50 Years of Bond
After being blown away by Skyfall and Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, Top Gear's 50 Years of Bond Cars special reminded me that there were... well, all these other Bonds. And there were a lot of these movies, most of which I haven't watched.
Which, of course, requires a film marathon.
Not all the films in a row, I don't have the energy for that any more, but one or two movies a night, in the order they aired. I've been tweeting snarky commentary on twitter.
Day One of Bond Marathon: Dr No & From Russia With Love
For all the conventional wisdom about "The Old Bonds are Cheeeezzzzzzzzz," I found the first two films surprisingly enjoyable and fairly good spy films. Though, during Dr. No, the guy described the divergence between the Bond girl as she was done in the film and the way she was written in the book (basically: whitewashed, more clothes, and did not introduce herself via naked knife fight with Bond). I have the feeling that I will enjoy Fleming's Bond more than Broccoli & Saltzman's Bond.
I didn't catch a lot of From Russia With Love, really, because it was the second film of the night and I don't have the television stamina that I used to.
Also: Seeing Austin Powers twenty years *before* watching the early Bonds results in a great deal of most-likely unintentional hilarity.
Tweets:
Day 2 of Bond Marathon: Goldfinger and Thunderball
Watching Goldfinger right after watching every single parody Celebrity Jeopardy sketch seems like it should be a bad idea, but it wasn't distracting at all. I have heard, too, that Goldfinger is basically the beginning of the descent into silliness, but I enjoyed this one. The villain did not fit the expectations given by the theme song (which had built him up as a charming psychopath with followers who cannot resist him. Sort of an evil criminal opposite of James Bond. Not. Really.)
Again, the guy gave a during-the-film rundown of the differences between Pussy Galore in the book (a dark-haired lesbian who runs an organized crime gang of acrobatic lesbian cat burglars) and the film (she decides to leak Goldfinger's plan after a roll in the hay with Bond). Fleming: 2, Eon Productions: 0.
Tweets:
It gets off to a good start, what with a daring escape via rocket pack, but that was, unfortunately, the most sensible part of the film. SPECTRE was difficult to take seriously, Bond became bizarrely unsubtle in his obsession to get them, and what the hell was it with the corny underwater spear battle?
Largo's shark tank clearly had a ski jump.
Tweets:
Which, of course, requires a film marathon.
Not all the films in a row, I don't have the energy for that any more, but one or two movies a night, in the order they aired. I've been tweeting snarky commentary on twitter.
Day One of Bond Marathon: Dr No & From Russia With Love
For all the conventional wisdom about "The Old Bonds are Cheeeezzzzzzzzz," I found the first two films surprisingly enjoyable and fairly good spy films. Though, during Dr. No, the guy described the divergence between the Bond girl as she was done in the film and the way she was written in the book (basically: whitewashed, more clothes, and did not introduce herself via naked knife fight with Bond). I have the feeling that I will enjoy Fleming's Bond more than Broccoli & Saltzman's Bond.
I didn't catch a lot of From Russia With Love, really, because it was the second film of the night and I don't have the television stamina that I used to.
Also: Seeing Austin Powers twenty years *before* watching the early Bonds results in a great deal of most-likely unintentional hilarity.
Tweets:
- First rule of being captured by villains: be a gentleman, let your companion drink her coffee first.
- I want to hire Dr. No's interior decorator. Seriously, love this organic inspired living room in an aquarium tank thing.
- In my head, Bond and Dr. No's dinner in the aquarium dialogue is being performed by Mike Myers and Mike Myers.
- Climactic fight in reactor room, bad guy falls. Me: "That would've been a great place for a Wilhelm scream!"
- I'm probably going to remember "From Russia With Love" as "the one I was kept awake through but there were dancing gypsy girls so it's ok."
Day 2 of Bond Marathon: Goldfinger and Thunderball
Watching Goldfinger right after watching every single parody Celebrity Jeopardy sketch seems like it should be a bad idea, but it wasn't distracting at all. I have heard, too, that Goldfinger is basically the beginning of the descent into silliness, but I enjoyed this one. The villain did not fit the expectations given by the theme song (which had built him up as a charming psychopath with followers who cannot resist him. Sort of an evil criminal opposite of James Bond. Not. Really.)
Again, the guy gave a during-the-film rundown of the differences between Pussy Galore in the book (a dark-haired lesbian who runs an organized crime gang of acrobatic lesbian cat burglars) and the film (she decides to leak Goldfinger's plan after a roll in the hay with Bond). Fleming: 2, Eon Productions: 0.
Tweets:
- Bond is trying the Gumby method of bomb nuetralizing: hitting two bricks together. #goldfinger
It gets off to a good start, what with a daring escape via rocket pack, but that was, unfortunately, the most sensible part of the film. SPECTRE was difficult to take seriously, Bond became bizarrely unsubtle in his obsession to get them, and what the hell was it with the corny underwater spear battle?
Largo's shark tank clearly had a ski jump.
Tweets:
- OK, So... Bond has a getaway rocket pack, but an invisible Aston Martin was "too science fiction-y"? #thunderball
- In my head, this SPECTRE War Room, er, boardroom, scene is being played by a dozen Peter Sellers. #thunderball#dieanotherday
- The automated stretcher torture device thing is difficult to take seriously. At least outside of porn. #thunderball (the stretcher torture device was some spa stretcher thing, that went hi-speed so it looked like a sex machine that was breaking his back)
- Largo's pets are scary enough without lasers. (But I want them anyway) #thunderball
- The subtle dialog in #thunderball: *wink* "Ha! I know you're the baddie!" *wink* "Ha! I know you're the spy!"
- I'm starting to think it apropos that this film features a tank full of sharks. #waterskianyone? #thunderball
- James Bond and girl whose name I can't recall are having inexplicable mermaid sex. In the ocean. #largostankhasaskijumpyes? #thunderball
- Wait... Bond ate a homing beacon three *days* ago, and it actually leads his minders to him instead of to the Nassau sewage treatment plant?
- The climactic underwater battle in Thunderball is like a Batley Townswomens Guild Reenactments of Famous Battles, in scuba gear.
- I now want to see an underwater scuba reenactments of the battle of Minas Tirith. #thunderball