1973’s marked the start of a new era for the Bond franchise with Roger Moore taking over the Bond role. Three British agents have been killed in the space of 24 hours whilst investigating a Caribbean dictator and a New York drug lord. M assigns Bond the mission to investigate what happened and carry on with their […]
Tag: James Bond
Bondathon: Diamonds Are Forever
The seventh film in the official Bond series saw the return of Sean Connery in the role that made him famous. It was a final official Bond adventure for the Scot. After finding and killing Blofeld, M assigns Bond on a mission to investigate a diamond smuggling ring where the people on the smuggling chain are getting […]
Bondathon: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Following three bombastic adventures with Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice, the Bond series returned to a more grounded adventure with 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. James Bond had been searching Blofeld for two years but has not come up with any results. With the case running cold Bond gets an offer from Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), […]
Bondathon: You Only Live Twice
After the detour with the parody version of Casino Royale, Bondathon returns to the main series with the iconic if excessive Japanese-set adventure You Only Live Twice. The USA and USSR are on the brink of war after an American spacecraft disappears. The Americans blame the Soviets but MI6 believes the real culprit is in Japan and […]
Bondathon: Casino Royale (1967)
The 1967 version of Casino Royale was the second adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel and the second unofficial Bond film. It is also the worst film to have anything to do with the legendary spy. The major intelligence services are in crisis. Their best agents have been captured or killed. In desperation, MI6, the CIA, Deuxième Bureau, and […]
Pop Culture Maniacs Podcast Episode #18: Movie Franchises and Cinematic Universes
Kieran Freemantle and Jean Henegan discuss Hollywood’s increased dependence on movie franchises and the art of making a cinematic universe.
No Time to Die to Streaming: An Analysis
The COVID pandemic continues to have an impact on the film industry. The latest piece of news that has broken was as reports that MGM explored the possibility of selling No Time to Die to either Apple TV+ or Netflix. This was shocking news because a major studio would consider selling one of their biggest tentpoles […]
Bondathon: Thunderball
The fourth Bond film sees MI6’s best having a nautical adventure with Thunderball. SPECTRE has stolen two nuclear bombs from the RAF and blackmail NATO for £100 million or they would attack a major city within seven days. Due to the urgency of the situation, MI6 bring in every 00 agent in Europe, including 007. Bond believes he […]
Bondathon: Goldfinger
Goldfinger is often considered one of the quintessential Bond films. It’s a film that’s held as the gold standard of Bond films and was the highest-grossing film in the series until Skyfall. After a successful mission in Latin America James Bond gets to relax at Miami Beach. Whilst he was on holiday Bond gets his new assignment, investigate the gold-obsessed madman […]
Bondathon: From Russia with Love
If Dr. No was a good introduction to the Bond series From Russia with Love was a great follow-up and showed the series starting to hit its stride. Following the events of Dr. No SPECTRE set up an elaborate plan to get revenge against Bond. This involves the recruitment of a beautiful Soviet cipher clerk, Tatiana Romanov (Daniela Bianchi) who’s tasked to […]