After years of enduring Roger Moore in the role of James Bond, it was good to have Sean Connery back in 1983 for Never Say Never Again , a one-time-only trip down 007's memory lane. Connery's Bond, a bit of a dinosaur in the British secret service at (then) 52, is still in demand during times of crisis. Sadly, the film is not very good. In this rehash of Thunderball , Bond is pitted against a worthy underwater villain (Klaus Maria Brandauer); and while the requisite Bond Girls include beauties Kim Basinger and Barbara Carrera, they can't save the movie. The script has several truly dumb passages, among them a (gasp) video-game duel between 007 and his nemesis that now looks utterly anachronistic. For Connery fans, however, this widescreen print of the Irvin Kershner ( The Empire Strikes Back ) film is a chance to say a final goodbye to a perfect marriage of actor and character. -- Tom Keogh

The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins , Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanising performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a"blunt instrument," reckless and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it) and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his armour by falling in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.



For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Aston Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini"shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies,"Do I look like I give a damn?". There's no Moneypenny or"Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M who, one senses, admires Bond's"bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, 'makes you feel it', particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on,"have a short life expectancy". But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin ,"now I know what I've been faking all these years". --Donald Liebenson

When you get to a modern James Bond film, your expectations are surely that you’ll get expensive action sequences, expensive locations and a production that doesn’t skimp on anything. That holds particularly true for the Blu-ray versions of such films, where the hope is for a best-in-class transfer and sound mix. With Casino Royale , not only do you get that, but you also happen to get one of the finest 007 movies of recent times, too.

A reboot for the franchise that ushers in Daniel Craig as a rawer, younger Bond, Casino Royale works a lot better than its follow-up, Quantum Of Solace by simple virtue of having a much better story at its core, going back directly to an Ian Fleming novel for it. Furthermore, in the casino sequence itself, it has a tense event to glue everything around, and it’s only in the final sequence or two where Casino Royale starts to feel like a conventional Bond film. That aside, it’s a superb piece of modern action cinema.

The film also looks stunning in high definition. From the overhead shots of a glistening beach, to the darker, faster car chases and action sequences, Casino Royale is a fabulous workout for a home cinema rig. The audio mix punches hard, mixing in subtlety when needed with the bombastic subwoofer-workout you might well be hoping for. And the end result is pretty much demo material. Given the strength of the film too, this is surely one of the best Blu-rays of a modern-day film you can buy. And what a way to keep watching the film… -- Jon Foster

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), WIDESCREEN (1.66:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Washbuckling action adventure set in the mid 17th century. George Baker stars as Earl Anthony - aka The Moonraker - a gentleman Cavalier who is the thorn in the side of Oliver Cromwell (John Le Mesurier) and his mission to rid Britain of the royalists. Feared among Cromwell's men, the Moonraker has already effected the escape of over 30 royalists to France, a feat he pulls off by assuming the identity of a Puritan scholar. However, his audacious actions run into trouble when he attempts to lead Prince Charles Stuart (Gary Raymond) to safety after a defeat at the hands of the Roundhead soldiers. ...The Moonraker

James Bond is back in an adventure, which is bigger, better, and more explosive than ever before. It's packed with incredible stunts, glamorous locations, beautiful women and fast cars!Bond has a dangerous new enemy to face in his deadly mission. Aided by the Russian underworld, his treacherous foe has stolen a top-secret helicopter and the lethal Soviet space weapon"GoldenEye" with which he plans to obliterate the Western world.

John Huston was only one of five directors on Casino Royale , the expensive, all-star 1967 spoof of Ian Fleming's 007 lore. David Niven is the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organised threat of SMERSH and pass on the secret-agent mantle to his idiot son (Woody Allen). The amazing cast (Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, Deborah Kerr and others) is wonderful to look at, but the film is not as funny as it should be, and the romping even starts to look mannered after a while. The musical score by Burt Bacharach, however, is a keeper. -- Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

In his 19th screen outing The World is Not Enough , Ian Fleming's super-spy is once again caught in the crosshairs of a self-created dilemma: as the longest-running feature-film franchise, James Bond is an annuity his producers want to protect, yet the series' consciously formulaic approach frustrates any real element of surprise beyond the rote application of plot twists or jump cuts to shake up the audience. This time out, credit 007's caretakers for making some visible attempts to invest their principal characters with darker motives--and blame them for squandering The World is Not Enough 's initial promise by the final reel. By now, Bond pictures are as elegantly formal as a Bach chorale, and this one opens on an unusually powerful note. A stunning pre-title sequence reaches beyond mere pyrotechnics to introduce key plot elements as the action leaps from Bilbao to London. Pierce Brosnan undercuts his usually suave persona with a darker, more brutal edge largely absent since Sean Connery departed. Equally tantalising are our initial glimpses of Bond's nemesis du jour, Renard (Robert Carlyle), and imminent love interest, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), both atypically complex characters cast with seemingly shrewd choices and directed by the capable Michael Apted. The story's focus on post-Soviet geopolitics likewise starts off on a savvy note, before being overtaken by increasingly Byzantine plot twists, hidden motives and reversals of loyalty superheated by relentless (if intermittently perfunctory) action sequences.

Bond's grimmer demeanour, while preferable to the smirk that eventually swallowed Roger Moore whole, proves wearying, unrelieved by any true wit. The underlying psychoses that propel Renard and Elektra eventually unravel into unconvincing melodrama, while Bond is supplied with a secondary love object, Denise Richards, who is even more improbable as a nuclear physicist. Ultimately, this world is not enough despite its better intentions. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

On the DVD : There are three different documentaries on this disc, as well as a"Secrets of 007" featurette that cuts between specific stunt sequences, behind-the-scenes footage and storyboards to reveal how it was all done, and a short video tribute to Desmond Llewelyn ("Q"), who died not long after this movie was released. The first"making of" piece is presented by an annoyingly chirpy American woman and is aimed squarely at the MTV market (most fascinating is watching her interview with Denise Richards in which the two orthodontically enhanced ladies attempt to out-smile each other)."Bond Cocktail" gamely distils all the essential ingredients that make up the classic Bond movie formula--gadgets, girls, exotic locations and lots of action. Most interesting of all is"Bond Down River", a lengthy dissection of the opening boat chase sequence. Director Michael Apted provides the first commentary, and talks about the challenges of delivering all the requisite ingredients. The second commentary is less satisfactory, since second unit director Vic Armstrong, production designer Peter Lamont and composer David Arnold have little in common. There's also the Garbage song video, and the booklet has yet more behind-the-scenes info. The anamorphic CinemaScope picture and Dolby digital sound are as spectacular as ever. -- Mark Walker

Directed with consummate skill by Terence Young, the second James Bond spy thriller is considered by many fans to be the best of them all. Certainly Sean Connery was never better as the dashing Agent 007, whose latest mission takes him to Istanbul to retrieve a top-secret Russian decoding machine. His efforts are thwarted when he gets romantically distracted by a sexy Russian double agent (Daniela Bianchi), and is tracked by a lovely assassin (Lotte Lenya) with switchblade shoes, and by a crazed killer (Robert Shaw), who clashes with Bond during the film's dazzling climax aboard the Orient Express. From Russia with Love is classic James Bond, before the gadgets, pyrotechnics and Roger Moore steered the movies away from the more realistic tone of the books by Ian Fleming. --Jeff Shannon

Australian model George Lazenby took up the mantle of the world's most suave secret agent when Sean Connery retired as James Bond--prematurely, it turned out. Connery returned in Diamonds Are Forever before leaving the role to Roger Moore, and Lazenby's subsequent career fizzled, yet this one-hit wonder is responsible for one of the best Bond films. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service , 007 leaves the Service to privately pursue his SPECTRE nemesis Blofeld (played this time by Telly Savalas), whose latest master plan threatens the world's crops with agricultural sterilisation. Bond teams up with smooth international crime-lord Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) and falls in love with--and marries--his elegant daughter, Tracy (Diana Rigg). Bond monogamous? Not at first; after all he has Blofeld's harem to seduce. Lazenby hasn't the intensity of Connery but he has fun with his quips and even lampoons the Bond image in a playful pre-credits sequence. Rigg, fresh from playing sexy Emma Peel in The Avengers , matches 007 in every way. Former editor Peter Hunt makes a strong directorial debut, deftly handling the elaborate action sequences with a kinetic finesse and a dash of humour. Though not a hit on its original release, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has become a fan favourite and the closest the series has come to capturing the spirit of Ian Fleming's books. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com -- On the DVD: Affable and intelligent director Peter Hunt explains his ambition to take the series back to the original spirit of Fleming's books with this instalment. Out of all the Bond DVDs, his commentary track--interspliced with comments from other cast and crew members--is one of the most entertaining and informative as he chuckles over some of his more felicitous touches. Although sadly Diana Rigg is absent from the"making of" featurette, an older and wiser George Lazenby reveals how he acquired one of Connery's suits and went to the same barber in order to make himself look credible for the part. Hunt and others are disarmingly frank about how Lazenby's arrogance on set won him few friends. The late lamented Desmond Llewelyn, who played the boffin"Q", presents an amusing guide to the greatest gadgets of the series and explains how he can barely work a can opener in real life. The rest of the technical features are all present and correct and up to this series' usual high standards. -- Leslie Felperin

Pierce Brosnan assumed the role of James Bond for the first time in Goldeneye , the 17th entry in the series. Brosnan looks a little light on the big screen under any circumstances, and he does take some getting used to as 007. But this busy film keeps him hopping as freelance terrorists from the former Soviet Union get their hands on super-high-tech weapons. The film's challenge is to bring free-spirited Bond up to date in the age of AIDS and in the aftermath of the cold war: director Martin Campbell ( The Mask of Zorro ) succeeds on both counts with a cheeky hint of irony. The best moment in the film is a chase scene that finds Bond tearing up the streets of Moscow in a tank. But Brosnan's most interesting contributions are reminiscent of the dark streak that occasionally showed up in Sean Connery's Bond. -- Tom Keogh

Roger Moore was introduced as James Bond in this 1973 action movie featuring secret agent 007. More self-consciously suave and formal than predecessor Sean Connery, he immediately re-established Bond as an uncomplicated and wooden fellow for the '70s. This film also marks a deviation from the more character-driven stories of the Connery years, a deliberate shift to plastic action (multiple chases, bravura stunts) that made the franchise more of a comic book or machine. If that's not depressing enough, there's even a good British director on board, Guy Hamilton ( Force 10 from Navarone ). The story finds Bond taking on an international drug dealer (Yaphet Kotto), and while that may be superficially relevant, it isn't exactly the same as fighting super-villains on the order of Goldfinger. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

On the DVD : Anyone old enough to remember the old milk marketing board commercials will relish the sight of James Bond exhorting everyone to"drink a pinta milka day" in one of the TV spots included here. Elsewhere in the special features, the characteristically in-depth"making of" featurette has a mixture of both contemporary and new interviews plus behind-the-scenes footage (the alligator-jumping sequence is positively hair-raising). The first of two audio commentaries is hosted by John Quark of the Ian Fleming Foundation and features a variety of cast and crew members, notably director Guy Hamilton; the second has writer Tom Mankiewicz on his own, who in between pauses has the occasional interesting thing to say. Overall another good package of features to accompany another excellent anamorphic print. -- Mark Walker

Roger Moore was nearing the end of his reign as James Bond when he made Octopussy , and he looks a little worn out. But the movie itself infuses some new blood into the old franchise, with a frisky pace and a pair of sturdy villains. Maud Adams--who'd also been in The Man with the Golden Gun --plays the improbably named Octopussy, while old smoothie Louis Jourdan is her crafty partner in crime. There's an island populated only by women, as well as a fantastic sequence with a hand-to-hand fight on a plane--and on top of a plane. The film even has an extra emotional punch, since this time 007 is not only following the orders of Her Majesty's Secret Service, but he is also exacting a personal revenge: a fellow double-0 agent has been killed. Two Bond films were actually released in 1983 within a few months of each other, as Octopussy was followed by Sean Connery's comeback in Never Say Never Again . The success of both pictures proved that there was still plenty of mileage left in the old licence to kill, though Moore had one more workout-- A View to a Kill --before hanging it up. And that title? The franchise had already used up the titles to Ian Fleming's novels, so Octopussy was taken from a lesser-known Fleming short story. -- Robert Horton, Amazon.com

On the DVD : The high standard of these 007 discs is maintained here, with another extra-packed selection. The"Inside Octopussy" documentary details the making of the movie, which faced competition from Sean Connery's Never Say Never Again , as well as being handicapped by a potentially risible title. The initial story was developed by George Macdonald Fraser, author of the"Flashman" books, whose knowledge of Indian history and locales proved invaluable. Roger Moore prevaricated about signing on as Bond, so American James Brolin was screen-tested instead. The movie also produced the worst accident of the series while filming the train sequence and the stuntman involved was hospitalised for six months. Director John Glen provides a solo commentary that reveals a wealth of technical detail and also that this is one of his favourite Bond movies. Rita Coolidge performs"All Time High", and there are also some storyboard sequences and trailers. -- Mark Walker

This was the first James Bond adventure produced after the success of Star Wars , so it jumped on the sci-fi bandwagon by combining the suave appeal of Agent 007 (once again played by Roger Moore) with enough high-tech hardware and special effects to make Luke Skywalker want to join Her Majesty's Secret Service. After the razzle-dazzle of The Spy Who Loved Me , this attempt to latch onto a trend proved to be a case of overkill, even though it brought back the steel-toothed villain Jaws (Richard Kiel) and scored a major hit at the box office. This time Bond is up against a criminal industrialist named Drax (Michel Lonsdale) who wants to control the world from his orbiting space station. In keeping with his well-groomed style, Bond thwarts this maniacal Neo-Hitler's scheme with the help of a beautiful, sleek-figured scientist (played by Lois Chiles with all the vitality of a department-store mannequin). There's a grand-scale climax involving space shuttles and ray guns, but despite the film's popular success, this is one Bond adventure that never quite gets off the launching pad. It's as if the caretakers of the James Bond franchise had forgotten that it's Bond--and not a barrage of gizmos and gadgets (including a land-worthy Venetian gondola)--that fuels the series' success. Despite Moore's passive performance (which Pauline Kael described as"like an office manager who is turning into dead wood but hanging on to collect his pension"), Moonraker had no problem attracting an appreciative audience, and there are even a few renegade Bond-philes who consider it one of their favourites. --Jeff Shannon

The best of the James Bond adventures starring Roger Moore as tuxedoed Agent 007, this globe-trotting thriller introduced the steel-toothed Jaws (played by seven-foot-two-inch-tall actor Richard Kiel) as one of the most memorable and indestructible Bond villains. Jaws is so tenacious, in fact, that Moore looks genuinely frightened, and that adds to the abundant fun. This time Bond teams up with yet another lovely Russian agent (Barbara Bach) to track a pair of nuclear submarines that the nefarious Stromberg (Curt Jürgens) plans to use in his plot to start World War III. Featuring lavish sets designed by the great Ken Adam ( Dr. Strangelove ), The Spy Who Loved Me is a galaxy away from the suave Sean Connery exploits of the 1960s, but the film works perfectly as grandiose entertainment. From cavernous undersea lairs to the vast horizons of Egypt, this Bond thriller keeps its tongue firmly in cheek with a plot tailor-made for daredevil escapism. --Jeff Shannon

Dry as ice, dripping with deadpan witticisms, only Sean Connery's Bond would dare to disparage the Beatles, that other 1964 phenomenon. No one but Connery can believably seduce women so effortlessly, kill with almost as much ease, and then pull another bottle of Dom Perignon 53 out of the fridge. Goldfinger contains many of the most memorable scenes in the Bond series: gorgeous Shirley Eaton (as Jill Masterson) coated in gold paint by evil Auric Goldfinger and deposited in Bond's bed; silent Oddjob, flipping a razor-sharp bowler like a Frisbee to sever heads; our hero spread-eagled on a table while a laser beam moves threateningly toward his crotch. Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore is the prototype for the series' rash of man-hating supermodels. And Desmond Llewelyn reprises his role as Q, giving Bond what is still his most impressive car, a snazzy little number that fires off smoke screens, punctures the tyres of vehicles on the chase, and boasts a handy ejector seat. Goldfinger 's two climaxes, inside Fort Knox and aboard a private plane, have to be seen to be believed. --Raphael Shargel, Amazon.com--

On the DVD: Featuring interviews with Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, the late Desmond Llewelyn and most of the surviving core cast and crew members, great on-set footage (Blackman and Connery look like they clearly had the hots for each other even when the camera weren't rolling) and a strong argument about how this firmed up the gadget-orientated, thrills-and-spills formula for the franchise, John Cork's"making of" featurette for this DVD is one of the most rewarding in this series. The two commentary tracks have moderately interesting observations by director Guy Hamilton, the cast and crew (many of their comments recycled from the documentary), and on both Bond superfan-and-author Lee Pfeiffer filling in blanks and explaining in exhaustive detail the history of the Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in this film. Also included is an open-ended 1964 interview with Sean Connery, designed so that American radio disc jockeys could pretend they had an exclusive interview with the star, in which he extols the series'"sadism for the family" among other things. -- Leslie Felperin

We still find ourselves waiting for the bulk of the James Bond back catalogue to enjoy a Blu-ray upgrade. It’s all the more frustrating given the high quality of the discs that have been released thus far, which have whetted the appetite for more releases. It seems we might be waiting some time. In the meantime, at least there are discs of the quality of Goldfinger to get our teeth into, a Blu-ray that demonstrates just how a high definition transfer can enhance an older film.

Goldfinger is, of course, the third film in the official James Bond movie series. It finds Sean Connery as 007, this time pitted against Auric Goldfinger. Of course, things aren’t straightforward, not helped by the presence of Oddjob and Pussy Galore, and the film isn’t shy of terrific sequences, memorable Bond moments and Connery on tip-top form in the lead role. What’s particularly satisfying about the Blu-ray is just how complete it is. The picture quality is a very pleasant surprise, delivering sharp visuals in spite of the age of the film. The audio is limited by today’s standards--it certainly struggles to stand toe-to-toe next to something like Quantum Of Solace in that regard--but it’s still the best the film has sounded in the home. And then there’s the excellent, thoughtful extra features package. A lot of it you’ve seen before on the DVD releases, but there has been some welcome HD improvement work undertaken too. Something that’s overlooked on many catalogue Blu-ray releases.

Ultimately, Goldfinger is a vintage James Bond film, that makes the most of its high definition upgrade. Now roll on the rest of the movies… -- Jon Foster