I haven’t picked up any of the old Bonds recently (watched half an hour over You only live twice though), so I can’t say if my preferences have changed. I was mainly interested in rewatching the ‘middle Bonds’, so to speak. I used to like You Only Live Twice, but when I re-watched it 6-7 years ago (when we were discussing all Bonds) I felt disappointed. Don’t really know why I liked it much better 30 years ago. I can still enjoy some things, but it’s simply not a good movie
Well yes, I also agree, You Only Live Twice is also one of the 4 weakest Bonds. Wasting a volcanic crater launching base is unforgivable.
The 4th one is Tomorrow Never Dies (with Never Say Never Again not too far away).
In these 4 Bonds the ideas look all like bland routine.
In the better ones the fun factor easily triumphs.
You Only Live Twice is my favourite with Connery even though it contains his worst performance. I also think For Your Eyes Only is a near perfect Bond film. The only thing I can’t stand is the parrot at the end. The main reason why Octopussy is my least favourite is because I can’t forgive the writers for putting Bond in a clown suit. Terrible idea!
I liked the first half of Moonraker but the second half is too ridiculous for me. I can understand why a lot of people don’t like A View to a Kill but it’s an enjoyable film for me. Love Christopher Walken’s character. It’s a pity they didn’t make it a bit darker and offer it to Dalton, although we wouldn’t have had the wonderful St. John Smythe part.
Moore’s best to worst for me:
The Spy Who Loved Me
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
The Man With the Golden Gun
A View to a Kill
Moonraker
Octopussy
If you put Octopussy top, you would have my list, or at least be very close
I think it will stay at the bottom. I did enjoy most of the film but the combination of the clown suit and Stephen Berkoff ruined it for me. It is definitely better than Never Say Never Again though, which would get my vote for the first Bond film if it wasn’t for the existence of Day Another Day, a film I wish was just a bad dream. Such a shame since I think Brosnan was absolutely fantastic but they gave him the worst scripts beyond belief.
My favourite Bond film at the moment is The Living Daylights. I never watched Dalton when I was a kid. I started with Connery, then Moore and finally Brosnan but Dalton got me back into these films and he’s most likely going to remain my favourite Bond.
The Moore era, imo:
YES, ROGER!
- For Your Eyes Only
- Live and Let Die
OK, ROGER!
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- A View to a Kill
OH DEAR, ROGER!
- The Man With the Golden Gun
- Octopussy
FOR F*CK’S SAKE, ROGER!
- Moonraker
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The Moore years:
-
The Spy Who Loved Me
-
Live and Let Die
-
Octopussy
-
For Your Eyes Only
-
The Man With the Golden Gun
-
Never Say Never Again
-
A View to a Kill
-
Moonraker
The only thing which bewares A View to a Kill from the bottom is the enthusiastic performance by Walken. I wish he had got a better Bond for one of the finest villains of the series.
And then Dalton: I would put The Living Daylights to the Octopussy group, and License to Kill to Live and Let Die.
Actually You only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever are (just like The Living Daylights) also more or less already Moore Bonds, only without Moore.
I never did like Roger Moore as Bond, he just didn’t look the part for me… I call him as the soft Bond.
IMO, Patrick McGoohan should have been the next Bond after Connery, he was a better actor and way cooler than Roger boy.
Anyways, for Moore or Less.
1.For Your Eyes Only
2.Octopussy
3.The Spy Who Loved Me
4. Moonraker
5. The Man with the Golden Gun
6.Live and Let Die
7. A View to a Kill
Btw, is there anyone who like Brosnan Bond films? I haven’t even seen them all, I lost interest to the series at that point.
I do, they 're all good as far as i’m concerned.
I was a huge fan of the Bond movies, though I gave up after Octopussy (the jokes just got way too silly, and unfunny)
Can’t stand Brosnan … he plays it like a narcissist, completely in love with himself, or is that just the man himself?
I always though the Bond series should be period pieces, set 1950s, like the majority of the books, then we could have all the delicious non pc material without filmmakers getting in trouble for being sexist or racist (as it’s creator certainly was)
Anyway, it’s just a money making machine these days with no real excitement or surprises. I’d watches Dr.NO 10 times in a row before I’d consider watching another rehash.
I like GoldenEye. I’m not especially keen on The World Is Not Enough (I probably need to take another look at it tbh), and I think the other two are among the worst in the entire Bond franchise (Tomorrow Never Dies being THE worst in my opinion).
That said, I like Pierce Brosnan in the role. His era had a lot of issues imo but he wasn’t one of them.
As a kid I loved all of Moore’s Bond film’s, and I honestly wouldn’t be able to list them from best to worst as they each hold special places in my heart. Now if you told me to list Connery or Craigs films, than yeah gimmie dat shit.
Well, go right ahead sir!
Brosnan was absolutely fantastic in the role. I blame the writers but Brosnan was flawless, he deserved better. I think they dropped him too soon, as well.
Actually it was a money machine from the beginning on. Dr No is as commercial as any later entry of the series.
For me there were always good and notsogood Bonds in every decade, and often the quality goes up and down from film to film.
Brosnans Golden Eye belongs to the best, and The World Is Not Enough is also a good one, but probably the only one which really suffers from a row of unimaginative action scenes. The only one which would be better without the bigger action scenes, while normally a good Bond has a simple story constructed around the action, which is the main content of the Bond films.
Again, Quantum of Solace is a modern masterpiece of film making. A triumph of story telling in the combination of narrative techniques and content. Also beautifully photographed and blessed with strong acting.
The next good Bonds are maybe half as good, and these are On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me and Casino Royale.
Actually even the best Connery Bonds are not that good.
Quantum of Solace is excellent. Its biggest flaw for me is that it’s the only Bond which doesn’t really work as a standalone picture. It’s Casino Royale part II. I suppose that shouldn’t really matter once you’ve seen them at least once but watching it separately from Casino Royale feels to me like walking in on a bigger movie halfway through so, for me at least, it needs to be seen in tandem with the earlier picture.
Well, it works also as a standalone film, but of course the emotional impact is greater by watching it directly after Casino Royale. Both work very well together despite, or maybe because, of their different style
Connery:
Goldfinger
From Russia With Love
Thunder Ball
Dr. No
You Only Live Twice
Craig:
Skyfall
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
I haven’t even seen Spectre yet because I really lost interest in the new Bond films, I love Daniel Craig, I love Bond, but I don’t like his Bond.
For Connery, Goldfinger and From Russia With Love are really the only two worth watching, the other three aren’t bad, but they just don’t reach the same level of quality in my opinion.
Don’t you dare touch those movies! They’re my childhood favorites! 
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