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rseliu · 6 years ago

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“and then she knew, you could be homesick for people too.”

colin michael doherty played by pierce brosnan (65)

Colin Michael Doherty was born in Galway, Ireland with a spirit as lively as the place that raised him. He had two older brothers that were hardly around during his childhood, as they were significantly older and have already had their own families by the time Colin entered his teenage years. Always an optimist, he never found the hardships that came with having elderly parents, as he just wasn’t programmed to find all the ‘bad’ that there could be. When he was thirteen, Colin was fortunate enough to tag along on holiday with his older brother and family to the United States for the summer, falling in love with what the west coast had to offer. He was dead set on moving there when he was ready, even if it meant being away from family. When college came around, Colin applied to the University of Denver, where he met Faith and the rest was history.

She was, admittingly, a very tough nut to crack, as Colin usually had it easy when it came to ‘wooing’ the ladies. Faith proved to be the toughest person he had ever met, and he just couldn’t get enough of her ‘hard to get’ nature. A lot of push and pull went on between them for years until Faith finally let him in, leading to a five-year relationship before he finally popped the question. Colin had to admit that Faith was really the backbone of their family. She was strong and wise beyond her years, as he grew dependent on her dependability. As the years went on and both Michelle and Rose entered their lives, their marriage was thinning. Faith would close herself off to Colin frequently but always made sure to keep a good face on for their children despite their struggles behind the scenes. Colin felt alone and gradually gave up on their relationship. In the midst of it all, he unintentionally grew closer to Michelle’s best friend, Heather. It started with pep talks and advice, which led to comforting moments whenever they were around each other which, coincidentally, was when they needed it most. One thing led to another, and they started a consensual affair for almost an entire year before they were caught on prom night in a room at the Country Club, by Michelle. Colin faced a public trial that was written off on the technicality that Heather was already eighteen way before the affair even started, but he still had to pay the price. Shamed by the public, he was fired from his job as a high school counselor and was completely shut out by his family. Faith and Colin had quick and clean divorced, with little to no words to exchange, Michelle forced their family to change their last names, and Rose was nowhere to be seen. After a few months, Colin relocated to Nevada to live with a college roommate in order to give everyone their space. He hopes to mend things with his daughters, but if nothing progresses within the next five years, he promised himself he’d go back home and stay out of their lives for good.

faith ( 映月 ying yue ) liú played by michelle yeoh (56)

Liú Ying yue was born in Hougang, Malaysia (now Singapore) on a rainy day with only her father and grandmother to welcome her when she first opened her eyes to greet the world. Her mother had died of childbirth, permanently scarring her father forever. He was a poor man that managed to move from Beijing in search of a better life, ultimately finding it when he met Ying yue’s mother. The two were madly in love, but all was at a lost when her mother had fallen ill, while pregnant. They knew childbirth would be risky, as they contemplated having an abortion, but ultimately decided against it after their families protested the idea. However, as soon as Ying yue entered the world, all hope of having a happy life without her mother died. Her father grew cruel along with her mother’s mother, as Ying yue ultimately grew up with no sense of warmth in her childhood. As the years went on, Ying yue grew a thick layer of skin. She became wildly independent and whilst being submissive to both her drunkard father and abusive grandmother, she was still tough and worked hard to live the life she has today. At seventeen, Ying yue left her home with enough savings to emigrate to the U.S. No one approved, but Ying yue never needed anyone’s approval.

She moved to Denver, Colorado for her college years, where she met Colin-- a wildly optimistic man that she couldn’t help but grow annoyed with. Ying yue renamed herself as ‘Faith’ during her freshman year, to make it a little bit easier on Americans, but mostly for herself, when she discovered a new found love for Christianity. As tough as a rock, Faith was adamant on working hard to become a doctor and to live a good life. She never intended on having a family--- as she never really had one of her own, so sure that she’d be a terrible mother anyway. However, the more Colin persisted to be a presence in her life, Faith ultimately let her guard down and fell in love. It wasn’t a reluctant decision either. She saw him as a man that she could trust, a man that wouldn't give up no matter how hard she pushed back. And so, they dated for five years and Colin popped the question, making it one of Faith’s happiest moments in her life. After having Michelle and Rose, Faith grew depressed and had never really grown out of it. She began to worry consistently about motherhood and found it difficult to share her burdens with Colin. She was never a woman of many words, as she never learned how to share them in the first place, ultimately pushing Colin away far enough for him to finally let go. The two grew apart and had mentioned divorced a few times out of their relationship, but there was a part of Faith that held on... so that maybe, just maybe, things would go back to the way they used to be. When the news of Colin and Heather had broken out, Faith couldn’t say she was surprised... but still, she was devastated even if she’d never let herself show it. She allowed Michelle to grieve over her father’s departure and allowed the name change. While Faith wasn’t so sure she’d need it, she knew her eldest daughter did. Contrary to belief, while most would figure that Michelle was most like her mother, it was Rose that resembled her the most. Strong, quiet, and quick to shut people out--- she worried over her youngest daughter the most, even more so now that she had moved to New York. Currently, Faith still continues to work as a gynecologist in Castle Rock, living each day until it gets easier to endure.

michelle liú played by janel parrish (29)

Michelle never began her life as a jealous person. In fact, she had always been a very supportive friend and family member. Even during the trivial times when life pushed her from left to right, she was just too full of joy to pay attention to it. It wasn’t until high school rolled around for Rose that the picture began to get more clear--- realizing all those moments in her past that had people comparing her to her younger sister, relentlessly. It made her uncomfortable, sure, but Rose had always been such a supportive and caring presence in her life, she chose to ignore it all, it was only right. Most importantly, Michelle and Rose were two vastly different people. As the older sister, Michelle was guaranteed to make all of the big mistakes first. She got into a car crash with her parent's car first, got busted for drinking underage, got caught skipping class, and so on and so forth. The consequences were severe, but Michelle was just too much of a free spirit to follow the rules like Rose did. She just enjoyed life and didn’t want to waste it following the rules laid out of her.

Her cynicism began during her junior year of high school, however. It was then when she met her current fiance, Sam, who has proven to be the only honest person in her life (aside from Rose and her mother) after the events of her father's affair with her best friend, Heather. Michelle took it the hardest. She lashed out unapologetically and was tolerated having a bad behavior for months after the affair. She wanted to get rid of every trace her father and Heather had left behind in her life, even going so far as to change her last name to her mothers. It wasn’t an impulsive decision either. She had marinated in the idea for weeks, deciding that she didn't’ want to be attached to the name of a coward. Michelle was close to her mother, more so than her father. She was more outspoken and more observant than Rose, who noticed right away when her mother was less than enthusiastic about the way she was living her life. Faith didn't’ say much to Michelle, as it was hard to disclose the details, but she was able to express enough that Michelle could understand. So, to Michelle, the name change wasn’t because she hated her father as much as she protested to be. She just respected her mother so much more, that she felt the need to show that in such a permanent way.

A couple of years went by and Michelle was growing to be in a better place. She followed Sam’s dreams of being a pilot, obtaining a career as a stewardess. The two traveled a lot for that first year, but after five or so years of being in a relationship, Michelle wanted to take the next step. She never pushed Sam, but it was evident that she wanted to get engaged. She dropped hints shamelessly, and when she thought that all was at a loss, Sam finally did it. Currently, the two are looking for their own home to start a family, ready to move out of their tiny apartment, living their best lives. Although Michelle misses Rose deeply, she knows Rose can take care of herself. They face time frequently and send each other bi-weekly emails in order to catch up-- not to mention Rose’s blog where Michelle and Sam can keep up on her day-to-day life.

#nrp: task #nrp: inspo #im.... way too invested in this family #i can't believe i really wrote three whole bios for this #like i said #TOO much #anyway finding her parents took 10 years #but after finding out that michelle was a bond girl...#my ass jumped on that so quick :')#im blessed #*keeps adding tags to talk to myself*#wow i really wanna play rose's mom #so much sad #so much angst #is this possible #where is this possible #its almost 3am i need to shUt up

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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James Bond Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

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When Ian Fleming first created the character of 007, he settled on calling him James Bond because it was the “dullest name I’ve ever heard.” How ironic that nearly 70 years after that decision, and almost 60 years since the first James Bond movie, Dr. No (1962), that moniker is still associated around the world with thrilling action and exotic danger.

Beginning with the first Bond film from producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and which starred Sean Connery as the international man of mystery, 007 has burrowed into the global zeitgeist. And he’s never left. There have been 24 canonical Bond films produced by either Broccoli and Saltzman, or their successors Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and six actors who’ve donned the tuxedo during that run. Over the years, the debate has been endless over who is the Best Bond, and which is the best Bond movie. Well, we’re here to settle that latter argument once and for all. The entire Den of Geek staff, as well as our readers, have been asked to pick their favorite 007 adventures, and to rank which are the best. Below is the definitive list.

*Editor’s Note: We have chosen to only rank films in the official series and that were produced by Eon Productions. For that reason, unconnected Bond films like Never Say Never Again (1983) and Casino Royale (1967) were not included.

24. Die Another Day (2002)

Like his two most famous predecessors, Sean Connery and Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan ended his four-film run as James Bond on a particularly low note. In fact, Die Another Day (which was also the 20th film in the official series) has ended up on many lists, including this one, at the very bottom. It is certainly the nadir of the Brosnan era, although whether it fulfills the same role for the entire series is debatable. I might even argue films like Quantum of Solace and A View to a Kill could say “hold my beer” to that dubious honor.

Die Another Day starts off promisingly enough, with Bond captured and tortured in North Korea for 14 months, leading M to decommission him on fears that he may be compromised. But a potentially intriguing thriller involving North Korean double agents and the smuggling of conflict diamonds devolves into a ludicrous romp about an ice palace, giant lasers redirecting sunlight, an invisible car that’s indestructible, and a fight aboard an airplane literally coming apart in mid-air. Throw in one of the series’ worst theme songs (courtesy of Madonna), uninspired performances from a tired Brosnan and Halle Berry, and you ultimately find yourself wishing that the movie itself would die—not another day, but right now. – Don Kaye

23. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

What is it with Bond and diamonds? This is one of two 007 escapades involving the world’s hardest substance (the other is Die Another Day) and based on that, the series should stick to gold. Diamonds Are Forever marked the return of Sean Connery after a one-film absence from the series, but it’s clear from the start that the doughy-looking star is just phoning in his performance (from which, to be fair, he donated his salary to charity).

Directed by Bond mainstay Guy Hamilton, Diamonds goes for a jauntier, campier tone after the grim ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with Bond tracking a diamond-smuggling operation that ultimately leads him to arch-nemesis Blofeld (whose murder of Bond’s wife in the previous movie is inexplicably never addressed, not even once). The movie is just entertaining enough that you can keep it on in the background while doing something else, but its dreary ending on an oil rig, dated homophobia (Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, anyone?), and by-the-numbers vibe make this one a real cubic zirconia. – DK

22. Quantum of Solace (2008)

Quantum of Solace’s biggest crime is that it’s just so dull. From the desert backdrops that were used for the final act to the sterile environments where middling Bond villain Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) executes his convoluted evil plan, there isn’t really anything interesting to look at in Marc Forster’s first and only 007 film. It’s no surprise, then, that this was the first stumble of the Daniel Craig era—in fact, our readers voted it in dead last place!

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It probably didn’t help that Quantum is one of the few direct sequels in the franchise, meaning that Forster had to contend with the storytelling baggage of the much better Casino Royale. At least you can say Quantum of Solace is the movie that truly established the Craig era’s continuity, with a SPECTRE-like secret organization working against MI6 at every turn, and Bond enduring the heartache of a very bad break up with Vesper Lynd in the last movie. So for a rebound, he and the rebellious Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) go to Bolivia. Their mission: stop a coup d’état that could give Quantum a major foothold in South America. What proceeds…isn’t all that fun. – John Saavedra

21. Octopussy (1983)

A clearly aging Roger Moore’s sixth outing as 007 (and second to last) follows the template of its predecessor, 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, with a renewed focus on geopolitical adventure and less reliance on gadgets, effects, and winking humor (although the jokes, when they do come, are more sophomoric and out of place than ever). But whereas Eyes served as a nice palate cleanser for the series, with a straightforward plot and a few offbeat touches, Octopussy is kind of a mess.

While its title is taken from an Ian Fleming short story, the mostly original Octopussy finds 007 drawn into a scheme involving Fabergé eggs, an exiled Afghan smuggler, a rogue Soviet general, and a cult of beautiful women who also run a circus, all tied to a plan to detonate a nuclear warhead on a U.S. airbase in West Germany. As you can tell from that sentence, the story is needlessly, hopelessly complicated, with an endless series of betrayals and switchbacks, the villains don’t make much of an impression either. Nor does Maud Adams in the title role as the leader of the cult; she’s meant to be a newer kind of Bond Girl, but remains ill-defined—as does much of this plodding, uninteresting entry. – DK

20. A View to a Kill (1985)

Roger Moore’s final outing as James Bond went out much like his tenure: strange, inconsistent, but maybe entertaining in a kitschy sort of way. To be sure, A View to a Kill is another one of the franchise’s low points, with Moore being particularly long in the tooth at the age of 58. He more often resembles his leading ladies’ lecherous uncle than he does a tall dark stranger. The overall film likewise suffers from a desperate, out of touch quality. Did anyone really think putting Moore (or his stuntman) on a snowboard while Beach Boys music played would bring in the kids?

Nonetheless, as bad as the movie is, there are bemusing charms, chief among them being the film’s pair of villains, ‘80s yuppie Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and his henchwoman May Day (Grace Jones). There’s some unconvincing plot tidbits that reveal Walken’s secretly a Russian test tube baby, but that bizarre performance has no nationality. And the jarring contrast of Jones and Moore in bed—where she is totally the dominant—is one for the ages. Throw in a banger Bond song by Duran Duran and some nice character work by Patrick Macnee as Moore’s sidekick who should’ve been in the movie more, and you still have a guilty pleasure. Pity that Barbara Bach declined to cameo, as it might’ve made this a more fitting sendoff for the Moore era. – David Crow

19. Spectre (2015)

After saving the ship from capsizing with Skyfall, director Sam Mendes decided to sink it himself with the extremely convoluted, potentially era-breaking Spectre, a very busy movie that cares more about connecting the Daniel Craig movies into one “cohesive” timeline than its own largely generic spy adventure. Mendes’ attempt to present Ernst Stavro Blofeld as the big bad behind everything from Casino Royale to Skyfall largely falls flat, even if Christoph Waltz puts in a solid performance as the iconic villain. But how much of this is the director and writers’ fault, and how much of it is due to the Broccolis experimenting with the idea of a Bond cinematic universe remains unclear.

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Either way, it’s all just kind of boring. Even the budding romance between Bond and Madeleine Swann (a cunning Léa Seydoux) doesn’t really work. You can hardly believe Bond has decided to finally leave all this MI6 business behind him for love. And Blofeld’s childhood connection to the Bond family is ludicrous, too. The movie’s plot is ambitious, and completely fails at those ambitions. You’ll need patience for this one, especially if you enjoyed the more standalone Craig offerings, which this movie actively tries to break at every turn. – JS

18. Moonraker (1979)

When The Spy Who Loved Me was released two years before Moonraker, it cemented the actor’s popularity in the role (a first since Sean Connery left the franchise), and established a campy, convivial atmosphere. Looking at that movie’s box office receipts, the now solo Bond producer Cubby Broccoli went “more of this, but also Star Wars.” The result is perhaps the most spectacular misfire in 007’s oeuvre.

With a ridiculous and borderline nonsensical plot contrived solely to create a reason for Moore’s 007 to be sent to space in the third act and participate in laser fights, Moonraker is bombastic and bloated where Spy was amusing and quick-witted. The movie haplessly pinballs between inconsistent tones and styles, like sight gag of returning henchman Jaws (Richard Kiel) doing a double take before going over a waterfall as if he’s he’s Yosemite Sam, and the scene where villain Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) feeds Bond’s latest one night stand to Rottweilers in a particularly brutal chase sequence.

Still, Moore is always affable, and for that matter so is Jaws in the film’s dynamic opening fight scene where the two duel while falling out of a plane. Plus, someone had to invent the trope of a desperate franchise film going into orbit. – DC

17. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Roger Moore and Christopher Lee. James Bond versus Dracula. On paper this should’ve been one of the best 007 films. And for a fleeting moment, as the two performers finally have their duel and Bond stands at 10 paces from Lee’s Scaramanga, it is. Sadly that showdown only takes up a handful of minutes in this otherwise muddled affair.

Still early in Moore’s tenure as Bond, The Man with the Golden Gun finds the actor not yet locked into his interpretation of the role. At times the script even seems to be written for Sean Connery, with Bond displaying a coldness and physicality that seems unnatural to Moore. Otherwise, the movie’s awkward attempts to imitate Bruce Lee films and some rather cruel dumb blonde jokes at Britt Ekland’s expense have aged incredibly poorly. But hey, it paved the way for Hervé Villechaize to be on Fantasy Island. So there’s that. – DC

16. You Only Live Twice (1967)

Sean Connery’s fifth outing as 007 was also his last… until, of course, he made a brief return four years later in Diamonds Are Forever (and again in 1983’s non-canon Never Say Never Again). Unfortunately, the original James Bond doesn’t go out on a high note with this one: Despite its beautiful Japanese locales and the long-awaited face-to-face introduction of supervillain Blofeld (Donald Pleasance), You Only Live Twice (directed by Lewis Gilbert) reaches for epic status but already shows how the Bond franchise was running out of gas after just five years.

Following the bigger adventures and gadgets of Goldfinger and Thunderball, this one aims for the stars, literally, as Bond tries to find out who is snatching American and Soviet spacecraft out of orbit. That leads him to Blofeld and the latter’s massive lair hidden in a volcano, tropes that would be parodied for decades to come.

But You Only Live Twice—the first of many Bond entries to almost completely throw away any connection to the Fleming novel of the same name—has a perfunctory, going-through-the-motions feel and an especially racist, sexist tinge to the proceedings in Japan (even for the 1960s) that bog the movie down. Although it was a box office success, it’s clear that the franchise needed a change. – DK

15. The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The World Is Not Enough is one of the more underrated film in the 007 canon. Yes, it has problems—most notably Denise Richards’ disastrous miscasting as a nuclear scientist, as well as a climactic showdown in a submarine that falls flat. However, here’s the first film on this list that works more often than it doesn’t, and which has some of the best scenes in any Bond film. Most of them involve the film’s true villain, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau).

For the first and only time in a Bond movie, a woman is the big bad. More impressively, she’s able to fool Bond and the audience of her villainy. In this way, the franchise riffs on Bond’s past, including the loss of his wife, to sharp effect. Pierce Brosnan also may never have been better in the role than when he brings his usual levels of extreme suaveness, as well as a steely sadness. All of which culminates with Bond shooting Elektra in cold blood. The action clearly took a little more of his soul, which even M appears to lament.

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Oh yes, this is also the first Bond movie to make Judi Dench’s M a main character. In some ways, her relationship with Brosnan’s 007 is more complex than the mother-son dynamic she cultivated with Daniel Craig, and things never got weirder than her witnessing Bond and Elektra’s passion play. Lastly, the Garbage song and opening sequence are aces. – DC

14. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Pierce Brosnan’s second go in the role of Bond sees the performer both more relaxed and in command of 007’s legacy. The film is typical Eon shenanigans where a supervillain tricks world leaders into a World War III standoff—the UK and China, this time—and it’s sprinkled with similarly boilerplate action sequences. Yet Tomorrow Never Dies has aged pretty darn well since the movie’s main megalomaniac (Jonathan Pryce hamming it up to high heaven) is a blatant caricature of Rupert Murdoch. A Bond movie where 007 takes a media mogul who is triggering an international crisis to juice his cable news network’s ratings, and then feeds this guy to a buzzsaw? So satisfying.

The movie also introduced us to Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin, who’s still among the most capable “Bond Girls” and really is 007’s equal. She might even be his superior given Yeoh’s natural martial arts talents. (It’s a real shame they didn’t let her or other Hong Kong talent choreograph the fight scenes, however.) The sequence where Bond and Lin fight for control of a motorcycle during a chase, or where Brosnan and Desmond Llewelyn snark during a particularly good Q walk-in, makes this an enjoyable if middling Bond flick. – DC

13. License to Kill (1989)

Timothy Dalton’s second and final outing as a darker, more serious Bond was met with a polarized response from both critics and fans, and remains a dark horse entry in the series. Originally titled Licence Revoked—until the studio learned that typically dumb American test audiences didn’t know what the word “revoked” meant—the movie does indeed find Bond with his licence to kill suspended by M. So he goes instead on a personal mission to avenge the savage mutilation of friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and the murder of Leiter’s new wife by a sadistic drug lord (Robert Davi).

It’s nice to see Leiter again (with Hedison encoring in the role after first appearing in Live and Let Die 16 years earlier), and it’s also refreshing to give Bond a more personal motivation this time out. Davi is an effective villain, good old Q (Desmond Llewelyn) gets to spend a lot more time in the field, and the climactic truck chase (staged by director John Glen, still the record-holder with five Bond films on his resume) is one of the series’ best action sequences. Sadly this darker, more violent Bond couldn’t compete with the likes of Batman and Indiana Jones at the box office in 1989, making Licence to Kill the lowest-grossing entry in the series to date—and consigning the Dalton era to the MI6 archives. – DK

12. Thunderball (1965)

When you adjust for inflation, Thunderball gives Skyfall a run for its money as the highest-grossing Bond film ever. It certainly sold the most tickets, coming out at the midpoint of the 1960s and zenith of Bondmania’s global conquest. It’s in that context which allows Thunderball to also be most enjoyable. This is the one which reimagined SPECTRE as a boardroom of baddies sitting in chairs designed to literally fire insubordinate employees; the first film where Bond and the villain swap thinly veiled insults over cards and then the spy steals the fiend’s girl right in front of him; the one where an eyepatch wearing bloke keeps pet sharks in a swimming pool. Bond even uses his jetpack!

That said, other elements have aged far less gracefully. Thunderball is probably the most sexist and misogynistic Bond movie ever produced, which has brought it under fire from even No Time to Die’s director. It’s a problematic film, but even among its dated gender politics, it should be noted henchwoman Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) is the first woman in the series to be able to roll her eyes at Bond’s charms and mock his ego, and leading Bond Girl Domino (Claudine Auger) is still one of the series’ best: She uses Bond as much as a disposable toy as he does her. She is also the only woman in the series who kills the villain and saves 007’s bacon. It’s such a good finale it almost makes up for all those dull underwater scuba fights. – DC

11. The Living Daylights (1987)

To this day, some Bond fans would argue that Timothy Dalton didn’t get a fair shake as 007. After just two movies in the late ‘80s, he was down and out, losing his license to kill much earlier than his two major predecessors. But Dalton’s grittier, much darker Bond always faced an uphill battle of building off Roger Moore’s 12-year legacy as the superspy.

All that said, The Living Daylights is a very solid outing for Mr. Bond (and director John Glen’s fourth of five Bond films). 007 once again faces off with his archenemies at the KGB—one of the final 007 films to deal with the Cold War—and in a globetrotting adventure that takes him all over eastern Europe, Morocco, and Afghanistan. And he’s accompanied by Maryam d’Abo’s memorable Kara Milovy, a professional cellist who moonlights as a KGB sniper (sort of). Together, this entertaining duo partake in one of the greatest chase sequences in Bond movie history involving a cello case, a lot of snow, and plenty of bullets. Worth a watch for this scene alone. – JS

10. For Your Eyes Only (1981)

When you think of Roger Moore’s run of Bond films, you likely recall the high camp of cars that turn into submarines and laser guns in space. Which is why, for a while, Moore and Broccoli’s back-to-basics approach in For Your Eyes Only went somewhat overlooked. This decidedly scaled down adventure is the closest Bond came to a real Cold War thriller since From Russia With Love, and the setup is refreshingly simple too: Moore’s Bond is after a missing MacGuffin that the Soviets also want. Both parties then play spy games with local criminal syndicates in scenic Greece and the breathtaking Italian Alps.

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The appeal of the movie is how low-key everyone plays it. There are few gadgets, no end-of-the-world stakes, and nothing which looks twee. Even the finale feels like it’s taken out of The Guns of Navarone instead of Return of the Jedi. In fact, the climactic infiltration of a Greek monastery on a high cliff is still a dazzling set-piece, and the resolution of detente between Bond and his KGB counterparts is remarkably graceful. Also Carole Bouquet as Melina, a Greek woman who’s out to avenge the death of her parents while maintaining her perfect flowing black hair, gives the movie just enough dramatic heft to standout in Moore’s run. – DC

9. Live and Let Die (1973)

Roger Moore is no saint in his first Bond outing. This is apparent from the low-key introduction where he’s more interested in hiding a delicate indiscretion with the delightful Miss Caruso (Madeline Smith) than taking an assignment from chief spy M (Bernard Lee). Later Jane Seymour’s spiritual advisor warns, “I know who you are, what you are, and why you have come,” as she peruses the tarot, oblivious to her own sad fate. Bond stacks the deck and seduces the mysticism out of her, robbing the bewitching Bond Girl of her virginity, which gives her the power of precognition. The less venial sins come from cultural appropriation.

This is as mixed a gris gris bag as any you might find at an Oh Cult Voodoo Shop, but it also makes Live and Let Die one of the most memorable of any Bond installments. It’s got snake bite rituals staged by high priest Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder), strongarm henchmen fortified with steel, and an archvillain so formidable, he is known throughout the world as Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto). His plan is to flood cities with free heroin so everyone will get hooked. But the most infectious hooks come from the soundtrack.

The title sequence is by far the best of any James Bond film: sensual, tropical, and brimming with danger. The theme song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney, performed by Wings, and nominated for an Oscar. The score was written by The Beatles’ producer George Martin, and was the first which was not orchestrated by John Barry. B.J. Arnau torches the title song at a nightclub and the end credits. The Olympia Brass Band leads the funeral march, while its trumpeter breaks formation to knife an officially designated onlooker. The many deaths in Live and Let Die are all very creatively executed, but the most fun parts of the film are the simplest of the gadgets. The coffin with the false bottom, the revolving booth at Fillet of Soul, and the magnetic watch. Moore is a fish out of water even before MI6 comes to Harlem. He drops patented 007 double entendre rejoinders without Sean Connery’s knowing wink but gets to play hopscotch with alligators. He would go on to be more comfortable with the part, although not as much fun. – Tony Sokol

8. Dr. No (1962)

The first James Bond movie is still one of the very best of the series. It introduced Sean Connery as the classic version of the British secret agent, and while he got more comfortable in the role in his next several outings, one could argue that he was never better than he is here—suave, brutal, slightly haunted, arrogant, and unrelenting. Almost all the Bond trademarks are established: the humor, the dynamic with boss M (Bernard Lee), the easy sexuality, the incredibly beautiful Bond Girl (Ursula Andress), and the introduction of a self-satisfied, equally arrogant supervillain (Joseph Wiseman in the title role, which would never pass muster today).

The story sends Bond to Jamaica to investigate the death of a fellow agent, only for him to come up against Dr. No. The latter is shooting down American rockets at the behest of SPECTRE, a global criminal organization intent on destabilizing the world and its fragile Cold War balance of power. Largely faithful to Fleming’s novel (which was actually the fifth in his series), Dr. No is almost understated compared to later Bond outings but introduced a hero and a franchise for the ages. – DK

7. Skyfall (2012)

What a home run of a Bond flick. Eschewing the Quantum nonsense from the previous two films, Skyfall hits much closer to home for Bond, Judi Dench’s M (her last time in the role), and the rest of MI6. When a new villain with ties to M threatens the existence of the very agency he swore to protect, an older, more-troubled-than-usual Bond comes out of self-imposed exile to make things right. The result is one of the very best third acts in Bond history, thanks to the wonderful direction of Sam Mendes, who righted the ship for Craig after Marc Forster crashed it into a reef.

Craig puts in a much more complex performance as a Bond who’s been out of the game too long, and Naomie Harris is a very welcome addition as a much more badass Moneypenny (not behind a desk!), but it’s Javier Bardem as cyber-terrorist Raoul Silva who steals this movie. Undoubtedly the best villain of the Craig era, Silva is someone you might even sympathize with (a little) once he reveals his long-buried connection to M. And we learn some huge things about Bond’s past along the way too. This is for sure the one to watch after Casino Royale. – JS

6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

When Sean Connery left the Bond series after 1967’s disappointing You Only Live Twice, it was unclear whether the series could continue with a new face in the role. Not only did the producers come up with a surprising new Bond out of left field in George Lazenby, but he made his debut in what has rightly been reappraised as one of the best films—if not the best—in the entire series. Remarkably faithful to the novel on which it’s based, directed with flair by Peter R. Hunt (a longtime Bond editor making his one and only directorial outing), and portraying Bond in a light we’ve never seen, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a classic.

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While it’s hard to shake off the image of Connery, Lazenby does a much more admirable job that was acknowledged at the time in his sole appearance as 007. He’s less suave, rougher around the edges, and capable of fear and vulnerability, the latter made apparent first in his marriage proposal to romantic foil Tracy di Vicenzo (an excellent Diana Rigg) and then again in the film’s shocking, unforgettable ending. Telly Savalas is the best iteration of Blofeld to date while Hunt stages some of the franchise’s most visceral and exciting action scenes. It’s a damn shame Lazenby bowed out after this. The series might have taken an entirely different course had he stayed. – DK

5. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Roger Moore has his fans and detractors, but it’s impossible to not be smitten with The Spy Who Loved Me. It’s the peak of the outlandish “save the world” Bond movies, and it comes together like a finely strained dessert cocktail. Of course its secret is that despite being about Bond fighting another megalomaniac over some nuclear subs, TSWLM is as much a romantic comedy romp as it is an action flick. Think Ninotchka, but with submarine-cars.

Pivoting on an unlikely romance between British agent 007 and Soviet Maj. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), the film follows the pair as they meet cute (she sics men on Bond beneath the Pyramids of Giza), continues as they squabble over a microfilm MacGuffin, and finally sees them get together due to undeniable chemistry. They even have the third act breakup because of a little thing like realizing Bond killed her fiancé in the pre-title sequence. But when that sequence includes the greatest Bond stunt of all-time, with Rick Sylvester skiing off a a real glacier and then surviving by unfurling a Union Jack parachute, such things can be forgiven. After all, nobody does it better.

… And yes, that Carly Simon song is also the best Bond tune. – DC

4. GoldenEye (1995)

“GoldenEye saved James Bond.” This bit of conventional wisdom might be hyperbole, but it’s not far off from the truth either. In 1995, 007 was in a precarious place. The Cold War was over, rosy optimists were declaring “the end of history” in our time, and Bond hadn’t been in a movie since 1989. Worse, the last two films he did appear in were met with a mixed reception by the general public. Pierce Brosnan finally slipped into the tuxedo at a moment where many were opining if Bond was simply obsolete? “A sexist, misogynist dinosaur,” as his new M, Dame Judi Dench, might say.

The film proved all the naysayers wrong. But better than that, Brosnan and director Martin Campbell injected some vital life back in the franchise’s bloodstream. Like several other films near the top of this list, GoldenEye didn’t so much reinvent the formula as refine it with modern style and a fresh perspective. As much a template-setter for a picture perfect 007 adventure in the ‘90s as Goldfinger was to the ‘60s, this film offers a terrific villain in Sean Bean’s 006—Bond’s evil doppelgänger played by a man who could’ve been Bond—a wonderful henchwoman who is also a great Bond Girl via Famke Janssen’s Xenia Onatopp, and the most memorable method of murder this side of Oddjob’s hat. Even the M and Q scenes were crackling, especially because of the introduction of the aforementioned Dench.

Like a finely tailored suit, all the pieces come together for an even more appealing whole. Brosnan wears it well with a slightly wearier and more haunted Bond than we’d previously seen, but one who can still crack a smile while telling double entendres over martinis. When coupled with some of the best set-pieces in the franchise—from a high wire jump off a Swiss dam to Bond driving a tank through the streets of St. Petersberg—we’re left with one of the best action movies of its decade. – DC

3. Casino Royale (2006)

It’s hard to imagine the Bond franchise still thriving today without the commercial and narrative success of 2006’s Casino Royale. As the first hard reboot of the franchise, and the first in Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond, Casino Royale took viewers back to the relative beginning of James’ career when he was still earning his license to kill and when those kills still meant something. The film replaced camp with understated performance, swagger with sentiment, and fantastical fight scenes with visceral action.

Much of the film’s success is down to the stellar casting. There’s Craig, of course, who imbues Bond with a world-weariness and bitterness that we don’t see nearly as much in the other interpretations. But there’s also Mads Mikkelsen in his English-speaking breakout role as blood-crying villain Le Chiffre, and Jeffrey Wright and Tobias Menzies in memorable supporting roles. Most integral to the film’s success, however, is Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, who is not only one of the franchise’s best “Bond Girls,” but one of the franchise’s best characters.

On paper Vesper is a classic femme fatale. In execution, she is a complex person in an impossible situation who ultimately outsmarts Bond, even if she doesn’t wholly want to. Because of Vesper, Casino Royale is one of the few Bond films in which James loses—beating Le Chiffre and his boss Mr. White, but losing Vesper, and losing a major piece of his humanity in the process. Until the end, Vesper’s life is autonomous from Bond’s, even after they fall in love, demonstrating an agency rarely given to Bond Girls.

In some ways, it’s ironic that it was a returning Bond director who would properly bring Bond into the 21st century. Martin Campbell had previously directed 1995’s GoldenEye. This was not only Campbell’s second time directing a Bond film; it was also his second time directing a Bond film that was tasked with reinventing the franchise under a new leading man. While GoldenEye successfully did this, Casino Royale did it better. Casino Royale launched Bond into a new pop culture era in a vital way, making Bond relevant not only to longtime Bond fans but to a much broader modern audience. It is not only one of the best Bond films ever; it is one of our best modern action films. – Kayti Burt

2. From Russia With Love (1963)

Following the success of Dr. No, the Bond film series officially got underway with From Russia With Love, one of the rare 007 outings to feature continuity with the previous film while also expanding upon the template established in its predecessor. As with several of the early films, this one was faithful to the Fleming book which it was based on, as SPECTRE, seeking revenge against Bond for the death of Dr. No, creates an elaborate trap for the British agent involving a defector and several assassins.

From Russia With Love is in many ways a definitive Bond adventure, with the film standing right on the edge between Fleming’s grittier books and the more elaborate direction that the cinematic version took. Connery is even more confident and relaxed in the role, while the villains—Lotte Lenya as the vile Rosa Klebb and a young Robert Shaw as the frightening killing machine Red Grant—are two of the series’ best.

The film also introduces Q and his array of gadgets for the first time, makes the first mention of Blofeld, and establishes the pre-credits sequence that is still a part of the Bond template to this date. Whether it’s the all-time best of the series is open for debate, but it certainly has the best fight scene in the franchise between Bond and Shaw’s Red Grant, and the film itself remains right there at the top—with love. – DK

1. Goldfinger (1964)

My favorite scene in Goldfinger is not the one where Gert Fröbe’s titular villain has Bond tied to a table with a laser inching nearer—although who doesn’t love the way Fröbe’s voice rises as he says “No, Mr. Bond I expect you to die”? Nor is it the infamous moment where Bond discovers Shirley Eaton drowned in gold paint. It’s not even the laddish way Sean Connery’s lip curls as he whispers “Pussy” to Honor Blackman.

All of those things are iconic and helped give solid shape to what was previously a fluid definition for Bond and his film series. But for me, the moment where Bond and the franchise became cemented is on a golf course. It’s there that 007 and Auric Goldfinger have made a wager worth one brick of Nazi gold over who wins the next nine holes. Goldfinger of course is a cheat, and has his strongman Oddjob (Harold Sakata) sneak a ball on the green after the boss loses the real thing. But rather than call him on it or beat him despite the crooked handicap, Connery’s Bond just smirks and decides to play a trick on Mr. Goldfinger: He’ll be as dishonest and change balls out again, setting the big guy up to lose his money and his pride—even as both men are keenly aware that they despise each other, and one woman they’ve both romanced in their own broken way has died because of their little games.

It summarizes everything folks love, or love to hate, about Bond: He’s arrogant, reckless, cozy with his enemies, indifferent about his lovers, and just having the goddamn time of his life at every given moment. As per usual, Connery delivers it all with a wolfish grin and internalized chuckle, as if only he’s aware of his inherent superiority.

It’s all laid out in the best Bond movie ever made: The Shirley Bassey theme song that set the standard for every Bond opening titles sequence forever after; the tricked out Aston Martin with an ejector seat; and the wild supervillain plot about irradiating the gold bullion at Fort Knox. Goldfinger sets a perfect table for a perfect Bond movie. And it was on a golf course where Connery’s Bond began to run it. Sixty years on, he’s still winning. – DC

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pagesoflauren · 7 years ago

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Grecian Nights with Jack (Jack Lowden x reader)

Anon Request: Please can you do a really cute imagine with jack where he proposes! Really fluffy 😍

A/N: Got the request a couple weeks ago, figured this would fit quite well into the series :)

Previous Installment Masterlist

After Jack’s premiere, you were free to do what you wanted with the few months he had off. Most days were reserved for traveling back home and seeing his family, other days were for going to your family gatherings and laughing as your cousins gushed over Jack and asked him some questions in poor taste.

“Can you give me Harry Styles’ number? Please!!!” “The next time you hang out with Fionn could you tell him I love him?” “Is Tom Hardy still married? You sure? Is he happy? Because I’m available.”

He took everything in stride, eyes drifting to you to give you a look that said I adore your family but please, help me.

And that’s how you decided to take a vacation.

It was Jack’s idea, actually. A romantic, coastal getaway to the Greek island of Skopelos. There wasn’t a lot to do on the island except lounge in the sun and eat, but that’s exactly what you needed.

You arrive on the Greek mainland at the beginning of your week-long vacation before taking a boat to the island. You insist on taking pictures with Jack on the way there with the clear blue water as your background. Once at the island, you squealed with excitement. It was a gorgeous, quaint little town that looked like it didn’t get much action. It was perfect.

Greece was known for its hilly topography, and it certainly delivered on Skopelos. You’re greeted at the dock by the AirBnB host, who insists you and Jack ride on donkeys up the hill while he and his sons carry your suitcases up themselves.

“No, we couldn’t ask you to do that,” you and Jack deny initially, thinking yourselves perfectly capable of doing it yourselves, when the men laugh at you.

“No, no,” the father says, “Big hill. We are conditioned for it. You are Englishman—“ “Scotsman,” Jack quickly corrects, ever proud of his heritage. “You are not. From flat land,” he says, making a sweeping motions with his hands to resemble the “flat land” that England has. “Jack, maybe we should. They’re locals, they probably know what they’re talking about.” “You ride the donkey, then, love. I’m carrying my suitcase up.”

Jack holds your waist and lifts you onto the saddle. You get yourself settled before the youngest son takes the reins, leading the donkey up the stairs. Jack follows, carrying his bags and a backpack as the father carries your suitcase and the other son brings the other donkey up. You’re not even halfway up the hill when Jack calls out.

“AGH, alright, I need a break,” he says, dropping his luggage and doubling over to catch his breath. “You alright, Jack?” you ask. “Yeah, yeah, love. What about you, you alright?” “Mhmm. It’s actually quite comfortable. You get a nice view.” “Right, shall we carry on?” Jack says, suddenly composing himself and picking up his bag. “Sir, ride donkey,” the father says, “I will take bag.” “No, no, I’m fine. Let’s go, we’re almost there, right?” “House is almost at top of hill,” the son leading your donkey says. “Right, well we better get a move on.”

He picks up his suitcase and motions for the son to continue. You laugh, looking around at the beautiful architecture, spying a restaurant you want to try later for dinner. Some of the locals wave excitedly at you, and a little girl who appears to be just learning English walking next to you for a few steps and making conversation with you before her mom called her back.

When you reach the house, the son grabs your hands to help you dismount before unlocking the gate to the patio and the front door. You eagerly roam around the house, listening to the father explain the different features and accommodations. He leaves two keys, one for each of you, and explains how to properly lock and unlock the doors. Once they leave, you hear Jack sigh and collapse onto the couch, letting out a huge, long groan and covering his eyes.

“Goodness, Jack, why didn’t you just ride the donkey?” “I wasn’t gonna let him slander the name of Scottish people! I have to represent!” “And look where you are now: sweaty, sore and tired,” you laugh. “Would you like some water?” “Yes, please,” he practically whimpers.

You laugh again, bending down to kiss his forehead. You go into the kitchen to fulfill his request.

“Rest up, champ,” you say as he practically tugs the glass from you and downs the liquid in three gulps, “the whole week’s gonna be filled with hiking and walking.

Your statement from Monday was true. It’s Thursday now, and you leave tomorrow night. You had spent the week hiking to different places on the island: hidden beaches, historical sites and the hilltop church from the Mamma Mia! film where Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan sang “The Winner Takes It All.”

“I picked this island for its romantic views and quiet nature, not because you could run up the stairs and sing ABBA songs before collapsing on a bench,” Jack laughs, handing you a bottle of water. “Hmm, one partner handing water to the other because they’re tired from coming up the stairs. Oh, how the tables have tur—HEY!”

His exclamation is a result of you splashing some of the water on him as you smirk. He pulls up the hem of his shirt to wipe away the stray droplets, though it does feel good after being in the heat for so long.

“Tike,” he mutters, pinching your cheek.

“Stop it, you’re mean,” you say, batting his hands away, appearing to regress to the name he had teasingly called you. He kisses the spot his pinched as you drink the bottle empty and lean against him. “Come on, love, it’s only a little more to the top,” he says, “and I’ve got a surprise for you up there.” “I don’t think there’s much you could surprise me with, Lowden,” you say, forehead against his shoulder, “We’ve seen the entire island already.” You feel his lips spread in a smile on the crown of your head before he speaks. “Trust me, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

He gets up and stands over you before holding his hands out to help you up. You look up, shielding your eyes from the sunlight that surrounds him like a halo. You smile, feeling cliche butterflies in your tummy as you grab both his hands and stand up next to him.

You trek the rest of the way to the top, sighing at the view of the town before ducking into the church. It’s a lot smaller in person and there isn’t much to see compared to the churches in Rome: no saintly relics or Michelangelo paintings. Just wooden chairs, candles and a small altar. You sit for a bit, pointing out small details in the architecture and recovering from the heat of the sun and strain of the walk up. When you’re ready, you decide to go back to the house and shower before going to dinner.

“Hang on a minute, lass,” he says, pulling you around the back way to a small courtyard behind the church. It’s nicely shaded with flowers in full bloom, brightly colored petals on display as a fountain trickles water against the back wall. You figure this is where the clergy spend their downtime some days. There’s a small opening that gives a view of the blue ocean water, and it stretches miles and miles. You stand at the edge, hands on the ledge and breathe in the crisp ocean air that you know you’ll miss when you come home.

“Are you looking at this?” you ask, “it’s such a gorgeous view.” “Should try and imagine what I’m looking at, it’s an even better view.” You laugh loudly. “Gross, what are you, 14?” you say, turning to look at him. “No, but you make me feel like a teenager in love,” he says when your eyes meet his.

He gets down on one knee and you back into the wall in shock. In a way, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for since the Monday night you first found the ring. You’re already tearing up.

“You can’t cry yet! I haven’t even said anything!” he laughs. “Oh, sorry I didn’t know you planned this out right down to the very tears that would come out of my eyes,” you say, fanning your face with your hands in an attempt to get the tears to not fall prematurely.

You two share a laugh at the moment and Jack looks at you with nothing but adoration in his eyes.

“I had this whole spiel planned out where I’d tell you all these things, but right now I look at you smiling and I just want that. I want to make you smile for the rest of my life. I want to wipe away your tears when you’re sad and take care of you when you’re sick or hurt. I want to lie in with you even though I like waking up early and I always want to come home to you when I’m on a break or done filming.”

He’s fiddling with one of the pockets in his shorts, unbuttoning it and flipping the flap up before taking out the velvet box you found in his drawer. He opens it, showing you the same ring with your birthstone on it. It’s just as beautiful as you remember. The box rests in his palm as he rests his elbow on his knee, wiping away his own tears with his free hand.

“Will you let me do that?” he asks, “Will you marry me?”

You had imagined the day you’d get proposed to since you’d first watched a viral proposal video on Facebook in high school. You imagined a candlelit dinner, you in a beautiful dress with perfect hair and makeup. Instead you were barefaced, in sweaty hiking clothes and tangled hair from the wind. It was the middle of a hot day, not sunset. Jack wasn’t wearing a tux, he was wearing his favorite navy shirt and cargo shorts with too many pockets. But it couldn’t have been more perfect. Your emotions dissolve your words and you can’t even say anything, so you nod, closing your eyes and letting the tears fall freely. His arms are around you and you’re gathered into his chest as he holds you. You feel his chest rise and fall unsteadily as he cries as well before he cups your face to press his lips to yours.

He slides the ring onto your shaking finger and you jump into his arms, making him stumble back before he regains his balance and holds you close.

That night, you get your candlelit dinner by the sunset, wearing a dress and having done your hair and makeup. Jack is dressed as equally nice, looking like your prince, your superhero and your knight in shining armor. But more importantly, he looks like your fiancé. You take a picture as you clink your champagne flute against his, your ring glimmering in the candlelight. The photo is posted on your social media, captioned: “Does this photo make us look engaged?”

IT FINALLY HAPPENED.

There’s a wedding in the near future :3

tagging: @albionscastle

#Jack Lowden #Jack Lowden x reader

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mmamag · 5 years ago

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10 Greatest Martial Arts Movies Of All Time

After hundreds of movies, thousands of eye-popping fight scenes and millions of punches thrown...which ones are the best? Which ones have I been missing out on my whole life? Which ones must I have in my collection in order to not bring shame upon my family name? We’ve scoured the internet. Reviews. Forums. Amazon. Postings. Bulletins. And this list is what we’ve come up with as the greatest Kung-Fu movies of all time and why you should watch each one. Pay attention to movies involving Yuen Wo-Ping as either director or action director, there's a reason why half this list is movies where he was involved! If you want to watch trailers of these movies, go to: http://www.experiencemartialarts.com/articles/movies.html (you can also get directly to these movies in http://Amazon.com from this website)

#1 - Way of the Dragon (1979)

https://youtu.be/LQ-Biwp3jPg This is the only finished film to be written and directed by Bruce Lee. (Game of Death is the other one but is unfinished) We could write a lot about the plot, characters or fight scenes...but all you really care about is watching Bruce Lee fight Chuck Norris in the final battle. Martial Artists: Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris Director: Bruce Lee

#2 - Shaolin Temple (1982)

https://youtu.be/1Ym16e77L3U Depicts the amazing history of the Shaolin Temple, the focal point for Chinese Martial Arts. Think of the Shaolin Monks as Jedi Knights (an elite group of fighters) and the rest of China as the messed-up universe that Star Wars takes place in (people who are afraid of the elite fighters and want to take them out of power). Much work to do, you have, young Jet Li. *picture Yoda’s accent on that one* Define Irony: A movie shot at the site of the Shaolin Temple, telling a story about the fall of the Shaolin Temple, sparks so much public interest that the temple was re-opened shortly after the movie released. Martial Artist: Jet Li (His debut movie) Director: Chang Hsin-Yen

#3 - Ong Bak (2003)

https://youtu.be/VUAIQU7yoQE Raw action without wires, Tony Jaa brings a new martial arts style to the big screen and does so in style. Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is stronger and more direct than the Chinese styles you’re used to seeing with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, giving a new look to how a martial arts movie can be done. You’ll be seeing more of him...guaranteed. Martial Artist: Tony Jaa Director: Prachya Pinkaew

#4 - Iron Monkey (1993)

https://youtu.be/C_PHfCon2zQ Doctor by day, thief by night...Iron Monkey is your classic Robin-hood meets Kung Fu. It’s an action packed flick that can’t go 5 minutes without an excellent fight scene. It all comes down to a battle between Iron Monkey (ie Robin Hood) and an ex Shaolin Monk (remember, these guys are like the Jedi Knights of Chinese martial arts...they’re elite). Remember that guy Yuen Wo-Ping I mentioned? Well he's the director in this one, so you know it's good! Martial Artists: Yu Rong-Guang, Donnie Yen Director: Yuen Wo-Ping Action Directors: Yuen Cheung-yan, Yuen Shun-yi

#5 - 5 Deadly Venoms (1978)

https://youtu.be/kX6EHqcvqyo No room form "martial arts beauties" in this one, there's so much blood and action that they only cast male actors. Exit the traditional elaborate costumes and enter the muscular, skin-bearing, bloody martial arts style that would become a trademark for director Chang Cheh. Each cast member is trained in an art resembling one of 5 venemous creatures (Scorpion, Snake, Centipede, Gecko, Toad) with the 6th cast member being trained in all 5. Six main martial arts actors = LOTS O’ ACTION Martial Artists: 6 Martial Artists (yes, 6 main characters) Director: Chang Cheh

#6 - The Seven Samurai (1954)

https://youtu.be/wJ1TOratCTo One of the greatest classic kung-fu movies of all time and arguable Kurosawa’s best work. Some Samurai of the time were down on their luck (homeless) and willing to do anything for a meal. A village under attack by bandits recruits a group of seven such Samurai warriors and asks them to help defend their village. The movie is about the Samurai teaching the village how to fight and culminates in a massive battle between a village and almost 50 attacking bandits. The acting is superb, the emotions run high and Kurosawa keeps you hooked from beginning to end. Martial Artists: 7 Martial Artists (all names you won't know since this movie is so old) Director: Akira Kurosawa

#7 - Legend of Drunken Master (1994)

https://youtu.be/xlZDzx8xiwo Some will say this is the greatest martial arts movie of all time because of it’s balance between plot-line, comedy, drama and amazing kung fu sequences. Probably Jackie Chan’s best martial arts performance. You’re going to love the final scene where you learn what “Drunken Master” really means. We’re talking box-splitting, fire-spitting craziness! Martial Artist: Jackie Chan Director: Lau Kar-leung

#8 - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)

https://youtu.be/mClOxgyWLs8 Based on a Pentalogy (yes, that’s 5 books) written by Wang Dulu, this movie covers mostly the 4th book. Critically acclaimed to cross international borders with it’s amazing character development, intricate plot, martial arts ideals, stunning special effects and quicker-than-the-eye fighting scenes, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon set a new standard for martial arts movies. Telling Zhang Ziyi (the lead female character and an amazing martial artist) to get back in the kitchen would likely cost you 50 punches to the “bags”. Be ready for subtitles, ‘cuz turning on the English track is like watching...uh...like watching a kung fu movie in English. Main Martial Artist: Chow Yun-fat Other Martial Artists: Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-pei Director: Ang Lee Action Director: Yuen Wo-Ping

#9 - Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003)

https://youtu.be/499Aiwh_If0 You’re going to want your home theatre room for this one. It’s tough to beat beautiful women beating the crap out of each other in fast-paced, action-packed, make you cringe, bloody, gory, cut-’em-up (more buzz words go here) movie jam packed with as much martial arts death as possible. Tarantino expertly uses every camera angle and a plethora of special effects to deliver a better-than-real visual experience that gives this blood-and-guts thriller an artistic feel you’ll appreciate at the end. Did I mention is has Uma Thurman in it? (“Kill bill vol. 2” brings closure to the set, but hey...we had to choose one movie. Say “Five-Point-Palm Exploding Heart Technique” 5 times fast.) Actors: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox Director: Quentin Tarantino Action Director: Yuen Wo-ping

#10 - Fist of Legend (1994)

https://youtu.be/Wh5ydsMZUzg A classic story of Chinese vs. Japanese martial arts, Fist of Legend is actually a remake of the original Bruce Lee movie, Fist of Fury. If Bruce Lee is like the original James Bond, Jet Li is the Pierce Brosnan. He’ll never be the original, but the modern film-making and larger budget bring the entertainment value just a hair above the original Fist of Fury. (The ghost of Bruce Lee is probably going to strike me down for writing that) The Yuen Brothers are known for amazing action choreography, and they totally deliver on this one. (Casting Jet Li may have helped them a little too.) Martial Artist: Jet Li Director: Gordon Chan Action Directors: “The Yuen Brothers”

MMA MAG Read the full article

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contrivedcoincidences6 · 8 years ago

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The Bodyguard ch. 6

Newest installment of The Bodyguard written by @alittlemissfit and yours truly!! If you haven’t read the others here they are: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Enjoy!!!

“What’s the password?” The disembodied voice asks over a speaker as Mulder rolls his eyes.

“I’m not saying it, Frohike. Just let me in,” he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face.

“I can’t let you in til you say the password.”

“I know you’ve got video surveillance. You know it’s me! Just let me in!”

“Video cameras can be tricked and shapeshifters are a documented phenomena. So I’ll say it again. Password?!”

Rolling his eyes, Mulder groans. Looks straight up into the camera.

“Riding the 5-legged pony,” he says flatly. Shakes his head at the laughter he hears over the intercom as he’s buzzed in.

“How old are you guys anyway? Fifteen?” he asks once inside the poorly lit apartment reeking of huevos rancheros. The one bedroom hideout is filled with computer monitors and servers, and newspaper articles and ‘zine clippings paper the dingy walls.

“Security is not a joke, Mulder.” Langley says from his perch on a corner stool. His long, stringy hair hangs around his face, looking like it hasn’t been washed in weeks. His grungy look is complemented by a faded Guns N’ Roses tee shirt and acid wash jeans.

“Yeah. Security,” Mulder scoffs as Byers walks in. Hair combed, wearing a vintage suit and tie he looks ever the professional, the polar opposite of his blond friend.

“Hey, Mulder.” Cutting over to the desk chair Byers takes a seat, powers on his laptop.

“So, you’re running a little late today. What gives?” Frohike asks, walking in from the kitchen with a bag of pretzels. Flipping up the magnifier covering his glasses he arches a bushy eyebrow at him.

“Just a very long day followed by a very confusing night.” Mulder sighs, sinking onto the lumpy couch.

“What happened?” Byers asks.

“Just additional shit to deal with courtesy of dear old Dad.”

Putting his feet up on the coffee table, Mulder remembers the threat he received in the mail.

“Hey, were any of you guys sent any threatening letters?” he asks. All three level confused and intrigued looks at him before Frohike offers him the pretzels.

“Well, I got a beauty of one in my mailbox yesterday,” Mulder says, taking the bag. “My mother was sent one too. It nearly sent her into a panic attack.”

“What did it say?” Langley asks.

“Just your run of the mill stalker lingo. I was ready to just throw the thing away but my mom went and showed her copy to my father. Long story short, I’m getting a bodyguard.”

“No shit,” Langley breathes.

“I know! One of my dad’s hired goons is parked outside right now.”

“Are you telling me you brought some random security guy here?!” Frohike asks. Cutting over to the monitor with the surveillance feed he shakes his head, spots the suit sitting in the car outside.

“He doesn’t really care, guys,” Mulder says dismissively, rolling his eyes. “Besides, it’s not like he knows the password.” “There’s is a lot of highly classified information in here, bigshot. If he works for your dad he could just as well have ulterior motives.” Frohike snaps.

“That guy?” Mulder laughs, pointing to the screen, “Trust me, Frohike, he’s not the brightest. He let me go off without him last night and all I had to do was ask. Honestly this whole thing might not actually be so bad.”

“Just don’t bring him by here again,” Frohike warns, earning a dry look.

“Sure, fine. Whatever.”

“Why did you ask to be unguarded?” Byers questions.

“I met a woman at the bar and wanted some space.”

“A woman? I didn’t know you knew what those were.” Langley snorts.

“Ha ha. Yes. I met a woman at the bar. We went back to my place and it was incredible. But she left before I woke up and didn’t leave any way to contact her. It didn’t help that I drank too much to remember anything but her name and her hair.”

All three look at him with amused looks.

“Do you want to find her?” Byers asks.

“Yeah, I do.” Mulder says earnestly, sitting forward on the couch before staring down at his hands.

“Have you gone back to the bar to see what the bartender remembers?” Langley asks as Mulder looks up, immediately perks up.

“No! Christ, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Maybe cause you’re a hungover mess?” Frohike volunteers.

“Gee, thanks, Sherlock. I had no idea,” Mulder says snidely as he stands up, starts for the door.

“You’re going now?” Byers asks, frowning as Mulder looks at his watch.

“Yeah, it’s just a little after six. The bar’s not going to be too crowded. I can actually talk to the guy.”

“Fine, it’s not like we had anything planned,” Langley pouts.

“Yeah, I had a feeling,” Mulder smirks. “See you around, guys.”

After leaving the Gunmen, Mulder parks his car back in the lot for his building, then walks the remaining distance to the bar. It’s not that late and rather than fight for a parking spot he just assumes get some fresh air, chase off the last of his hangover. He wants to be as clear headed as he can before questioning the bartender about his mystery woman, knowing he doesn’t have much else to go off of in terms of tracking her down.

He’d tried to reach out to the guard who’d been on him last night, only to learn he’d been removed from the agency along with any record of him ever working there. Even if he did catch up with Peter and he happened to remember the woman he’d left with last night, Mulder doubted the man would lift a finger for him considering taking on his detail had cost him his job.

Walking inside through the front entrance he drums his fingers on the dark wood of the bar, shortly catches the eye of a waitress.

“Hi there. What are you drinking?”

“I’m actually here for some information. I was in here last night and wanted to try and speak to the bartender who served me.”

“Was there a problem?”

“No, nothing like that. I just wanted to see if he was working tonight.”

“Well, last night Jeff was tending bar but he only works weekends. Can I help you?”

“No, I don’t think so. I was just-”

Before he can continue a heavy hand falls on his shoulder and Mulder turns around. Sees an older man standing in front of him who bears an uncanny resemblance to Pierce Brosnan.

“Fox Mulder?” he asks in a crisp British accent.

“That’s me.”

“Very good. I’m your assigned guard. This way,”

Before Mulder can object, the guard, who’s at least a foot taller than him and all muscle, marches him out the front door of the bar.

“Sure thing, Jeeves.”

“My name is Simon,” he says curtly, leading him to a black car with tinted windows.

“I have my own car. How do I even know you work for my father?” Mulder asks, slightly suspicious at the covert nature of the car.

The window rolls down to reveal his father’s co worker, who looks familiar to him but he can’t quite place. He’s old with a craggy, wrinkled face and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

“Get in the car, Fox. We’re taking you to your father. Simon’s here for the time being to keep you out of trouble.” The smoking man says in a way that made Mulder uneasy.

He relents though, gets into the car before the guard goes around to the driver's side. Buckles up before speeding off.

#i wrote this #we wrote this #x files fanfic #the bodyguard #msr

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divewatchhq-blog · 6 years ago

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The Long History of the Omega Seamaster

https://www.divewatchhq.com/?p=8145 It doesn’t seem to happen so much anymore, but back in the day luxury watch brands liked to celebrate their significant birthdays by releasing entirely new collections. That was certainly the case when Omega chalked up its centenary, commemorating 100 years in business way back in 1948. They marked the anniversary with the release of a line touted as the ideal watch for customers looking for something robust yet elegant, a model suitable for ‘town, sea and country’. Its name—the Seamaster.

The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Coaxial

Over the last seven decades, the family has grown to become the most varied in Omega’s whole lineup, the name adorning everything from sophisticated dress pieces to gargantuan chunks of solid steel. In between, they have been the favored timepieces of underwater pioneers, royalty and military action men, both real and fictional. Below, we will take a look at the Omega Seamaster history and key references.

Omega Seamaster History: Let’s Start at The Beginning

The original Seamaster was a relatively simple affair, taking its inspiration from the models Omega had supplied to the British armed forces in the Second World War. Known as W.W.W watches, for ‘watch wristlet waterproof’, they were prized for their sturdy build quality and excellent legibility, two elements that formed the groundwork on which the Seamaster was, and still is, constructed.

Omega reissued their original Seamaster at Baselworld 2018

Although ostensibly meant as a more formal wear, there was an inherent toughness to the design, with the brand already having plenty of experience with waterproofing; the Omega Marine had come out in 1932, considered in some quarters as the father of the dive watch, although it bears little resemblance to the concept as we know it today. Even so, Omega had cultivated the reputation and when the Seamaster landed it only strengthened the company’s position. Key to much of the watch’s ability was the use of rubber O-ring gaskets, which were able to retain their shape, and therefore their imperviousness to water, over a vast range of temperatures far better than the shellac or lead seals used by rival manufactures. In 1955, the Swiss Laboratory for Watch Research tested 50 Seamaster cases to a depth of 60 meters, and the results from that successful study, and the subsequent experimentation with new materials, gave rise to a trio of tool watch collections among the most popular ever made.

The Professionals

1957 saw Omega roll out the first Seamaster 300, a true diver’s watch that made its debut alongside the consistently underrated Railmaster, a model for scientists and engineers that lined up against the Milgauss, and the inaugural Speedmaster, which needs no introduction.

The original Seamaster 300 is one of the most iconic dive watches ever made

The original reference, the CK2913, showcased the brand’s new Naiad winding crown, their answer to the screw down design, the patent for which was still held over at Rolex. Omega’s invention was mounted on a specific type of spring inside the winding tube that created an ever tighter seal under increasing water pressure. It meant the deeper the watch was taken, the more protected it became; the downside of which was a certain vulnerability at shallower depths. Nevertheless, as its name suggests, the Seamaster 300 was rated waterproof to exactly…200m! I know; the reason for the discrepancy is, depending on which story you prefer, the fact that the testing equipment of the time could only simulate pressures of 200m maximum, or it might equally be that Omega just thought 300 sounded better from a marketing standpoint. The choice is yours. Whichever is true, the watch was an instant hit, arriving at just the right time to capitalize on the craze for recreational Scuba diving as well as drawing the eye of one legendary name who explored the underwater world for a living. When, in 1963, Jacques Cousteau embarked on his Precontinent II expedition, the French oceanographer’s experiment to develop a permanent subaquatic habitat, the Seamaster 300 became the timepiece of choice for him and his team.

Continental Shelf Station Two was an experiment by Jacques Cousteau, where he first wore a Seamaster

The watch went through a redesign in 1964, with an enlarged bezel as well as the case increasing in size overall from 39mm to 42mm, and receiving the twisted bombe lugs still present on most models today. Military customers followed, particularly the British Special Boat Service (SBS), although the limitations of the Naiad crown made the association a relatively short one, giving way to the Rolex Milsub Submariners in the 1970s.

600 and Beyond

New technology gave rise to industrial saturation diving in the 60s and 70s, and with it, new challenges to overcome for watch manufacturers. The main hurdle concerned the gas mixtures being used at the enormous depths crews were now required to work at. A Trimix blend allowed divers to breathe far deeper than with a standard air mixture, but with the drawback of having to use helium. With one of the smallest molecules of any chemical element, the tiny helium bubbles easily penetrated the cases of watches, and then expanded as divers ascended to the surface and forced out the dial crystals.

The Rolex 5513 Submariner was retrofitted with a helium escape valve, courtesy of DOXA

Three manufacturers sought to address the problem. Rolex teamed up with Doxa and devised the Helium Escape Valve (HEV), a small, one-way regulator fitted into the side of the case to allow the gas to seep back out of the watch before it could cause any damage. It was first retrofitted onto a ref. 5513 Submariner, before becoming the defining feature of the all-conquering Sea-Dweller in 1967. Omega went a different way. Their solution was to stop the helium getting inside in the first place and so came up with the Ploprof (PLOngeur PROFessional—professional diver) Seamaster 600.

The Omega Seamaster 600 Ploprof was forged from a block of stainless steel, in case you couldn’t already tell (photo: toolwatch)

Forged from a single block of stainless steel, with a 4mm thick crystal, it was more barn door engineering than Rolex’s elegant response, albeit a highly effective one.

Hydrostatic tests rated it waterproof to 1370 meters, but with a lumpy 54mm case, it wasn’t much of a looker and was a commercial failure. Its even hardier follow-up, the Seamaster 1000, suffered much the same fate. Even so, the 600 accompanied divers on a record breaking expedition in the Ajaccio Gulf in France, spending four hours a day over eight days at depths of 253 meters, and coming up smiling. The public may have been indifferent, but professionals loved it.

Image Boost

The Seamaster range expanded into several distinct lines throughout the 70s and 80s. Chronographs emerged with styling a world away from the original but very much of their era. For the 300 however, the best was yet to come. After a six year absence from the screen, James Bond was back and in need of a new timepiece.

The Omega Seamaster got a new lease on life with their introduction into Bond films

In 1995 Omega scored a massive coup by replacing Rolex as watch supplier to the world’s favorite secret agent. In Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan sported the Seamaster 300M, a new collection released a year before, complete with its own Helium Escape Valve. The quartz-powered model with a distinctive blue dial and bezel, the ref. 2541.80, catapulted the watch instantly into the category of ‘must-have’. So far, the franchise has used various references in a total of eight Bond films, with Omega surviving the leap from Brosnan’s super smooth portrayal to Daniel Craig’s far more gritty interpretation. In Casino Royale, Craig’s debut outing from 2006, he unveils the Seamaster Planet Ocean for the first time. A contemporary reimagining of that original CK2913, the Planet Oceans are even tougher, with thicker cases and waterproof to 600m. They are also the first Seamasters to be given Omega’s Master Chronometer Co-Axial movements, with their massive magnetic resistance.

James Bond switched things up a little bit in Casino Royale with a Planet Ocean from Omega

Bond has stayed loyal to Omega and the different models in the Seamaster family. In 2012’s Skyfall, we see him wear the so-called entry level piece, the Aqua Terra, aimed more at a life spent riding the ocean waves on a luxury yacht rather than exploring below. And in Spectre, the most recent adventure from 2015, he goes into battle with a special commemorative edition of the 300 created to observe the CK2913’s birthday.

Latest Models

The professional Omega range goes from strength to strength, with 2017’s release of a nostalgia drenched trio which were an almost mirror image of the original Railmaster, Speedmaster and Seamaster from 1957, updated with the very latest in the brand’s industry-leading calibers. This year they were at it again, diving even further back in time with the limited edition Seamaster 1948 duo (pictured above). A revival of the first watches to bear the name, launched some 70 years ago, they are a pair of 38mm dress pieces in either a central seconds version, or with a small seconds sub dial at the six o’clock. Reintroducing the same dauphine hands and elegant triangular indexes, they are about as faithful a likeness of the watches that started it all as you could wish for.

The Omega Seamaster history is full of lessons and key victories

The Omega Seamaster history is incredible – the longest continuously running model from a brand not short on heritage. Whether from the professional or dress lines, the watch has always been a fan favorite��and will continue to be so for many years to come. The post The History of the Omega Seamaster appeared first on Bob's Watches

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billnewcottreviews · 7 years ago

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Movie Review: The Only Living Boy In New York

The Only Living Boy in New York **** Rated: R Run Time: 1 hour 28 minutes Stars: Callum Turner, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon, Jeff Bridges Writer: Allan Loeb Director: Marc Webb

If Woody Allen, instead of Mike Nichols, had directed The Graduate, that film might have come off looking and sounding a lot like The Only Living Boy in New York, director Marc Webb’s funny, tragedy-tinged ode to youthful angst and wildly inappropriate lust.

While Nichols’ film cynically inhaled a smog-choked fantasy of Los Angeles the way Mrs. Robinson sucked on her cigarettes, Webb dissects that annoying Manhattanite vision of New York as the pulsing heart of the universe, the place where an Upper East Side dad scowls with disdain when his son moves to the Lower West Side, as if the boy has retreated as far from civilization as is humanly possible.

Living Boy will never ascend to the classic status of The Graduate, but the film does have transcendent moments as its title character maneuvers the choppy waters of young adulthood.

We meet Thomas (Callum Turner, who resembles a young Richard Gere, but not in a distracting way) just as he’s being sort-of dumped by his girlfriend Mimi (Kiersey Clemons). It’s not that she doesn’t want to see him again; she just wants to “be friends,” which to Thomas is the equivalent of having his heart excavated with a backhoe. Depressed, he retreats to his squalid apartment where, in the hallway, he runs into a disheveled fellow (Jeff Bridges, who does disheveled better than anybody) who takes an interest in this sad-looking kid. He introduces himself simply as “W.F.,” and the two strike up a friendship. As Tom absorbs the older man’s advice on women, work, and life in general, W.F. quickly becomes Thomas’ father figure — a rather sad turn of events because Thomas’ actual father Ethan (Pierce Brosnan) lives just 20 subway stops uptown.

But Ethan, a wealthy, successful book publisher, is a distant parent. Besides his distaste for Thomas’ choice of neighborhoods, he seldom refrains from issuing sharp criticism of his son’s lack of ambition. Thomas’ mother Judith (Cynthia Nixon) makes half-hearted efforts to intervene, but we soon realize she is a deeply emotionally damaged creature who’s barely holding on to her husband’s affections, as well.

We witness the trio’s grinding family mechanisms at a dinner party. It’s one of those upper crust New York City affairs where everyone comes preloaded with sharp and witty observations — including Thomas, who has already rehearsed his killer line, “New York’s most vibrant neighborhood at the moment is Philadelphia”. The scene is one of Living Boy’s most overtly Woody Allen-esque moments, right down to including frequent Allen collaborator Wallace Shawn as a dinner guest.

Thomas seems destined to continue in his dismal orbit until two things happen: W.F. begins to encourage him to pursue his dream of being a writer, and Thomas spots his father at a restaurant, canoodling with a younger woman named Johanna (Kate Beckinsale). Becoming obsessed, Thomas follows Johanna around town for a few days, then confronts her, demanding that she stop seeing his father.

Alas, she refuses. But what’s that smoky look in her eyes? And why is Thomas suddenly kinda flushed? Yep, this is where you may as well cue “Mrs. Robinson” on the soundtrack — or maybe “Your Cheatin’ Heart” — as Johanna throws herself into dueling romances with a young man and his father, each of whom has about the same age gap with her, only in opposite directions. It goes, of course, no better than when both Harrison Ford and Sean Connery fell for Alison Doody in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Through it all, Thomas’ upstairs neighbor W.T. remains his steadfast mentor, never passing judgment, always with an uncanny insight into what makes Thomas tick. Before long we’re suspecting there’s more to W.T. than he’s letting on. The man is harboring at least two secrets: One less-than surprising, the other totally out of left field.

Indeed, W.T.’s ultimate secret proves to be at the root of virtually all the characters’ individual crises. When revealed, it seems almost like screenwriter Allan Loeb (Collateral Beauty) has been cheating us all along. But to be fair, he has planted clues all along the way, and the perfection with which all the characters’ stories dovetail by the end is sweetly satisfying. Director Webb, who helmed two Spiderman movies, returns to the more narrow-focused and pleasantly quirky realm he so delightfully explored in another confused-young-man-in-love film, 500 Days of Summer.

The youngsters in the cast are appealing; even when she disappears from the narrative, we desperately hope Mimi will come and ask Thomas back. And as the conflicted femme fatale, Beckinsale manages against the odds to arouse grudging sympathy. Best of all are Brosnan and Nixon as two people who have let a long-ago choice infect the connective tissue of their marriage, and who have seen it fester to the point where everyone around them is, to some degree, poisoned.

Eventually, Thomas learns to nurture the positive connections of his life and let the negative ones wither. Like the guy Simon and Garfunkel sing about in the title track (another link to The Graduate), this Tom at last lets his honesty shine, and only then is he able to fly.

8/11/2017

#the only living boy in new york #pierce brosnan #@kate beckinsale #callum turner #cynthia nixon #amazon studios #roadside attractions

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Can No Time to Die Break the Final James Bond Movie Curse?

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/for-your-eyes-only-bond-fires.png?resize=400%2C400

Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond is coming to an end. This truth has been known ever since it was announced that Craig would reprise the role in No Time to Die, his fifth outing as 007. And yet, given the litany of delays that movie has endured largely due to the pandemic—remember when No Time to Die was slated for November 2019?—the reality of his leaving feels like it’s been almost taken for granted.

The curtain really is coming down this month for UK fans, and the No Time to Die marketing team is now making folks aware of that again with the recent viral clip of Craig’s teary eyed farewell speech from the day production wrapped on the Bond movie. After wearing Bond’s tuxedo for 15 years, Craig closes the book on a run that’s lasted longer than any other Bond actor’s, and with almost as many films as any thespian who’s ever called themselves James Bond. (Sean Connery still has six canonical James Bond movies under his belt, and Roger Moore holds the record with seven.)

So now that the movie is truly here, it’s worth wondering one of the quiet bits out loud: Will Craig do something almost no other Bond actor has done to date and finish his run on a high note? Because when you sit down and think about it, nearly every actor who’s ordered a shaken martini before him has signed off with the worst Bond movie of their tenure.

There are exceptions, of course: George Lazenby only played 007 once, and in a good movie too. But if one wanted to be glib, they could say On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) was then both his best and worst Bond entry. Beyond Lazenby’s solitary adventure, however, each Bond actor has ended on a sour note, which puts all the more pressure on No Time to Die to buck this trend…

Sean Connery Goes Bust in Diamonds Are Forever

This phenomenon began with the first and (in this writer’s opinion) best actor to ever purr, “The name’s Bond, James Bond.” As the man who helped invent much of the iconography we associate with the 007 character—imprinting a boyish insolence and brutal physicality to the role that author Ian Fleming arguably did not intend—Sean Connery played Bond in the character’s heyday. And unlike every actor who would follow (again excluding Lazenby), Connery got to enjoy the role at a time when Bond didn’t feel out of step with the zeitgeist and didn’t need to justify his existence. During the glory years of Bondmania, Connery and the producers were shaping pop culture instead of responding to it.

Yet that wasn’t quite true for the last time Connery put on the hairpiece. His initial run in the role included five back-to-back franchise classics in Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), and You Only Live Twice (1967). Admittedly, the first three of those movies have aged far better in the last 60 years than the final two, but all were well received in their moment and helped make an actor Fleming once described as “a ditch digger” into a global superstar who’d eventually be knighted by Her Majesty. Still, after five template-setting adventures, Connery was done—his frustrations over how he was paid for the movies didn’t help.

If Connery had ended his run with You Only Live Twice, his tenure would be seen as glittering as Goldfinger’s house paint. However, after Lazenby elected not to come back for a second outing as 007, and after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service closed out the 1960s as the lowest grossing Bond movie since Connery’s first two installments, producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman shipped a small fortune Connery’s way to convince him to return for Diamonds are Forever (1971), which I would charitably suggest is the worst Bond movie ever made.

To be sure, there are flashier targets that could hold that title, many of which do not include actors as generally beloved in the role as Connery. But Diamonds Are Forever featured a tired and bored looking performance from Connery, as well as a script and direction that retreated from the tragic cliffhanger ending of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in favor of something far more generic. Essentially a reworking of Connery’s previously most outrageous Bond films, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever ups the camp factor as Bond again battles SPECTRE mastermind Blofeld (now played at his worst by Charles Gray). There’s some harebrained plot in which Blofeld is using South African diamonds to power a satellite’s laser that will lead to him holding the world’s nuclear arsenals hostage.

But really it’s just an excuse for Bond to go through the motions as he travels around Las Vegas and the larger American southwest. It then ends Connery’s run by letting 007 have a laugh as Blofeld, ostensibly the man who killed Bond’s wife (though she’s never mentioned in this film), gets away. James then kills two henchmen coded as gay with maximum homophobia while enjoying a cruise. It’s a film that already had one foot in the land of Austin Powers parody.

Technically, Connery would play Bond one more time in the non-Eon produced remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again (1983), but that’s not exactly a classic either…

Roger Moore’s Tired View to a Kill

There’s a lot that can be said about Roger Moore’s final 007 adventure, A View to a Kill (1985), but anything positive comes almost exclusively from the absolute banging Duran Duran song. That plus the movie’s less flattering qualities which appeal to connoisseurs of bad movie kitsch. Yes, Christopher Walken really does look high as a kite as he plays ‘80s yuppie supervillain Max Zorin, and Grace Jones as henchwoman May Day appears as though she’ll snap Moore in half.

But therein lies one of the film’s many problems: By the time Moore got to his seventh Bond movie, the actor was pushing 60 and looked it. By his own admission, he realized he stayed with the role too long when he met the mother of his leading lady, Tanya Roberts, and discovered she was younger than him. But the geriatric quality of Moore here is just one of a cacophony of woes, which when combined suggested that the series had become long in the tooth.

At his height of popularity, Moore had perfected his jovial gentleman charm offensives, playing a spy more inclined to disarm a situation with a well-placed punchline than a punch. This is exhibited in Moore’s best Bond adventure, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), a classic that plays as much like a romantic comedy as a typical 007 flick… even with the fate of the world hanging in the balance as a megalomaniac attempts to nuke the planet.

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After that high bar though, much of the Moore era chased the campy thrills of that movie to far lesser results. The one exception is For Your Eyes Only (1981), an underrated gem in the series which for the most part resembles a genuine Cold War adventure with the occasional concession to Bond formulae. Following that picture, Moore considered hanging up the Walther PPK, but was persuaded to come back for Octopussy (1983) and then A View to a Kill.

It is arguable Moore made worse Bond movies than AVTAK. For sheer camp spectacle, nothing outdoes the outrageousness of Moonraker (1979), and we’d argue Octopussy is one of the more forgettable Bond movies ever made. Yet it is the haggard, over-the-hill quality which makes A View to a Kill come off as faintly desperate, and a little bit sad as the franchise again dregs up the plot of Goldfinger and attempts to redress it with a limited Hollywood understanding of 1980s Silicon Valley, plus more violence and sex. It seemed dated even in ’85. If the Bond franchise is a series of peaks and valleys, Moore ended his run close to sea level.

Timothy Dalton Goes After Scarface in License to Kill

Timothy Dalton is the Bond actor that time has been kindest too. While his aggressive and perpetually angry version of the character was somewhat rejected by late ‘80s audiences who still had Moore’s interpretation fresh in mind—plus the media fiasco of Pierce Brosnan being cast as Bond and then forced to drop out—Dalton’s popularity has grown among diehard fans who enjoyed his underplayed bluntness. It’s an interpretation that looks ahead of its time, too, given the eventual popularity of Craig’s take on the role.

All that being said, I would argue Dalton never starred in a great Bond movie. His first outing, The Living Daylights (1987), has its moments and is another one of the rare Bond films that feels like an actual espionage thriller, even as it lacks the tension of From Russia With Love or the charm and terrific climax of For Your Eyes Only. It was then followed up by License to Kill (1989), a Bond picture that in spite of online chatter to the contrary is not some lost hidden gem.

In truth, License to Kill is one of those middling type of Bond movies that jump on the pop culture bandwagons of their day. In the era of Moore, that meant some uncomfortably tone deaf riffs on Blaxploitation in Live and Let Die (1973) and aping Star Wars in Moonraker. With License to Kill, it meant Bond imitating popular television series Miami Vice and some of the harder edged action movies and crime thrillers of the 1980s, particularly Lethal Weapon (1987) and Scarface (1983). The problem, however, is that License to Kill is still a Bond movie produced by Cubby Broccoli, who’d been with the series since the beginning, and directed by John Glen, who’d helmed the last four Bond movies, including A View to a Kill.

Whereas the R-rated violence and traumatic cynicism of Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon felt startlingly edgy in the ‘80s, License to Kill looks a bit like the aging hipster who’s still trying to fit in at the nightclub. And seeing Bond go on a vendetta against a South American drug dealer right out of the Tony Montana playbook looked neutered when compared to the actual Tony Montana. Which is a shame, as Bond out on a personal mission of revenge seems like an appealing narrative prompt that the Bond franchise has never quite gotten right. Diamonds Are Forever ignored Bond’s need for retribution following the death of his wife Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Craig’s later rampage movie, Quantum of Solace (2008), squandered the potential left by Casino Royale’s tragic ending two years earlier. Instead Quantum also became distracted by the conventions of its decade, in this case by copying the Jason Bourne movies.

So we see Dalton’s grumpy 007 given a reason to really pout after Felix Leiter has his legs fed to sharks on his wedding night, and Bond then finds the bride murdered the next morning. It’s a grisly but potent setup. Hence the disappointment when you realize the most memorable thing about its third act is the bizarre cameo by Wayne Newton as an evil televangelist.

Pierce Brosnan’s Run Needed to Die Another Day

Probably the most notorious final Bond film is Pierce Brosnan’s swan song in Die Another Day (2002). Given the mostly deserved vitriol that movie now receives, it’s hard to remember it was the most successful Bond film ever when it came out (when left unadjusted for inflation). Big and gaudy, the critics mostly accepted it, and it was no deal breaker for Quentin Tarantino who dreamed of working with Brosnan as Bond afterward in a ‘60s-set Casino Royale movie that never materialized.

Of course after the post-40th anniversary haze faded away, fans were left with a pretty lousy flick, which looks all the stranger when you remember the first act is actually pretty solid. The movie starts with Bond double crossed and left to spend 18 months in a prisoner camp in North Korea. In this way, it was the first Bond movie to incorporate the opening title sequence into its narrative, with the naked silhouettes of women being delirious visions Bond has while being tortured. His subsequent escape as a shaggy caveman into Hong Kong high society and then doing Connery-esque low-fi spy work in Cuba is also energetic, frothy fun.

Few folks recall any of this though because the film nosedives into the realm of the wretched and the damned at about the halfway mark. Inexplicably, director Lee Tamahori and the producers decided to celebrate Bond’s 40th by emulating the worst excesses of the Moore years, and even the banality of Diamonds Are Forever’s plot with diamonds and space lasers. It’s just as bad the second time around, but in Die Another Day’s case this also means invisible cars and terrible early 2000s CGI effects as a cartoon version of Brosnan surfs on glaciers and digital waves.

It’s bad, and it undermines Brosnan’s overall tenure. While Brosnan only starred in one great Bond movie, GoldenEye (1995), we’d argue both Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) are pretty good. The former has aged like wine with its evil news baron that’s obviously a caricature of Rupert Murdoch. To better launch his cable news network, the fiend even manufactures a global crisis that risks lives. Huh. The World Is Not Enough, meanwhile, has one of the best pre-titles action sequences in the whole franchise and one of its best villains. In fact, Sophie Marceau’s Elektra King remains the only female lead who’s also the main vaillain.

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Together, all three form a solid enough trilogy in which Brosnan plays a Bond forced to find his place in the changing, destabilized world of the 1990s. The Cold War is over, and the World on Terror is yet to come. In this strange, supposed “end of history” moment, Brosnan’s Bond spent three movies renegotiating the character’s place in a world of upheaval, oblivious to the horrors to come. So Bond faces the threats borne out of a destabilized eastern European bloc, and misleading mass media forces shaping the world for the worst, all of which now looks like prophecy.

While we wish Brosnan had a better fourth film to hang his hat on than Die Another Day, if he’d simply stopped at three, his little ‘90s-specific trilogy would look a lot better.

Can No Time to Die Break the Pattern?

In the end, we won’t know the answer to the above question until we see the movie, however there are many reasons to be hopeful. Unlike three of the four movies at the center of this article, No Time to Die is not a Bond film from a franchise veteran director, who might be happy to go through the usual paces. In fact, one of the most appealing things about Craig’s whole tenure in 007 is how much more willing producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are to take risks.

After Sam Mendes helmed the one-two punch of Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), to admittedly uneven results, Eon Productions is doubling down on auteur talent by tapping Cary Joji Fukunaga to direct Craig’s final Bond movie. A sometimes overlooked visualist, Fukunaga has style to spare in films like Jane Eyre (2011) and Beasts of No Nation (2015). But even more than his cinematic output, his standing as one of the first filmmakers to prove television can truly be a director’s medium in the first season of True Detective and Netflix’s Maniac suggests he can bring a renewed hunger to making a classic Bond epic that stands apart. The various No Time to Die trailers all seem to suggest this will be one of the chicest looking Bond movies to date.

Additionally, the film benefits from being the grand finale of Craig’s oeuvre. As really the first actor to have an evolving and complex continuity throughout his installments in the franchise, Craig has taken 007 on an emotional journey across the previous four movies. The quality of the films might vary, but Craig’s through-line has been consistently strong, and with No Time to Die the performer and filmmakers know they need to stick a landing that says something resounding about this version of the character. And lastly, the cast for this movie, from returning faces like Ralph Fiennes, Jeffrey Wright, and Léa Seydoux, to new ones, such as Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, and Rami Malek as a mysterious villain named Safin, suggests this might very well be the best ensemble ever brought together for a Bond movie.

So here’s to hoping Craig can beat the curse and shake things up one more time.

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