James Bond Movies

Rebooting a character seems to be a big thing in the movie world these days so it should come as no surprise that James Bond was due for this sort of treatment. The first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming gets its first non-spoof big screen adaptation with the release of Casino Royale. Daniel Craig will try to etch a name for himself against such former Bonds as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. Will he do it? I am eager to see but I thought that in the meantime I would share some of my favorite past big screen adventures of 007.

10. The World is Not Enough – I do not know why I like this one better than Tomorrow Never Dies. I think it might be because Tomorrow Never Dies hits a bit of a snag in the Germany section. This one has some really strong points (villains and opening sequence) and some really weak points (Christmas Jones and final sequence on the sub). I could go either way on this picture.

9. Thunderball – A classic plot that rides right off the back of Goldfinger’s success. The story was reused for the movie Never Say Never Again. This one plays slightly better although there are parts of NSNA that are improvements on the original. Like Survivor, you rarely go wrong with sunny beach locales.

8. You Only Live Twice – There is just enough over the top stuff in this one to make it my #8 favorite. The assault on the volcano lair set the stage for later big set pieces. James Bond in Japan is something we should see a lot more of.

7. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – If you can get the thought of Sean Connery out of your mind and watch this with an open mind, you will likely enjoy this. You will wish Diana Rigg could have been in every James Bond movie. The music will be familiar to you though and it is very good stuff.

6. Live and Let Die – This one set up the glib tone that the Roger Moore pictures would take. A low key finale, in comparison to Diamonds are Forever, helps things out immensely. I could throw this off the list and probably not be too disappointed but it is fun to see the 70’s finally take over the Bond series.

5. For Your Eyes Only – This movie is actually Roger Moore’s best but one of his other movies will show up higher because of the fun factor. FYEO is a melancholy film that has very little of the sardonic humor that peppers Moore’s other movies. It holds up well because the villain is not a megalomaniac and the Bond girl is believable as well.

4. Goldeneye – The first effort by Brosnan is his best in my eyes. Sure, there are flaws (the music score is way wrong) but the movie is aided by the best Bond girl duo of any of the movies. It also explores some of Bond’s character a little bit better by having a villain that is his equal. The name of course will be recognizable to any serious gaming fan.

3. The Living Daylights – If only Timothy Dalton’s second Bond picture was more like this one, he probably would have gotten a third picture. He plays the role very well and the plotline of the picture worked well, at the time (Soviet defections etc.). A realistic henchman who does not come off as a caricature serves as a serious threat. Pleasant surprises abound in this one.

2. The Spy Who Loved Me – The girl, the car, the villain’s henchman, it all falls into place for Roger Moore in this one. You basically have Roger Moore’s Goldfinger and that certainly cannot be all bad. Too bad the main villain in the picture is a zero in the charisma department. TSWLM even has a score that works well despite being a product of the times. Now that is an impressive feat.

1. Goldfinger – “Do you expect me to talk? No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.” With that little line, the movie solidifies its place at the top of my list. The rest of the movie is awesome and is filled with moments that will live in your memory. It really set the standard for later films in terms of gadgets, girls, and villains. If I could only have one Bond movie on a desert island, this would be it.

Well, there you have it my 10 favorite Bond movies. You might be asking, “Where is From Russia with Love?” To be honest, I have never actually watched From Russia with Love all the way through. The parts I have seen are great and I bet it would likely move into the top 5 but I figured I would be honest with you. As for the ones I would tell you to avoid, the three I would say that you should most avoid are Die Another Day, A View to A Kill, and Moonraker. Those three have the worst villain (DAD), worst Bond girl (AVTAK), and worst plot (Moon). You’ll thank me later.

Posted by RagingBull888 @ 10:57 am EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments

The Bull Pen 27

It is your old pal Raging Bull back with another edition of The Bull Pen! I can just see all your faces light up with joy at the possibility of reading this blog. In fact, if you have made it to this sentence, you may qualify for a special discount on the next blog.

The NHL season has kicked back into high gear and while hockey is still not on as much as it used to be, I can at least watch national games on Versus. Even better still is the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team I support, have somehow managed to get all but one game televised on Fox Sports Ohio. This leaves me to wonder, what exactly is wrong with the one game they left out? This lone offending game is a home game on March 9th against the Dallas Stars. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is some sort of March Madness tournament that has to be shown on Fox Sports Ohio. It would probably be the MAC tournament and I can honestly say that I would much rather be watching the Blue Jackets than the MAC. Anyhow, the Blue Jackets are off to a fast start, at least by their standards, and could actually contend in the West for a playoff spot, albeit the 8th one. The season squarely rests on the shoulders of one Rick Nash though. His time away from the ice last year pretty much doomed the Blue Jackets to another losing season. Mark it down gang, Rick Nash will be voted MVP of the NHL within the next 5 seasons.

This next section is going to feature a dose of brutal honesty from me. I am not ashamed to admit this but I must answer for my actions. What am I admitting you ask? I admit that I like to kill people…in Halo 2. I like to think of myself as a team player and someone who wants the team to do well but let us not beat around the bush. I am happiest when I am killing folks in mass quantities. Actually, amend that to say, ‘…in mass quantities and WINNING THE GAME.’ I certainly killed a lot of folks (61 to be exact) in a game of SWAT KotH the other night but left the game with a loss. While the kill totals were jaw dropping, the loss still stung. There have been other times when the team has succeeded and I end the game with the win but I have left feeling like I have not accomplished anything except see a reload screen a lot. This can lead to frustration and cursing on my part. I would like to give a blanket apology to everyone who may have ever been offended by anything I have ever said over XBOX Live (see, that was nice and easy) except for WallyBR. Good ole Wally knows I’m gunning for him every time and he rarely gets the better of me.

My parents recently returned from a sojourn to Philadelphia, with a half day jaunt to Atlantic City. They were kind enough to bring back some Hard Café Pins for me. My favorites of the 6 they brought back (4 from Philly and 2 from AC) were a bald eagle playing a black guitar with 2006 on the HRC logo and a guitar with a roulette wheel on it from Atlantic City. Pin trading has become something of a craze over the last 5 years and I have kind of caught on with the craze. However, for some strange reason, I just enjoy collecting them instead of trading. If any of you readers out there have collected Hard Café Pins, just share some thoughts about your collection and what you like the most.

I read today that an elementary school in Massachusetts has banned kids from playing tag and other chase style games. The reason that the principal gives is that “Recess is a time when accidents can happen”. Has it really come to this in society? Maybe I come from a different day and age (the 80’s) when schools were supposed to prepare children for the realities of the real world. Instead, it would appear that the fear of the almighty lawyer has turned schools into impotent messes. Is the teacher so pre-occupied that he/she is unable to police the children and inform them when something they are doing is out of line, such as using excess force in a tag? This seems to be a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The school is creating a system that does not teach what is right or wrong about certain actions within the parameter of the game but instead says the game is flawed and should not be played. It is the same principle that ran through the case of the woman who spilled hot coffee on her while driving. Those folks who are able to act with normal human behavior are forced to subjugate themselves to that minority who do not act within reason or who do not wish to take responsibility for their own actions. Caution: Living is dangerous to your health.

Hey, you made it this far, why not read the final paragraph and go out with style.

Custom Game of the Week: Sure, Halo 2 is on the downward spiral and it is hard to get enough for custom games, even on custom game night (THAT’S FRIDAYS FOR YOU OMM’ERS WHO CAN DRAG YOURSELF AWAY FROM CHROMEHOUNDS FOR EVEN AN HOUR) but I am still here for you fine folks who need to add a little spice to your game selections. This week’s featured game is a little game I just invented this past Friday and it was a hit, at least I think it was. Surrender is the name of the game and it is a capture the flag game. What gives the game its name is the fact that the flag holder moves slow with the flag and the flag indicator is ON when the other team has it. That is a little twist from normal CTF flag games where you do not know where the flag holder is. Add in the double random weapons, damage resistance, and extra damage for non-flag holders and you folks have yourself quite a little game. This is a 1 flag per team game and works best on symmetrical maps. The time limit for the game is 10 minutes, score to win is 3, player respawn time is 5 seconds, and flag respawn time is 10 seconds (bump to 30 on bigger maps). You will definitely be saying ‘I Surrender’ when you grab the flag in this game.

Posted by RagingBull888 @ 3:11 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

The Bull Pen #26

Well, it has been a while since I posted one of these so I figured I might as well come back with a whole bunch of random stuff that is only connected in the fact that it all is important to me. Or is it?

 

I went to Indianapolis on Saturday on a spur of the minute decision as my wife Tracey got called off work. It was a rainy day and I am sure she was not to thrilled about the idea of spending an off day out of town until I used the 3 magic words: South Bend Chocolate. It was just that simple; I get to go to Indianapolis and see the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art as well as dine at the local Hard Rock while she gets to stock up on her favorite chocolate in the world. I know a few of my clanmates (namely BigOne and Stryker) may be curious why I did not pay them a visit while in town but it was a whirlwind schedule and I seriously doubt asking to pay a visit to gaming buddies would have gone over well with the queen of the house. Back to the chocolate, I highly recommend checking out their website and ordering something as they have some of the most delicious chocolate going. I purchased a milk chocolate bar and a milk chocolate coated rice krispie treat. The rice krispie treat was excellent while the milk chocolate bar is cooling in the fridge at home in order to be enjoyed at a later date, more than likely this evening. The final highlight of the trip was stopping at the Hard Rock Café and picking up two more pins to add to the collection while enjoying the Hickory BBQ burger. It was not the best I have ever had (Atlanta seemed to do a much better job) but it was satisfactory. If anyone cares, they should message me and I will point out where they can see the two pins I bought. A boring 1-3/4 hour trip back down I-74 and I-275 and we were back home.

 

The Cincinnati Bengals have gotten off to a 3-0 start for the second season in a row and that includes a victory over the hated Pittsburgh Steelers. It may not have been a pretty victory but there is something I have learned from years of watching sports. Championship caliber teams can win games that by all logical reason, they should have lost. They burn you for almost every little mistake and grab victory from the jaws of defeat. The Bengals played that sort of game yesterday as they took incredible advantage of two fourth quarter turnovers to send the Steelers and their fans into the bye week with a 1-2 record.

 

The DVD format can best be seen as a concept that brings out the best in studios and the worst in studios. It brings out the best as you have a format that allows full television series to be shown regardless of their cancellation. There are also the DVD extras that allow you to get a little more value rather than just paying to see the movie and maybe a preview or two that was on a standard VHS tape. However, the worst side of DVD’s also applies to extras; the case in point is the recent release of the Lord of the Rings movies on DVD with both versions attached. The concept of Double Dipping has become more and more prevalent with major releases and it irritates me to no end. You do not want to wait a year and a half to purchase a movie but if you buy early, you risk missing out on some stuff that was conveniently ‘left out’ of the early release. I guess as long as there are nimrods out there that need to own every single version of a certain movie and every known extra, this practice will continue.

 

I have not been playing a lot of Halo 2 lately and it seems as though I’ve been slacking on playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow as well. Part of it may be the lack of fellow OMM playing but I think another part of it is the fact that I have found other stuff to do that catches my fancy. It can be rather addictive going to zone.msn.com and playing some of the word or puzzle games. An hour can go pretty fast when you are trying to create 6 letter words in order to advance to the next round. I still enjoy playing Halo 2 and I still enjoy inflicting, er, sharing my custom games with fellow clan members. I just wish it would not have rained so hard Friday night because I was really ready to pull out a lineup of solid games.

 

Oh, I almost forgot one great advantage of DVD’s. That advantage is the fact that some things can be shown uncut and in their original versions. Something that takes full use of this principle is the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD’s. A funny joke at the end of a certain Bugs Bunny cartoon involves Bugs pointing a gun at his own head (in order to blow his brains out) and missing, while hitting Yosemite Sam. Heaven forbid if you watch the cartoon on regular TV these days as virtually any reference to a character blowing his/her brains out is taken out of the cartoon. I really am not keen on when cartoons that were meant for adults are sanitized and politically corrected so kids can watch them.

 

I think I am happy that I am not playing fantasy football this season as it has been a wild and crazy ride for some fantasy stalwarts during the first few weeks. I will just rest on the laurels of my two championships from a season ago (one against seriously weak competition) and return at a year of my choosing. Besides, I’m too busy trying to win at Hardball Dynasty at Whatifsports.com to be bothered with fantasy football.

 

Have you considered the fact that in the time it took for you to read this sentence, you could have been clicking over to deadspin.com and reading something that may or may not in fact be funnier?

 

I am now forced to ask the question that some people do not want to ask; exactly who does Stuart Scott have pictures of that allows him to remain in such a high position at ESPN?

 

To close out this ever diminishing blog entry, I leave you with one final key piece of information.

 

Professor Plum with the Revolver in the Conservatory.

Posted by RagingBull888 @ 3:15 pm EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

Just a friendly reminder

You can still read past Bull Pen's for excellent custom game ideas.

I'm also here to provide the following Public Service Announcement: Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears Vol. 1 will be released on DVD in November. My wife is wigging out over this announcement. Now all Disney has to do is release the Wuzzles on DVD and the world will be whole again. The long wait for The Muppet Show, Season 2 will continue on though.

Posted by RagingBull888 @ 1:47 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

The Bull Pen #25

Well, I see that last week’s blog of nonsensical statements was not a big hit. I would have liked to do a column based on a Larry King style but it is too hard for me to emulate his unique style of gibber gabber. I can do a column full of topics that do not really relate, so here goes.

A movie that I enjoy watching that may have been overlooked by you is The Hudsucker Proxy from the Coen Brothers. It is quite an amusing movie with some memorable quotes, solid acting, and an excellent score. I’ll leave you with one of the better quotes from the movie, “You know, for kids.”

I went ahead and downloaded a CD’s worth of 80’s music from I-Tunes and have been playing it almost non-stop since. A sample of the music includes: Rock the Casbah, Come on Eileen, Centerfold, Always Something there to Remind Me, Our House, Video killed the Radio Star, and Vacation. I can list the others if you are interested but they are along the same lines.

The real sign of the cultural apocalypse is the fact that a program such as American Idol can generate so much buzz and pull in so many viewers for what amounts to singers who will be lucky to be playing state fairs within the next 10 years. Is it any surprise that stations that used to be Top 40 formats (meaning the current hits) are increasingly playing older stuff? It is a sad state of affairs when an anthology series called Now that's what I call I music (which has very little interesting stuff on it) can top the charts.

If you have not visited an amusement park and ridden a roller coaster this summer, why not? Most of America lives within a 3 hour drive of an amusement park with at least one roller coaster. The new ideas keep getting crazier and yet traditional roller coasters continue to thrive. A summer without riding at least one coaster is a summer that was wasted.

I would like to point out as a public service announcement that The Simpsons Season 8 is being released this week on DVD. This and season 9 are the last of the golden age seasons before the descent into more wildly outlandish plots and rehashed ideas. It has one of the best Treehouse of Horror editions and some famous episodes, such as Homer’s Enemy (featuring Frank Grimes), the Springfield Files (parody of the X-Files, and Homer’s Phobia (where Homer is forced to deal with his homophobia).

Does your office have Muzak playing over the loudspeakers? There are times when I could shoot the people who create bastardized versions of good songs for this system. The system also tends to play a couple of songs over and over again that no one recognizes. Sometimes silence can be golden.

I have noticed that the ladders are starting back up again for Halo 2. I might be more interested this time in joining a team. I know I enjoy MLG starts but I also know that the competition is really stiff on the MLG ladder. I kind of fall in the middle in the skill level set as it pertains to Halo. I am good enough to be a nuisance to the top players but not good enough to consistently equal or better their score. I have long said that my best scores come when there are one or two people better than me on the team so that the other team’s best players have to focus on them.

If there are any special games that my clan would like to play (that I have set up) following the Royale fun on Friday nights, please let me know in room. I try to pick games that are fun for everyone but also try to mix it up. That may mean playing a SWAT game followed by a Fiesta game followed by an objective game, etc.

Custom Game of the Week: Nothing for you this week except to say that my custom game moment of the week came last week right at the end of my clan night fun. Let’s just say that WallyBR was probably having ‘Surprise’ haunt him for the rest of the evening. If not, well, I still had fun dropping from the second level of Foundation to assassinate him with the sword for my last kill.

P.S. You should really read last week's blog for some funny statements.

P.P.S. An all-time classic is the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. If you have never read it, go out and read it now. I do not care that you are over the age of 25, the book is great for Adults as well with the imaginative illustrations. I saw a copy sitting on a table in a Macy's the other day and was reading it while my wife returned an item. It still garners laughs after all these years. Update - Apparently a movie is going to be made out of this book as the information was just released today.

Posted by RagingBull888 @ 2:51 pm EDT | Permalink | 7 Comments