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The Movies (TM)

(Huge wip as is everything in this page)
Movies/TV/whatever log
My favourite films

Bond, watched and ranked

It wasn’t until very recently that I finally got to watch a James Bond movie. Yes, I know, cultural icon James Bond. However, truth be told, there are a lot of very famous and very important films I haven’t seen, plus most of the Bond movies don’t get past my threshold of 3.4 stars on Letterboxd, which is what I use mostly for deciding what to watch. But, in the end, my love for a themed list was stronger than my hatred for bad flicks, and so I ventured into the 24 movie saga with an open mind.

Up to this point (23/06/2002), I have watched:

Things I have learnt:

Now, onto the ranking: (incomplete and in progress)

#1 Casino Royale

Casino Royale is what got me into this mess. It is considered by most the best Bond film, and for good reason. It opens bluntly, directly with a kill scene.Then we see Bond doing a very, very cheesy spy pose (probably the only cheesy moment this thing has, as this is a movie that takes itself seriously), and the opening credits start rolling. The theme song smacks! It was a great surprise to me that the theme song in Bond movies is its own whole thing.

...

Bond here is a troublemaker- he does things out in the open, with no care about being discovered. In fact, I don’t know if he can even be considered a spy. He seems to do very little of the whole “hiding in the shadows and waiting for your enemy” thing and a whole lot of the “punching and shooting” thing. He uses his real name. He doesn’t listen to his boss. He goes around having sex with the baddie’s wife. But it doesn’t matter, because he is simply the best Britain can offer. He is brutal, he is broody and he is blonde (apparently some people didn’t like that back in 2006).

Now, we're in a new millenium and attitudes towards women have changed (ha!), so Bond can no longer be a massive flirt who has every woman falling at his feet. He is still doing his thing, but it is much more subdued than in previous installments. Eva Green is Vesper, the ‘Bond Girl’ and she is amazing paired with Daniel Craig. She sizes Bond up the moment she sees him, and for once, he is outsmarted. They fall in love even, and you want things to go well for them, however, you realize that there is still half an hour left of movie, and there’s no way they are just going to be happy until the credits roll up.

Closeup of Mads Mikkelsen's eyes as Le Chiffre, the right one is brown, the left one is clouded and crossed by a scar
Black and white image of Daniel Craig's Bond, pointing straight at the camera with his gun

Le Chiffre, the main bad guy, has all you could ask for in a villain. He is a poker master, a terrorist-funder and most importantly, a guy who cries blood ‘for no sinister reason’. He starts the film calm and collected, a gentleman sure of his abilities at the poker table; but as the story progresses, he realizes he is going to lose and starts playing dirty. His evil mastermind façade slowly slips down to reveal a man terrified for his life, a coward desperately trying to regain the only thing which makes him powerful. He is as cruel as he is weak.

All in all, Casino Royale is an amazing film. It has thrilling action sequences, some great lines of dialogue, and a James Bond that feels exactly like he should: a man with a past.

#2 From Russia with Love (1963)

#3 Dr. No (1962)