I'm currently in the middle of a little undertaking (for want of a better word) that I like to call Bond from the Beginning, which I shall now briefly (and, perhaps, pointlessly) introduce.
The task is simple: to watch all of the James Bond films, in order, from the start. The current iteration of this only includes the official Eon films -- so no TV Casino Royale, no spoof Casino Royale, and no Never Say Never Again. I've attempted this before (around 2002), where I only made it as far as Diamonds Are Forever. As you can see from my latest viewing, I'm doing better this time.
There are a couple of reasons for trying this. Like many boys & men in the UK (and elsewhere, of course), I've grown up with the Bond films around, catching them on TV, video and -- starting with Tomorrow Never Dies for me -- at the cinema. In this way I've seen them when I could, and generally out of sequence. I've never watched them progress in order from the start. Considering them in this way obviously puts each film in a different context to viewing them out of sequence, so I was intrigued by the chance to re-evaluate the 21 (so far) Bond films in this way.
Additionally, I've always struggled to definitively list my favourite Bond films in order of preference. Some people like to bandy around phrases like "it's in the top half of Bond films", especially as there are a neat 20 (before the Daniel Craig re-boot) and so they could be split cleanly into a Top 10 and Bottom 10. What better chance to create a definitive list of my favourites than when going through them in order? So that's what I'm doing. Obviously, I'll post said list when I reach the end. As I've been going I've also written mini-reviews of each film (intended for my other blog), which I'll now begin to post here.
I can't say how long this will take me to finish -- I've already been going since about April 2007 -- but now you can follow it all here. And at some point, there may be Bond from the Beginning 2...
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4 comments:
I watched them all in order once, ITV did a Bond Season where they showed them all. It was a fair few years ago now though, way back when I was still at school. I think around the time The World Is Not Enough was being released in cinemas.
So obviously this didn't include Die Another Day either.
It did include "Never Say Never Again" though.
I remember that season. I taped them all, each on a fresh tape, lovelyly labelled. So, clearly, well before DVD too. And, as you may have guessed, I didn't watch them all. (In fact, it was only about 18 months ago that I finally got round to seeing two of the Moores.)
It was also so long ago that I was able to tell you the plot, villain and "bond girl" for each of the stories, and list the films in order.
Now I'm sorry to say I can barely distinguish between the movies. I'm reduced to "the one with the bulletproof cello chase down a hill" and the like.
(I think that was The Living Daylights, but I wouldn't put money on it)
Also, as I mentioned TWINE, I was listening to the song earlier and not only is it obviously the last Bond theme that goes anywhere near the right side of quality, I've just decided it's probably one of the best, period.
It is indeed The Living Daylights.
I can usually do all the names of the films in order, but I don't know about any other details (other than who's Bond, of course, and probably the basic plot for most of them... maybe all... can't say I've tried...)
I hated the TWINE theme when it was first released, but I like it more now. I have a demo one by a band called Straw that I always liked more, though I haven't listened to it for a while.
Madonna's theme was shit, of course, but I liked You Know My Name. Not a movie one, but I quite like the one they chose for Devil May Care.
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