Throw me in the "What's The Big Deal? It's a Fun James Bond Movie...Shutup And Go See It" camp.
Notes:
1. The night-surfing mega-wave scene rocked. Great opening.
2. Loved the hovercraft....but I'm a sucker for hovercraft. I suspect that hovercraft would in actuality set off some of the land mines that are sprinkled in the DMZ.
3. Torture Scene intertwined with opening credits was a clever plot device and helped to build the feeling that this wasn't your usual Bond-Gets-Tortured setup. The fire and ice maidens helping Bond to hold up during torture was fascinating. Are those the refined spirits of Femininity? His muse(s)? Guardian Angels? Anyway, the Madonna track was too jarring. The front speakers in our theater sounded torn during the 20 minute commercial calvacade, so at first I thought that they were malfunctioning....but quickly decided that the song itself was broken....and I --like-- technopop-ish music.
4. The medical ship escape and hotel scenes were FUN. The promo razor in question was a Norelco, the case was a transparent ovoid-cylinder and is in the foreground as the camera pans over to reveal Bond shaving in the mirror. I -love- product placement when it means that the crew gets free stuff from that manufacturer.
5. It was neat to see Cuba, if that was really Cuba. I envy the Brits total access to the world, but suport the U.S.'s position on Cuba. Let's don't talk about that here though, take it over to FIRESIDE CHAT.
6. Halle is hot, even if she is a spoiled actress. I didn't notice bad skin, I'd have to see it up close in person. The dialogue WAS insipid and it didn't even reward us with any Halle-nudity. In all fairness they should show some Halle-nudity and let the girl's see Brosnan's ass. Fair trade in my book.
7. Diamond-Face Guy. Who would leave diamonds stuck in their face? Stupid, but then it's a James Bond movie and James Bond movies have crazy bad guys who do EXACTLY that kind of thing...so after doing the math, it's okay.
8. Los Organos. Fascinating that a country that's frozen in the 1950's could host such a 22nd century facility. Classic Bond.
9. The Grant guy in the UK parachute was confusingly Bond-like...but well-explained later in the movie.
10. The Fencing Scene was terrific. A classic fight scene. I think that since the Phantom Menace that sword fight scenes have been re-invented and are totally AMAZING now. Side note: Madonna looks OLD and VERY LESBIAN. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
11. Secret Tube Tunnel. Judi Dench is great in anything, so it's fun to see her lending some weight to the show as M. John Cleese is a PERFECT replacement for Q....his barbs to Bond are great. And seeing all of those classic Bond props was a wonderful nod to movies past. I'm sure that fans of the Bond series will buy the DVD and freeze frame that scene to see how many props they can spot from old movies.
12. The Vanquish is a nifty car. 'Nuff Said.
13. CGI has added some great legitimacy to the Bond series. Remember the Sea Base that one of the bad guys had in an old Roger Moore episode? Some of the model shots of that thing look really bad now. Comparitively, the ice hotel in this movie looked believable. The Production Designer had to be REALLY proud of the way the thing looked with the effects smoke skirling along the floor of that set. I suspect that they DID use dry ice fog and had additional medics on set that day in case anyone was working below the oxygen-line (like crew).
14. I liked the revelation of Grant's true identity because it caught me by surprise. That doesn't happen much. BUT, once that was revealed I suspected that Miranda was actually the woman who was Bond's torturer while he was in the prison camp. She wasn't, and that would've been too wild.
15. Miranda. I didn't find the actress that attractive until it was revealed that she was an agent. At that point I suspected that she wasn't really on "our" side and anything that happened with her from then on was okay by me...so when she dropped out of her dress I felt like we were all going to get a grudge-f*ck out of her. Instincts were right (not that it was such a wild suspicion).
16. Surfing the 'berg. Too CG looking, the most Roger Moore looking part of the movie.
17. Car War. Very cool, very-very cool. It's not Shakespeare, but it's fun to watch.
18. The solar-beam satellite can't be shot down by US missile launches. Okay, supposing that the US DOES have missiles that can achieve the orbit of that SAT, it would stand to reason that they could do a simultaneous launch from 3 or more locations to ensure that at least one of the birds would achieve target. That little plot point seemed a bit thin, but I remembered that I was watching a Bond movie and kept watching.
19. The electric suit would've been fun to see in action more, but it's tradition that the Bond franchise blows through groovy gadgets at an alarming rate.
20. The fiery airplane was neat, but I think that they should've shot the actors at extremely tilted angles to help convey the fact that the plane was nose-down and gaining speed.
21. Seeing Moneypenny and James getting it on was a fun little addition, as was Cleese's classic cluelessness about what she was doing. It was just under the Fawlty radar....but only just.
So, I really enjoyed this movie because I knew that it was a great big cartoon. Anybody who expects more from this movie should be soundly whipped with a bank of robotic industrial laser machines inexplicably located in the basement level of a huge geosphere located on top of a geothermal Icelandic Lake located on top of an ice shelf.
What about the movie's place in Bond film history, drewpops? I rate it soundly in the middle (and below where Tomorrow Never Dies lies overall but above the abysmal The World is not Enough)
I can't remember any of the past four or five Bond films, so I don't know where this movie should rank within the series. What I --CAN-- say is that I was soundly disappointed with the Timothy Dalton Bond...at least the one that was so violent. Didn't they kill off Felix in that one? I think that was the worst Bond movie EVER.
Right after he got married too... Died in a shark tank. That one was called "License to Kill" and I thought it was better than every Brosnan bond except "GoldenEye," which has to be the #2 Bond film of all time behind "Goldfinger"
Nope, didn't like "License To Kill" because of how vicious the violence was....and I think I saw that one in 70mm the first time around. Had Wayne Newton in it didn't it? Gar! Spit-Spit, Hock, Tuey on that movie.
I liked it, but it was by far not the best. Brosnan seems to parallel older Bond movies, each is very like certain characteristics of particular older Bond films.
Halle Berry was horrible and over played though. She was a bad pick and I hope they do not spin her off to a new set of movies as is rumored.
Diamonds are Forever is the best Bond film in my opinion, Goldfinger is the most popular by far, Moonraker is simply bad ... Timothy Dalton was too angry to be Bond, it didn't fit, Bond isn't spose to get upset, always cool. License to Kill was Bond's response to the war on drugs, it was eh at best.
<strong>Moonraker is simply bad ... Timothy Dalton was too angry to be Bond, it didn't fit, Bond isn't spose to get upset, always cool. License to Kill was Bond's response to the war on drugs, it was eh at best.</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Moonraker! With the laser guns... that movie was truly bad. I loved Dalton as Bond though. Yes, it was a different take on it, but I guess I just liked that take. I am beginning to hate every Brosnan film after GoldenEye now...
I saw this yesterday, and it marks the first time I ever had to fight an urge to walk out of the theatre. It was that bad. The dialogue was atrocious. "Now you see why they call me Jinx" (LOL OMG!!! YUO SO FUNNI LOL!) Just about everything Halle Barry said was pure drivel. And lines like "Saved By The Bell" clued the audience into the pain that was to follow....and follow....and follow. For a horrible movie, with a B-movie plot, bad dialogue, bad acting and bad direction (Director: "No, No, No, NO! We need it to look more like an music video!") it sure did go on forever.
133 minutes of pure hell.
[quote]why did they choose Halle berry <hr></blockquote>
I don't know, she is a horrible actress who manages to worm herself into every movie I would ever want to see.
[quote]We just saw the flick the other night and the first thing that raised the "what were they thinking!?" groans was that atrocious Madonna title track.<hr></blockquote>
You mean the song that sounds like a skipping record? It was so incredibly jarring, and annoying.
[quote]As for her acting...<hr></blockquote>
What acting?
[quote]I personally like product placement. To me, it makes the movie seem more real, like it's actually happening in the real world.<hr></blockquote>
Yeah, that brand-new Phillips billboard in the tube station was totally realistic.
[quote]Moreover, I don't really get this fascination with Halle Berry. I don't. Thought the evil girl was far prettier. Maybe less stacked, but then, I'm not such a breast hound.<hr></blockquote>
Dude, the train station was abandoned- which is even more anomolous to have a brand new poster down there. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> Yeah I don't but the crap that the movie is a Bond film therefore immune to criticism. Rotten Tomatoes basically <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/DieAnotherDay-1118332/"; target="_blank">confirms</a> the movie's mediocrity- even for a Bond film.
[quote] Come on guys, we all know that there's really only 1 Bond film, it's just been made 20 times. And who cares, I'll probably see this one sometime this week. Bond is about the action, kick-ass cars, sweet gadgets, and beautiful women. Always has been, always will be. When I eatch James Bond, I'm not really worrying about the plot, or the really quality movie making, I'm there to see the good guy kick some evil ass with the rocket launchers behind the head lights of his remotely controlled, bullet-proof car one more time <hr></blockquote>
<strong>Miranda Frost was incredibly hot.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Possibly— I don't know her.
My favorite Bond girl was Famke Janssen from GoldenEye, who also had the second best name: "Onatopp" (hard to top "Pussy Galore"). I just can't believe Famke is practically my age.
I don't know how intentional that was, but "Boris" and "Natalya" from the same movie was a nice Bullwinkle reference.
<strong>Bond's not even his best creation...that honor goes to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You know, I saw them both last week (a west end production of Chitty) and I think if I had to pick one to see again, I'd go see Die Another Day. I'm still trying to find the plot in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Moonraker! With the laser guns... that movie was truly bad. I loved Dalton as Bond though. Yes, it was a different take on it, but I guess I just liked that take. I am beginning to hate every Brosnan film after GoldenEye now...
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I always had this notion that Moonraker was a send up of Star Wars or Star Trek...I can't stop laughing when I see the part where the US forces start pouring out of their Space Shuttle to battle the baddies; they were US marines, weren't they?
Comments
Notes:
1. The night-surfing mega-wave scene rocked. Great opening.
2. Loved the hovercraft....but I'm a sucker for hovercraft. I suspect that hovercraft would in actuality set off some of the land mines that are sprinkled in the DMZ.
3. Torture Scene intertwined with opening credits was a clever plot device and helped to build the feeling that this wasn't your usual Bond-Gets-Tortured setup. The fire and ice maidens helping Bond to hold up during torture was fascinating. Are those the refined spirits of Femininity? His muse(s)? Guardian Angels? Anyway, the Madonna track was too jarring. The front speakers in our theater sounded torn during the 20 minute commercial calvacade, so at first I thought that they were malfunctioning....but quickly decided that the song itself was broken....and I --like-- technopop-ish music.
4. The medical ship escape and hotel scenes were FUN. The promo razor in question was a Norelco, the case was a transparent ovoid-cylinder and is in the foreground as the camera pans over to reveal Bond shaving in the mirror. I -love- product placement when it means that the crew gets free stuff from that manufacturer.
5. It was neat to see Cuba, if that was really Cuba. I envy the Brits total access to the world, but suport the U.S.'s position on Cuba. Let's don't talk about that here though, take it over to FIRESIDE CHAT.
6. Halle is hot, even if she is a spoiled actress. I didn't notice bad skin, I'd have to see it up close in person. The dialogue WAS insipid and it didn't even reward us with any Halle-nudity. In all fairness they should show some Halle-nudity and let the girl's see Brosnan's ass. Fair trade in my book.
7. Diamond-Face Guy. Who would leave diamonds stuck in their face? Stupid, but then it's a James Bond movie and James Bond movies have crazy bad guys who do EXACTLY that kind of thing...so after doing the math, it's okay.
8. Los Organos. Fascinating that a country that's frozen in the 1950's could host such a 22nd century facility. Classic Bond.
9. The Grant guy in the UK parachute was confusingly Bond-like...but well-explained later in the movie.
10. The Fencing Scene was terrific. A classic fight scene. I think that since the Phantom Menace that sword fight scenes have been re-invented and are totally AMAZING now. Side note: Madonna looks OLD and VERY LESBIAN. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
11. Secret Tube Tunnel. Judi Dench is great in anything, so it's fun to see her lending some weight to the show as M. John Cleese is a PERFECT replacement for Q....his barbs to Bond are great. And seeing all of those classic Bond props was a wonderful nod to movies past. I'm sure that fans of the Bond series will buy the DVD and freeze frame that scene to see how many props they can spot from old movies.
12. The Vanquish is a nifty car. 'Nuff Said.
13. CGI has added some great legitimacy to the Bond series. Remember the Sea Base that one of the bad guys had in an old Roger Moore episode? Some of the model shots of that thing look really bad now. Comparitively, the ice hotel in this movie looked believable. The Production Designer had to be REALLY proud of the way the thing looked with the effects smoke skirling along the floor of that set. I suspect that they DID use dry ice fog and had additional medics on set that day in case anyone was working below the oxygen-line (like crew).
14. I liked the revelation of Grant's true identity because it caught me by surprise. That doesn't happen much. BUT, once that was revealed I suspected that Miranda was actually the woman who was Bond's torturer while he was in the prison camp. She wasn't, and that would've been too wild.
15. Miranda. I didn't find the actress that attractive until it was revealed that she was an agent. At that point I suspected that she wasn't really on "our" side and anything that happened with her from then on was okay by me...so when she dropped out of her dress I felt like we were all going to get a grudge-f*ck out of her. Instincts were right (not that it was such a wild suspicion).
16. Surfing the 'berg. Too CG looking, the most Roger Moore looking part of the movie.
17. Car War. Very cool, very-very cool. It's not Shakespeare, but it's fun to watch.
18. The solar-beam satellite can't be shot down by US missile launches. Okay, supposing that the US DOES have missiles that can achieve the orbit of that SAT, it would stand to reason that they could do a simultaneous launch from 3 or more locations to ensure that at least one of the birds would achieve target. That little plot point seemed a bit thin, but I remembered that I was watching a Bond movie and kept watching.
19. The electric suit would've been fun to see in action more, but it's tradition that the Bond franchise blows through groovy gadgets at an alarming rate.
20. The fiery airplane was neat, but I think that they should've shot the actors at extremely tilted angles to help convey the fact that the plane was nose-down and gaining speed.
21. Seeing Moneypenny and James getting it on was a fun little addition, as was Cleese's classic cluelessness about what she was doing. It was just under the Fawlty radar....but only just.
So, I really enjoyed this movie because I knew that it was a great big cartoon. Anybody who expects more from this movie should be soundly whipped with a bank of robotic industrial laser machines inexplicably located in the basement level of a huge geosphere located on top of a geothermal Icelandic Lake located on top of an ice shelf.
So there.
Halle Berry was horrible and over played though. She was a bad pick and I hope they do not spin her off to a new set of movies as is rumored.
Diamonds are Forever is the best Bond film in my opinion, Goldfinger is the most popular by far, Moonraker is simply bad ... Timothy Dalton was too angry to be Bond, it didn't fit, Bond isn't spose to get upset, always cool. License to Kill was Bond's response to the war on drugs, it was eh at best.
<strong>Moonraker is simply bad ... Timothy Dalton was too angry to be Bond, it didn't fit, Bond isn't spose to get upset, always cool. License to Kill was Bond's response to the war on drugs, it was eh at best.</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Moonraker! With the laser guns... that movie was truly bad. I loved Dalton as Bond though. Yes, it was a different take on it, but I guess I just liked that take. I am beginning to hate every Brosnan film after GoldenEye now...
[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: ShawnPatrickJoyce ]</p>
133 minutes of pure hell.
[quote]why did they choose Halle berry <hr></blockquote>
I don't know, she is a horrible actress who manages to worm herself into every movie I would ever want to see.
[quote]We just saw the flick the other night and the first thing that raised the "what were they thinking!?" groans was that atrocious Madonna title track.<hr></blockquote>
You mean the song that sounds like a skipping record? It was so incredibly jarring, and annoying.
[quote]As for her acting...<hr></blockquote>
What acting?
[quote]I personally like product placement. To me, it makes the movie seem more real, like it's actually happening in the real world.<hr></blockquote>
Yeah, that brand-new Phillips billboard in the tube station was totally realistic.
[quote]Moreover, I don't really get this fascination with Halle Berry. I don't. Thought the evil girl was far prettier. Maybe less stacked, but then, I'm not such a breast hound.<hr></blockquote>
Miranda Frost was incredibly hot.
P.S - F*ck you, Hallie Barry!
[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: DoctorGonzo ]</p>
[I also hated lord of the rings, I have never been soo booooored in all my life <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> ]
[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: ShawnPatrickJoyce ]</p>
I couldn't agree more
<strong>What about my beloved GoldenEye, #2 Bond film of all time? Tina Turner sang the theme song which was written by Bono and The Edge from U2....
[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: ShawnPatrickJoyce ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Oh I DID like that song indeed it was cool!
<strong>Miranda Frost was incredibly hot.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Possibly— I don't know her.
My favorite Bond girl was Famke Janssen from GoldenEye, who also had the second best name: "Onatopp" (hard to top "Pussy Galore"). I just can't believe Famke is practically my age.
I don't know how intentional that was, but "Boris" and "Natalya" from the same movie was a nice Bullwinkle reference.
<strong>Bond's not even his best creation...that honor goes to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You know, I saw them both last week (a west end production of Chitty) and I think if I had to pick one to see again, I'd go see Die Another Day. I'm still trying to find the plot in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...
<strong>Miranda Frost was incredibly hot.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, yes she was
<strong>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Moonraker! With the laser guns... that movie was truly bad. I loved Dalton as Bond though. Yes, it was a different take on it, but I guess I just liked that take. I am beginning to hate every Brosnan film after GoldenEye now...
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I always had this notion that Moonraker was a send up of Star Wars or Star Trek...I can't stop laughing when I see the part where the US forces start pouring out of their Space Shuttle to battle the baddies; they were US marines, weren't they?