Miss Ann Thrope

Ok, so I moaned in another thread about there not being a thread on this topic. So I am doing something about it (largely because I'm stuck in the office waiting to go to something else later).

Anyway, I was a bit surprised how much I enjoyed having a 24 hour Bond movie channel for a couple of months and even more surprised how much I miss it now it's gone. For those who don't know, OSN had a Bond channel which was supposed to run for a couple of months (I'm sure there was some "7" significance:: 77 days or the like) and which they extended for a bit but then stopped in early January. It came along with a lot of advertising for a James Bond exhibition with props and stuff from the movies which is running somewhere in an Emaar shopping centre I think.

There are only a couple of dozen movies but interspersed with a few documentaries and well-made puff pieces, the Bond channel became a reliable go-to for any evening with nothing better to do. Having been mildly keen on Bond movies previously, I slowly turned into a bit of a obsessive though I could never have managed .

I didn't realise how many Bond movies I hadn't previously seen and how many I would enjoy. I'm irritated that there are bits of some of the movies that I've missed and assumed blithely that I would get to see later and ran out of time. So, a few observations:
- No Bond movie is good all the way through, though most pick up at the end after losing it for a while, except Spectre;
- There is at least one absolutely cracking scene in every Bond movie;
- On her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best and weirdest Bond movies ever;
- the Bond movies with the best opening sequences (Spy who Loved Me, Skyfall, Die Another Day) tend to be a bit of a let-down with the possible exception of The Living Daylights;
- Oddjob, I would though ;
- while I can take Bond with a Scottish accent and (just about) with an Irish accent, it's just NO to a Welsh accent; don't know why, it just is.

Craig, Connery > Moore >> Brosnan, Dalton (chin bum and Welsh accent)

There, I fully expect to get zero responses to this topic but felt I had to give my moneypenny's worth. (See what I did there?).

And yes, I am the most unlikely Bond obsessive you could imagine.

Brains1983

Caugh most of them this time round on that channel. They were/are also available on OSN On Demand, it mentioned last chance when I checked yesterday so will be gone soon. Think it was to tie into a Bond exhibition they were having here in the UAE? Was the first time I had seen on her majesties secret service - I gave up on it about 30mins in. Very weird movie!

scrubbedexpat141

That first Partridge video.

I love lots of the old Bonds and Brosnan was my childhood bond and I think GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day are absolute classics in the very literal, basic sense that they are cheesy action, one liners, gadgets etc.

Craig has been awesome though. The films have taken new depth and glamour and are very good films individually - apart from Quantum of Solace which was just awful.

jam25mack

What about the other fella (see what I did there?)......

IKnowNothing

Live and Let Die, the BEST Bond movie EVER.

Miss Ann Thrope

Ha yes, well done! Technically, of course, the "other fella" was Connery. But taking your well-made point, I guess I would put Lazenby with Brosnan and bum-face: bits worked but in the end he was just too much of a Larrikin to be Bond. And half his dialogue was dubbed!!!

moneypenny20

My ears were burning. I'm a bit of a fan myself. Craig has been excellent. Dalton was just odd. Not as odd as Lazenby though.

weasel decentral

Craig > Connery, Brosnan > Moore > the rest.

Brosnan has the most un-Irish of accents imo, actually I don't know if I have ever seen him playing an Irish role.

Miss Ann Thrope

I'd say he went to Kings Hos

jam25mack

I quite like Brosnan.

Craig has been a stand out for me though.

What are all your thoughts about the next bond?

Loads of chat about Idris Elba..... not sure i'm convinced. I just don't think he's smooth enough.... Similar chat with Tom Hardy who's been talking himself up. May as well have Danny 'Geezer' Dyer....

I think we should get someone out of left field and let them grow with the role. I know Craig was in Layer Cake (which is a massively under rated film) but he wasn't that well known.

Miss Ann Thrope

I agree with all of that!!

I think Colin Salmon in his prime would have made an excellent Bond, suave and tough, but he's way too old now (as is Idris anyway). I liked Craig but maybe he went a bit far in being just hard and cynical without enough balancing humour and cool. I'd be happy for him to continue but the problem is with that stupid overly-self-referential plot of Spectre: they need to completely start over. There was no need to make the Blofeld character be behind everything that had happened in the previous movies and given it was all played so po-faced with no pussy-stroking piranha-munching antics, there's no way back... Only a reboot will do.

scrubbedexpat141

Fassbender is the bookies favourite at 5/2
Tom Hardy 3/1
Aidan Turner 4/1
James Norton 7/1
Hiddleston 8/1
Idris Elba 10's
Bradley Cooper 25's

jam25mack

Don't know half of these (which is good). Comments in red.


How about Hugh Jackman...?

Dunno, who I'd pick. Going to have to think about this.....

scrubbedexpat141

I'm not interested in having an American as Bond. I think they should be British.

weasel decentral

I think Fassbender or Hardy are too established as movie stars to be suitable, Bond actors seem to be generally taken from more under the radar actors.

I'd like Mark Strong, though equally he is a good villain.