Pop Culture Propaganda

Magnificent Meeples is great! I just got their Food Chain Magnate insert and it's pretty useful.

HI! Lea!

Got my hands on an Italian deck of cards and now I just have to trick people into playing Italian card games.

Played a couple games tonight. Brass is a staple but the other game is uh... Well, it was technically a board game.

Okay

Can you give me a hand?

Metal pawns eh? 👀

I'll never understand the average League player - calling me a "bot" for casting Malzahar's incredibly complex ult as soon as they're in range and calling me "bad" for not killing them... But making them back so many times they're down 40 CS, 3 levels and 4 tower plates.

Just chilling playing video games today - mostly just League and Balatro.

Layla has me pinned down and is starting to drool on me. Send help.

Photo of Revy Photoshopped onto a transgender flag She's pointing back and looking shocked

Repost if you support trans people and think we're neato

And with that, Bondmas is over! I might do this again but in a format where I can really talk at length about each film. But this here is my ranking as of now.

1-5: Must watch
6-13: Recommended but with caveats
14-19: You could do worse
20-22: Worse
23-25: Don't waste your time

Day 25: No Time to Die

I liked Daniel Craig's take on Bond and I especially like that all the films collectively take on a narrative. No Time to Die works as a good sending off point not just for Daniel Craig, but for Bond as a whole. Honestly not sure they should even try to make any more of them.

Day 24: Spectre

It's all right. I mean, it's a totally fine action film in its own right but it just seems a little late in the game to bring up Spectre, something they haven't legally been able to do since Connery was Bond. For a series that has been at its best when realistic this one gets thin.

Day 23: Skyfall

Raoul Silva is far and away my favorite Bond villain. Not only does Javier Bardem knock it out of the park, but his presence as a foil to James Bond does wonders in making a Bond film that's about something other than being an action blockbuster. It's just a bit too long.

Day 22: Quantum of Solace

It's still wild to me that after one of the best Bond films we get one of the worst. But hey, the same thing happened to Brosnan. You can blame the writer's strike for some of it but ultimately QoS is just a weak script and poorly executed. It's not awful just boring.

Day 21: Casino Royale

ESPN played it's part but there's no doubt in my mind that Casino Royale helped make Texas Hold 'Em as popular as it is today. Easily one of the best Bond films and a really strong opener for Daniel Craig. Sometimes all you need is a simple plot executed flawlessly.

Day 20: Die Another Day

About as subtle as a solar powered beam melting a palace made of ice. What the movie lacks in anything meaningful to say it makes up for it in gaudy overproduced sets and bizarre camera choices. This one is the most "Bond as a product" movie - which is saying a lot.

Day 19: The World is Not Enough

If Goldeneye is a great steak and TND is a sloppy joe, the World is Not Enough is just like a really nice burger at a restaurant. Sure there are likely better options most of the time but when you're in the right mood for it it's SO good. Worth a watch at least once

Day 18: Tomorrow Never Dies

What an awful film. If Goldeneye is a New York Strip, Tomorrow Never Dies is a reheated (yet still frozen in the middle) sloppy joe. Pryce really chews the scenes he's in but this is just one of the worst plots in any of the series thus far. This one is so bad it's bad.

Surgery is wild in that you can get used to the various areas of a hospital but never the operating room. I was cool as a cucumber until they brought me into a sterile room playing Michael Buble Christmas music and something in me said "death happens here"

No James Bond update today - unfortunately gonna have to delay until tomorrow but I will do a double feature.

Day 17: Goldeneye

Man. Goldeneye slaps. I feel like this movie was written with Dalton in mind, but Brosnan pulls off a pretty good Bond. My issues with it are minor - it's unnecessarily goofy and Onatopp is... Well, it was the 90s - but by and large Goldeneye is a really solid entry for Bond.

Day 16: A License to Killio

Such a good movie. Forget a good James Bond film - License to Kill is a good film full stop. It's a shame the Q gadgets make their way in but that is part of the franchise's charm, I suppose. Still, License to Kill is worth watching at least once.

Day 15: The Living Daylights

It's a rough thing that this is the timeline with only two Dalton films. It's a shame it got critically panned for NOT being another Moore film when what makes it work is Dalton's insistence on a "true to the book" James Bond. My hope is that this film gets more popular

Day 14: A View to a Kill

Cheesy in a way that's still fun but not good. Walken does a pretty good job as the villain but it's not enough to save it from Moore being too old to play Bond. I would have LOVED a story about an old Bond in a young man's job but they seem blind to how old he is.

Day 13: Octopussy

This one is fine. There's some cool imagery and the plot itself is not half bad. Octopussy makes for a compelling ally - and it's good to see Maud Adams chew the scene. As this point, though, Moore is just too old to still be Bond. It's not too problematic here but tomorrow...

Day 12: For Your Eyes Only

This post is coming late as I'm still finishing the film. I already watched it once but - and this will perhaps serve as my review - I fell asleep partway and had to start over. It's not BAD bad but it is boring. Good ideas on paper, just wish the film was fun to watch.