from worst to first

007 DAYS OF JAMES BOND: From Worst to First (Part 3)

/ Chris Luckett / Leave a comment
Photo: United Artists

Photo: United Artists

Chris Luckett

As a seven-part feature, I’ll be counting down the final week to Skyfall’s release in North American theatres on Nov. 9 with seven James Bond-related articles. Day 7: From Worst to First (Part 3).

Some critics bash action movies too much. While movies like Transformers and Wanted do give the genre a bad name, there’s a fine art to crafting a really good action movie. The best ones supersede their preposterousness (or, sometimes, winkingly embrace it) and create an exciting experience with every cinematic piston firing in just the right rhythm. Continue reading →

007 DAYS OF JAMES BOND: From Worst to First (Part 2)

/ Chris Luckett / Leave a comment
Photo: United Artists

Photo: United Artists

Chris Luckett

As a seven-part feature, I’ll be counting down the final week to Skyfall’s release in North American theatres on Nov. 9 with seven James Bond-related articles. Day 6: From Worst to First (Part 2).

For a film series to have been around for five decades and 22 (soon, 23) movies, they have to be doing something right. Despite there being a few missteps over the nearly two dozen Bond pictures, the average movie is quite good. Continuing the countdown from the worst Bond movie to the best, it’s easy to ignore the middle-ranked films. They aren’t as laughably bad as some of the worst and aren’t as classic as some of the best, but the middle-ground Bond movies are still usually better than most action movies. To wit… Continue reading →

007 DAYS OF JAMES BOND: From Worst to First (Part 1)

/ Chris Luckett / Leave a comment
Photo: United Artists

Photo: United Artists

Chris Luckett

As a seven-part feature, I’ll be counting down the final week to Skyfall‘s release in North American theatres on Nov. 9 with seven James Bond-related articles. Day 5: From Worst to First (Part 1).

We’ve counted down the best title sequences, the best stunts, the best henchmen, and the best deaths of the 007 series, but there’s only one Bond list that people really care about. In the final days before Skyfall hits theatres, it’s time to tackle the Big One: ranking all 22 movies.

It’s been 50 years of 007, from Dr. No to Skyfall. There have been more successes than failures, but that’s not to say there haven’t been a few weak links in the chain. To begin: the weakest… Continue reading →