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JAMES BOND MOVIE LIST IN ORDER
I figured I'd put all of the James Bond flicks in order, with a couple of opinions here and there for Bond Newbies and those who have already seen every film like I have. These are in reverse order, from newest to oldest.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE - 2008 Coming soon. Looking forward to it.

CASINO ROYALE - 2006 Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) My favorite film by far. Daniel Craig, despite all of the criticism by Pierce Brosnan fans, inhabited the character and made a near perfect Bond film. He makes all of the previous Bond actors, with the exception of Sean Connery and possibly Timothy Dalton, look like pussies. Don't think so? When was the last time you saw a Bond picture where the character took so much abuse and his marked up face showed it? And that poisoning scene was brilliant.

DIE ANOTHER DAY - 2002 Die Another Day (Full Screen Special Edition) This film is the second best in the Brosnan collection. It had its misfires (some hokey dialogue that didn't work) and it was criticized for having too much product placement, however, if you were in the theater you had a good-popcorn-eatin' time watching it. It felt like a return to a seventies Roger Moore film with more polish, better sets and gadgets, and excellent action sequences. And Halle Berry gave tribute to Ursula Andress with her splash emergence out of the ocean.

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH - 1999 The World Is Not Enough - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Overall this is a solid Bond film but I never really quite took to it. Not sure why. Certainly it was better than Tomorrow Never Dies though.

TOMORROW NEVER DIES - 1997 Tomorrow Never Dies Honestly speaking, I've only seen this film once and forgot about it. When I saw it in the theater I wasn't impressed for some reason and thought it was lacking something. Maybe I would change my mind if I saw it again. The female lead played by Michelle Yeoh was a nice change of pace but I didn't find her to be sexy enough to be a Bond Girl. She was more like the stunt girl who you respected but didn't turn you on.

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GOLDENEYE - 1995 Goldeneye - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Pierce Brosnan takes the helm and this is the best of his 4 films as the legendary British spy. Everything about this film worked from the pacing to the villains to the plot, gadgetry and action. It was simply well done and a breath of fresh air for Bond fans. You could also add that the lead female was incredibly intelligent and not just a piece of ass. And the introduction of "M" as a woman, brilliantly played by Judi Dench, made perfect sense for the modern nineties trying to discard some of Bond's chauvinism without destroying the character (he needs his vices).

LICENCE TO KILL - 1989 Licence To Kill - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Timothy Dalton's second and last film. This one was quite violent and didn't always feel like a Bond film. More like an Americanized Bond it seemed because he was chasing drug lords. Probably an unfair statement but that's what it felt like after I watched this one. Not saying it was a bad Bond film, it just seemed like it had lost some of the Bond flavor and opened the way for Pierce Brosnan to take over. The one highlight of this feature was the stunning Talisa Soto who has since faded away doing only B-movie work. What a shame.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS - 1987 The Living Daylights (James Bond Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) It's always a hard transition for a new actor playing a familiar character and everyone wanted Pierce Brosnan but he was tied up in the Remington Steele contract. Timothy Dalton was the next best choice and I simply view his two films as a harder edged Bond interpretation. Much like Sean Connery and Daniel Craig he comes off more brutish than the gentleman antics of Roger Moore or the suave sophistication of Pierce Brosnan. Living Daylights is a good Bond film. At the time I had a crush on Oliva D'Abo as a result of seeing the film and having her poster up on my wall.

VIEW TO A KILL - 1985 A View To A Kill - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Roger Moore's departing film. View To A Kill has many flaws but is helped by Christopher Walken's villainous performance and Grace Jones who is underutilized. The climax is also quite original as it takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge, and I mean on the Golden Gate Bridge as in the very top of it. Roger Moore is looking a bit old for the character which brings us to our next film.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - 1983 Never Say Never Again It was Bond versus Bond in 1983. I saw both the Sean Connery film and the Roger Moore film in the theater much to my delight as I had see most Bond films on VHS or on edited TV. Sean Conner spoofs himself a bit in this one but ultimately it is still a Bond picture and gives us our fix. The ol' boy still has it.

OCTOPUSSY - 1983 Octopussy - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition This time they decided to put pussy in the title, how fitting. You either think of a small octopus or eight pussies. Geez. This is still one of the better entries from Roger Moore (innuendo intended).

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - 1981 For Your Eyes Only (James Bond Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) James Bond returns in one of the best Roger Moore starring films. Actually this film was intended to be made before Moonraker but because of the sci-fi film craze they postponed it and went with Moonraker instead. No big gadgets or ridiculous plots, only satisfyingly gritty Bond. Most memorable scene is when he kicks a car off of a cliff--pretty vicious for the gentleman Roger Moore style Bond.

MOONRAKER - 1979 Moonraker - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition I think out of all of the Roger Moore venues this has to be the cheesiest one of them all. It was obviously trying to cash in on the Star Wars trend and has Bond out in space shooting lasers. I watched this one numerous times and even rented it for one of my birthday parties because as a kid you don't realize how cheesy some things are until you grow up later.

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition This is said to be the best Roger Moore Bond film next to For Your Eyes Only. It also introduced "Jaws," one of the best Bond villains next to Oddjob.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - 1974 The Man With The Golden Gun - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition H'bout an island retreat with Christopher Lee? Here's another trend in Bond titles: the word "gold." "Goldfinger," "Golden Gun," and "Golden Eye."

LIVE AND LET DIE - 1973 Live and Let Die - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Roger Moore's first Bond film. He was a natural for the role because in Britain he was well known for being in the detective series The Saint. Moore films expanded the Bond cliches of gadgetry, exaggerated stunts and women named after sex or female body parts. The film was a success and Roger Moore wasn't turning down any offers to continue in the role.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - 1971 Diamonds Are Forever - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Sean Connery returned to the Bond role after the George Lazenby debacle. He's aged a bit but there's still plenty of mayhem. The bright spot being a car chase in Las Vegas. Also noteworthy are two assassins named Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. There are hints in the movie that these two are gay lovers even though they don't make it explicit.; such as hand holding and mild disgust about a girl being attractive.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE - 1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Growing up I never bothered to watch this film because it didn't star Sean Connery or Roger Moore. I was admittedly biased and didn't think a Bond Film could be any good without them. I've changed my mind since then. This is a decent entry into the Bond series and true to the book as far as I've read online. Originally I felt bad for George Lazenby who I thought failed as Bond because everyone compared him to Sean Connery and so they dropped his contract because the movie bombed. Not true. George Lazenby, because of his stupid agent, turned down a 7 picture contract. The movie wasn't a huge hit, but it didn't bomb either. Poor George regretted his decision ever since and never recovered his career. Don't feel too bad though. He's rich.

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - 1967 You Only Live Twice - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition This was the first Bond Film to use a death reference in the title. You know what I'm talking about: "Live and Let Die," "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Die Another Day." And this film lets us see Blofeld who is also another inspiration for Austin Powers. How did Donald Pleasance go from A-list movies like this and The Great Escape to B-Movie Horror. Not that I'm criticizing him because if you keep working in Hollywood more than 2 films you're probably doing good.

THUNDERBALL - 1965 Thunderball (James Bond Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) I have a huge nostalgic kick for Thunderball. This was the first Bond film I ever saw. It was edited for television and my Dad let me stay up to watch it all the way through. I remember the opening scene with Bond escaping using a rocket pack. Great stuff.

GOLDFINGER - 1964 Goldfinger - 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Goldfinger has one of the most memorable openings, a dead girl painted gold. And the scene where Bond is going to be sliced vertically with a laser, beginning with his own bouillons (I always imagined how horrible that scene would be if he didn't luck out and got let go). Come to think of it, Goldfinger also has one of the most memorable villains besides Jaws. That guy with the killer hat "Oddjob." And to top that off, the most memorable lead female character name: Pussy Galore. I can't believe they got away with such an obvious double entendre back then and moviegoers didn't care. This was the biggest Bond film to date, and a trend setter. One of the best in the series.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - 1963 From Russia with Love (James Bond Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) I watched this second Bond film the other day On-Demand. This is the film I believe inspired Austin Powers. Look for the short Russian woman villain and you'll see what I mean. The female lead is also gorgeous but women of today might find her infatuation with James self-abusive. And James plays her pretty rough, but then he is licensed to kill--why should he be nice to the ladies. Use 'em and lose them. It's not the PC nineties here, nor the progressive 2000's.

DR. NO - 1962 Dr. No (James Bond Two-Disc Ultimate Edition) The original Bond film that started it all. I remember this film being shown on the ABC evening movie when I was a kid and I was never able to stay up to watch it all. Later on I saw it on video and was disappointed because of the lack of gadgets and generally speaking the overtop antics of the Bond films that followed. And still later on when I was older I saw it again and finally appreciated it. You have to place a film in its time period to fully appreciate it. Comparing it to later times is often an injustice. Also realize that David Niven was up for this role among others and thankfully we got Sean Connery.

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