The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[katied]

Empire gave QoS 4/5 when it came out (it was Kim Newman, who should know better) and then downgraded it to 3/5 when they reviewed the DVD.

That's right.I knew it got a downgrade *somewhere*.

[The Sweeney]

Empire gave QoS 4/5 when it came out (it was Kim Newman, who should know better) and then downgraded it to 3/5 when they reviewed the DVD.

That's right.I knew it got a downgrade *somewhere*.

You can't blame them. It deserves a downgrade.

[The Sweeney]

I am reading a few reviews about Campbell's new Mel Gibson movie and found a few interesting points, one reviewer said talking about Campbell's Bond experience

" - the first starring vehicle for Mel Gibson since 2002 that happens to be a gut-punch thriller from Martin Campbell, the solid director who brought us one of the best post-Connery James Bond films (Goldeneye, of course). "

Seem like a little more reflection is happening further away from CR we get.

CR still rates high with reviews, post DVD. I find it rare to find many reviews that really slate CR - it's usually the complete opposite, from what I've read over the past few years (DVD reviews, etc.)
In general, critics don't really have a bad word to say against it. It is one movie which, for whatever reason, usually scores fairly well for a Bond flick.

Which is in stark contrast to QoS, which only seems to get slated more the further away we get.

[katied]

It's funny,I haven't watched CR for a while, but my parents just got a new LCD TV set..I'm thinking I might have to see what CR looks like on it.

[Omega]

The news is out that Craig is going be in that Cowboy movie so the July filming of the yet unnamed Bond 23 is off.

[Omega]

Empire gave QoS 4/5 when it came out (it was Kim Newman, who should know better) and then downgraded it to 3/5 when they reviewed the DVD.

That's right.I knew it got a downgrade *somewhere*.

You can't blame them. It deserves a downgrade.

It deserves a fate far worse than that.

[katied]

The news is out that Craig is going be in that Cowboy movie so the July filming of the yet unnamed Bond 23 is off.

If I didn't know any better,I'd swear he's avoiding Queen Babs!

[Omega]

The news is out that Craig is going be in that Cowboy movie so the July filming of the yet unnamed Bond 23 is off.

If I didn't know any better,I'd swear he's avoiding Queen Babs!

Thought he was staying. Everywhere he would go there was a Broccoli production of something. He must be as anxious as a pre-k kid to be going so far from "Mommy". What if the mean man directing yells at him for only having one facial expression

[katied]

Thought he was staying. Everywhere he would go there was a Broccoli production of something. He must be as anxious as a pre-k kid to be going so far from "Mommy". What if the mean man directing yells at him for only having one facial expression

EON is more than a little reminiscent of the Mafia..cross them, and you'll get whacked!

[Omega]

so you think he might get canned for stiffing them?

[katied]

so you think he might get canned for stiffing them?

Nah..I was being slightly facetious

[Captain Nash]

Sad to see the passing of stuntman Martin Grace. He was truly one of the greats, and his contributions to the Bond series unbelivable. I often feel the stuntwork for the Bond films is vastly overlooked.
Anyway just wanted to make a point of acknowledging Martin Graces' work and may he rest in peace.
A sad day for Bond fans.

[Captain Nash]

One of the members here is clearly not happy about something...

I am so ready to walk away from one of the messageboards that I post on. It's obvious that one of the moderators enforces the rules without talking to any of the other moderators. The last time he did this, I had someone find out what was going on, as I got a week's suspension from the board.As soon as word got to one of the other moderators found out what was going on, the suspension was lifted.
Normally I would have been able to stick up for myself, but I get completely locked out of the boards(It's hard to explain)and also, I am afraid that if I stick up for myself,it will lead to a longer suspension from this particular moderator. I'm not proud of having other people fight my fights for me, but in this case, it is a necessity.
Plus, it's not like this person is around very much, and when they are, they are the enforcer.Something about what he does seems very off to me. True, my suspension this time was just for a day, but the reasons that he gave for the suspension this time were, like they always are when he's around, bogus.

...no prizes for guessing who.

[Kristatos]

Sad to see the passing of stuntman Martin Grace. He was truly one of the greats, and his contributions to the Bond series unbelivable. I often feel the stuntwork for the Bond films is vastly overlooked.
Anyway just wanted to make a point of acknowledging Martin Graces' work and may he rest in peace.
A sad day for Bond fans.

I'm not familiar with the name. Can you tell me more about him?

[Captain Nash]

Sad to see the passing of stuntman Martin Grace. He was truly one of the greats, and his contributions to the Bond series unbelivable. I often feel the stuntwork for the Bond films is vastly overlooked.
Anyway just wanted to make a point of acknowledging Martin Graces' work and may he rest in peace.
A sad day for Bond fans.

I'm not familiar with the name. Can you tell me more about him?

This is from Mi6...

James Bond stuntman and stunt double Martin Grace has passed away at the age of 67. Grace was an accomplished stunt performer and coordinator, and was Roger Moore's stunt double through most of his Bond films. Martin's first 007 credit was on "You Only Live Twice" in 1967, before becoming Moore's regular stunt double from "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977) up until his departure from the series in "A View To A Kill" (1985).

Martin Grace was born in Kilkenny, Ireland on 12th September 1942. During his time at college at Kilkenny City, Grace first experienced action movies when a tented traveling film show arrived in town. Bitten by the bug, he moved to London in the early 1960's to attend Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

After joining a stunt agency, he found his first professional work in commercials as the mysterious action man in the Cadburys milk tray television ads. The secret agent aesthetic and daring stunts would give him a taste of what 007 would later offer him.

His first film credit was as a Thal on the BBC's big screen adaptation of "Dr. Who and the Daleks" in 1965. Shortly thereafter, his first brush with Bond came when stunt coordinator Bob Simmons and his right-hand man George Leech called up almost every professional stunt man in England to perform in the climatic volcano battle in "You Only Live Twice" (1967).

Simmons had noticed Grace in his Cadbury commercials. Leech was similarly impressed by Grace, who then spent four weeks honing his ninja skills: scaling nets, sliding down ropes and practicing trampoline explosions. It was also on "You Only Live Twice" that Grace met a young Vic Armstrong, who went on to become stunt-coordinator and action unit director on the later Bond movies.

In the 1970s, Grace performed at a nightly stunt show tour across Scandinavia. Winning a Charlton Heston talent contest in 1974 took him to Hollywood for the first time, where he also attended stunt classes to hone his skills in driving, parachuting, boxing, wrestling, fencing swimming and gymnastics.

His work as Roger Moore's stunt double started in 1975 when he was selected for "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977) and continued in this role until Moore's departure from the series with "A View To A Kill" (1985). One of his first jobs as Moore's double was to drive the Lotus Esprit through the windy narrow streets of Sardinia during the helicopter and motorcycle chase. But unlike almost every chase scene in the Bond series, Grace was told explicitly that the 'hero' car had to be returned to Lotus in the exact same condition it was delivered in! Grace also doubled for Richard Kiel in the long-shots of the Egyptian ruins when Jaws can be seen walking high above the crumbling columns.

Another high-rise and high-stakes sequence for Grace was the pre-title sequence of "For Your Eyes Only" when he had to hang on to the side of a helicopter as 'Blofeld' was trying to his best to dispose of 007. Grace also doubled for Bond aloft the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in "A View To A Kill".

Sadly, Grace suffered terrible injuries during the production of "Octopussy" during the train sequence shot at the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, UK. To achieve the desired shots, Grace was called on to leap on to the train from a moving car and then later climb underneath and down the outer side of the carriages. In a rush to wrap filming during a break in the weather, communication broke down between the helicopter shooting the action, Grace, the train driver, and the rest of the stunt team timing the sequence. Not being able to look in the direction of travel, Grace was unaware of a solid wall built parallel to the tracks on an unrehearsed section of track. The impact smashed his pelvis and thigh bones, but the adrenaline rush allowed him to hang on to the train until it came to a stop. He was rushed to Peterborough Hospital where he lay prone for several months, fearing that his career may be over. The accident badly affected crew morale. Immediately upon his return from filming in India, Moore made his first of several visits to Grace in hospital. Grace made a full recovery in time for the next Bond outing.

Grace also doubled for Moore in his non-Bond films, including "The Wild Geese" (1978), "North Sea Hijack" (1979), "Escape To Athena" (1979), "Sea Wolves" (1980), and "The Naked Face" (1984).

Other major film credits as a stunt performer or coordinator include: "Superman" (1978), "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), "Robin Hood" (1991) and "The Truman Show" (1998). Grace also made appearances on screen as an actor. In 1997 he starred as Captain Braga in "Robinson Crusoe", which featured then-James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the title role.

Over his career, Grace worked on 73 motion pictures as well as many popular television programs including "Monk" and "Heroes". His last big-screen stunt work was on the 2007 Jim Carrey vehicle "The Number 23".

After suffering a cycling accident in late November 2009, Martin fractured his pelvis and was hospitalised for some weeks. In late January he was taken from his home in Spain to hospital again after developing breathing problems. He died aged 67 on 27th January 2010 after suffering an aneurism.

I'm surprised you've not heard of him Kris. He's one of the better known of the Bond stunt team. Though if it's not something you're interested in then I suppose you wouldn't.

[Kristatos]

I'm surprised you've not heard of him Kris. He's one of the better known of the Bond stunt team. Though if it's not something you're interested in then I suppose you wouldn't.

Yeah, I feel bad about that. Stunts are such an important part of the Bond films, yet I barely give a second thought to the people who perform them. I can't even remember the name of the dude who performed the famous parachute jump at the beginning of TSWLM

[Captain Nash]

Rick Sylvester.
Also did the fall of the rock in FYEO.
Bob Simmons, a long time Bond veteran, doubled for Connery in the early movies.
George Leech, again a Bond veteran. Drove the DB5 for the chase in GF.
Richard Graydon, hung from the cable car wires in OHMSS, and dangled from the cable car in MR.
Vic Armstrong, doubled Lazenby in OHMSS, and was stunt co-ordinator on several Bonds.
Paul Weston, worked on many of the Bonds from YOLT - LTK
Jake Lombard and BJ Worth, these two nutters did alot of the aerial work. From the pts of MR, the fight aboard the flying plane in OP, the jump off the Eiffel tower in AVTAK, the cargo net fight (best stunt ever!) in TLD, and the fishing from a helicopter pts stunt in LTK. They really are amazing.
Wayne Michaels did the bungee jump in GE
Simon Crane performed and co-ordinated many of the Bond film stunts, especially the Brosnan films.
Gary Powell has worked as a stuntman and co-ordinator on many of the more recent films
Ben Cooke has doubled Daniel Craig in CR, and performed the crane jump.
Now this is just a small portion of the Bond stunt team, and a brief look at some of the stunts these amazing people have performed in the name of entertainment.
I really do feel that as fans we should recognise them alittle more. After all, without them, what would Bond be?

[James]

That Ben Cooke must be a little fella. There is some great stuff about all the stunts on the Bond DVDs. The documentaries are wonderful.

[katied]

That Ben Cooke must be a little fella. There is some great stuff about all the stunts on the Bond DVDs. The documentaries are wonderful.

Not only that,it's pretty obvious when they use Cooke(the fight scenes in CR come right to mind) since he looks nothing like Craig!

[007]

One of the members here is clearly not happy about something...

I am so ready to walk away from one of the messageboards that I post on. It's obvious that one of the moderators enforces the rules without talking to any of the other moderators. The last time he did this, I had someone find out what was going on, as I got a week's suspension from the board.As soon as word got to one of the other moderators found out what was going on, the suspension was lifted.
Normally I would have been able to stick up for myself, but I get completely locked out of the boards(It's hard to explain)and also, I am afraid that if I stick up for myself,it will lead to a longer suspension from this particular moderator. I'm not proud of having other people fight my fights for me, but in this case, it is a necessity.
Plus, it's not like this person is around very much, and when they are, they are the enforcer.Something about what he does seems very off to me. True, my suspension this time was just for a day, but the reasons that he gave for the suspension this time were, like they always are when he's around, bogus.

...no prizes for guessing who.