I picked up that Complete #007 Blu-ray set a while back after coveting it for many years. I had a big #JamesBond phase as a teen when Pierce Brosnan took up the mantle. But there are many I’ve never seen. I’m going to watch them all in the coming... months? We’ll see how it goes.

DR. NO: It’s almost shocking how many of the still-happening Bond tropes were there immediately from the start. That said due to this it felt a little prone to feeling like a self parody here in 2019. I liked it, but felt notable largely because it was the first.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: Enjoyed this 1 more than DR. NO. Felt more slick & propulsive. Robert Shaw as the blonde heavy was a pleasant & welcome presence. First Blofeld (unnamed) appearance, tho SPECTRE is referenced in NO. Not sure I’d seen either of these 1st 2 films before.

So I didn’t have the nicest things to say about DR. NO, but I will say I’m STILL humming that “Underneath The Mango Tree” song days later...

Also I’m halfway through GOLDFINGER & feel like every Austin Powers joke reference has also already been established within just the first 3 Bond films. Also GOLDFINGER’s tone is shockingly more over the top & comedic thus far than the first two.

GOLFINGER: For me it’s FRWL > GOLDFINGER > DR. NO in the first 3 Bond films. What eternal Bond tropes weren’t already in first movies are all here now including mini-mission intro, theme song, etc. Shocked Oddjob happened so early. This movie is ridiculous in tone!

The PPK handgun got introduced in film 2 and the full-on walk through Q branch and introduction to the Aston Martin happened here in GOLDFINGER. Both fun & car seemed forced on Bond as he had similar lines about previous gear never having “failed him before”.

By far the Bond film I’m most excited to see for the first time is ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. As a kid it was the one you avoided because of the lame duck one-off Bond actor. Have heard it’s actually one of the best, though.

I’d also say I’m really excited to see all the Timothy Dalton Bond films. Saw LICENSE TO KILL at some point but maybe none of the others?

So am I correct that GOLDFINGER totally made no mention of SPECTRE? Because THUNDERBALL picks it right back up and that would make GOLDFINGER the only 1 among first 4 films to make no mention of it.

Worth noting that Bond’s chauvinism & outright sexual harassment have aged poorly (wild that this stuff is played for laughs and/or played as cute) and reach gross new levels here in THUNDERBALL.

Underwater photography in THUNDERBALL is super slick. We’ve also had Felix Leiter in 3 out of 4 films so far, and played by 3 different actors. Anyone know why this role had such a revolving door?

THUNDERBALL: My favorite of the first 4 films. While silly & over the top, there’s a grand filmmaking spectacle to this unmatched by the others so far. Underwater battle is pure cinematic magic. Sharks, jet packs, harpoon guns & hydrofoils. I know for sure I’d seen this one.

Wait, beloved children’s book author Roald Dahl wrote YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE?!

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE: Not as good as THUNDERBALL but has to be a personal fav because it goes to space AND has a ninja war in a volcano (which Bond participates in as a newly crowned ninja himself) and also reveals that Donald Pleasance himself plays Blofeld!

ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE: First half is really rocky with everything being the same EXCEPT w/ Lazenby as Bond. Back half becomes massive ski chase/action set piece with Savalas as Blofeld, Diana Rigg’s Tracy as most meaningful Bond girl yet, & it clicks. #007

I’m going to be totally honest and transparent here so please don’t savage me: I just learned this exact moment that Sean Connery returned to play Bond canonically AFTER George Lazenby’s single turn. I thought 100% I was getting a Roger Moore Bond when I put this disc in. #007

(Yes I know NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN exists and I’ll be sure to watch that at some point as I visit/revisit every last James Bond film. I just had no idea there wasn’t a smooth transition from Connery to Lazenby to Moore).

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: A pleasant surprise to enjoy Connery as Bond in one final post-Lazenby rodeo. This one improved as it progressed, with an awesome final oil rig battle after a hilarious moon rover in the Vegas desert chase scene. Jimmy Dean as a country Howard Hughes! #007

The DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER opening theme song has to be the catchiest ear worm of any of them to this point in the #007 franchise. Subjective, but it’s been stuck in my head for days. More than any other music so far. (Except maybe Underneath The Mango Tree track from 1st film).

LIVE AND LET DIE: Great call switching up the feel SO much in order to intro Roger Moore. Voodoo feels like a silly fit for Bond, tho. Love Yaphet Kotto & Jane Seymour might be the most stunning Bond girl yet in the series. Enjoyed more than expected. Theme song rules. #007.

Bonus features on LIVE AND LET DIE show a stuntman running across the backs of live alligators FIVE times in order to get a shot of Bond escaping. It’s insane footage! Stuntman getting snapped at left and right, falling right on them, etc.

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME: Nice to have a female co-equal to Bond here, and Jaws is far more threatening & iconic here than expected. Villain was weak but his weapons/base/aquatic motif was fun. Opening ski sequence rules, submarine Lotus rules. This one’s fun, dammit. #007

I’ve started #MOONRAKER, which I definitely saw as a kid & which I very much remember being extremely silly. I will say it’s REALLY hard to accept Bond walking around in flared slacks bordering on bell bottoms.

Beginning my third straight night of trying to get through MOONRAKER. I’ve always thought of this as the nadir of the #007 franchise and this revisit isn’t helping me feel any differently.

MOONRAKER: Look, it makes sense that this far into the franchise (& bc 1979) Bond would go into space. It’s just SO. SILLY. I don’t love it. #007

TBH the big space suit zero G laser army battle is pretty sick tho. So’s the big “no chute” skydiving sequence towards the beginning, even it’s undercut by slapstick the way the whole movie is.

Back on my Bond bullshit. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY does a solid job of re-grounding Bond after the silliness of MOONRAKER but it still isn’t any kind of high point in the series. Roger Moore era Bond isn’t my favorite. Underwater & mountain climbing scenes are sweet tho.

OCTOPUSSY: This movie would’ve been better if it weren’t at least 18 hours long. Always thought MOONRAKER was the nadir of the #Bond franchise but I’d take half a dozen space laser battles over this. Took 4 sittings to get through this. Please Timothy Dalton save me soon!

It is mildly cool that OCTOPUSSY goes to India for an extended sequence but his Indian counterpart ends up getting killed, which was lame. Bonus features reveal some cool movie magic behind the stunts. Too bad the story and gags are eye-rollers.

VIEW TO A KILL: I actually loved this one! While it’s the 3rd 80s #Bond film it feels like the first to fully shed the 70s & embrace the 80s & it’s all the better for it. Won’t be sad to see Moore go but this is a high note to go out on! Christopher Walken = chilling villain!

Me watching OCTOPUSSY: “James Bond rides in a crocodile sub, I hate this!”
Me watching VIEW TO A KILL: “James Bond rides in an iceberg sub, I love this!”

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS:

But seriously THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was an absolute breath of fresh air post Roger Moore. Dalton is dangerous, the film feels like an entirely different era, & the climactic airplane sequence is breathtaking. The Afghanistan stuff does have a RAMBO III vibe tho. Loved it overall.

It’s fascinating how many times Felix Leiter is recast in the Bond films, especially when so many of the other recurring roles like M, Q, & Moneypenny have such less turnover comparatively.

LICENSE TO KILL: Yeah, I’m very much a fan of the Timothy Dalton #Bond films. He’s a stone cold killer, out for revenge, with little time for dalliance, and I’m here for it. Action in LIVING DAYLIGHTS is more iconic but story in LISCENSE feels more personal.

I just now realized that with my completion of the Dalton Bond’s, I’ve now seen every canonical #JamesBond film! Of course I’ll continue my re-watch, but #Goldeneye hit when I was in high school & I think I’ve seen every #Bond film since then in theaters.

#GOLDENEYE: This is where #007 really began for me. I was in HS. From this film on I saw all the #JamesBond films theatrically. Revisiting for the 1st time in ~20 years was a trip. It's quite a good Bond film! In my mind all of these are "new" Bond films, but it felt vintage!

The pre-credits set piece always dazzled, but the dam sequence and the tank chase are all truly upper tier Bond action. Love how deeply this cast is stacked from Judi Dench to Sean Bean to Famke Janssen & even Robbie Coltrane AND, oddly, in a tiny role, Minnie Driver?!

TOMORROW DIES: This is the best #007 movie because Michelle Yeoh is in it. On the one hand, this statement isn't true... but on the other hand, can you argue with its flawless logic?

TOMORROW NEVER DIES is totally fine, and sure, maybe SOMEWHAT topical in terms of the villain being a cable news network mogul. But not a whole lot really pops here beyond Michelle Yeoh getting to be a badass operative.

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH: I enjoyed this one WAY more than expected & more than TMRW NEVER DIES. There's some Moore level flirtations with silliness, but this one twists expectations, lovingly sends off Q VERY classily IMO, has some brilliant set pieces, & just feels propulsive.

Sophie Marceau is top tier Bond girl both in terms of performance & writing. Robert Carlyle was only thing I remembered about this from theaters (cool "Darkman" premise , underutilized). M & Q are great in this one. Even Denise Richards isn't as bad as is collectively remembered.

Starting DIE ANOTHER DAY now. My recollection is that this one is the nadir of the Brosnan era. Certainly recall some dodgy xtreme CGI tech that's become meme fodder.

DIE ANOTHER DAY: While it's not great, it's honestly just a Roger Moore #JamesBond film that stars Pierce Brosnan. Therefore, it's better than many Moore films just b/c Brosnan is a better Bond. BUT, the analog effects of Moore era work much better for that level of silly.

I had ZERO recollection that Rosamund Pike had been a Bond girl, so that was fun. And I'm not totally sure why, but I'm generally not a Halle Berry fan. She's won me over several times, like in CLOUD ATLAS and JOHN WICK 3, & I'm sure other times. But she's fine as Jinx.

CASINO ROYALE: I realize it wouldn't be what it is without standing on the shoulders of what came before... but this is the best #007 movie. And #DanielCraig is the best #JamesBond. And now that I've seen every single one I can say this with a certainty I've never had before.

I'm greatly looking forward to revisiting Daniel Craig's Bond series and completing this totally watch-through. But since the first moment I saw CASINO ROYALE, it's been my personal favorite and Craig's been my favorite Bond. It's just that I never make snap judgments like that..

... and to me "newer" is almost never better. So I've always second guessed my own gut that Casino/Craig is the all time best film/incarnation. Now I've done the work. And there's no comparison for me.

I remember very much liking QUANTUM OF SOLACE even though seemingly no one else does. Loved SKYFALL. Then pretty much strongly disliked SPECTRE. We'll see how these revisits play out.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE: Just not sure why so many dismiss this one. I find it solid if nowhere near as inspired as CASINO ROYALE. Which is fine because NO Bond film is as inspired as that one. #JamesBond #007

Love that Bond is constantly dirty and disheveled here. Love the opera scene where he outs the Quantum group. Love that it's a direct sequel to the greatest Bond film, because why not capitalize on having made the best film by extending it? Don't love how choppily it's edited.

It's clear that these 1st 2 Craig Bond films are at least wrestling with the franchise's treatment of women. Women in the Craig Bonds are more prone to being killed as a result of Bond's actions, & that weight is felt & commented on. But Eva Green & Olga Kurylenko get full arcs.

Oh, and while I'll really need need to revisit SKYFALL (which I loved) before I'd embrace @FakeRobHunter's premise here, I'm at very least #TeamQuantumOfSolace and it's a good piece here. https://www.slashfilm.com/quantum-of-solace-defense/2/

#SKYFALL: This movie works, even tho it swings hard & not everything lands. Most beautiful #JamesBond film, p much w/o question. A great entry for M. Weird that Bond is supposed to be old/weary after being young/untested in last movie/s. More inspired than QoS, but not a homerun.

I feel like the ending, setting up "classic" M/Q/MoneyPenny, etc, all worked better when #Skyfall was all we had. Then #Spectre sucked so hard it retroactively makes this set up feel wasted or worse.

Only saw #SPECTRE the once, in theaters. Disliked it pretty strongly. Revisiting now & excited to be successfully completing this full #JamesBond watch project. Have to say: Pre-credits sequence here is absolutely bravura action filmmaking. Gave me goosebumps.

I'm a buck forty into #SPECTRE for the second time and I still like virtually everything I've seen. Bond's just now arriving at Christoph Waltz's desert compound. Methinks this is where we'll head precipitously south.

#SPECTRE: I'm shocked to have enjoyed this far more upon a years later second watch than I did the first time. I HATE the "I've been pulling the strings behind the scenes all along and... oh... I'm also your brother" plotline. Hate it. But I like... everything else?

#SPECTRE is beautiful, epic in scope, has a dynamite cast from top to bottom, and really does justice to the M/Q/Moneypenny team so built up in SKYFALL. There's some great set pieces, humor, & humanity...

... all of which is undercut by the sincerely awful & creatively bankrupt attempt at creating some kind of "cinematic universe" with the direction they went with the villain. I still HATE what they did with the villain... but I don't hate the movie.

It's been a sincere pleasure to "do the work" by watching & tweeting about every canonical #JamesBond film. There's no doubt that I'm very far from the world's biggest James Bond fan... but I'm decidedly MORE of a fan now than I was before seeing them all.

I'll keep adding to this thread as I have #Bond thoughts & reflections. 1 is that I appreciate, after watching a bonus feature on every film, how much of a family affair these films are. For as giant they are, a TON of behind the camera talent stewards this thing year after year.

There aren't any skiing action scenes in the Daniel Craig James Bond films. Tragic.