Topic: Your Favorite Bond Film?
I always flip-flop between Goldfinger and Tomorrow Never Dies.
TND probably wins because it doesn't have the poorly aging trappings of 60s film. The pacing in TND is great (I'd argue the best of all the films), the villain is fantastic (what you'd imagine Rupert Murdoch would like to be), the score, gadgets, and action are top notch. Also, the Bond girls are interesting in this one. Michelle Yeoh knocks it out of the park and, contrary to what happens in most Bond films, is treated as a fellow military solider rather than a piece of meat. Which makes for a fun dynamic with Pierce. The scenes of one-upmanship are some of my favorites in the entire series.
The humor is pitch-perfect. I've always felt bad for Pierce because I think he was the best Bond. But he was stuck with some really crappy scripts. TND is the exception and he shines here. Brosnan has the ability to do the fun charming stuff and yet he can drop the beat and be a stone cold killer.
He also just *looks* like Bond to me.
The plot, next to Casino Royale, is the least convoluted of all Bond films. It happens often in those movies that Plot A is simple, and if you edited out all the sub-plots, it would take 30 minutes to resolve start to finish. Also, in their franchise mandate to go to new locations in each film, there are usually some pretty flimsy and downright confusing justifications for ending up somewhere. TND doesn't suffer from that at all. And what everyone wants is clear, believable and the stakes make sense.
The score in the film is traditional Bond too. I really hate when composers get cutesy with the theme. As in Goldeneye, half of the Rodger Moore films, etc.. Your synthesized cover of the theme never ages well, people.
Lastly, it was the first Bond film I saw in theaters. So. Maybe that's why I love it the most.