Live and Let Die took the Bond Franchise into a new direction with confidence and certainty that it lacked with the release of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Coming off of the disappointing Diamonds Are Forever with it’s over the top silliness and camp, Live and Let Die has a much better mix of drama, …
Category: Bond Blogs
Diamonds Are Forever – What’s Old Is New Again
Sean Connery reprises his role of James Bond in the film that would also be his swan song (at least for the Eon produced features) with a new energy that was missing in You Only Live Twice. Unfortunately Diamonds Are Forever is much closer in quality to that film rather than the earlier, stronger films in …
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – The Franchise Changes Direction
The first James Bond film to made without Sean Connery in the title role is another mixed bag. Certainly not as good as Goldfinger or From Russia With Love or Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service seems to be trying to hold on to what made Bond so popular while also trying to head in …
You Only Live Twice: The Franchise Gets Serious
You Only Live Twice is a film that is loaded with contradictions. It’s the weakest of the Bond films to date, and yet it has the best climax. The sexism and misogyny are over the top, and yet Bond finds himself married at the end to a woman who wouldn’t give in to his lust …
Thunderball: The Franchise Grows (Up)
Thunderball is the most interesting of the Bond films so far, but not only due to the story or the action, but also due to the circumstances. Released in 1965, it made $65.5 million in the domestic box office, outdoing the previous year’s Goldfinger by more than $12 million. Those are amazing box office numbers …
Goldfinger: A Franchise Hits its Stride
If From Russia With Love was the film in which the James Bond franchise found its voice and its legs, then Goldfinger is certainly the film in which the franchise hit its stride. It’s consistently in the top 2 or 3 of any list of favorite Bond films, and it certainly is the film that …
From Russia With Love – A Franchise Finds its Voice and Creates a Genre
If Dr. No was an underwhelming introduction to the world of James Bond, then From Russia With Love represents a literal and figurative second wind that introduces more of the Bond motifs and turns everything up several notches. It also has a fairly literal interpretation of the Hero’s Journey, which in turn provides a story …
Dr. No – An Unlikely Launching of an Iconic Franchise
It’s difficult to look at Dr. No today, more than 50 years after it’s initial release, and not look at it as dated. It’s also difficult to imagine how this film launched one of the most successful film franchises in the history of cinema. In all honesty, it’s a surprisingly unremarkable movie. Aside from having …
An Announcement from Monument Scripts
It occurred to me recently that I have seen exactly half of James Bond films. For someone who considers himself to be a film buff, I felt like this was an unacceptable situation. I therefor decided that I would watch all of the Bond films from Dr. No through Skyfall in order, re-watching the films …