James Bond Marathon part 2

I finished watching all the James Bond movies. You can read my recap of the first 11 here.

For Your Eyes Only - The opening to this film is God-awful as are most of the side characters (particularly Bibi Dahl.) This is the first Roger Moore Bond movie that you got the sense that he was getting a bit too old for the part. And then it ended like a really bad knock-off of Guns of Navarone (elite team needs to free-climb a Greek cliff-side to destroy an object in an against all odds action sequence.)

Octopussy - This was actually a really enjoyable Bond picture even though it literally ends with him defusing a bomb in a clown suit and makeup. Pay special attention to the Circus scenes. General Riekkan (Bruce Boa) from Empire Strikes Back plays a US General and Admiral Motti (Richard LeParmentier) plays his aide.

A View To A Kill - This film was a little wonky. I'm glad it was Roger Moore's last. The three best things about this movie, though are the ending fight atop the Golden Gate Bridge, Christopher Walken and Mayday, in that order.

The Living Daylights - This was Timothy Dalton's first Bond picture and was actually pretty solid. I thought he injected a sense of warmth and humor into the character that he'd been lacking for quite some time. The villains were up to a plausible plan, John Rhys-Davies was great and this was, overall, a great addition to the franchise.

License to Kill - Dalton's second (and last) Bond film was a complete disaster. This film had a few fun moments (and one of the best looking Bond girls in the entire series) but it was like the worst of the 80s cop movies.

Goldeneye - Hands down, Goldeneye is in the top three or four Bond movies ever. Pierce Brosnan delivers a more suave, well-rounded Bond since Sean Connery and you can't get a better villain than Sean Beans former MI6 agent Alec Trevalyen. And let's not forget Famke Johnson as Xenia Onnatopp. Jesus she was hot. Over all, this film is great, all the way around.

Tomorrow Never Dies - This is the nadir of the Brosnan installments. Jonathan Pryce never quite managed menacing clutching his keyboard and writing newspaper headlines the whole time. Michelle Yeoh and the stunts in this film were second-to-almost-none though.

The World is Not Enough - This film would be watchable if not for two things: The preposterous length (well over 2 hours) and Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist. Those two things alone make this worth skipping. The best scene of the film? Desmond Llwellyns last as Q. It was poignant and bittersweet.

Die Another Day - This was the second best of the Brosnan bunch although it got so far over the top with the car and the solar weapon and everything. The director also used waaaay too much slow motion. And Madonna didn't need a cameo. Overall, this film was ok.

Casino Royale - I liked this movie but I realized watching it this time what it was missing: Moneypenny and Q. Yeah, yeah, this is a reboot and stuff. But seriously, I want Moneypenny and Q. And it pisses me off that they said the next one won't have them either. Without them, is it really James Bond? It could literally be any MI6 agent at that point.

Anyhow, that's my two cents on all the Bond pictures.