Favorite and Least-Favorite JAMES BOND movies?

[shashbugu]

MOONRAKER.... BEST BOND EVER

[John Allardice]

Even the Moonraker fans have got to admit that , whilst it might be a fun flick...it's not a good Bond movie. Most of the Roger Moore stuff was a joke (excepting TSWLM, which also featured the delectable Caroline Munro)

OHMSS one of the best Bond flicks...even with worst Bond actor
Casino Royale probably the best actual performance from any Bond actor
YOLT best Ken Adams sets, and some of the best action set pieces ( for the time)

and, I know it's almost universally reviled...but the pre-title sequence from Quantum was beautifully put together, ( as was the sequence at the opera) the movie as a whole just suffered really heavily from the writers strike and the longing to be a Bourne movie.

[Tom Lowe]

In general, the Daniel Craig films suffer from a lack of humor and a lack of panache. The guy looks like a retired boxer who lost too many fights. There is no fun or joy in the films.

[John Allardice]

In general, the Daniel Craig films suffer from a lack of humor and a lack of panache. The guy looks like a retired boxer who lost too many fights. There is no fun or joy in the films.

After the last few Brosnan outings, I actually appreciated the lack of humor in CR. I quite liked the fact that they made a point of him trying to find his 'Bond persona' in that movie.
QOS, on the other hand was a much more dark & nihilistic affair - not out of keeping with a revenge story, which it is, but definitely the wrong tack for a Bond film.
I think Skyfall will see a bit more of the classic Bond, Craig & Broccoli have both admitted that they went too dark with QOS.

[Elsie N]

In general, the Daniel Craig films suffer from a lack of humor and a lack of panache. The guy looks like a retired boxer who lost too many fights. There is no fun or joy in the films.

Your observations are spot on, Tom. But for me personally, the Daniel Craig performances are a little more mature than the whimsical Roger Moore portrayals without being so technical as the Timothy Dalton interpretations were. In my mind, Sean Connery struck that perfect balance of understated panache, as well as dry wit. As a character, Pierce Brosnan seems closer to the image of Bond established by Connery, but I never could stay interested enough in the story to watch a complete (TV version) movie of his in the Bond series.

In my present incarnation, I make judgements quickly as to how engaged I am in a story. I also have a higher level of expectation from a story. Maybe that's why I seldom watch movies anymore.

[Erik Bien]

Really? No love for From Russia? Having recently re-watched both, I still find it hard to believe I'm the only one who'd take Lotte Lenya, catfighting Gypsy girls and a believably brutal close-quarters fight scene with a young Robert Shaw over the Austin Powers meets Space: 1999 silliness of Moonraker.

[Jason Murphy]

4th post into this thread - 'OHMSS' - I'm with you!

Totally missed your mention there. Also, probably my favorite Bond score.

[Mark K.]

Wow, didn't quite realise this until I thought about it but in fact my favourite and least favourite Bond films are in fact the last two.

Favourite: Casino Royale

Least Favourite: Quantum of Solace

Die Another Day and The World is not Enough vied hard for last place with Quantum (I still think their biggest failing was making Bond a 'super' agent rather than just a 'secret' agent). But at least I could follow them. I got to the end of Quantum, and somehow, through the atrocious editing it would seem - I still had no idea what had happened with Vesper Lynd (which should have been the film's key 'hook' given how it was supposed to be following on directly from Casino Royale).

[Tom Lowe]

Quantum suffers from terrible editing, a weak villain (some eco dude who looks like roman polanski), and a weak final battle and ending. Other than those factors, it's not a bad film, IMO.

Think about the ending, though. In most great Bond films, at the very end of the film, Bond is typically in a liferaft with a super hot girl drifting off into the sunset with a bottle of champagne... while M tries to get him on the radio or TV link. That's a proper Bond ending! With Quantum, it's some morose ending.

[Chuck Z]

This is easier for me if I bend the rules and list my favorite Bond films per actor who played the role:

Connery: Goldfinger
Lazenby: OHMSS (duh!)
Moore: For Your Eyes Only
Dalton: The Living Daylights
Brosnan: Goldeneye
Craig: Casino Royale

While Moore was rightly criticized for the hammy films he was involved in, I have to admit that many of them are still very entertaining to watch.