u/Live-Leg-1993

Doug has talked about the Daniel Craig films when they were new, be it Skyfall with Rob, and a quick review of No Time To Die when it came out, but he's never done a deep dive into the franchise, which has always fascinated me. It's by far and away one of the largest movie franchises of all time, only being surpassed by Godzilla, and in recent years by the MCU.

As a massive Bond fan myself, I personally enjoy all 25 of the EON films, though I can certainly put on a critical lens and say that objectively, some of them are absolutely Nostalgia Critic worthy. I've even gone up to bat for films like The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, two films which people seem to have a serious problem with (okay, I understand Die Another Day, but TWINE is overhated in my opinion.)

He's obviously seen a good chunk of the series, and I've heard him and Rob name drop quite a few of the older ones, even if they never fully reviewed them, so it just got me thinking- why hasn't he talked about them much at all? Even if you make the argument that even the worst 007 film isn't necessarily THAT bad (I'd agree,) it isn't like he hasn't reviewed plenty of good films in recent memory. Not to mention the fact that a TON of the films he does review, and even ones he doesn't, owe a lot to the franchise as a whole, as it was groundbreaking ever since its' inception on the big screen in 1962.

Maybe it's just me as a fan of this franchise wanting it to get its' flowers, seeing it be kinda sidelined over the past decade, but I think the interesting thing about the Bond films is that you really can't judge them based off of their critical reception. I know plenty of Bond fans who adore a film like Moonraker, even if it's considered by critics to be one of the worst in the series. I know people who wouldn't consider Goldfinger to be Connery's best Bond film, I know people who wouldn't consider Goldeneye to be Brosnan's best (I'm in that camp, I prefer his next two films,) so on and so forth, so I think it'd be really interesting to see what he has to say about each actor's tenure, and maybe find new favorites or reinforce his current ones.

It's just interesting to me that we've gotten Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Mad Max, the MCU, pretty much every Batman film, the DC Cinematic Universe... But no Bond..? Even with Skyfall being the seventh highest grossing film of all time when it finished its' run in theaters? I dunno, I personally think it's due.

I can understand if the average person is indifferent towards it, but the thing that really baffles me is people who try to go out of their way to convince you that physical NEEDS to go, like it’s imperative, as if it is impossible for the two to coexist. Yet none of them can say why it needs to go. There’s 0 reason for why physical and digital media can’t coexist together like they have been for the past 20+ years at this point.

Grand Theft Auto VI's PHYSICAL EDITION. The one you have to GO TO A STORE AND PICK UP YOURSELF, DOES NOT EVEN COME WITH A DISC. That is absolutely abhorrent. You know why some people like buying physical media? Because if you don't like the game, you have the freedom to take it back to the store and sell it. If you buy the PHYSICAL EDITION of GTA VI, you don't even get to do that. All you get is a piece of goddamn plastic with a stupid download code inside, and people are okay with this..? What if GTA VI isn't as good as we thought? What if, like me, you weren't really a fan of GTA Online and the game doesn't live up to the hype, which is totally a valid concern in this gaming landscape, it doesn't matter if we're talking about Rockstar or not. You bought the "Physical Edition" of the game which is of literally 0 value to anyone and you can't even get rid of it if you wanted. What an absolute waste of money. You know what other game did that shit? Fallout 76. What a great game to follow in the footsteps of in terms of product marketing.

Imagine if you bought a movie on Blu-Ray you've been dying to watch just to get home and realize all that was in the box was a fucking code, or a brand new book that you've been anticipating for years, and you get home, crack it open, and all that's in there is a slip of paper telling you to download that shit on an eBook reader. That isn't fair, and it's the absolute peak of pure scumbag moves from Rockstar. 13 fucking years for a new GTA, constantly blue-balling us with any new information and they couldn't even do us the courtesy of putting a DISC in the box of the PHYSICAL EDITION.

Edit: I’ve come to the conclusion that y’all are suffering from collective brain damage.

Not a weather expert but I noticed the other day it was insanely hazy, enough so to dim the sun enough to almost look directly at it and to make the city invisible from Gallagher Pier. The last time I saw it that hazy was a few years ago with the wildfires, but I haven’t gotten any updates on my phone about smoke warnings like I did back then. what’s up with this haze or whatever it is?