Gendo. 2024.

[Gendo]

45. Escape Room (2017) - The one by Will Wernick, not the other one from the same year with the same title (the other one is also often listed as 2018, because that's when it was released in the US). And not the 2019 better-known one. Yeah it's confusing... Anyway, this movie was pretty bad, but I had a lot of fun watching it. All the characters were extremely unlikeable, seemingly intentionally so, and the actors really played into that that; they were enjoyable over-the-top. The biggest issue was the weird anticlimactic ending. They were building up to what would have been a really dumb twist, but then instead you just get a weird "there is no twist" type thing that doesn't make any sense.

46. Skylark (1993) - The sequel to Sarah, Plain and Tall. Better than the first one, I think. The story was more impactful, and you really felt the hardships that they had to endure. I liked the overall theme of not wanting to give up on the land due to your passion for it even in the face of much easier choices. And Glenn Close was fantastic.

[Gendo]

R16. X-Men: Days of Future Past - The last good X-Men movie, not counting Logan or Deadpool that is. Watched The Rogue Cut for what it's worth. In general going on a side-quest to rescue Rogue was a dumb thing that really hurt the overall pacing, but it did lead to a great scene of intercutting the 2 time periods. As a whole this is a good movie that holds up. They actually managed to make the sentinels intimidating, which was cool. And as with most X-Men movies, there's a lot of good non-action stuff with the characters and dialogue. The action itself was ok, but especially good when Magneto was doing his stuff. And of course that Quicksilver scene.

[Gendo]

47. Finding Dory (2016) - Still beautiful to look at and overall well made. But the story never had much of a chance at holding up to the stakes of a father trying to find his lost son. But my biggest issue was the lack of realism... maybe silly thing to say about a movie about talking fish, but in the first movie, it felt like the most unrealistic thing that happened, physicality-wise, was the fish at the end pushing their plastic bags out the window. In this movie, halfway though I found myself noticing how the fish were doing so much more ridiculously impossible physical feats in terms of getting around outside the ocean. And that was before the climax where an octopus literally drives a car down the highway. Sure things like that can happen in cartoons, but Finding Nemo was never the sort of cartoon where something like that would feel in place. Albert Brooks was great again, as was Ed O'Neill.

48. Dil Se.. (1998) - Fantastic film. The music numbers were all extremely enjoyable with a lot of really beautiful shots. As a whole there was a lot of beautiful sets and great cinematography. The story was quite deep with a likeable protagonist. Really it was like watching 2 very different films back-to-back, though they also made sense together. Before the intermission, we get a quirky and lighthearted love story about a guy pursuing a woman that he's fallen in love with, and trying to unravel her mysterious past while getting her to open up. Filled with music numbers that show the love through dance. Then after the intermission, we get an action thriller about trying to stop a group of terrorists from blowing up a parade. And it all connects together in a way that makes sense. It is a pretty sudden tonal shift, and I preferred the first half, but that's ok.

[Gendo]

49. Sarah, Plain & Tall: Winter's End (1999) - The final installment (of the movies, anyway; there were a couple more books after this). This one was still well done, but a bit weird because it really didn't seem to fit the themes of the other ones. The whole thing was about the singular event of Walken's father suddenly showing up after having left his family when Walken was a kid. It's was pretty irrelevant that they were farmers in the early 1900s in the middle of nowhere. The first ones were both all about the struggles of that type of lifestyle back then. Here, the same plot could have taken place anywhere at any time. Jack Palance was pretty great, and it was heartwarming enough.

[Gendo]

50. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) - Lots of fun. Shane Black really is the master of action-comedy. which is one of my favorite genres. The actual action itself was fairly typical 90s stuff, but the dialog and characters were great.

R17. Avengers: Endgame (2019) - 5 years later, and yeah I still love it. In my defense, I only watched it again as something to put on the background to help fall asleep. What stood out most to me this time was Silvestri's score. Pretty sure he's my second-favorite after Horner. Also, the way the film so perfectly wraps up an entire 22-film saga actually makes me mad that the MCU kept going after that. Even though there have been some good films among all the mediocre one in the past 5 years, I'd rather those films have been their own thing having nothing to do with these 22 films. They had the perfect ending and then just didn't know when to stop. Kind of like Scrubs not ending after season 8.

[Gendo]

R18. Panic Room (2002) - Definitely one of the best home invasion movies out there, though it's not exactly a field filled with tough competition. Generally just good suspense and an interesting plot. I never realized before this time around that that was Jared Leto.

51. Spartacus (1960) - Very impressive. Several scenes that were just so massive in scope; especially the marching of the troops before the final battle. Kirk Douglas was great, as were all the actors. My only real complaint was that it dragged on a bit after the final battle; lost some of its momentum when it went back to politics again. Also, as great as the "I'm Spartacus" scene was, it's overall impact was lessened a bit when he's captured and discovered just the same. But still, a pretty great movie as a whole.

[Gendo]

Finished M*A*S*H last night. Under 5 months for all 11 seasons. As a whole, quite a good show, but not one of my all-time favorites. I think Trapper was a better character than BJ, except in the few episodes where they actually focused on BJ. But most of the time, he was just pointless, and felt weird that they felt the need to actually directly 1:1 replace Trapper. Similar with Frank vs Charles. I don't like what they did with Frank... for a moment it seemed like he was getting some good character growth, and then in his last couple seasons he just slid way downhill in terms of how well-written he was. Charles got some great character growth, and the episodes where he was "good" were some of the best. Though it was inconsistent; he didn't get gradually better, he just bounced between being good and bad. Finally, I'm mad about Radar leaving. He was by far my favorite character.

[Gendo]

52. Mr. Imperium (1951) - Pretty charming, but nothing special. The leads had good chemistry and the singing was quite good.

[Gendo]

53. People Are Funny (1946) - Based on the radio/television game show. Pretty amusing, with some great musical acts and physical comedy. But not a whole lot to the story, characters, or dialogue. Overall an ok film.

So tonight marked the beginning of Bond-a-Thon; an event I originally planned over 4 years ago (it would have been in 2020 if not for COVID). I've only ever seen the Brosnan Bonds along with the first couple Craig ones, so lots of new movies will get watched over the next month. I'll try to do write-ups after each film so that I don't get them mixed up in my mind when writing about them.

54. Dr. No (1962) - Quite good! An interesting and intricate plot, an overall mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere, and some great charm and one-liners from Connery. The theme music was great, though a bit overused when it just always started playing whenever Bond was walking around. It had a fun style to the whole thing. I was surprised at the lack of gadgetry, as that's what I always associated James Bond with. He doesn't use any spy tools whatsoever here. I guess that evolves later. Similar with big action setpieces. Much more grounded than the Brosnan ones.

[Gendo]

55. From Russia with Love (1963) - Overall a solid follow-up to the last one. Kind of a weird combination of more grounded and less grounded. The plot itself was more grounded, being a more straight-forward spy thriller, while it started to introduce the crazy gadgets and bigger action. It was nice to see his supernatural ability to charm any woman actually work towards the plot this time (whereas him seducing Sylvia Trench had basically no effect on the plot). Robert Shaw felt a bit wasted, he was built up as a great antagonist but then basically didn't do anything. The attack on the gypsy camp and the fight in the train car were both particularly good.

[Gendo]

56. Goldfinger (1964) - I really liked it. Quite a surprising shift in tone though. I knew that it would get more ridiculous and less grounded than what I saw in the first two, but I thought it would be a more gradual slope. Instead, they kind of just go all out right away. Goldfinger and Oddjob both make great villains, and Goldfinger's scheme was interestingly unique. Though Bond does spend a lot of the film in captivity, which isn't exactly exciting. And him seducing Pussy Galore to save the whole day was a pretty bad deus ex machina. I really liked the music though, and the visuals as a whole were good.

[Gendo]

57. Thunderball (1965) - Still good, but not as good as the rest so far. It lost a lot of the silliness of Goldfinger, which makes sense given that it went back to the original director. It starts with him using a literal jetpack, and then never has anything nearly that silly afterwards. The climax was quite good; from the men parachuting out of the plane to the epic underwater battle. But once the battle ended, the ending felt very rushed. Bad guy dies, and it's almost instantly roll credits. The biggest issue it had was the lack of memorable characters. The villain was just fine, and I liked the scene of Spectre's status briefing meeting. But no one had as much personality as Dr. No or Goldfinger, or the sidekicks that Bond got in the first 2.

[Raxivace]

Thunderball is where I think the Connery era kinda falls off, though its interesting that it lead to that weird legal nonsense that lead to the movie being remade more or less as Never Say Never Again.

[Gendo]

So my event doesn't include Never Say Never Again or Casino Royale (Niven). 25 official Eon films only. Some day I'll get around to the others probably, but they aren't in my collection currently.

[Gendo]

58. You Only Live Twice (1967) - Really liked this one, possibly my favorite so far. I do think the villains were still nowhere near as good as in Goldfinger, but the overall story and action were great. A lot of really impressive sets and action sequences. And some really insane behind the scenes stuff. We watched "Inside You Only Live Twice" right after, a 30 minute documentary that came with my DVD bonus features. A lot of amazing (and tragic) stories about the making of the film. I do wish it had a bit more humor as a whole.

[Gendo]

59. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Didn't really like this one for the most part. The biggest issue was the overall cinematography... there was a lot of really awkward camera work; especially during the fight scenes. It was often hard to even tell which character was which in the one-on-one fights, and a lot of very rapid cutting combined with confusing angles made them pretty bad. On top of that, the sound editing during the fights made it seem like one of those old low-budget kung fu movies. The story wasn't bad, but not great either. Bond spent way too much time just undercover at the treatment center; pretty boring stuff there. I've seen people refer to the movie as "non-stop action", and really wonder if they watched the same film I just did. The stuff with Tracy and her dad was interesting but also weird. On the positive side, the scenes of the mountains and the action scenes with the skiing and the luges were all really pretty and impressive.

I read up a bit on other opinions, and it seems that in recent years, more people have been saying that they love this film and it's one of their favorite Bonds, if not their actual favorite. I see Maz said that it's his favorite, and Eva put it at #4. But I also know I'm not just crazy, the 3 people I just watched it with shared my criticisms.

[Gendo]

60. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - I think it was just fine. The action/fights were a noticeable improvement over the previous one, even if the plot was a bit more boring heist film.. up until the last act, anyway. The multiple Blofelds thing was silly but fun. It was a somewhat strange transition from the cold opening of him hunting down Blofeld to the rest of the film, with a pretty big shift in tone. I do think Connery was too old here. Even though it was only 4 years after his last outing, he appears to have aged more than that in between, and it shows in both appearance and physicality.

[Lord_Lyndon]

60. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - I think it was just fine. The action/fights were a noticeable improvement over the previous one, even if the plot was a bit more boring heist film.. up until the last act, anyway. The multiple Blofelds thing was silly but fun. It was a somewhat strange transition from the cold opening of him hunting down Blofeld to the rest of the film, with a pretty big shift in tone. I do think Connery was too old here. Even though it was only 4 years after his last outing, he appears to have aged more than that in between, and it shows in both appearance and physicality.

I was waiting till you get to this one so I could say something. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) was franzkabuki's favourite Bond film. His second favourite was Live and Let Die (1973). I found this on the list of his favourite films. I will post this list here so we can remember him by this.
From his imdb profile:

Top 10

Scarface
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
INLAND EMPIRE
Barton Fink
Lost Highway
The Shining
Taxi Driver
Days Of Heaven
Mulholland Dr
Apocalypse Now

11 - 25
The Big Lebowski
Dog Day Afternoon
Barry Lyndon
Brazil
Eyes Wide Shut
Jackie Brown
Fire Walk With Me
Zerkalo
Rosemary`s Baby
Diamonds Are Forever
Short Cuts
Miami Vice
The Tenant
Vertigo
Badlands

26-49
Last Year At Marienbad
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Who`s Afraid Of Virgina Woolf?
Blade Runner
Fargo
Blue Velvet
Prince Of The City
Boogie Nights
Out Of The Past
The Godfather Part 2
The Long Goodbye
The Hudsucker Proxy
Live And Let Die
Delicatessen
Point Blank
Blood Simple
The Player
Don`t Look Now
Sunset Blvd
My Son My Son What Have Ye Done
Night Moves
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Passenger
Klute

[Gendo]

I don't think I knew him, but it is comforting to see that I'm not the only one who prefers Diamonds are Forever to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I also see that he put Jackie Brown above Pulp Fiction, as I did (assuming he saw Pulp Fiction, anyway).

[Lord_Lyndon]

I don't think I knew him, but it is comforting to see that I'm not the only one who prefers Diamonds are Forever to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I also see that he put Jackie Brown above Pulp Fiction, as I did (assuming he saw Pulp Fiction, anyway).

He saw Pulp Fiction and he loved it. It was his second favourite Tarantino film. He saw much more films than me in his life. He saw at least 500 more films than me.

[Gendo]

Well Bond will return on Wednesday. Until then...

R19. 2012 (2009) - The effects are overall terrible, and the main characters are extremely cliché. But I still like it. I like that it's mostly about humanity, moreso than other disaster films. It's not about how we deal with or prevent the disaster; it's about how we face it. It's just basic over-the-top fun that you expect from Emmerich. I'd say as a whole The Day After Tomorrow is a better film, but they somehow manage to be different enough that there's room for both. Mostly in that 2012 just goes way bigger. I also really like how global it is, in terms of not having the United States or its government be the focus.

[Gendo]

3 things I forgot to mention with 2012. I also liked the general commentary on class warfare and the special privileges of the rich. Not deep or insightful or anything, but I thought it worked well. Danny Glover was pretty terrible as the president. And Woody Harrelson was excellent.

[Gendo]

R20. Stranger than Fiction (2006) - One of the best comedies out there. Super original, heartwarming, interesting, and excellent cast. Emma Thompson is especially great, but everyone is excellent.

61. Live and Let Die (1973) - I quite enjoyed this overall. The funniest Bond film so far, and really only the second one to really lean into the silliness. I do think it lacked some of the intensity and importance that many of the other films have had; it felt more like a general silly and over-the-top action movie than a spy movie. Not sure how to judge Roger Moore... I think he was fine overall, but definitely leaned more into Bond's silly side. Connery's bond felt more capable of actually being a top-notch spy. I never knew before now that the song Live and Let Die was made for a Bond movie. Probably the only Bond song that went on to general fame? All of the villains really looked like they were having a blast. Not quite as interesting as Odd Job, but it was just a lot of fun to watch them have fun. The whole boat chase and Louisiana sheriff thing was a bit too long, and aside from some good stunts as part of the boat chase, the movie probably could have just been shortened to not include the cops at all.

[Faustus5]

61. Live and Let Die (1973) - I quite enjoyed this overall.

This was the first Bond film I ever saw, at a drive in when I was a kid. I had never heard of Bond by this point and had zero expectations, but I was blown away and instantly became a fanatic Bond fan.

I don't know if you've covered The Man With the Golden Gun yet, but I had the privilege of writing the RPG module for that one, which financed me moving out on my own in my late teen years. I got sent an official copy of the script, which was pretty cool. (When I was young it was my favorite in the series, but. . .well, my feelings have changed.)

[Raxivace]

It's a shame Man With a Golden Gun isn't better because Bond vs. Christopher Lee should be a killer premise for a movie.

[Gendo]

I don't know if you've covered The Man With the Golden Gun yet, but I had the privilege of writing the RPG module for that one, which financed me moving out on my own in my late teen years. I got sent an official copy of the script, which was pretty cool. (When I was young it was my favorite in the series, but. . .well, my feelings have changed.)

That's really cool! The Man with the Golden Gun is tomorrow night.

[Gendo]

62. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Not terrible, but mostly boring. The wackiness of the last film was gone, but it wasn't replaced with any sort of good serious spy stuff either. Nothing felt important or interesting here. I like the idea of a villain who simply seems himself and Bond as being the same, and Christopher Lee was fine at doing that. Goodnight was just terrible; a pointless Bond girl who was just a really lame attempt at comic relief I guess. I've been generally avoiding reading other reviews of these until after I watch them and write up my thoughts, but I did read Rax's post already this time; and I definitely agree that Sheriff Pepper didn't need to return. Although he's a fun character for a certain type of movie; a James Bond movie isn't it.