Unpopular Opinion
Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!
How voting works:
Vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
Guidelines:
Tag your post, if possible (not required)
- If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
- If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].
Rules:
1. NO POLITICS
Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.
2. Be civil.
Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...
Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.
5. No trolling.
This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.
6. Defend your opinion
This is a bit of a mix of rules 4 and 5 to help foster higher quality posts. You are expected to defend your unpopular opinion in the post body. We don't expect a whole manifesto (please, no manifestos), but you should at least provide some details as to why you hold the position you do.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
view the rest of the comments
I would like to post an actual unpopular opinion: the James Bond franchise died along with the cold war, both because the Enemy (tm) disapeeared and because it got turned into a very loud commercial for whoever had the money (seriously? James Bond drinking fucking Heineken?).
For the time being, I have no opinion on whether I agree with OP.
I still remember that shaver product placement in 007 Nightfire PS2 and I was always confused as a kid why I had a shaver in my gadgets.
Also crazy how early they started with product placement and this isn't just a modern thing. According to the internet even Goldfinger had a nice long list of product placements: Aston Martin, Aviation Traders Caviar, Bentley, Dunlop, Harris Equipment, KFC, Lotus, Mustang, Rolex, Sunoco, Rolls Royce, Slazenger, Smith & Wesson.
Edit: And I wonder whether Mercedes pays any money for all villains in old movies always driving German cars...
Well, I guess to be fair to James Bond, the films were kind of about how cool James is, and all the cool, fancy stuff that he gets as a secret agent. I tended to like the more grounded movies, at least so far, with OHMSS and FRWL as my two favorites so far.
Yes, those are very good ones. For example OHMSS checks all the boxes. THE villain everyone remembers with a nice cat. A pursuit on Ski in the Alps. Lots of James Bond moments, tragedy...
I'm not really sure whether I have any clear favorites. Most of them have nice and memorable moments. Fascinating (real-world) locations or good subplots even if the main plot isn't packed with suspense.
Idk, I think I share your perspective on Goldfinger. Though Oddball is awesome and Gert Fröbe's acting is outstanding. Or maybe that's just me because he's kind of German culture an appeared in a lot of iconic villain roles in old movies like Edgar Wallace, The Robber Hotzenplotz and whatever.
One does not watch Bond to be "grounded".
If you want "grounded" spying, read "Iron Spy" by Ethan Quinn, or John Fahey's autobiographical books "Kremlin Capers" and "Passage Prohibited:Behind the Iron Curtain". Real spies don't announce it to the world.
Fahey was a real Cold-War spy. Brilliant man, with a calm demeanor while under pressure. He just passed away in 2024, I think.
Goldeneye proved this. M calling Bond a dinosaur, a relic of the cold war, was so self aware and apt to set the movie off. And I think that was the 'last' Bond that 'worked' for thebreason you described.
And that setting is also what made The Man From UNCLE work, including the unlikely alliance against the remnants of the Nazis...
Better times.
Goldeneye is definitely one of the best.
But I do like casino royale and skyfall a lot. They work, in my opinion, because they tell much more personal stories and have less classic spy-action.
I don't think I have seen Skyfall, but I remember watching Casino Royale and thinking 'Why did this have to be James Bond though?' It felt like a liability more than anything.
I mean, I agree, that the story would also work within a different franchise but Craig-Bond still works well, imo. At least in Casino Royale and Skyfall.
Casino Royale was the first ever book (and thus the starting point for the reboot series).
Agree whole-heartedly.