Dr. No (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Dr. No (Special Edition)
Movie Review: "Blu-ray was made for Bond" indeed!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having recently bought a PS3 mainly as a Blu-ray movie player, I was very curious of how well an older movie would look when enhanced to 1080p resolution for Blu-ray discs. So I decided to choose one of my favorite classic films of all time. I must say that I am totally blown away by this release of Dr. No!
The picture is vastly improved well beyond any of the DVD releases! Colors are very vibrant and there is so much more depth to the picture with the enhanced 1080p resolution! I'm so pleased to see that those responsible for this conversion didn't just re-use the aged copies of the original, but actually used the original negatives to get the purest, cleanest picture quality possible for the old 1962 film. The 5.1 surround sound is great too considering the age of the film's audio tracks and it sounded great on my surround system. I do wish that some new special features were added to the list, but I'm glad that they carried over all of those from the DVD releases.
As far as all of the loading problems people have had with getting the movie to start and keep playing, IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR PLAYER and its FIRMWARE updating capabilities. I watched it on my PS3 with the current updated firmware available and it loaded up very quickly, NO PROBLEM AT ALL!
I Highly recommend this Blu-ray release. It is a must have for any Bond fan who wants the true definitive experience. This is THE BEST release of the film thus far, bar none.
Movie Review: Connery, Sean Connery
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes here is the beginning of what would become the worlds most megalithic and longest running film series in terms of both entries and longevity. It starts out here as an unassuming little British spy thriller, whose main character just happens to be called Bond...James Bond. The words are drawled out by an unknown Scottish actor making his big mark on the film world, the one and only Sean Connery who many decree to be the best James Bond. Certainly from his first scene tuxedo-ed and lazily lighting a cigarette at the Bacarrat table he seems to own the part. All the base elements for the Bond films are there from the beginning just not thrown in the audiences' faces as they would be later. Bond the charming no-nonsense agent, all about ladies, martini's and gambling, his gruff boss M, brilliantly played by Bernard Lee, his flirting secretary Moneypenny played by the come hither Lois Maxwell and the far reaching locales, in this case Jamaica. This first Bond outing sticks close to the novel source material of the 1958 Ian Fleming novel - an unusual choice for the first outing of the super spy but was huge legal trouble trying to adapt Thunderball as the first film. The pace is slower than later films and more downbeat and really shines as being a product of the times. Its style and essence scream "the sixties" from the hairdo's and cars to the fashions, check out Jack Lord's funky sunglasses. Even smoking is far from being poo-pooed as it is today. But what do you expect from a story shot in 1962? Still it's the solid story buoyed by solid acting that make it a cut above other action films of its time. It's starts off with 3 blind assassins gunning down the MI-6s man in Jamaica who has inadvertently stumbled across too much information about the mysterious Dr. No. Making the good doctor the prime suspect in a locale where radio beams have been detected diverting and destroying American Space launches. So 007 is assigned to his first screened case. Connery certainly shows Bond at his most ferocious and raw. He appears a charming gentleman to anyone on his side but shows no mercy to his enemies. An example being the most ruthless Bond moment in the whole near 50 year old series history in his casual gunning down of Professor Dent played shiftily by Anthony Dawson, when he's outed as one of Dr. No's stooges. A moment pass? now but shocking for it's time and Connery's ice-cold delivery gives it an edge. Mention must go to Ursula Andress without whom the phrase `Bond Girl' would never have made it into the modern day lexicon. She only appears well over an hour in and yet there's quite a bit of character background for her and she doesn't just throw herself into Bond's arms as so many do in future films. The emergence of her tall blonde and bronze physique from the sea wearing only a white bikini and knife belt would make anyone sit upright at the cinema...well there's a possible double entendre. Bond's quips are actually few and far between too, not yet a staple. A Bond film is not yet complete without it's villain and here we get the dangerously silky smooth Joseph Wiseman cast as metal handed Dr. No - director Terence Young originally wanted Noel Coward to play it. He's the first representative from the deadly organisation of SPECTRE and one who begins the tradition of Bond villains with a notable physical deformity. Dr. No seems so unshaken from his icy menace by Bond you can really believe the hero isn't a match for him. In fact before Bond finally gets the better of him the far-from-super spy gets irradiated, electrocuted, drugged and beaten up by Dr. No's foot soldiers and endures because of his tenacity and ingenuity. Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord plays the first and best of the many screen incarnations of Bond's CIA counterpart Felix Leiter and Jack Kitzmiller plays Quarrel the local islander who eventually becomes a loyal ally of both. Much is made of Bond's womanizing and here he only uses it to route out the spy in the Briitish embassy. In all a lazy Sunday afternoon's viewing all brilliantly brought together with the directing flourish of the original Bond director Terence Young who set the tone with not only the elements that made James Bond a hit but the style and look from the `looking down a gun barrel' opening to the soundtrack to the flashy opening titles by Maurice Bender that are accompanied by the original and best James Bond theme for the first and only time in the series history. Producers Broccoli and Saltzman and a major hit on their hands roll on the 60's! Though with the meticulous re-mastering of picture quality and 5.1 surround sound on this edition, much better than the first releases mono sound track - it feels like you could walk right into the clear scenes and dive into the Jamaican sea. The Special features as always for the Bond releases are forever special from all the promotional materials and especially the making of documentary on how the whole phenomenon started nearly 50 years ago with so little ambition and so much to gain.Movie Review: Dr. No Blu-Ray DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
The Dr. No Blu-Ray DVD worked as promised and the color, sound and music makes it a DVD to keep for your collection so that the Grand Children can see and hear what I mean when I say that Sean Connery was and is still the best James Bond ever!Movie Review: Awsome movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was awesome, intense, and cool gadgets. I loved the gadgets, especially the bullet proof car.Movie Review: Say Yes to Dr. No (Blu-Ray Review)
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't know where that line comes from, you've either been in a coma for several decades and just woke up, or you are the World's Greatest Hermit. To say that Ian Fleming's fictional creation is a pop culture icon doesn't do it justice; James Bond is more than that. There are arguably only two fictional creations better known worldwide than James Bond (and no I'm not going to try to troll religious people by including religious icons in that list).
It's with that legacy that MGM finally decided to begin releasing the Bond collection on Blu-Ray in the form of six randomly selected Bond adventures. While it wasn't the first of the set I watched (hey, I've seen them all before) I found it fitting to kick off my two days of Bond Blu-Ray reviews with the movie that spawned a franchise: Dr. No.
Anyone who has seen James Bond can testify that it isn't the plot which makes the movie-it's the actor, and the action on screen. No Bond better personified that than Mr. Connery. For those who have only seen the Brosnan and new Craig Bond takes, do yourself a favor and stop reading this right now, and go buy Dr. No on Blu-Ray (or DVD if you have no BRD player). Sean Connery took a character and turned him into a legend, and this film is a large part of that legacy.
Taking place amidst car chases, explosions, and wet bikini clad women, Connery's first foray into Bond brought the world a new kind of movie, and a new kind of world. With the Cold War fresh in the minds of many, the idea of villains able to hold the world hostage was a very real fictional threat, but hadn't truly been portrayed in Bondian fashion until Dr. No.
Of course, these days the movie itself might seem dated. White actors don makeup to play minorities, women have wonderfully suggestive names (and scant clothing for the period), and the writers and director (Terrence Young) hold no punches when it comes to offending groups of people. Viewed as a modern film, Dr. No slumps along struggling to find an identity; viewed as a piece of art from when it was originally made, Dr. No is a fun, action-filled espionage thriller which would forever change the history of cinema, and defined careers for numerous people involved (and women for the next several decades).
Movie aside (which is as fantastic as always) I'm sure what people want to know most about is the quality of the video and audio. First off, remember the age of this movie and the small budget it was working with at the time of release. Even with those obstacles, the video transfer here is by far the best Dr. No yet. You can make out details on paper, see all the lines on Connery's face during his trademark grin, and (for the guys out there) see partly through certain wet white bikinis at times.
Compared to modern releases the crispness of color and the black levels are nowhere near as strong, but in terms of taking an aging film and cleaning it up for modern audiences, Dr. No doesn't pull any punches. It's not fantastic looking, but compared to the source (and past DVD releases) the quality is miraculous.
The same can be said of the audio. On my original Dr. No DVD there are plenty of times when I can't quite make out what someone is saying over background noise, but in this release that's all gone. It's the first time audio of this quality has been put together with an older Bond movie, and the result is nothing short of awesome.
If there's one true downside with this release, it's that the extras are severely lacking. I know that it's impossible for MGM to find further scenes after all the re-releases we've already had of Dr. No over the years, but I would have loved some newer updated commentary from people, and maybe better retrospective looks at the film itself compared to the new Casino Royale film. (You know, compare the two Bond "starts" against one another and juxtapose them with the original Fleming character.)
Lack of Blu-Ray extras aside, Dr. No is a fantastic release and a great starting point for the BRD era of Bond. The video is the best Dr. No has ever seen, the audio blows previous releases out of the water, and combined they bring new life to an aging classic. If you're a Bond or action fan, you owe it to yourself to pick up Dr. No and re-live a legend.