of Dalton.

Wasn't Dalton's era kind of the nadir of the franchise though? Like in terms of the public, at least at that time? After 12 years of Moore and this suddenly bleak, reinvented Bond, I think the public was kind of done with Bond.

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Bond had kind of over saturated itself by the late '80s. A new film every two years plus twelve years of Moore. It was all the same in the public eye. Dalton changed the game but not only was it a drastic change from Moore but audiences had grown tired of Bond in general. I think it's good for Bond to have a break every once in a while. Arguably the best Bond films of the past 20 years (GoldenEye, Casino, and Skyfall) have all resulted from gaps. There's no need to rush out a film just to have one every couple of years.

And as a side note, the first Bond I saw in theaters was TWINE. I even saw it twice.

I saw DAD once, Casino once (though would have gladly gone again), Quantum twice and Skyfall three times. Nothing beats Bond on the big screen.

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The Living Daylights did make more money than A View to a Kill but people were probably tired of Bond. A lot of the reason for LTK's lack of attendence was poor marketing. They changed the title from Licence Revoked to Licence to Kill which by then most of the promotion had the former title, therefore scraped. They are now considered two of the better films among hardcore fans. Kind of like OHMSS and FRWL. None of them were smash hits yet fans regarded them as favorites.

I've seen Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall in theaters.

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I actually hated From Russia With Love when I was a kid. I thought it was boring and didn't like how Bond literally doesn't show up until 20 minutes in (not counting the "fake Bond" in the opening). Now, it's easily one of my favorites overall. The plot is one of the series best and like you mentioned before Georgy it plays like a Hitchcock film.

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From Russia with Love was just like any other spy/Hitchcock film of the time. Nobody thought the next two films were going to be huge. The reason they made it was because Kennedy was a fan of the novel. It was a solid well made film.

The carriage fight between Bond and Red Grant was intense. Easily could pass for ten years ago.

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Indeed, especially on the new Blu transfer. Looks like it was shot yesterday.

I read a rumor that Dr. No is gonna get an IMAX 3D re-release...I'd love to see that!

That'd be interesting to say the least. Kind of a random film to test the waters on 3D Bond though. That's the one form of technology that might actually suit DAD. :lol:

I also still hold this as one of my favorite fight scenes from the series.

Yes! Great scene and one of the reasons I do watch You Only Live Twice despite not thinking much of the film in general. Fun fact: that's The Rock's grandfather Bond is fighting.
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That's a great one too.

One thing I'd like to see in the Craig era is a fight of that sort. No music, lots of noise, and rely more of the brutality of it. We kind of got it with the fight with Slate in Quantum at the hotel but it was short.

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