Here are my picks. What are yours?
7. For Your Eyes Only
6. The Living Daylights
5. You Only Live Twice
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. GoldenEye
2. Goldfinger
1. Casino Royale
To see my full break-down, visit http://www.mormonmovieguy.com/2012/10/seven-best-films-of-007.html
YOLT replaced by From Russia With Love and TLD by Licence to Kill and I may agree. Well FYEO and OHMSS are at least equally good to me.
shareIn no particular order:
The Living Daylights: No offense to Roger, enjoyed his Bond, but Dalton's take was a breath of fresh air to the franchise, and no more obvious stuntman switches either. The plot is actually a lot more complex that it seems, as we discover, more or less right along with Dalton's Bond, what the plot is. The kitchen fight is one of the best of the franchise and Dalton's not even in it. The fight with Necros is equally well-done, and Maryam D'Abo makes for a sweet Bond girl.
Licence to Kill: It's just tops for me. Excellent villain, A hell of an ending chase, and a fully-dangerous and resourceful James Bond. And Dalton rocks the film performance-wise IMHO. Feels like a proper follow-up to OHMSS, even though the death of the bride was Felix' loss this time around. Benicio Del-Toro creates a memorable henchman, as well as Anthony Zerbe's conflicted Milton Krest. Carey Lowell also makes for a great Bond girl.
Goldfinger: The first Bond film that embraced the spectacle. Gadgets, OTT villain, extremely memorable henchman, and yes, that name, Pussy Galore. Dr. No introduced the icon, Connery and Goldfinger cemented it.
From Russia With Love: Just a cracking film. Connery embodies the role (Though he did in Dr. No also) Robert Shaw makes for an excellent villain. Great locales, a simple, but diabolical plot, and our first introduction to Blofeld, as well as Q, the always great Desmond Lewellyn. The film also solidified Bernard Lee as M, giving us the beginnings of the more close than we realize relationship between Bond and M, almost father and son. Daniella Bianchi, Pedro Armendáriz, and Lotte Lenya also shine.
The Spy Who Loved Me: In Goldfinger embraced the spectacle, TSWLM took it to bed and fed it breakfast in the morning. The villain isn't as grandiose as Goldfinger, but it features fantastical sets, gadgets, and a plan for global destruction. Roger Moore lives it up, Barbara Bach is delightful on the eyes and Caroline Munro became one of my favorite of the Bond franchise villainesses (Why did you have to blow her up, Rog?)
Goldeneye: Dalton's my favorite Bond. I've made no qualms about it. He topped Connery after reading the books. The film, being a Dalton fan, is bittersweet for me, because it's a great film, but is tailored to Dalton. Nevertheless, it's also a good outing for Brosnan. He's more Roger Moore than Dalton, but he's good, and Sean Bean, while too young for the part, is an excellent adversary. Plus, it has another of my top Bond villainesses in it, in the form of Famke Janssen (I can think of worse ways to die) Isabella Sorupco is also a refreshing Bond girl. And how can we forget Dame Judi Dench, who became as beloved an M as the late, and also excellent, Bernard Lee?
Casino Royale: I considered OHMSS and FYEO, but bottom line, they just don't hold a candle to Casino Royale. Not only did Daniel Craig silence critics of the "Blonde Bond" the film itself is lavish. Mads Mikkelsen...Where did this guy come from. He was fantastic as the villain. Eva Green is fantastic as the tragic Vesper. The poker is unrealistic, since I play poker, but other than that, it impresses. Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, and Judi Dench shine as well.
I love to love my Lisa.
Unrealistic poker as in very convenient cards, or as in the way the game is played? If the former, the movie/book really can't help because it'd be uninteresting as hell otherwise.
shareThe final hand consists of a Flush, a full house, A bigger full house, and a straight flush, all in a 4-handed game. It's like the last hand of "Maverick" Though that deck was rigged. That is just unrealistic. I play cards. It doesn't ruin the film for me, it just tweaks the Hold'em player in me whenever that scene runs. That and the betting. Bet 500k. Raise 1 million. Raise 2 million. ALL IN! LOL.
I think the other two players in that sequence were superfluous. They should have just gone with Heads-up between Bond and LeChiffre, and given them the FH and SF hands. I'd have believed it more than a 4-handed all in, everyone with great cards.
I love to love my Lisa.
So if you were a physicist, would you also be bothered by the unrealistic explosions of the movie? It's basically like that. Everyone knows those cards were really convenient, but all movies with poker in them have this (as I said, The Parent Trap remake had the most ridiculous one in movie history by far), but I don't mind this lack of realism in a movie like this. As for the betting, of course the All Ins were pretty ridiculous, but what would you have done with only 7 million left and a flush, when everyone was calling anyway? I play Hold Em too occasionally (though I'm not that good :P), but I really couldn't care. Even then I suppose you realize it's a major nitpick. Imagine if the climax had been 2 folds and Bond beating Le Chiffre with a 3 of a kind of sevens, how dull.
share*Sigh*
I love to love my Lisa.
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The best:
1.Casino Royale
2.Dr. No
3.Licence to Kill
4.For Your Eyes Only
5.Goldfinger
6.The Spy Who Loved Me
7.Never Say Never Again
The worst:
1.Live & Let Die
2.The Man With the Golden Gun
3.Octopussy
4.Diamonds Are Forever
5.Moonraker
6.The World is Not Enough
7.On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1. OHMSS - My favourite. Superb fight sequences - probably the best in the whole series - and a terrific story.
2. FRWL - A paired down spy story. Red Grant is a superb adversary for Bond. Bond is in the dark for most of this film.
3. Dr. No - Often overlooked. Admittedly, it is a little rough around the edges in terms of some of its production - but it has a very solid storyline and good characterisation - as well as some of the darkest moments in Bond's history.
4. Goldeneye - Reworked Bond for the post Cold War. Very good storyline and a decent villain.
5. License to Kill - It gets a lot of flak in some places - but the film was ahead of its time. A darker and more brutal Bond. Dalton's great - give it a go.
6. Casino Royale - A superb reboot. Captures the spirit of Fleming's novel - but updates for the 21st century. Only the romance - which doesn't feel as convincing as OHMSS - and the Venice sequence being too melodramatic.
7. Goldfinger - Perhaps cartoonish in places - but it does have a decent storyline - and has some of Bond's most iconic moments.
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The most memorable Bond movies are...
1.Casino Royale (2006) - 8.5-9/10
2.Skyfall (2012) - 8-8.5/10
3.Licence to Kill (1989) - 8/10
4.Goldfinger (1964) - 7.5-8/10
5.Dr No (1962)
6.From Russia With Love (1963) - 7-7.5/10
if i had to toss in another one to make seven Bond movies i would go with Quantum of Solace (2008). if you removed Skyfall, then i would have to add another to make seven and i would likely go with... Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
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My IMDb Movie Lists etc = http://goo.gl/pZ8XG
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1. GoldenEye
2. Skyfall
3. Licence to Kill
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. From Russia With Love
6. Casino Royale
7. Spectre
"GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!"
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On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Moonraker
The Spy Who Loved Me
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
Dr No
The Man with the Golden Gun