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Sam Mendes - good or bad?

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  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    TheWizardOfIce wrote: »
    echo wrote: »
    I may be in the minority, but I don't care for music over the MGM and Sony logos.

    Thank you.

    Particularly noticeable in SF when Newman's score starts up along with background noises of Istanbul. Sat there in the premiere for the 50th anniversary I had thought there's no way they were going to cock the GB up this time round so when the Bond theme didn't start I thought something was amiss and so it proved. I didn't even notice Mendes' poncey opening shot as I was seething too much for the first 2 mins of the film.

    SP just as annoying with half the Bond theme over before the first white dot starts across the screen.

    Also am I the only one who is getting irked by those 2 notes they keep playing (it started in the final scene of CR with Mr White but most noticeable in the DB5 reveal in SF) that they seem to think are integral to the Bond theme but were never heard before 06?

    Given the last time we heard the perfect original version was in OHMSS I guess we're never getting that back again but I'm getting tired of the current iteration which for some reason feels to me like an arrangement of the Bond theme that has been composed by committee.

    There was something kind of special about the old silent UA logos preceding the gunbarrel. Complete silence while we saw the blue lines form the T during the United Artists/ Transamerica period. The black background helped. Then the gunbarrel would kick in with, which back then was always a re-recording of the Bond theme. Whether we were watching, OHMSS, DAF, LALD, MR or FYEO. They got the right mood and tone.

    'Entertainment from Transamerica Corporation'

    Happy days. Although I'm just as happy with the MGM lion roaring.

    But crucially there are a few seconds where it all goes black and silent and then that first white dot and the Bond theme hit the screen and we're off.

    As you say it really is very easy and it's staggering how they keep managing to ruin it. At this stage it's like they must be having brainstorming sessions in pre production of new ways to f**k it up.
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    While viewing SP and hearing a slow building Bond Theme over the MGM and Columbia logos, I was instantly reminded of SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE in which the Superman theme had played over the Warner Bros. logo, followed by a cheap cheesy version of their traditional space titles sequence.

    If ever there was a more appropriate metaphor for SP I'm yet to hear it.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,078
    Menses brought something new to the table in 2012, but overall, I think he is more responsible for stalling the franchise than moving it forward.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    Menses brought something new to the table in 2012, but overall, I think he is more responsible for stalling the franchise than moving it forward.

    Slow day at the home?
  • GetafixGetafix
    edited May 2018 Posts: 11,425
    they did that ominous music over the Colombia logo at the start of QOS before cutting to the shot over the lake. works quite nicely i think.

    totally agree with the idea that Mendes stalled the series but I felt that after SF. if I had to watch a Mendes Bond film it would be SP
  • noSolaceleftnoSolaceleft
    Posts: 1,162
    What really irks me about it, is that the gun barrel would have fit perfectly in front of it. Auteurs! They indeed can be an annoyance.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    it's outrageous that they left the gunbarrel out of the start of QOS and SF. totally moronic
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 12,988
    1. After Casino Royale, gunbarrels should have opened the films. For Quantum of Solace especially, I believe it would have been better received. That gunbarrel opening is irresistible.

    2. Sam Mendes is very good. Both his Bond films.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Mendes' direction and editing is stodgy. And he is pretty hopeless at action.

    whenever I rewatch scenes from his films I am struck by how the details don't ring true.
  • noSolaceleftnoSolaceleft
    Posts: 1,162
    Apart from bloated melodrama Mendes couldn’t direct traffic.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    Emo Bond has been a pain in the neck, poorly conceived action-scenes while doing a shedload of hommage to the older Bond. I now think that Mendes just could deliver any better.

    SF felt like an empty shell at least all action-scenes lacked any extra's but perhaps the 20 million Pound/euro chase took the budget away for any extra;s at all.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    noSolaceleft wrote: »
    Apart from bloated melodrama Mendes couldn’t direct traffic.

    Harsh but I think ultimately fair.

    I just don't buy into the narrative that he's a brilliant director. I find his films stodgy and plodding.
  • LibrarianLibrarian
    edited November 2022 Posts: 301
    Sam Mendes was good in Skyfall but bad in Spectre.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    Posts: 2,873
    Might not be that simple per say. To be honest, I tend to view it as a case where Mendes was exactly the right director for SF, but not necessarily the right one for SP.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited November 2022 Posts: 5,869
    I think Mendes is a very talented director. The thing with James Bond is that I feel he came into Skyfall knowing what he wanted to do and what he wanted to achieve. With Spectre it seems like he was on the back foot after being asked to return and then had to try and find what he wanted to do in the process of making it, plus with the script leaks and constant changes, that would get harder and harder.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Sam Mendes good.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 2,923
    Well, he's good-bad, but he's not evil...
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,508
    I think Mendes knows what makes a good Bond film, in terms of the feeling and vibe of it, but in some instances he drops the ball (mainly in the action) and plot

    I do enjoy Skyfall and Spectre. I think in Skyfall particularly he got some great performances from all the cast and extras. Everybody nailed it in terms of the acting, to Mendes's credit as director
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited November 2022 Posts: 2,923
    I like SF a lot more now than I did at the time. I was soooo disappointed that the CraigBond of CR and QOS wasn't in it and I still think it's whole levels below those two, but I like SF for what it is now (as opposed to being underwhelmed because of what it isn't!) and I do enjoy going back into that world for a couple of hours. To say that it's 10 years old, it's barely dated at all. Mendes has to be a big part of it still holding up - brilliantly served by Roger Deakins, obviously.
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