The Best of BOND; Let's get this over with - Page 230

No need to apologize, I think Lazenby does rob the film of some energy with his performance. We all have our own preferences.

And I just read on MI6 that Timothy Dalton recently granted a rare interview where he pushed for Skyfall to be awarded with official recognition for excellence at this year's oscars.

I like OHMSS a lot that it's in my top 5 Bond, but I do agree it falls short partly because of Lazenby for various reasons. I don't think he makes a bad Bond, but OHMSS is a really terrible choice to make a debut entry, especially since he was 29 when the story had Bond becoming weary in his latter years so that demanded more of a veteran actor. Lazenby was too green, and a better film for him might have been something like LALD where it's mostly an action film that doesn't require a lot of the drama. Lazenby is very good in his action scenes, so that would be a better way to start off and then let him grow into the role over the years.

Also, it should have starred a Bond actor audiences were already familiar with so that there's more of a connection with Bond when he's falling in love and such. You watch him go through all those adventures and it looks like he may finally get his break, but then that ending happens and you feel the devastation.

However, I still like a lot about the film enough that it manages to make it up to my top 5. Lazenby is really the only weak link for me, but it's still too bad.

That trailer is pretty excellent. Love the placement of Stromberg's "Detente indeed..." line.

 

Btw, not sure if this has been posted yet, but fans of The Living Daylights will appreciate this:

 

 

 

It's a bit pricey at $50 (Print on Demand at Amazon), but in a word, "wow." The book is a goldmine. I just received mine yesterday, and it's filled to the brim with on-set and publicity photos I've never seen.

 

It even has a few interesting details about the post-LTK fallout (most of which have already been documented elsewhere, but it's interesting to get further confirmation on details of the 3rd Dalton film that never was...).

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=10729&t=mi6&s=news


Not surprised, especially after "007 Legends" turned out poor during this 50th anniversary for Bond. The 007 brand deserved better. Pretty disappointing. I remember when Activision was announced I was just pleased to hear a new company other than EA games was gonna take over. Instead we mostly get Call of Duty with 007 logo slapped on it, aside from Blood Stone. If EON really wants to revive Bond for the gaming world, look for a developer that actually wants to do more than coast. The 007 logo is already guaranteed to sell a few, build up from that instead of depending on it.


As of now, the best James Bond game ever made is still METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER. 007 needs to adopt MGS's "Tactical Espionage Action" motto. It's more challenging to do a sneaking mission as opposed to shooting up shit.

We also REALLY need to look past Goldeneye as the single Bond game that all others have to live up too. Bond just doesn't work that well as a first-person shooter.

 

 

 

Agreed on both points. Personally, I'd love to see what TellTale would do with the 007 license. 

Again, I'm going to defend EVERYTHING OR NOTHING as a really solid game. Too bad that was a decade ago.

It is probably the best Bond game of all time, with Bloodstone at #2.

 

This is how you do it.  Ian Fleming woulda been proud.

Doc Phibes, Don't laugh, I had that game, and the gameplay was...Glorious...Then!  I would...Love a...2D Side Scrolling James Bond Game!  There was a game produced by Data East that included Jaws and Odd Job as foes...Secret Agent was the name and it is one of the games included in the compilation...Data East Classics Collection on the Wii!

The fact that the remake of that game sold better than any of the original titles or movie tie-ins is really pathetic. There's that teaser for the remake that basically had someone ask a focus group "what if I told you a new GoldenEye game will come out?" and then everyone gets excited. GoldenEye has become a brand name, 007 really needs to move past that.

And yes, first-person shooter has always been the wrong format for Bond. "GoldenEye" was an exception, it should have never become the rule.

Since this is the all purpose Bond thread...

 

I've started reading Moonraker, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it.  I'm not too far in, but I'm loving the "daily routine" aspect of the start of the book.

 

Did DAD crib a lot from Moonraker?  It seems like it did--down to the red hair sported by the villain in that movie vs. Drax in the book.

Well, sort of, yes, but the book is an entirely more satisfying, ground level and character based experience. The similarities to DAD are rather superficial in context.

 

Moonraker is my favorite of the novels, I hope you enjoy it.

 

Why I decided to start there.  I read FRWL a long time ago in college.

We need to stop talking about the GoldenEye video game as I have Nam-style flashbacks due to that game. Used to live with a guy who was like The Terminator when it came to GE deathmatches. He would always choose Mishkin as his character, which means I now develop spasms during the tiny scene in which that character appears in the movie.

You'll also find some major elements that got used for GE along the way.

Similarly, with regards to Bond video games, they never really managed a good Indiana Jones game either.

History Buff, There was one good one...Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom Arcade game.

I used to have the Living Daylights on my Amstrad CPC (yes, I'm that old). That was the hardest game EVER. I couldn't even get past the Gibraltar level which was the opening stage!

 

A couple of years ago, in coordination with their licensed playset line, Lego had a web-based Indiana Jones side-scroller that was a lot of fun. Not sure if or how it's still available.

 

ETA: here it is!

 

INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS was excellent.  It would have made a decent blueprint for an actual film.

 

I'll put forth that PITFALL! (and, to a lesser extent, PITFALL 2) were excellent INDIANA JONES games on the Atari 2600.

I had a lot of fun playing Pitfall and Pitfall 2 as a kid. What do you know, I can see forty from where I'm sitting.

When I played Deux Ex: H.E., I played it as a near-future Bond story, which increased the enjoyment level for me. It's very similar to GoldenEye. 

Greatest Bond Videogame EVER.

 

I recall the PC version of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb being a blast.  Aside from that, the rest of the modern ones have been shit.......particularly the last one.

I think the Emperor's Tomb was actually done by some of the same guys who did Everything Or Nothing.

 

I really have no idea why in this age of Uncharted and Splinter Cell it's so hard to create a quality Indiana Jones or James Bond game.

Quantum of Solace was decent, if nothing particularly special. As a game you can snatch up for less than $5, it's almost golden.

 

Speaking of which, I still get wildly conflicting reports on whether Goldeneye Reloaded is actually any good.

It looks like a COD game (a series I find mundane) with the 007 logo stamped on it, like all the other Activision games sans Blood Stone. Therefore I'm not giving it the time of day.

I never really warmed to Quantum of Solace at all. It's COD with a few more stealth sequence and the ability to take cover.

I had a lot of fun with GoldenEye on the Wii, but it really is just Call of Duty 007.

 

Pick it up on the cheap and you'll have fun with it.  It's no classic, but it's not anywhere near as terrible as most claim.  I'd put it on par with QoS.

 

 

Agreed on all counts.  And I think you are right about the Emperor's Tomb/Everything or Nothing connection.

 

The worst thing about the last Indy game is they kept building it up for years as the one we'd all be waiting for.  The early test footage looked great.  And then we heard nothing for a year or two.  And then they unceremoniously dumped it and it was a piece of shit.  I'm of the mind that it had been cancelled after all the levels were initially completed, before any of the real effort or detail went into it, and then they changed their minds as Indy 4 approached and chucked out what they had to make a quick buck.  Shameful.

The Last Crusade Lucasarts adventure game for the PC was excellent, my favorite of its kind in fact.

Did nobody else here play "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine" on the PC? It used a similar engine to the "Tomb Raider" games of that era. I remember it being quite good, but I could be wrong.

 

BTW, I got the 007 LEGENDS game for Christmas. I agree that it's mainly a pale imitation of better, COD-type games. But then, I'm pretty liable to hate it, since I positively suck at first-person-shooter.

 

On the one hand, it's nifty to go through missions based on GOLDFINGER  and OHMSS. On the other, I'd really like to play an "Arkham Asylum" type game with James Bond, that would let me play through those same scenarios.

"Sometimes the old ways are best."
-Kincade

Holy shit WANT.

It was the granddaddy of all the disappointing James Bond games.  As you can see from the video, most of the ones released didn't work properly, with cars that kept stalling or falling off the track.  It was supposed to be the big moneymaker that Christmas, but there were so many of them returned that the manufacturer went out of business.

 

http://www.trainweb.org/allaboardsets/bond.html

 

You can find pics of all sorts of Bond merchandise from the past 50 years at this link:

 

http://www.shatterhand007.com/MemoraBONDia.html

Shatterhand really DOES need to be a Bond movie title.

 

And if it ever is, whoever owns that domain is going to make out like a bandit.

It's probably been suggested to EON for years and they simply rejected it, but then again they went with QUANTUM OF SOLACE so you'd think they'd be more open to anything. I'd love it to be SHATTERHAND, would be the first title to have a villain's name in a long long time. Heck, when TOMORROW NEVER LIES was in early drafts the villain was originally named Elliot Harmsway. I have no idea why they would change it to a generic name like Carver, but I'd be cool if they revisited the name HARMSWAY in the future.

Shatterhand would be a great title.  They also should figure out a way to do the Garden Of Death from the book, although I see that as more of a first or second act set piece than something for the finale.

 

One of the key reasons the 60s films were so great was that they had such a marvelous talent pool that stayed on and/or returned.  They've got John Logan for the next two Craigs.  Now, EON needs to sign contracts with as many of these people as they can: Roger Deakins, Stuart Baird, Alexander Witt, Arnold or Newman on music, plus as many of the Skyfall design crew as possible.  And most definitely Jeffrey Wright.

Gassner, Baird and Witt will likely return, as they're the new go-to guys for EON (Baird and Witt not being in QOS only because Forster wanted his own crew). Deakins and Newman don't seem to be sure, already playing the "we don't want to repeat ourselves" card.

However, there is this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2260511/Scarlett-Johansson-simply-sizzles-stage-A-Cat-On-A-Hot-Tin-Roof.html

Could be bullshit, but I wouldn't be surprised after the success SF has gotten that Sony and EON are doing all they can to get the dream team back for another flick. If Mendes does indeed return then I think it's safe to say that Deakins and Newman will very much follow suit.

Last week, I finally saw Hanna.  Even though I found the action filmmaking to be frustratingly mixed, I pretty much pegged Joe Wright as the next Bond director if Mendes stays away.

 

Thanks for the news/gossip.  I live in hope.

I'd love to see a new Leiter just to watch fanboys' heads explode. Multiple Leiters is a tradition. Even Dalton had two!

Every calendar year they push back on the next Bond increases the likelihhood that we'll get one less Craig Bond than planned. Not complaining; I'd rather have "better" than "more."  I'd also rather roll the dice on a new creative team. Mendes should go out on a win.

I really don't want Mendes back. He did Bond, Craig and the franchise a great service, but I'm not sure he has any more ideas, and I was hoping for Matthew Vaughn to come aboard after he left the X-Men thing he was doing for Fox. 

 

Get someone fresh and eager on board and you could get more first rate Bond movies before Craig retires, where as if Mendes really needs an entire year to do a stage musical (wtf?) before he can recoup his enthusiasm for the franchise, maybe he needs to be put out to pasture.

 

Bond should wait on no one except Craig. It's like Bond says in Moonraker, he  only has so many years and so many missions left in him before mandatory retirement. 007 can't afford to wait and stall his momentum while Mendes fiddles with stage design and musical numbers.

Given his uncertainty of returning, hopefully he'd only come back because of what Logan cooks up. I wouldn't want him pressured into this because of SF's huge success.

So... I finally saw Casino Royale. And forgive my heresy but storywise, nothing seems to happen for the first hour and ten minutes. Or was that just me getting impatient for Eva Green to show up?

That was just you getting impatient for Eva Green to show up.

 

You fucking heretic.

I like a lot of the first hour mainly because it's Bond's actions that ultimately sets up the rest of the film and during that second hour it's almost like a rematch between the him and Le Chiffre, except it's the first time they met. My only real issue with that first hour is that Bond is the worst tail man in history. And after he learns his lesson at Madagascar about getting spotted by cameras, when at Nassau the first thing he's doing at the hotel is looking directly at the cameras.