Canon-Strike X: Bond, James Bond

[teddymeow]

I like Spectre, a lot.

It isn't Casino / Skyfall levels of brilliance but it is still fantastic!!

[Neon Ignition]

This is an old fan theory but the vid shows why it's a good one, The Rock being a Bond movie

[QualityChimp]

Watching Spectre at the cinema was dominated by the revelation that all of the previous films were related, when they clearly weren't.

Watching it again the other week, ready for that bombshell, it didn't bother me as much.

I thought the film was a lot less vibrant than Skyfall, but there were some great moments, especially the opening section where they do a one-take through the Day of the Dead carnival. I watched the extras and it was quite an undertaking to costume and organise so many people.

The plane chase section is also a real thrill ride!

I also really like the section where they escape, leaving a record-breaking explosion in their wake.
Love how James pops the stock on the rifle he stole for a couple of long range shots:


I think I'll probably get more from it with the context that NTTD is a direct sequel and reassessing Lea Seydoux's character and their interaction.

[Neon Ignition]

Additional Movie 01: Casino Royale
The 1967 parody movie that isn't canon but does loosely adapt the Fleming novel decades before the main series did. David Niven plays Bond who is forced out of retirement to battle Dr Noah and the organisation SMERSH. With a plot that features Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd, a daughter to Bond and other agents - all of whom later masquerade as Bond, the film ticked several boxes long before the official films did. A large amount of the cast had appeared or later would appear in the official films later and MGM now owns the rights to the film.





Additional Movie 02: Never Say Never Again
Connery returns for his final turn as Bond in this unofficial adaptation of his own film Thunderball. Built from the fallout between Fleming and Kevin McClory, the legal battle left McClory with the rights to the Thunderball story in addition to those of SPECTRE and Blofeld. The film had a long road to the screen due studio concerns about overall Bond rights and despite missing multiple Bond elements it was none the less a successful project. Despite Connery already being in his 50's when he made the film, the plan was to produce a series of sequels with him continuing as the character and a sequel was announced which would have been called.... Spectre. However in 1984 Connery bowed himself out and the project stalled. Another attempt was mounted in the 90's which would have seen Thunderball be adapted yet again but with Timothy Dalton taking over the mantle of Bond again having only recently vacated the official film lines role. The rights issues continued till the late 90's when MGM finally shut down rival efforts and bought out ownership of Never Say Never Again bringing every related film under the same roof.




Do these side films add anything of value or are you more likely to say never say watch them again?

[teddymeow]

This is an old fan theory but the vid shows why it's a good one, The Rock being a Bond movie

Hot damn!! That's great!!

And now I'll be watching The Rock tonight.

[Neon Ignition]

Okay, I've drawn this out to a fair point as we reach the newest entry and I think it's time we address the film that probably has the strongest Bond canon relevance of the entire franchise and in a spoiler friendly manner now it's been a week or two since release:


Movie 25 - No Time to Die
Daniel Craig's final entry, the film is tasked with picking up all of the elements of the previous four films and forming a coherent plot around them that addresses 15 years of course corrections and also fits a fitting farewell for Craig. The result is a film that gives itself a longer run time and aims to bring this entire era of Bond to a close. Picking up with Bond escaping with Madeleine to enjoy a life free of service, he finds the past chasing up with him quickly and dragging him back into conflict. The film has been a critical hit and we'll never know about the financial possibilities of what might have been as the effects of the pandemic era are too heavy to allow the film the chance of the levels of box office success its predecessors enjoyed.







How well does the film handle the canon of the Craig era and its responsibilities of being his final film?
What did you like and dislike in the film?
How much should this chapter of Bond inform the next era?

[Neon Ignition]

I'm going to launch into this one and will put it in spoilers just in case someone comes in and hasn't seen No Time to Die

->Open Spoiler<-

So, because I've waited to go into detail about the film I know I'll forget things due to elements fading from memory but I'll cover as much as I can.

-The Intro: Loved it, it's the best one since the opening of Royale. The use of All the Time in the World was a little unsettling as it didn't feel right opening to a reference to a past-era Bond movie on first pass but the idea of Madeleine trying to get Bond to start his new life by letting Vesper go was a nice callback and bookend for the many Vesper references. The grave attack action onward is great too including Bond's attitude toward Madeline. It's never convincing that she was behind the attack but that's clearly not the point either, Bond's reaction is perfectly in line with the films before it so I was happy they went that way rather than come up with an actual convoluted betrayal.

-Spectre: I've heard some criticism of the, let's say, convenience that goes into the party scene but again this is an area where I don't think enough weight is put into the scale of a mess this film inherits. The thing is that Spectre is effectively a deeply unimportant element of all of the Craig films. Whilst it's held as responsible for shadow operations there's very little sense of it existing and permeating the world and to try and put that into this one film would be a massive distraction. Here, the film ties it all up very quickly but in a way that fits within the wider Cuba section of the film - a section that is great and features many other much more important character moments and key bits of information.

-The Bio-Scientist: I loved him, this is another area where I've seen the film being picked at as some felt he was too much of a heavy handed callback to the type of characters you'd get in the old films but immediately he felt like a breath of fresh air being in a Daniel Craig era film.

-Rami: I can't remember the villains name but this was probably the most under developed bit. I've heard stuff about cut scenes and plot involving the villain using the nano's to make himself younger etc that ties into his motivations but ultimately that all would lean more into making the film less grounded so I could see why it's cut and why some elements for this baddie feel undercooked in the final film.

-The Daughter: Fine, she's kind of just there as a plot point. It is blatantly obvious she's Bonds the entire time but again the reasons for not immediately admitting it are obvious and the light touch of her role in the film kept the focus on Bond/Madeleine and stop her becoming 'irritating child character'

-The Ending: I mean, if you are going to kill Bond then this is definitely the time to do it. It's great that after 25 films they've taken the step to make it clear they're willing to do it as well meaning moving forward there will at times be some element of the removal of 'plot armour' to Bond. It's really well handled too, fitting perfectly with the characters arc over these films and also in a way that makes sense to and earns the use of the OHMSS references. As someone who has been keen to see this era come to an end it says a lot that this ending landed, it's helped to raise my opinion of the arc as well as it bookends Royale as a film well too. Despite the complaints which largely seem to come from people who are simply opposed to the notion of Bond ever dying or just didn't understand how the nano-virus worked so couldn't work out why Bond chose not to try and escape the island, it's well framed and very well executed.

-Direction: Really deserves highlighting. The film keeps the earthy and grey grounded tone of the Craig era but its use of camera work, editing and colour is just leagues ahead of the post-Royale sequels and like everything in the film showcases that those films did fail to meet the bar. Action, dialogue, wide shots etc are all really well handled, it's a good looking film and it's very noticeable from the outset.

There's a lot more I could talk about but I'll leave it here for now, but yes, in terms of canon the film works miracles with the messy Craig era plotting and it's exceptionally successful at handling picking those strands up and tying them off within a fun, well told and cohesive film that also has to juggle Craig's exit from the role in one of the most notable Bond moments ever. Literally a success of a film on every level for the franchise

[QualityChimp]

5 years since Roger Moore died

In case you haven't seen it, this encounter with Mark Haynes, a scriptwriter from London, who bumped into Moore at an airport when he was seven is legendary...

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/roger-moore-james-bond-airport-story-anecdote-signature-a7752636.html

"As a seven-year-old in about 1983, in the days before First Class Lounges at airports, I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and saw Roger Moore sitting at the departure gate, reading a paper. I told my granddad I'd just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. My grandad had no idea who James Bond or Roger Moore were, so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words "my grandson says you're famous. Can you sign this?"

As charming as you'd expect, Roger asks my name and duly signs the back of my plane ticket, a fulsome note full of best wishes. I'm ecstatic, but as we head back to our seats, I glance down at the signature. It's hard to decipher it but it definitely doesn't say 'James Bond'. My grandad looks at it, half figures out it says 'Roger Moore' - I have absolutely no idea who that is, and my hearts sinks. I tell my grandad he's signed it wrong, that he's put someone else's name - so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore, holding the ticket which he's only just signed.

I remember staying by our seats and my grandad saying "he says you've signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond." Roger Moore's face crinkled up with realisation and he beckoned me over. When I was by his knee, he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said to me, "I have to sign my name as 'Roger Moore' because otherwise...Blofeld might find out I was here." He asked me not to tell anyone that I'd just seen James Bond, and he thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he'd signed 'James Bond.' No, I said. I'd got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now.

Many, many years later, I was working as a scriptwriter on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was completely lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him in passing the story of when I met him in Nice Airport. He was happy to hear it, and he had a chuckle and said "Well, I don't remember but I'm glad you got to meet James Bond." So that was lovely.

And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused, looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, "Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn't say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld."

I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man."

BONUS STORY:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/24/roger-moore-best-james-bond-007-wedding-day

[wakka]

Haha, that is a brilliant story. Reminds me of this not so good but still amusing story.

[Yakumo]

5 years since Roger Moore died

In case you haven't seen it, this encounter with Mark Haynes, a scriptwriter from London, who bumped into Moore at an airport when he was seven is legendary...

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/roger-moore-james-bond-airport-story-anecdote-signature-a7752636.html

"As a seven-year-old in about 1983, in the days before First Class Lounges at airports, I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and saw Roger Moore sitting at the departure gate, reading a paper. I told my granddad I'd just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. My grandad had no idea who James Bond or Roger Moore were, so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words "my grandson says you're famous. Can you sign this?"

As charming as you'd expect, Roger asks my name and duly signs the back of my plane ticket, a fulsome note full of best wishes. I'm ecstatic, but as we head back to our seats, I glance down at the signature. It's hard to decipher it but it definitely doesn't say 'James Bond'. My grandad looks at it, half figures out it says 'Roger Moore' - I have absolutely no idea who that is, and my hearts sinks. I tell my grandad he's signed it wrong, that he's put someone else's name - so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore, holding the ticket which he's only just signed.

I remember staying by our seats and my grandad saying "he says you've signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond." Roger Moore's face crinkled up with realisation and he beckoned me over. When I was by his knee, he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said to me, "I have to sign my name as 'Roger Moore' because otherwise...Blofeld might find out I was here." He asked me not to tell anyone that I'd just seen James Bond, and he thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he'd signed 'James Bond.' No, I said. I'd got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now.

Many, many years later, I was working as a scriptwriter on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was completely lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him in passing the story of when I met him in Nice Airport. He was happy to hear it, and he had a chuckle and said "Well, I don't remember but I'm glad you got to meet James Bond." So that was lovely.

And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused, looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, "Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn't say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld."

I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man."

BONUS STORY:
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...07-wedding-day

Wow, that is such a great story. Amazing!

[Asura]

I love that one Tony Hawk tweeted:

Airport security: "You look like that Tony Hawk person, only younger."
Tony Hawk: "You are immediately my favourite person"