Now, this is not as simple as it might at first seem, not least because my Beloved is not really a fan, and so finding such two-our windows of opportunity can be quite a rare thing anyway, so making such a decision can eat massively into the free space in my busy blogging schedule that I set aside for writing my nonsenses, or devour time which is meant for more worthy, practical, washing-up related pastimes, or time sometimes meant for just sitting down for what is, just plainly something else which might be better entertainment.
But it's not just about those things.
After all, a film franchise that has endured throughout fifty years or more must have some sort of entertainment value, even if I sometimes think that I might just have finally "grown out" of it, but, despite being what you might still call a "fan" of the series, sometimes the idea of sitting through one of the actual films themselves does seem rather tiresome, especially when there is such a smorgasbord of other video entertainment waiting on the shelf and in the ether to be consumed nowadays.
Incidentally… Have you ever noticed that you can have a movie sitting upon your shelf unwatched almost indefinitely, and really "not fancy" it, but then find yourself watching that self-same movie all the way through when you happen to spot that it's being broadcast on TV…?
Or is that just me…?
Is this merely a strange compulsion, or just basically part of being bone idle and taking the easy option every single time…?
Switch on TV...
Think "Oh, that's on, I like that..."
Disengage brain.
Watch evening vanish.
After all, a film franchise that has endured throughout fifty years or more must have some sort of entertainment value, even if I sometimes think that I might just have finally "grown out" of it, but, despite being what you might still call a "fan" of the series, sometimes the idea of sitting through one of the actual films themselves does seem rather tiresome, especially when there is such a smorgasbord of other video entertainment waiting on the shelf and in the ether to be consumed nowadays.
Incidentally… Have you ever noticed that you can have a movie sitting upon your shelf unwatched almost indefinitely, and really "not fancy" it, but then find yourself watching that self-same movie all the way through when you happen to spot that it's being broadcast on TV…?
Or is that just me…?
Is this merely a strange compulsion, or just basically part of being bone idle and taking the easy option every single time…?
Switch on TV...
Think "Oh, that's on, I like that..."
Disengage brain.
Watch evening vanish.
Meanwhile, getting back to that "James Bond" film, the difficulty comes in picking which one to actually watch.
Of the twenty-three so far released, the first six are now so familiar to me that I could probably sing along to the lyrics if you set the dialogue to music, and they have, perhaps, become about as diverting as a screensaver, at least in my memory when my fingers move past them across the DVDs on the shelf in search of something that I want to watch.
Of the twenty-three so far released, the first six are now so familiar to me that I could probably sing along to the lyrics if you set the dialogue to music, and they have, perhaps, become about as diverting as a screensaver, at least in my memory when my fingers move past them across the DVDs on the shelf in search of something that I want to watch.
I have recently had a slight yen to give the shallow, overblown and vacuous nineteen-seventies offerings another go. After all, "Moonraker" always remains a guilty pleasure, and, despite the fact that my head tells me that "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Man With The Golden Gun" are utterly ridiculous, cheap, nasty and really not very good at all, my heart feels like giving them another chance, just to see if I'm remembering this incorrectly and they're actually quite brilliant, whilst "Live and Let Die" struggles to get past even my fairly low "politically correct" barriers nowadays - although some of the other films score quite poorly on the sexism and cultural stereotyping meter, too, as the times have moved on...
People took their children to see "Live and Let Die" when I was a child you know... for birthday outings and such.
I wasn't invited...
People took their children to see "Live and Let Die" when I was a child you know... for birthday outings and such.
I wasn't invited...
However, getting back to the present, the problem is that, around ten minutes into any of them, I'll suddenly be wishing that I was watching something else, and that's no fun when your window of opportunity is closing.
The eighties films I really struggle with.
"James Bond" films can be many things to many people, but what they should never be is boring. "A View To A Kill" I'm thinking at you right now, and you know why. I mean, it's a movie with the fabulous Patrick Macnee in it, and I still manage to find it a struggle.
Embarrassing I can cope with, but boring is just unacceptable.
Embarrassing I can cope with, but boring is just unacceptable.
That said, I have recently fancied giving "Octopussy" another go, and the Dalton pair were favourites when I was at an impressionable age, so any of those might be worth a punt...
But then...
But then...
The Brosnan quartet, well, I still struggle to get through any of those, and the Craig trio go from being worthy but dull ("just get that bloody card game over with, will you?") to just a little bit rubbish, to far too recently seen to be diverting.
So, once again, having decided to watch a "James Bond" film, I ended up not watching one after all, and doing something else instead, which is probably a good thing in the great scheme of things and, well, if one just happens to appear on my telly one evening, I'll probably just settle down and watch that and find that I find it quite entertaining.
So, once again, having decided to watch a "James Bond" film, I ended up not watching one after all, and doing something else instead, which is probably a good thing in the great scheme of things and, well, if one just happens to appear on my telly one evening, I'll probably just settle down and watch that and find that I find it quite entertaining.
And there was me thinking that I was a bit of a fan...
I have never watched a Bond film all the way through. Do I wear this as a badge of pride or hang my head in shame?
ReplyDeleteYou know, there are so many films that people try to talk to me about that I've never actually seen ("ET", "Terminator", lots of these kids films that people burble on and on and on about, etc) but they assume that I MUST have, so that, in the end it's sometimes just easier to pretend that I have.
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