the vynsane asylum

You jest, but Lazenby was fantastic. That's likely my second favorite classic Bond movie behind You Only Live Twice.

Lazenby gets short shifted but I like him way more than Roger Moore and at least as well as Dalton and Brosnan.

If Lazenby hadn't been a total dick he could have taken bond all the way. As it were. Once Moore took the helm everything descended into pantomime and self parody. Moonraker is a perfect example of the fatuous depths they mined. And Moore in a polyester safari suit in whichever turdfest movie it was, was just too much.
Obviously these new movies have tried to redress the balance but they've gone a little too far the other way and seem po faced and too earnest. After Spectre it's probably time to call it a day or just start over. Ditching Barbara Broccoli and the old guard of Bond movie production would be beneficial to a reboot.

Agreed 100 percent on Moore - it was almost satirical it was so silly. His one saving movie is For Your Eyes Only - the first Bond movie I ever watched. It remains in the upper pantheon of Bond movies for me as well. Diamonds are Forever - the last Connery & it was actually released AFTER On Her Majesty's Secret Service - was the beginning of the extreme silliness in these movies, and they are mostly silly after it, save but for a very few (the first Brosnan is coming to mind as one of the good ones).

After two dozen movies that range so much in tone between them, the producers have a difficult time pleasing all fans. People who grew up on Moore expect suave camp and plenty of gadgets and you wind up with Die Another Day and the purists bitch. But then if they try and swing too far the other way with less gadgets and shit and Bond being a merciless bastard and the other half of the fanbase complains the movies are no fun.

Quite true actually. It's an extremely difficult mix to get right. I just think they've fallen into the trap of feeling like they need to "one up" previous movies with the gadgets & explosions - and they REALLY don't need to. Ever.

Also, doesn't it seem odd that during the 70s - when street level grit was king - the Moore Bond movies were successful? They seem to be in pretty stark contrast to French Connection & Dirty Harry. For what it's worth, my brother LOVED Moore growing up & thought the Connery ones were boring. Takes all kinds I guess.

I just found it odd that you had spy spoofs like Our Man Flint and The Silencers, both excellently done and then Bond producers went and spoofed their own gig. Every successful show has it's spoofs. The Man from U.n.c.l.e. had Get Smart. And none of the spy shows from the sixties would have happened if Dr. No had been a flop. Was it the comedy of the spoofs that became conflated with Bond or just complacency that lead to the dumbing down and cheapening of the Bond franchise, or was it a case of there simply being too many cooks in the kitchen? By the late sixties everyone was tuned on, turned on and dropping out so perhaps complacency is the best answer.
Maybe what I'm really looking for is a spy more akin to Harry Palmer. Though Michael Caine only made five Harry Palmer flicks and only the first three are watchable, (the latter two star the wooden Jason Connery as a Russian spy), The character feels real and the films get by without spectacle or showy explosive set pieces and rely on character and plot to drive them. They are exactly what Bond should have been if the Bond from the books were presented on screen.
And I take your 'can't please all of of the people all of the time' comment and accept it as valid, but that is true of any movie or tv show. My problem is that the Bond producers have chosen to please the lowest common denominator almost exclusively. Thus living by the tenet 'If it aint broke, don't fix it' yet totally failing to see that that's exactly what they did.

jjreason wrote:Maybe if you liked girls in bikinis more....

OF COARSE JARGOE DOESNT LIEK GIRLS IN BAKINIS! WHAT R U, A GAY WAD? ME AND JARGO, WE LIKE GERLS OUT OF BIKINIES!! BECAUSE WE R KEWL!

HA HA HA HA, BUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNN, GOT U GOOD, U HOMOE SAPIENT, GO CRY IN YOUR SEARRA MIST AT THE LOCAL STAR BUCKS!!!!!!!

I tried to read your entire post about the lowest common denominator but then an explosion caught my eye & I got distracted by a half dressed female....

Miaow.

Trailer for Spectre has arisen. Pretty short but pretty promising.

"The Writing's On The Wall" is even worse than "Skyfall" as far as Craig era Bond themes go. At least Skyfall had a gusto about it. Writing is slow and dull and has cliched lyrics. And Sam Smith singing falsetto for half the song becomes comical at one point considering it's a 007 theme. If they had upped the tempo a tad it might've had a chance.

Nope. Another Way to Die is still tops in my book. Narrowly beating You Know My Name.
Joss Stone's I'll Take it All from the video game gets third place.

wow. absolute shit. i kept waiting for the song to really 'start' for all 4:44 until it ended abruptly.

Yeah, that is weak. Too bad. The kid's actually got a great voice.

My daughter said “Didn’t they already have one with that name? Or almost like it?”
I said “yes”. She goes “Which one?”
I said “All of them”