Roger Moore as James Bond

Whereas Sean Connery was the suave and sophisticated James Bond, Roger Moore added a completely different style of humour and while embodying many of the aspects of Sean Connery’s Bond, he created a unique version of the character. Roger Moore is a close second behind Connery in terms of my favourite Bond, but he does boast two of my favourite Bond films of all time. Sadly, the Bond films in this era started to get a little bit too silly, but nonetheless, the Roger Moore films are, mostly, classics.

His first film, Live and Let Die, was immediately one of my favourite films. I absolutely love the plot. Bond is trying to stop a large batch of heroin being distributed, and goes to San Monique to try and figure out what’s going on. Before long, we are treated to gangsters, voodoo and crocodiles. There are some excellent scenes in Live and Let Die, most notably, the boat chase, which is thrilling and magnificent to watch. Jane Seymour stars alongside Roger Moore as Solitaire, the Bond girl for this movie. She is the source of the voodoo and reads cars for Mr. Big, the heroin kingpin. She is one of the most underrated Bond girls for me, and despite being quite a weak character, she is absolutely stunning. When Mr. Big inevitably catches Bond for the first time, he is left in the middle of an island with crocodiles closing in on him. The henchman, Tee Hee, is immensely sinister, and his detachable arm is a source of tension in nearly every scene he is in. The climax of the film sees Bond confront and apparently kill the Voodoo chief and save the day in true Bond fashion (things explode and such). I don’t really know why I like Live and Let Die so much. I think it manages to get the balance between plot, action and comedy absolutely spot on. It also boasts an incredible theme song, some excellent filming and some unforgettable scenes.

Live and Let Die was a hard act to follow, but The Man with the Golden Gun gave it a good shot (if you’ll pardon the pun). For me, this is where the Bond films start to get a bit too light hearted. On its release it was widely criticised for being too comedic, but I still think it is a good film. Bond has been earmarked by a famous hitman, Scaramanga, and tries to hunt him down and kill him before he is killed himself. Christopher Lee appears opposite Roger Moore in this film, and is dazzling as Scaramanga. I think if it wasn't for Lee then The Man with the Golden Gun would be a terrible film. The problem with it is not that the plot is unfeasible but that it seems assured of its success. The henchman is a dwarf who is about as sinister as a banana. We also see Bond take on a martial arts school, and the re-appearance of Sheriff J.W. Pepper, who was in Live and Let Die. I think his character is meant to be funny, but he just isn't  Nonetheless, Christopher Lee is the perfect opposition to have and instead of trying to kill Bond when he arrives at his island, he makes him comfortable and challenges him to a relatively fair fight. The most unforgettable scene in this movie is the corkscrew car flip. I think I read somewhere that it was done in one take, which is incredible. The only problem is that someone has added a stupid ‘whistle’ sound effect to the sequence, and this is just a drop in the ocean of how cheesy The Man with the Golden Gun is.

Thankfully, The Spy Who Loved Me brings the James Bond stock back up a bit. I think the theme song to this is my favourite of the classic Bond songs. Bond is up against a megalomaniac who wants to destroy the world and begin again underwater. It sees Bond collaborating with a Russian agent to stop Stromberg from completing his slightly implausible plan. This film also sees the introduction of one of the most iconic Bond villains, Jaws. With his incredibly strong metal teeth and his seeming immortality, he is truly terrifying. The classic Bond moment that this film is famous for is probably the cub/submarine scene. This car runs the Aston Martin DB5 very close for the title of ‘Coolest Car’. The Spy Who Loved Me is a refreshing hark back to the more serious Sean Connery films, with a genuine plot, a touch of comedy, and some twists and turns along the way to Bond’s inevitable victory. It seemed to restore many people’s confidence in James Bond after the unmitigated disaster that was The Man with the Golden Gun at the time of release, and yet many people seem to forget about it. It is one of my favourites and for me, it was the last Bond film before Goldeneye that was really enjoyable, rather than silly, annoying or implausible.

Moonraker was a mistake. It is often voted as one of the worst Bond films ever, and it is easy to see why. It sees Bond initially investigating the theft of a space shuttle, and then investigating Hugo Drax who manufactured the shuttle, and then, naturally, in space. In fairness, where the actual film is terrible, the visual effects are very impressive for the time, but this is the only real positive that I can draw from it. Jaws makes another appearance and, once again is sinister and terrifying, but the filmmakers completely deflate this at the end, when he finds a girlfriend (who is actually tiny) and falls hopelessly in love. If there is one thing that a sinister villain should not have it is a love life. You don’t ever see Blofeld getting gooey with an ‘Angel of Death’ do you? Apparently, the filmmakers received letters from children asking why Jaws couldn't be a goodie, and so they decided to listen to the opinions of children. Even the name of the Bond girl screams of how ridiculous this film is. Now granted Pussy Galore is a blatant innuendo, but Holly Goodhead? At least Pussy Galore is imaginative. The less said about Moonraker the better.

Sadly though, it doesn't pick up after this. The next three films are all as silly and disappointing as before. The only saving grace across these films is Roger Moore, who still has his roguish James Bond charm thankfully. In For Your Eyes Only, Bond helps out a woman who is investigating the death of her parents. It is incredibly clichéd, and incredibly forgettable for me. There’s a parrot that talks to Margaret Thatcher though, and this is one of the better moments of the film. Sadly you have to sit through nearly two hours of film before. For Your Eyes Only is quite enjoyable, but in the context of the Bond films that came before it, it is a couple of metres down the slippery slope to comedy. Octopussy cements this further, and sees Bond trying to investigate the death of 009, stop a bomb and do something with a Faberge egg. The villain, Kamal Kahn, is quite sinister, but never actually threatening. However, the serrated spinning wheel thingy that is used to kill people is quite scary. The problem is that in just don’t believe in the story with Octopussy. At one point, Bond bursts into a circus tent, dressed as a clown, shouting about a bomb. It is too silly and has too much of a focus on the comedy aspect rather than creating what could have been a classic Bond film.

Finally in Roger Moore’s collection is A View to a Kill which sees Bond trying to stop Max Zorin (played masterfully by the incredible Christopher Walken) from blowing up Silicon Valley. In my eyes, this shouldn't have been made by Roger Moore. He looks noticeably older in this film, and generally slower too. Grace Jones makes an appearance as the henchman (or henchwoman) in this film and is absolutely terrifying. However, this isn't a credit to her acting skills, more she is cast in a role that just scares me. A View to a Kill at times seems to be dragging Bond up a notch from where the previous two films left it, but then with a poor character name (such as the French detective Achille Aubergine or the English gentleman James St. John Smythe), the revelation that Zorin is the result of Nazi medical experimentation or a chase through San Francisco in a fire engine it drops it right back down. Once again, Roger Moore shines through as a charming and witty James Bond, and Christopher Walken creates a classic Bond villain, but the film is another one that should be dropped on the scrapheap.

It is strange that, despite having roundly criticised the Bond films of Roger Moore, he is my second favourite. There is no doubt in my mind that Sean Connery is the best, and Daniel Craig will be second best soon enough (if they are all as good as Casino Royale and Skyfall), but Roger Moore makes an excellent Bond too. This may be more to do with the failings of the other actors though, which I will get on to in the next Bond related post. If there was one film I’d advise you to watch from Roger Moore’s time as James Bond it would be Live and Let Die. I think that is the most enjoyable and the least laughable of all his Bond films.

The 85th Academy Awards Special

Well it was the Academy Awards last night, and while I wasn't able to watch the ceremony, I was following avidly on twitter. There were a few surprises, a few obvious winners, and a few questionable decisions, but that was to be expected. Life of Pi turned out to be the big winner, bagging 4 awards having been nominated for 11. I’m going to attempt to give you a few of my thoughts on the winners and losers, and I’m going to skip over a few of the awards that it would be wrong for me to talk about.

So, not having seen any of the films in the category, I don’t feel suitably qualified to talk about Best Live Action Short Film, Best Animated Short Film, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Subject Documentary, or Best Animated Feature. What I will say though is that it didn't surprise me that Brave won this award.

In terms of the award for Best Visual Effects there was only going to be one winner for me. While the visual effects in The Hobbit, The Avengers and Prometheus were incredible (and I haven’t seen Snow White and the Huntsman so I can’t comment on that), Life of Pi absolutely eclipses anything that these films could do. This was perhaps the most obvious winner of the night for me, and it completely deserves its success. Life of Pi also won the award for Best Cinematography which I thought was interesting. This was perhaps one of the closest awards of the night, because any of the five nominees (Life of Pi, Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Lincoln and Skyfall) could feasibly have won. After I saw Anna Karenina, and after slating the film because I thought it to be very weak, the best thing I could say about it was that the cinematography was brilliant. However, that doesn't mean that the cinematography of Life of Pi wasn't  and so this is another deserved award. In terms of Best Original Score, I thought Life of Pi was, again, a deserving winner. The other films in this category just didn't quite match up for me, and Mychael Danna deserves the credit (and the award) for creating the soundtrack for Life of Pi. Finally, Ang Lee won the Best Director award for Life of Pi, and I have to say I was a bit surprised at this. I was sure Steven Spielberg would be nailed on for this award for Lincoln. However, having seen Life of Pi, I’m sure there are very few that would begrudge Ang Lee his second award for Best Director.

Lincoln bagged two awards last night, after having been nominated for 12. For many people, Lincoln was the favourite to sweep the board and win more than it did. Now I haven’t seen Lincoln, so I’m going to have to keep this relatively brief. In terms of Best Production Design I’m sure the production of Lincoln was fantastic, but Life of Pi, Les Miserables and The Hobbit are all films which are fantastically produced. I’m sure that this decision is justified, but I need to see it to make a judgement. Believe me, Lincoln is high up the ‘films I want to see’ list. I didn't think the decision to hand Daniel Day-Lewis the Best Actor award was particularly surprising. At the end of the day, Bradley Cooper was never going to win for a rom-com, and Hugh Jackman for me, didn't do enough to be considered a deserving winner. From the bits I have seen of Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis is marvellous and is definitely deserving of this award.

Ben Afleck’s film Argo won three awards, including the big one, Best Picture. Again, I haven’t seen Argo, but I mean to, and so my comments will have to be speculative. Best Film Editing is probably deserved, and I didn't think that Zero Dark Thirty or Life of Pi should have won it (as these two were the second favourites for me). I have no major objections to Argo winning Best Adapted Screenplay, but I thought Life of Pi was unlucky to miss out. The adaptation of Argo from the sources that it is based on is fantastic, and likewise, Life of Pi is fantastically adapted from the book. Now Argo was widely tipped to win the Best Picture award, and of the front runners (I thought that Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty were all in with a shout) any of them would be deserving winners. It is a fantastic achievement for Ben Afleck, and settles much of the debate around the Zero Dark Thirty versus Argo arguments. This year though there were a couple of surprises on the nominations list. Silver Linings Playbook raised a lot of eyebrows for its inclusion, as did Amour, and I don’t think either of these were in with a chance. Django Unchained deserved its nomination but it was a bit too controversial to ever really win, and in the end, Argo is probably a very good winner.

Now there are a lot of awards that I don’t really have anything to say about at all. Anna Karenina won Best Costume Design, and yes, the costumes were good in it. Les Miserables won Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and yes, the makeup and hairstyling is very good. Les Miserables also won Best Sound Mixing, which was good. Best Sound Editing caused a bit of a stir as it was the sixth time in the history of the Academy Awards (85 different ceremonies) that two films have been tied for an award. Skyfall (the first Bond film to win an OSCAR) and Zero Dark Thirty won this award, and of the other nominations (Argo, Django Unchained and Life of Pi) I think any of them could have won, because the sound editing was very good in all of them. Skyfall also won the award for Best Original Song, adding another award to Adele’s growing list. This can’t have been a surprise as it was in the charts for such a long time that it was bound to win. Amour won Best Foreign Language Film which isn't surprising considering it was the most widely known on the list. Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables and this was so unsurprising that I’m fairly sure that if I were a bookie I would have paid out on this before the ceremony began.

On a more positive note, Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Django Unchained, and I feel this is definitely deserved. He is simply glittering in the roles that Tarantino writes for him. His mix of humour and incredible acting means that he stands out from the other nominees as the best supporting actor from 2012. This represents a much more light-hearted victor from the Academy, with Tommy Lee Jones many people’s (including mine) favourite choice for the award. Another tip of the hat goes to Quentin Tarantino and Django Unchained for winning Best Original Screenplay. This was up against a number of excellent films like Amour, Flight and Zero Dark Thirty, and winning this award is a move towards a greater appreciation for the comedic yet controversial bloody movie that Tarantino specialises in. I think Zero Dark Thirty was unlucky not to win this award, but Django Unchained is definitely the one to lose out to.

Finally, I thought the decision to give Jennifer Lawrence the award for Best Actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook was very strange. While it will guarantee her a successful career more than her role in The Hunger Game could ever do I thought that Jessica Chastain was fantastic in Zero Dark Thirty. Now I’m not saying that she did not deserve the award, and I haven’t seen Silver Linings Playbook, so I can’t possibly comment, but I guess when you have nominations for the film in the Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Supporting Actor categories the film is doing something right.

As I mentioned, the big winner was Life of Pi with four awards. However I feel that everyone associated with Zero Dark Thirty can be disappointed not to have won more. There is no doubt that this year’s Academy Awards was incredibly close and many films appeared in several different categories, meaning that one would always come off worse. Before I finish writing I would just like to mention the In Memoriam part of the ceremony. Jack Klugman (appeared in 12 Angry Men and Quincy ME), Ernest Borgnine (the original voice of SpongeBob), Eiko Ishioka (winner of Best Costume Design for Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992), Richard Zanuck (Driving Miss Daisy) and Larry Hagman (Dallas) all passed away this year, and all will be remembered for their contributions to cinema. Finally, and if nothing else, spare a thought for Michael Clarke Duncan whose most notable film is The Green Mile. He passed away in September at the age of 54 from a heart attack, and he will be sorely missed.

Sean Connery as James Bond

There are far too many Bond films for me to review them as one whole series, so I decided to break them down Bond-by-Bond, and first up is the original, and for me the best, Sean Connery. He is suave, sophisticated and absolutely fantastic, setting many standards for the Bond's that follow him to live up to. I think that it was Sean Connery's portrayal of Bond that has led to the stereotypes around the character.

The first Bond film, Dr. No takes place in Jamaica, and would now be viewed as a cliched spy film about a man who wants to take over the world. Bond follows the trail left by the murder of the British agent stationed in Jamaica to discover who killed him. This trails leads him to the base of Dr Julius No who is planning to ruin a rocket launch with a radioactive powered ratio beam. This film is famous for so many reasons, not least for starting one of the most successful franchises in movie history. There are so many memorable moments, the most famous of which is Ursula Andress coming out of the sea in 'that' white bikini. The scene with the 'dragon' also sticks in my mind. This was produced on a very low budget, but you wouldn't have guessed this, which undoubtedly contributed to the success of the film. Sean Connery was a relatively unknown actor at the time, and James Bond helped to catapult him into the public eye. Another iconic scene is the first view we ever have of James Bond, featuring the truly iconic line: "Bond, James Bond".

Following Dr. No, the next film, From Russia With Love, had some very high standards to live up to, and it managed this perfectly. From Russia With Love was even more successful than Dr. No, and picks up on SPECTRE which was a common feature of the Ian Fleming books. The story follows Bond's attempts to find a cryptograph machine which was stolen from the Soviets. However, Bond is being followed by an assassin who has been instructed to kill him. The stand out scene of this film is when Bond and Tatiana Romanova board the Orient Express and meet the assassin, pretending to be a British agent in order to gain Bond's trust. This is where the traditional Bond gadget comes in. Q has provided Bond with an attache case, and for me this is the ultimate in gadgetry. The following fight scene is one of the finest in the Bond series, and when Bond and Romanova finally reach Venice with the Lektor device, we see the fight between Bond and the truly sinister Rosa Klebb. From Russia With Love is another diamond in the James Bond crown and is up there as one of my favourites. It firmly cemented James Bond as one of the most iconic cinematic characters ever.

Some how the next film tops the previous two. Goldfinger is absolutely phenomenal and many people consider it to be the best Bond film. Bond's investigation of Goldfinger and Goldfinger's plot to attack the US gold supply provided some incredible moments. The most obvious one is the horrific scene where Bond discovers that Jill Masterson has been killed by being painted gold all over by the sinister henchman who haunts the early part of the film, Odd Ball. Equally iconic is the laser scene with the classic line "Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die". Goldfinger also features many people's favourite Bond girl. Honor Blackman is wonderful as Pussy Galore, breaking with the tradition of many Bond films where the girl is hopelessly reliant on Bond. Finally, there is nothing more perfect about Goldfinger than another Q masterpiece. The Aston Martin DB5 and all it's adaptations, quirks and tricks has to be one of the greatest movie cars ever. Goldfinger is by far the ultimate Sean Connery James Bond film, and if you have to watch just one of his films, this should be it.

After the three films preceding it, Thunderball was always going to struggle in my eyes. It's by no means a bad film, in fact it's very good, but in comparison to the previous films it pales. Nevertheless, the underwater fight scene is another iconic James Bond moment, and financially, after inflation has been adjusted for it is the most successful ever. Thunderball sees even more of SPECTRE which has been lingering through all the previous films. The villain in Thunderball is the sinister Emilio Largo who has stolen two atomic bombs and is holding the world to ransom for £100 million in diamonds. Bond, helped by his timeless friend Felix Leiter and Largo's mistress Domino eventually defeats Largo and saves the day, as ever. In my opinion, Thunderball is an excellent Bond film. The jetpack in the opening scene sticks in my mind as one of the moments of the film, and the re-appearance of the DB5 can only ever be a welcome addition to a series which was now rapidly promising to be one of the most successful ever.

My favourite Sean Connery Bond film is You Only Love Twice, or YOLT as some of the youth of today would probably say. A little known fact about You Only Live Twice is that the script was written by Roald Dahl, and is the first Bond film to reject a lot of the original Ian Fleming story. You Only Live Twice revolves around the disappearance of two spacecrafts which was engineered by SPECTRE to force the world into war. Bond tries to solve the puzzle and is eventually confronted by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who has appeared in most of the previous films, but has never actually been seen. I have used the word 'sinister' a couple of times in this particular post, but a new word is necessary to describe Blofeld in this installment. Horrifying seems to do him justice. For me, this is the image of Blofeld that lingers in my mind, and every portrayal following You Only Live Twice doesn't quite live up to it. I can't decide whether it is the piranhas, used to punish anyone who fails Blofeld, or whether it is the epic nature of the film, or even if it's the storyline itself, but I absolutely love You Only Live Twice. It's not as good as Goldfinger, or even From Russia With Love, but I enjoyed it more, and for me that's the killer.

You Only Live Twice was to be Connery's last appearance as James Bond due to an argument with the producer Albert Broccoli, and he was followed by George Lazenby. However, they evidently resolved their dispute, and Connery was back for Diamonds Are Forever. This sees Bond impersonate a diamond smuggler in order to uncover a blot by Blofeld to build a giant laser. Bond has to fight his ultimate nemesis for the final time to defeat Blofeld once and for all. Naturally he does this with all due sophistication. No classic Bond film would be complete without a secondary villain though, and the slightly camp Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are threaded throughout the film creating a very scary effect. I am always a bit apprehensive whenever I see them in the movie, and this can only be a tribute to Bruce Glover and Putter Smith, however they are nowhere in comparison to some of the other Bond villains. The real shame about Diamonds Are Forever is that it is a black mark on the James Bond record of Sean Connery. Many critics have slated it, and it's without a doubt the worst of all Connery's Bond films.

Nevertheless Sean Connery is the best bond. Five out of his six Bond films are up there with the best for me. His witty one-liners, ultimate sophistication and timeless charm cement him as 'the' James Bond. The opening sequence in Goldfinger where he comes out of the water in his scuba suit, blows up the nitro and then, as entering the bar, strips off to reveal a perfectly crafted white tuxedo is beyond comparison. His films see some of the most iconic cars, villains, gadgets, songs, and women of the whole franchise and because of this, Connery will always stand as the quintessential British spy.

Skyfall - a Bond film for the modern era

May contain spoilers!

I love James Bond. Can I be absolutely clear on that right at the start. I absolutely love the suave and sophisticated Sean Connery, the emotion in the last scene of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Roger Moore's one liners, Timothy Dalton's....well, the less said about that the better really. Pierce Brosnan was my childhood Bond, and Goldeneye was a refreshing change of Bond film. But from there it went downhill for me. The budgets of the films were too large and just spent on making things explode. Casino Royale was a fantastic change, just as Goldeneye, but Quantum of Solace was, in my opinion, truly appalling. I thought it was the worst Bond film of the lot and so my hopes were not especially high as I tried to find the right number of seats in a darkened cinema before Skyfall started.

By the looks of the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kw1UVovByw) I was in for a treat, but still I was skeptical. The first scene however put all my misgivings to bed. For once, MI6 wasn't chasing the bad guys in a car which was the top model of the time. Granted the little yellow Citroen in 'For Your Eyes Only' wasn't exactly cutting edge, but it served a purpose. The car that Eve was driving at the beginning of Skyfall was evidently struggling to keep up with the action of Bond chasing the bad guy, Patrice, over the rooftops of Turkey. And so was I. Imagine my utter surprise when Eve misses the shot, hitting Bond who falls to his presumed death.

Here is the first flaw I found with the film. I might have missed something, but Bond was shot and fell from a considerable height, unconscious, into water. I have no idea how he survived. Obviously you can't kill off the main character in the opening scene, but unless Aragorn's horse, who must have qualities similar to phoenix tears, came to the rescue, I fail to see how he could have survived. Never mind though.

The attack on MI6 also showed a change from previous Bond films. Before now, MI6 have been impenetrable in the Bond world, and to have them attacked by a villain was refreshing. Refreshing appears to be my favourite word in this post.

When Bond was sent to Shanghai I thought the film took a slight downturn. It may have been the comfortable seats, or the fact that I had a long day at uni before, but I found myself needing something to keep me awake before the Komodo Dragon put in an appearance. But by that point I was anticipating the arrival of Raoul Silva. I loved Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, and similarly in Skyfall he did not disappoint with his fantastic acting, delightfully sinister character and improvisation with the role. I thought the sexual undertones of the conversation between him and Bond were fantastic. Also, the character history of Silva was compelling. A former agent who, instead of wanting to dominate the world either through women, the media or nuclear weapons, just wanted to get back at M.

When we first met Q I became convinced that Skyfall was a film made in 2012, rather than trying to rekindle the explosive action of 1999. Instead of being a gadget genius, Q was a programmer. In today's society the people who can do the most damage are those who can control computers, and this was a nice shift in the Bond ideology. I also appreciated the revelation that Silva's plan had been years in the making right down to the launching of a London Underground train at Bond through an explosion in the ceiling, which presumably had been set for a while.

The next lull in the film could not have been more exciting. Bond and M visiting Scotland to lure Silva out was not dull, but it merely set up the climax. The mention of Bond's lineage was also interesting, as no previous Bond film has ever mentioned his parentage. Another factor marking this film aside was that when Silva and his henchmen arrived and we saw them coming across the marshland towards the house I was genuinely worried about how Bond, assisted by two OAPs, would be able to survive. There was no massive fight between the archetypal good guy and bad guy, but the dominance of Silva in the initial battle was also quite refreshing. I thought it was interesting how, in my eyes, Bond only bettered him at the end of the film, and never took him on face-to-face. I must confess, I let out a little cry of despair when the Aston Martin from Goldfinger was destroyed. I loved that car.

M's death (I did warn you about the spoilers) was again a total break from previous Bond films. The last Bond film in which I was surprised about someone dying was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Women come and go in Bond's life, but for the last few years, Judi Dench's character has been a constant presence. The emotion that Daniel Craig showed when she died was a rare show of any sensitivity from a character who was written by Ian Fleming as a ruthless assassin. In the modern era, who can help but shed a tear when the woman who has been a constant presence in your life, almost a mother to you, dies and there's nothing you could have done about it?

This brought it around nicely for the franchise to be set up where Dr No picks up, chronologically speaking. Ralph Fiennes is one of my favourite actors ever, and I think he'll make a fantastic M. Also, the addition of Eve (Moneypenny) as his secretary was brilliant.

So, all in all, I was rather blown away by Skyfall. It was a welcome break from stuff exploding, Bond taking on ten henchmen and not being scratched by the bullets flying around him. It dragged Bond from the bland, boring and forgettable elements of Quantum of Solace, right into the modern era, with its computers and all which that entails.


Other James Bond Reviews:
Sean Connery (http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/sean-connery-as-james-bond.html)
Roger Moore (http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/roger-moore-as-james-bond.html)