Our staff decided to group together and come up with a list of the best films in the 007, James Bond franchise. With Spectre rolling out this weekend, we decided to republish the article. Let us know which is your favourite, and be sure to check out our review of Spectre here. #1: From Russia With …
Never Say Never Again Directed by Irvin Kershner Written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. United Kingdom, 1983 Never Say Never Again is, in many ways, the red-headed stepchild of the Bond family. Made by a different set of producers than the other 23 Bond films that had been made previously, the movie cannot be found on …
The Living Daylights Directed by John Glen Written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson 1987, USA It wasn’t guaranteed that the Daniel Craig films would successfully reboot James Bond, in part because such a restart had already been tried before. After 1985’s A View To a Kill, in which age had begun to show …
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Written by Richard Maibaum Directed by Peter Hunt UK, 1969 To call On Her Majesty’s Secret Service underappreciated is to call the sky blue. Only in the years since the release of Daniel Craig’s introduction to the series, Casino Royale, has OHMSS begun to be reappraised as a realistic, character-driven …
You Only Live Twice Directed by Lewis Gilbert Written by Roald Dahl 1967, UK Easily the most parodied of all the James Bond films, You Only Live Twice is the fourth film starring Sean Connery as 007. After five years portraying the secret agent, it took producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman (as well …
From Russia With Love Directed by Terrence Young Written by Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood 1963, UK 50 years later, and with twenty-three “official” entries, From Russia With Love represents the very best of the Bond franchise. Skyfall is the closest to be considered, at best – almost equal to what was achieved in ’64 …
The most commercially successful Bond film to date is Thunderball. The pic earned over $141 million worldwide, of which more than half was generated domestically in the U.S. The film was such a success, it was remade some 18 years later as Never Say Never Again. This is without a doubt my favourite Bond film …
1: Dr No – Opening Title Sequence The schizophrenic title sequence introduces John Barry’s famous James Bond theme, but instead of transitioning into the now traditional pop song (which uses the title as a lyric), random portions of two calypso songs were used instead. This was also of course the first of Maurice Binder’s many …
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published November 1, 2012. Fifty years ago this month, Marilyn Monroe passed away from a suspected accidental drug overdose (although conspiracy geeks love to contemplate more nefarious scenarios). The commemoratives are already showing up on magazine and newspaper entertainment pages, cable channels have announced their Marilyn film fests and …
Goldfinger Directed by Guy Hamilton Screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn Starred: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman Released September 1964 by United Artists Even if you had never seen this film, just as with Ursula Andress rising from the waves like a bikini-clad version of Botticelli’s Venus in Dr. No, you’d recognize the iconic image. The …
Dr. No Directed by Terence Young Written by Richard Maibaum & Johanna Harwood 1962, UK Author, Ian Fleming had been seeking out a movie deal for nearly a decade until the rights for his novels were finally bought by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Little did they know they would change the landscape …
Sure, there have been countless articles detailing the debonair men that portrayed the world’s most famous superspy in Ian Fleming’s creation of Agent 007 (a.k.a James Bond). And of course there have been many debates arguing who is considered the best Bond of them all (yes…I concur with the majority of the Sean Connery census …
Following are some supplemental sections featuring notable director & actor teams that did not meet the criteria for the main body of the article. Some will argue that a number of these should have been included in the primary section but keep in mind that film writing on any level, from the casual to the …
The idea of a Michael Bay film being open to interpretive scrutiny is, quite frankly, so fanciful that it practically defies the laws of our known universe. As his champions are so fond of adamantly stating, his flicks are popcorn movies designed purely for entertainment and occasional pre-pubescent escapist wish fulfillment. But it is a …
Public confession time: I am a bit of a geek. I obsess over punctuation and fuss over math. In fact, in the part of my job that pays the bills (because acting as Festival Director for the YoungCuts Film Festival is more a labor of love) I just celebrated the 2 year anniversary of a …