Watched Ad Astra (Brad Pitt) last night and didn’t think much of it to be honest. Nice visuals etc. But I couldn’t get this nagging feeling out of my mind for most of it that it reminded me of something else. It then dawned on me. It seems to borrow a lot of ideas from Apocalypse Now but isn’t anywhere at the same level. Not sure if I missed any key messages but it just didn’t strike me as that good.
Snap, music is really good. Not so sure about the story but I enjoyed it.
The actual original or one of the other six versions?
I actually prefer the version with Deckard’s commentary overlaying the story. Gave it a Raymond Chandler vibe for me. Apparently Sir Ridley hated it, which partly explains the several other versions he put out.
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Just seen the new bond movie, my take is a fantastic first half to the movie, average second half.
For a while I was thinking this was best movie I had seen this year, just a pity it was not as sharp and punchy towards the end.
Probably the third best Daniel Craig movie after Casino Royale and Sky Fall.
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I thought it was a good Bond movie but not a great “overall” movie. It comes third in my book, too (though Skyfall is my favourite of Craig’s Bond movies). Malek’s acting qualities deserve a more nuanced character development, I thought the writers couldn’t be bothered about the villain and decided to base the whole movie around Bond and Madeleine. Ending actually improved the movie for me but there were too many cliches in smaller details for my liking.
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It’s a shame it didn’t have more of Ana de Armas. She was fantastic a great Bond girl. She had great chemistry with Craig and was a character you cared about.
I didn’t really care that much about the girl friend and her daughter. I don’t think they really added much. I guess that’s why I didn’t like the ending so much.
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I just watched The Power Of The Dog. Having read the book I already knew the story, but the cinematography and score elevated it to something very special.
Someone will be getting an Oscar out of this, but not sure who.
Missed this, original.
The new Matrix is now streaming on HBO and so I plan on watching that tonight. I watched the two sequels over the past 2 nights to refresh and prepare, and by christ they were shit. I remembered them as being disappointing, but I’d hoped that over time my disappointment in what they weren’t would have dampened so I could enjoy them for what they actually were. No, they were just shit. Tons of exposition giving answers that dont make any sense and there’s no time to dwell on it because there’s a breathless(ly shit) action scene about to start.
I watched the Green Knight last week and still not sure what to make of it.
Christmas day I will probably try to do a bond marathon leading up to the new one. Any recs on which ones to go with (not going to do any other Craig ones). I did a mini one the day after thanksgiving and did Tomorrow Never Dies (awful) and Live and let Die (not as good as I remember but also fun in that I didnt pic up on the Blaxploitation, and I was also likely jumbled much of the Moore ones up in my head).
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That might be my favourite Bond movie. Yaphet Kotto is brilliant in it, I also liked Baron Samedi, particularly with the ending. The Crocodile run scene was pretty cool to. Loved the funeral/mardi gras scene too. Moore was my favourite Bond for many years, perhaps influenced by the fact he was my first and in much the same way that often influences people’s favoured Dr Who. The supporting cast M, Q, Money Penny etc were all so good in these movies too.
As I’ve got older, I’ve probably taken a greater liking to the Connery Bond movies. Although, I haven’t watched them for a long while.
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I find the Bond ones, with the exception of Goldfinger (partly because of Dame Shirley) kind of difficult to watch. The one where he pretends to be Japanese - fuck me! Although there is an awful comment he makes to a Chinese woman at the beginning of Live and Let Die, about them never making his satisfied and always needing to go again that is as bad as anything else in the series.
I remember the funeral scene vividly, but associate it my head with other scenes I can only vaguely recall and so assumed they were all part of LaLD. I think my goal for christmas and boxing day might be to watch enough of them that I find the scenes I was thinking of. Im almost certain they were Moore films, so think Im going to start with Spy Who Loved Me and Your Eyes Only.
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Live and Let Die was the first Bond film I ever saw. Recall seeing it in the theater. There’s something for everyone, really, as demonstrated by the McCartney theme song. Whether you prefer the more colloquial prepositions at the end of a sentence or eschew the same, the line “and in this everchanging world in which we live in…” is sure to either puzzle or satisfy you.
Unlike Sean Connery, who seems to relish his inner date rapist, Moore always delivered his #metoo moments just enough tongue-in-cheek. Watched the first half hour of Moonraker the other night. My god, that won’t fly anymore, will it?
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Common misunderstanding - in which we’re livin’
It’s grammatically spot on. It’s a great bond theme, and I think it is the only one that has ever been used within the film as an alternative to the Bond theme.
Loved No Time to Die. Watched it on the plane to Mexico. Bond finding a purpose to life in the discovery of a daughter definitely got me a bit weepy, whilst my son was sleeping on my lap.
Craig has been a fantastic Bond, and I quite liked how the wrote a bit of definitiveness about the 007 role (and future of the series) into the plotline. Definitely left the door open for more.
the car scene with the DB7 was so fun to watch, I had to buy the Lego kit. took me about 25-30 hours to assemble it, very cool stuff.
all time favorite has to be Connery, just the era of which I started watching them. However, Craig has been the version which gave Bond that gritty edge that was missing whilst Sir Roger Moore gave the role some tenacity.
Who would be next for 007? Hell of a question. Doesn’t have to be a white male, IMO. Or a James Bond, for that matter. I think that question was answered in the most recent showing…but we’ll see what the writers come up with.
Hear it from the man himself at 37 seconds into this live version. There can be no mistaking it. Paul’s havin’ it both ways.
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Rewatch Dalton’s. It was an early attempt to bring the modern Craig grittiness to the films/role but the public wasnt ready for it, I think in part because no one wanted Dalton for the role anyway and so maybe preemptively rubbished his films rather than giving them a fair shot. I think the two of them, especially the first, hold up to modern viewing better than probably the best of any of the series that came before them.
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I think the first half of the song is amazing, absolutely love it…then the second half kicks in… 
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I’m a big fan of Dalton. Is Brilliant in everything I’ve seen him in. I think he drew the short straw when it came to Bond. I wish he’d been given more time.
At uni I had a friend who was a massive Bond fan, swore that Dalton’s Bond was closest to the books.
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Hate it when songs do that. Layla, Eric Clapton is another. Why, just why?
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