It would surely have changed the impact of Vesper‘s betrayal.
I think I would even have kept the Oberhauser strand - only I would have had him taking on the name of his wife.
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Don’t agree in the slightest, but I’m glad you like it.
That’s legal. Thanks.
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I’m always pleasantly surprised when I do watch SPECTRE, considering the negative vibe that surrounds it. I would’ve changed certain things, but there’s good material in there.
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That’s very much how I feel. We watched it again last night, mainly due to the ongoing commentary in this thread (as we all wait for No Time to Die to see the light of day). We both said, “It’s a good movie. Not the best Bond film, but it has its moments.”
One thing that stands out is the theme song, Writing’s on the Wall. As I mentioned in my original post, we heard Sam Smith sing it live on The Graham Norton Show. Somehow, his live vocal gave it more power, at least for me, than the recorded version. It’s quite the vocal gymnastic feat, but the emotional power resonated far more powerfully in his live performance. So I have come to appreciate the song a lot more than I did on my initial listening to it.
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I think newer Bond movies get overly criticized by fans while the older Bond movies get a pass. Things that happened in the “classics” would ruin a Bond today for many.
JW Pepper, Jaws flapping his arms, Dolly, Tarzan yell, moon buggy…there are things in every classic Bond that would never be forgiven today.
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I don’t just forgive Die Another Day, I enjoy it.
Spectre too.
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The interesting thing is that millions of people enjoyed it. SPECTRE, DIE ANOTHER DAY, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - all of the films that got stick over the years from critics and us fans (and what else are we if not critics) managed to entertain their audiences in spite of Pepper and Tarzan yell and invisible cars. Because they are just silly romps of fun and people came with no other intention than to enjoy the hell out of it.
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That’s how I approach every entry. I’ll save being critical and nit-picky for after I’ve seen and enjoyed it 5 or 6 times.
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This is what I always point out regarding the Felix and Blofeld shakeups from DN-DAF. Four Felixes in nine years with vastly different personalities. Three (seen) Blofelds in three successive films with vastly different physical appearances and personalities, not to mention inconsistent relationships / histories with Bond. Audiences would never tolerate that nowadays. But we’re all fine with it because we view them as quirks from the series’ long and fascinating history. Could you imagine if Christoph Waltz was replaced by “Johnny Depp as Blofeld” in NTTD?
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Good point.
From my point of view, I started watching James Bond movies from around six or seven years of age, and have never been embarrassed by those things. To me, the films have always been the films. They’re how I’ve always known them. It’s just how they are and I couldn’t imagine them any other way. It’s nigh impossible to compete with that level of accumulated nostalgia.
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Since COVID-19 destroyed the opportunity to watch NTTD, I appreciate SPECTRE so much more because it reminds me of a time in which one could see a new Bond film in cinemas.
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Curiously, I’ve never let nostalgia or autobiographical reasoning stop me from seeing something critically. I still enjoy stuff, but I’m not blind to its faults. I’d never consider, for example, a mediocre film to be my favourite just because it was the first one I saw.
I still think STAR CRASH is underrated.
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For me the movies are like old friends. They were made in a different time (which is a big thing), with faults, yes, but all friends have faults. Faults give character and can be overlooked if the overall package is to our liking. I find that charm goes a long way.
With the passage of time it’s now almost like the Connery and Moore films have always existed, as most people are familiar with the content - double taking pigeons and all. It’s when something new is done in a new film that the critical focus is more critically applied.
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Unless you are actually a high functioning sociopath, that cant be true. Perception is formed by autobiographical reasoning, you can only frame and judge anything through what you know and have experienced. You can know the reason you liked something was based on reasons that are your own, but you cant view things completely without bias.
Best way to demonstrate this - look directly in front of you, then give a thumbs up with your arm fully outstretched. Now move your arm slowly from left to right repeatedly. You’ll notice in your peripheral vision the top of your thumb disappears at a specific point - this is a blindspot present in the human eye where the brain fills in the mental image with what it “remembers” being there - even the slightest change can catch it out.
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I was referring more to music, television, books and films, or anything enjoyed in childhood. A friend of mine, for example, watches the '95 Power Rangers film and think it’s great and it evokes feelings of nostalgia and happiness. Despite being a fan of the franchise at the time (twenty four years ago), I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole now. Similarly, my older brother and his wife tend to restrict themselves to watching what films and TV shows they saw before the age of seventeen. I think they’re mad.
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Restricting themselves to watch only that is indeed limiting.
But the reason I brought up, um, STAR CRASH, is that I know now how bad that film is in general - still I can watch and enjoy it because it still manages to put me into the state of a nine-year-old myself.
In other words, nostalgia also makes one reconnect with a less cynical self, enabling one to be impressed by immediacy, something which gets lost as one gets older.
Unless one watches Bond films, of course.
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Of course, it does no harm to watch such things (providing we allow ourselves other things), and I’m happy for anyone to have a good time with a film, whatever their choice (providing it’s legal!). In the same way as you state, we can watch a different but still similiar film which evokes the same thing. Like Raiders of the Lost Ark must have made older people remember the serials it was based on, for example, and even today Guardians of the Galaxy may evoke fond memories of Star Wars.
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Oh, I get you, you didn’t need to see the Power Rangers movie again just cause you loved it as a kid. You’ve had other Experiences since then that have changed the views you have, so you can’t enjoy it in the same way as you arn’t really the same person. Why taint a happy memory of past you, just by letting you as you are NOW judge it? It is the double edged sword of nostalgia - yes, that was great for me in 95, It may make me revert to who I was then (associative regression, as I depressingly know that’s called) but it can also make you go “I’m not that person any more. Can’t understand how i ever loved…this” which can taint what was a good memory.
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