Yet more Bond for a holiday weekend
Dec. 23rd, 2006 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperToday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
solarbird and I went out shopping for Christmas presents. While we were out, I was amused to see several of the new "Ultimate Bond" DVD box sets they have out--I even picked one up to see what movies were in them. They'd be tempting, I think, if I actually wanted to own all of the Bond flicks. But we've got most of the ones I think I want, at least until Casino Royale hits DVD. Though I'll have to take a peek at Diamonds Are Forever and Thunderball, just to see whether they're fun at all.
Meanwhile, tonight after we got home we watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and I have to say I'm not entirely sure what I thought of it! O.o
The Good:
* Diana Rigg as Tracy rocked like a great big rocking babe as a Bond Girl. As Emma Peel damn well should. I really enjoyed seeing the primary girl in the plot actually defending herself--effectively!--in a fight with a bad guy as well as being smooth enough to try to sweet-talk the villain. Halle Berry in Die Another Day had the effectiveness in a fight, but Diana? Infinitely more elan.
* Aww, poor Moneypenny sniffling at James' wedding! Aww! Aww! And more for her to do in this plot in general. I liked her smooth little change of James' requested memo from a resignation to two weeks' leave, too. ;)
* Hardly any gadgetry at all in this movie, except for things that seemed perfectly reasonable for agents to be using given the technology of the time.
* Thugs! On! Skis! was kind of nifty as an unusual idea for a chase.
* People shot about equally badly. Thugs didn't usually shoot well, and honestly, neither did Bond for that matter.
* Lazenby wasn't half-bad at all in a fight. He did some fight moves I couldn't have seen Connery doing at all.
* James In A Kilt! Woot!
* James' sneaking into the lawyer's office to get data on Blofeld--while the dude was out to lunch--was very smooth. James even had time to look at pr0n. Bwahahaha. ;)
* I had to giggle at the dwarf janitor whistling a few notes of what sounded distinctly like the theme from Goldfinger.
The Strange:
* Very, very weird seeing the same M, Q, and Moneypenny as in all the Connery Bonds--and no Connery. Equally weird hearing the Bond theme played on instruments that weren't the traditional electric guitar (though we did get that later in on the movie). It was like this Weirdo Alternate Bond Universe.
* Knowing that Lazenby is an Aussie, I really have to wonder what his natural accent sounds like, because his English accent came across to me as just a trifle fake. I mean, it was consistent all the way through, it's not like he couldn't hold an accent (and he could in fact change accents, as he demonstrated during the plot), but it sounded a little flat and off to me. Kind of like how Guy Williams in Lost in Space sounds a trifle stiff and flat doing his all-American Professor Robinson accent--except in that one episode where he suddenly reverts to a Spanish accent and ZOMG suddenly he's got a lot more flare and ease to his acting. So I really wonder whether Lazenby might have had the same thing going on.
* What the heck was James' line to Tracy about it not being the new year, when he knocked her off of her little makeshift bed in the barn and tumbled her back down to him? I didn't get that at all.
* Kind of strange to see Lazenby trying to mimic Connery's playful flirtations with Moneypenny. I mean, he kind of had to to try to maintain continuity with the previous flicks, I suppose. But it didn't have that charming, guileless quality to it that Connery pulled off. That was very clear, seeing Connery Bonds and this one practically back to back.
The ZOMG Bad:
* Lazenby's 'faked' accent when he was Bond Pretending to Be Hillary Bray grated. Seriously. Ugh. I could barely listen to him holding that accent. I'll give him points for consistently maintaining it along with the regular Bond English accent, but after listening to him keep that one for a while, it was a relief to hear him switch back to Bond.
* Terry Savalas as Blofeld was horrible. Wretched. Dara describes him as a 'thug' and says that the character of Blofeld really should not be just a thug. I agree. He should also NOT SOUND AMERICAN. Now, granted, I think it would have been even more wretched if Savalas had tried to hold an accent--I cringe just at the thought of his attempting to do so, and I will give him at least some small slack for not trying--but still. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. I could have forgiven him the accent if he'd had even the smallest spark of villainous charisma, but alas, no.
* Aside from the kilt, a big, big ugh for most of the wardrobe choices. I actually doubletaked when James was briefly in a pink shirt. And I spotted a couple of orange shirts in the wardrobe choices, as well as some truly godawful glittery stripes on several of the girls at Blofeld's little hideaway in the Alps. But okay, I can chalk this up to the movie being made in 1969, which, let's face it, was way too close to the 70's for there to be anything remotely resembling fashion in this movie's wardrobe. Except on Diana Rigg, who did look quite stylish through the whole flick. But Lazenby's ruffled shirts? Even scarier than the pink one. ;)
* Longest. Toboggan. Run. EVER. Granted, for all I know toboggan runs could actually be that long, but it sure seemed like way too much screen time to take up for that particular chase. And Blofeld dropping the grenade after he fumbles the pin out of it? LAME. Also LAME that the grenade was enough to knock James off his toboggan and yet it hardly went *pop*, much less *BANG*. Hell, he even had time to catch up to Blofeld and jump onto the tail end of HIS toboggan.
solarbird and I went out shopping for Christmas presents. While we were out, I was amused to see several of the new "Ultimate Bond" DVD box sets they have out--I even picked one up to see what movies were in them. They'd be tempting, I think, if I actually wanted to own all of the Bond flicks. But we've got most of the ones I think I want, at least until Casino Royale hits DVD. Though I'll have to take a peek at Diamonds Are Forever and Thunderball, just to see whether they're fun at all.Meanwhile, tonight after we got home we watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and I have to say I'm not entirely sure what I thought of it! O.o
The Good:
* Diana Rigg as Tracy rocked like a great big rocking babe as a Bond Girl. As Emma Peel damn well should. I really enjoyed seeing the primary girl in the plot actually defending herself--effectively!--in a fight with a bad guy as well as being smooth enough to try to sweet-talk the villain. Halle Berry in Die Another Day had the effectiveness in a fight, but Diana? Infinitely more elan.
* Aww, poor Moneypenny sniffling at James' wedding! Aww! Aww! And more for her to do in this plot in general. I liked her smooth little change of James' requested memo from a resignation to two weeks' leave, too. ;)
* Hardly any gadgetry at all in this movie, except for things that seemed perfectly reasonable for agents to be using given the technology of the time.
* Thugs! On! Skis! was kind of nifty as an unusual idea for a chase.
* People shot about equally badly. Thugs didn't usually shoot well, and honestly, neither did Bond for that matter.
* Lazenby wasn't half-bad at all in a fight. He did some fight moves I couldn't have seen Connery doing at all.
* James In A Kilt! Woot!
* James' sneaking into the lawyer's office to get data on Blofeld--while the dude was out to lunch--was very smooth. James even had time to look at pr0n. Bwahahaha. ;)
* I had to giggle at the dwarf janitor whistling a few notes of what sounded distinctly like the theme from Goldfinger.
The Strange:
* Very, very weird seeing the same M, Q, and Moneypenny as in all the Connery Bonds--and no Connery. Equally weird hearing the Bond theme played on instruments that weren't the traditional electric guitar (though we did get that later in on the movie). It was like this Weirdo Alternate Bond Universe.
* Knowing that Lazenby is an Aussie, I really have to wonder what his natural accent sounds like, because his English accent came across to me as just a trifle fake. I mean, it was consistent all the way through, it's not like he couldn't hold an accent (and he could in fact change accents, as he demonstrated during the plot), but it sounded a little flat and off to me. Kind of like how Guy Williams in Lost in Space sounds a trifle stiff and flat doing his all-American Professor Robinson accent--except in that one episode where he suddenly reverts to a Spanish accent and ZOMG suddenly he's got a lot more flare and ease to his acting. So I really wonder whether Lazenby might have had the same thing going on.
* What the heck was James' line to Tracy about it not being the new year, when he knocked her off of her little makeshift bed in the barn and tumbled her back down to him? I didn't get that at all.
* Kind of strange to see Lazenby trying to mimic Connery's playful flirtations with Moneypenny. I mean, he kind of had to to try to maintain continuity with the previous flicks, I suppose. But it didn't have that charming, guileless quality to it that Connery pulled off. That was very clear, seeing Connery Bonds and this one practically back to back.
The ZOMG Bad:
* Lazenby's 'faked' accent when he was Bond Pretending to Be Hillary Bray grated. Seriously. Ugh. I could barely listen to him holding that accent. I'll give him points for consistently maintaining it along with the regular Bond English accent, but after listening to him keep that one for a while, it was a relief to hear him switch back to Bond.
* Terry Savalas as Blofeld was horrible. Wretched. Dara describes him as a 'thug' and says that the character of Blofeld really should not be just a thug. I agree. He should also NOT SOUND AMERICAN. Now, granted, I think it would have been even more wretched if Savalas had tried to hold an accent--I cringe just at the thought of his attempting to do so, and I will give him at least some small slack for not trying--but still. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. I could have forgiven him the accent if he'd had even the smallest spark of villainous charisma, but alas, no.
* Aside from the kilt, a big, big ugh for most of the wardrobe choices. I actually doubletaked when James was briefly in a pink shirt. And I spotted a couple of orange shirts in the wardrobe choices, as well as some truly godawful glittery stripes on several of the girls at Blofeld's little hideaway in the Alps. But okay, I can chalk this up to the movie being made in 1969, which, let's face it, was way too close to the 70's for there to be anything remotely resembling fashion in this movie's wardrobe. Except on Diana Rigg, who did look quite stylish through the whole flick. But Lazenby's ruffled shirts? Even scarier than the pink one. ;)
* Longest. Toboggan. Run. EVER. Granted, for all I know toboggan runs could actually be that long, but it sure seemed like way too much screen time to take up for that particular chase. And Blofeld dropping the grenade after he fumbles the pin out of it? LAME. Also LAME that the grenade was enough to knock James off his toboggan and yet it hardly went *pop*, much less *BANG*. Hell, he even had time to catch up to Blofeld and jump onto the tail end of HIS toboggan.