Casino Royale

[devilchicken]

If anyone's interested in this - there's a review of the test print at http://www.aintitcool.com/node/24436

Surprised to read that the infamous testicle beating scene from the book is in the movie (in some form).

Roger Moore wouldn't have taken that kind of abuse ;)

[Muroc]

I'm a bit of a Bond fan (bought the entire DVD collection including the original 'Casino Royale' with David Niven and I EVEN have the George Lazenby Bond 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' - which I thought was fine with the possible exception of the opening lines "this never happened to the other fella'" ... cringe). Anyway, I digress. After reading the review (I haven't seen any promos) I'm a little concerned I'm not going to enjoy it not because of any spoilers but I just don't like the sound of it. Guess I'll just have to wait for the release.

[devilchicken]

They really need to fire their screenwriting team. Pierce Brosnan was a great Bond - I thought, unfortunately the movies he was in were generally mediocre or just plain awful. Goldeneye was an exception, but it was all downhill from there.

This is looking rather like The Living Daylights, which is actually one of my favourite Bond movies - but a lot of people hated Tim Dalton. Apparently Craig has copped a lot more flak than Dalton ever did - and his movie isn't even out yet!

I'm a little pissed off about the DVD situation - I sold my R2 collection before I moved to the US, after which they were conveniently unavailable. Apparently they're being re-released in advance of the movie (I believe you can already get the new versions in the UK - though apparently some of the fans aren't all that impressed with the digital mastering on some of the films), but rather than buy the movies individually - I have to spring out $100 a time for a boxed set.

BTW - I agree OHMSS is a great movie, with a very good screenplay. George Lazenby could have made a good Bond - but he stupidly quit after one movie (after apparently receiving "bad advice"), which effectively reduced his career options to TV and a few cheap cameos.

[Reinart der Fuchs]

This is looking rather like The Living Daylights, which is actually one of my favourite Bond movies - but a lot of people hated Tim Dalton.

Mine too. It so perfectly captures the end of the 80's in that poppy kind of way.

[David Mosley]

Both OHMSS and The Living Daylights have seen their reputations rise considerably since their original releases. There are many Bond aficionados who consider them two of the best Bond films ever.

They're definitely in my list of the Top Two Bond films.

[devilchicken]

I quite liked Licence To Kill, although it was perhaps the worst received Bond movie ever.

Dalton did a perfectly good job I thought (though he did look like Dracula in a couple of scenes), and the truck chase at the end is one of the best action sequences in a bond movie, IMO.

[David Mosley]

Again, LTK has also seen its stock rise as people have re-evaluated it. In some ways, it stretched the Bond envelope a little further than most cinema goers were perhaps ready for, by having Bond operating outside his normal brief. IIRC there was a sense that drug-barons were beneath Bond's remit, although nowadays of course (with the end of the Cold War) the Intelligence Service are more involved in drug busting.

The only really wrong thing with LTK imo is that it has the wrong title. It ought to be called "Licence Revoked", which was going to be the original title before someone decided that Americans didn't know what 'revoked' meant (allegedly). They then further compounded the issue by giving the film the one title that didn't make sense given that Bond is stripped of his 'licence to kill' in the first act.

[devilchicken]

True - although the John Gardner book it is based on wasn't all that great. Being under 15 at the time of release (1989) I couldn't see the movie so had to make do with the book until it made its way onto TV. Apparently Gardner has not problem writing violent action, but had a tendency to skip over the 'sex' parts that he apparently found distasteful.

I do know that the movie has been cut in parts, certainly in the UK - as some of the stuff is really quite sadistically violent for a Bond movie. Anthony Zerbe gets exploded in a decompression tank and where Benicio Del Toro gets chewed up by the mincing machine.

Always thought it was a shame that all the legal issues cropped up after 1989 - otherwise Tim Dalton could probably have made another 2 movies. He is to James Bond what Colin Baker is to Dr Who - largely underrated and given the boot before his time.

[Kamelion]

Always thought it was a shame that all the legal issues cropped up after 1989 - otherwise Tim Dalton could probably have made another 2 movies. He is to James Bond what Colin Baker is to Dr Who - largely underrated and given the boot before his time.

Couldn't agree more. Dalton brought a great hard and unglamorous edge to the role that has been lacking from pretty much all of the other Bonds. I'm hoping that the new fellow will have something of his grim charm.

[David Mosley]

True - although the John Gardner book it is based on wasn't all that great. Being under 15 at the time of release (1989) I couldn't see the movie so had to make do with the book until it made its way onto TV. Apparently Gardner has not problem writing violent action, but had a tendency to skip over the 'sex' parts that he apparently found distasteful.

Gardner wrote the novelisation based on the film according to Wikipedia rather than the other way around. Gardner's first Bond novel was 'Licence Renewed', which I thought would have been the logical sequel to LTK, except of course we got the 'Bond hiatus' instead.

I do know that the movie has been cut in parts, certainly in the UK - as some of the stuff is really quite sadistically violent for a Bond movie. Anthony Zerbe gets exploded in a decompression tank and where Benicio Del Toro gets chewed up by the mincing machine.

All lovingly reinstated for the latest DVD release, btw. As soon as they go into the traditional 'Buy One Get One Free' Bond deal I'll be snapping some of those puppies up (but not all of them because I've already got the original Bond DVDs).

[lemec]

I too missed out on the first dvd release of most of the Bond movies. I got Dr. No,Thunderball,You Only Live Twice and The Man with the Golden Gun.

I did not buy any of the big box sets.

I did not know they wouldbe hard to find.

-but, I am not really pleased with the dvds. I like all the extra features,but the main menu really gets annoying after awhile. I don't like waiting on it to start making my selections. I like it to have a normal lay-out,Play,Chapters,Subtitles and Bonus Features in a list form. They might not be this way everywhere.

Also, I think the dvd covers are very lackluster, why can't they put the original posters on the thing?

They showed all the Bond's on Starz on Demand a year or two ago, so I got to see them again, but I still will get the dds some time. I don't rent movies anymore.

Yeah, the Dalton Bonds seemed to get better with age for me. At least they are better than alot of non-Bond action movies.

I'm still excited about Casino Royale, if it got a good applause during the try out, it should be pretty cool.

I think Daniel Craig will be really good. I watched Layer Cake a few times recently, I like him in that.

Casino Royale is about the only movie in the second have of 2006 worth seeing in the theater. I really did not notice any others coming out that will be any good.

Anyway, I saw a new Bond thread and had to participate!

[devilchicken]

Gardner wrote the novelisation based on the film according to Wikipedia rather than the other way around. Gardner's first Bond novel was 'Licence Renewed', which I thought would have been the logical sequel to LTK, except of course we got the 'Bond hiatus' instead.

As I remember the villain in that book was some sort of scottish Laird with a henchman in the form of bekilted caber-tossing Highland Games Jeff Capes type.

[devilchicken]

Gardner wrote the novelisation based on the film according to Wikipedia rather than the other way around. Gardner's first Bond novel was 'Licence Renewed', which I thought would have been the logical sequel to LTK, except of course we got the 'Bond hiatus' instead.

[/size]
All lovingly reinstated for the latest DVD release, btw. As soon as they go into the traditional 'Buy One Get One Free' Bond deal I'll be snapping some of those puppies up (but not all of them because I've already got the original Bond DVDs).

Are they restored in the UK Ultimate editions?

I had the "old" special editions and at least two of the movies - Tomorrow Never Dies (had a scene where Michele Yeoh throws a couple of ninja stars - ninja stars being one of the things, along with headbuts, that the UK film censors automatically trim out) and Licence To Kill (the part where Benicio Del Toro goes through the cocaine crusher) were cut out or trimmed down respectively.

As I said, I should have bought the US versions originally and saved myself some trouble. Although about a year or two after I bought them I noticed that the underside of the discs had started to discolor (this is something that happened with MGM's original DVD release of The Terminator - the disc basically biodegraded in the case).
Looking forward to the new editions as they apparently contain more extras - but according to some reviews on a couple of different sites I read, the reviewers loved the digital restoration on some of the movies, but on some (specifically the older one) the picture quality left something to be desired and was actually better on the original DVD release.

[David Mosley]

Are they restored in the UK Ultimate editions?

I believe so - at least the UK cuts to LTK have been restored. Last minute cuts that were made to some films before they were released are still absent aiui. However, you'll find lots of information by people more knowledgeable than me at Roobarb's DVD Forum discussion of the Bond UE discs. (The link takes you to page 21, btw; a lot of what preceeds that dates from before the UE set was released.)

[lemec]

I just saw a tv preview for Casino Royale.

It looked pretty cool!