[Movies] Spectre (2015)

I was pretty sure that the Daniel Craig era of James Bond movies had pretty much reached its peak with Skyfall, but I guess I was wrong to think that the folks behind the movies were going to walk way from such a lucrative franchise that easily. But it feels like such a shame since that movie presented a rather nice end t things and even felt like it connected nicely with the older James Bonds movie (at least most of them) as a sort of prequel.

But here's Spectre, the fourth movie that features Daniel Craig as the world's more famous spy. As much as Daniel Craig is rather easy on the eyes and a very compelling actor, I really felt like this movie just wasn't all that necessary.

But hey what do I know - I'm not exactly that deeply into the whole James Bond franchise and there are still far more movies in the series that I haven't seen than vice-versa. And I tried to go into this movie with an open mind and an eagerness to see what they could come up with. But in the end, I think I realized how much I missed having Dame Judi Dench as M.

[Movies] Goldfinger (1964)

Without a doubt, Goldfinger is probably one of the best-known James Bond movies, especially from the Sean Connery era. And that's not a surprise at all given the movie's many diverse elements including high action, quirky gadgets and a rather memorable movie villain. There's nothing quite like obsession to help define your evil mastermind.

Over the years, this is the one James Bond movie that I most remember seeing parts of and yet never truly sitting through from start to finish. You know how it is - it just seems to always be playing on one movie channel or another and yet you always catch it mid-way or while channel surfing to something else. And since the movie has been around for as long as it has, you also keep thinking that you can defer it for another day.

So I finally made sure to sit down to see it for real as part of my on-going efforts to watch all of the James Bond movies. And it was definitely a lot of fun.

[Movies] From Russia With Love (1963)

So my recent explorations of the James Bond movies is certainly an interesting and not quite as painful as I had expected. While these movies may seem theoretically "dated" given they were first released in the 1960's the end result is anything but, quite frankly. If anything it's interesting to note how well the movies stand on their own despite the many advances in technology in recent years that make some of their little tricks and special devices not all that special.

This second movie includes the return of Sean Connery as James Bond and thus cementing this part of his career as an actor. And let's face it, he truly defined the role for many viewers and this movie does seem to be a rather good representation of precisely that.

The movie certainly stepped things up a bit versus the first jaunt into the James Bond universe. We saw more complex spy gadgets this time around, a nicely complex plot and of course the recurrence of SPECTRE as the criminal organization that Bond is pretty much up against.

And yes, there are Russians, too.

[Movies] Dr. No (1962)

After thoroughly enjoying the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, I realized that I really haven't watched most of the various James Bond movies fully. Sure I've caught snippets of the various movies over the years, but I have yet to make a serious effort to watch all of them in sequence.

And thus today's movie review, which also represents the start of a full series of movie reviews to come, provided I survive watching all of them at all. I know that they're not all good and naturally some of the effects or even some of the plot lines will seem rather dated by today's movie standards. But that's no reason to enjoy the movies based on their own merits. And that's part of the adventure really.

Everyone will forever associate Sean Connery with this movie series, and thus it's certainly fulfilling to go through his body of work with respect to the James Bond character and related stories. He has become quite the poster boy for the franchise and thus my geek sensibilities feel somewhat ashamed that this is an area of pop culture where I remain weak. Oh bugger.

Thus we rectify things.

[Movies] Skyfall (2012)

While I can't say that I'm a big fan of the James Bond movies (in fact I haven't seen most of them), I do have a general appreciation for spy movies in general. And I have managed to see a number of the more recent Bond films, especially all those that have involved Daniel Craig playing the famous master spy.

The Daniel Craig reboot of the franchise starting with Casino Royale. Here we had a much greener Bond who wasn't quite as "perfect" as we had seen in prior movies, and thus it did help give us a new perspective on character and the franchise as a whole. And Craig has proven to be particularly effective as a much more physical James Bond.

For Skyfall, this particular movie roughly coincides with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise. And thus beyond telling yet another tale of the super spy, it also managed to squeeze in a number of homages and nods to the prior movies amid all the action and adventure.

And I enjoyed it quite a lot.