Amph 007 Skyfall

The discussion of QoS here was infinitely more enjoyable than the film,
The film was enough to turn me totally off Bond until a new writing/production team was hired.
I have this funny thing: I like to SEE what is happening. The shakey-cam action sequences totally left me out of the movie. If I can't see what is going on... c'mon, what's the point of even filming the sequence if the audience can't see it.
The idea of having Bond go through an emotional arc is interesting. The movie totally failed to carry that across. In fact, the whole movie was pretty flat monotone.
The worst insult is that Ms STRAWBERRY Fields never gets her full name mentioned. So, there's the nice joke, but you have to check the credits to find out about it. Seems like a rather sad waste.
DAD, even with the horrible invisible car and other nonsense, was, to me, way more enjoyable than the new Bond movies, simply because they knew how to show the action. There was the contrast of the glamor and sophistication as well as the murderous action. CR and QoS both failed to present the glamor side of Bond movies.

Maybe I'm just old and cranky.

To me, there's a wonderful contrast in filming style. Both LD and Bourne had a rooftop fight/chase scene in Tunisia (I think). Pretty sure they used the same rooftops. In LD, you can see and follow what is happening. It is fun, funny, and an all around exciting sequence. In Bourne, the camera fails to focus on anything, so there is no sense of what is really going on. A few brief flashes show that there is a choreographed fight in a dark alcove, but between the shaking camera and darkness/lack of contrast, the sequence is barely visible. If you audience can't see it, why bother filming it?

MoonRaker, for all the camp and silliness, isn't nearly as bad as some. I'd put it at the bottom of the top 1/4.

 

Moonraker isn't the worst. It's the second worst, ahead of TMWTGG but behind DAD.

 

New list:


The Superb
1. Casino Royale (2006)
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
3. Dr. No (1962)
4. Thunderball (1965)
5. From Russia with Love (1963)
6. Skyfall (2012)

The Excellent
7. Quantum of Solace (2008)
8. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
9. The Living Daylights (1987)
10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
11. GoldenEye (1995)
12. License to Kill (1989)

The Good
13. Octopussy (1983)
14. Goldfinger (1965)
15. You Only Live Twice (1967)
16. Never Say Never Again (1983)
17. The World is Not Enough (1999)
18. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

The Silly
19. Die Another Day (2002)
20. Live and Let Die (1973)
21. A View to a Kill (1985)
22. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
23. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
24. Moonraker (1979)

 

Though part of the silly list, I liked A View to a Kill. LOVED the score.

 

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and faith, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

As great a movie as Skyfall was, that scene was one of the best edited and just overall great scenes of the past year.

 

One of the best scores in the series. The instrumental version of the Duran Duran theme (That Fatal Kiss) is really quite lovely, and the action theme lifts the film whenever it gets trotted out (4 times, IIRC - pre-titles, fight at Stacy's, firetruck chase, Golden Gate fight)

 

That's exactly the part I was thinking of... I used to have that on cassette tape.

 

The theme from A View to a Kill is the highest charting Bond theme along with Skyfall, both reached #2 here. Both are very good and memorable.

A good theme can make a Bond Film more memorable than the movie itself. I like TMWTGG theme by Lulu even though the film is poor overall (apart from Lee & his fancy gun).
Same with Moonraker, poor though it is Bassey's song is decent if only because she's the one singing it.

I also think Madonna's theme for DAD is fun and catchy despite the flaws of the movie itself. Certainly not the weakest theme of the Brosnan era which IMO was Tomorrow Never Dies by Sheryl Crowe. Not a bad theme in of itself, but one of the least memorable I think.

That is another problem I have with QoS, a poor theme song whereas both CR & Skyfall had good themes.

 

CR had a dreadful theme, Richie. The song wasn't bad, it just wasn't Bond.

 

It's as Bondian as LALD, IMO.

 

Oh, man, total disagreement here. The chords of "You Know My Name" are very similar to Norman's Bond theme, and the whole song evokes, and is inextricable from, the 007 experience -- at least to my mind. Its excellence as a kick-ass rock song in its own right further certifies it as the best theme song in the franchise, IMHO.

 

Also the You Know My Name works brilliantly with the Bond, James Bond at the end.

 

Yeah, I thought the Casino Royale song was really good. It's actually one of my favorite title sequences.

 

Chalk up another one for You Know My Name. Bond needn't be limited to some pop starlet crooning blandly -- you're allowed to give the electric guitar a workout now and then. Combine the high-energy and Bondish song with the tremendous credits sequence, and you've got a classic. I can still recall that it certainly did its job in the theater of getting audiences pumped -- there was an audible cheer at the end, when the "007" gets shot into the seven card.

 

As long as we're talking about great music, bad movie, Garbage's The World is Not Enough is a personal favorite.

 

The Casino Royale opening titles is the only Bond film besides Dr. No to not feature scantily clad women in it. I thought that was interesting.

 

I thought Adele's Skyfall was completely serviceable. Not outstanding perhaps, but totally respectable.

 

There aren't any in YOLT, either.

 

I wouldn't remember. That's my least favorite Bond film besides Moonraker. I just feel it's horribly sexist even for a 007 movie. The climax is far too dull as well.

 

It's hard to know whether it's more sexist or racist.

The climax is the one thing that works though, I'd say.

And actually, on reflection, there might be some scantily clad lasses in that one too, just that they had their hair done differently.

 

5. You Know My Name
4. View to a Kill
3. Live and Let Die
2. For Your Eyes Only
1. Skyfall

 

In chronological order because I can't make difficult decisions:

Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
Live and Let Die
Nobody Does It Better
You Know My Name

Diamonds Are Forever threatens Nobody Does It Better on my list. Now that I think about it, several Bond theme songs threaten NDIB place on my list, so I guess that's my least favourite of my top 5.