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Join me and my long-lost guest and Bond aficionado Martin (AKA Faldor) as we look deep into Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond.

We compare the film to other spy films, the Fleming books, Knives Out, the work of Vladimir Putin, and other Bond films, which I struggle to remember, especially SPECTRE, despite doing TWO commentaries for it. We praise its action set pieces and its treatment of Bond’s psyche, especially Craig’s Bond, which really does feel like a whole character, albeit a somewhat dull one.

We try to figure out what motivates Lucifer Satan–I mean Lyutsifer Safin. We talk about how we ignore Q being gay and Moneypenny being ignored and the troubling character of Nomi. I gush over Ana de Armas as Paloma. Martin gushes over M and the three–count ’em: THREE–Aston Martins (but not really).

We’re watching the Blu-ray. Start right after the MGM logo, on the countdown.

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If EON can take another run at Blofeld, so can I! Join me as I join Extended Edition’s Martin and Owen for another perspective on SPECTRE.

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Bond is back again already in his final turn for a while, with Daniel Craig renewing his contract (perhaps somewhat reluctantly) and seeming a bit weather-beaten. Faldor joins me again and we watch with enthusiasm as many of the tropes are trodden even while the series makes a careful return to form.

We delight in the reversals (Bond blows up his OWN LAIR this time! M is a Bond girl! [actually, that’s kind of happened before]) and point out the soft spots (Silva is YET ANOTHER insider coming back to haunt M? Severine carries a gun and has bodyguards but they mainly just keep her from running away?).

We’re watching the region Blu-ray. Start the commentary after the MGM lion and Columbia logo with the car arriving, on the countdown.

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Bond is back and with Daniel Craig returns for revenge (more or less… eventually). Faldor joins me again, and we watch a decent story driven drunkenly into desert and left for dead by Mark Forster. We don’t hate the film, but it’s so lifeless, humorless, and Bourne-like that there’s just almost nothing to love.

I love the theme song; Faldor doesn’t. We both love the action but wish it had more tying it together. I feel like the villain is basically Roman Polanski and suggest he needs a henchman like Oskar “Blade Runner” Pistoria (the footless Olympic runner and alleged murderer).

Slight correction: Tim Pigott-Smith played a regular army captain in “The Claws of Axos” who arrests members of UNIT; he was not a member of UNIT himself. He also played a character named Marco in “The Masque of Mandragora”.

I’m watching the region Blu-ray. Start the commentary after the MGM lion and Columbia logo with the car arriving, on the countdown.

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Bond is back, and Daniel Craig climbs into the saddle! Faldor from the Down in Front forum joins me again for this, one of the better films of the series. I complain that it doesn’t feel very much like Bond, which is one of the things he likes about it. We examine the concept of “soft” reboot and whether M has changed or if it’s just Bond.

I reflexively identify the cars, but it’s not like there are any big chases. The action is mostly on foot and felt, as Bond leaps and bets his way thru what amounts to two films: an action film and a gambling thriller. We compare it to the book and a little bit to other Bond films more. We speculate on Bond’s ability to reproduce and copyright an idea for an all-Bond-Junior movie starring several copies of Shia LaBeouf.

I’m watching the region Blu-ray. Start the commentary after the MGM lion and Columbia logo with the car arriving, on the countdown.

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Bond is back, and Pierce Brosnan takes his final bow. Faldor and I take it to pieces. We examine the unusualness of the opening prison sequence, parallels between Madonna and Margaret Thatcher, and if Bjork would have been better than either of them, the concept of a steroid overdose, and the complexity of the villain’s plan. We lament the awful CGI, double agents within MI6, Michael Madsen, and the lack of penguins in the Arctic. We speculate about Bond’s car being a hybrid so it can sneak up on people when invisible. And I do some near-perfect impressions of famous people.

I’m watching the region Blu-ray. Start the commentary after the MGM lion logo with the gun barrel sequence, on the countdown.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download