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The Great James Bond Movie Rewatch of 2022 Update Again, Yet Again, Still Yet Again

We’re getting near to the end now. The Bond movies will be removed from Amazon Prime Video at some point tonight (midnight?) and I will likely have three movies left to watch. I own a copy of one of them on iTunes. If the other two (including No Time to Die, which is the only Bond movie I have never seen) don’t move to a new streaming service right away I will rent them from iTunes. Everything is lined up for success.

So where was I? The last time I posted I had just started The World is Not Enough. It’s the first of a new trend of bad guys targeting M movies. It was okay but nothing special. The action sequences were starting to get cartoony again, and Pierce Brosnan was starting to seem a little out of his depth. He’s not bad per se, but he’s just no longer looking like someone who was born to play Bond. The pithy comebacks are not landing quite the way they used to. The villain is good. The henchman who can’t feel pain is blah. The diabolical plot is better than the previous movie but not all that interesting. It’s an average quality Bond movie. I liked it, but didn’t love it.

Die Another Day was better than I remembered it, but the longer I watched, the worse it got. I know it was the 20th movie and they wanted to honor that, but the call backs were just too much. The jet pack was cute and all but enough is enough. We’ve done the lasers thing before, we didn’t need to do it again. The bad guy was awful. The whole -I can’t sleep so I am rich- thing was dumb. The DNA replacement was idiotic. The invisible car was unforgivable. I mean… come on, folks. An invisible car? Give me a break, please. That wasn’t what bothered me the most though (close but no cigar). What bothered me the most was using slow motion in the action sequences. I hate movies that show action sequences in slow motion. I hate it.

Casino Royale is the only Ian Flemming novel that I read before seeing the movie. I read them all, in order of publication. Casino Royale was the first one. They didn’t make it into a movie until the 21st century because Flemming sold the rights to a different studio. The first film version was a made for TV movie in the US where Bond was an American CIA agent (I believe he was called Jimmy Bond). The first film was the spoof from the 60’s that I am pretty sure was written by Woody Allen. The book was good enough to make me want to read them all. The first few Connery movies are reasonably close to the books. Not exact but in the ball park. By the time Roger Moore comes around the only things the movies and the books have in common are the title and some of the character names. That’s all. The Casino Royale movie is someone close to the book. The card game and the torture scene are very similar. In the book it’s baccarat, not poker. I am pretty sure the double cross at the end came from the book too.

How is the movie? It’s the only post-Connery movie that legitimately holds up against the best Connery movies. It’s freakin’ awesome. It’s a reboot so it gave the studio the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over, without the silliness and the gimmicks and the Bond-cliches. Where the Brosnan era action sequences were feeling goofy, these are riveting and intense. The goal isn’t spectacle anymore, it’s excitement and every single one of them works perfectly. This movie is so good it makes all of the crappy movies that came before it worth while. If I were to rank my favorite Bond movies I think Casino Royale would be forth behind From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball. Actually it might come in third, ahead of Thunderball. It’s not just a great Bond movie, it’s a great movie.

As I type this I am watching Quantum of Solace. It’s good, but it’s not even close to as good as Casino. All of the positives regarding the action sequences are still there. It’s super intense all the way through. Daniel Craig continues to be the perfect violent, vicious, mean and nasty killer Bond. The story just isn’t quite as good. It’s not bad, but it’s just not as good as Casino Royale. I am down to the last 15 minutes so I will consider this blurb my official entry.

Here is the complete list of movies, along with the Rottentomatoes.com score that I don’t always agree with. Three more movies to go, and when it’s all done I will finally be able to say that I’ve seen them all.

  • Sean Connery
    • Dr. No (1962) 95% – Finished
    • From Russia with Love (1963) 97% – Finished
    • Goldfinger (1964) 99% – Finished
    • Thunderball (1965) 85% – Finished
    • You Only Live Twice (1967) 74% – Finished
  • George Lazenby
    • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) 81% – Finished
  • Sean Connery (Again)
    • Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 63% – Finished
  • Roger Moore
    • Live and Let Die (1973) 65% – Finished
    • The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) 40% – Finished
    • The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 81% – Finished
    • Moonraker (1979) 59% – Finished
    • For Your Eyes Only (1981) 69% – Finished
    • Octopussy (1983) 42% – Finished
    • A View To A Kill (1985) 37% – Finished
  • Timothy Dalton
    • The Living Daylights (1987) 73% – Finished
    • License to Kill (1989) 79% – Finished
  • Pierce Brosnan
    • GoldenEye (1995) 80% – Finished
    • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 56% – Finished
    • The World Is Not Enough (1999) 51% – Finished
    • Die Another Day (2002) 56% – Finished
  • Daniel Craig
    • Casino Royale (2006) 94% – Finished
    • Quantum of Solace (2008) 64% – Finished
    • Skyfall (2012) 92%
    • Spectre (2015) 63%
    • No Time to Die (2021) 83%

Powerball Fantasy

At lunch today I went to the store and bought a few Powerball tickets. The drawing is at 11:00pm Eastern time tonight and the jackpot is currently 1.2 billion dollars.

I could handle that.

The one time payout would drop the winning to about 600 million, and taxes would drop it to around 300 million or so. Petty cash, right? Jen and I have been sitting in the living room fantasizing about what we’d do if we win. New house and paying mortgages for everyone in the family. College funds for all the school age kids in the family. Huge new house for us. Houses for the kids. Destination properties in our favorite places to travel to. San Diego (probably La Jolla) and Manhattan.

You know, the usual instantly rich people plans.

I’m sorry to all of the people who bought tickets who will not be winning because Jen and I will be winning. Better luck next time, everyone.

Week 26 Weigh In

For the second week in a row I was worried that my great big increase in my protein goal which resulted in a great big increase in food intake would lead to an underwhelming loss this week, or maybe even a gain. I was seriously nervy when I stepped on the scale this morning.

Nope, I lost almost as much this week as last week. I am down 4.6 pounds, which brings me to 273.4. Epic.

No weight loss milestones this week, but I’m nearly in position to hit a few next week, assuming this pace continues. Total weight loss since surgery is now 158 pounds exactly. Total weight loss since the first check in at the clinic is now 178.6. My BMI has dropped from 33.8 last week to 33.3 today.

I guess my change in exercise helped out this week. I have gone from ~45 minutes of walking, or a walk/jog hybrid, to jogging in place for ~40 minutes. For the second day in a row my exercise and calorie goals (as set on my Apple Watch, not by a doctor) were both closed before I started my work day. That’s ridiculous.

This is just me speculating right now, it’s not anything like a goal or anything. We are scheduled to leave for Disney World on January 4th. I am 21.4 pounds away from hitting the 200 mark since the first weigh in. Am I going to be able to hit 200 pounds by Disney? I’m exactly 42 pounds away from 200 since the surgery. I don’t see that happening, but the trip starts 10 weeks from today. If I average four pounds a week… it maybe could happen. Holy shit!

The next weigh in will be the six month weigh in on Friday 11/4. I don’t expect to be down four pounds again, but if I am down anything at all, 0.01 pounds even, then I will consider it a successful two days. Maybe I’ll do an extra 40 minute run tonight, just for fun. Or more accurately, just for “fun”.

The Great James Bond Movie Rewatch of 2022 Update Again, Yet Again, Again

I have made so much progress on this idiotic Bond movie rewatch. Amazon Prime Video is dropping the whole series on Friday (I think). I have all of the Daniel Craig movies, except for the most recent one, on iTunes so I need to get through Pierce Brosnan before Amazon fails me. I can do it. Probably with time to spare. Why? Because I blew through FIVE movies since the last post. Woah!

A View to a Kill is the final Roger Moore movie, thankfully. I think he was probably 85 years old (kidding) and it shows. Christopher Walken plays a decent psycho, but he’s a little over the top. Was he trying to make up for the rest of the cast? Probably. Grace Jones… eh. Sorry. Tanya Roberts… ugh. The chase scene with the fire engine is ridiculous but fun. Over all I think it was better than I remembered it, but it’s not very good. There’s nothing overtly bad about it, there just isn’t much to work with.

The Living Daylights is one of my all time favorites. I freakin’ love that movie. Timothy Dalton brings a little menace back to the roll without taking it too far. I think this is the first Bond movie that I was aware of at the time of it’s release, and I clearly remember people trashing it because Bond only bangs one Bond girl. Aids was in full terror mode and the idea of sexual promiscuity was something society was trying to avoid. Hence only one sexual partner for ol’ 007. I didn’t have a problem with it then and I don’t have a problem with it now. The movie is just great. I enjoyed it every bit as much as I hoped I would. In a historical context, rooting for the Afghan resistance knowing that one of those fighters would grow up to be Osama Bin Laden is uncomfortable at best, but they do stick it to the commies, so I guess it’s okay.

Licensed to Kill was better than I remembered, but still not as good as Living Daylights. The bad guy was kind of annoying rather than scary. We’re sort of back into bad stereotype land with this one. Its a good movie but not on my all time greats list. Wayne Newton though? Huh? The worst part of the movie for me is knowing that it’s the end of Timothy Dalton’s reign. We hardly knew ye, oh T-Dal.

Goldeneye is another one of the greats. Pierce Brosnan, on paper, is the perfect Bond actor. It doesn’t turn out that way in the end, but with this movie on it’s own? Perfect. Everything about this movie works for me. Absolutely everything. Sean Bean is great, Famke Jenson (did I spell that right?) is way over the top but not too annoying. The computer nerd hits a little too close to home for your humble computer nerd blog post writer, but that’s okay. The chase scene with the tank would have been stupid if Roger Moore had been driving but Brosnan somehow pulls it off. This is another that goes on my short list of favorite Bond movies.

Tomorrow Never Dies… I didn’t hate it. It’s not terrible. It does feel way too spoofy. In general I just don’t like Jonathan Pryce. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s very good at his job (go watch Brazil, or Game of Thrones, or Whose Line is it Anyway), I just don’t really care for him. I don’t know anything about the craft of acting so I can’t tell you why, I just don’t like him. Brosnan is okay here, but kind of blah over all. The Chinese agent, who is played by the former captain on Star Trek Discovery who is also in all sorts of things these days but whose name always escapes me (sorry) is really good. I think my big issue is the stealth boat. I have read quite a bit of Tom Clancy and if my memory is correct, stealth planes work not so much because of what they are made out of as their shape, or it’s a combination in some way. The boat was just huge. Radar probably should have seen something, but even that’s not my beef. Navy battleships will have sonar, and with the stealth boat floating on top of the water, the battleship’s sonar would absolutely have picked up the waves sloshing off the side of the boat. I found the invisible boat floating on top of the water too unbelievable to deal with. Had it been a submarine I would have been okay with it, but it’s not. It’s the friggin’ Titanic. Oh well.

There, I am all caught up now. Two more Brosnans and five Craigs to go. I started The World is Not Enough this morning. The last three Brosnans almost feel like new movies to me. I have probably only watched them once or twice, unlike Goldeneye which I’ve seen 100 times. Same with the four most recent Craig movies (one of which I have not seen at all). This should be interesting. Now here is the updated status bar:

  • Sean Connery
    • Dr. No (1962) 95% – Finished
    • From Russia with Love (1963) 97% – Finished
    • Goldfinger (1964) 99% – Finished
    • Thunderball (1965) 85% – Finished
    • You Only Live Twice (1967) 74% – Finished
  • George Lazenby
    • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) 81% – Finished
  • Sean Connery (Again)
    • Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 63% – Finished
  • Roger Moore
    • Live and Let Die (1973) 65% – Finished
    • The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) 40% – Finished
    • The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 81% – Finished
    • Moonraker (1979) 59% – Finished
    • For Your Eyes Only (1981) 69% – Finished
    • Octopussy (1983) 42% – Finished
    • A View To A Kill (1985) 37% – Finished
  • Timothy Dalton
    • The Living Daylights (1987) 73% – Finished
    • License to Kill (1989) 79% – Finished
  • Pierce Brosnan
    • GoldenEye (1995) 80% – Finished
    • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 56% – Finished
    • The World Is Not Enough (1999) 51% – In progress
    • Die Another Day (2002) 56%
  • Daniel Craig
    • Casino Royale (2006) 94%
    • Quantum of Solace (2008) 64%
    • Skyfall (2012) 92%
    • Spectre (2015) 63%
    • No Time to Die (2021) 83%