Unofficial Tex Murphy

Jim the old guy wrote:Also, there's no such thing as a bad Bond movie; some are better, but none are lousy.

As much as I envy your wisdom, Jim, I do have to disagree with this. While there aren't many bad Bond films, in fact only about two or three come to mind, they do exist.

Specifically:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: I sat very patiently through this movie and did my best to remain optimistic but just couldn't quite come to terms with it. I felt Lazenby's Bond was a little too charming and well mannered to the extent that it reminded me of someone in a romantic comedy. His portrayal of Bond just didn't register as someone who could dispassionately take a life away and live with it. There were some good scenes in it but there were also some moments which felt very slow and uninteresting. Personally, I consider the unofficial Never Say Never Again to be more worthy of the Bond title than this film and I considered NSNA to be one of the most cringe inducing moments of Connery's Bond.

Die Another Day: I was especially disappointed by this one as Brosnan is my favourite Bond. Compared to the sophistication of his three previous films, the plot ended up being both over-simplistic and overly-complicated which amounted to a very inconsistent film. Think Face Off meets Austin Powers. The characters were uninteresting, the Bond girls were boring and the ultimate nail in the coffin was Halle Berry's "Yo mamma" retort. I know what i'd be doing in my seat on premier night while watching the movie knowing that my company funded millions of dollars for the film:



And yes, I had a hairstyle when I purchased my popcorn.

Moonraker.

Okay, it's got camp-value. So what? It's still a waste of celluloid. It's a poor film on a stand-alone basis. If it didn't drag well-known characters through a caricature of a retrofuturistic plot vehicle, it would've bombed and been forgotten as a fluke turkey of a movie. It's only saved by the fact that it's a Bond-film.

Emphasis on Bond, there.

-Fred

The thing with Die Another Day is it started damn fine. In fact, it was pretty Bond-cool all the way to Cuba, and then very suddenly changed when they went to Iceland or wherever it is that they were in the icey hotel. When the guy said "I'm Mr Kill", you just knew it was going to be a whole new movie, and not for the best.

But enough with the Bond bashing. Live and Let Die, now that was kickass funky. Bond with a pump-action shotgun? More please. More and then some.

Actually Moonraker didn't offend anywhere near as much as I expected. The film definitely jumped the shark with the outer space stuff, but everything up to that point had all of the touches that i'd expect from a 007 film. So, it worked to a point. It's easily one of the weaker films of the series, but not an overly bad one.

Oh come on. Definitely You Only Live Twice. Definitely the best.

Ninjas
Little Nellie that could figure missiles and had machine guns
Burial ceremony for James Bond
Cool death by poison down a thread
Trap door over pool of piranhas
Launching space ships out of Japan to capture US and Russian astronauts? Silly but darn clever.

Die Another Day was only good in the first half. I did enjoy seeing the Ice Hotel and finding out that they really do make on every year that you can stay at yourself. The second half of the movie just went downhill. I personally found it a little offensive the notion of genetic treatments to change your race.

Actually, I remember a lot more clearly now. Everything up until the ice hotel was great. It's from this point that we had the ridiculous plot convenience of the invisible car, destruction derby on ice and just plain bad sci-fi. I actually liked the Cuba part, it reminded me of something from the Moore era in the 70s.

Still, Halley Barry....sigh

At any rate, my fav still has to be Goldfinger followed closely by Live and Let Die. The Louisiana bayou boat scenes were nothing short of fantastic.

Jim the old guy wrote:Still, Halley Barry....sigh

Yeah she did know how to fill out a bikini. I think she looked even better than Honey Ryder.

Unfortunately she wasn't enough to save the 2nd half of that movie.

Also I'm fairly certain Jim enjoyed J. W. Pepper. Come on, Jim. Break down and confess

-Fred

Live and Let Die or You Only Live Twice

Die Another Day had Madonna in it. That's enough to kill it - she's yet to star in a good movie. It was so far removed from the next movie Casino Royale that it badly needed to be brought back into line.

Halle Berry... I think every fan of hers owns a copy of Swordfish, whether they liked that movie or not...


I have to disagree Demon, true Madonna hasn't had a stellar career, but I wouldn't say ALL were bad... Dick Tracy was a decent Flick, and I liked Body of Evidence, and A League Of Their Own was a good look at the Women Of Baseball from back in the day...

But granted, over 90% of her acting career has been a bust {pun intended if you want}... Lets face it the only reason she has gotten most roles is probably due to her ability to fill out a very tight dress, not to mention the fact that she is willing to take that dress off if it calls for it...

Bafitis wrote:I have to disagree Demon, true Madonna hasn't had a stellar career, but I wouldn't say ALL were bad... Dick Tracy was a decent Flick, and I liked Body of Evidence, and A League Of Their Own was a good look at the Women Of Baseball from back in the day...

I'd have to disagree with you both of you guys. She wasn't the star of Dick Tracy or A League of Their Own. She was only a supporting actress. I think Warren Beatty and Gina Davis made those moves succeed. I haven't seen Body of Evidence and can't comment about that.

I think the only movie I saw starring Madonna that I actually liked was Evita. Maybe it was because it was more a musical so it was more her singing than her acting I enjoyed. And for the record she actually kept her clothes on for that one too.

So I think we are all agreed, she should stick to singing and give up on movies. I did think her song "Die Another Day" was pretty decent.

I never said she was THE Star or A Star... I was merely commenting about her roles in those movies, I don't feel her performance was all that bad...


Just because Demon used the word Star, doesn't mean he was referring to her being the Lead Role in all of the movies she has been in...

Kevin McCarthy Starred in Pandora, did he not??? But he wasn't THEE Star...
No reason why Madonna can't be referred to in the same manner...

He was merely commenting that he feels that every movie she has been in has gone to the crapper because of her being in it... This is what I was disagreeing with...

And No, I don't agree that she should "Give Up" movies... There are actors and actresses out there with a lot less talent that keep getting roles... I have found her Acting Career to be mediocre, but tolerable...

I guess it's a matter of terminology. Usually I'll say somebody starred in a movie if it's the leading role and for everybody else I just say there were IN a movie.

I agree her acting is mediocre but I don't agree that's necessarily tolerable.

Everyone has their personal feelings...

I still say that it is the fact that she can fill out a tight dress and is willing to take it off if the scene calls for it... And when it comes to Most {not all} actresses, it's all about "Will They Take It Off?"...

Look back into just about all modern day actresses careers and somewhere you will find a nude {topless mostly} scene... Sometimes it is in a movie most people haven't heard or, hardly ever comes on TV, is hard to find in the store, but the fact remains that the scene is out there somewhere...
It's kind of like a Right Of Passage you could say... Even in the cases of body doubles being used, the actress has to show her willingness to do such a scene, even if those shots will be forever plastered across the internet and people will think it is her... In most cases though, the actress will do her own scene...