The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[acid]

Thank you for your faith Acid and for putting a more eloquent spin on my feelings in the matter, so yeah, basically this /\

Any time, friend

This too! I'm usually a bit more magnanimous when the trolls come to call, but for whatever reason I seem to be "in a mood" as of late.

Plenty to get in a mood about these days.

[Kristatos]

My beef with Craig is that while all the previous Bond actors felt like they were playing variations of the same character, he felt like he was playing a different character entirely. In the same way that Charles Gray's Blofeld never felt like the same character played by Donald Pleasance and Telly Savalas to me.

[Pluto007]

Thanks for sharing, Acid.

I do believe, no matter my feelings about Brosnan, Goldeneye would not have been the success it was with anyone else cast in the role. Not Dalton. Not Neeson or Fiennes (two actors I heard were looked at.
Bottom line, no matter my feelings, the right man was chosen for the role, to kick-start Bond in a new era.
The scripts seems to suffer with each film he did. And I am in a minority here: I don't blame P and W. There were a multitude of script doctors brought on board and wacky directors like Tamahori that drove the original scripts into the ground. And the tacked-on pseudo drama. It was horrible.

Saying that, there's no denying that these were box office successes. These Bond films weren't for me. Bits and pieces had quick flashes that appealed to me, but no, these felt more and more like 90s action pastiche. And I didn't want that. I wanted Bond.

But worldwide audiences ate these flicks up. And I got it. I understood why. Unfortunately, it just wasn't to my tastes.

Which doubly frustrates me about the damned Craig films. For the most part, I thought the scripts were, generally, very good (Spectre's not included in this assessment). From a storytelling and character perspective, they were very good.

But ultimately, the final product just didn't click. And I think that apart from the scripts, everything else that came after, didn't build off of story, it built off something entirely external: prestige.

When you're chasing awards, or attention from the awards-crowd, then, ultimately, the project fails in authenticity; every choice made, outside of the script, was to garner attention. And I felt that, so these films never fully clicked. I liked them, generally, better than the Brosnan period, but I didn't LOVE them as I did the Connery era, some of Moore, and Dalton.

But again, I hate to be a broken record: box office doesn't lie. Worldwide audiences ate these films up. And in some cases, these audiences believed that Bond was being elevated (my wife being one of them!! She humours me, watches the Bond films once in a while, but she was all in on Craig and those five films, with her bawling at the end of the last one).

Now, production wise, I have no complaints: they're big, beautifully executed films, candy for the eyes, in most cases. But as a whole... It never came together.

I saw great Bond films in each of the Craig scripts... It just never bubbled to the surface.

I also think Craig has been a spectacular actor, and I enjoyed his energy in the first two films, if not quite convinced this was truly James Bond.

But by SF, he took a nose dive and landed on his face.

It's a frustrating period for me to discuss. I saw potential greatness, but it never came to fruition. And in the whole, I've felt I haven't seen a genuine James Bond film since Daylights (I love License to Kill, but the production quality just didn't have that sexiness of past Bond films).

I haven't lost hope. I am still a fan. I can still see unique things in the Craig period that I did almost love, but as an experiment, for me, it failed.

I'll try and write more about my frustrations at another date. I could probably write a book on the subject.

[bjmdds]

Mr. Cr-egg shares the campaign, which was photographed by David Sims, with the actress Greta Lee. Jonathan Anderson, Loewe’s creative director, is designing costumes for Luca Guadagnino’s next film, “Queer,” which is based on William S. Burroughs’s 1985 novel, and which will star Mr. Cr-egg. At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, World Of Reel reporter Jordan Ruimy said he spoke to an unnamed producer who has seen an early cut of the film, calling it “fantastic” and hailing Craig in the lead role, claiming he “might have delivered the performance of his career.” The world cannot wait for this mess. The laughing horses below sum up this ad campaign.

[Pluto007]

Mr. Cr-egg shares the campaign, which was photographed by David Sims, with the actress Greta Lee. Jonathan Anderson, Loewe’s creative director, is designing costumes for Luca Guadagnino’s next film, “Queer,” which is based on William S. Burroughs’s 1985 novel, and which will star Mr. Cr-egg. At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, World Of Reel reporter Jordan Ruimy said he spoke to an unnamed producer who has seen an early cut of the film, calling it “fantastic” and hailing Craig in the lead role, claiming he “might have delivered the performance of his career.” The world cannot wait for this mess. The laughing horses below sum up this ad campaign.

I somehow a feeling that this “unnamed producer” was likely a producer to Queer.

I have hear this film will be around three hours.

They’re going for awards by having its world premiere at Venice— I think it’s Venice or maybe TIFF.

But I also heard it took forever to edit because the shoot was a bit of a mess (it was shot some time last year, I want to say August).

I suppose we will see when it’s released, but let’s say my hopes aren’t exactly all that high.

[Pluto007]

My beef with Craig is that while all the previous Bond actors felt like they were playing variations of the same character, he felt like he was playing a different character entirely. In the same way that Charles Gray's Blofeld never felt like the same character played by Donald Pleasance and Telly Savalas to me.

Kristatos, re: Blofeld: it felt like those three were different characters, no? None felt akin to the other? Out of those three, Telly’s was the best, but, no one holds a candle to Blofeld in Thunderball. Faceless. The booming authoritative voice. The click of a button to dismiss one into the after life. That man was scary. In control. A great white killing machine who coldly takes what he wants with no emotion, just intent.

[Kristatos]

Kristatos, re: Blofeld: it felt like those three were different characters, no? None felt akin to the other? Out of those three, Telly’s was the best, but, no one holds a candle to Blofeld in Thunderball. Faceless. The booming authoritative voice. The click of a button to dismiss one into the after life. That man was scary. In control. A great white killing machine who coldly takes what he wants with no emotion, just intent.

I dunno, Savalas's Blofeld felt more physically threatening than Pleasance's, but his personality was similar. Whereas Grey felt like a different person. Could you imagine either of the other two delivering the "you're showing a little more cheek than usual" line, for example?

[Pluto007]

[quote=Pluto007 post_id=120127 time=<a href="tel:1721346505">1721346505</a> user_id=27889]
Kristatos, re: Blofeld: it felt like those three were different characters, no? None felt akin to the other? Out of those three, Telly’s was the best, but, no one holds a candle to Blofeld in Thunderball. Faceless. The booming authoritative voice. The click of a button to dismiss one into the after life. That man was scary. In control. A great white killing machine who coldly takes what he wants with no emotion, just intent.

I dunno, Savalas's Blofeld felt more physically threatening than Pleasance's, but his personality was similar. Whereas Grey felt like a different person. Could you imagine either of the other two delivering the "you're showing a little more cheek than usual" line, for example?
[/quote]

Kristatos, re: Blofeld: it felt like those three were different characters, no? None felt akin to the other? Out of those three, Telly’s was the best, but, no one holds a candle to Blofeld in Thunderball. Faceless. The booming authoritative voice. The click of a button to dismiss one into the after life. That man was scary. In control. A great white killing machine who coldly takes what he wants with no emotion, just intent.

I dunno, Savalas's Blofeld felt more physically threatening than Pleasance's, but his personality was similar. Whereas Grey felt like a different person. Could you imagine either of the other two delivering the "you're showing a little more cheek than usual" line, for example?

I agree at Kristatos, the effete comic “foil” that was Grey, was no Blofeld.

But I also believe that the producers lost the plot on the character. They started with a puppet master in FRWL and two years later he evolved into a master criminal. But it felt like the same character, only darker, more sinister.
By YOLT, Blofeld felt like a different man altogether, represented in the form of little man Pleasance (a great actor). The next film, he shared the same name, but now came in the form of an imposing man, and then by the very next film the producers are guilty of abandoning the character altogether, and debasing him as nothing more than a joke.
First mistake was revealing Blofeld in the form of Pleasance. Second mistake was pulling a 1-80 in the next film with a physically more dominating man. Third mistake was tossing Blofeld into the garbage can.
But, the curse of the Blofeld casting continues today with the weak performances of the mopey cuckoo of Waltz.
In my perfect world, Mr. White would be revealed to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld; with each film he grew more powerful, attaining more and more until he grew into a twisted , unhinged psychopath (which would have followed a similar trajectory as the one developed by Fleming).
But, we got what we got….

[acid]

Charles Gray's Blofeld certainly looked very different and acted fairly different to the others. It's campy comic book stuff in DAF but I do enjoy his idiosyncratic delivery. Pleasance's Blofeld has a few dark jokes, "It won't be the nicotine that kills you," whereas Gray's takes the humor to another level. As for the visual differences, didn't Fleming describe Blofeld changing his appearance several times with surgery? Or was that just the ear lobe removal in OHMSS?

[Pluto007]

Charles Gray's Blofeld certainly looked very different and acted fairly different to the others. It's campy comic book stuff in DAF but I do enjoy his idiosyncratic delivery. Pleasance's Blofeld has a few dark jokes, "It won't be the nicotine that kills you," whereas Gray's takes the humor to another level. As for the visual differences, didn't Fleming describe Blofeld changing his appearence several times with surgery? Or was that just the ear lobe removal in OHMSS?

You’re correct. In the Blofeld trilogy, Blofeld seemingly changes height and weight and physical appearance.

I love Fleming , but I never understood how Blofeld could do this to such an extreme. I think Fleming does brisk over this by saying something to the effect that Blofeld’s changing appearance is surgically enhanced.

And they did attempt this explanation in the PTS of DAF.

But sometimes, what works in one medium, doesn’t work in another. Sometimes what works in a book, doesn’t work in a film.

And I think that revealing Blofeld in YOLT really broke the mystique of the eerie character they were building in FRWL and TB. And once they revealed him, the character never quite packed the same punch for me. He became, just a man, instead of this omnipotent master criminal. Just a man who became a joke by DAF.

It’s one of the errors I think Cubby and Saltzman made. By YOLT, they were too busy expanding on the fantastical of 007’s world that the arch nemesis of Bond was nothing more than a short little man with a scar and an accent.

But when one is making a film, there are a thousand things to think of, hundreds of questions that needed to be answered yesterday, that things will slip through the cracks. I do believe Blofeld fell through the cracks. And he hasn’t been bettered since 1965, sadly.

[kater23]

Just..no. re:Watltz’ Blofeld.

[Pluto007]

Just..no. re:Watltz’ Blofeld.

Lazy casting led to lazy performances.

But Fukunaga got the better job out of him.

[bjmdds]

Rather than being an odds-on certainty, Taylor-Johnson's odds of being crowned the next James Bond have drifted. The Kick-Ass star attracted odds of 4/5 recently but it's now been revealed that these have drifted way out to 2/1. While this still positions him as the favourite for the part, fairbettingsites.co.uk spokesman Andy Newton, told GB News about the shift in Taylor-Johnson's appeal. He said: "It wasn’t too long ago that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was odds-on in the ‘Next James Bond’ market - however, in recent days his price has been ‘shaken and certainly stirred’ being as big as 2/1 now."---------all over the internet PLUTO and has not stopped for years.

[Pluto007]

Hey bjmdds

Was this addressed to me?

-all over the internet PLUTO and has not stopped for years.

I’m not wishing to poke the bear here, as conflict and fighting with a stranger has no appeal whatsoever, but if this was addressed to me, I’m just not sure what the question or statement is?

If you think I have anything to do with the betting of Bond, I can assure you I don’t. I don’t live in the UK. I live in the US. I’m not involved with that, with Amazon, nor EoN, but I know several behind camera talent who work on the Bond pictures and have for the past almost 20 years.

If this was directed at me, could you clarify and I’ll do my best to respond

[bjmdds]

It shows that interest is widespread on the internet. You were assuming not many but a few forums care. That was my point. People are very interested to find out already who the next Bond actor is.

[Pluto007]

It shows that interest is widespread on the internet. You were assuming not many but a few forums care. That was my point. People are very interested to find out already who the next Bond actor is.

Oh, I see. Sorry, I misread.

I understand what you’re saying, but it’s the fans that drive the clickbait stories (that’s what I’ve been saying).

My algorithm is filled with Bond news and “updates” daily. DAILY. But my wife doesn’t get 90% of Bond news updates via the worldwide web. The moviegoer who loves films and works in the financial industry doesn’t get nearly the updates that we fans do.

We drive the clickbait articles.

The bookies, for whatever they’re worth, post these stories for us, and for the gamblers.

My point has always been not that there’s not constant articles being written (there are, and I said as much, quoting Collider and Screenrant; they almost daily write their nonsense on Bond), but it’s us driving that need for more, more, more 007– not the average film goer who isn’t missing James Bond in the slightest.

I work in the industry and no one is talking about Bond.

Attention spans are fleeting at the best of time, and it’s the fans that feel the pauses between films. Not the average movie goer.

That’s all I said.

Thanks for clarifying though (I thought I was in trouble with someone again!).

[bjmdds]

No trouble Pluto at all. If you work in the industry, what is the overall feeling of Cr-egg as Bond and Broccoli as producer behind the scenes?

[Pluto007]

No trouble Pluto at all. If you work in the industry, what is the overall feeling of Cr-egg as Bond and Broccoli as producer behind the scenes?

I have some of my own criticisms of this era, and some positives as well. I’m not a Craig lover in the slightest, but have followed his career since he was cast as Bond, and I think outside of this character, I do think he’s quite a good actor. But I don’t want to be confused as a big fan, or even a fan at all, outside of, I’ve really enjoyed some of his body of work. The following isn’t my opinion, but what I’ve been told, and I’ll keep it as short as I can:
About Craig specifically: I was told that he can be a real crank on set, a real grump, but this manifests itself with battling with directors mainly. That he is curious, he is self critical and he wants to nail scenes and often has “animated” discussions with whomever is directing. Saying that I am told he is superfriendly with cast and crew and I was told that there was a reason why every single crew member stayed to watch his final scene as James Bond: they genuinely love the guy. So that’s it in a nutshell on this guy, dictated back to you with absolutely zero feelings and bias on my side of the ledger.
For Broccoli, this may upset some of you here a little more. But according to my few contacts, she has a reputation of being passionate about these films, is on set every day, intently watches behind the scenes and is involved in watching the dailies. She is always in communication with her directors, but doesn’t smother them at the same time, allowing the director freedoms, so long as it’s within the boundaries she has set for this IP. She does take seriously that this is her father’s legacy, and right or wrong, she seems to feel that she and her family are the gate keepers. Supposedly she is also very shy at first, and the reason the bulk of the same crew comes back time and again is because they do think she’s a fantastic producer, makes it feel like a family affair, has great stories and, once her shell’s been cracked, is a fine storyteller herself.
I would love to work with her (not on Bond), and Gregg (who has been rising through the ranks), on projects as I think they have great artistic sensibilities (that sometimes runs counter to my favourite character, James Bond, but for some projects I have going, they’d be perfect). I have got so far as they actually know who I am (as one of my projects was pitched to them), but, to date, that’s as far as that has gotten. And, since I don’t wanna ruin anything in the future, that’s all I can say about my very peripheral attachment to these guys.
I also tried to deliver this with zero feelings and bias (other than why I’d love to work with at least one of these producers; and I know that the money shows up on the screen and I have no problem with the latest productions as far as execution goes, but do have a problem with the execution and direction of the character

[Pluto007]

Apologies, I tried to keep it short, but that’s the general opinion from everything I’ve heard over the last decade and a half.

[Kristatos]

Just a bit of fun:

https://x.com/tomsmason91/status/181501 ... Vtbdg&s=19

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