Amph James Bond: Now Disc. "Skyfall" Video Blog by Sam Mendes

I didn't see what was so terrible about the CGI bullet in DAD, I thought it was just the special effects guys having a bit of fun. But then I see some guys go into paroxsysms of fury if you mention Sheryl Crow, so I guess it's a matter of taste.
Would someone mind explaining to me what was so dreadful about her song Tomorrow Never Dies? I thought it was quite good, but it seems to enrage so many I wonder if I'm missing something....

 

I thought it was alright. My favorite title song from the Brosnan movies was Garbage's one for TWINE. I liked the video. One of the best Bond songs I ever heard ended up not being used for one. It was a song John Barry originally wrote for THUNDERBALL called Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang, sung by Dionne Warwick. It wasn't used because the producers wanted the song to incorporate the title so at the last minute Barry wrote Thunderball, sung by Tom Jones. You can hear Warwick's song on a commentary track of the THUNDERBALL DVD.

 

They used an instrumental version of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in the film Thunderball. At the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Club, or something like that. Isn't it the scene where Fiona Volpe gets killed?

Bond: "My friend would like to sit this one out. Don't mind her, she's just dead."

And I didn't mind Sheryl Crow's song all that much. There are better Bond title themes but "Tomorrow" wasn't THAT bad.

 

Roger Moore in From Russia With Love? *shudder*

As for Sheryl Crow's song, I think it's one of the best.

As for why the DAD bullet is just wrong:

1) It is highly unorthodox
2) Is Bond supposed to be shooting a bullet inside another gun? That's stupid.

 

That's it, Sourdust. You nailed my objection to the bullet perfectly.

The rifle he's just shot down the barrel of would have to have a 1.1cm diameter minimum for Bond to actually send a round down there. But who would he kill? The other bullet?!?

E_S

 

Well, to be fair, that would explain why the gun barrel has been bleeding in every movie for 30 years.

Are Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli still in charge of the Bond movies? Cos I'd honestly expect them to have more regard for the history of the films than to allow this goofball stuff (and the hip Matrixesque-cuts in the movie itself).

If they want to make movies like DAD, fine, but come up with a new character or something.

 

Yes, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are still in charge. And I don't know why they allowed that bullet intro.... And I believe it was Lee Tamahori's idea to use the fast-speed/slow-speed cuts. Some of those effects were cool (like the glacier car chase scene), but it got to be pretty excessive...not to mention annoying. That's not a Bond film "thing".

 

Geez, I thought the new bullet intro was cool. When I was a kid I had no idea that whole spiral design was supposed to be the inside of a pistol.

 

I really hated the CGI bullet in the gun barrel. Thankfully I've read that it was just for the 40th Aniversary and the 20th film and that they would not bring it back.

 

I was mildly annoyed by the bullet at the time (I think my first thought was, "Gee, Bond's a ridiculously good shot, isn't he?"), but I've gotten over it. The funky rhythm laid down under the theme during the gun barrel sequence bothers me more than the superfluous bullet.

 

It wasn't Tamahori's idea to use fast/slow editing; it was his editor's idea.

E_S

 

Well, something like that....

I saw it on the DVD Special Features.

 

I just watched the Behind the Scenes doco on the Living Daylights. Really, I think it's fair to say that Dalton not only made the truest-to-Fleming James Bond, but he also rescued the series from comic mediocrity (courtesy of Moore) and made Pierce Brosnan's Bond possible.

E_S

 

Hey, why is everbody bashing Roger Moore's portrayaly of Bond? Just because he brought humor to the franchise? He was great as Bond!!! I just loved the way he'd always make those witty comments.

Saidascreams)I've lost my charm!

Bondstraightening his tie) Not from where I'm standing.

A gun in a bag of peanuts? What will they think of next?
-The Man With the Golden Gun

(after a henchman fell to his death) What a helpful chap.
-The Spy Who Loved Me

Woman: Are you with our group?

Bond: No, ma'am. I'm with the economy tour.
-Octopussy


You gotta love those.

 

Also, can anyone refresh my memory about how Bond's wife, Teresa, was killed?

 

On their way home following the wedding ceremony, Bond and Tracy were forced off the road by a tire blowout (an arranged one). As Bond worked to replace the tire, a car sped by with Blofeld and his associate Irma Bunt inside it. Blofeld fired a machine gun right through the car's windshield, blowing Tracy's brains out. (His idea of a wedding present.)

 

I dislike the artistic license Moore took with Fleming's character. You were supposed to be scared of James Bond, or at the very least imtimidated by him. He got his license to kill by killing in cold blood. With the exception of FYEO, Moore never had any edge to him and simply put, he was nothing like the James Bond character.

The most Fleming-esque dialogue in a Bond film, complete with the style Fleming attributed to Bond's way of speaking, was in "The Living Daylights":

BOND: Cheer up, Saunders. The operation's a success...and officially still yours.

SAUNDERS: I have no intention of leaving it at that, Double-Oh Seven. I'm reporting to M that you deliberately missed. Your orders were to kill that sniper.

BOND: Stuff my orders. I only kill professionals. That girl didn't know one end of a rifle from the other. Go ahead, tell M what you want. If he fires me I'll thank him for it.

Now, whilst Moore had some fantastic pithy lines - "It's a nose, Q, not a banana" - he was just too urbane. Bond, in the books, is constantly on edge. He's vulnerable. He suffers from boredom when he's not doing something - like Fleming, in fact. Consider Dalton's words;
"First and foremost I wanted to make him human. He's a man, not a superman. You can't relate to a superman. You can always identify with the James Bond of the books. He's very much a man, and a tarnished man, you know, he's not perfect."

I believe Raymond Benson's first effort at writing a Bond fiction story had Bond hunting Irma Bunt down. Anyone want to clarify.

Nightowl, it was such an excellent book wasn't it? The film version, though it differed in some parts, did equal justice to that scene as well.

E_S

 

My favourite mainsteam actors to play James Bond (more than 1 movie) are as follows:

Pierce Brosnan
Sean Connery
Timothy Dalton
Roger Moore.

I believe that Timothy Dalton was really underated as James Bond... I think he did a good job, and I liked the darker side to the role. He seemed more like the every day guy.

Roger Moore and his era of James Bond films seemed to campy to me... like the 1960's Batman television feel... that sort of feel, but not as extreme.

 

I feel that way about Dalton too. He just had terrible scripts. He's closer to the character Ian Fleming wrote.

 

I think that all five actors did well portraying Bond, even Roger Moore. Each of them contributed to the over-all character of the film version of James Bond. They all had their own distinct style. Although I feel Sean Connery was by far the best (and coolest ), Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan all did a good job.

 

I wish Lazenby had gone on to do more films. We would have been spared Diamond are Forever, first of all, and possibly Roger Moore to boot.

Imagine a world where we went from Sean to George to Timothy, and the latter decided to keep going after LTK.

Well, I'd be happy...!

 

Most people aren't aware that GoldenEye was his and he resigned from the part.

Who's everyone's pick for the next 007? CLIVE OWEN says I!

E_S

 

Why did Timothy Dalton resign the part?

 

He said, basically, he just didn't want to continue. He'd taken alot of baseless flak for LTK, and the legal battle surrounding the franchise (EON v. MGM IIRC) had put the films on hold from 1989 to 1995. He said he'd just moved onto a different place in his life and didn't want to continue the role.

You have to remember, Dalton was intensely private, and the only "actor" (as in Shakespearean/RADA trained) to play Bond. His truthful interpretation was alot for the Moore generation to handle, but it also made Brosnan's Bond accessible. That, coupled with the intense scrutiny he felt as Bond, must have made him happy to leave the part.

E_S

 

It also could be that they were so dissapointed about Brosnan not being able to take the part b/c of his contract with REMINGTON STEELE. Then came Dalton. All the Bonds are good. The flack that Dalton took was unfair, but I also dont understand the flack that Moore is taking in this thread.