THE WATCHERS on GTFM's James Bond Special Last Sunday!!

We were guests on the local radio stations 007 special last sunday, the interview was recorded the Friday night, while doing our Bondathon. Take a listen & you can still donate? Thanks

GoldenEye (1995)

Seven years have passed since Licence To Kill and after court battles, pre-production finally began on the seventeenth 007 adventure – but then the real disaster struck us fans. Dalton decided that seven years was too long a gap to return from and he left the franchise. What Now, we asked? The answer: Pierce Brosnan. Fans in the UK asked: who? We’d never heard of Remington Steele! We spent our time fretting: will he be good? Will the film be any good? Is there a place for Bond in a post-Cold War world? Maybe it should be left alone?

How wrong were we? From the start of the film, you’re unable to catch your breath. Bond bungee-jumps from a bridge, has a shoot out with Russian soldiers, side by side with Sean Bean’s 006, then escapes by leaping from a cliff on a motorcycle, only to jump into a plane and fly off with the base behind him exploding! With just this scene, I had never felt a feeling before, the feeling you get once in a franchise maybe? Brosnan was simply BORN to play Bond, he has the believability that women would fall at his feet, he has a dark edge that’s behind his eyes, he can happily just kill you if you get in the way of his mission and of course the man looks like he was genetically made to look like Fleming’s iconic character.

The villain of this adventure, well that’s the clever part. Sean Bean plays a 00 agent who is disenchanted with the UK and has wanted revenge for his Cossack heritage ever since. He is just charming to a villainous core and very much Bond’s equal. For once we have a British villain, a traitor no less.

Famke Janssen plays his willing henchwoman, Xenia Onatopp who likes to kill men by crushing them with her thighs, a character who gets sexual pleasure from the hunt and the kill. Janssen exudes evil and menace, with a perverted fetish side to a T.

The Bond Girl, well, now we have the reign of the Bond women; the Bond girls have grown up. Now, we have female characters with balls. Natalya (played by Izabella Scorupco) manages to give a very strong believability when she decides to show Bond her vulnerable side. Also, she is a weapons expert and has a lot to do for the plot to progress and is must ally for Bond to complete his mission.

I can’t talk about the cast without mentioning the first performance of Judi Dench as M. Dench delivers a stoic performance, a hard-nosed warrior leader and her few scenes are memorable and powerful.

This film is a perfect example of a Bondian movie, it gets the balance right between strong plot, strong well acted characters and the OTT stunt sequences. You’re along for the ride and you’ll love ever minute of the film. In 1995 Bond became box office material again. I want to give this film 5 out of 5 – but I can’t, for there is a large shadow that hangs over the entire film: the music score by Eric Serra.

A film’s music score is a character within the film, It helps to develop the tale, to cue emotional chords within you and, of course, to heighten the exciting parts. Serra’s score is a failure on all counts. The score just ends up juxtaposing all the way through – it feels like an unwelcome visitor to the Bond universe. It’s actually distracting a lot of the time. Thank Bondian God he never returned to the franchise. For that reason the film has to drop a point.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Rhys 


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That's the last film for Day 2 - we're off to get some sleep! Tomorrow we hit the home straight-  3 more Brosnans, 2 Craigs at home and then off to the cinema to finally get to see Skyfall. Goodnight for now!

Countdown: The Watchers' Top 10 Bond Henchmen

As we said last week, even the best Bond villain can't try to take 007 down him (or her)self; they usually need some form of help in the form of a henchman or henchwoman. They're as integral to Bond villainy as the outlandish base and delusions of grandeur. So after some deliberation, here we present The Watchers' Top 10 Bond Henchmen


1. ODDJOB
(played by Harold Sakata in Goldfinger)

A dab hand with a razor-sharp bowler hat, Oddjob has become- like Pleasence's Blofeld with the villains- a shorthand for what a 'Bond henchman' is. It's a solid performance by former Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Sakata, full of silent menace.






2. DONALD 'RED' GRANT
(played by Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love)

A solid man-mountain, Grant is one of the most dangerous men Bond has been up against. Trained by SPECTRE to revenge the death of Dr. No, his only mission is to kill Bond. Shaw's performance is excellent as the stone-cold killer

3. JAWS
(played by Richard Kiel in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker)

When you mention Bond films to most people, it doesn't take them long to get round to Jaws. A towering giant with large metal teeth, first an out-and-out bad guy in The Spy Who Loved Me then moving into a slightly more neutral position in Moonraker, Jaws is an iconic a part of the Bond franchise.

4. XENIA ONATOPP
(played by Famke Janssen in GoldenEye)

The most fatale of femmes, Xenia's ample charms and killer thighs make for an entertaining and very sensual combination; Janssen plays the role to the hilt, making a real impact on screen in one of her first film roles.

5. MR KIDD & MR WINT
(played by Putter Smith and Bruce Glover in Diamonds Are Forever)

Are Mr Kidd and Mr Wint a gay couple? Maybe. There are certainly a couple of subtle and not-so-subtle hints that they may be, but the performances of Smith and Glover mean they are an entertaining double-act and very much in fitting with the campy tone of the film.



6. NICK-NACK
(played by Herve Villechaize in The Man With The Golden Gun)

Scaramanga's manservant, aiding his master in his schemes, even going so far as smuggling himself aboard the train at the end of the film to take Bond out. His slightly perverse relationship with Scaramanga- trying to use others to take his employer out- is an interesting take on the usual villain/henchman dynamic.

7. ROSA KLEBB
(played by Lotte Lenya in From Russia With Love)

Klebb is a former SMERSH agent defected to SPECTRE. Strict and slightly terrifying, Klebb is miles away from the real Lenya who was, by all accounts, a gentle and friendly person. We count her as a henchman rather than a villain as the true villain of From Russia With Love is the unidentified Blofeld.

8. MR WHITE

(played by Jesper Christensen in Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace)

The mysterious Mr. White acts as Le Chiffre's superior in Casino Royale but is actually an underling in a much larger criminal organization- Quantum. He is trying to regain money lost by Le Chiffre and maintain Quantum's integrity- and will go to any lengths to do that.

9. DR. KAUFMANN
(played by Vincent Schiavelli in Tomorrow Never Dies)

A fun little cameo from superlative character actor Schiavelli as Paris Carver's assassin, also sent to finish Bond off in his hotel room in Hamburg. Deadly, sinister yet impeccably polite, there's a lot of humour in his short but very memorable scene.





10. BORIS GRISHENKO
(played by Alan Cumming in GoldenEye)

Boris is a cunning little runt, a software programmer at the Severnaya site allied with Trevelyan and Ouromov, helping to capture Natalya. Cumming gives a very fun performance of nerdy charm, coupled with his 'I'm invincible' catchphrase.






So those are our favourites - how about yours? Let us know in the comments below.

For every yin, there must be a yang - so for each of our favourites, there is a least favourite. Next week, we will reveal our choices for the worst/most ineffectual/weakest Bond villains.

Favourite And Least Favourite Bond Themes - Tez's Choices

One of the essential parts of any Bond film is the theme song. In the week that it was confirmed that Adele has recorded the theme song for Skyfall, it seems a good time to discuss my five favourite and five least favourite of the Bond themes so far (I haven't ranked them; they're done in chronological order)

FAVOURITE SONGS

• 'Diamonds Are Forever' (Shirley Bassey)

As queen of the Bond theme (three to date), Dame Shirl would have to be here somewhere. It was a real toss-up between this and 'Moonraker' but my affection for the film Diamonds Are Forever snuck it. There's something so gloriously OTT and camp about the song which fits nicely with the film to follow.

• 'Live And Let Die' (Paul McCartney & Wings)

Recently voted the nation's favourite Bond theme (according to listeners of Radio 2), so who am I to argue? The guitars are fantastic and the rock-y nature of the song is a marked contrast from the power ballads and love songs of 60s and early 70s Bond.

• 'Nobody Does It Better' (Carly Simon)

This is a beautifully written song, beautifully sung and a song which has transcended the Bond theme origin to become a love song in its own right.

• 'License To Kill' (Gladys Knight)

There is an undeniable strength and passion to Knight's voice which suits this most powerful of power ballads. Knight's voice is just truly sublime, making this a strong entry to the Bond theme collection.

• 'GoldenEye' (Tina Turner)

 
Sinuous and slightly sensual, Turner's voice is a perfect match for the song written by Bono & The Edge from U2, providing not only a fantastic opening to the new chapter of the Bond franchise- but a fantastic opening to Tina's concerts too!


LEAST FAVOURITE SONGS

• 'The Man With The Golden Gun' (Lulu)

Lulu blares it out and even the innuendo-laden lyrics are grating and lacking in any kind of charm. Plus this is the worst kind of earworm which just nests in your head and won't go, no matter how many times you sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to try and dislodge it.

• 'For Your Eyes Only' (Sheena Easton)

To think that this song was nominated for an Oscar is an affront to good music. Weak, whiny and bland- and that's as much to do with the lyrics as the way they're sung. A shame that such a good film is laden with such a bad theme.

• 'All Time High' (Rita Coolidge)

Much like 'For Your Eyes Only', I find this an insipid, weak dirge. Bond themes should grab you by the throat, not timidly tap you on the shoulder like this one does. Even a surprise rendition of it in Ted (by Mark Wahlberg) does nothing to redeem it.

• 'Die Another Day' (Madonna)

Utter tripe. Disposable pop nonsense. Haven't got much else to say about it. Awful, awful, awful.

• 'Another Way To Die' (Jack White & Alicia Keys)

It's not a bad song per se and it kind of grows on you but it doesn't really fit with the film. There's something slightly discordant about it as well which doesn't quite sit right as a song in its own right either.

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So those are my choices, my opinion on my favourite and least favourite Bond themes. Feel free to agree or disagree and let me know your favourites and least favourites in the comments below. 

Tez

(PS. Rhys will share his choices of his favourite and least favourite Bond themes on the week that the new Bond theme is released.)