It has been a long time coming, but (as of this writing) the 25th James Bond film No Time to Die will finally be released on September 30th 2021, in the UK and on October 8th, 2021, here in North America. That gives you about a month to catch up on the franchise, and here’s where you can do just that! Below you’ll find links to buy, rent, or stream each of the 24 official (and 2 non-official) James Bond films.
Welcome to part two of this year’s franchise rewatch. I’ve watched three good films so far, and this time around I’m going to talk about four more.
I’m on pace to get this done before the April premiere of No Time To Die right now so let’s get right to talking about Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Diamonds Are Forever.
In each of the last few years, I have re-watched a franchise. If you follow my Letterboxd you might have noticed this. One year it was Star Trek, another it was Star Wars, and another it was Mission: Impossible. This year it’s going to be James Bond.
With 24 films in the franchise proper and a 25th due in April of this year, this is no small undertaking, especially if I am going to blog about them as I go. Why haven’t I blogged these in the past? Because I had an idea of what I wanted this blog to be and I have resolved to change that here in this new decade.
So what follows will be whatever I feel it needs to be after watching each James Bond film. I am going to watch them in order, and I am most likely going to stick to the main EON produced films in the franchise. Some of them will get some deep thought, others maybe not so much. I don’t have a real plan besides watch, write about each, and then finish up with some kind of conclusion.
So if that sounds like the kind of thing you’re into then let’s get started on this journey with the first three entries in the franchise: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger
Kees van Dijkhuizen jr is the guy behind such amazing zupercuts as the “[[the films of]](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDCB50778268B1250) series –in which the tone and style of a director is explored in each video– and the [[cinema]](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL570A2BCEC0545299) series –in which the years worth of movies are cut together in retrospect.
Now his attentions are turned to Bond, and this might be my favourite of his work to date.
Amazing, right? van Dijkhulzen is rather adept at picking his clips to capture the essence of a film/series/etc, and he’s done pretty masterfully here.
Here’s his write up:
> When it comes to cultural icons, James Bond is one of the biggest and most influential. These past 50 years we’ve been able to experience 007s finest adventures on the big screen, including last year with the excellent SKYFALL which shattered box office records. This piece, set to Adele’s ‘Skyfall’, revisits Bond’s adventures, from Dr. No to Skyfall, taking you through the various eras of the Bond legacy. Get those Martinis ready!
> This is in no way a full retrospective of the Bond films, the only way to truly live 007’s adventures is by seeing them yourself. And what better way to do that than with the Bond 50 Collection on Blu-ray! Each film has been restored to its former glory with pristine picture quality. They really outdid themselves with the 4K restoration process and so every frame of footage used in this video is straight from the source, maintaining the best possible quality from edit to upload.
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