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

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  • Mathis1Mathis1
    Posts: 6,814
    Daniela for me too!!
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,034
    jobo wrote: »
    echo wrote: »
    Bianchi

    Auger is a terrible actress, in many scenes as blank-faced as Bach.

    I agree. I sure understand why people find her visually appealing, but when people pretend her acting performance is great I can't help raising my eyebrows Moore-esque style...

    It was exactly on par with what the part required. Nothing more, nothing less.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited August 2020 Posts: 14,956
    Yeah she was fine, but not really outstanding, I would say. Outstandingly attractive, certainly; but even in the film I think Luciana Paluzzi is a more impressive performer. I tend to think GeneralGogol was on the money with Rosamund Pike: she's someone who I think is a bit obviously better than the material she's been given.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,034
    Pike has certainly gone on to be known for far better things than her role as a Bond girl. Not to slight any of the actresses, but not too many have managed to have the career that Pike did after being in a Bond film.
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    edited August 2020 Posts: 2,609
    vote goes to Jane Seymour
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,970
    Do I hear the flapping of wings? Could it be that the Dove has returned after a week absence? Yes I am back and excited to announce the winner of best female newcomer is...Daniela Bianchi in From Russia with Love! I have even wore a choker for the occasion but it doesn't seem to be as sexy as it is on sweet Daniela!

    Okay on to another category! This one comes to us from @NickTwentyTwo who has created the following category...Best and most dangerous Villainous Plot (taking into account Plausibility and Greatest Effect)

    Here are your nominees:
    • Goldfinger: Neutralize US' Gold Supply creating a dramatic resource wealth imbalance.
    • Thunderball: Stealing nuclear warheads, holding the world ransom.
    • OHMSS: Agricultural Warfare via the Angels of Death.
    • GoldenEye: EMP Blasts, Worldwide Financial Meltdown.
    • Skyfall: Cyberterrorism, "Just Point and Click".

    Obviously all have holes and would be difficult to pull off, but for the sake of some fun lets just think and reflect on this villains and their dastardly plans! Time for the academy to vote!
  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    Of those options I vote for

    Thunderball: Stealing nuclear warheads, holding the world ransom. with GF's plot a close 2nd.

    However I think my favorite is the unnominated OP Cold War-era one where a nuclear bomb "accidentally" explodes on a US military base in West Germany in the hopes of total disarmament by the West resulting in a Soviet Russian invasion led by my accomplice in crime General Orlov.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,691
    I guess I prefer the not-so-outrageous plots and therefore tend to complain that TND is missing here. There are implausibilities galore, but that's no difference from the other plots. Fact remains that Carver is doing nothing much different than what William Randolph Hearst did in the Spanish-American war, though he may not have been the one that blew up the USS Maine himself. Immediate commercial advantages within a legal business are doubtless a bigger induction to commit crimes than actual extortion, which qualifies you as rogue for the future. Apart from Carver's cartoonish depiction, TND's plot is the most realistic of them all.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It is between TB and OHMSS. I guess I will give it to OHMSS as it is more low-key and yet even more frightening.
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 5,808
    Not to mention topical right now. So it gets my vote also. Although the villain plot from QOS deserves a mention too.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,956
    Good idea for a round, but the only one that stands out as an original and interesting plot to watch is probably the Goldfinger one. It's a lovely and original idea that he doesn't want to steal any of the gold but just increase the value of his own.
    The other ones are all a bit dull, aren't they? Just ransoms or thefts, not even hugely inventively.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,973
    aking into account Plausibility and Greatest Effect I have to go with OHMSS. 'designing' virusses is something you can actually do as a non-government organisation. Like the Anthrax attacks a couple of years ago. And considering the current pandemic....

    QoS's plot is actually quite realistic as well. There are quite a few islands on which water is supplied by one private company..
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,956
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    I guess I prefer the not-so-outrageous plots and therefore tend to complain that TND is missing here. There are implausibilities galore, but that's no difference from the other plots. Fact remains that Carver is doing nothing much different than what William Randolph Hearst did in the Spanish-American war, though he may not have been the one that blew up the USS Maine himself. Immediate commercial advantages within a legal business are doubtless a bigger induction to commit crimes than actual extortion, which qualifies you as rogue for the future. Apart from Carver's cartoonish depiction, TND's plot is the most realistic of them all.

    Ooh yeah, good call. I regret at the time I thought it was a bit silly and far-fetched, but the older I get the more I realise how truthful it was, and barely even in a satirical way. As you say, it has happened before, and the amount of power someone like Murdoch wields, placing Prime Ministers and Presidents in power, is terrifying. It seemed somehow petty in the film, that he's doing it to expand his media empire, but it's actually a great depiction of who the real Bond villains are right now.
  • R1s1ngs0nR1s1ngs0n France
    Posts: 2,018
    Goldfinger
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited August 2020 Posts: 14,956
    I think the problem with a lot of them is, unless they have something to say about the world as TND does (and I think Spectre actually goes some way towards that too) or if they're ingenious in some way (FRWL is pretty good in that way in that it's a calculated trap for Bond), I don't find them hugely interesting. Thunderball's for example, I find really rather dull: it's just a ransom for money. It's not even putting anyone we can see on screen in danger, which I think is a massive misstep: as an audience we care more about the one person we can see in front of us than the million people in Miami we can't.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 6,786
    I'm to going to go for Goldfinger's plan here. Great upgrade from the plan from the novel.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,416
    GoldenEye. But only for the concept of destroying London financially, not for Treveylans reasoning
  • GeneralGogolGeneralGogol
    Posts: 928
    I'll go with the biological warfare of OHMSS.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited August 2020 Posts: 14,956
    PrinceKamalKhan wrote: »
    However I think my favorite is the unnominated OP Cold War-era one where a nuclear bomb "accidentally" explodes on a US military base in West Germany in the hopes of total disarmament by the West resulting in a Soviet Russian invasion led by my accomplice in crime General Orlov.

    Yeah, that's another good, solid clever plan. And also: James and all of the main cast are right next to the bomb too- it's way tenser than Thunderball!
    I'd easily put Octopussy and Tomorrow Never Dies above most of those nominated. What's interesting about GoldenEye? It's just computer hacking to steal money.

    Octopussy was such a good plot of course that Frederick Forsyth nicked it for The Fourth Protocol! :D
    Well, the novel came out the year after the film, but the plots are so similar it's hard not to wonder if the writers were at least talking to each other.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    edited August 2020 Posts: 8,034
    Surprised to not see From Russia With Love here, myself. But for the fact that they made a simple and effective adjustment to the novel's plot when translating it to screen, I'll go with Goldfinger from the nominees listed.

    I'll also echo the appreciation for Tomorrow Never Dies. I know it could be argued that it's diluted by the bullets and explosions but Carver's scheme is certainly a standout in comparison with the norm.

    I don't have a problem with the others listed - a simple plot can be extremely entertaining, but I'll certainly give bonus points for originality.
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,347
    Thunderball, the most classic of Bond plots!
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    edited August 2020 Posts: 4,970
    We may have to dive into some of the worst villain plots or least believable. I never really saw how Kananga was going to monopolize heroin or Zorin was going to wipe out the silicon chip.

    Since this category wasn't created by me I shall weigh in with a vote! Of all the nominees I will go with Goldfinger's plot. As Bond himself said "It's an inspired deal". Course breaking into the worlds largest bank wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

    I also like TB plot but I agree with @mtm that we never really feel any danger for anybody. We never get a countdown or anything to suggest that a bomb going off is imminent. Also why Miami Beach? Because it allows for the underwater action. They blackmail Britain but threaten a US city? Or did England get the tape and it was also delivered to the President of the USA?
  • IGotABrudderIGotABrudder UK
    Posts: 631
    TB’s plot is actually quite scary I think. I remember reading some articles soon after the end of the old USSR about “what’s happened to the Soviet suitcase nukes in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia?” and for all I know the nukes are still out there. There may even have been actual incidents of terrorist groups following what TB did, threatening to detonate an old Soviet era nuke they've acquired unless someone hands over a lot of cash, and our governments have simply paid up and not told anyone. We’ll never know. Pure speculation but I do find it scary.

    So TB for me please.

    Second choice is GF, a very clever idea, although someone did point out here recently that economically the plan doesn’t work.
  • Max_The_ParrotMax_The_Parrot ATAC to St Cyril’s
    Posts: 2,426
    I think I would also have to go for OHMSS. The thought of Blofeld hidden away in a secret mountaintop retreat, preparing biological weapons for release anywhere at anytime, insidiously brainwashing innocent members of the public as a delivery mechanism, and yet still finding time to decorate for Xmas. A truly dangerous villainous plot indeed.
  • BeatlesSansEarmuffsBeatlesSansEarmuffs
    Posts: 3,564
    This is very much a jump-ball for me -- with GF, TB, and OHMSS all vying for the prize. When pushed for a decision, I'll have to go with OHMSS. How can you not be impressed by a plot that offers so many lovely Angels of Death?
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,956
    thedove wrote: »
    I also like TB plot but I agree with @mtm that we never really feel any danger for anybody. We never get a countdown or anything to suggest that a bomb going off is imminent. Also why Miami Beach? Because it allows for the underwater action. They blackmail Britain but threaten a US city? Or did England get the tape and it was also delivered to the President of the USA?

    Yeah the lack of a countdown is weird, isn't it? Why else do you have a bomb as a threat?
  • jobojobo
    Posts: 7,500
    I am surprised SPECTRE and Kronsteen's scheme in FRWL is not nominated here. Highly original, cunning, mystical and even slightly romantic. My vote goes to SPECTRE in FRWL.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,896
    I'm tempted to vote for GF, but will go for TB, since it taps so well into the fears of the Cold War. As Fleming writes:

    "Just what his Service and all the other intelligence services in the world had been expecting to happen. The anonymous little man in the raincoat with a heavy suitcase---or golf bag, if you like. The left luggage office, the parked car, the clump of bushes in a park in the center of a big town. And there was no answer to it...And this was the first blackmail case. Unless SPECTRE was stopped, the word would get round and soon every criminal scientist with a chemical set and some scrap iron would be doing it. If they couldn't be stopped in time there would be nothing for it but to pay up."

    There is no ticking bomb scenario because finding the bomb in situ will be impossible. Your only chance is to catch the bomb maker before he strikes, and this time he's not with the Soviets or an enemy country. He's part of a private entity with the power to bring governments to its knees. This type of nuclear proliferation was one of the great nightmares of the Cold War. And it could be the nightmare of our future--what happens if a state like Pakistan loses control of its arsenal? What future SPECTRE will swoop in to create global instability and threaten global panic? In Thunderball urgency is provided by keeping the viewer informed of the looming deadline as Bond and Leiter struggle to determine the bomb's location. In the book Fleming makes it clear that if Largo is not stopped during the underwater battle he'll hide the bombs, so it's now or never (the film does not convey as much urgency). TB might not be the most dramatic villain's plot, but conceptually it's the best, in my book at least.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,956
    I know there's a deadline in it, it just doesn't work very well dramatically for me. Compared to Octopussy, Goldfinger, or even Mission Impossible Fallout (which contains exactly the situation you describe), there's very little tension in having the bomb be elsewhere and not imminently about to detonate. 'Thunderball' and 'urgency' are two words which are very rarely in the same sentence! :D
    And the plan is just: 'ransom'. As mentioned above, it's not as clever or calculating as the plans in OP or FRWL.
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,609
    I like the high-tech plots most, weaker in plausibility, I suppose, but all the better in terms of effect. So I'm missing the likes of the MR, AVTAK, DAF, TMWTGG and TSWLM plots here which work best for their films IMO. (controversial opinion, probably)

    Among the nominees, it's clearly GE for me, followed by GF.
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