OVP: Thunderball (1965)

Film: Thunderball (1965)

Stars: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik van Nutter

Director: Terence Young

Oscar History: 1 nod/1 win (Best Visual Effects*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2026 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the men & women who created the Boom!-Pow!-Bang! action films that would come to dominate the Blockbuster Era of cinema.  This month, our focus is on Sean Connery: click here to learn more about Mr. Connery (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Our shift from Errol Flynn to Sean Connery in part also shifts us into the modern definition of an action star, and in some ways we should've gone with our next two month's stars (who are far more focused on the 1970's, but wouldn't have much legacy as action stars in the blockbuster sense beyond that), except that if we're going chronologically Connery became famous first.  He also just managed to live long enough as an action star to become a leading man alongside the heyday of the genre in the 1980's & 90's.

But we are shifting into Connery because he defined action in the 1960's, and he did so as the quintessential movie hero: James Bond.  While Bond was originally a book character, in a highly-popular spy series by Ian Fleming (which would eventually have every single novel be brought to the big-screen), Connery's inhabitation of it would make it an essentially cinema-derived product to the minds of billions.  Connery got the role of Bond pretty early in his career.  He was a leading man at that point, having appeared in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (a live-action Disney movie), but he had not had a traditional breakthrough, which would change with the colossal success of Dr. No.  The film would make Connery a household name, but as we'll find in the coming weeks, it was more Bond that would be the household name than Connery himself.

(Spoilers Ahead) Connery would make seven Bond films in his career, and I had before this just seen two (Dr. No and Goldfinger).  We're only going to do one Bond film this month (there's a lot to Connery's career that I want to cover so we won't have time for more), and I didn't want it to be one of his post-1960's pictures, so I kind of just drew a name out of a hat and went with Thunderball (both because of its Oscar win and because I love that Tom Jones theme song).  This film won Bond his first (and to date only) Visual Effects Oscar, and is a story about Bond once again taking on SPECTRE, this time with their #2 leader Emilio Largo (Celi), who is planning on destroying a major US or UK city unless their governments pay him 100 million pounds.  Connery eventually starts to infiltrate the spy's den, all the while bedding a half dozen women, including those closest to Largo, before eventually defeating him with the help of the curvaceous & stylish (seriously, that black-and-white bikini could make a comeback so fast on Instagram if someone wanted to bring it back) Domino, played by Auger.

The movie is not one of Bond's most-celebrated outings, and many clock this as the first weak link in the Connery era of films, generally considered the best until Daniel Craig, and they're right.  Connery is still there, charming and brutishly sexy as ever (the film's now heavily-criticized sexual politics have a cringe moment early on when Connery toes the line with Molly Peters' physiotherapist, eventually having sex with her despite protestations earlier in a steam room), but there's not enough to do.  The biggest problem is that there are too many women in this (I know that's opening up for ridicule as a gay man saying it, but it's true)-they feel frequently interchangeable and none of them stand out.  This film would be remade in 1983 in Connery's final Bond film (Never Say Never Again), and Domino would be played by future Oscar winner Kim Basinger, so I'm curious when I eventually get to that (not for this series, but in terms of Bond completionism) if it'll be better.

I do want to talk about the visual effects before we go, since this is a big Oscar blog, and I'd be remiss if I ignored them.  I think the effects are impressive-the opening sequence with Connery using a jet pack is crazy (it actually worked), and the underwater fights and the explosions later in the picture are top-notch.  I have to assume it was the underwater photography that got it the win though, given how revolutionary it looks.  I've seen a film like Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, which was a CinemaScope spectacle 12 years earlier starring Robert Wagner & Terry Moore, and it was considered revolutionary at the time (it even got nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscars) in the way that it shot underwater so well in color, but 12 years later, Thunderball is on another level.  This looks like it was shot with green screens it's that impressive, and is a real step up compared to anything you'd see of this nature, likely inspiring everything in the future from Jaws to Titanic.

OVP: Spectre (2015)

Film: Spectre (2015)
Stars: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomi Harris, Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Sam Mendes
Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Original Song-"Writing's on the Wall"*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Grading a James Bond movie always feels a little odd, since we all know how this song-and-dance turns out.  We know we’ll get ridiculously elaborate action sequences, set pieces that feel plucked out of a Louis Vuitton add, music and babes and cars that make you wish you were a ridiculously attractive straight British man, even if that’s not a wish you’ve ever really had.  Bond films are so formulaic and such fun that it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes one of them the wild ride that is Skyfall and which ones are the ones that fall short, which Spectre, feeling bloated, tired, and repetitive, clearly is doing in this motion picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) Perhaps the main reason for this “meh” reaction is that we are once again enduring a Bond origin story.  After Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and in particular the epic Skyfall haven’t we sat through enough past scenes of Bond’s beginnings?  After all, at some point the purpose of the stories is that we can continue into the world of Ian Fleming and we’ve known this iteration of Bond long enough that we want to see him grow, rather than just learn more tidbits from his past.  This is particularly frustrating in this film, as the retreads are less about the far past and more about reimagining films we saw right before our eyes.  Our new villain Oberhauser (Waltz) is intended to be the mastermind, the man who was responsible for the creations that came before played by Mads Mikkelsen and Javier Bardem far more memorably, even though we've never heard of him until now.  This is a huge problem in the script because Waltz, all staggered delivery and hammy line readings, is a considerably weaker antagonist that, say Javier Bardem’s Silva and will be quickly forgotten in the Bond pantheon.  Considering the film is predicated on him being the “greatest of them all,” the film already starts out with an unfulfilled promise to the viewers.

This is true of a lot of the characters in the film, quite frankly.  Daniel Craig’s Bond is still stuck on the series hitting far too great of heights in Casino Royale and Skyfall, with another romantic relationship on the heels of Eva Green (and, let’s face it, the emotionally jarring moments of having Judi Dench fall into the background of the movies after her untimely death as M) falling short.  I hated the fact that, despite quite liking Lea Seydoux, we saw so little of Monica Bellucci, who has the kind of stardom where I was actually stunned when she was first announced for Spectre that she had never been a Bond girl (who dropped the ball on that one?) and here she is relegated to little more than one scene.  It would have been a welcome change of pace to have a woman Bond’s age (admittedly an ageless, ridiculously gorgeous woman Bond’s age) play his love interest (or, let’s be honest here, his love interest/nemesis); that would have been a wonderful shakeup to the series and Bellucci’s scenes are almost certainly the best in the film, in my opinion, as they exude a mystery that is lacking in the rest of the picture.

That being said, the Craig years are still marked by welcome inclusions to the Bond world, and even the worst (which this isn’t-Quantum still takes that cake) can host select joys such as the great opening scene, an opening in Mexico City which manages to somehow rival Skyfall’s masterful Turkish Bazaar chase sequence.  There’s also arguably the best car of the Craig Bond years here, a sleek Aston Martin DB10 so ridiculously lush that you’ll consider selling your house (and then realize this costs more).  These sorts of posh touches, though, are more about the sustainability of the Bond franchise than anything special going on in Spectre, which is one of those movies that will quietly fade into the back of the TNT marathons, not getting a primetime spot on the lineup.

Those were my thoughts on the latest Bond installment-what are yours?  Where does this rank amongst the Daniel Craig years and do you want him back for a fifth movie or are you ready for a change?  Is anyone else sick-to-death of the Bond origin story trope?  And what woman would you like to see play a Bond girl (hopefully villain) next?  Share your thoughts below!

OVP: Skyfall (2012)

Film: Skyfall (2012)
Stars: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney
Director: Sam Mendes
Oscar History: 5 nominations/2 wins (Best Sound Editing*, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song-"Skyfall"*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I must admit freely that, because of my Millennial background, that even with my love of classic film, the first Bond that comes to my mind is Daniel Craig.  He wasn't the first Bond I was introduced to in theaters (that would be the tail-end of the Brosnan years), but for me, when I think Bond I go to Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (let's be honest, I think of him emerging from the water in those blue swim trunks, but that's an entirely different matter).

(With high-profile movies, I consider everything about the film a spoiler, so I'll just give you a head's up that we're hitting spoilers both light and heavy soon, so proceed at your own risk) It's important to note this, as I go in with none of the prejudices against him because he's blond or tougher or a little sexually androgynous (more on that later), and can just dive right into the film at hand, which is a doozy.  We open with Bond trying to run down a man in Instanbul (along with the comely Naomie Harris, a mysterious agent with MI6, and one of two "Bond girls" in the film), we get to see one of the best action sequences in years, complete with motorcycling across the Grand Bazaar and a train being cut in half, and Bond inexplicably going over a waterfall, presumed dead, with the bad guy getting away, and remarkably none of the cavalcade of bullets reaching their target.  As his body enters the water, the iconic typography starts to roll across the screen and Adele pronounces, "this is the end..." and little do we know that she's truly speaking about a major character in the film and that she's giving away some rather large plot points, albeit ambiguously.  Then again, it's Adele, so really you're just so wrapped up in the buttery silk of her voice that it's hard to focus on the actual lyrics.

As the film continues, we get confirmation that the target of this film, and indeed the primary focus of this film, is going to be M, giving Judi Dench a chance to shine in the movie.  We also see that, of course, James Bond has not perished after being shot and thrown down a waterfall (because who could that ever kill?), and once MI6 headquarters is attacked, Bond reappears either out of duty or out of his devotion to M, something not clear at the time, though it appears to be more the latter as the film continues.

This leads Bond to Shanghai, where Craig is given yet another exotic locale to do stunning acrobatics.  In this film we get a nod to the slightly aging (but still sexy as hell) Daniel Craig, as he doesn't pass his physical field tests to get back to work as an agent, but M puts him out there anyway.  A telling nod to this is when Bond is hanging on to the bottom of an elevator and can barely hang on.  I will note that for me, who has a nasty fear of high, open spaces, this sequence was probably the most "turn-away-from-the-screen," and this is a film that includes a man pulling a bullet from his body.  Watching Bond sail up that open elevator shaft, 100 stories from the ground, was a great action visual, as well as a bit nauseating.

Before this feat of daring, we are also briefly introduced to the new Q, the hauntingly beautiful Ben Whishaw, who has a fun way of playing with Bond's head, continually perpetuating the age-issue by being considerably younger than Bond, and constantly messing with him about his seniority.

After killing the assassin, in true Bond fashion, he also finds a woman, the beautiful Severine, and we get perhaps the only good pickup scene in a movie where Bond is fairly celibate, compared to his usual outings.  Marlohe, unlike say Eva Green a few years back, doesn't get enough time or enough depth to showcase any sort of acting talent, other than the ability to make her nails both alluring and look like daggers.  In his pursuit of Marlohe, who will lead her to her captor, Raoul Silva, Bond gets a hilarious sequence with a pair of komodo dragons, and then he is invited to Silva's private island in the middle of presumably the South China Sea (it's a little hard to tell, considering it seems like you're going through an entire season of Anthony Bourdain locales in one movie during a Bond film).  Of course, before he goes into the island, Bond seduces Severine in the shower, because he is of course James Bond.

And this is where we finally meet Javier Bardem's Silva.  Silva is a villain in the classic sense of the film, one that could rank alongside Goldfinger in terms of grand scale ruthlessness and hambone theatrics.  In their introduction scene, we get the scene that everyone will be talking about coming out of the film, the scene where Bardem, after revealing part of his plan to Bond (a former agent at MI6, he clearly loathes and obsesses over M, and wants to see her destroyed), he does some heavy flirting with Bond, playing with his chest and face, and insinuates that there's a "first time for everything," meaning indulging in the love that dare not speak its name, to which Bond replies, "what makes you think it's my first time?" It's a clever way to the end the scene, but it begs the question of if there was a Bond boy mixed in with the multitude of Bond girls?

The film progresses from there, with Silva seemingly always ahead of Bond, and having the cunning and flamboyant malice of a Batman villain.  We see M crucified by the press for not being able to handle the situation, and even before a Minister of the British government (played by Helen McCrory in a bit part, and I have to say the entire time that I was thinking "Cherie Blair is in Parliament!") it is questioned whether or not MI6 serves a purpose anymore in a post-Cold War world.  This is followed by a round of bullets coming from Silva's men on the committee hearing, which of course answers the question with a resounding "yes!" better than anything M ever could say.

The film finally reaches its conclusion (though its pacing is brisk and you never really notice the length, the film is over two hours long) at Skyfall, the manor of Bond's boyhood, where we are treated to Albert Finney in a fun cameo as the gameskeeper of the estate (though wouldn't you have loved to have seen Connery take on the role, considering the 50th anniversary implications?), who, along with M and Bond, build a fortress out of this building and sustain Silva's attacks for quite a while, before the estate bursts into flames.  M is shot in the film, and in the penultimate scene of the movie, she dies in Bond's arms (Silva having already gotten a knife in the back from Bond, the "old-fashioned" way), and we are eventually introduced to the new M (Ralph Fiennes, always sturdy in the film, getting just enough wryness out of his character to ensure that he'll make a solid future leader for MI6).


Clearly after devoting 1000-words to the film, I must admit to liking it, and I did.  Though it's not quite as good as Casino Royale was six years ago (that may perch next to Goldfinger in the "untouchable" Bond film excellence category), it's a brisk and taut action thriller.  Craig, a fine actor on top of being dead sexy and "just-enough-of-a-bad-boy" to fill the Bond shoes, is once again top-notch after his novocaine-headache of a performance in Quantum of Solace four years ago.  Both Bardem and Dench sink their teeth into their respective roles, with Bardem clearly having a blast as Silva and Dench making an indelible mark as one of the best performers in the Bond series.  The movie's action sequences are sublime, though there are some other marks that fall a little short, particularly the complete lack of interest in the two Bond girls in the final half of the movie.  The movie also seems to borrow a bit from the Dark Knight franchise, not necessarily a bad thing, but you don't want Bond to get into the orphaned child story or the constant search for a parental figure too deeply.  You want him armed with sleek guns, bodacious babes (of either gender, apparently), and exotic locales.  But these are very minor quibbles in an otherwise excellent movie, and the entire film has me raring to go for the next 50 years of England's deadliest weapon.

And I shall now hand it over to you with food for thought-what did you think of Skyfall?  Where does it rank on your personal Bond list?  And with several of the Bond staples recast (Q, M, Moneypenny), who are you hoping will become the next villain, love interest, and Bond theme-singer for the next movie?

50 Years of James Bond

The OVP will be finished up by Sunday, but I couldn't let the momentous occasion of James Bond turning 50 pass by without a mention.  James Bond has had limited success at the Oscar's, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't left an indelible imprint on the world of cinema.  While I can't claim that I have seen every single Bond film (someday, perhaps), I can claim that I know every single Bond theme by heart.  The pride and joy of my iPod is that I have created a playlist of every Bond theme, and in honor of 007, let's grab our martinis and rank the 25 (I'm cheating on three) best Bond songs.

25. "Never Say Never Again," Never Say Never Again performed by Lani Hall
A very paint-by-numbers Bond song that is one of three questionable inclusions on this list (I'm a sucker for a round number, and this got me to 25), this song from Sean Connery's final performance as 007 sounds an awful lot like lounge music.  Considering that so many singers at the top of their careers get Bond songs, it seems odd that Lani Hall, never a huge star, got this opportunity.

24. "The Living Daylights," The Living Daylights performed by A-ha
Again, an odd choice in hindsight, though A-ha was a fairly big band at the time, so who knows.  Either way, a slow-moving and dull addition to the Bond catalog (something many people said about this Timothy Dalton outing).

23. "For Your Eyes Only," For Your Eyes Only performed by Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton was a huge act at that time, and seemed like a solid chanteuse for the likes of Bond, but her song seemed a little bit too sweet for the Bond franchise.  This film in general is largely forgotten, save for the scandalously leggy poster.  The song did earn Bond one of his four Oscar nominations for best song, however (it lost to Arthur).

22. "Tomorrow Never Dies," Tomorrow Never Dies performed by Sheryl Crow
I love Crow, and her "soak up the sun" infectiousness definitely has its time and place, but it isn't in the world of Bond.  Even though she's trying to reach to the darker depths, she's clearly out of her element when compared with sirens like Shirley Bassey or Tina Turner.

21. "All Time High," Octopussy performed by Rita Coolidge
Coolidge may have been a little bit out of her comfort zone, but I love her just the same, and this is a surprisingly effective Bond outing, if again, a little bit too sweet.  Though it needs to be said-don't you kind of wish someone had tried to tackle the Bond tradition of singing a true title song?  Can you only imagine what they would have done here?

20. "The Man with the Golden Gun," The Man with the Golden Gun performed by Lulu
Lulu got a bum deal-first, she has to follow McCartney's classic Bond outing, and then got stuck with this clunker of a title.  She pulls it off with a zesty, if not always memorable, ditty.

19. "Die Another Day," Die Another Day performed by Madonna
Madonna brought the Bond music back to the Billboard charts, and it seems wildly appropriate that the Material Girl, who has contributed a lot of memorable music to the screen, managed to be part of the Bond tradition.  That said, the techno music coupled with an aging Pierce Brosnan was probably not the best mix.

18. "Another Way to Die," Quantom of Solace performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys
This is one of the few Bond films I've seen in theaters, and it's probably one of my least favorite outings.  After reinventing the franchise just a few years earlier, this was a convoluted mess, and the song didn't help that-the duet idea doesn't work, and Keys, whom I love (hence the higher ranking), doesn't fit the Bond mix enough with her bluesy sound rather than soul.  In some perfect alternate universe, Amy Winehouse rightfully got to take the Bond theme for this movie, as was rumored at the time.

17. "A View to a Kill," A View to a Kill performed by Duran Duran
I was nothing but a wee thing during the 1980's, so I do not have a strong affinity to Duran Duran, and their ballad-y approach doesn't seem to fill the dark moodiness that we typically associate with Bond.  Of course, that isn't to say this isn't a solid piece of music by itself, and as this was the last of the Roger Moore movies, perhaps a sense of whimsy was in order.

16. "You Know My Name," Casino Royale performed by Chris Cornell
This song was much maligned upon its first release, despite the actual film revitalizing the Bond franchise to the point of perhaps being the finest film in the series.  I never understood the vitriol, however, and I found this energetic and just manic enough for the newer, darker, but still debonair 007.

15. "Moonraker," Moonraker performed by Shirley Bassey
Forget Ursula Andress or Halle Berry-Shirley Bassey is the true Bond girl.  This, one of her three Bond themes (the only artist to tackle three), is probably the least-it doesn't have that Bassey feel of cutting like a perfectly-tuned jackhammer.  It was originally planned for Johnny Mathis, which probably would have been a much, much better fit for the ethereal song.  That said, it's still Shirley Bassey, and it more than gets the job done.

14. "A License to Kill," A License to Kill performed by Gladys Knight
The other installment of the Dalton years had a far superior theme, sung by a solo Gladys Knight.  It doesn't have the drama of the Bassey numbers or the evil mischief of Tina Turner, but it has that marked soul that Knight always brings to a performance, and a sweeping full orchestra to back up her desperate tuneful pleas.

13. "The World is Not Enough," The World is Not Enough performed by Garbage
Remember Shirley Manson?  The incredibly sexy lead singer of Garbage lent her pipes to this sweeping ballad, which may have been a little lax, but Manson's impressive alto carries it all the way through.  Plus, it managed to maintain its gravitas despite being attached to a movie where Denise Richards plays a nuclear physicist named Christmas Jones, so yeah, it deserves a lot of credit.

12. "From Russia with Love," From Russia with Love performed by Matt Munro
Munro, largely unknown in the United States, still managed to have bit of a crossover with this slick, perfectly-themed entry into the Bond canon.  I love the cliffhanger aspect of the song, which works perfectly for an introductory theme (which is typically where a Bond theme plays), though for the record, this film does not play over the opening credits.

11. "Thunderball," Thunderball performed by Tom Jones
Jones' song has not always been appreciated (come to think of it, neither has Jones), but come on-how many singers could crescendo for a complete three minutes without bursting.  Those final notes are huge, and you know that Shirley Bassey had that ending in mind when she tried (and succeeded) in topping it in Goldfinger.

10. "The Look of Love," Casino Royale performed by Dusty Springfield
The second of our three "cheats," as this film was more Bond spoof than actual Bond film, but Springfield deserved a Bond theme at some point, so we're going to count it.  Dusty lived up to her name with this moody and, though a parody, totally legit Bond croon.  Also OVP Alert!: this received an Academy Award nomination in 1967, but sadly lost to Doctor Doolittle.

9. "You Only Live Twice," You Only Live Twice performed by Nancy Sinatra
One of the more epic Bond films, it's fitting that it gets a soaring and stunning ballad by the super hot and famous (at the time, and for those of us who enjoy wearing boots, for all time) Nancy Sinatra.  Though her pops oddly never headlined a Bond movie, she did the family brand proud with this dreamy number.

8. "Skyfall," Skyfall performed by Adele
I may regret giving it this high of a ranking, but it moved me.  A truly haunting, very much in the theme of the Bond franchise, entry from everyone's favorite singer.  I love the proud British tradition she carries on with the film, not only being a blockbuster vocalist, but native to James Bond's homeland.

7. "We Have All the Time in the World," On Her Majesty's Secret Service performed by Louis Armstrong
The final quibble (since technically the instrumental introduction is the theme, and not Armstrong's number), but it's just too good of a piece of music to discount.  Armstrong, who was in ill health at the time, still knocks out a home run, combining both a wink and a tear in this love ballad (appropriate, considering that this is one of the most romantic Bond films).

6. "The James Bond Theme," Dr. No performed by John Barry
It could so easily be number one-it's so iconic, I don't really no where to put it, so we're going with sixth, just to sort of highlight the break between the strong songs and the iconic.  It's a credit to Barry, though, that this is one of the most instantly recognizable themes in the history of cinema.

5. "Nobody Does it Better" The Spy Who Loved Me performed by Carly Simon
The spy who loved me is keeping all my secrets safe tonight...you can't help but smile while listening to Carly's easy-listening, but still high-flying, take on a Bond song.  This record blew-up the charts, and actually received an Academy Award nomination as well, though somehow lost to Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life."  Don't feel too bad for Carly-eleven years later, she'd take home the gold guy for Working Girl.

4. "Live and Let Die," Live and Let Die performed by Paul McCartney & Wings
Paul McCartney has more completely recognizable hits than any living person (or, quite frankly, any pop singer, ever).  It must be impossible to plan his concerts-so many hits, so little time.  However, it's hard to see a way that this one doesn't always make it into the lineup, one of his biggest post-Beatles songs.  The song received an Academy Award nomination, but lost out to The Way We Were (can you imagine a time when the Oscar Best Song category had two hits that big?!?)

3. "Goldeneye," Goldeneye performed by Tina Turner
Bond had long been out of commission when Pierce Brosnan took over, and it was a bit of a risk to bring back the flailing franchise.  Tina also hadn't been tearing up the charts for a while prior to taking on this song.  But just as surely as Brosnan revitalized the Bond franchise, Tina gave a shot to its theme songs.  You can tell the entire song that she's having a blast, and when she hits that note (you know the one), it gives me chills every time.

2. "Diamonds are Forever," Diamonds are Forever performed by Shirley Bassey
Yes, it may be a little overkill to give this the second spot (since even the most casual of Bond fans knows where number one is going), but Dame Shirley Bassey is the perfect Bond chanteuse-mysterious, over-the-top, and with pipes (and gams) to next Tuesday.  Harry Winston probably signed over the vault after hearing her demands.

1. "Goldfinger," Goldfinger performed by Shirley Bassey
The perfect Bond song-Bassey continues the crescendo leading into one of Bond's best movies with a set of cheesy lyrics that she sells to the rafters.  You need a woman with vocals of steel to sell the man who only loves gold, but Bassey's voice just gets bigger and bigger and bigger, until you're sure it'll fill Fort Knox.

And those are my rankings-what about you?  Who falls where in your favorite Bond themes?  Is Shirley your ultimate Bond girl, or are you more partial to Adele, Madonna, Tina, Gladys, or Nancy?  And if you're handing out Oscars-which Bond themes most were in need of them?