And the Bondie for inspired casting/under-rated performance for an actress...page 134

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  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,986
    The suspense is killing me and the audience, so lets relieve the tension and announce the winner for best suspenseful scene in a James Bond movie. The Bondie goes to...Bond clowning around in Octopussy accepting the award is a cosplay clown!

    The votes from the academy were cast as follows:
    • Bond on his knees from FRWL received 7 votes
    • Bond clowning around in OP received 8 votes
    • A rocky climb from FYEO received 5 votes
    • Safe sequence from OHMSS received 2 votes

    Write in votes for YOLT, TLD, NTTD, CR, MR, DN, GF. All received 1 vote each!

    Lets head back to the bad side and do the Klebbie side of things. Some Bond films have memorable and rather poignant endings, but others? Well they leave us cold, or maybe groaning and not in a good way. Time to look at the worst ending of a Bond film.

    The nominees are:
    • Set Adrift on wreckage TND many like Wai Lin and her partnership with Bond. But to have them canoodle at the end of the film on a piece of broken stealth boat? Not only did it come out of nowhere, but the logistics of the canoodling leaves one scratching their head.
    • Dropping the soap while Q snoops AVTAK Bond in a shower with a younger woman? Okay the audience can buy it. Q using a bomb hunter device to spy on the lovebirds? Cringe. Bond uttering "that's not the soap". Double cringe.
    • Swann telling stories to Matilde NTTD killing off James Bond? Maybe forgivable, having the last scene be Bond's lover telling their younger child their exploits and adventures? Couldn't the writers come up with a better end to Daniel's Bond?
    • Bond and Domino get yanked no words spoken, Bond going about blowing up a balloon. Domino looking on quizzically. Then both are yanked from their safe life raft into the air to dangle behind a plane? Nonsensical and undermining a great relationship between two characters.
    • Jinx and Bond share a juvenile ending "I don't think it will fit" "Don't take it out". Is this Bond or some awkward teenager sharing dialogue? Add in a virtual scene with Moneypenny and we have a train wreck of an ending to a train wreck of a movie!

    Okay dear academy, which film deserves the kick in the shins as worst ending of a Bond film?
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,395
    NTTD
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited August 2022 Posts: 3,391
    Gonna give my vote to Swann telling stories to Matilde NTTD

    I just didn't liked it, that ending didn't felt like a scene from a Bond film, and the use of We Have All The Time In The World really insults me up to this day, especially as a fan of OHMSS, I just didn't liked it, I don't think it's deserved and earned, felt forced and shoehorned.

    I could still watch the others, but not this one.
  • Thunderball’s ending always leaves me cold a little bit.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Of the options offered, definitely DAD, as I don t mind any of the others. Also deserving of a mention is TWINE. It is in the same league, and just as bad.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    DAD for me as well. Was also expecting TWINE to be among the nominees.
  • Posts: 6,822
    DAD, without a doubt, juvenile and embarrassing! Much like the rest of it!
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,985
    DAD
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited August 2022 Posts: 14,986
    It especially stands out for me because it is Moore who usually can simply push a button to solve the problem.

    Oh, I don't think that's fair to Roger's Bond at all! And Sean did have the DB5 and Little Nellie.

    I find a lot more satisfying suspense in Roger's films than I do in Sean's. Sean's Bond is frequently a passive beneficiary of other people's actions:

    Oh, no, Klebb's gonna get him! Oh wait, Tatiana shot her.
    How's Bond gonna get off the laser table? Oh, Goldfinger changed his mind.
    How's Bond gonna diffuse the bomb? Oh, Pussy resolved the entire plot off screen and someone showed up to switch it off.
    How's Bond gonna get off this crazy out-of-control back rack? Oh, Pat showed up and turned it off.
    Oh no, Largo has the upper hand! Oh, Domino shot him.
    Blofeld's about to shoot Bond! Oh no! Oh, Tiger threw a ninja star at him.
    How's Bond gonna get out of the furnace? Oh, they switched it off.

    There's really quite a lot of it. It feels like Roger's on his own most of the time to solve his problems. He may use a gadget, like the wrist dart on the centrifuge, but at least Holly doesn't just turn it off for him!

    It occurred to me (too late!) that one of the better suspense scenes (a lot of it because it looks genuinely quite scary to watch) is Bond stuck on the crocodile island in LALD. And of course Bond's button-pressing gadget actually fails, and he has to get himself out of it in one of the best stunts of the series.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited August 2022 Posts: 6,791
    It’s a toss-up between juvenile (DAD) and uninspired (NTTD).

    Juvenile is a choice, a very bad one, but still they went with what they thought was a good way to end it.

    Uninspired is not a choice. It wants to be better than it is. Using Armstrong’s song, which is copied from a better film, is the perfect metaphor for the whole scene. Lazy, safe and unoriginal.

    Can’t really decide here, but I think the easy way out with OHMSS’s song is the nail in the coffin for NTTD. For me anyway.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,986
    thedove wrote: »
    The suspense is killing me and the audience, so lets relieve the tension and announce the winner for best suspenseful scene in a James Bond movie. The Bondie goes to...Bond clowning around in Octopussy accepting the award is a cosplay clown!

    The votes from the academy were cast as follows:
    • Bond on his knees from FRWL received 7 votes
    • Bond clowning around in OP received 8 votes
    • A rocky climb from FYEO received 5 votes
    • Safe sequence from OHMSS received 2 votes

    Write in votes for YOLT, TLD, NTTD, CR, MR, DN, GF. All received 1 vote each!

    Lets head back to the bad side and do the Klebbie side of things. Some Bond films have memorable and rather poignant endings, but others? Well they leave us cold, or maybe groaning and not in a good way. Time to look at the worst ending of a Bond film.

    The nominees are:
    • Set Adrift on wreckage TND many like Wai Lin and her partnership with Bond. But to have them canoodle at the end of the film on a piece of broken stealth boat? Not only did it come out of nowhere, but the logistics of the canoodling leaves one scratching their head.
    • Dropping the soap while Q snoops AVTAK Bond in a shower with a younger woman? Okay the audience can buy it. Q using a bomb hunter device to spy on the lovebirds? Cringe. Bond uttering "that's not the soap". Double cringe.
    • Swann telling stories to Matilde NTTD killing off James Bond? Maybe forgivable, having the last scene be Bond's lover telling their younger child their exploits and adventures? Couldn't the writers come up with a better end to Daniel's Bond?
    • Bond and Domino get yanked no words spoken, Bond going about blowing up a balloon. Domino looking on quizzically. Then both are yanked from their safe life raft into the air to dangle behind a plane? Nonsensical and undermining a great relationship between two characters.
    • Jinx and Bond share a juvenile ending "I don't think it will fit" "Don't take it out". Is this Bond or some awkward teenager sharing dialogue? Add in a virtual scene with Moneypenny and we have a train wreck of an ending to a train wreck of a movie!

    Okay dear academy, which film deserves the kick in the shins as worst ending of a Bond film?

    I don't think any of them are that awful to be honest, maybe a bit flat. DAD's is a bit weak perhaps but it's functional.
    I think I'd go for Thunderball from those, it is extremely sudden and a bit jarring.

    Maybe a mention for Octopussy's really quite naff joke :)
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    edited August 2022 Posts: 8,038
    This is a difficult one. I quite like the TND ending so I don't think it really deserves to be here. Never had much of an issue with TB either.

    The rest are incredibly poor. I'll probably go for AVTAK because while NTTD made me groan and DAD is (as noted by others) juvenile, neither make me feel actively uncomfortable the way seeing Grandad Roger in a steamy shower with Tanya does.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited August 2022 Posts: 1,692
    mtm wrote: »
    It especially stands out for me because it is Moore who usually can simply push a button to solve the problem.

    Oh, I don't think that's fair to Roger's Bond at all! And Sean did have the DB5 and Little Nellie.

    I find a lot more satisfying suspense in Roger's films than I do in Sean's. Sean's Bond is frequently a passive beneficiary of other people's actions:

    Oh, no, Klebb's gonna get him! Oh wait, Tatiana shot her.
    How's Bond gonna get off the laser table? Oh, Goldfinger changed his mind.
    How's Bond gonna diffuse the bomb? Oh, Pussy resolved the entire plot off screen and someone showed up to switch it off.
    How's Bond gonna get off this crazy out-of-control back rack? Oh, Pat showed up and turned it off.
    Oh no, Largo has the upper hand! Oh, Domino shot him.
    Blofeld's about to shoot Bond! Oh no! Oh, Tiger threw a ninja star at him.
    How's Bond gonna get out of the furnace? Oh, they switched it off.

    There's really quite a lot of it. It feels like Roger's on his own most of the time to solve his problems. He may use a gadget, like the wrist dart on the centrifuge, but at least Holly doesn't just turn it off for him!

    It occurred to me (too late!) that one of the better suspense scenes (a lot of it because it looks genuinely quite scary to watch) is Bond stuck on the crocodile island in LALD. And of course Bond's button-pressing gadget actually fails, and he has to get himself out of it in one of the best stunts of the series.

    In hindsight, I might have chosen that as well. Or LTK, when his air is cut underwater. In both scenes, I have no idea how Bond will get out of his circumstances, and in both cases the solution is very novel and very satisfying.

    It looks like I'm already outnumbered, but my vote on worst ending is TND. NTTD may not be for everyone, but it's a nice cap on Craig's era. DAD and AVTAK may be corny, but I don't see them as being all that much more so than most of the other earlier movies. TND is just awkwardly ticking a romance box despite there being ZERO chemistry between Pierce and Michelle. Easy vote for me.
  • Posts: 6,822
    mtm wrote: »
    It especially stands out for me because it is Moore who usually can simply push a button to solve the problem.

    Oh, I don't think that's fair to Roger's Bond at all! And Sean did have the DB5 and Little Nellie.

    I find a lot more satisfying suspense in Roger's films than I do in Sean's. Sean's Bond is frequently a passive beneficiary of other people's actions:

    Oh, no, Klebb's gonna get him! Oh wait, Tatiana shot her.
    How's Bond gonna get off the laser table? Oh, Goldfinger changed his mind.
    How's Bond gonna diffuse the bomb? Oh, Pussy resolved the entire plot off screen and someone showed up to switch it off.
    How's Bond gonna get off this crazy out-of-control back rack? Oh, Pat showed up and turned it off.
    Oh no, Largo has the upper hand! Oh, Domino shot him.
    Blofeld's about to shoot Bond! Oh no! Oh, Tiger threw a ninja star at him.
    How's Bond gonna get out of the furnace? Oh, they switched it off.

    There's really quite a lot of it. It feels like Roger's on his own most of the time to solve his problems. He may use a gadget, like the wrist dart on the centrifuge, but at least Holly doesn't just turn it off for him!

    It occurred to me (too late!) that one of the better suspense scenes (a lot of it because it looks genuinely quite scary to watch) is Bond stuck on the crocodile island in LALD. And of course Bond's button-pressing gadget actually fails, and he has to get himself out of it in one of the best stunts of the series.

    In hindsight, I might have chosen that as well. Or LTK, when his air is cut underwater. In both scenes, I have no idea how Bond will get out of his circumstances, and in both cases the solution is very novel and very satisfying.

    It looks like I'm already outnumbered, but my vote on worst ending is TND. NTTD may not be for everyone, but it's a nice cap on Craig's era. DAD and AVTAK may be corny, but I don't see them as being all that much more so than most of the other earlier movies. TND is just awkwardly ticking a romance box despite there being ZERO chemistry between Pierce and Michelle. Easy vote for me.

    If DAD wasnt there, I would agree with you!
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 8,539
    DAD
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited August 2022 Posts: 5,985
    I voted for DAD, but I think TWINE's ending is miles worse. Talk about a grace(less) note.
  • Posts: 5,819
    DAD for me. Nothing, but nothing, can excuse Moneypenny's VR scene. Nothing !
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Yes. Inexcusable, especially considering it was the sendoff for Samantha Bond, who was a brilliant Moneypenny.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,986
    DAD for me as well. Was also expecting TWINE to be among the nominees.

    I could have done it, but then we would have ended up with three Brosnan's and I like to spread out the nominees.
  • Posts: 7,500
    DAD, no doubt. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought the dialogue was from an American Pie movie.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    edited August 2022 Posts: 554
    DAD's ending is woeful, but it didn't leave me just kind of depressed like NTTD's did, even though I acknowledge it's much better made.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,986
    This is a difficult one. I quite like the TND ending so I don't think it really deserves to be here. Never had much of an issue with TB either.

    Yeah the TND one seems perfectly fine to me. It's not very memorable but it's not actually bad.
    GoldenEye's is more memorable but a lot sillier: Pierce appears to dislocate his jaw like a snake as he laughs, whilst we're treated to the spectacle of James Bond 007 taken by surprise by a helicopter hovering just above his head.
    Gerard wrote: »
    DAD for me. Nothing, but nothing, can excuse Moneypenny's VR scene. Nothing !

    Got to be honest, I've always thought that's a pretty good joke :)
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,038
    mtm wrote: »
    Got to be honest, I've always thought that's a pretty good joke :)

    I remember people laughing at it quite a bit at the time, as they were supposed to. And considering we got a full on reboot four years later, retrospectively it almost seems like a bittersweet ending to the "old Bond and Moneypenny" relationship. Cleese's reaction to it sells it, too.

    The only problem is that we went from a raunchy, almost filthy scene like that to yet more groan-worthy innuendo between Bond and Jinx, which meant the sex stuff was laid on very thick in the final couple of minutes.

    "It's rather hard, isn't it?"
    "Yes. Very."

    ....is funny.

    "Leave it in, please.....a few more minutes", is not.
  • Posts: 4,026
    DAD
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited August 2022 Posts: 28,694
    I'd be more likely to vote for NTTD as one of the best endings, so definitely doesn't register as worthy in this particular category for me, particularly since it only has LTK as competition in my mind for the best last Bond film of an actor's tenure.

    It has to either be AVTAK or DAD for me, because both represent instances where you can see that the formula has run its course and there were evident signs the series was in desperate need of a refresh. It's fitting and by no means an accident that each film marked the end of each actor's tenure, where they went out with a whimper and not a bang.

    I think I have to give it to AVTAK, though. DAD ends with sophomoric dialogue and horrible cringe, but that is in fact the entire film. So do I disparage the ending for being what the entire film already was? I think AVTAK is the bigger offender because of what that ending and entire film represents. Roger should've hung up his holster years before, and by this point in his tenure it was just embarrassing to watch him chase around women young enough to be his daughters. The ending is the definitive reason why an actor should go out early, rather than hang on to the role too long to the point that it's embarrassing to watch. While OP was much more watchable because the film gave Roger's Bond a woman closer to his increasing age, AVTAK didn't follow that same restraint and pays for it. And they pick Stacey Sutton of all women to be Bond's lover on top of it. Oh, Roger...

    "JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMES!"
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    edited August 2022 Posts: 554
    I'd be more likely to vote for NTTD as one of the best endings, so definitely doesn't register as worthy in this particular category for me, particularly since it only has LTK as competition in my mind for the best last Bond film of an actor's tenure.

    It has to either be AVTAK or DAD for me, because both represent instances where you can see that the formula has run its course and there were evident signs the series was in desperate need of a refresh. It's fitting and by no means an accident that each film marked the end of each actor's tenure, where they went out with a whimper and not a bang.

    I think I have to give it to AVTAK, though. DAD ends with sophomoric dialogue and horrible cringe, but that is in fact the entire film. So do I disparage the ending for being what the entire film already was? I think AVTAK is the bigger offender because of what that ending and entire film represents. Roger should've hung up his holster years before, and by this point in his tenure it was just embarrassing to watch him chase around women young enough to be his daughters. The ending is the definitive reason why an actor should go out early, rather than hang on to the role too long to the point that it's embarrassing to watch. While OP was much more watchable because the film gave Roger's Bond a woman closer to his increasing age, AVTAK didn't follow that same restraint and pays for it. And they pick Stacey Sutton of all women to be Bond's lover on top of it. Oh, Roger...

    "JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMES!"
    The only reason I don't dislike the AVTAK ending as much is because I like the almost meta moment of Moore's Bond literally throwing in the towel.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @Agent_Zero_One, I can understand that. I guess Roger's Bond never captured me to the point that I could overlook stuff like that, and find some semblance of charm to it. Just doesn't come off right, no matter how I look at it.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited August 2022 Posts: 5,985
    Moore went out as he came in: in the arms of a lady. The only circular Bond actor arc?
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Brosnan was introduced in the sh*tter and went out with DAD, so…
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,986
    echo wrote: »
    Moore went out as he came in: in the arms of a lady. The only circular Bond actor arc?

    Connery's Bond had the most endings on water. In fact many films seem to end with a watery end. Craig might be the first Bond to have no endings on water?
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