A Martini Shaken Not Stirred

That's an... unusual perspective. I've rewatched them too and softened somewhat towards Craig: I think he's quite capable of showing irony and charm but the script often don't let him do it.

As far as films go, Casino Royale is easily the best in terms of overall plot and action and honestly the only Craig movie with some old school glamour and sexiness. However, I feel Quantum is unfairly maligned and is actually a decent follow-up to CR and even has a realistic villain (think companies like Nestle). The editing and the writers strike hurt the movie for sure but it doesn't deserve to be at the bottom of the list. 

I still like the story of Skyfall and Bond's relationship with M. Spectre is... ok, somewhat boring and Craig doesn't seem to be enjoying himself (didn't he break the leg during shooting?). Both Mendes' movies are clearly influenced by The Dark Knight whereas CR and Quantum are more in the Jason Bourne realm, the action and the storyline are more grounded.

Any Bond fans here? What do you think of the series? Who's your favorite Bond? Which is your favorite film? Which is your favorite theme?

I think Roger Moore was the best Bond. He had an effortless cool and charisma about him. My favorite film is probably The Spy Who Loved Me. My favorite theme is Live and Let Die, though You Know My Name deserves an honorable mention. 

I generally dislike the Craig era of Bond. Casino Royale is a pretty good movie, but it doesn't really feel like Bond to me. I thought Spectre was the best of the Craig films, and came closest to matching the style of the earlier eras.

I have not watched most of these films in years, with the exception of Dr. No and the Craig films. Skyfall was also my favorite Craig film, probably because of Roger Deakins. Casino Royale is VERY good though. That being said, this character doesn't resonate with me as much as an adult. At least, not the last few times I watched them.

As a kid, however, Roger Moore was the fucking best. Fun fact: Sir Roger Moore was a friend of my best girl, Audrey Hepburn, so you know he was awesome just from that alone. You can't be social-proofed more thoroughly than that! I think my favorite Bond film growing up was probably The Man With The Golden Gun. I mean, Christopher Lee makes everything better automatically, so I am just going to blame him for it.

I was watching John Wick 2 a month ago and noticed that there is one sequence in that film that seems to be influenced both by a sequence in The Man with the Golden Gun and Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. It made me want to revisit Bond a little bit.

The thing about Skyfall is, to me it tried too hard to emulate The Dark Knight. The movie looks very good thanks to Deakins' cinematography (I loved his and Mendes' 1917), but I thought Silva felt very derivative of Ledger's Joker. I got sick of the villain trope where he gets caught on purpose and all that, which was also done by The Avengers at the time, and more recently by The Batman as well. I had a similar problem with Casino Royale, despite being a very entertaining movie, it felt more like Jason Bourne in parts than Bond. Which is why I liked the often reviled Spectre, because I thought it went almost full Moore with its bombastic action and some ludicrous elements.

Moore is just the coolest to me. I mean, he randomly appears riding a horse in a sombrero and poncho in Moonraker, accompanied by The Magnificent Seven theme. It can't get cooler than that.

The second John Wick is the only one I've seen, but I don't remember catching the similarity to those movies. I should watch them all.


I thought there was a Bond thread already, but I didn't see one when I tried to look for it. My bad. But what's your favorite Bond?

Now I found the first Bond thread by you. Stupid of me to not notice it. This thread should probably be merged with it?

That I liked about the Craig era, that he had a definitive beginning and end. My ranking of his movies would be Spectre > Casino Royale > No Time To Die > Quantum of Solace > Skyfall. I only really liked the top two though. The rest had some brilliant moments, but I feel they fell short as a whole.