I have a REAL soft spot and extreme fondness for late sixties early seventies architectural design. that Willard White home was outstanding.

Also, when you hear the third knife hit, in my head I shout "ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY"

I do the same at the end of Carrie when it gets to the bit with her mother.

This is David Lam Park in Vancouver as of about 15 mins ago. It's free movie night and they are showing GOLDFINGER !! I'd be down there if I wasn't stuck playing the pokerz. Sorry for the bad pic but it's dark. That screen is a blow up balloon if anyone cares.

That was mission impossible 4, the spy cam drop over the kremlin.

http://engineerspark.com/wp-content/...th-camera1.jpg

Licence To Kill



I enjoyed this one a lot. Easily the most brutal of the Bond movies, and I'm pretty sure this is the closest any of the movies so far got to the literary Bond. Dalton amps up the simmering rage that's held back by cold professionalism, and cuts right down on the quips. Like the literary Bond, the closest he gets to jokes are sardonic asides. He's like a wolf in this, watching, weighing the options, waiting to rip out a throat or go for the kill.

Also the writers revisited the Bond library somewhat by including two plot elements from different Bond stories - Leiter getting fed to a shark is straight out of the book of Live and Let Die, including the joke "He Disagreed with something that ate him", along with another element from LALD, the use of a fish company to hide smuggling, and a reference to an odd short story entitled "The Hildebrand Rarity", which concerns a cruel husband who uses a short stubby whip on his wife. There's also a quick reference to the fact Bond was married once before, a long time ago.

To continue the Live and Let Die link, Felix Leiter is played by the same actor who played him in the LALD movie (I don't think Leiter was ever played by the same guy twice in any other movies).

It's pretty cool when Bond gets reeled in by M at the start and resigns, and there's a hint of menace when M announces "This isn't a country club, 007!", but Bond escapes and goes rogue in a revenge-fuelled bloodbath (well, relative bloodbath - he's not The Punisher, after all).

The villain was pretty good in this - Sanchez, played by Robert Davi. Good turn from him. Right blend of true menace and Bond villain overblown-ness.

I also appreciated the fact the story was relatively linear.

I really liked the main female lead - she was cute and self-reliant, and a reasonable actress. The other female character in this, however, who played Sanchez' girlfirend, was a brutally bad actress - her line deliveries were terrible.

Overall, I think this one tends to be forgotten, but it's solid, and about as far from the Moore era Bonds as the series could get.

74/100

From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming

Wow, this is a terrific read. Whilst it is mostly the same story as the movie, this book goes into details in a compelling, gripping way. We find out much more about how Red Grant became the chief executioner for SMERSH, for example, and get more backstory about the evilness of Rosa Klebb. Fleming write with a vividness, turn of phrase and seeming authenticity that makes this a real page-turner.

Whilst I still think Live and Let Die is my favourite of the books so far, this is the one that seems the best written. I can see why JFK rated it in his top ten books.

This is one of my favorite Bond films which makes me a bit of an oddity I know but IMO the Scaramanga character out of all the Bond villains is the best and most dangerous to Bond personally. He is not in it for the money or infamy anymore, he just wants to proof to himself that he is the best and is prepared to die trying. It was the first Bond villain where I was old enough to think 'yeah that could be someone IRL' as opposed to the OTT villains/career villains of before.

Out of all the old bond films this is the only one that I think would be vastly improved with a modern retelling where they concentrate on Scaramanga's motives and needs.

Agreed. But Dalton's movies have become underrated by now. The final chase scene with Del Toro in the tankers may be the GOAT 007 chase imho.

Patti LaBelle's 'If You Asked Me To,' is a fantastic Bond song. Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell were probably the hottest pair of Bond girls in the same film.

The opening of Living Daylights is also terrific on the Rock of Gibraltar.

Live and Let Die...ugh, what a terrible film with a very hot Jane Seymour. I think the whole film was a joke. Good chase scene though.

I really liked The Man With the Golden Gun. One of my favorites.

I've thought quite a bit about this, and I think you are absolutely correct here. In these times of a more usual brooding and darker story arc (thank you Dark Knight), Scaramanga does stand out as an interesting study. In the book he's thuggish, brutal and really has a chip on his shoulder.

er, Del Toro doesn't make it that far. It is really terrific though, I only watched in maybe 5 days ago. LTK really stands out for me after spending months going through Moore's stuff.

BAN

What Bond song is the best ring tone? I think Diamonds are Forever.

Nobody Does It Better?


Preferably when used by a woman as the ringtone for your number.

John Barry told Shirley Bassey to sing it like it was about a penis.

YGOS?

I guess this means the Cold War is officially over:

^ That is quite good... very impressive.

I actually just got Skyfall on LP... thankfully they out that soundtrack out on Vinyl!

Doctor No by Ian Fleming

Fleming follows up his excellent From Russia With Love with this, a book that I think is his most exciting, straightforward, and intense book. This should be the book they show under the definition of 'page-turner'. I can see why they chose this as the first movie. Simply plot and premise, but hell is Bond up against it in this one. It's funny how they actual toned down some of the elements of this for the movie, because they were sadistic. For example, in the movie, Bond makes an escape and has to crawl through venting tubes and face heat, rushing water and dangerous drops. In the book, he's being deliberately put through an assault course of pain and terror by Doctor No, for 'scientific research'.

I really enjoyed this, I think it's the darkest of Fleming's books.

5 Best Lines?

Red wine with fish, well that should have told me something.

And:

- If I don't find that bomb someone's going to have my ass
-first things first...

are personal favorites.

Domino: "what sharp little eyes you’ve got.”
Bond: “Wait ’till you get to my teeth.”
--------------------
Pussy Galore: “My name is Pussy Galore.”
Bond: “I must be dreaming.”
--------------------
Plenty O’Toole: “Hi, I’m Plenty.”
Bond: “But of course you are.”
--------------------
Trevelyan: 'For England James?'
Bond: 'No. For me.'
--------------------
Silva: [caresses Bond] There's always a first time...
Bond: [tied to a chair] What makes you think this is my first time?

Goldeneye 73/100



6 years after Licence to Kill, we get a pretty solid first feature from Pierce Brosnan. He has the look, the attitude, the delivery and the charisma, but looks pretty skinny and small when bare-chested. That jars a little, even Moore was at least solid in body. The villains are pretty good, as are the minor support (Robbie Coltrane with a funny turn by Minnie Driver as his tone-deaf mistress, and Joe Don Baker, playing an entirely different character from his Living Daylights turn).

Sean Bean is cool and there's an extra kick that he could have made a good, tough Bond himself.

My favourite, though, is Famke Janssen, really relishing the badgirl role as Xenia Onatopp. She's terrific.

Solid action sequences, especially the opener and the tank chase. The only other downside is there's a thread of emo running through this Bond's character. Brooding is fine, but not emo. Exhibit A, this dialogue:

Natalya:How can you act like this? How can you be so cold?
James Bond: It's what keeps me alive.


Sean Connery's Bond would NEVER say a line like that.


Overall very enjoyable.


Best dialogue:
(Bond's driving a girl at high speed through the mountains, and she's getting scared)
Caroline: I enjoy a spirited ride as much as the next girl, but...
[Xenia Onatopp pulls up alongside and smiles]
Caroline: Who's that?
Bond: The next girl.

Goldeneye was a real clutch episode for the franchise. It had been a long time since the last Bond movie, which didn't get much love, so I'm thinking if Goldeneye had flopped it could have been the end of the franchise for quite a while. Really, Goldeneye was a sort of reboot before rebooting was a thing.

Vesper Lynd: It doesn't bother you? Killing all those people?

James Bond: Well I wouldn't be very good at my job if it did.

================================================== =======

Vesper Lynd: Am I going to have a problem with you, Mr. Bond?

James Bond: No, don't worry, you're not my type.

Vesper Lynd: Smart?

James Bond: Single.

Onatopp may be the greatest of all time Bond movie henchmen. She's at least in the top three.

Goldeneye was the first Bond movie I ever saw, so it has a special place for me. My dad took me to see it and played up that I was getting my first peek at a truly great franchise. I'm happy I started on a high note. Even after seeing all of the other movies, Onaotpp is by far my favorite villainess.