James Bond

[Dave Gray]

I've been on a James Bond kick lately.  Anyone else into these?  How do you feel about the various Bonds, movies, where we are going -- etc.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I've been on a James Bond kick lately.  Anyone else into these?  How do you feel about the various Bonds, movies, where we are going -- etc.

Any Bond movie with someone other than Moore or Connrey just doesn't seem right. 

[Dave Gray]

Any Bond movie with someone other than Moore or Connrey just doesn't seem right. 

They are both on the lower end for me.  I liked Moore when I was younger, but much less now.  Connery, too, actually. He is good in the first 2 or 3 movies but not much after that.

[Sibster]

I liked Connery and Moore.   But I also liked Pierce Brosnan.   

[CF DolFan]

Any Bond movie with someone other than Moore or Connrey just doesn't seem right. 

I'm right there with you.

[Dave Gray]

If I have to rank the Bonds, it's probably something like this:

Brosnan
Craig
Dalton
Connery
Moore
Lazenby

Craig might be my favorite, though.  His movies certainly are.  I don't understand the love for Moore, other than it being someone you're used to.  He's an old man, he isn't physical so his stunts are lame.  He's corny AF.  I don't get it.  He's cringy, too.  He gives off molester vibes.

[Pappy13]

Craig is my favorite and Casino Royale with him is my favorite bond movie. He brought a grit and intensity to the role that no one before him did in my humble opinion. I also liked that after a fight there were clear indications that he'd been in a brawl with cuts and scratches on his face. I will admit that I loved Roger Moore back in the 70's, but I was a kid then and I just enjoyed his over the top comments. In hindsight, the movies themselves weren't that good. I typically watch any new Bond movie when it comes out, but I'm growing tired of them.

[Dave Gray]

Craig is my favorite and Casino Royale with him is my favorite bond movie. He brought a grit and intensity to the role that no one before him did in my humble opinion. I also liked that after a fight there were clear indications that he'd been in a brawl with cuts and scratches on his face. I will admit that I loved Roger Moore back in the 70's, but I was a kid then and I just enjoyed his over the top comments. In hindsight, the movies themselves weren't that good. I typically watch any new Bond movie when it comes out, but I'm growing tired of them.

Casino Royale is also my favorite.

I also really like Skyfall and Goldeneye.

Of the Moore stuff, The Spy Who Loved Me is very good. 


I like that Bond is of its time.  The 80s stuff with Dalton is very much of the era -- License to Kill is very much Miami Vice.  Some of the Moore stuff is Blaxploitation.  The Connery stuff is very 60s.  This includes villains, but also film techniques and sound effects and score.  Even gadgets -- they come and go and get very, very silly.  Craig dialed a lot of that stuff back to be more earnest.  The quips and stuff, too.  Geez....some of that Moore stuff is straight out of Austin Powers.

[Phishfan]

I've never been a fan. I don't know that I have watched a complete movie.

[Fau Teixeira]

I love bond movies, i think it's hard to compare eras. I think objectively every single craig movie is probably better than anything connery or moore did, as a movie today. But I don't think that's really a fair comparison.

Lazenby aside (and that horrible off-studio connery film) if i had to pick a favorite from each major actor they would be:

Connery - Goldfinger. "no mr bond, i expect you to die" - this was iconic.
Moore - The man with the golden gun.
Dalton - License to Kill
Brosnan - This one is closer than you'd think In the end I think Goldeneye wins because of the intro scene but Die Another Day is a very very close 2nd
Craig - My favorite here is Skyfall. Casino Royale is good. but the whole overexplained poker scene is just meh.

[Downunder Dolphan]

I find the grittier Bond movies are my favorites... and funny enough, a couple of the movies that rebooted the franchise happen to be at the sharp end of my list.

From Russia With Love (fun fact - while many movies has Bond swapping sex partners at will, he has a threesome in this one). Robert Shaw is arguably the best combatant.
Live and Let Die
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
Goldeneye
Casino Royale

The last two were directed by Kiwi Martin Campbell, who holds the distinction of twice bringing the franchise back from the dead.

I would rate the first two thirds of Skyfall as being up there with the best, but the last third (after M's rescue, to the confrontation at Skyfall) was a ridiculously warped, bad version of MacGyver that was total a waste of time and should have been cut altogether.

Connery was the best Bond, followed by a fair bit of daylight.
Moore was flippant and brought a bit more fun in the role, but was still good enough to sell the aspect of being in danger when needed to. Was too old by the end, but so was Connery.
Brosnan was a good mix of the two above.
Dalton was rubbish.
Lazenby was a classless thug.
Despite being in one of my favorite movies, Craig was really no better than Lazenby.

[Dave Gray]

I like Dalton.  Surprised to hear people say they don't like it.  And I think Lazenby is fine.  He didn't get a chance to expand the role, but that movie has gone through a bit of a reappraisal as of late.  On Her Majesty's Secret Service is better than the few Connery entries before it, IMO.

Best of each actor:
Connery - You Only Live Twice (this is controversial and there are probably better films in From Russia With Love and Goldfinger) but the Austin Powers-ness of it with Blofeld and the underground lair is very iconic to me.
Moore - The Spy Who Loved Me (this is the most obvious of all the Bond actors.  I don't think there's another Moore movie that's close to this good.)
Dalton - The Living Daylights (but I go back and forth.  I like both of them.)
Brosnan - Goldeneye (Although I think that both Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough have aged well and this race has tightened.)
Craig - Casino Royale, which is like the perfect Bond movie, but Skyfall is also good.  I also think that segments of Spectre are damn near perfect before it gets wonky.

I think that Craig is the best of the Bonds in terms of acting.  He's delivering the most range.  Surprised to see him compared to Lazenby.  That's crazy talk.

[Sunstroke]

Daniel Craig is the best Bond. Skyfall is the best movie (narrowly edging out Casino Royale)

I liked Brosnan, just because he started showing the darker side of Bond.

Not a big fan of the Moore movies, and not much for the Connery ones either. That said...I think every movie should have a character named "Pussy Galore."

This point is not up for debate.

I've never been a fan. I don't know that I have watched a complete movie.

I don't even know who you are any more...

[Dave Gray]

So, I've been watching a lot of Bond youtube content and For Her Majesty's Secret Service is so divisive, it's crazy.

Bond listings are incredibly personal, but that particular film -- last night, on two different list of popular podcasters, it was listed as 25 out of 25 on one and 2 out of 25 on the other.

You see it in a lot of top 5.  ...it's not an outlier.  But you also see it in a lot of bottom 5s.

Normally, there is a general consensus about which films are good and bad and you'll have an outlier or two because of how old you were or something like that.  ..but not that film.  It's beloved and hated, both.