Movie Review - GoldenEye (1995)

Sometimes patience is more than just a virtue; sometimes it's a saving grace. After nearly thirty years of James Bond movies being released just about every other year, the movie producers realized that their ideas, originality, and ability to spark the interest of others was waning. On top of that, their 1989 movie License to Kill was a box-office flop, probably the least-grossing film in the series to date (although I still think it's a pretty good movie myself, but I digress...). As a result of a couple of downer movies, the producers decided it was time to find a new James Bond since Timothy Dalton (who played James Bond and the evil grocery store owner Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz, if that helps put anything into perspective) wasn't doing the best job. So they waited. For six years.

But once they finally announced Pierce Brosnan as their new Bond, things started to look interesting, seeing as Brosnan had played a debonair detective in the TV show Remington Steele for several years and was apparently a looker for the times. And the movie itself certainly didn't disappoint. This movie is the Bond movie that I could potentially watch over and over again more than any of the other ones, just because of how wildly entertaining it is. Before the main titles can even start, two death-defying stunts were performed, considered landmarks for their time: an extremely high and dangerous bungee jump, and later a motorcycle jump off a cliff following a plane that had to be reached in free-fall.

It's absolutely jaw-dropping, and the film just takes off from there. I'll admit that it has its slow moments at the beginning, but the pacing is never painfully slow, dry, or boring as the franchise was guilty of in its earlier years. The entire cast was revamped for the end of the twentieth century, featuring much more modern characters with only one returning veteran. The plot itself wasn't focused so much on the Cold War as it had been in the past few movies, so Bond was able to move on to more interesting and complex assignments. The story itself is incredibly engaging and one that won't be easily forgotten. The action scenes were definitely the best in the series at the time, and in my honest opinion, the only movie that beat GoldenEye on this was probably Casino Royale in 2006.

There have been several critics that say this film is too flashy and superficial, relying on gadgets and explosions and eye candy to sell itself. While that could definitely be true, it certainly has me hooked, so I don't care. There was also a video game, incidentally, based off of the movie that was wildly popular, and if you haven't heard of it, I recommend looking it up to see what all the hype was about. But I would really give this movie a try, especially if you're an action movie aficionado like myself.

Ten Things You May Not Have Known About James Bond

Following in the steps of my recent James Bond movie reviews, I thought I would include a few bits of trivia about the whole Bond scene that are somewhat interesting (to me, at least) and are probably unknown to you.

1. The name "James Bond" is the name of an ornithologist. And a boring one at that.

The author of the original James Bond novels, Ian Fleming, got the name for his iconic character from the author of a book called "Birds of the West Indies." Fleming apparently chose this name because of how boring, flat, and basic it sounded.

2. Not all the Bond girls were always girls.

Although she really wasn't a main character, one of the girls from For Your Eyes Only had a sex change only a couple of years prior to landing the role. Director John Glen said she was "one of the prettiest girls on set."

3. Bond has a drink every 24.3 minutes.

Throughout the course of the 22-movie series, James Bond has had over 115 drinks, with a mean time of 24.3 minutes between each one. He doesn't go without style though: he's only had one beer of all those drinks. The rest are champagne, wine, and, of course, vodka martinis.

4. The movies were rated PG for twenty-five years running.

From Dr. No in 1962 up until License to Kill in 1989, all of the Bond movies were rated PG...although I'm sure there is plenty of controversy over this, seeing as how nudity snuck its way into a couple of the films along the way. For the past twenty years, the movies have remained a steady PG-13, and they plan to stay that way.

5. Die Another Day contains references to every single Bond film before it.

This movie was released in 1962: forty years after the first Bond movie and fifty after the first Bond book was released. As a tip of the hat to the franchise, the producers put in both subtle and obvious references to every single 007 movie from the past forty years, and even had Bond posing as an ornithologist (see #1) as his cover, giving kudos to Ian Fleming's work as well.

Movie Review - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

You may wonder why there's been a sudden thirteen-year leap from the last movie that was reviewed. Don't forget that I said I was going to review the better and more iconic James Bond movies. Not that I'm saying the ones in between weren't good, but they weren't big. They weren't awesome and epic. They weren't The Spy Who Loved Me.

I think a little bit of background is in order. Sean Connery, the first actor to play James Bond, left the 007 scene after his 1967 movie You Only Live Twice, which was mediocre at best. Some unlikeable Australian guy named George Lazenby took the helm, did a terrible job, and Sean Connery returned for one film after Lazenby's before calling it quits for good (but not really). Roger Moore, a good old bona fide British man who had been in the running since the franchise started, picked up the next movie and starred in two of the campiest Bond movies to date before finally reaching this real gem.

The Spy Who Loved Me is an espionage thriller about Bond on a mission to thwart the plans of an evil genius bent on world domination by kidnapping submarines and keeping them in his lair (go figure, right?). And despite a pretty cheesy plot and an even cheesier funky 70's soundtrack, this movie actually is pretty exciting for its time. The opening scene (the latter half of which can be seen here) is considered among fans to be one of the best in the series, and the stunts are all incredibly real, all the way to the jaw-dropping end. The story is actually multi-faceted and pretty deep, and the movie brings along a real colorful cast of characters from the beautiful Russian agent Anya to the holy-crap-he-scares-me-every-time henchman with HUGE metal teeth known simply as Jaws. The run time is a little over two hours, so the film never seems rushed trying to get the plot across.

Although this is a Roger Moore Bond film and these are the ones known for their wackiness and campiness, Moore manages to tone it down a little and turn out to be a pretty hard-edged, suave Bond, which is a surprise to anyone who's ever watched any of his other James Bond movies. Namely, this one:

Movie Review - Goldfinger (1964)

If you've ever seen any of the Austin Powers movies, you know how ridiculously extravagant and over-the-top they are. Goldfinger is the first James Bond movie to really go above-and-beyond anyone's perception of reality.

Goldfinger was the third movie in the James Bond series, released a year after From Russia With Love, which came out in 1963. Like I said, this is a movie that marks a starting point for many of the James Bond traditions and stereotypes that exist all the way through today. There are more outrageous plot schemes, inappropriately-named girls (just watch the movie and see), diabolical villains, trademarked henchmen, exotic locations, neat little gadgets, and a whole lot more.

The movie centers around our hero, James Bond, trying to take down a millionaire (or billionaire, maybe) who plans to take over Fort Knox in Kentucky and irradiate the gold supply there, making it useless. Such an act would cripple the world economy and boost the value of his own personal gold supply by millions.

This villain comes equipped with a ranch/lair, a giant laser that almost puts and end to a major part of who James Bond is, a fleet of crop-duster-turned-nerve gas-spreader planes piloted by a crew of good-looking women, and a very strong, mute henchman with a bowler hat that can decapitate marble statues among many other things. James Bond, however, is not alone. Mi6, the secret service agency for whom he works, provides him with an Aston Martin with missiles, a machine gun, an ejector seat, interchangeable revolving license plates; and a tracking device in his shoe so they can keep an eye on him. Along the way, James Bond meets three different girls and uses his libido to get any information he might need--all to his gain, of course.

This movie is replete with action scenes, an epic soundtrack, and a gripping ending, as well as all the other things above that defined who James Bond was. If there's a movie you want to see that really captures this essence and is a pretty good movie for its time, go for Goldfinger.

The James Bond Movies - Introduction

There is no longer and more amazing movie franchise in history than the James Bond one. Starting in 1962 and still chugging along with its latest release in 2008, this 22-movie series has changed considerably over time, but has always remained a very deep personal favorite of mine.

If you haven't heard of James Bond before, shame on you. Unless you've been living under a rock or something.

If you haven't seen a James Bond movie before, that's understandable enough. Perhaps the reason you haven't is only because you've never gotten around to it. Or maybe it's because it's never really appealed to you. Both are pretty legitimate reasons, and I hope to convince you that there are some pretty classic James Bond movies out there, even amidst some pretty terrible ones. And this is a huge fan talking.

So, I figured I would take a break from all these random, artsy-fartsy movies for a little while and review some of the more classic James Bond movies, as well as some of the more shameful ones perhaps. My goal is to convince those of you who have never seen a movie to try and see at least one of the twenty-two James Bond movies out there. If nothing else, do it for cultural literacy!

So, in a few days, I will begin this effort. But in the meantime, enjoy this little warm-up trailer: