EON James Bond Movies Ranked

Posted 2:30 PM by Gerald So

Image by Gerald So

Yesterday on Bluesky I ranked of EON's twenty-five James Bond movies:

25. No Time to Die
24. Spectre
23. Quantum of Solace
22. The World is Not Enough
21. The Man with the Golden Gun
20. Diamonds are Forever
19. Die Another Day
18. A View to a Kill
17. Octopussy
16. You Only Live Twice
15. Tomorrow Never Dies
14. Live and Let Die
13. Moonraker
12. Dr. No
11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. The Living Daylights
9. Skyfall
8. Licence to Kill
7. From Russia, with Love
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. GoldenEye
4. Casino Royale
3. For Your Eyes Only
2. Thunderball
1. Goldfinger

You can tell right away I didn't like the continuity of Craig's run, but I do appreciate all the Bond actors. Of the four who made more than two movies, you find some at the bottom of the ranks, some in the middle, and some at the top.

UPDATE: A day after posting the above, I realized I had yet to rank EON's six James Bond actors:

6. George Lazenby
5. Daniel Craig
4. Pierce Brosnan
3. Sean Connery
2. Roger Moore
1. Timothy Dalton

This is based only on time as Bond, not my overall opinion of each. I mildly surprised myself ranking Moore ahead of Connery. That's on the strength of Moore's redefining Bond for the 1970s and '80s where Lazenby failed. Without Moore, EON might have made only seven Bond movies.

Also, initially I ranked Brosnan fifth and Craig fourth because Craig made more movies. I decided the fun of Brosnan's movies edged out the number of Craig's. Dalton? Simply my favorite.

I welcome debate in the Comments.

Next Bond Unknown?

Posted 11:30 PM by Gerald So

According to Deadline, Denis Villeneueve is looking to cast a fresh-faced British actor in his 20s or 30s as the next James Bond.

I like casting an unknown. It brings to mind how special past Bond actor announcements felt. The only drawback is Amazon won't be able to market its first Bond movie on the actor's fame.

On a side note, I made the James Bond text logo in this post. Unlike EON's official 007 logo, it doesn't suggest a gun. Instead suggesting stealth, the red numbers hide in "BOND," camouflage his license to kill. The two zeros lie lengthwise to mimic an eight, so if you spot the seven, they seem part of a countdown.

With my own graphics made from free-for-personal- or free-for-commercial-use elements, my posts can be eye-catching and clear of official-image rights issues.

I also made a Superman text logo for my review of James Gunn's movie.

Amazon announces Steven Knight to write James Bond film directed by Villeneuve

Posted 2:30 PM by Gerald So

Five weeks after announcing Denis Villeneuve as the next James Bond director, Amazon revealed PEAKY BLINDERS creator Steven Knight as screenwriter.

As research on the next Bond, if you will, I've ordered the Knight-written EASTERN PROMISES and the Villeneuve-directed SICARIO on 4K disc.

Embed from Getty Images

Amazon MGM taps Villeneuve to direct Bond

Posted 5:00 AM by Gerald So

Wednesday this week Amazon announced the choice of Denis Villeneuve to direct the first James Bond movie since it took creative control from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

Villeneuve is one of the most respected and bankable directors today, and his hire continues Amazon's show of commitment to Bond. While I was hoping for a lighter touch, the tone of Villeneuve's previous films (SICARIO, BLADE RUNNER 2049, DUNE, for example) seems in line with Daniel Craig's run, and may make a seamless transition, dispelling the air of uncertainty.

Embed from Getty Images

Amazon Bond Begins

Posted 4:30 AM by Gerald So

Tuesday this week Amazon announced hiring execs Amy Pascal and David Heyman to shepherd James Bond on screen going forward. Thursday, Amazon MGM exec Jen Salke left that role for a producing deal with the studio.

From this, the industry reads that Salke was the main cause of friction between Amazon and the Broccoli-Wilson family. DEADLINE further reported Salke was left out of negotiations with Pascal and Heyman, who made their agreement contingent on reporting to Courtenay Valenti, not Salke herself.

I'm pleased with the hire. Pascal has experience producing Spider-Man and three of the latest Bonds; Heyman was behind the Harry Potter movies. That's the level of buzz expected of Bond movies.

Embed from Getty Images

"Do I look like I give a damn?"

Posted 4:30 AM by Gerald So

This Daniel Craig CASINO ROYALE quote is how I choose to react to the news Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have sold creative control of the James Bond film franchise to Amazon MGM Studios.

It's bad news in that the movies will no longer have the personal touch that began with Cubby Broccoli, but I've also taken issue with how rigid the family has been, not in their depiction of Bond over the years, but with how the movies are written, produced, and directed. This breeds familiarity but not the most excitement.

Can impersonal corporate giant Amazon hype new Bond movies? I think it would be smart of them to retain some Broccoli flavor at least with their first movie. From there, they can branch out. The history of the Bond movies is a big part of why people get excited for them. It would be a waste if Amazon didn't tap into that.

Some worry that Bond will be spun off to death, dilluting the big screen movies. I don't know that that's a major problem. I'm primarily interested in the big screen movies and would continue watching them and leaving the rest, my approach to Star Wars. Meanwhile, though, smaller Bond-adjacent projects could make money to enhance the big screen movies. MGM alone had struggled with financing for decades. Original co-producer Harry Saltzman sold his stake when 1974's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN underperformed.

Another concern is EON has mined Ian Fleming's twelve Bond books repeatedly already. Notice for Daniel Craig's run, they used Fleming titles CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE but Craig's five movies were really one prolonged story, not the usual varied adventures. SKYFALL's and SPECTRE's opening themes hinted at finality: "This is the end," "The writing's on the wall." These may have been signs EON was genuinely out of ideas.

Amazon may be more willing to tap post-Fleming sources such as John Gardner's or Raymond Benson's sequels or hire someone to write a wholly new, cutting-edge Bond screenplay. Amazon also doesn't need to take EON's approach of casting actors to play Bond for several movies. They could cast someone right for one movie, then cast someone else right for the next. Ultimately we'll see if Amazon can conjure Bond movie magic. I'll let you know if I feel it.

Bond and Sensitivity

Posted 3:00 PM by Gerald So

YouTube brought up last week's episode of military thriller author Jack Carr's Danger Close podcast, "What's next for James Bond?", with guest David Zaritsky, curator of The Bond Experience:




In the clip below, Carr and Zaritsky discuss the new editions of Ian Fleming's Bond books, which have been edited for sensitivity:




Carr and Zaritsky pan the editing and yearn for the books as originally published in the 1950s and '60s. While this stance is valid, it's very narrow-minded. It denies the Bond films, books, and trappings since the '60s have outgrown Fleming.

It's valid to revere Sean Connery as the first actor to play Bond in major motion pictures, two even in Fleming's life. I wonder, though, how many of those so-called purists have refused to watch or accept George Lazenby's, Roger Moore's, Timothy Dalton's, Pierce Brosnan's, or Daniel Craig's take on Bond. Have they also refused to read the post-Fleming Bond books?

Bond persists in the public consciousness because he's been allowed to change with us. If not, the audience at large would've left him behind. A handful of superfans would be trying to make a movie, struggling with funding for lack of interest. I doubt that's really what Carr and Zaritsky would prefer.

The new editions show Bond's value is independent of Fleming's sexism and racism. Surely true fans agree.

Ranking EON's James Bond Movies

© by Gerald So | 2:30 PM

Fellow Bond fans, debate me in the comments.

25. Die Another Day
24. A View to a Kill
23. The Man with the Golden Gun
22. Moonraker
21. You Only Live Twice
20. Diamonds are Forever
19. The World is Not Enough
18. Octopussy
17. The Living Daylights
16. Spectre
15. Quantum of Solace
14. Licence to Kill
13. Live and Let Die
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
11. Thunderball
10. GoldenEye
9. No Time to Die
8. For Your Eyes Only
7. Doctor No
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. Skyfall
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. From Russia with Love
2. Casino Royale
1. Goldfinger

Time for No Time to Die

© by Gerald So | 5:00 PM

I'm not much a fan of the thread connecting Daniel Craig's five Bond movies. As with any Bond actor's run, I've enjoyed some entries (Casino Royale, Skyfall) more than others, but the continuity meant No Time to Die had little chance of improving my overall opinion of Craig's run, and it didn't.

The stakes did seem more personal than ever for Bond, as his wife Madeleine becomes the key to learning more about a DNA-targeting poison gas Blofeld intended to use on Bond, but that someone else reconfigured, killing almost alll SPECTRE agents. Retired from the British SIS, Bond joins the action as a favor to his CIA friend Felix Leiter.

Bond trails Blofeld's mysterious enemy to an island set up to mass produce the poison gas. The only solution is to destroy the island with a missile strike before Blofeld's enemy or any world powers can exploit it. If all this sounds contrived to you, it plays contrived, too. As he narrowly paves the way for the missile strike, Bond falls prey to the poison.

Daniel Craig's Bond run will be remembered for its continuity and seemingly definitive end—only this won't be the last Bond movie ever, so there's less point in its definitive end.

The usual benefit of continuity is the audience is better able to connect with characters and grow that connection over multiple episodes. The Bond movies, however, weren't particularly related before Craig. Bond as traditionally presented by EON hasn't been someone the audience needed to connect with very much. He's a fantasy character who performs fantastic feats, not the kind to seek deep, human connection. There are points in the series—On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Timothy Dalton's run, and now Craig's—when the audience has been able to empathize with Bond, but that empathy doesn't last. Certainly if EON continues trying to humanize Bond with the next actor, they'll be criticized for repeating themselves.

ROBERT B. PARKER'S SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME by Ace Atkins

© by Gerald So | 4:30 AM

Atkins' ninth Spenser continuation novel was originally scheduled to be published next Tuesday, the 17th, but printing and distribution issues delayed it to January 12, 2021. Fortunately, Putnam Books publicist Nicole Biton sent me an advance ebook, which I reviewed yesterday at So Much to Talk About.

No Time to Die

© by Gerald So | 3:00 AM

It's been nine weeks between posts, but this post title isn't an ominous comment on my health. Frankly I'm in better shape thanks to finding Qinetic.com's Xumo channel.

No, this post is titled after yesterday's Bond 25 title reveal. Without fanfare compared to April's press launch, No Time to Die is the product of veteran Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga, The Bourne Ultimatum writer Scott Z. Burns, and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge, in the order they worked on the script.

According to 007.com:

In NO TIME TO DIE, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Who's with me next April?

Roger Moore Dies

© by Gerald So | 6:30 a.m.

Sir Roger Moore died yesterday at 89 after a brief battle with cancer. I grew up watching him as Simon Templar and James Bond.

The stature Connery attained playing Bond, Moore had before he came to Bond. True his Bond strayed from Fleming's harder-edged, fallible character, but that proved Bond could be played differently, something he proved continually over a tenure that remarkably matched Connery's for cultural impact, giving Bond much of the charm and humor that sustain the franchise.

His advanced age also marks years of kindness and commitment to bettering the world. That's a role model.

I've Finally Seen: SPECTRE (2015)

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 7:00 P.M.

James Bond is suspended after his pursuit of an assassin in Mexico City causes an international incident. Nevertheless, Bond enlists the help of Moneypenny and Q as he continues investigating a conspiracy threaded through Daniel Craig's entire run playing the character.

Mixed reviews kept me from seeing it in theaters, but I always knew I would dissect Spectre on video. The continuity of Craig's four movies is a flaw, in my opinion. As much as I like seeing familiar faces, that familiarity made this fourth time around feel more like episodic television than the event of Olympic proportions a Bond movie usually is. Too often the movie cut away from Bond, to what M, Moneypenny, and Q were doing. Sorry, but these are supposed to be Bond movies, not Bond and His Amazing Friends movies.

The identity of Christoph Waltz's villain, like Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan from Star Trek into Darkness, was poorly kept. Worse, after all the hype, he neither made a grand escape nor died magnificently. His final showdown wasn't even with Bond, but with M.

Meanwhile, Lea Seydoux rivaled Eva Green for her character's depth and chemistry with Daniel Craig. I got the sense Swan and Bond really would leave their lives behind to be with each other. This would have made a fine finale for Craig's Bond. The thing is it wasn't a finale; he's contracted for one more Bond movie.

On the other hand, Spectre is rumored to be Sam Mendes's last time directing Bond. He may have wanted to put the stamp on his time with the franchise, but because it is just another in Craig's tenure, I have to rank Spectre behind Casino Royale and Skyfall, ahead of only Quantum of Solace.

It appears we've reached the natural end of a story arc. If so, Craig's fifth and possibly final Bond film may feel out of place, hanging loosely from the rest.

Then again, Spectre may turn out to be Craig's final Bond film for another reason: It's the last film in Eon's current financing partnership with Sony Pictures. Eon's search for a new partner could put off progress on its twenty-fifth Bond film. If and when things pick up, Craig, like Timothy Dalton before him, could no longer want to play Bond.

LICENCE RENEWED by John Gardner

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 9:30 A.M.

In 1981, bucking cutbacks in the worldwide intelligence community, M reactivates the 00 Section, making Bond as its lone member, to spy on nuclear physicist Anton Murik, Laird of Murcaldy.

Bond learns that, having quit the International Atomic Energy Agency, Murik plans to force the world powers to let him build his self-proclaimed completely safe reactors by holding six nuclear power stations hostage. While working to stop this plot, Bond also discovers Murik's claim to lordship is false.

For me, a child of the 1970s, James Bond was kept alive by Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and John Gardner. After reading Kinsley Amis's 1968 Bond novel, Colonel Sun, I followed the urge to read Licence Renewed for a sense of how Gardner first approached the character.

The approach seems the same as in the three Gardner Bonds I'd read previously. Not much to identify with, but that's because, according to Raymond Benson's introduction to the 2011 Pegasus Books paperback, despite letting Gardner set Bond in the current year, Glidrose (now Ian Fleming Publications) denied him much say in how he wrote Bond, dictating an objective, camera-like prose style and holding plots to "the Bond formula".

COLONEL SUN by Kingsley Amis

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 6:30 A.M.

In the first James Bond continuation novel, published May 28, 1968, the sixtieth anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth, Bond happens upon a brazen attack on the estate where his chief, Admiral Miles Messervy (M), is convalescing. The assailants kidnap M and nearly Bond himself. Clues deliberately left in the aftermath lead Bond to Greece where, with the help of two natives, he uncovers plans for an attack by the Communist Chinese on a Russian conference. Bond's and M's bodies were to be planted so as to blame the attack on the British.

Born in the 1970s, I can't very well relate to Colonel Sun's initial reception, but I can look at it in light of almost fifty years of subsequent Bond adaptation and continuation books and movies. I like that Amis's novel is steeped in the political tension of the time and that his Bond has none of the exaggerated personality and gadgetry of the movies. This is a very personal quest and plausible plot. Bond's main adversaries, on the other hand, are more familiarly Fleming-like in their physical quirkiness and mental derangement.

Continuation is tricky. New authors can neither please all of the original author's fans nor get away with everything the original author did. Like the movie of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it seems Colonel Sun has been more appreciated with time. It was well worth my snapping up a copy of the 2015 Vintage Books paperback.

The Specter of Ian Fleming

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 11:00 A.M.

The first full trailer for Eon's twenty-fourth James Bond movie, Spectre, was released yesterday:




I don't put much stock in trailers, especially for movies I already know I'm going to see. That said, I'm less enthused about Spectre than most Bond fans, mainly because it continues an arc that has run through all of Daniel Craig's Bond movies.

At first, I was intrigued that Quantum of Solace would pick up right where Casino Royale left off, but that continuity didn't drive Quantum very far. I found Craig's second movie oddly artsy, I daresay dull.

Skyfall didn't pick up directly from Quantum. Its plot was exciting, but as Bond came back from a very close brush with death, he seemed older, as if he'd lost a step. I forgot Skyfall was only Craig's third Bond film, and he was signed for two more.

I thought Casino Royale would start a string of younger, grittier adventures the franchise needed to refresh itself. Craig's movies haven't turned out that way, and with Spectre closely linked to Skyfall, Bond will be toting that baggage.

A big draw of Spectre is the return of archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld to the franchise. I, too, was excited to hear the trailer's musical nod to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. With a few hours to think about it, though, I don't want new movies to nod too plainly to old movies. I want the writers to come up with new plots for Bond. To me, that's only real way to keep Bond relevant to 2015.

I hear you saying, "Bond was created by Fleming. Part of his charm is his 1950s attitude." Yes, but Fleming's books don't have to be relevant to today. Movies made and set today do.

James Bond Radio

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 10:00 A.M.

James Bond Radio is one of my favorite podcasts, produced every Friday from the U.K. by Tom Sears and Chris Wright.

A few years my junior, Tom and Chris undoubtedly know more about Bond than I ever will. And as big a Bond fan as I am, their enthusiasm has given me new appreciation for the books and movies that weren't my favorites.

Here are my answers to their Quickfire Questions:

Favorite Bond Film?

Licence to Kill. Roger Moore's Bond films had become farce, and though I was expecting Pierce Brosnan to take over in the 80s, Timothy Dalton gave gritty performances needed to bring the character back to his roots. Plus, unlike Moore, Dalton did some of his own stunts. I like to say Dalton was Daniel Craig twenty years early. I like Licence to Kill particularly because Bond goes rogue.

Favorite Bond Book?

From Russia, With Love. It features Bond in his prime and puts his life at more risk than usual.

Favourite Bond Girl?

Tracy di Vicenzo, a.k.a. Mrs. James Bond. You can't do better than Diana Rigg in a Bond movie. Unfortunately, it's also hard to get worse than George Lazenby as Bond.

Favorite James Bond Actor?

Timothy Dalton. Connery is great, but he's enough fans' favorite.

Earliest Memory of Bond?

Watching one of the Moore films—probably Octopussy—on broadcast TV.

Bond location you’d love to visit?

Jamaica.

Favorite scene in the series?

The restroom shooting from the pre-credits sequence of Casino Royale.

Most Bondian thing you’ve ever done?

Jumped out of the way of a train, though I bumbled into its path to begin with, which wasn't very Bondian, so I'll say, "Crack one-liners."

The Continuing Mission

William Thomas, a member of Spenser's Sneakers, posted today that he had read Ace Atkins' first Spenser continuation novel, ROBERT B. PARKER'S LULLABY. Though he enjoyed it, he thought Atkins fell short of imbuing the characters with the particular attitude Parker seemed to bring to his fiction and his life. William called it "sincere nonchalance". Others might call it amused disinterest.

I replied:

I often wonder how much of his attitude was a face he showed the world. I've heard he was the same person privately and publicly. But his son David's eulogy mentioned that he was like three men: the caricaturish "Ace", Robert B. Parker the author, and Bob the family man.

One way or another, Atkins will fall short of Parker. The only one who wouldn't fall short is Parker himself. Each of us is inimitably different, making it so special to get to know and befriend anyone. When that person is gone, he's gone. But Atkins knows this and doesn't psych himself out trying too hard to imitate Parker.

He's doing what John Gardner did with Ian Fleming's James Bond, bringing Spenser and friends somewhat up to date, picturing how their lives might have continued, because readers want great characters to live on. When I read a Travis McGee book, for example, I imagine what Travis would think of 2013. Part of me wants to believe he's still out there.

Buy Another Day

By the time I decided yesterday's Amazon Gold Box deal on Bond 50 was worth my money (I already own most of the Bond movies I like on DVD, three on Blu-ray, and the same transfers were used for Bond 50), the supposed all-day price of $99.99 ($108.61 with New York tax) had sold out.

I'm not kicking myself too hard. If the price had been a tad better, my internal accountant would have said, "Yes! Buy now!" Instead, I'll keep an eye out for another deal or just buy more of my favorites if they're released individually.

Meanwhile, I did get in on the earlybird registration fee for Bouchercon 2013 in Albany ($150 until December 31). Paying it this month means it won't be among my last-minute Christmas expenses.

SKYFALL

My brother and I saw Skyfall last week, and my review posted to Crimespree Magazine's blog today. Thanks as always to entertainment editor Jeremy Lynch.