'63

I agree with you entirely... Goldfinger is the definitive "Bond" movie... it set the standard for the series and contains a host of classic Bond moments and introduced a number of motifs that would continue in later films (Q's workshop briefing of 007, a gadget laden car, a car race, the presence of gold, amongst others). The scene in which Bond wakes up on the kitchen floor and discovers his beau covered in gold paint is, for my money, the most iconic moment in any Bond film (so much so that The Sneaker Pimps used a sample of the incidental music in 6 Underground).

Whereas Goldfinger is the best "Bond" film, From Russia With Love is the best film. It's edgy, fast and dark, and Red Grant (Robert Shaw) is in my opinion the greatest of all the henchmen. From Russia With Love is a masterwork of the spy genre, as you so rightly said. Not a second is wasted, and the dialogue, action and script is firm and without fat.

As for the best opening, I presume that you are referring to the pre-opening credits teaser. A difficult question... the first of these was Grant stalking Bond in a SPECTRE maze in From Russia With Love, and I really don't think it's been bettered. Of course we have to return to the issue of best "Bond" opening vs best opening. For the latter I choose From Russia With Love without hesitation. For the former, I'd probably say Goldfinger (where Bond plants plastique and then emerges from the lake and takes off his wetsuit to reveal a white tuxedo) although I'm rather partial towards Live and Let Die (the murder of a delegate at the UN meeting, Baines being killed in the voodoo ritual) and Octopussy (the 00 agent disguised as a clown, being stalked by twin knife throwers after his faberge egg).

I agree with what you said - Bond is best when it is lean and ingenious (breathing underwater with canes in Dr No, deadly watches and poison spike shoes in From Russia With Love). Die Another Day was a boring farce, with almost no saving graces. If the Bond team ever hope to get back to the heights of Bond they'll have to turn things around dramatically for the not-particularly awaited Casino Royale.

So who do you think was the most attractive Bond girl?

Good old 61

Nope, haven't seen it... yet.

I'm currently in an electronics superstore, and came across this laptop that is connected to the net... so it's a post from somewhere other than home or the office (please excuse me, but this is quite a big thing in my eyes).

Can't really talk too much now, but please tell me: which is the best bond film and why?

'59 SLP Plexi

Indeed a veritable crock of shit... apologies for the lack of response - it's a double long weekend here, and I spent last saturday with an Irish friend, 4 litres of sake and two viewings of the blair witch project (during which he pointed out a ghost sighting, which is kind of eerie)... suffice to say, I'm still feeling the ill effects, some 5 days later...

By the way, another cutting hand quote from The Wicker Man. When Howie requests a dinghy to land on Summerisle, the harbour master says, with not a little latent menace, "His Lordship is most paticular about who lands here", which is very menacing considering what happens later.

Having watched it again last night, Conan the Barbarian is arguably one of the most clench fist movies out there. So many scenes... off the top of my head:

-when the narrator sets the scene, calling Conan "he who would one day be king by his own hand, and wear the crown of dadadadada on a troubled brow"

-when he's a death fighter and he gives his victory poses with deadly instruments attached to his hands.

-when thulsa doom says "such a waste (sigh)... contemplate this on the Tree of Woe... crucify him"

-when thulsa doom says "seek" as he loads a snake arrow into his quiver.

-when the high priest says "you..." in the temple, as black and white painted conan poses with his sword.

It's always amusing to see the opening pillaging scene, not for the murder and destruction but for the moment that doom's two lieutenants take off thier helmets and display hair much like you and helm did after your infamous haircuts of 1995.

Doom... I propose that this is perhaps the greatest word in the english language. Say it slowly to yourself over and over. It sounds just like the slow beating of a death drum. It's clench fist, wag hand and cutting hand all at the same time.

O'57

Ahh... although I numbered the list, in no way was it in any order of preference. If it had been then perhaps the scene from The Wicker Man would have been first..

Interesting idea about the cutting hand... let's see if there are any other notable movie scenes that would justify such gestures. Off the top of my head, and in no particular order - and probably not literal quotes:

Cutting hand

1. "Would you like to come up to the house and eat with me and mother?" (Norman Bates in Psycho)
2. "It's probably just as well that you are leaving. You wouldn't want to be here for our May day celebrations." (Lord Summerisle to Sergeant Howie in the Wicker Man)
3. "Johnny Ola showed me this place one time." (Fredo Corleone to his guests, including his brother, Michael in The Godfather Part II)

Waghand

1. "'Fair maid', said he, 'your kettle's cracked, the cause is plainly told. There have so many nails been drove, mine own could not take hold'" (Lord Summerisle singing at the piano in The Wicker Man)
2. ".. and now you're going to die in that silly little hat, what do you think about that?" (Defens to a dying golfer in Falling Down)
3. The scene in which Principal Ed Rooney, runs down the school corridor pausing periodically to casually walk past the classroom windows, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Clench fist

1. Everything that Ernst Stavro Blofeld says in From Russia With Love, but especially "Twelve seconds... one day we must invent a faster working venom", "Siamese fighting fish...", "We did not bring you over from the Russians just for your amusement, number 3" and "Let his death be a particularly unpleasant one".
2. "This wire can cut meat and bone easily" (Asami, looking at her wire saw in Audition)
3. "I want a suite at the Royal hotel. A shower, a shave... the feel of a suit." (John Mason in The Rock)

55 reasons to be cheerful

I have to disagree and say that world domination is all about foresight, however misguided and inaccurate that foresight may be. I do agree though that a game of chess alone isn't sufficient to be able to assess who would be the world dominator - the game would be only the beginning, and unless the world is already dominated and waiting in limbo, the victor would have to have the inner fortitude and megalomaniacal nouse to go and ensnare the planet. Perhaps a series of games of Go would be a better indicator of this, although no game can ever simulate such a thing.

Now, the following thought has kept me awake for many a slumbery twinight: What are the most waghand moments in the movies?

My nominations, off the top of my head:

1. Dynamo singing and driving his electric car in The Running Man.
2. The musical between-scene titles in The Sting.
3. Charles Hawtrey in a straw hat with a bottle of wine shouting "Wait for me! Waaaait for me!" whilst running for the tour bus in Carry on Abroad.
4. The Ironside sample in Kill Bill.
5. The musical scene in The Wicker Man when the villagers don masks and pop up from behind scenery to look at Edward Woodward as he struggles to get his boat working.

What say you, Jim O' the Lantern?

Dom Perignon '53

Naturally the edge would have to go with the muscled semi-cyborg Grinder, as he has a considerable height and weight advantage over, to be perfectly frank, a jolly beardy with wings. Blackpool pier would give the older thespian the home advantage, but this isn't the reason he would win. As we all know from Mean Arena, The Grinder is susceptible to taking a fall if the situation merits it, and what better situation for a thrown fight than fighting a bear in fur pants who keeps yelling "DEEEE-IVE!" to the chilly north western sea winds?

On the subject of waghand names, yes, Benjamin Natanyahu is decidedly chucklesome, although my two favourites from the modern era (the Victorian age was a hotbed of strange namery, and is thus overlooked) are the American Skier, Peekabo (pronounced boo) Street, and the Harlem Globetrotter, Meadowlark Lemon. You'll also be pleased to hear that waghandary has yet another outpost, in the form of the Fukuoka production of the musical, Beauty and the Beast, which happened to be our school trip yesterday.

Ok what about this for a scenario...

Ernst Stavro Blofeld (the guy from From Russia With Love and Thunderball - the guy whose face you never see) versus Dr No in a game of chess, the prize being world domination. Who wins and why?