Sunday, April 8, 2018

PODCAST: Ryan and SimonUK watch "License to Kill" (1989)!




Watched:  04/07/2018
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  1980's (oh, so 1980's)


We all have our favorite Bond movie. SimonUK decides to die on the hill of "License to Kill" as Ryan hears him out. It's the 1989 "Bond goes rogue and goes after a Central American drug lord" Bond movie you've probably never seen and the second and final Timothy Dalton as our 00-agent.


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8 comments:

Stuart said...

Well, if you can entertain me talking about License to Kill, that's pretty good proof of concept for this podcast series. Admittedly, I only attempted to watch the movie once as a VHS rental in 1990, and didn't even finish it. But I'm not all that eager to try it again.

The podcast was fun, though. :) I agree Tina Turner's GoldenEye is a classic.

The League said...

Glad to hear it! It's my hope that Simon's free-associating style - and what our contributors have to say in general - carries the day even when the movie itself isn't a favorite of the listener.

Stuart said...

Yeah, I enjoy the stream of consciousness tangents. (Wasn't that guy in Predator 2, whatever happened to him?) (You saw The 'Burbs in the theater?)

As for the movie, yeah, even at like 11 or 12 years old I perceived it as Bond filtered through the generic Hollywood machine. The revenge angle was what every other American action movie was doing. Everything about it just seemed off and lazy. I very much enjoyed The Living Daylights, so it wasn't like I had a grudge against Timothy Dalton or anything.

Related: you should try catching up on some new(ish) Doctor Who. It's everything I wish new Star Trek was: updated without losing that uniquely weird, low-budget sensibility, both visually and character-wise that the old show had.

Stuart said...

I'd be curious to hear Simon's thoughts on Timothy Dalton's sort of return to Bond (at least in parody form) for Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

The League said...

Honestly - this is the conversation Si and I would be having after a movie, anyway. I'm always 45 minutes late getting home from seeing a movie with him as we stand outside the theater and will, say, ponder Charles Dance for a good fifteen minutes. It's been easy doing these as I just turn on the mic and we chat.

I agree that - especially in the context of 1989 - this was just too much of what was already out there. It's the whole Simpsons "Mendozaaaaaaa!" bit as Bond.

And at this point - Dr. Who has too much Dr. Who. I'll never catch up.

Neither of us has seen "Back in Action". I'll have to alert him to Dalton's appearance. We've got a full slate of stuff to cover and I'm not sure Looney Tunes is in his wheelhouse, but I'll let him know and see what happens!

Jake Shore said...

That was a fun listen. Simon is a great guest. You guys contrast and compliment each other well.

Just to clarify, is License to Kill Simon's favorite or does he think it's the best Bond film? Or both? I mean, I have my favorites that I like despite their flaws. Cause I'm having a hard time with idea that License to Kill is anything other than an objectively bottom five Bond film.

It's weird. When folks rank Star Wars or Stark Trek or Rocky films or any other film franchise, there is some variation, but there is some general agreement. No one says Star Trek V or Attack of the Clones are the best of their respective franchise. However, when I peruse online lists of Bond films, there is almost no consensus, except that Goldfinger is usually in the upper half.

The League said...

You know, as much time as Simon has spent telling me his thoughts on this, I don't actually remember if we defined that difference. I think he knows it is not "most representative" of Bond, and I think our Goldfinger discussion would land us on that movie as "most Bond-ish Bond". And I'm not sure he'd argue it was the best made - it's clearly not one of the most expensive Bonds. I think he just likes it. But I'll ask! Sounds like a good bonus round question next time we watch a Bond.

And, yeah, you're right. I do think Bond fans vary wildly. I know which ones I like best per Bond, and I could probably bracket it our and make a list. And I think I'm pretty (read: unnecessarily) hard on the ones I should be sorta luke-warm on. And I'm always listening with raised eyebrows when someone goes to the mat for, say, The Living Daylights. I want to listen and understand, but... yeah.

The League said...

and, thanks, btw! I love winding Simon up and letting him go. We're having a lot of fun with it.