007 Journals: Live And Let Die

Hey, you know what was really popular in 1973?  Blaxploitation films. Luckily Ian Fleming wrote a Bond film about a black cartel. Well we are in the thick of it now. The Roger Moore era. I have seen very few Roger Moore Bond movies, just bits and pieces of different films over the years, so this was my first time watching a whole film with Moore as the titular character. I know that the Moore films are where the franchise really starts to veer off into obscure humor and silly gadgets so I was going into this first movie expecting an immediate drop from the last one. Honestly though, I thought this movie was great. Now it's not perfect. There are a lot of things from the time period that stick out. For one, this movie takes place in Harlem and Louisiana and focuses on a black voodoo based cartel in the 70's. In one five minute span we hear the phrases jukebox (in reference to a radio), pimp mobile, cue ball, and honkey. This, more than the previous, really feels like a film reflecting what was popular at the time.

Honestly this film has two completely absurd moments that leave me with the biggest groan I've ever had. Let's just get those out of the way now. First is the alligator hopscotch scene. Oh man! This scene was going so well but I knew it was coming. Bond out on the rock is actually a great tense moment. The alligators and crocodiles were legitimately terrifying when they were crawling on the rock. I think it helped that I knew he was about to run across the backs because honestly I was waiting for it the whole time and when it finally happened it didn't seem as bad as I thought. But MAN was that not a good idea in a script. If anyone can tell me if this was in the book I'd love to know. The other moment, Kananga blowing like a balloon and exploding. HOLY SHIT WHAT A DUMB MOMENT. This honestly knocked an entire star off my rating alone. Whoever wrote this moment, even if it's Ian Fleming, bad writer! Stop that!

I loved Roger Moore as Bond in his first outing. He was a lot more charming and serious than I expected. This film wasn't as outlandish as I know the series gets so maybe that has something to do with it but so far I give a big thumbs up to Moore as Bond. He feels very earnest in his portrayal and lives up to what I would picture from the books just as much as Connery does. Also I will say that Solitaire played by Jane Seymour is my second favorite Bond girl after Vesper. She is beautiful, I love her character, and it blew my mind that she was the mom Kitty in Wedding Crashers. Like wow! Really all of the performances in this movie (the serious ones anyway) are fantastic. Yaphet Kotto is a great Bond villain and plays right into the role. Honestly all of the worst performances come from the over Americanized stereotypical southern police that are after Bond during the boat chase. That is some embarrassing stuff.

The plot is fairly solid for a Bond villain. Kananga is producing heroin that he is going to give out for free and this will drive his competitors out of business, thus allowing him to start charging and run a monopoly. Honestly makes sense in a crazy sort of way. I also love that he's seemingly a modern man but still believes in old voodoo traditions so much so that he even keeps a taro card reader on hand. This is where the film gets a little interesting. Are we supposed to believe that Solitaire really has powers and that Bond steals them by sleeping with her? Are James Bond films now incorporating supernatural elements? Honestly the film doesn't really lean too hard either way and I'm inclined to believe that it's all just people believing in superstition and over thinking. I also want to point out that there is only one gadget in this film and it's awesome. Bond's watch has a magnet and the face spins and turns into a saw. It's all plausible enough and I love when they keep it simple.

While I do think the film is pretty great there are some up and down moments. There's a lot of little things that kind of bug me like just some sketchy performances from smaller characters, the obvious racist undertones, and just those two outlandish moments I mentioned before. Also it was impossible not to notice how much Ford sponsored this film because almost every car was the same. Aside from Oddjob I think this is the only real appearance of a henchman with a gimmick, of course referring to the man with a metal arm. Other than that, Moore is actually really suave as Bond. There is also an amazing boat chase in this film that is actually pretty lengthy. Now that I think of it there are two great chases in the film because even the chase in the double decker bus is rather entertaining. I also loved the score and that Paul Mccartney song is one of the best Bond songs. Honestly I liked this film worlds more than I would though so I'm going to give it a four out of five. Great but not perfect.

007 Journals: Diamonds Are Forever

Oh Sean Connery, I really took you for granted. I admit I was getting pretty tired of Sean Connery, who was caring less and less, as Bond but after suffering through Lazenby I was happy to be back to someone more suited for the role. Honestly he felt more into it this time around too but maybe that was because it was one film and Connery receive a record making (for the time) 1.2 million dollar salary. That's 6 billion dollars today because that's how inflation works right? Well coming off of On Her Majesty's Secret Service Bond was in a dark place. He had a grueling battle with his arch nemesis only to have him return and kill his wife on their wedding day, only for the film to abruptly end before we see Bond getting any revenge. A dark (kinda awesome) and odd ending for a major film. I can't imagine how audiences at the time reacted to it and I assume it didn't help the reviews any because at least for us we have hindsight and know there's a next film. Back then they had to wait and see what happened. Now we enter Diamonds Are Forever.

I've heard a lot of mixed feelings on this film, either a love it or hate it relationship mostly, and I can say from the beginning I was skeptical. This movie has one of the strangest openings I've ever seen and comes off almost like a cartoon. We open with Bond on a revenge spree trying to track down Blofeld. I love that they didn't mess around and went right into Bond wants revenge, even though we get no mention of his dead wife or anything like that. For all we know Bond wants to kill Blofeld because he ruined his coffee maker. Good thing we saw the last film. The director decides to not show us Bond's face until he's well into his fist punching for information so we get a lot of awkward scenes of bad looking punches and reactions. Maybe this was to offset the idea that it wasn't Lazenby anymore so there may be some disconnect. This all leads to just one ridiculous moment. We now have another new looking Blofeld due to some extensive plastic surgery, and this is probably my favorite incarnation of the character. I like his look and hes the most competent, but then Bond automatically drowns him in this mud he's laying in. Then we find out that Bond only killed a double so then he has to kill the real Blofeld by throwing him into a steaming mud pit. This is just a ridiculous opening and we might as well skip ahead (assuming you've seen the movie) and say that this is all pointless since Blofeld ends up being the main villain of the movie anyway. Bond kills two body doubles in the beginning and even at the end we get another body double with the real Blofeld. I just don't see the point in the opening swerve. You could argue that yeah you think Blofeld is dead and won't be in this movie but the end throws all of that out the window. Though I do really like the banter with the two Blofelds at the end despite them using the same trick they already did earlier in the movie. The ending encounter in the Whyte House is great. Let me just say this though, I'm more willing to believe in DNA Therapy than all this plastic surgery. We'll get there.

Honestly I actually really enjoyed this film. A lot more than I ever thought I would given its reputation. I know it's the last official Connery (I will be watching Never Say Never Again when I get to it's release year) and I know the Roger Moore films deal more in the camp and silliness that I'm not a huge fan of so maybe it was just Connery's last hoorah that made me like the film so much but I think there is plenty of enjoyable moments and aspects. The first thing I'd like to point out are the henchman Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. These two guys are weird and creepy and I love them. Two great henchman and while they are stated as being homosexual in the book they don't specify in the film but it's clear there's something going on with these two. Their sideways glances and just the way they talk to each other, it's clear love is in the air. One character I did have issues with was the Bond girl Tiffany Case. Actually both Bond girls were fairly intolerable. Plenty O'Toole is rather pointless to the plot other than looking beautiful and uh . . . plenty. Tiffany Case is serviceable but honestly has some of the worst lines I've ever heard. Her whole distraction dialogue at the gas station is awful and telling a small child to blow up his pants? What? What does that even mean?! She plays her character well but there really isn't much character there. Even Bond calls her a stupid twit which is kind of a funny moment. She also has a very pointless scene with Q (who she just inexplicably knows?) as he is committing crimes in Vegas casinos.Maybe Q was the real villain all along!

This might be the first time since Goldfinger that a villains plan actually gets anywhere in the grand scheme of things which was kind of nice. However this also marks the about the third time in a row that we end the film with one army battling another army on an awesome super villain base, this time an oil rig. These are all great scenes and this one is easily in my top list but it's starting to feel repetitive. It didn't top the last one however in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Blofeld's plan this time is to hold the world hostage and have a nuclear superpower auction. He creates a laser satellite using stolen diamonds and starts destroying nuclear deposits in different parts of the world. It's an interesting plan and he actually gets quite far into it before Bond is able to stop him. However it does give us a lot of bad visual effects. The action in this film works better when it's more personal like the awesome fist fight in the elevator and the two gymnastic girls near the end, which is an idea I love and would love to see tried in the modern era because these girls couldn't pull it off together. Also I just want to point out that Bond driving away in a moon rover is just ridiculous and why is that there?!

There is plenty of bad stuff in this film. A lot of bad visual effects, some horrible American stereotyped characters, and plenty of horrible dialogue to go around. On top of all of that though, there is a solid plot that never gets too far in the realm of ridiculous, Connery feels more earnest this time, and there are some decent spy moments. Bond climbing the tower was a cool moment and even gave me a little anxiety (I don't like heights.) This actually seemed like a movie to stay away from if you have some phobias. In this film Bond gets locked in a coffin and almost burned alive, buried alive underground, and hangs from the top of a tower by ropes. It's amazing what he survives in this film, especially with an older Connery.

Overall I give Diamonds Are Forever a three out of five. This isn't a great Bond film but I found it entertaining. This feels like one that's harder to love for a lot of fans, and I can't really explain how it clicked with me but I never felt bored and actively liked a lot of things going on in this film. I know I haven't talked about any of the theme songs really but I would like to point out that this is one of the ones I really enjoy. There are a lot of bad things with the script and production, but overall it's an okay film that I would possibly give another shot but wouldn't miss it if it never crossed my path again.

007 Journals: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Well after the long stretch of Connery films I was finally ready for a change to the James Bond franchise. Unfortunately George Lazenby was not the change I was looking for. Now I can see why when they wanted to replace Connery that they went with Lazenby. The man looks good when he's throwing a punch or shooting a gun, but he just doesn't have the charisma or the charm to be James Bond. Not to mention Lazenby's acting talent, well there's little of it. Also I'll just go on record and say the more I had to look at his face I just didn't like it.

Now I know the general opinion of Lazenby that he wasn't a very good Bond so I'm sure I'm not alone there, but I do know of some people that legitimately like On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I can easily say that there are parts of this film that I really enjoyed but it really felt like there were two movies going on at the same time. One of these movies is actually really good. The other adds a significant arc to the Bond character and expands the Bond mythos. Now the whole marriage sub-plot can honestly just go. It is heavily featured in the beginning of the film, only to disappear until the end with little explanation. Tracy just accepts that Bond is going to be gone for a long time and then she shows up very conveniently for the plot. There's a lot of "what are the odds" moments throughout the film, even with Blofeld not recognizing Bond through his cheap disguise, even though he had him captured in the last film and got a good look at his face the whole time. At least for Bond it made sense because Blofeld had some plastic surgery to alter his look and this time around he seems less like a super villain.

Blofelds plan is also a mixture of good and bad. This time he's not looking for money, but a pardon from all of his previous crimes. How is he going to get this? By sterilizing the worlds food supply if his demands aren't met. He could even sterilize the human race if he wants. That's a pretty decent plan. How is he going to accomplish it? He sets up a clinic where they claim to cure allergies of women who work at different food sources around the globe but while he's helping them he throws in some hypnosis to turn them all into sleeper agents. What?! I was with you before but that second part, kind of ridiculous. Honestly, this is a film they could easily remake in the Daniel Craig era because there is a story here. Just lose the ridiculous parts, cut out or play down the love story and you could have a decent script. I mean a lot of things that are a big deal happen here, I mean Bond gets married, but I don't think it's needed. Especially since his wife is killed seemingly out of nowhere for one of the darkest endings I've ever seen.

Now I wasn't big on Tracy as a Bond girl at the beginning but she did grow on me by the end. She is the first Bond girl that I can remember holding her own in a fight. Well as far as the ones that aren't initially a villain. Lazenby however is just the weirdest version of Bond I could imagine outside of a parody. One scene the man is sitting while reading a Playboy magazine. Just so weird. He keeps the same tone of voice through the entire film and there's really no acting happening unless a punch is being thrown. He has a good throwing a punch face. I just can't believe him as Bond. Honestly after You Only Live Twice I was completely ready for a new James Bond, but about halfway through this movie I was glad that Connery is back in the next one.

There are at least some great action scenes. A pretty awesome car chase through the snow was highly enjoyable. The end battle is also fantastic. Blofeld has a great looking fortress and having it get stormed by a criminal army in tune to the James Bond theme was easily my favorite part of the movie. It made me just want an audio track of James Bond's theme laid in with gun fire. While these stands stand out we do get a way too long ski chase before this and a boring and absurd bobsled chase to close the film. Just another example of "What form of transportation has Bond not used yet? Put it in this movie". The awesome scenes just barely outweigh these ones that drag the film out. I also feel I should mention that a British secret agent, knowingly marries into one of the largest crime syndicates on the planet, Mi6 agents and even M are at the wedding. They even have a line where Tracy's mobster dad and M are sharing stories of being on the opposite sides of the same conflicts. A good laugh for all of our fallen comrades we used trying to kill each other. I give On Her Majesty's Secret Service two stars out of five. It has some ideas and some great action scenes but over all it was hard to sit through. Mostly for Lazenby's wooden acting. That face too!

007 Journals: You Only Live Twice

Well coming off of Thunderball I knew it couldn't get any lower than that (Moonraker I got my eye on you), and while I was skeptical of You Only Live Twice going in, what I felt was a mixed bag of emotions. This movie was easily worlds better than Thunderball but that isn't exactly saying much. First I will just start off and say that I did enjoy You Only Live Twice but I didn't love it. The first half of the film was really rocky and full of some questionable decisions. The film starts off with a silly scene in space with a rocket swallowing another rocket. Honestly though, while this kind of sillyness is what I normally don't like in the Bond series, I was willing to go along with it this time. However there is a lot of painting other cultures in a weird and misunderstanding light. We see an assembly of England, the United States, and Russia right after the space incident, and the US and Russia are painted as children pointing fingers while England is the adult mediator. Interesting. Not to mention James Bond literally becomes Japanese. Someone tells him to his face that they will train him to be Japanese (not a ninja like he is really training to be) and Bond's hair style even changes and at one point he is standing hunched over trying to look like other Japenese people around him. Wildly racist and ridiculous. I see why some people love it.

So we have been seeing SPECTRE as the main antagonist force in all of these previous films (except Goldfinger really) but now is the time where we finally meet the Number One in the flesh, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. While we have only seen his lower body and cat in previous films this is the first time we see his face, though it doesn't come until over an hour into the film. Now Blofeld this time around has an interesting plan that I don't really understand. He is bribing the worlds nations for one hundred million dollars but is really trying to start World War three, for what reason is never explained. You can only assume it's to gain control and become the new world power as the head of SPECTRE but it's never established. So Bond is in Japan looking for this mysterious rocket that stole an American shuttle and we do get some legitimate spy work. Bond breaks into an office and recovers some documents leading to SPECTRE but we do get a great fist fight in a set clearly designed for a destructive fight. There are actually a lot of solid action scenes in this movie but this first fight is easily my favorite. There is another solid, but shorter fist fight at the end and just a lot of gun play. Even from a toy helicopter shooting down full sized helicopters. I thought the helicopter fight was going to be incredibly stupid but I actually enjoyed it and the green screen work was completely solid.

This film really is like riding through a roller coaster of enjoyment. There are so many ups and downs that I wasn't entirely sure where to fall on this one. Over all I enjoyed it because there were a lot of great actions scenes, maybe even some of the best in the series up to this point, but there were just a lot of weird script moments. All of the times that someone in SPECTRE kills the opposite person that you think they are going to gets old and makes them seem just poorly managed as an organization. Maybe if they killed who they should then more plans would succeed. At one point Blofeld literally is about to shoot Bond but shoots someone next to him instead. Just pointless. This has happened in multiple movies at this point and seems more and more confusing at the series goes on. This is the first film however that really establishes the villain as a "super villain". Blofeld has a maniacal appearance, a pet cat that he strokes constantly, and literally has a base built into a volcano. But you know what? It all works for me. All of the outlandish elements in this movie are done with such earnest that it really came off as believable for me. The series hasn't quite yet reached being a parody of itself but I feel like that time is coming soon. I did also like seeing Bond work heavily with another agency which is something that does happen a few times in Bond but this is the biggest extent I've seen so far working from the beginning. 

The Bond girl this time around felt really unforgettable which was actually kind of refreshing. There was the normal sexual tones but it felt toned down and didn't really interfere with the plot. There was the one issue where Aki was killed in an assassination attempt on Bond, and he moves on in literally the next scene, but sadly that's not really out of character at this point. When Bond isn't being Japanese Connery is now just in full Scottish mode and there is no attempt to make Bond seem completely British anymore. I can't blame the guy due to his raw deal he was getting but it was definitely more noticeable this time around. I really enjoyed Connery in his early tenure as Bond but ever since Goldfinger I've been anxious to move on and see how the other actors fair with my tastes. I know Lazenby is next followed by one more Connery (or two depending how you look at it) but I'm ready for the Roger Moore films which I have a feeling will be a little more difficult for me but I'm hoping to be surprised.

You Only Live Twice was definitely not the worst film so far but it doesn't live up to the standards  of Goldfinger or From Russia With Love. Those two are easily the best of the Connery's and while this film did some interesting things, it wasn't consistent enough to make my top list. I love Blofeld as the main man running SPECTRE but his plan didn't really amount to much in this film and he wasn't even in the movie in a meaningful enough capacity. I would have liked to have seen more Blofeld and Bond together. It could have cut the running time down significantly and could have been a more entertaining movie. Overall I give You Only Live Twice a three out of five because while it's worth watching, I just didn't love everything about it. There were a lot of great action scenes and some awesome spy stuff, but a lot of bad dubbing, dialogue, and just silly plot moments. Maybe next time Bond. Maybe next time.

007 Journals: Thunderball

I don't know what went wrong. Everything was going so smoothly. The first film was what it was, a starting place, then we had two amazing Bond films but then we get to Thunderball. Now I had heard that this was one of the lesser Bond films. Naturally every film has people who love it and people who hate it, and unfortunately I fall heavily into the hate category on this one. Maybe hate is a strong word, but I was so incredibly bored during the entire run of this film that I could barely follow what was happening. The production on this movie also felt so much like a step backwards that it pulled me out of the film like the others hadn't. Coming off of Goldfinger I was hyped for more Sean Connery as Bond, but now I'm getting anxious to move on.

So right from the opening scene I suspected trouble. We get a pointless ruse with a coffin that has JB on it and we are supposed to think that Bond is in it, but then less than five seconds later we see Bond and someone literally says "JB, those are your initials" and this is just some poor writing right from the start. Then we get a fight scene with a man dressed as a woman, that's right something out of a cartoon, that could have been interesting but there's a lot of unnecessary sped up action to make things look faster and more impactful then they are. Don't worry, this is something we will see a lot of in this movie. Then we get the jet-pack escape. Okay, Bond movies are notorious for taking what ever is the newest coolest idea and putting it into the films, but the jet-pack honestly hurts this scene. I would have rather have seen Bond fight his way out then take a jet-pack about a hundred feet to a car (that then sprays really bad looking CG water at guys to knock them over, one of which has to walk into the stream since he's not in the right place) just waiting for him to take off. Then the most abrupt entry into the opening theme song I have ever seen. Easily the worst cold open for a Bond film so far.

The villains plot is pretty standard. Steal a couple of bombs and bribe the US and British governments for money. I have a few problems here. The way they go about this first of all is just insane. They have a man get facial reconstruction surgery to look like one of the men on the plane carrying the bombs so he can crash the plane where they need it. Then nothing really every happens. There's just a lot of looking for bombs but there's never really any danger. The bombs are hidden away the whole time and are never in any threat of being used. This kind of makes it hard to care or worry about anything because there's no immediate threat of danger. The main villain Largo is also just completely uninteresting and maybe one of the dumbest Bond villains to date. He knows who Bond is but they keep running into each other and he even offers up Bond his niece to take on dates. Even Bond spends needless time running into Largo. At one point Bond is flying a helicopter around Largo's house, in broad daylight, while Largo is watching, and then shows up at his house for a chat afterwards! Everyone knows who everyone is, this all seems very pointless. Through the whole movie Bond is constantly putting himself in contact with all of these people who work for SPECTRE and is somehow still surprised when a trap is sprung. This film just needed more espionage and less flirting with the enemy.

Most of the film was shot in the Bahamas and I assume most of the budget must have went to scouting locations because a lot of the other production looks awful. The green screen in the boat scenes (especially the sped up green screen at end fight) Just looks terrible and hardly matches what's going on in the scene perfect enough. There aren't many gadgets worth mentioning in the film but I did very much like the breathing device, which does resurface in another later (and again horrible) Bond film. When I said most of this movie takes place in the Bahamas, I should have been more specific and said most of it takes place underwater in the Bahamas because I would say 90% of this movie has Bond with no pants and just swim trunks, swimming around somewhere. If you ever wanted to know what Bond was like in the water then this movie  is for you! We get plenty of underwater action and even a giant scuba battle at the end which is serviceable but ultimately kind of boring. It's hard to tell who anyone is and it's weirdly silent, opting for no score during this scene, which honestly at this point was fine by me because there is one theme for being underwater in this movie and it's a song we hear so much that by the end, no score was better than hearing that again. One thing I do want to point out though is this is the first significant amount of blood in a bond film and I believe the first time Bond takes a bullet in the series. If I missed a time he was shot feel free to remind me.

One thing I've noticed with Sean Connery is that his Bond is sounding more and more Scottish with each film and in this one it was the most noticeable. I know Connery was getting pretty screwed through his tenure as Bond as far as getting very little pay increases despite the movies making hundreds of millions at the box office. I get the feeling he started to care less and less because of his deal with the studios. The Bond girls this time around are, as usual, beautiful and more serviceable to the plot than they were in Goldfinger, though I doubt I will remember either of them past this film. Though I did like when Fiona called him "Mr. Bond James Bond." Adorable.

This was a hard watch and I think even Dr. No was a far superior film. As these movies are all time capsules for their era, I have a hard time thinking anyone who saw this film in 1965 could have possibly thought it was better than any of the previous Bond films. Everything is just so cartoony in this film, right down to the pool of sharks that Largo keeps at his house, and even to the sound effects of the underwater scenes. I wish I had more to say about this film because I know there are people out there who probably do love it, but I just can't see myself ever watching it again. I give Thunderball one star out of five.

James Bond will return in You Only Live Twice.

007 Journals: Goldfinger

So Bond had been wildly popular with the first two films so now it was time to make their first blockbuster James Bond film and this time with a budget bigger than the last two films' combined. Enter Goldfinger. Now just a heads up, this was the first film I took notes for so this could be a little more in depth or nitpicky, but either way it will probably be a longer read than my previous articles. Right away I will say Goldfinger exceeded my expectations even more so than the last film. Now I knew I was moving into Bond blockbuster territory and we are getting into the more silly aspects of Bond, with all of the crazy gadgets and even more rampant womanizing. Let's just get this out of the way now. The misogyny in this movie is at an all time high. Bond uses a woman as a human shield (I let that one slide since she was a bad guy), but then slaps a woman on the ass and says "Man talk", and then he turns a lesbian (though never stated as such but in the novel she was) by forcing a kiss on her. Not to mention the opening titles being scantly dressed gold painted women and the all blonde sexy female (probably all single too) airplane team. The general idea here was "Appeal to the bigger audience with more hot women!" Boy weren't the 60's fun to be a woman?!

The film opens with Bond seemingly enjoying a holiday but we are quickly introduced to Auric Goldfinger (great name), who may be one of my new favorite Bond villains. We learn right away that Auric is a man who doesn't like to lose and his evil scheme might be one of the best thought plans, though not the smartest executed. Auric is not a stupid Bond villain. I love the conversations and back and forth quips he has with Bond. He doesn't have that cheesy Bond moment where he tells his whole plan instead of killing him when he has the chance, although he does let him live in the laser situation but it's not to tell him his plan. He actually is very dismissive of Bond and they make him releasing Bond actually believable. He has an imposing bodyguard in Oddjob (the best character in Goldeneye for Nintendo 64) and his silence makes him even more menacing.

Auric's plan is to irradiate the US gold supply in Fort Knox in order to raise the value of his own large gold supply. Fairly genius if you ask me, it makes sense and could actually work. If only the execution was at all possible. I'll throw out the suspension of disbelief to a point. I'd accept them getting into Fort Knox almost any other way, even drilling underground I would have approved of. Flying planes around the area and nearby military base spraying an invisible knockout gas is probably at the bottom of my list of rejected plans. Watching everyone fall down (or in some extras' cases slowly lowering yourself down) immediately after the planes fly by is just ridiculous looking, even if it does just turn out to be a ruse. Everything that takes place after blowing the gate however I'm fine with.

The increased budget and production quality shines through in this film, and just the structure of the plot is better by design. There are way more location shoots this time around versus just using sets and just makes everything look way better. The opening espionage scene stands out and is, out of these first three movies, one of the better examples of Bond just doing spy stuff. Now I've made it clear that I'm not the biggest fan of the gadgetry in this series, and the car in particular is a little excessive in this film, but over all I was fine with everything they introduced. It was our first time getting James going down to Q's lab and getting his equipment run down. These were always fun scenes and even this first time was a great scene. All of the non-car gadgets get used to great effect, but I do have complaints that all of the car gadgets were used in one chase scene and then the car is quickly dispatched. I would have liked to have seen those get spread out a little more through the film because in rapid succession it just seems even more wacky. One thing about the car chase though is how real everything appeared. The stunts looked legitimately dangerous and convincing. Some of the extras diving out of the way even looked like accidents. We even get a car exploding (our second big explosion of the film) which just screams "Blockbuster's need more explosions!" Which raises the question, if they could afford to blow stuff up then why couldn't they afford some better green screens because some of the ones in the beginning at the hotel (why didn't they just shoot all of that on location?) are some of the worst green screens I've ever seen. On the other hand the laser scene actually still looks really good and that scene is tense even today. The famous "Do you expect me to talk?" banter, something I've seen parodied so many times, I expected to be extremely cheesy but actually that entire scene was great and everything just felt so honest. Very interesting to go back to something I know from pop culture and find it just as enjoyable as audiences probably did when it originally came out.

The Bond girls in this film are surprisingly completely inconsequential. Two of them are dispatched very quickly and contribute little to nothing to the advancement of the plot. However we do have one of the more iconic Bond girls, Pussy Galore. I'll never be able to get over that name. Pussy (really?!) is a pretty great character but she comes so late into the movie and honestly doesn't have a lot of screen time. I feel like more time to flesh her out would have been better. Her flip from loving (again more stated in the book) women to loving Bond feels very unearned and is just kind of rapey on Bond's part. Pussy (seriously guys) ends up being a redeemed and saving the day, which is great, but I just wanted more of her in the movie.

Now Auric is smart to a degree for most evil super villains. He never tells Bond his plan outright, he actually has a conceivable plan to begin with, but he does bring Bond along for the ride which instead he should have just left him in jail at his American base. Even Bond's allies make some questionable decisions. For instance they give him a tracking device in case of an emergency they can pinpoint his location, but then when he activates it they literally ignore it and assume that everything is fine and take the wait and see approach. All of this left me just shaking my head. They don't find anything wrong with James hopping oceans to America, but once he's being tracked just driving down a highway, well now it's time to figure out what he's doing.

It might sound like I'm picking this film apart but the truth is that I loved it. Goldfinger is known as THE Bond film and I don't think it's the best (Casino Royale) but if someone asked me which of the old Bond films would be the one to point out as a reference point then I would say Goldfinger. While it has a lot of just odd an silly moments, it has great production (I mean come on guys, Goldfingers rotating pool table and models alone) and is some of the most entertaining action of the Connery Bond films. So far two out of three have been just incredibly enjoyable to me and I'll give Goldfinger a four out of five star rating.

007 Journals: From Russia With Love

Well after watching Dr. No I expected all of the Connery movies to be relics of their era, lost to the modern senses, but From Russia With Love quickly changed my mind. This film holds up way more than I ever expected and is already made a new place in my top five Bond films. Already this film is much darker than the last (and a lot of other Bond films I've seen) and that's what appeals to me the most. This film is essentially everything I look for in a spy film. Subtlety, deception, and a good story. I was surprised that it only took until the second film to blow me away. I thought the series wouldn't find its footing until after a few movies but I can see why this particular film was so successful.

After Bond's success in defeating Dr. No SPECTRE is now looking for revenge. Their plot is to deceive Bond by tricking him into thinking a Russian wants to defect by having a female agent deliver a cryptographic device to Mi6, allowing SPECTRE to steal it for themselves. Enter Tatiana, who is (even by today's standards) strikingly beautiful, and now my second favorite Bond girl (behind Vesper). Bond is dispatched to Turkey where he is partnered with Kerim Bey who is just a great character. Bond also has an assassin on his tail who goes by the name Red, and is Russia's version of Bond. I love the simplicity of the plot (everyone wants to get this machine from the Russians) but there's plenty of twists. The allegiance of Tatiana is in question, and Red tricks Bond into thinking he's Bond's contact in order to get the upper hand. Even the gadgetry in this film is fairly simplistic and realistic. They hadn't yet reached a level of silliness with the gadgets and it made the story feel more like something that could actually happen. In a way this film was ahead of it's time but the realism was left behind immediately in the next film, but we'll get to that next time.

Now there isn't as much action in this film compared to other Bond films but I really appreciate that. It makes the action scenes that do occur that much better and the close quarters fight in the train (and that whole scene in general)  is a highlight of the film. There is also a serviceable boat chase for the finale even though it seems to come out of nowhere with enemies that seem to transport from one part of the world into this chase. It has a real "We need an action scene to end this movie on, what can we do?" but it actually works. These films hadn't reached blockbuster status yet (again, next time) but they were still some of the most compelling pieces of cinema for their time and while I couldn't see it with the first film, this one definitely sold me on the Connery years. Connery was finding his role in the first film and from here on out he just nails it. This is also our first encounter with Desmond Llewelyn as Q. Everyone is just firing on all cylinders (even though some of them are dubbed) and everyone is believable in their role. However, I have a problem with Tatiana. She meets Bond for the first time, already naked in a bed and ready to go. This is probably literally the fastest a Bond girl has ever wanted to bed Bond which is before she even met him. Not only that, but when it comes down to business time she just wants to swoon over Bond. I guess after the first film and the novels and it was established that Bond is a ladies man this director just wanted to push that a little harder but it just came off awkward.

UPDATE: I was reminded that Tatiana was TOLD to make Bond fall in love with her and that the twist is that she actually does. My bad everyone.

From Russia With Love is easily one of the best Bond films and has changed my forward thinking on these early films. I'm more excited to watch Goldfinger which is said to be the quintessential Bond film and was the first blockbuster. This film however has easily slipped into my top five and is something I could easily watch again. I would rate From Russia With Love four stars out of five and I highly recommend it.

007 Journals: Dr. No

Dr. No was the first James Bond film and was released in 1962, starring Sean Connery, who was an unknown at the time. Now in full disclosure,I have never seen a Sean Connery Bond film from beginning to end, only in bits over the years. The first Bond movie I remember seeing was Goldeneye (and one of my top three Bond films at this time) and obviously films in the 60's were very different from what they are today but what I have to say is that this film is excruciatingly boring. Looking back, it's the first film of a long running franchise and this is where they had to prove themselves. I can see how it would have succeeded in the 60's but watching it for the first time in 2015 I just came to it too late. While It's so far a low bar for me, I did walk away with some positives.

Firstly, I can easily see how Sean Connery can be someone's favorite Bond. He's great in the role, even in this first outing. Now I'm moe accustomed to the more modern era of film and obviously there's the point of Bond's womanizing to point out. In these early films (I've watched a few at the time of this writing) it's incredibly egregious as to how much disrespect women in these films receive. This is probably the last time I'm going to say this unless it comes up in a more specific capacity, but I'll just say it's a reflection of the times but Bond is kind of a dick guys. I guess this also makes Connery a great choice though because he too was kind of a famous dick towards women. Other than the misogyny, Connery is completely believable as Bond and is pretty much what I pictured when I read the novels. The actual spy part though is forced at best. The story failed to grab me in any respect, and the pacing is tedious at best. One thing however that I was unaware of is how much SPECTRE is featured in so many of the early films. I was under the idea that all of the Bond movies are stand alone, and they kind of are, but they all contribute to the overall organization SPECTRE which is taking place of SMERSH from the Ian Fleming novels. That is the one part of the movie I clung to was the SPECTRE aspect so I could follow it through the rest of the films.

One thing that always bugged me about my perception of some of the older Bond films was the campiness to the acting and just the silliness of the gadgets, which I know a lot of people love about the franchise. I was surprised to find little camp in this film. I know that was more in the Roger Moore era, but I still expected some camp just from the era of film making. Dr. No is actually a very serious movie for the era. with racial stereotypes aside. The Jamaican side kick was just awful. Not even in the 60's would I believe a moving car spitting out flames is a dragon, but the "stupid woman" and Jamaican believe it even by looking right at the car that clearly has treads.Classic 60's film making. The villain feels very cheap and his mechanical hands are explained with a single line instead of any real character development. His plan also just makes no sense and seems to have little gain for anyone. Overall I felt little reason to care about the villain or his plan and was just more interested in Connery being Bond.

This was the first James Bond film and with it came some of the staples of the series. First, we have the bullet chamber opening shot. It's worth noting though that Sean Connery is not the man in this (he didn't do it until the fourth movie I believe) and instead is the stunt man. Never the less it is there and opens the movie which would happen for a majority of the franchise. Second, we have the classic James Bond theme. Still as amazing in the 60's as it is today but it gets used in really weird ways. The bond theme, which is normally remembered for appearing in big action scenes, literally gets used while Bond walks across a hotel and enters an elevator and proceeds to inspect his room. Honestly it's a scene meant to build tension as he does his spy work but it just seems awkward We have a Q character but it's not the same actor that would make the role iconic. We also have a Moneypenny that we will see in many movies to come, and the beautiful Bond girl Ursula Andress, who is still beautiful by today's standards. The biggest thing absent from this film is the lack of gadgets which is something I'm personally a fan of. I like the more realistic approach to the gadgetry aspect of Bond like we get in the latter films (and some early ones) so that wasn't anything I missed in this first outing.

There were some major issues with this movie. There were plenty of stereotype performances, though there were plenty of solid performances as well. Connery is great. Ursula Andress is fine, though many women in the first few movies were dubbed which is off putting a little. There was some really poor ADR, particularly in the one scene where Bond and his crew are on the beach and a man is yelling at them through a megaphone from a boat, and then he moves the megaphone to talk to the other men on the boat and his voice still sounds like it's coming out of the megaphone. Just poor editing. However the set design is well executed and since the film takes place centrally in Jamaica, it doesn't have to pull off anything that is too much of a stretch.

So my outing with the very first Bond movie was pretty much what I expected of these early movies, and probably how I am expecting to feel about a lot of these early films. Film making was a very different beast back then than it is now so it's safe to assume that not all of these will grab me. What I did take out of this first film is that not all of them are as campy as I thought and that Sean Connery is an incredible Bond. I look forward to seeing what happens with the higher budget films but for Dr. No I just don't think I could sit through it again. I would rate this movie a two out of five stars.

Journey Through the History of James Bond. 007 Journals.

My history with James Bond is a scattered one. I grew up in the Brosnan era and therefore he was my favorite Bond. That is until Casino Royale came out. I have seen every Bond from Brosnan to Skyfall but the earlier films escaped me for a long time. I had never seen a Sean Connery Bond film, seen bits and pieces of random Roger Moore films, and never saw either of the Timothy Dalton movies. Now I love James Bond. I've watched the Craig movies multiple times and same with the Brosnan ones but I felt it was time to rectify the gaping whole in my Bond knowledge.

So I started listening to a podcast that I am happy to plug, from the Nerdist network, James Bonding. It's a great podcast hosted by comedians with other film and comedian guests, and they watch all of the Bond films and talk about them. It's a great and fun listen where you can get some interesting thoughts on the films and some crazy trivia. For instance, I didn't know some of the movies had alternate theme songs that weren't in the films. Fascinating stuff. 

I became hooked on James Bonding and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I decided to watch all of the Bond films in order and write about my experience from the point of view of a twenty six year old watching them in 2015. So consider this the introduction to what I am calling my 007 Journals. I thought about taking an alternating order like James Bonding does but if I'm going to do this I want to do it right so I'm going from the first to the last. Hopefully I will finish up Skyfall before Spectre comes out and end the year on the newest one. So I hope you enjoy, I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with everything I have to say about these beloved films but hopefully some can agree and partake in the conversations as well.