What's The Last Movie You Watched? VIII - Part 3

[Ajendo]

I'm still not quite sure who my favorite Bond is. I've liked them all so far, but it's hard to pinpoint the best since they all brought something different to the role.

Let me save you the trouble. The best Bond ever and by a long shot is none other than the man who started it all, Sean Connery. Connery has more charisma and swagger just walking around a hotel room than all the actors that followed him trying their best to do their own thing. Although, Lazenby was a magnificent fighter.

 

[Ajendo]

Brosnan and M are great together yeah. I just love when she owns him in Goldeneye.

Ian Fleming must have been doing tornado spins in his grave at that moment. That scene was so on the nose with all this PC and new era crap that even as a 10 year old when seeing it at the cinema it was just for me handled in such poor taste. Not only that, Brosnan's relationships with the female characters in every subsequent Bond film was a joke. Interestingly enough, the greatest female character in the entire series was a no nonsense woman from the 60s. She was sexy, villainous and again put Bond in his place but without having the audience witness our hero being so tragically imasculated the way M did to Brozzer in GE and she is, Fiona Volpe from TB......imo of course.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

 

[The Morningstar]

Vesper Lynd is my favourite Bond girl. The romance in Casino Royale was just brilliantly done.

 

[Ajendo]

Vesper Lynd is my favourite Bond girl. The romance in Casino Royale was just brilliantly done.

Brilliantly done?? I wouldn't go that far. My problem with Bond's relationship with vesper is, that given his pain once he found out that she betrayed him and then died and the pain carried on to QoS, I find it hard to digest that Bond loved Vesper the way that he did in such a short space of time. I get that she had attractive qualities that appealed to him but the development of their relationship was noticeably brief. Compare the vesper relationship to that of Bond and Tracy's. That relationship was explored and developed as was showcased in the "we have all the time in the world" montage and was very easy to see why Bond ended up marrying her. Tracy in OHMSS was just the sort of woman Bond needed. She was feisty, independent, still very much a woman who wanted and not necessarily needed a man and most importantly, she was a soldier, in the sense that she made her way to Switzerland to find Bond and rescued him.

Dont get me wrong CR is a fine film, probably the best Bond film since OHMSS (that's pretty sad) but given the length of CR, I would have liked to have seen some sort of proper emotional development between the two that clearly justifies Bond actually falling in Love to warrant the obviously brutal pain he ended up feeling.

 

[The Morningstar]

I think it was clearly justified that Bond truly loved her. She was pretty much the first woman that he found to be a challenge. He respected her for that. She was also very intelligent, and her blunt analysis of him when they first meet seemed to cut pretty deep, but also made her more interesting to him. Basically, she was pretty much the only women he had ever met that didn't take his **** and didn't fall for his charms straight off the bat.

But then she was also vulnerable, when she witnessed him murder the African guys in the hotel she was traumatised and he comforted her.

Like I said, I thought it was brilliantly done. Felt like a natural romance even though it was built in very unnatural circumstances.

 

[Bruce Banner]

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom


I don't know why I watched them all out of sequence lately.

 

[3dman27]

the incredible hulk tv [pilot

 

[Doctor Jones]

I think it was clearly justified that Bond truly loved her. She was pretty much the first woman that he found to be a challenge. He respected her for that. She was also very intelligent, and her blunt analysis of him when they first meet seemed to cut pretty deep, but also made her more interesting to him. Basically, she was pretty much the only women he had ever met that didn't take his **** and didn't fall for his charms straight off the bat.

But then she was also vulnerable, when she witnessed him murder the African guys in the hotel she was traumatised and he comforted her.

Like I said, I thought it was brilliantly done. Felt like a natural romance even though it was built in very unnatural circumstances.

Well said. Vesper is my favorite Bond girl as well. Beautiful yet intelligent and can match Bond. But doesn't need to be a badass fighter to prove herself.

 

[Doctor Jones]

X-Men: First Class - 8/10

Whoa, even though I'm not surprised, the fact we got a quality X-Men film for the first time in eight years is still hard to take in.

As a prequel or loose reboot or whatever, it works either way. The fact that Vaughn and co. only had less than a year to make this work and actually made it work is incredible.

It took a while to warm up to, as the first 30 minutes or so didn't quite click with me, once it got in the thick of it, I was liking it. Vaughn's style works very well for X-Men. You could tell this was in fact a Matthew Vaughn film at times. And I loved it for that. It has its own distrinct voice and style that differentiates it from Singer's films while still maintaining a sense of continuity between the two. The 60's setting works in the films favor, somewhat justifying the embracing of the more comic book elements. I just love how Singer has always apparoached this series as one that exists in our world right now, as if mutants have always existed. Just an alternative world. It makes the themes that have always been addressed pver the years even better.

The two standouts besides the direction is James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. The relationship aspect between Zavier and Erik has always interested me the most in these past films. What I love about this is when they go their separate ways, there's still a friendship. It's ongoing, and if they make sequels, the relationship will further expand. This is just one chapter of their earlier lives. Besides, the amount of time Erik stayed with Xavier was about right. I liked his underlying driven revenge throughout. At times it seemed like he was there just to get to Shaw, but the scenes between him and Xavier show a different side. They both learn from eachother.

They did the smart thing and played to their own strengths while the beauty is that you can see these two men evolve into Stewart and McKellen. There are scenes in this film where you cannot help but think of the scenes that Stewart and McKellen shared. The parallels are chill inducing and exciting.

Everything is just interweaved very well. Like the Cuban Missile Crisis as not only a cool backdrop for the plot, but also reasoning for Erik's beliefs. Also Mystique's way of going to Erik's side. That made sense too. And her being completely nude is explained in a great way that makes alot of sense. It's apart of the theme of this film.

Xavier's mutants are all pretty much well developed in personality. The film's focus is right. There are just enough characters. And Kevin Bacon's Shaw makes a cool Bond like villain. He's suave yet a maniac. One of my favorite scenes is his introductory scene.

I can't wait to see more be explored as this goes on. They brought in enough ideas to get this started. And all the ideas here presented really worked. With some fun cameos thrown in to boot. One of which I was dreading that I ended up loving. Just because how daring it was.

But yeah, the first good X-Men film in eight years that doesn't suck. Were we even thinking of this as a possibility two years ago? Thankfully Singer and Vaughn swooped in and saved it.

I would love to see this again.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Well said. Vesper is my favorite Bond girl as well. Beautiful yet intelligent and can match Bond. But doesn't need to be a badass fighter to prove herself.

Vesper was my favorite until Tracy Bond, but I have to see Casino Royale again until I may that set in stone. I'm at License to Kill now for my Bond marathon.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Compare the vesper relationship to that of Bond and Tracy's. That relationship was explored and developed as was showcased in the "we have all the time in the world" montage and was very easy to see why Bond ended up marrying her. Tracy in OHMSS was just the sort of woman Bond needed. She was feisty, independent, still very much a woman who wanted and not necessarily needed a man and most importantly, she was a soldier, in the sense that she made her way to Switzerland to find Bond and rescued him.

Agreed.

Dont get me wrong CR is a fine film, probably the best Bond film since OHMSS (that's pretty sad).

Disagree. I have 2 Bond movies ahead of OHMSS after that movie was released and it's Goldeneye and The Spy Who Loved Me, and that's because even though OHMSS is probably one of two or three (maybe four) Bond films I call a masterpiece, it's a departure from other Bond films, something that's good and bad thing (but mostly a good thing). The other two captured the Bond series for what it is very well and I enjoy watching the others greatly. I love OHMSS for being different, but I find myself enjoying the other two more.

 

[Dark Victory]

Crash - 4/10

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I think it was clearly justified that Bond truly loved her. She was pretty much the first woman that he found to be a challenge. He respected her for that. She was also very intelligent, and her blunt analysis of him when they first meet seemed to cut pretty deep, but also made her more interesting to him. Basically, she was pretty much the only women he had ever met that didn't take his **** and didn't fall for his charms straight off the bat.

But then she was also vulnerable, when she witnessed him murder the African guys in the hotel she was traumatised and he comforted her.

Like I said, I thought it was brilliantly done. Felt like a natural romance even though it was built in very unnatural circumstances.

I agree to this too.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

X-Men First Class.

 

[Ajendo]

I think it was clearly justified that Bond truly loved her. She was pretty much the first woman that he found to be a challenge. He respected her for that. She was also very intelligent, and her blunt analysis of him when they first meet seemed to cut pretty deep, but also made her more interesting to him. Basically, she was pretty much the only women he had ever met that didn't take his **** and didn't fall for his charms straight off the bat.

But then she was also vulnerable, when she witnessed him murder the African guys in the hotel she was traumatised and he comforted her.

Like I said, I thought it was brilliantly done. Felt like a natural romance even though it was built in very unnatural circumstances.

Those are the attractive qualities I mentioned but still, that doesn't mean she was worth falling in love with so quickly and for Bond to feel the amount of pain he felt.
I'm looking at it from the point of view that Bond is a bachelor, a womaniser as so perfectly described by vesper and yet because she was able to identify the sort of man he is, shows some vulnerability, that makes her worth falling in love with??? I don't buy it. What's even worse is, QoS does very little to try and beef up the memory of Vesper to really drive home Bond's pain and peace he's searching for. Instead we get a few nods here and there, See Bond looking miserable over Vesper but not really understanding why. The emotional impact Vesper had on Bond was one of the reasons why we got the reboot in the first place and I think they missed a great opportunity to convey why Bond loved this woman so much in the short space of time that he did. Seriously, QoS is all about Bond's resolve over Vesper and the whole film just felt ridiculously hollow in that regard.

This is why I find the Bond/Tracy relationship far more credible and easy to accept because Tracy was not only a far more dimensional character than Vesper, deeper and more intelligent or at least she was better written but most importantly, the relationship was given time to be built and the audience was able to see it; to see Bond and Tracy connect and to see their relationship evolve.
I urge you to watch OHMSS again and you'll see why I find the execution of the Bond/Vesper relationship to not be as good as it could or should be. I understand people react differently when it comes to relationships and I suppose in all things but I just can't fully get behind Bond falling that madly in love with Vesper so rather damn quickly. It's been about 10 years since I last read CR but I think I remember Bond and Vesper's relationship being aired out, given time to breathe at least more so than the movie's approach.

 

[Ajendo]

Agreed.



Disagree. I have 2 Bond movies ahead of OHMSS after that movie was released and it's Goldeneye and The Spy Who Loved Me, and that's because even though OHMSS is probably one of two or three (maybe four) Bond films I call a masterpiece, it's a departure from other Bond films, something that's good and bad thing (but mostly a good thing). The other two captured the Bond series for what it is very well and I enjoy watching the others greatly. I love OHMSS for being different, but I find myself enjoying the other two more.

When you say OHMSS is a departure what do you mean??

Everything about OHMSS is classic Bond to the hilt. People can complain about Lazenby all they want, I enjoyed his performance. OHMSS sits comfortably as a Bond movie future Bond movies should aspire to be like. Great action, a great leading lady, Bond in suits, Casinos, Excellent charming villain who means business and by God an amazing score from the late great John Barry. OHMSS is sex on celluloid. TSWLM is a great Bond film also. I think it's saved by it's epic feel and atmosphere but it's still too silly. GE for me was let down by the awful Serra music. Honestly, when I watch GE it sometimes has this made for tv look to it.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

On Her Majesty's secret service features a much slower pace than the other films with a bigger focus on the relationship between Bond and Tracy than revolving around the plot of a madman evil scheme (even though it comes to light later). In fact, Blofeld isn't even mentioned in the first 25-30 minutes of the movie, and is only mentioned a few times afterwards until he fully starts the search. There is also a less focus on action set pieces unlike the others too. And Bond only sleeps with 2 women . It's not criticism though. There is some cheesiness, but way less than Connery's movies.

I love OHMSS and is my #5 favorite Bond film behind FRWL, GE, GF, and TSWL. I just felt like those films have a better view of the James Bond I like.

 

[Ajendo]

I thought the pacing was fine and we had the right amount of exposition to explore the relationship between Bond and Tracy and of course explore the traditional sleuthing shinanigans. As for the set pieces I think the scope of the movie and the atmosphere more than compensated. You had the beautiful swiss alps, accompanied by some of Barry's best work scoring a movie.

For me when I think of Bond the movies that make my bacon sizzle are, (in no particular order)

DN
FRWL
GF
TB
OHMSS
TLD
GE
CR

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

You must be the first person who ever abbreviates Dr. No

Anyway, slower pacing =/= bad pacing, just different. It was definitely slower than other Bond films.

 

[hammerhedd11]

X-Men First Class

 

[DACrowe]

That was a very fun movie. I loved its early '60s style that intentionally reminded me of the best Bond movies, right down to Erik wearing Connery's iconic gray leisure suit from Goldfinger. A German Bond hunting Nazis with superpowers? Cool.

Beyond those early sequences the highlight was Charles and Erik's relationship. This is the bromance of comic books and they nailed just as good as Stewart and McKellan. But this was better because we see the friendship in its heyday and them working together (with legs!).

Vaughn injects his infectious, breezy style to terrific effect. It's just a joy to watch. Albeit, I'll be honest that he has to play it straighter than he did in Layer Cake, Stardust or (my personal favorite) Kick-Ass. So, it's not quite as fresh as his other films but his miles ahead of most summer movies and blows the last two X-films away.

However, the ending felt forced with as soon as Kevin Bacon (playing a great cross between Dr. Mengele and Dr. No) is dead in a satisfying revenge sequence, Magneto turns overnight. While I like how (painfully) they handled the paralysis, it felt forced for the friendship to break up so quickly. Not to mention Raven, the only other mutant worth noticing thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's sweet and subtle performance, abandoning her big brother of some 20 years overnight. It just felt rushed. They should have saved the family dissolution for the sequel and given that it's whole film, as this was about them meeting.

I'm not sure if this is better than X2 or not. It's new and exciting while I've seen X2 many, many times. However, the '60s style and Vaughn's effortless pinache for cool may make it the more enjoyable film to revisit than Singer's somber, brooding piece. At the same time I did miss Wolverine's ferocity (loved Jackman's hilarious cameo, btw) when he goes bezerk. But compared to the watered down square jaw hero he became in the last two movies, I'll take Fassbender's menacingly charismatic Magneto bromancing MacAvoy's mischievous Charles anyday.

8.5/10

My thoughts.

 

[DACrowe]

Ian Fleming must have been doing tornado spins in his grave at that moment. That scene was so on the nose with all this PC and new era crap that even as a 10 year old when seeing it at the cinema it was just for me handled in such poor taste. Not only that, Brosnan's relationships with the female characters in every subsequent Bond film was a joke. Interestingly enough, the greatest female character in the entire series was a no nonsense woman from the 60s. She was sexy, villainous and again put Bond in his place but without having the audience witness our hero being so tragically imasculated the way M did to Brozzer in GE and she is, Fiona Volpe from TB......imo of course.

Xenia Onatopp was better.

M didn't emasculate Bond. That scene was on the nose, because Bond as a pop culture character is a dinosaur and is a relic of the Cold War. That film was great because Bond had become irrelevant to most critics and most audiences in the '80s, nevermind all the whispering how the franchise died with the Soviet Union. Bond now had something to prove...his relevance in a post-Cold War world. That was the movie front on addressing that criticism and throwing the gauntlet down for he (the character of Bond) and they the filmmakers to prove Bond is still relevant and kick-ass. And prove it, they did. I question if it was a man who berated Bond for being dated (which if you watch the homages to Bond in XFC, you realize he is) if he would have been "emasculated." For thinking that, it vindicates casting Dench in that role to begin with.

 

[Immortalfire]

X-Men : First Class


Loved it!

 

[Immortalfire]

However, the ending felt forced with as soon as Kevin Bacon (playing a great cross between Dr. Mengele and Dr. No) is dead in a satisfying revenge sequence, Magneto turns overnight. While I like how (painfully) they handled the paralysis, it felt forced for the friendship to break up so quickly. Not to mention Raven, the only other mutant worth noticing thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's sweet and subtle performance, abandoning her big brother of some 20 years overnight. It just felt rushed.

Perhaps it was rushed a tad, but at the very least (as a similar comparison) I found Magneto's turn to be done tons better than Anakin Skywalker's BS "turn to the dark side" in Episode III.