Quantum of Solace Appreciation Thread- We Found a Better Place to Meet

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  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    So you don't like QOS, is that it?

    :))
  • Posts: 7,653
    chrisisall wrote: »
    So you don't like QOS, is that it?

    :))

    That must come as a surprise for you??? ;)

    Anybody may love QoB, but please do not compare them to superior James Bond titles. :!!
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited September 2014 Posts: 5,080
    SaintMark wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    So you don't like QOS, is that it?

    :))

    That must come as a surprise for you??? ;)

    Anybody may love QoB, but please do not compare them to superior James Bond titles. :!!

    That's a matter of taste.

    Meanwhile, this is an appreciation thread.
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    So you don't like QOS, is that it?

    :))

    That must come as a surprise for you??? ;)

    Anybody may love QoB, but please do not compare them to superior James Bond titles. :!!

    That's a matter of taste.

    Meanwhile, this is an appreciation thread.

    My apologies I appreciate that somebody wants to compare QoB to FYEO, even if it is rather far-fetched. ;)
  • I've said it several times: I don't like Forster. However, one good thing he did was make Arnold compose his music off of the script instead of the film. His stuff from TWINE and DAD was beginning to sound super recycled and I think QoS was his best work. That's why I want him back.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote: »

    I still remember the amount of people that had left the cinema during the break

    Where is it you live again? The 70's? When was the last time films had an interval? The last one I remember is ROTJ in 1983.

    Or could it be you are just making all this up to help you bolster your increasingly tiresome anti 'QOB' (it doesnt matter how many times you write that by the way - I still guffaw every time) tirade?
  • edited September 2014 Posts: 11,189
    SaintMark wrote: »

    I still remember the amount of people that had left the cinema during the break

    Where is it you live again? The 70's? When was the last time films had an interval? The last one I remember is ROTJ in 1983.

    Jesus that was 2 years before I was born.

    I think SaintMark is Dutch/European so cinemas there MIGHT have a different system.

  • edited September 2014 Posts: 7,500
    Getafix wrote: »
    It is no coincidence that FYEO starts off with Bond visiting Tracy's grave and finishing off Blofeld. The film is not only about Melina's revenge - it is about catharsis for Bond too. Although he never mentions it explicitly, Bond is helping Melina because he understands what has happened to her - that's why Maibaum put the graveyard scene in there, as a reminder that Bond has been through something similar. So like QoS, Bond is helping a woman achieve her revenge, and working through his own pain as well.

    Add in the some neat, effective action scenes and cool Euro villains and allies and there is more than a little in common. Columbo seems like a similar character to Mathis as well - in the way he's written and cast.

    Is that information you have picked up from somewhere, or pure speculation? What I've heard is that the script writers were initially expecting a new Bond due to Moores uncertainty about signing up for a new film, and that the graveyard scene and elimination of Blofeld was supposed to establish a connection between the new actor and the character's history.
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote: »

    I still remember the amount of people that had left the cinema during the break

    Where is it you live again? The 70's? When was the last time films had an interval? The last one I remember is ROTJ in 1983.

    Or could it be you are just making all this up to help you bolster your increasingly tiresome anti 'QOB' (it doesnt matter how many times you write that by the way - I still guffaw every time) tirade?

    Amazingly enough the last movie I visited in cinema had a interval as well, which is kind of aimed at the audience buying pricey snacks and drinks, which adds to the cinema proprietors income. I am generally pleased with the break for flushing away the Dr Pepper I have enjoyed during the 1st half of the movie.

    I get tired by the constant QoB is a great movie, and the anti Brosnan, anti Moore movies remarks. But each to his/her own.

    What pisses me off most about QoB is the promise the movie contains and does never deliver. If there ever was an example of a movie better made by another director and a finished script this was the one. You should Guffaw every time when you take that in account.
    Nothing is as frustrating to see a series you like missing the mark by a few lightyears.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    I rather enjoy Quantum Of Balance...
    :))
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,331
    chrisisall wrote: »
    I rather enjoy Quantum Of Balance...
    :))

    I think we can say it's a Boring Old Quip. 8-|

    QoS has it's flaws but is in no way a bad movie. It's better than most of the action shlock put out in the last 10 years and has many good elements. A 7 out of 10 at most. Craig's performance alone raises the score of this movie.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    Murdock wrote: »
    Craig's performance alone raises the score of this movie.
    Yes.
  • Posts: 11,425
    I agree QoS could have been better but it's definitely not as bad as some people make out. There is a lot of criticism of the plot and script but I actually think it works okay. Some pointless action and poor editing lets it down at times but overall not bad.
  • Posts: 479
    Let's remember guys, it's all subjective. No need to harangue people for their views.
  • Posts: 7,500
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Am I the only one who likes the song, ANOTHER WAY TO DIE? Certainly not the best of the series, but a very could song.

    I wouldn't say I "like it" specifically, but I certainly don't have such a problem with it as apparently everyone else. The song's main downfall for me is that those particular voices don't blend well (they should never have done a duet together) and that it feels stylistically slightly inapproppriate for Bond. Apart form that, it's not a bad tune at all.
  • Birdleson wrote: »
    Am I the only one who likes the song, ANOTHER WAY TO DIE? Certainly not the best of the series, but a very could song.

    Raises hand. I really like AWTD! Not one of the best but it's really good I've always thought.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,331
    I enjoyed Another Way to Die. It's one of my favorite Bond songs.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    I like it. It echoes the kind of stripped down atmosphere of the whole film. I also like the combination of the song and title sequence. There's a binder-esque simplicity to it. I love Kleinmann, but he has a habit of throwing everything but the kitchen sink in. The opening sequence and titles all flow together really well imo.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,331
    RC7 wrote: »
    I like it. It echoes the kind of stripped down atmosphere of the whole film. I also like the combination of the song and title sequence. There's a binder-esque simplicity to it. I love Kleinmann, but he has a habit of throwing everything but the kitchen sink in. The opening sequence and titles all flow together really well imo.

    Agreed. I loved AWTD and the Title Sequence by MK12. I don't know why many hate it so much. It was on par with Kleinmann's efforts.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    Regarding the song, overall it's not bad, it's just the awww waaaw waaw waaaw wuh WAAAWW that really grates on me. @-)
  • I enjoy both "Another Way to Die" and MK12's title sequence.

    @RC7, I agree with your description of the song: "It echoes the kind of stripped down atmosphere of the whole film." The clashing vocals, fuzzy guitar, sparse instrumentation, and prominent solo piano all give the song a sort of rough, dirty, unpolished edge that feels perfectly appropriate for this particular film in the series—and I mean none of that in a derogatory or backhanded way. Personally I would have liked Alicia Keys to have sung the song by herself, but that's simply because I like her vocals and I don't like Jack White's.

    The title sequence may not be as memorable as Casino Royale's or Skyfall's, but it's a visual treat nonetheless. I like the sparseness of the sequence and the open desert landscape and how that ties into the location of the film's third act. I like how we shift to various dramatic angles on Bond and jump around suddenly, much as the cinematography and editing of the film play out (again, nothing backhanded from my end). I like the classic dots pacing across the screen to spell out the names of Judi Dench and Michael G. Wilson. I like the zoetrope of girls and the latitude and longitude lines that evoke the Mi6 control room interface and the film's stylized transition from Haiti to Bregenz. And I like how the sequence both begins and ends with the simplicity of a single bullet firing through space, and how that aligns with Marc Forster's original vision of the film being streamlined like a bullet—an objective I personally think landed more on the mark than I'm sure some others do.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    the film being streamlined like a bullet—an objective I personally think landed more on the mark than I'm sure some others do.
    I agree it came close to dead centre.
  • edited October 2014 Posts: 11,425
    Add me to the list. The vocals are a little grating, but I never found AWTD as bad as others make out. I also thought MK12's titles were fine.

    But then I seem to be one of the few who left the cinema pretty satisfied after seeing QoS.

    At the time I saw it the reviews I read in the press were generally positive as well. I was not aware of the widespread hatred the film and title song attracts until much later.

    I've been singing QoS's praises ever since it came out.
  • edited October 2014 Posts: 11,189
    Meh...so so song at best.

    Adele's Skyfall massacres it.

    For me her song is my favourite of the three used in Craig's films.
  • Birdleson wrote: »
    I guess my only real issue with the film is that it seemed to be going out of it's way to be a non-Bond film. Almost flaunting it. No "Bond, James Bond" (first time since YOLT, I believe), the Bond Theme barely used (it's there, but buried), this was the start of the Gunbarrel placed at the end (I doubt that SF would had reflowed suit, despite Mendes' objections, if this film didn't make it the norm), Bond doesn't sleep with the main Bond girl. Now, most of these things can be found to have a precedent elsewhere, and you may say that these are superficial concerns, but it did feel like a slap in the face at the time. On the other hand we did have, what I consider, wonderful homages to GF and TSWLM.
    But, I do believe that it was this Bond film/non-Bond film attitude which caused me, and many others, apparently, to be somewhat dismissive of it at first. Over time, taken as an almost epilogue to CR, it has slowly move dup in my estimation and is now about 14 or 13 in my rankings.

    Well said. Forster seemed to be directing it as far away from Bond as possible at times. Luckily it's still a good film overall but that stuff is grating.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Regarding the song, overall it's not bad, it's just the awww waaaw waaw waaaw wuh WAAAWW that really grates on me. @-)

    Yep.
  • edited October 2014 Posts: 4,622
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I guess my only real issue with the film is that it seemed to be going out of it's way to be a non-Bond film. Almost flaunting it. No "Bond, James Bond" (first time since YOLT, I believe), the Bond Theme barely used (it's there, but buried), this was the start of the Gunbarrel placed at the end (I doubt that SF would had reflowed suit, despite Mendes' objections, if this film didn't make it the norm), Bond doesn't sleep with the main Bond girl. Now, most of these things can be found to have a precedent elsewhere, and you may say that these are superficial concerns, but it did feel like a slap in the face at the time. On the other hand we did have, what I consider, wonderful homages to GF and TSWLM.
    But, I do believe that it was this Bond film/non-Bond film attitude which caused me, and many others, apparently, to be somewhat dismissive of it at first. Over time, taken as an almost epilogue to CR, it has slowly move dup in my estimation and is now about 14 or 13 in my rankings.

    Well said. Forster seemed to be directing it as far away from Bond as possible at times. Luckily it's still a good film overall but that stuff is grating.

    Yes that was my main beef with QoS. Too much of an attempt to make an alternative Bond film, in the, IMO, less than inspiring Forster/Haggis world view.
    I even got harangued by a relative at a family dinner, about how QoS wasn't a proper Bond film, like it was my fault, but he knew I was a Bond-geek, so I caught the brunt of his wrath.
    I didn't actually see anyone walk out though, during my many cinema visits at the time.
    QoS is a solid 23rd on my list. Something's got to be 23rd, and this 22nd entry in the series is a worthy candidate.
    But, as this is an appreciation thread, I do very much appreciate Olga, one of my all-time favourite smokey Bond-girls.
    I do like the opeing car chase, even if it is tough to follow.
    The Fields GF homage was gratuitous and pointless IMO, but I did like the more subtle homage to DN and possibly GF, with the car going over the cliff in the pts.
    Reminds of the car chase in DN and the Aston Martin night-chase in GF.
    Opening title credits were very well done. Song was meh, but it does kind of fit with the titles. The song does grow on you, at least over these titles. I hate it as a stand-alone though.
    Fields I could do without, but Oona Chaplin's work as Medrano and Greene's waitress at Perla des la dunas was memorable.
    I could sense her dread at having to serve a badman like Medrano. She's since done great work in Game of Thrones, up until the Red Wedding.
    Arnold's score was his best I think. I did like much of the music. He created a nice vibe.
    The abscence of the Bond theme and opening gunbarrel were unconcionable, but this is all consistent with recent directors efforts at doing alternative Bond films. Yawn.
    The movie does grow on one. Trick is to take it for what it is - an alternative Bond take- by an experimental director, which is why I don't think it would be the worst thing, for fans anyway, if Eon would maybe license out Bond to others to make different type Bond films, and stick with making the exciting blockbusters, with the familiar cinema elements that we have come to know and love.
    Just a thought. My 2 cents. Then Forster or even Mendes Bond films, could exist as sort of side fare.
    No need for gun barrels or familiar music. Go nuts with the character drama, and whatever turns one's alternative Bond crank.
    Eon could oversee to make sure the integrity of the character at least remained intact.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    timmer wrote: »
    stick with making the exciting blockbusters, with the familiar cinema elements that we have come to know and love.
    Thing is, to keep Bond contemporary, you sort of have to lose that stuff now. In an updated version of The Three Musketeers, they would not be using swords or riding horses. Similarly, Bond in the 21st Century has to leave 20th Century ways & means in the past. The gadgets of the past are realities now, and to give him gadgets in present movies that surpass present technology by just a bit would make the movies entirely too science fiction-y IMO.
    Basically, the Bond we grew up with is gone forever more, unless they want to go period piece.
  • Posts: 14,832
    Getafix wrote: »
    Add me to the list. The vocals are a little grating, but I never found AWTD as bad as others make out. I also thought MK12's titles were fine.

    But then I seem to be one of the few who left the cinema pretty satisfied after seeing QoS.

    At the time I saw it the reviews I read in the press were generally positive as well. I was not aware of the widespread hatred the film and title song attracts until much later.

    I've been singing QoS's praises ever since it came out.

    I think many here have a distorted view of QOS and the way it is perceived among non-Bond fans, not only at release but after, because it was not as praised as CR. Yes, the reviews were not nearly as enthusiastic, but they were mostly positive. But QOS, for all its flaws, real or perceived, did not generate the amount of ridicule some Bond movies did, including the then fairly recent DAD. And QOS was the necessary movie after CR.
  • chrisisall wrote: »
    Thing is, to keep Bond contemporary, you sort of have to lose that stuff now. In an updated version of The Three Musketeers, they would not be using swords or riding horses. Similarly, Bond in the 21st Century has to leave 20th Century ways & means in the past. The gadgets of the past are realities now, and to give him gadgets in present movies that surpass present technology by just a bit would make the movies entirely too science fiction-y IMO.
    Basically, the Bond we grew up with is gone forever more, unless they want to go period piece.

    Yes and no. I agree with you for the most part. A lot of the gadgets wouldn't make sense. However, you can only compromise so far. Keep Bond contemporary? Fine. But don't lose EVERYTHING that makes the "Bond series" the "Bond series" (If I'm making sense).

    Quantum of Solace was so anti-Bond, both in its execution and its politics, that it can hardly be identified as such aside from Arnold's best score and Craig's very great performance.

    There are certain things that time can't touch and there are certain things I want to see in a Bond film that cannot be tossed away with the simple excuse of "we need to stay contemporary."

    I might not be making any sense.
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