My wife walked out on You Only Live Twice. She got up and left about forty minutes in. I finished it because I figured forty minutes was halfway and I could make it. It was tough.
The film’s memorable because of the beginning, where James Bond dies. It’s an interesting scene, even though it’s never explained. The […]
Entries Tagged as 'Ian Fleming'
You Only Live Twice (1967, Lewis Gilbert)
May 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment
Tagged: Donald Pleasence· Harold Jack Bloom· Ian Fleming· Lewis Gilbert· Roald Dahl· Sean Connery· United Artists· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Silver Blaze (1937, Thomas Bentley)
September 10th, 2008 · No Comments
Given Sherlock Holmes is an English creation, I thought Silver Blaze would be a solid, thoughtful portrayal of the Empire’s most famous son. He’s still the most famous, right? But it isn’t. Silver Blaze actually follows the Marx Brothers rule of giving the romantic leads more to do. Here it’s Judy Gunn and Arthur Macrae. […]
Tagged: Arthur Conan Doyle· Arthur Macrae· Associated British Picture Corporation· H. Fowler Mear· Ian Fleming· Thomas Bentley· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Thunderball (1965, Terence Young)
June 10th, 2008 · 3 Comments
Thunderball is real boring. The problem is two-fold. First, the opening is heavy. After the pre-title bit (which is goofy with the jetpack), it’s a pseudo-Hitchcock, with Connery off in a spa. He sees strange things going on and gradually romances his masseuse. Intercut with these scenes are the bad guys preparing to do their […]
Tagged: Ian Fleming· Jack Whittingham· John Hopkins· Kevin McClory· Richard Maibaum· Sean Connery· Terence Young· United Artists· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Die Another Day (2002, Lee Tamahori)
February 6th, 2008 · No Comments
Fun. I’m trying to think–besides the Ocean series–of fun Hollywood blockbusters these days. It seems like fun is out. Certainly with James Bond. Die Another Day is a lot of fun. In fact, unlike some of the other Bond movies–the ones I can remember well–it seems to be more concentrated on being fun than anything […]
Tagged: Ian Fleming· John Cleese· Lee Tamahori· Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer· Michael Madsen· Neal Purvis· Pierce Brosnan· Robert Wade· ★★
Goldfinger (1964, Guy Hamilton)
January 10th, 2008 · 3 Comments
How can a film, with such a beautiful, awe-inspiring fight scene (Bond and Oddjob), have such terrible editing overall? In fact, how can the technical side be so contradictory… terrible direction from Guy Hamilton on most scenes, but fine or excellent when he’s on set. Terrible editing for most of it, but then the rest […]
Tagged: Guy Hamilton· Ian Fleming· Paul Dehn· Richard Maibaum· Sean Connery· United Artists· ★★½



