Ever since GoldenEye was released 19 years ago, Bond movies have all sucked. Nobody seems to want to admit it, but it's true. Now by that I don't mean they started sucking with GoldenEye, I mean it was the last good movie. That's six movies since that have ranged from mediocre to God-awful, going from one extreme of cartoonish nonsense to dull gruel hyped up as classy film-making. GoldenEye was the last great Bond movie because it found that threshold between fun and thriller...
The Essence of Bond has been shaped and re-shaped constantly over the decades and that has been due to its mostly successful ability to plug into popular zeitgeist and meld that aesthetic with what makes Bond, well, Bond.
Goldeneye brought the Bond series into the era of Simpson-Bruckheimer action-adventure filmmaking,
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the James Bond film GoldenEye, Fanboys Anonymous provides an audio commentary track to be played alongside viewing the film.
Completely agree. People seem to love the new Casino Royale and Skyfall. The cinematography is amazing in Skyfall and all the Bond movies are pretty good, but they just aren't what they used to be.
Casino Royale (Daniel Craig version)is my all-time favorite Bond film, and Skyfall was very good also. Now Daniel Craig is of course no Sean Connery, but what actor could be? If you're looking at presentation, action, story, and intensity, it's hard to argue that Casino Royale isn't the best ever.
Speaking as someone who's favorite Bond is Goldeneye, I disagree with this sentiment. Sure, most Brosnan ones besides Tomorrow Never Dies (which hit that campy mark just right) were terrible, but Casino Royale and Skyfall are just great examples of adapting grittier film methods while maintaining the older Bond formula. Quantum was indeed mediocre though.