Deathmatch 2023

Special Interest Games
203

Just to announce the next category: Best Supporting Villainy, which opens its Group Stage tomorrow.

Accordingly, those folks who aren’t the main Villain (as already voted upon) nor the Henchman (also already subjected to Matches o’Death), but… the others. Some films have a wider selection than others…

As a reminder of what’s been, and what is therefore open for this category (doesn’t have to be employed by Villain):

Film Villain (already voted) Henchperson (already voted) Best Supporting Villainy (open)
Dr No Dr No Professor Dent Miss Taro, 3 Blind Mice etc…
From Russia with Love Klebb & Grant Kronsteen Morzeny, Blofeld, etc…
Goldfinger Goldfinger Oddjob Kisch, Machine Gun Granny, etc…
Thunderball Largo Fiona Vargas, Blofeld, etc…
You Only Live Twice Blofeld Helga Osato, various SPECTRE bods, etc…
OHMSS Blofeld Irma Bunt Grunther, etc…
Diamonds are Forever Blofeld Wint & Kidd Bambi & Thumper, Saxby, etc…
Live and Let Die Dr Kananga Tee-Hee Baron Samedi, Whisper, etc…
The Man with the Golden Gun Scaramanga Nick Nack Mute bloke in power plant, etc…
The Spy who Loved Me Stromberg Jaws Sandor, Liparus Captain, etc…
Moonraker Drax Jaws Chang/Char, various lovelies, etc…
For Your Eyes Only Kristatos Locque “Not Blofeld”, Gonzales, etc…
Octopussy Khan & Orlov Gobinda Knife twins, Colonel Toro, etc…
A View to a Kill Zorin May Day Jenny Flex, Conley, etc…
The Living Daylights Koskov & Whitaker Necros Gibraltar hitman, Feyador, etc…
Licence to Kill Sanchez Dario Killifer, other Sanchez goons, etc…
GoldenEye Trevelyan Xenia Ourumov, Boris, etc…
Tomorrow Never Dies Carver Stamper Dr Kaufmann, General Chang, etc…
TWINE Elektra Renard Cigar Girl, Bull, etc…
Die Another Day Gustav Graves Zao Mr Kil, Miranda Frost, etc…
Casino Royale Le Chiffre Dimitrios Kratt, Mr White, etc…
Quantum of Solace Dominic Greene Elvis Medrano, Mr White, etc…
Skyfall Silva Patrice Silva goons, etc…
Spectre Blofeld Hinx Sciarra, Spectre members, etc…
No Time to Die Safin Primo Blofeld, Spectre members, etc…

Although villainous in initial nature, Severine for Skyfall and Mr White for Spectre were considered in “Victims”.

Draw

(Seedings and Pots were based on where things stood overall from September; for the category after this, will be based on the overall outcomes following the end of “Clobber”. Despite all evidence to the contrary, this is a plan here).

Group A

Goldfinger (1st seed)
GoldenEye (10th seed)
No Time to Die (from Pot 1)
The Living Daylights (from Pot 2)
Octopussy (from Pot 3)

Group B

The Spy who Loved Me (2nd seed)
Diamonds are Forever (9th seed)
For Your Eyes Only (from Pot 1)
Tomorrow Never Dies (from Pot 2)
Quantum of Solace (from Pot 3)

Group C

Thunderball (3rd seed)
Moonraker (8th seed)
You Only Live Twice (from Pot 1)
Dr No (from Pot 2)
Die Another Day (from Pot 3)

Group D

OHMSS (4th seed)
Casino Royale (7th seed)
Live and Let Die (from Pot 1)
Spectre (from Pot 2)
A View to a Kill (from Pot 3)

Group E

From Russia with Love (5th seed)
Skyfall (6th seed)
Licence to Kill (from Pot 1)
The Man with the Golden Gun (from Pot 2)
TWINE (from Pot 3)

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Deathmatch: Costume / Clobber has concluded.

Winner: Goldfinger
Runner-Up: Casino Royale
Third: Thunderball
Fourth: Dr No

Knockout results so far, 2023 (you may need to scroll across)

Villain Film Song Bond Woman Hench Titles Victim Costume
Winner Skyfall From Russia with Love Live and Let Die Thunderball OHMSS The Spy who Loved Me Casino Royale From Russia with Love Goldfinger
Runner-Up Moonraker OHMSS The Spy who Loved Me Casino Royale Casino Royale Diamonds are Forever Skyfall Goldfinger Casino Royale
Third Goldfinger The Spy who Loved Me You Only Live Twice From Russia with Love Thunderball Goldfinger OHMSS No Time to Die Thunderball
Fourth From Russia with Love Casino Royale Casino Royale Goldfinger Goldfinger Thunderball YOLT You Only Live Twice Dr No

More to follow shortly. Best Supporting Scumbags starts tomorrow.

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OK, so final form table for Costume:

% form Change from Semi-Final (form) / place
1 Goldfinger 80.38 (-3.92) / -
2 From Russia with Love 76.24
3 Casino Royale 69.59 (-3.21) / -
4 Thunderball 65.44 (+0.74) / +1
5 Skyfall 65 (-) / -1
6 OHMSS 63.06 (-) / +1
7 Dr No 59.06 (-4.24) / -1
8 The Spy who Loved Me 59
9 Quantum of Solace 50.27
10 Tomorrow Never Dies 49
11 Moonraker 48.60
12 Diamonds are Forever 47.08
13 Spectre 47.02
14 For Your Eyes Only 45.28
15 No Time to Die 45.21
16 Live and Let Die 43.82
17 You Only Live Twice 42.08
18 GoldenEye 37.14
19 Octopussy 33.9
20 The Living Daylights 30.55
21 TWINE 29.4
22 The Man with the Golden Gun 20.6
23 Die Another Day 18.73
24 A View to a Kill 13.88
25 Licence to Kill 11.8

Goldfinger finally does the double, and Die Another Day doesn’t finish last. Thunderball slips past Skyfall into fourth place, accordingly fourth seed for next year, which will put it in the same Group as Dr No, possibly the surprise of this round. The Spy who Loved Me seems to have achieved 8th place rather unnoticed., subtly dressed as it is in a bright yellow ski suit and some very nasty shirts.

Top Tens of Everything

Eight Top Ten Places Seven Top Ten Places Six Top Ten Places Five Top Ten Places Four Top Ten Places Three Top Ten Places Two Top Ten Places One Top Ten Place Yet to bother the scorers
Goldfinger OHMSS From Russia with Love Moonraker Diamonds are Forever Dr No The Man / Golden Gun For Your Eyes Only Octopussy
Thunderball Casino Royale You Only Live Twice The Living Daylights A View to a Kill Die Another Day
The Spy who Loved Me Skyfall Live and Let Die Quantum of Solace TWINE
Licence to Kill No Time to Die Spectre
GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies

Octopussy and Die Another Day still not showing up, despite 9 opportunities to date so to do. The stronger end of the table might not be all that surprising.

Most Valuable Player

(To qualify, must have reached Semi-Final at least in a knockout)

Placings Wins Top Ten Top of Form MVP points
Goldfinger 6 1 8 2 17
Casino Royale 6 1 7 1 15
OHMSS 3 1 7 3 14
From Russia with Love 4 2 6 2 14
Thunderball 4 1 8 13
The Spy who Loved Me 3 1 8 12
Skyfall 2 1 7 10
Live and Let Die 1 1 3 1 6
Moonraker 1 5 6
You Only Live Twice 3 3 6
Diamonds are Forever 1 4 5
Dr No 1 3 4
No Time to Die 1 2 3

Goldfinger achieving a maximum 4 points in Costume/Clobber has now pulled away slightly. Dr No makes it into this table due to a fourth place knockout finish. With only 3 finishes in the placings, is OHMSS underperforming?

Overall - progress to Best Picture - average of form placings over 9 rounds to date

Villain Film Song Bond Woman Henchperson Titles Victim Costume Average Position
1 Goldfinger 6 5 2 4 7 1 12 2 1 4.5 -
2 The Spy / Me 7 4 3 3 2 2 6 24 8 6.6 -
3 Thunderball 9 7 12 6 4 4 4 8 4 6.7 -
4 From Russia… 5 2 17 1 5 15 14 1 2 6.9 +1
5 OHMSS 1 1 4 16 1 8 5 23 8 7.2 -1
6 Casino Royale 4 6 8 5 3 23 1 15 3 7.5 +1
7 Skyfall 2 3 7 2 15 21 7 7 5 7.7 -1
8 Moonraker 3 10 14 10 11 11 9 6 11 9.4 -
9 DAF 14 14 5 19 6 5 13 10 12 10.9 -
10 GoldenEye 16 9 11 20 12 3 2 22 18 12.6 -
11 Live and Let Die 15 21 1 15 16 6 10 20 16 13.3 -
12 No Time to Die 21 11 15 9 14 19 11 4 15 13.3 -
13 Dr No 11 18 24 13 9 20 16 9 7 14.1 +3
14 YOLT 17 20 6 24 20 18 3 3 17 14.2 -1
15 FYEO 24 8 13 11 21 16 15 11 14 14.8 -
16 Licence to Kill 10 17 21 7 8 13 25 13 25 15.4 -2
17 TND 18 19 18 21 10 17 8 18 10 15.5 +2
18 Spectre 13 13 23 14 18 10 17 19 13 15.6 -
19 TLD 25 15 16 8 17 7 18 16 20 15.8 -2
20 QoS 22 16 22 12 19 25 24 5 9 17.1 +2
21 TMwtGG 8 22 19 18 24 9 21 12 22 17.2 -1
22 Octopussy 23 12 20 17 13 12 23 17 19 17.3 -1
23 AVTAK 12 24 9 25 25 14 22 14 24 18.8 -
24 TWINE 19 23 10 22 23 22 19 21 21 20 -
25 Die Another Day 20 25 25 23 22 24 20 25 23 23 -

Not too much movement on this occasion, but there are some very erratic individual performances here. Thunderball still doing well…

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The Group Stage for Best Supporting Villains has concluded, with some surprising results. Analysis to come.

Round 2 voting now open, to 7 December.

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Group Stage: Best Supporting Villains

Group A P W D L F A GD % form Points
Goldfinger 4 3 1 0 49 21 28 70.4 10
Octopussy 4 2 1 1 39 28 11 58.7 7
No Time to Die 4 2 1 1 33 35 -2 48.8 7
GoldenEye 4 1 0 3 26 40 -14 39.7 3
The Living Daylights 4 0 1 3 21 44 -23 32.5 1

To be honest, rarely though I am, that result for GoldenEye is a bit of a shock. Never that fond of the film, but have always thought the roster of secondary villains - Boris, Ourumov, a pale blue BMW - made some impact… evidently not.

Octopussy qualifies from the Group, another rarity, and the others are probably not that surprising but… GoldenEye… ouch.

Group B P W D L F A GD % form Points
TSWLM 4 4 0 0 44 16 28 73.3 12
DAF 4 3 0 1 40 20 20 66.7 9
FYEO 4 2 0 2 31 29 2 51.7 6
Quantum of Solace 4 1 0 3 18 41 -23 30.9 3
TND 4 0 0 4 16 43 -27 27.4 0

Again, is there no Kaufmann-love any more? Perhaps he’s a bit silly. Bambi, Thumper, Shady, Saxby, funeral goons, Peter Franks, stock ITC character actors in the pre-credits, Marie, Dr Metz - the World is yours. Nearly. Naomi boards the Liparus and sails through, although one fears for her with all those sailors.

Group C P W D L F A GD % form Points
Thunderball 4 3 0 1 44 16 28 73.3 9
Moonraker 4 3 0 1 38 22 16 63.3 9
YOLT 4 3 0 1 38 22 16 63.3 9
Dr No 4 1 0 3 22 38 -16 36.7 3
Die Another Day 4 0 0 4 8 52 -44 13.3 0

Weird group this, other than the inevitable last place. Again, many woes present in Die Another Day but did think Miranda Frost would get a point or two.

The three-way point tie sorted as: Thunderball had better form (winner). Moonraker beat You Only Live Twice in their match, so Moonraker is Runner-Up. Still, could have all been a bit more convincing. Vargas, eh? Doesn’t drink. Doesn’t smoke. Does not make love. Does not win a Group stage despite it being “the group with Die Another Day in it”.

Group D P W D L F A GD % form Points
Casino Royale 4 3 1 0 38 21 17 64.2 10
Live and Let Die 4 3 0 1 34 26 8 56.7 9
OHMSS 4 2 1 1 33 26 7 55.8 7
Spectre 4 1 0 3 25 35 -10 41.7 3
A View to a Kill 4 0 0 4 19 41 -22 31.7 0

Fairly low scoring group, this, which might be due to the perception that one might struggle to remember many of the secondary badhats in three of these films. Even with the risk of anonymity, the massively characterful set from Live and Let Die - there’s a zombie demon in their midst - still can’t come out on top. Not that you’d want Whisper on top of you.

Group E P W D L F A GD % form Points
FRWL 4 4 0 0 49 11 38 81.7 12
Licence to Kill 4 3 0 1 34 25 9 57.9 9
Skyfall 4 2 0 2 34 25 9 58 6
TWINE 4 1 0 3 19 39 -20 32.5 3
TMwtGG 4 0 0 4 12 48 -36 20 0

Licence to Kill goes through as Runner-Up despite weaker form than Skyfall, due to more matches won. From Russia with Love looking a bit scary, there. The Gropey Bloke from The Man with the Golden Gun gets tipped into the liquid nitrogen and as for the lot from TWINE… distinctly unmemorable, it appears.

Form table

% form Outcome of Group Stage
1 From Russia with Love 81.7 Winner Group E
2 Thunderball 73.3 Winner Group C
3 The Spy who Loved Me 73.3 Winner Group B
4 Goldfinger 70.4 Winner Group A
5 Diamonds are Forever 66.7 Runner-Up Group B
6 Casino Royale 64.2 Winner Group D
7 Moonraker 63.3 Runner-Up Group C
8 You Only Live Twice 63.3 Lucky Loser 1
9 Octopussy 58.7 Runner-Up Group A
10 Skyfall 58 Lucky Loser 2
11 Licence to Kill 57.9 Runner-Up Group E
12 Live and Let Die 56.7 Runner-Up Group D
13 OHMSS 55.8 Lucky Loser 3
14 For Your Eyes Only 51.7 Lucky Loser 4
15 No Time to Die 48.8 Lucky Loser 5
16 Spectre 41.7 Lucky Loser 6
17 GoldenEye 39.7
18 Dr No 36.7
19 TWINE 32.5
20 The Living Daylights 32.5
21 A View to a Kill 31.7
22 Quantum of Solace 30.9
23 Tomorrow Never Dies 27.4
24 The Man with the Golden Gun 20
25 Die Another Day 13.3

Thunderball and The Spy who Loved Me have the same form and the same Goal Difference; however, Thunderball had some bigger win margins in its Group. All can change in Round 2, as it often does.

Bit of a way to go yet, but could Octopussy finally break into a Top Ten? It does have a circus (ha!) of interesting minor villains, on reflection.

TWINE placed higher than The Living Daylights because TWINE did win a Group match. Another perspective might say it should be lower as it can only achieve the same form as another film that failed to win anything, thus confirming TWINE’s general uselessness, but it’s nearly Christmas and I am feeling “kind”. That won’t last.

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Form table - after Second Round - Best Supporting Villains

% form Change in (form) / position since Group Stage
1 From Russia with Love 82.5 (+0.8) / -
2 The Spy who Loved Me 73.3 (-) / +1
3 Thunderball 70.6 (-2.7) / -1
4 Goldfinger 69.7 (-0.7) / -
5 Moonraker 64 (+0.7) / +2
6 Casino Royale 63.4 (-0.8) / -
7 Diamonds are Forever 61.4 (-5.3) / -2
8 Octopussy 60.3 (+1.6) / +1
9 Live and Let Die 57.4 (+0.7) / +3
10 You Only Live Twice 57.3 (-6) / -2
11 Licence to Kill 53 (-4.9) / -
12 OHMSS 52.6 (-3.2) / +1
13 Skyfall 51.7 (-6.3) / -3
14 For Your Eyes Only 49.4 (-2.3) / -
15 No Time to Die 41.9 (-6.9) / -
16 Spectre 40 (-1.7) / -
17 GoldenEye 39.7
18 Dr No 36.7
19 TWINE 32.5
20 The Living Daylights 32.5
21 A View to a Kill 31.7
22 Quantum of Solace 30.9
23 Tomorrow Never Dies 27.4
24 The Man with the Golden Gun 20
25 Die Another Day 13.3

Octopussy holding on…

Live and Let a big winner for the Second Round. The power of having a zombie demon in defence.

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Following Quarter-Finals in Best Supporting Villains

% form Change in (form) / position since Second Round
1 From Russia with Love 82.5 (-) / -
2 The Spy who Loved Me 69.9 (-3/4) / -
3 Thunderball 66.7 (-3.9) / -
4 Moonraker 62.2 (-1.8) / +1
5 Diamonds are Forever 61.4 (-) / +2
6 Goldfinger 61 (-8.7) / -2
7 Casino Royale 60.7 (-2.7) / -1
8 Octopussy 58.1 (-2.2) / -
9 You Only Live Twice 57.3 (-) / +1
10 Live and Let Die 56.7 (-0.7) / -1
11 Licence to Kill 53
12 OHMSS 52.6
13 Skyfall 51.7
14 For Your Eyes Only 49.4
15 No Time to Die 41.9
16 Spectre 40
17 GoldenEye 39.7
18 Dr No 36.7
19 TWINE 32.5
20 The Living Daylights 32.5
21 A View to a Kill 31.7
22 Quantum of Solace 30.9
23 Tomorrow Never Dies 27.4
24 The Man with the Golden Gun 20
25 Die Another Day 13.3

Some tight Quarter-Finals shake things up a bit and although not getting through, Octopussy confirms a Top Ten finish. What’s odd is that Live and Let Die is through to the Semi-Finals and is starting to drop…

Diamonds are Forever benefits from not making any effort, which is true to its complacent nature.

Might have a clear winner coming through, but still form and finish to play for.

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With the 3rd place Death-Off and The Final underway, form table as it stands following the Semi-Finals

% form Change in (form) / position since Quarter-Finals
1 From Russia with Love 77.9 (-4.6) / -
2 Thunderball 66.7 (-) / +1
3 The Spy who Loved Me 66.2 (-3.7) / -1
4 Moonraker 61.4 (-0.8) / -
5 Diamonds are Forever 61.4
6 Goldfinger 61
7 Casino Royale 60.7
8 Octopussy 58.1
9 You Only Live Twice 57.3
10 Live and Let Die 55.7 (-1) / -
11 Licence to Kill 53
12 OHMSS 52.6
13 Skyfall 51.7
14 For Your Eyes Only 49.4
15 No Time to Die 41.9
16 Spectre 40
17 GoldenEye 39.7
18 Dr No 36.7
19 TWINE 32.5
20 The Living Daylights 32.5
21 A View to a Kill 31.7
22 Quantum of Solace 30.9
23 Tomorrow Never Dies 27.4
24 The Man with the Golden Gun 20
25 Die Another Day 13.3

A little bit of shake-up in the form, and Moonraker is still in the game so finds itself (perhaps only temporarily) placed higher than Diamonds are Forever. From Russia with Love takes a bit of a hit but has a large enough rump for a soft landing.

As for the game, interesting Final, which I didn’t myself see coming. Category seems to have added variety, certainly. Unless one considers the performance at the lower end of the table where it is the same old, same old I fear.

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The draw for the next category - Sets and Locations - is as follows. As this is a new category, Seedings and Pots based on the final form table for Costume/Clobber a few days ago. One suspects there may be some varied directions of travel by the end of this. Sudden massive lurches into hedgerows, even.

Voting will open 11 December.

Group A

Goldfinger (1st seed)
Tomorrow Never Dies (10th seed)
No Time to Die (Pot 1)
Octopussy (Pot 2)
Die Another Day (Pot 3)

Group B

From Russia with Love (2nd seed)
Quantum of Solace (9th seed)
For Your Eyes Only (Pot 1)
GoldenEye (Pot 2)
Licence to Kill (Pot 3)

Group C

Casino Royale (3rd seed)
The Spy who Loved Me (8th seed)
Spectre (Pot 1)
Live and Let Die (Pot 2)
The Man with the Golden Gun (Pot 3)

Group D

Thunderball (4th seed)
Dr No (7th seed)
Moonraker (Pot 1)
The Living Daylights (Pot 2)
A View to a Kill (Pot 3)

Group E

Skyfall (5th seed)
OHMSS (6th seed)
Diamonds are Forever (Pot 1)
You Only Live Twice (Pot 2)
The World is Not Enough (Pot 3)

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Deathmatch - Best Supporting Villains has concluded.

Winner: Moonraker
Runner-Up: From Russia with Love
Third: The Spy who Loved Me
Fourth: Live and Let Die

Always nice to see a Moonraker win, even if slightly unexpected. Charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr did not die in vain, it seems.

Final form table

Determines Seeds and Pots for next year.

% form Change in (form) / position since Semi-Finals
1 From Russia with Love 73.6 (-4.3) / -
2 Thunderball 66.7
3 The Spy who Loved Me 65 (-1.2) / -
4 Diamonds are Forever 61.4 (-) / +1
5 Moonraker 60.8 (-0.6) / -1
6 Goldfinger 61
7 Casino Royale 60.7
8 Octopussy 58.1
9 You Only Live Twice 57.3
10 Live and Let Die 54.2 (-1.5) / -
11 Licence to Kill 53
12 OHMSS 52.6
13 Skyfall 51.7
14 For Your Eyes Only 49.4
15 No Time to Die 41.9
16 Spectre 40
17 GoldenEye 39.7
18 Dr No 36.7
19 TWINE 32.5
20 The Living Daylights 32.5
21 A View to a Kill 31.7
22 Quantum of Solace 30.9
23 Tomorrow Never Dies 27.4
24 The Man with the Golden Gun 20
25 Die Another Day 13.3

A slightly tighter finish than early form suggested, but ultimately a clear winner in From Russia with Love. Thunderball continues to perform well this year. Despite winning the knockout, Moonraker comes back down to Earth with a bit of a bump, to the advantage of Diamonds are Forever which simply sat back and watched others take chunks out of each other. As for Live and Let Die, a tenth place finish, although meaning 10th seed for next year, will not render The Baron very happy. That usually means “snakes” so you’d better watch it.

More soon.

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Deathmatch outcomes to date (you may need to scroll across or “Expand Table”, which sounds mucky)

Villain Film Song Bond Woman Hench Titles Victim Costume BSV
Winner Skyfall From Russia with Love Live and Let Die Thunderball OHMSS The Spy who Loved Me Casino Royale From Russia with Love Goldfinger Moonraker
Runner-Up Moonraker OHMSS The Spy who Loved Me Casino Royale Casino Royale Diamonds are Forever Skyfall Goldfinger Casino Royale From Russia with Love
Third Goldfinger The Spy who Loved Me You Only Live Twice From Russia with Love Thunderball Goldfinger OHMSS No Time to Die Thunderball The Spy who Loved Me
Fourth From Russia with Love Casino Royale Casino Royale Goldfinger Goldfinger Thunderball YOLT You Only Live Twice Dr No Live and Let Die

Nothing from the 1980s and no Brosnans. Do they have the guts for a fight?

Top Tens of Everything

Nine Top Ten Places Eight Top Ten Places Seven Top Ten Places Six Top Ten Places Five Top Ten Places Four Top Ten Places Three Top Ten Places Two Top Ten Places One Top Ten Place Yet to bother the scorers
Goldfinger Casino Royale From Russia with Love Moonraker Diamonds are Forever You Only Live Twice Dr No The Man / Golden Gun For Your Eyes Only Die Another Day
Thunderball OHMSS Live and Let Die Licence to Kill The Living Daylights Octopussy
The Spy who Loved Me Skyfall GoldenEye Quantum of Solace A View to a Kill
Tomorrow Never Dies No Time to Die TWINE
Spectre

Yay Octopussy; not a phrase I am accustomed to using. Can Die Another Day do it, eventually?

(Doubt it)

Most Valuable Player (has to achieve a placing (Semi-Final or better) in Deathmatch to count)

Placings Wins Top Ten Top of Form MVP points
Goldfinger 6 1 9 2 18
From Russia with Love 5 2 7 3 17
Casino Royale 6 1 8 1 16
OHMSS 3 1 7 3 14
Thunderball 4 1 9 14
The Spy who Loved Me 4 1 9 14
Skyfall 2 1 7 10
Moonraker 2 1 6 9
Live and Let Die 2 1 4 1 8
You Only Live Twice 3 4 7
Diamonds are Forever 1 5 6
Dr No 1 3 4
No Time to Die 1 2 3

Goldfinger drawn slightly back in due to a strong showing by From Russia with Love in the last category, and Thunderball doing well as has become its norm this year. Any of the top six here are still capable of winning this. There is no prize, beyond simple joyfulness of kidney. “Interesting” how the “Top of Form” (probably more indicative of overall qualities than a Deathmatch shootout) has bunched.

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Road to Best Picture at end of December 2023

Villain Film Song Bond Woman Henchperson Titles Victim Costume BSV Average Position
1 Goldfinger 6 5 2 4 7 1 12 2 1 6 4.65 -
2 Thunderball 9 7 12 6 4 4 4 8 4 2 6.23 +1
3 The Spy / Me 7 4 3 3 2 2 6 24 8 3 6.24 -1
4 From Russia… 5 2 17 1 5 15 14 1 2 1 6.31 -
5 OHMSS 1 1 4 16 1 8 5 23 8 12 7.68 -
6 Casino Royale 4 6 8 5 3 23 1 15 3 7 7.81 -
7 Skyfall 2 3 7 2 15 21 7 7 5 13 8.23 -
8 Moonraker 3 10 14 10 11 11 9 6 11 5 8.96 -
9 DAF 14 14 5 19 6 5 13 10 12 4 10.21 -
10 Live and Let Die 15 21 1 15 16 6 10 20 16 10 12.97 +1
11 GoldenEye 16 9 11 20 12 3 2 22 18 17 13.04 -1
12 No Time to Die 21 11 15 9 14 19 11 4 15 15 13.47 -
13 YOLT 17 20 6 24 20 18 3 3 17 9 13.68 +1
14 FYEO 24 8 13 11 21 16 15 11 14 14 14.18 +1
15 Dr No 11 18 24 13 9 20 16 9 7 18 14.49 -2
16 Licence to Kill 10 17 21 7 8 13 25 13 25 11 14.96 -
17 Spectre 13 13 23 14 18 10 17 19 13 16 15.64 +1
18 TLD 25 15 16 8 17 7 18 16 20 20 16.22 +1
19 TND 18 19 18 21 10 17 8 18 10 23 16.25 -2
20 Octopussy 23 12 20 17 13 12 23 17 19 8 16.37 +2
21 QoS 22 16 22 12 19 25 24 5 9 22 17.59 -1
22 TMwtGG 8 22 19 18 24 9 21 12 22 24 17.88 -1
23 AVTAK 12 24 9 25 25 14 22 14 24 21 19.02 -
24 TWINE 19 23 10 22 23 22 19 21 21 19 19.9 -
25 Die Another Day 20 25 25 23 22 24 20 25 23 25 23.2 -

Based on the average ranking in the final Form Tables for the categories.

Bits of movement show there’s still a fair bit to play for; if Goldfinger gets a duff category, that might spice things up a bit. Thunderball’s inexorable but pleasing march continues and, although I did think GoldenEye would benefit in the Best Supporting Villains category, it did woefully badly, thus dropping out of the Top Ten.

Shows what I know.

(I know loads).

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I’m surprised how well THUNDERBALL does. Can we call this a renaissance, or has it always been a much stronger entry than I was aware of? I recently watched it for the first time in almost 20 years. And while I was well aware of its problems it kept me entertained and interested until its orange life raft end.

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I’d argue it’s not as great as the sum of its parts. Individual elements are top-tier, but as a complete package I find it a snooze-fest.

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… which may be a result of the underwater fight. Back in the day, it was absolutely innovative and spectacular. But with the knowledge of what’s possible with underwater photography nowadays… For on and on going minutes, one only sees faceless people fighting underwater, and ocasionally our man in bright orange with his underwater jet pack doing random things. No talk, just music…
I confess: whenever I try to rewatch it, that is the point when it’s most likely that I’m falling asleep.

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Well, it doesn’t help. I’m of two minds about those old-school “battling army” finales for the Bonds. On the one hand they certainly add to the sense of spectacle and scale. On the other hand, I really don’t care what happens to any of those nameless combatants, just our boy. I’m also not crazy about the fact that they overcompensate for this drawn-out sequence by speeding up the final fight on the Disco Volante so it looks like a Keystone Kops short, or a Benny Hill segment begging for “Yakety Sax” on the soundtrack.

I just find the whole film over-long and not as well paced as others in the series.

On the upside, Sean never looked better, Fiona and Domino are arguably the two most gorgeous female characters in the series, the locations look wonderful and the fashions are top drawer. It’s a beautiful film to look at, if I can just keep my eyes open.

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Terence Young as director doesn’t help matters. As Dustin so aptly put it a good while back (I’m paraphrasing): all the elements from the James Bond Movie Kit were dumped out, shuffled, and then edited together as well as possible by Peter Hunt. Even John Glen has cinematic competency as a through line in his Bond films.

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To me, THUNDERBALL’s problems already begin in its development stage(s): It’s the first Bond story born onto a cocktail napkin with the express intent of becoming a big screen tax relief scheme. Nourished through infancy and early adolescence by various cooks with a mind to emphasise the necessary visuals, it was simply not given a stringent and convincing storyline. And when Fleming took the different iterations of the script to turn them into a novel that deficit wasn’t his main concern.

Neither did McClory any better. Once Fleming published his book, McClory simply settled with suing him and didn’t invest into developing the plot. Why would he; he had a rich toff to squeeze dry? For the court it didn’t matter if the product in question met any quality standards.

As a film THUNDERBALL features immense production standards, budget and high quality photography - but doesn’t come together to tell a decent story.

Just take the night of the Junkanoo. Bond meets with Domino in the evening. It’s already dark and Bond leaves her behind to snoop around Palmyra. He finds the dead Paula, has several fights in the dark with Largo’s goons, from the cellar to the garden to the roof of the house and into the pool where he swims past the sharks. Bond returns to his room where, in Paula’s adjacent suite, he finds Fiona Volpe taking a bath.

They have sex - and afterwards they dress up for the Junkanoo. Volpe’s goons intercept him at the door. And then the whole party drives to wherever. We do not find out because the Junkanoo stops the traffic and Bond escapes in the crowd for a lengthy chase, a dance, a dead Volpe.

With all that action between Bond meeting Domino and the final one-liner that Junkanoo must have gone on for several days. The entire sequence feels strangely disjointed, as if at least some of it was meant to fit into another point on the timeline, the next day perhaps. Or as if the start of the sequence and its end were not written with the same timeline in mind.

Other shortcomings are the repeated use of coincidence far into the story, where it’s really convenient. The editing. The utterly unconvincing speedup. It’s really a film that could have used somebody caring for the finished product. I suspect if this had been the first Bond film, if this hadn’t come at the heels of GOLDFINGER, this would have ended up as obscure footnote, much like other adventure productions of that era.

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Perhaps it’s because of it’s half arsed nature, to me it’s theost James Bond film filmed. Lots of money beautiful to look at, designed by accident to be watched repeatedly. But crucially in chunks. It’s episodic in nature like a series of pretitle sequences cobbled together.
But the moments that soar really soar very high indeed and Connery has never looked better. Q’s appearance actually serves a purpose, and it has some very kinky moments. Very Fleming.

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I’ve seen this hat film soooo many times (says a regular on a Bond forum…i know, shocker) and how much actually seems to happen in one night never occurred to me.

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