Who is your favorite James Bond?

[jian]

When Casino Royale came out, I was also enjoying the idea of a grittier, less campy version of Bond. However, a couple of years ago I rewatched Skyfall in preparation for watching Spectre, and I have since given up on that opinion.

Some spoilers ahead, if that's an issue

Skyfall is patently ridiculous. The way that Silva magically becomes a master of all things electronics is effectively the same as all the random kung fu in Man with the Golden Gun. Does it make any sense? Does it follow any sort of logic (internally or externally)? No. But the outside zeitgeist suddenly found hacking/kung fu to be the cool thing that villains did, so the over-the-top Bond villian does it. Does it make any sense for Bond to go make booby traps with the gardener at his childhood home that will be as effective at taking out bad guys that trashed all of MI6? No, but backstories are the cool thing all the movies are doing these days, so now we have to visit Bond's childhood home... for... reasons.

But Spectre really took things to the next level. Blofeld has been controlling everything we've seen the entire time. And his motivation is that he is actually...

Bond's brother! I defy you to write a background to Blofeld that is more camp than that.

We view old Bond as camp and today's as gritty because of the veneer on both. But it's all surface level. 40 years from now, your grandkids will laugh at our modern Bond the way we laugh at the bad CGI surfing scene in Die Another Day or all of Moonraker. And all the while they'll be thinking about how how cool, modern, and realistic their version of Bond is.

Agreed. Casino Royale is great because it’s an origin film - Bond at the beginning is a brutal thug, who gradually develops into a more sympathetic character and then hardens into his iconic self. The others just aren’t any good (Solace is distinctly average, Skyfall is terrible, Spectre is worse, No Time to Die is slightly better and has the courage to finish properly), in my opinion, and the fake grittiness is just embarrassing. None of this is a reflection on Craig, who does an excellent job throughout though he’s clearly gritting his teeth for the last 2-3 films.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I picked Craig, Connery, and Lazenby. Craig and Connery are the standouts that really nailed the character, everyone else is below them. My third pick was between Lazenby and Brosnan and I had a hard time picking between them. Lazenby only got one film, but it's one to the best in the series and had a lot more dramatic material than most. Brosnan nailed the balance between the camp and serious and is my pick for "fun Bond". I picked Lazenby just because his film is under rated and he deserves more praise. I do prefer the more serious takes on Bond overall, so that does color my picks. For anyone who's not seen most of these films and wonders what films are worth watching here's my personal picks in order of release. From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, On her Majesty's Secret Service, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Living Daylights, Goldeneye, The World is not Enough, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall. From Russia with Love and Casino Royale being my two favorites of the series. There are a few others that are okay, not everything I left out is bad, but I'd stay away from the rest of Moore's run, unless you love the camp side of the series without any balance.

From Russia with Love is my personal favourite too.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Hard disagree on this one, based on facts and science.

Shaken v. stirred-

Let's start with the basics- if you shake, you are going to dilute it more. Period. You are also going to cool it down much faster. Finally, for those into aesthetics, if you are serving a "clear" drink (martini, negroni), it will make it cloudy from the ice crystals.* If this is unclear, remember that when you shake, you are aerating the cocktail as well as quickly introducing small ice particles into it. Which is what you want for some drinks, and certainly not for others.

I'm pretty sure that the difference in dilution between stirring and shaking is marginal, according to How2Drink, which I would defer to. The aeration, however, that is definitely a thing that bears mentioning.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm pretty sure that the difference in dilution between stirring and shaking is marginal, according to How2Drink, which I would defer to. The aeration, however, that is definitely a thing that bears mentioning.

Well, the variables matter. If you are using gin straight from the freezer and (for example) two large cubes of ice and shaking it shortly, as opposed to stirring it vigorously for a long time, I would agree.

But that's not how it operates in real life- the reason that shaking gets drinks cold so quickly is because the ice is rapidly moving (shaking) in the container, causing more ice to melt, leading to greater dilution. In short, if the reason you are shaking the cocktail is to get it super cold, then you are necessarily getting greater dilution. It's not just cloudy because of the aeration- if you see ice or any ice crystals? That's also dilution. Not just the water from the melted ice- you can see the actual water in many cases.

By the way, we don't have to act like this is a terrible thing for those drinking. Some people like the added dilution. You know, the people who aren't drinking "extra dry martinis" because they lack the fortitude to ask for a glass of chilled gin.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

By the way, we don't have to act like this is a terrible thing for those drinking. Some people like the added dilution. You know, the people who aren't drinking "extra dry martinis" because they lack the fortitude to ask for a glass of chilled gin.

Pretending that pure gin or pure vodka are martinis is so weird. Who are they trying to fool and why?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Pretending that pure gin or pure vodka are martinis is so weird. Who are they trying to fool and why?

Maybe others. Probably themselves.

Saying you're having a few martinis is classy.

Saying you're downing some gin makes you a degenerate.

 

[Morrus]

Pretending that pure gin or pure vodka are martinis is so weird. Who are they trying to fool and why?

Is that a thing?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Is that a thing?

The Winston Churchill Martini

Fill a mixing glass with ice.
Put in a generous helping of Plymouth gin.
Nod towards France.
Strain into glass.



Snarf walked into a bar. He asked for a stirred gin Martini. Very dry.

The bartender said. "How dry?"

Snarf replied, "As dry as you can make it."

Bartender: Okay, you want me to give it a quick rinse of vermouth and then pour the vermouth out?

Snarf: No. Not dry enough. I want you to pour the gin over the ice, and before you stir, I want you to say "vermouth" over the mixing glass.

The bartender proceeded to do as instructed, and than said ... "Vermouth," to which Snarf replied, "TOO LOUD!" {/ISPOILER]

 

[payn]

The Winston Churchill Martini

Fill a mixing glass with ice.
Put in a generous helping of Plymouth gin.
Nod towards France.
Strain into glass.



Snarf walked into a bar. He asked for a stirred gin Martini. Very dry.

The bartender said. "How dry?"

Snarf replied, "As dry as you can make it."

Bartender: Okay, you want me to give it a quick rinse of vermouth and then pour the vermouth out?

Snarf: No. Not dry enough. I want you to pour the gin over the ice, and before you stir, I want you to say "vermouth" over the mixing glass.

The bartender proceeded to do as instructed, and than said ... "Vermouth," to which Snarf replied, "TOO LOUD!" {/ISPOILER]

You forget the final step. Repeat 8x before lunch, and another 8x before dinner, then 8x before bed.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yes about Leiter - that’s from the novels (Live and Let Die, not included in the Moore film). He survives.

I wouldn’t say Pam Bouvier is any less of a simpering damsel than any other Bond girl at any point, and certainly not because of anything Bond does.

Licence to Kill is a remake of Live and Let Die, going back to the novel.