We are less than a day away from the main event. One of tomorrows contributors, the Timothy Dalton loving, Bond fan, Ruth from FlixChatter will be joining us to share her thoughts on a chosen Bond movie, in advance of this, she gives us an insight into her world of Bond with not one, but three Top Five lists, Bond Girls, Villains and Title Songs:
This post is in honor of the upcoming James Bond event coming up on Saturday. Heather at Movie Mobsters and Andy at Fandago Groovers have made this a week-long event with all-things-Bond lists … definitely a must for every Bond fan and amusing for everyone else (after all, who hasn’t watched at least one Bond film?).
Now, you probably already know who my favorite Bond is and who would be good as the next super spy), but just for fun, I figure why not do three 007-related lists in one. Please keep in mind that I deliberately exclude movies of the Connery era as I haven’t seen them all and my memory are pretty hazy on those. So these three list are only from Bond movies from Roger Moore all the way to Daniel Craig. Here goes, the lists are in no particular order:
TOP FIVE BOND GIRLS:
- Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) – Casino Royale
- Octopussy (Maud Adams) – Octopussy
- Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) – Tomorrow Never Dies
- Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) – License to Kill
- Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) – For Your Eyes Only
Honorable Mentions: Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), Elektra King (Sophie Marceau)
Least Favorite: Christmas Jones (Denise Richards)
Obviously Bond girls are mainly for eye candy, but these girls are definitely no bimbos. In fact, they’re each a force to be reckoned with and in some cases, they’re equal if not better than Bond himself (Wai Lin definitely comes to mind). One thing for sure, all five of these beautiful women not only get Bond weak in the knees, but they also command his respect for their power, intelligence and/or fighting skills.
Btw, I just realized that four different Bond actors have their girl represented in this list, well two for Roger Moore, lucky bloke 
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TOP FIVE BOND VILLAINS:
- Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) — Moonraker
- Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) — For Your Eyes Only
- Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan) – Octopussy
- Jaws(Richard Kiel)
- Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) – License to Kill
Honorable Mentions: Alec Travelian (Sean Bean), LeChiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), Xenia Onnatop (Famke Janssen)
Least Favorite: Boris Grishenko (Alan Cummings)
What makes a great Bond villain? Well, according to this Independent article for Ian Fleming, it was all in the names, hence we’ve got monikers like Scaramanga, Blofeld, and perhaps everyone’s favorite, Goldfinger. Now, to me, a good villain is one that brings a cool menace with a sense of humor, or those with a with somewhat classy, elegant persona to contrast their big, preposterous, evil schemes. I agree with that same article that says ‘Bond himself has many of the qualities of the traditional movie villain … cold-hearted, violent and cynical…’
Moonraker might be a Star Wars rip-off, but the piano-playing, cultured and elegant Hugo Drax possesses a certain mystique about him that makes for an interesting villain. Now, Jaws is more of a henchman, not the main villain, but I grew up watching him with his indestructible metal teeth (he could even bite a shark to death with ‘em, for crying out loud!) so I have a soft-spot for the 7’2″ creature. His fight scenes with Bond are fun to watch as they’re quite funny as Bond has to be extra creative to survive, and he’s the only adversary Bond can’t seem manage to kill which ends up becoming his ally in Moonraker.
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TOP FIVE BOND SONGS:
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You Know My Name (Chris Cornell) – Casino Royale
Also count as my favorite Bond opening title sequence… refreshingly free of the scantily-clad silhouetted dancing women, replaced by a cool casino-theme animation that feels modern and innovative.
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Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon) – The Spy Who Loved Me
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For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crowe)
- The World Is Not Enough (Garbage)
Honorable Mentions: All Time High (Rita Coolidge), The Living Daylights (a-ha), Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)
Music is such a personal taste, so I’m not saying these are the BEST Bond songs ever, they’re just my favorite. I must have had nearly half a dozen Bond soundtrack CDs and there are a whole lot from the Connery era that I love as well (We Have All the Time in the World and From Russia with Love, among others), but to be consistent with the other list, I’m only listing the movies from Moore era and on. I love four out of five of these the first time I heard it, but initially I didn’t care for Tomorrow Never Dies as I’m not into Sheryl Crowe’s music, but it grew on me. Part of what makes Bond songs great is the lyrics, and Nobody Does It Better definitely has one of the best
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Ok, now your turn… pick a top-five list or do all three. While you’re at it, tell me, who is your favorite Bond?
I love the Licence to Kill song but I have noticed that a lot of people hate it.
I don’t hate it, Joel, I think it’s got a pretty nice melody. It’s just not good enough to be in my top 5.
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Eva Green has got to be the most seductive of the Bond girls. Nice to see Carole Bouquet too – she doesn’t get talked about as much.
My Bond villains would be quite different though. I’ve always thought Drax lacked menace – too cartoonish for me – a but like Moonraker actually. But the list is original so that’s nice to see.
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I agree, and she’s seductive even without having to take her clothes off. That scene when she was putting on makeup and said to Bond nonchalantly, ‘I sized you up the first time we met.’ Wow, now that’s sassy!
Yeah, Drax might not seem menacing but that guy’s pretty rotten to the core, I mean he’s capable of feeding a woman to the dogs!! But I agree, Moonraker in general is campy.
rtm recently posted..Gerry Butler Birthday Tribute from FlixChatter’s Friends
God yes! Eva Green = sent from heaven:P
Still very very partial to Goldeneye’s theme song so get ready, here comes my list:P
Bond Songs:
5. View to a Kill (come on it’s Duran Duran…that’s WIN all day long imo)
4. License to Kill (“and you know I’m going straight for your heart”)
3. Goldfinger (set the tone for future films but I still don’t like its spoilers)
2. Goldeneye (The world needs more Tina Turner me thinks)
1. Casino Royale (voted by me to be the best song AND best sequence even if it lacked nudity:P)