#feud

James Bond has dodged more than 4,000 bullets. He has jumped from an airplane, skied off a cliff and escaped castration by laser beam.

Now, 007 is in a new kind of peril.

Nearly three years after Amazon acquired the right to release Bond movies through its $6.5 billion purchase of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio, the relationship between the family that oversees the franchise and the e-commerce giant has all but collapsed. The decaying partnership has scuttled any near-term hope of a new Bond film—a black eye for Amazon’s ambitions in Hollywood, since at the time of the MGM sale, the Bond franchise represented a significant share of the $6.5 billion the company paid for the studio. 

When it comes to Bond’s future, the power lies in the hands of Barbara Broccoli, who inherited the control from her father, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, and who for 30 years has decided when a new Bond movie can go into production. She has told friends she doesn’t trust algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct. This fall, she characterized the status of a new movie in dire terms—no script, no story and no new Bond.

To friends, Broccoli has characterized her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are f— idiots.”

A representative for Eon, the production firm behind the Bond films, said Broccoli and other members of the family had no comment. 

The two sides are at an impasse: Amazon needs Broccoli to furnish them with ideas for a new Bond movie, but Broccoli doesn’t want to make a new Bond movie with Amazon. The standoff, say people on both sides of the divide, boils down to a clash between the 20th-century Hollywood of big screens and big swings and a new entertainment industry ruled by Silicon Valley firms that prize data, algorithms and streaming subscriptions. 

This story is based on interviews with more than 20 people familiar with the Broccoli-Amazon feud, including executives, business partners and friends. 

This is probably what happens when the primordial spirit takes that much damage. Now his mind is like that of a child. He doesn't remember anyone, except for his wife.

this fever dream of a year is halfway over so here's my ranking of all the dramas i've watched so far:

2025 releases

9. feud: a hot mess story that asks the eternal question, “why does he even like her???” nonsensical plot progression, ridiculous costumes, and a “romance” so disappointing even bai lu can’t manufacture enough chemistry with her co-star to sell it. with iqiyi now slowing down episode releases my determination to finish is failing.

8. prisoner of beauty: sorry gang, it started strong but became a slice of life romcom and not the festival of unhinged i was promised. i got bored and dropped it around the 2/3 point.

7. love in pavilion: i was really enjoying this until we hit the super bleak final arc and i dropped it for mental health reasons lol. it’s on my list to go back at some point.

6. kill my sins: bleak from the start, but fascinating concept and characters. another one i wasn’t able to finish at the time because it was so depressing, but i plan to try again.

5. love of the divine tree: it feels wrong to rank this so low. it just gets beat out by the rest. i had a blast with this, xiang han zhi and deng wei are an inspired pairing as the top/bottom master/student switchy leads. i thought xhz was particularly good at portraying each distinct version of her character.

4. a moment but forever: the obvious selling point here is liu xue yi's 10/10 performance as one of the most wronged and traumatized xianxia heroes ever. he brought the emotional complexity along with the face card. i loved him opposite tiffany tang as the neurodivergent goddess of craftsmanship. you think you're going to get a standard "girl meets guy, girl supposed to kill guy to save the world, girl falls for guy instead" xianxia but it's so much more than that.

3. legend of zang hai: i binged this like i haven't binged in ages, since i started late and caught up just in time for the express package to be released. xiao zhan is so compelling in this drama that at its heart is about the damning consequences of revenge and power. i didn't care so much about *what* was going to happen next in the plot, but i was desperate to watch how it affected all of the characters. my favorite kind of revenge story.

2. under the moonlight: this narrowly beats out zang hai but ultimately i feel under the moonlight is a stronger overall drama. it shines even without a big budget or super traffic star. the plot is perfectly woven and the characters will steal your heart when you least expect them to. it doesn’t shy away from some very disturbing topics but in a way that’s interested in how good people deal with the realities of a harsh world rather than in traumatizing its characters for glamor’s sake.

1. the blossoming love: my first drama of the year and has yet to be de-throned by anything released after it. i fell so hard for all three leads. it's so tightly plotted that even the time travel/loop situation in it didn't give me a headache (a feat!). i still think about this drama all the time and rewatch scenes because i miss them. also an ost full of bangers.

older things i also watched

6. mysterious lotus casebook: why is li lianhua so relatable.

5. nirvana in fire: iconic and brilliant in many ways, but my appreciation for it is largely intellectual. except the jings. protect the jings at all costs.

4. lost you forever 1 & 2: it's been a long time since i became as obsessed with a character™️ as i have been with xiang liu. (why is he so compellingly tragic? shithead.)

3. the ingenious one: in the vein of legend of zang hai, this is about the consequences of only caring about revenge. plus it's a genius-man-who-can't-fight + calculating-woman-who-absolutely-can pairing and i eat that shit up with a spoon.

2. the legend of shen li: i actually tried to watch last year but couldn't initially get on board with the chicken arc. i finally buckled down and kept going and WOAH MOMMA am i glad i did!