Thunderball

I'm not entirely sure why people say this is the best of all Bond films.

Not to say it's bad, the production values are higher than ever, the story isn't half bad, the performances are good, but it just doesn't have a lot of punch for me. We once again encounter SPECTRE as they hijack two nuclear warheads and hold the world ransom for 100 million pounds which springs our dear James into action, trying to track down the nuclear devices before the countdown ends. It's probably the most basic plot SPECTRE has concocted, but I've always had a soft spot for villainous organizations and it does lead to interesting elements in the story. This time we trek into the Bahamas and while it does look dazzling, there isn't much time to appreciate it since we're always on the trail of the warheads. This isn't bad by any means, the stakes have been significantly raised since the Lektor decoding device in From Russia With Love, and there is a larger scale climax no doubt due to the biggest budget yet in the series. I don't mind the underwater fight scenes, it's certainly a nice change of pace, but it does sort of drag. Serious props to Ricou Browning for the direction of those scenes, I mean who the hell else would you get besides Gillman from Creature From The Black Lagoon to help in crafting underwater combat? The cast this time is hit and miss, Sean Connery does fine but this was only the beginning of the end for him which we will cover more next time. Claudine Auger is not the most compelling of Bond girls but I do appreciate the character they do give to Domino and she does fine work. Though I personally wish we could have seen more of Paula, an american agent that James works with, mainly because you see there is history between the two and it really seems like they've worked time and again in the past which is something I would love to see more of. They genuinely have great chemistry together though all of their scenes together I could count on one hand, and it's just such a shame. Villains on the other hand are more miss than hit, Adolfo Celi as the eyepatch wearing second in command of SPECTRE does well with the material but there's hardly any intrigue in his character though I chalk that up more to the script than the actor. The shining star of this movie is the mesmerizing Luciana Paluzzi as the glorious Fiona Vulpe, not only is she ridiculously gorgeous but she proves to be a capable, cunning, and endlessly fun villain to watch, think of her as a proto-Xenia Onatopp. I won't actually delve into the behind the scenes of this film, partly because it is a very involved and very complicated matter that would take up so much time, and also partly because I have very strong feelings on the matter and I do not wish for this to deteriorate into a rant because I have 20 other movies to review. You can find the information just about anywhere, and all I will say is this was the most ridiculous thing that caused problems for the entire series for decades to come and I feel great sympathy for Ian Fleming during this time. I like it just as much as Dr. No if a bit less so I give it...2.5 stars, 5/10, I sometimes wonder why this was the most popular and loved film for a time. But the next movie is better I promise.

I highly recommend the review of this film by Calvin Dyson, a growing Bond reviewer on YouTube. I strongly agree with his opinions and his content is very well done so check it out!

From Russia With Love

Definitely improved since last time.

From Russia With Love is regarded by many to not only be the best James Bond film but one of the best movies in the spy genre period, and yes I do somewhat agree with that. Our story follows Bond as he is wrapped in the web of SPECTRE, attempting to obtain a decoder device with the help of a young woman named Tania who works for the Russian consulate in Istanbul, while one of SPECTRE's top agents is in pursuit of Bond across Europe to get revenge on the death of Dr. No and SPECTRE losing their favorite vacation spot. I do greatly like this film, no doubt it will be a contender for the top 10 when I summarize the whole series, but I think it's mainly the story and production that have had the best treatment this time around. It really does build this world of espionage so well, done in no small part due to introducing Kerim Bay played by Pedro Armendariz, one of Bond's allies who has a world of subterfuge which we learn in detail and it's one of my favorite things from the movie and Kerim is such a warm and friendly person it's difficult not to genuinely adore him. Not as rugged as Quarrel, but endearing in his own right. The story is very well told, with enough intrigue and surprises to entertain but not to the point where you lose track of the story which is something I appreciate. There's no exposition dumping here, just a well crafted spy thriller that I do enjoy more and more each time I watch it. Sean Connery delivers another great performance, given more to do this time around and comes more into his own with the character. Daniella Bianchi is lovely, though perhaps a bit too infatuated with James but nevertheless charming and has her own stand in the story. Robert Shaw is great in this movie, even though he hardly speaks a line but then again he doesn't have to, his physicality speaks for himself and is a formidable match for our dear James with one of the best close quarters action scenes in film history. I'm serious this fight is everything you've heard it to be, so well shot and edited, such palpable force in each punch and hit, and mad respect for both the stunt performers and Connery and Shaw in that scene. Once again the location shooting is excellent, and production designs while not grand are done very well, and it feels more like a well thought out production with everything done splendidly, and Terence Young proving his salt in the director's chair. Bit of trivia for you, originally the now famous gunbarrel sequence wasn't meant to be in this film at all but was added to let the audience know when the film began, so much thanks to this for setting the standard. Also, Ian Fleming the author of the James Bond series has a supposed cameo but I take that with more salt than I do the codename theory. All in all, this is a damn good movie in the series and one I can fully recommend to even casual fans and may even make you want to dig deeper into the franchise's history. 3.5 stars, 7.5/10, but next time dear ones we hit gold.

Dr. No

Screw you 2020.

Yep, the new James Bond movie hits theaters next year (whee) and regarding the fact I have zero income and f*** all planned after that inevitable change, I figured it was time to review every James Bond movie by EON Productions, starting of course with the 1962 movie Dr. No. As first films go in the longest running film franchise in history, it's not half bad though of course not having it's fully realized identity as it will in about two movies time. I will admit the story is a bit basic, concerning James Bond investigating the disappearance of a government agent in Jamaica which soon leads to the discovery of a shadowy villain intent on further advancing the organization known as SPECTRE's agenda in destroying american space probes. This very much is the quintessential James Bond adventure, charming rogue-ish hero, gorgeous girl swept up in the adventure, megalomaniacal villain with lavish lair, it's everything you would ever expect from a Bond film. Not to say it's bad or basic though, Sean Connery practically cements his role as James Bond in just one movie let alone the superior films coming up, Ursula Andress could quite possibly still be the most famous Bond girl 50+ years later, though our villain Dr. No is in my opinion criminally underused and I found Joseph Wiseman to be excellent and sets the bar very nicely. There's not as much action in this one and what passes for suspense with a tarantula is laughable nowadays, but I kind of chalk that up to a less than big budget, though the assets they do have are handled very well with gorgeous location shooting in Jamaica, excellent set design by Ken Adam, and the effects are very 60s but they still do the job. Quite possibly most prevalent in the opening titles which start of strong with the Bond Theme blasting accompanied with epileptic visuals before strangely switching to rotoscoped dancers and conga music, it's so damn bizarre like they couldn't make up their minds so they did everything. It's still an enjoyable film with certain things that I still love to this day. I think John Kitzmiller is one of the absolute best allies in the entire series as Quarrel and I enjoy every second he's on screen, there's a good little scene where Bond essentially rigs his room to where he can tell if people have been there which I really kind of wish we had more of in the series and it really does show his character, he's not paranoid but he is cautious in his line of work. The only bad thing I could say about it is the fact we have no real time with our main villain, we don't see or hear anything from him until the 40 minute mark in this hour and fifty minute film and don't even see him until there's about half an hour left of screentime which is a real shame because I genuinely think Dr. No is one of the best villains and the performance is what sells it for me, though the metal hands certainly don't hurt. It is very dated I will give you that, but that was just the style of film at that point and you simply just had to use the tricks of the trade that you could but it is sort of a running theme in the early films where it feels very, well...60s in terms of filmmaking. Absolutely no disrespect to Terence Young, but it is something unavoidable to talk about and could potentially disrupt the enjoyment of the film for some but it honestly doesn't bother me. It's a simple no frills first outing into the spy world of 007 and does a decent job with it. 3 stars, 6.5/10, but don't let my rating fool you because this was a massive hit, but where do you go from there? Well after President Kennedy named From Russia With Love as one of his favorite books the choice was clear. Until next time.