Thoughts on the James Bond marathon

     In July, the Encore channel is having a James Bond movie marathon all-month long. The first 19 Bond films are being played repeatedly on Encore and you can watch them at any time with Encore OnDemand. I have seen a lot of films in my time, but this may surprise you; I have only seen 2 Bond films all the way through. Back in the 80's, I saw Octopussy because it played what seemed like EVERY day on HBO or Cinemax. I'll be completely honest, I only saw that film because I was young and thought it was about something completely different.....but that's beside the point. I remember liking it and watching it many times. I didn't see my second Bond film until Casino Royale, one of the most recent entries into the series. I thought that one was just okay, although the opening sequence was fantastic. But that's it, just those two. I have caught bits and pieces of other films here and there, but never saw them from start to finish. I don't really have a good answer to why I haven't caught more of the Bond films. There are definitely aspects of them that would seem to appeal to my movie tastes, especially when it comes to the espionage stuff. I think one of the reasons is that I hate coming into a film or tv series in the middle. It's just one of those mental block things that doesn't make sense to a lot of people, but it's just a quirk I have. If I think I might be interested in something that has already been going on for a while, I like to go back and start at the beginning and catch up. In the age of dvd and such, it's easy to do that but I have just been reluctant to for some reason. Until now.

     This Encore marathon seems like the perfect time to catch up on Bond. Throughout the month, I plan on watching the Bond films in order. I don't plan on doing full reviews for each movie, but from time to time I will pop in and give my thoughts on the series. So far I have only seen the first film, Dr. No, and I was less than impressed. I found it quite a bit boring and thought it dragged a lot. But I understand that is the first one and maybe they were trying to find their way through the series. I started From Russia with Love yesterday and watched the first half before something came up and got me sidetracked. But so far, I am enjoying this one much better. I will probably watch all of the Connery films first and then give an update, seems like a logical way to break it up. In the meantime, I'd be interested in hearing what some of your favorite Bond films are and which ones I should look out for. I encourage any feedback.