... - Bond

Bond, James Bond

You only live twice: once when you're born and

once when you look death in the face. ― Ian Fleming

 

The James Bond series focuses on a fictional character and became the second-highest grossing film series to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. No, our first example, starring Sean Connery as Bond. 

 

Here is a bit of trivia for you.  Casino Royale, the first book by Ian Flemings, was made into an hour-long episode for television, in 1954, as part of the dramatic anthology series Climax Mystery Theater making American actor Barry Nelson the first James Bond. The episode aired on 21 October 1954 as a live production.  Unfortunately, due to the restriction of a one-hour play, the adapted version lost many of the details found in the book, although it retained its violence.

Dr. No

Dr. No is a 1962 British spy film and has the distinction of being the first James Bond film. Although the first of the Bond books to be made into a film, Dr. No was not the first of Fleming's novels, Casino Royale has that honor.

Plot:  James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American manned space launch with a radio beam weapon.

Here: Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), her book-name is Honeychile Rider but for the film her name was shortened and changed to Honey Ryder, emerges from the ocean in a white bikini with two large sea shells and is considered a classic James Bond moment.
 

 We changed our mind.  We were going to write about individual Bond films, include an image, maybe give a little trivia but there have been so, so many and the images just keep growing that we decided to just give you a sampling of what's out there... of what has been done and let you enjoy.  So here they are (remember, this is only a sampling):

 

With the new century brought new James Bond films.  First was Casino Royale in 2006, Quantum of Solace in 2008 (the lowest in boxoffice returns) and  then appeared the latest, Skyfall in 2012.  Here is a tribute.

 

 

The world of espionage grasped the popular imagination over the past years, and James Bond was the main reason for this.  The Bond series drew on contemporary fears in order to reduce the implausibility of the villains and their villainy.

 

In the films, Bond dramatically saved America. We watched as he; stopped Dr. No (in the first of the films) from "toppling" a crucial American missile test (1962), prevented Goldfinger (in the third film) from rendering the Ft. Knox gold reserves radioactive (1964), and thwarted Largo's attempt to blow up Miami in (the fourth film), Thunderball (1965)... and on, and on.  All that time, though, it was America saving Bond, a British character.

 Also, James Bond was the epitome of what every man wanted to be. He drank immense amounts of alcohol, had sex with innumerable women and killed hundreds of people with immunity.

 

After all these years, James Bond, 007 still remains a vibrant franchise and continues to enthrall audiences with a lethal combination of action, characters and story.

 *****

Bond Search:

Watch James Bond movies on the Internet.

... - scifi (Film) 2

More Sci Fi Movies

Bored? Already reviewed the earlier list  of science fiction movies? Thinking about movies?  Why? Not for the sake of high art, but for simple escapism, probably.  Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t like movies? Not everyone likes sports, or reading books, or watching TV – and some people, apparently, aren’t even all that keen on sex – but everyone loves movies of some kind.  Here, we are only interested in science fiction movies.

 

Science fiction comes in all sorts of varieties. You've got your hard science fiction, which has its foundation in actual science.  On the other end of the spectrum is the wildly fantastical tale that sees us traveling through time and warping space at the push of a button. Most science fiction stories seem to take place between the extremes.  We'll start with that fantastical tale that was so popular a few years back, Lord of the Rings.  The Hobbit movies have rekindled an interest in this genre.

 

Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a film series consisting of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). They were distributed by New Line Cinema.

Plot: Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as he and a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring.

Here: there are three images; (top) the Ring, the one Gollum refers to as his "preciouses", (middle) the Elves heading to their ship,  and (bottom) the battle at Helms Deep, fought on a rainy night.

Watch the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, here.

Hobbit

Like the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit is a film series consisting of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson based on the 1937 novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.   The first two are subtitled An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Desolation of Smaug (2013) but the third title has not been firmed, to date.

 

Plot: The films take place in the fictional world of Middle-earth sixty years before the beginning of the The Lord of the Rings, and follow young Bilbo Baggins (uncle of the previous Frodo) (Martin Freeman), who is convinced by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to accompany a spirited group of thirteen dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, their mountain home - and the gold within it, from the dragon Smaug.

Here: This image shows Bilbo Baggins between two of the dwarfs Kili (Aidan Turner), on his right, and Thorn (Richard Armitage), on his left involved in a minor discussion. A short video of young master Bilbo and Gandalf, the grey can be seen here.   Perhaps the images below of the dwarfs riding the rapids (left) or the dragon, Smaug, in gold would be more to you liking.

The first Hobbit movie, An Unexpected Journey, can be viewed here.

 

Iron Man (2008)

No, not the Ironman Triathlon that's not a movie but one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). 

 

Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics and made into a popular movie that has generated several sequels.  Iron Man has been the focus of three animated series and a direct-to-DVD animated feature. At this writing three live-action Iron Man feature films, all starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role, have been released since 2008. Although his contract with Marvel Studios expired after the release of Iron Man 3 in June 2013, Downey Jr. signed on to return as Iron Man in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and a third Avengers film.
 

Plot: An American billionaire playboy, industrialist, and ingenious engineer, Tony Stark, creates a powered suit of armor to protect the world.

 

Here: Ever the engineer, he builds his crime-fighting suit during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction.  Later, he can be seen flying through the clouds in a red iron suit.

You can watch that 2008 movie here.

 A Clockwork Orange

Because A Clockwork Orange employs disturbing, violent images to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian future Britain it received an 'X' rating.  Contrary to popular claims, this was never banned in the UK, the film was removed from distribution there in 1973, due to several copycat crimes,  preventing it from being freely shown until 2000 after the film makers' death.

Plot: In future Britain, charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge is jailed and volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem - but not all goes according to plan.

Here: Top image is that of Alex DeLarge, played by Malcolm McDowell, and the other is of him and his droogs (gang).  You should be warned, this movie can be disturbing and not to be considered a 'family' film.

See it now here.

 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dr. Strangelove was a 1964 British-American black comedy film that satirized the nuclear scare.  Columbia Pictures agreed to finance the film on condition that Peter Sellers play at least four major roles however Sellers ended up playing only three of the four roles written for him due to his workload retraints.

The film was a popular success and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.  Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies, described the film as "arguably the best political satire of the century."

 

Plot: An insane general, Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

 

Here: The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson (George C. Scott), decided to trade a love of cigars for chewing gum.  Meanwhile,  Herr Doktor Strangelove (Peter Sellars) has an idea on how they could survive a nuclear war. However, he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with his obstinate arm.

 

You can watch Dr. Strangelove here.

 

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

A 2004 American comedy-drama, Life Aquatic stars Bill Murray as the eponymous Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer who is determined to document his revenge on a shark.  Even with a stellar cast the film was a box office disappointment.   Many critics called it smug, ironic and artificial while others praised the movie's sheer uniqueness, eccentricity and whimsy. Some critics even predicted that Bill Murray would be nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award but he wasn't.

 

Plot: With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner Esteban, oceanographer Steve Zissou rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.

 

Here:  The image is only one of many underwater scenes aboard Zissou's research vessel Belafonte .

 

Relax and watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou here.

 

Brainstorm

Brainstorm, a 1983 film, was Natalie Wood's final film appearance, as she died during production.  The film was nearly scuttled by Wood's death during a production break.  The director proceeded to complete the film by rewriting the script and using a body double for Wood's remaining scenes.  Brainstorm was finally released on September 30, 1983, almost two years after Wood's death.

 

 

Plot: The film follows a research team's efforts to perfect a system that directly records the sensory and emotional feelings of a subject, and the efforts by the company's management to exploit the device for military ends.

 

Here: Brilliant researcher Michael Brace (Christopher Walken),  having developed a system of recording and playing back actual experience, tries it out on himself. 

 

Watch the Internet release of Brainstorm here.

*****

 

Perhaps you like to watch other streaming science fiction movies. What is streaming? Oh, well... it is defined as "a method of transmitting or receiving data (especially video material) over a computer network as a steady, continuous flow, allowing playback to proceed while subsequent data is being received."

• watch sci fi 'B' movies here   or
• watch your favorite sci fi movies here

 

Because you can't tell a film by it's name you've been provided the search engine, below.

Enjoy!

SciFi Search:

Your Science Fiction Movie data base on the Internet.