New James Bond = Daniel Craig.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

i've no interest in bond but i have a huge interest in Daniel Craig. he may be the best film actor we (the uk at least) have now. definitley the sexiest.

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/photos/20050406.OBS3738.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4337224.stm

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:25 (twenty years ago)

He was great in the first Tomb Raider movie!

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

he looks a bit richard widmark in that pic!

― geoff (gcannon), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

The first photo I saw of him, he looked like a blond Christopher Eccleston. Very disturbing. Two British fiction archetypes that shouldn't get mixed up.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

And of course played opposite him in Our Friends In The North. (see also Doctor Who FITEING Obi Wan Kenobi in Shallow Grave)

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

I hate you for pointing that out. But then again, Shallow Grave was made before either actor was associated with either character.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Now they just need to cast Kerry Fox as The She-Hulk.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

matthew mcfadden would have been good.

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

he's a bit uncharismatic IMO.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

also too young.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

That Craig guy always reminds me of Jack Kerouac facially. His face moves the same way when he talks. Or maybe it's the eyes.

― Unhappy Returns (NickB), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

To me he looks too "rough" and weathered to play Bond.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

Better than Timothy Dalton at any rate.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

'the living daylights' is the best bond film.

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

nonsense!

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

To me he looks too "rough" and weathered to play Bond.

Connery was fairly rough and weathered looking - in comparison to yer Roger Moores and Pierce Brosnans I mean

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

This is terrible, but I can't really tell the last couple of Bonds apart. (Actors, that is, not the films.)

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

... but not in comparison to yer Jared Harrises! (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

OI!!!!

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

i wasn't a bit fan of the brosnan bond films (what i saw of them) (ok goldeneye was ok, but maybe i'm remembering goldeneye n64) but i think this turn to "darkness" is an iffy idea

― geoff (gcannon), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

(Though it is only a matter of time until Harris is a Bond villain. Rowr. It's been a while since I fancied a Bond villain so much I was rooting for *him*. Oh wait, yes I can, hott Scottish blokey who couldn't feel pain whose name escapes me but is always getting his kit off in other films.)

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Seems they've decided to follow Roger Moore-style Bond (Brosnan) with a Connery-style Bond... Dalton was, errrrrrrrrrrr, sort of Connery too, so the next one will be another Moore

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

All you naysayers..... you're just wrong. Daniel Craig is a great choice for Bond (and my tip since I saw him in those wee little Brit-flicks this year). Just edgy enough. Just good looking enough (I spose) and I'm sure he can pull off those cack-handed one-liners the current set of writers seem to ply Bond with.

― uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

'the living daylights' was an attempt at 'dark', and although it's not very dark, it's the best bond film.

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

He kind of looks like he's already been embalmed.

― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

is the living daylights the one that starts off with a clown?

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

'the living daylights' in the context of bond films, is by far not the best bond film. come on now stop this.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Nope that was Octopussy. Living Daylights is the one that starts on Gibraltar. Oh yes, and also a bit rubbish.

― uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

no, that's octopussy. TLD starts over gibraltar[...], and then it's a-ha [...] -- little bit of bush -- [...] and then we're in vienna < / alan partridge>

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

This is terrible, but I can't really tell the last couple of Bonds apart. (Actors, that is, not the films.)

i can't tell ANY of the films apart, they are just one giant amorphous BLOB O' BOND in my head...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

Anyone actually read the books? A friend who did always seemed to think the movies were a cop-out as Bond was basically this nasty person who did all kinds of despicable things for queen and country. By the end he'd be tortured or at least wearied, barely hanging on to humanity, etc. Read what you will into that about his sexual encounters.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

I'm going crazy trying to find one specific Bond villain I remember from my youth. Bah.

x-post, yes, I read the books religiously as a child.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

Goldfinger, followed by Dr. No, followed by From Russia With Love, followed by The Living Daylights.

Roger Moore - obviously drunk, yet drank the least onscreen.

George Lazenby - fell victim to Connery's accent.

Pierce Brosnan - Over-the-top stunts with hot cars and hotter women.

Timothy Dalton - a Shakesperian actor in an MI6 body

Sean Connery - Run along, now. Man Talk.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

'the living daylights' has classy references to 'the third man'. it fukcing powns.

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

See, there's the one with the Train, the one with All The Gold, the one with the spaceship, the other one with the spaceship - or was it a stolen nuclear missle? - the one with the media tycoon who wanted to take over the world, the one where they tried to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, the one with the oil pipeline, etc. etc. etc.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

You know, I was thinking all "damn, I had no taste as a 12 year old, Roger Moore is so not hott" until I saw this:

http://www.waguet.net/bond/Roger%20Moore.jpg

But anyway, I'm still getting my head around the new Bond's blondness (I know, I fancy blond men, but James Bond is so not blond) and found this apologia for Roger Moore which made me laff like a drain:

"TOO BLONDE?"

This one always gets me. Some folks seem genuinely upset that Roger Moore has blond hair, presumably because James Bond does not. Well, so what? I don't see a scar on Sean Connery's cheek. I didn't notice baracuda tooth-marks on Timothy Dalton's shoulder. None of the actors looks exactly like Fleming's Bond, and it's likely none ever will.

If it bothers you that much, turn down the brightness button on your TV set until Roger becomes a brunette.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard of Daniel Craig! He looks like a cross between Robson and Jerome!

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

See, there's the one with the Train

not a bond film ;)

― one eye white, one eye black (FE7), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:38 (twenty years ago)

The one with the Russian and the train and the "agent" what was really working for SPECTRE. That one.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

i know, i know. i always think of from russia with love as the one in istanbul

― one eye white, one eye black (FE7), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

It could just be that one picture, but:

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/photos/20050406.OBS3738.jpg http://chbastin.free.fr/dossiers/collection/film_le-mans_steve-mcqueen.jpg

― disco violence (disco violence), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

Is this the guy from Layer Cake?

I think I approve.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

Since I am female, he was the best thing about Tomb Raider.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

is Tomb Raider all he's been in? I bet they aren't paying him much.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

There's never been a James Bond who was a big name (big screen) actor before he was Bond - the closest was Timothy Dalton

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Brosnan was a bigger name than Dalton.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but in TV. I don't think he'd ever been in a film.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

Well, not in starring role. I mean, what do I know about movies anyway?

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

he had a gay scene in the Long Good Friday!

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

Brosnan was like Roger Moore, he was basically a TV star, Dalton had been in a lot of movies

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

. It's been a while since I fancied a Bond villain so much I was rooting for *him*. Oh wait, yes I can, hott Scottish blokey who couldn't feel pain whose name escapes me but is always getting his kit off in other films

Who, Robbie Coltrane?

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

I like the new guy, but frankly he looks more like a Bond villain or one of those 00-agents gone wrong.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Robert Carlisle!

I cannot for the life of me remember who the other one was. He was kind of chubby, had longish blond hair and a pointy nose. Surprise, surprise there. He had a boat, too. Possibly also a girlfriend who was a ballerina? Or am I mixing up several bond villains here?

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

I hope Bond doesn't turn into one of these Guy Ritchie hip "gun" (OMG he's got one GUN) movies.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

????

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

Also, this Daniel Craig guy seems to be thought of as "sexy" or "cool", but Bond needs to be "handsome" and a little bit old fashioned.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

RJG, I just hope the tone of Bond doesn't become snatch/transporter/lock stock etc.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

I've only seen lock stock but I cannot see why that would be a risk/possibility

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

xxxxpost

Well it's not Alan Cummings. Dunno who it could be, Sean Bean perhaps?

Carlyle was the Russian who couldn't feel pain, easily confused with Big Robbie ;-)

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

hasn't the whole world decided they fucking hate guy ritchie now (and rightly so)? I don't think it will happen.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

RJG, I haven't seen Layer Cake, but I've assumed it's in the same sort of nu-british "guy" movie vein.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

it's a thousand times better than those movies

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

That would be horrible. That said, I've never actually seen any of those films. But Bond is supposed to be somehow... classy and timeless in a way that those films are supposed to be cool and gritty. Bond is supposed to be sexy, though. Just understated sexy, not IN YER FACE FECKING BLING sexy if you know what I mean.

I have a picture pinned to my wall of Sean Connery, dressed to the nines in tux/white tie, shimmying through Fort Knox with a gun which is just about the sexist thing I've seen in my life - which contradicts all of that. But still.

x-post

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Also, this Daniel Craig guy seems to be thought of as "sexy" or "cool", but Bond needs to be "handsome" and a little bit old fashioned.

Again, i don't think this ever applied to Sean Connery

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

You don't think Connery was "handsome"??? Also, he seemed to be surrounded by new and hip things but did not really take part in them.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

I haven't, either, and assume the same, as you, but it still v. doesn't follow, that they would think about doing a bond, like that

esp. with what they say about trying to be more true to the style/tone of the books

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

Of course Connery is handsome but not in bland pretty-boy way like Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore. Also, his Bond is a lot less glib and fairly dark and, even, sadistic.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

... which might be the Daniel Craig approach!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

RJG, I haven't seen Layer Cake, but I've assumed it's in the same sort of nu-british "guy" movie vein.

You should see it. I HATE HATE HATE!!! Guy Ritchie but Alex (who loves Guy Ritchie) talked me into seeing it and it was really good.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

it has a bad name or, maybe, just a really bad poster

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

guy ritchie should be set on fire

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

Awwww. Be nice, Someone's got to look after Madonna.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

I'm kind of coming around to this Daniel Craig idea. I mean, perhaps his nose was artificially pointed in Lara Croft the same way Jolie's breasts were, but still.

http://www.bluematia.com/snap96j.jpg

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Whoops, that was the wrong picture. My mistake.

http://www.hue.vnn.vn/dataimages/original/images68875_DanielCraig.jpg

And with ginger beard. Erm, nice!

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/07/craig_wideweb__430x279.jpg

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

it has a bad name or, maybe, just a really bad poster

WELCOME TO THE LAYER CAKE, SON

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

I used to have an ashtray just like that, that I stole, from a hotel in the south of italy

I dropped it and it broke, a couple of years ago

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

That's a shame, it's a nice ashtray.

In other photos he reminds me a bit more of Patrick McGoohan:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/archangel/images/photogallery/340x255/kelso.jpg

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

also too young.

the main argument for casting him despite his relative "youthfulness" - i mean he's 37, not 25, y'know - is that Casino Royale, the "new" flick is set chronologically before Dr No - so he should be younger.

I think Mr Craig will be a perfectly good Bond. He was certainly the most interesting thing about Layer Cake by some margin, and it seems he can actually, y'know, act and stuff.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Craig is just too severe looking. Connery was sadistic yes, but didn't look like he had been beaten as a child like this guy.

That said, I will watch Layer Cake as my English coworker has actually lent me a copy this week.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Also, I really like Brosnan, and felt like he did the best he could despite the last movies villain with the giant "Laser" and all the other ridiculous nonsense. Goldeneye is classic even without the N64 game! Famke.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

I don't really understand the allure of Famke. Sorry.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

We sometimes have different tastes Adam, it's ok.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

I may possibly feel threatened by tall women.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

YOU ARE A LITTLE CRAZY MAN

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

INTIMIDATION IS HALF THE FUN

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

I may be a LITTLE CRAZY MAN!

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/mgm/casino_royale/daniel_craig/royale1.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

Looks like a gangster to me.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

Why can't you just trust us?

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Even though Clive Owen looks rougher than Brosnan, I think he would have been perfect.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Who's "us"?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

That's a horrible picture and just waaaayyy reminding me of the Revolver ads that got taken down in my neighbourhood.

However, he's definitely beautiful and suave and lovely there. My goodness, is it hott in here?

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Who's "us"?

Me and anyone else who shares my viewpoint.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Oh you guys.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

Just get a fucking man bag, Spencer -- its not like anyone takes you seriously now.

― Jonothong Williamsmang (ex machina), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

just give in and except Daniel fucking Craig, Spencer, it's not like anyone takes you seriously now anyway!

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

OH SHIT XPOST

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

ruined by me mysteriously typing "except" for "accept" what is wrong with me?

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

You're a vegan.

― Lion-O (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Jon I still don't get it and since you won't explain, well...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 October 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

He was kind of chubby, had longish blond hair and a pointy nose. Surprise, surprise there. He had a boat, too. Possibly also a girlfriend who was a ballerina? Or am I mixing up several bond villains here?

This is Klaus Maria Brandauer in Never Say Never Again. The girlfriend is Kim Basinger.

― it was a different shark (wetmink2), Friday, 14 October 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Who is still watching new Bond films anyway?

The ones from the 60s,70s, and 80s have a certain nostalgia value..

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Saturday, 15 October 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

I would have weighed in earlier but my brain was elsewhere. I like Living Daylights and to heck with complaints, as Dalton's Bond is the closest to the book version. The books -- riddled with any number of problems and shall we say 'curious' assumptions, especially in the light of fifty years on -- are somewhere between easygoing escapism and extremely dour pessimism, which actually explains why they work so well, the latter providing a surprisingly effective anchor for the former. Connery Bonds the best overall but I will always have a soft spot for For Your Eyes Only, the first one I ever saw and perhaps not coincedentally the closest Moore's Bond got to the literary version. The new guy being blonde is the biggest big of cognitive dissonance.

(see also Doctor Who FITEING Obi Wan Kenobi in Shallow Grave)

I should point out that in Velvet Goldmine we are now in retrospect rewarded with the sight of Obi-Wan taking Batman's anal cherry.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 October 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

Heheh, 'biggest big' -- biggest BIT. Rah.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 October 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

Saw Layer Cake last night, Craig will make a good Bond. He was actually playing an underworld Bond in that one - intelligent, classy, dark but sympathetic.

The Brosnan movies have gotten worse since GoldenEye. The one with Denise Richards was unwatchable and the Halle Berry movie had some special effects that wouldn't have looked good on a movie from 1985.

― Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Saturday, 15 October 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

I still think "underworld" is the key term here. He looks like a villain (seems like a nice guy in interviews though). Again, he should really have been cast as a rogue 00 agent.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 15 October 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Good luck, Daniel Craig. Do us proud.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:12 (twenty years ago)

He was great in Munich, I think he'll do well as Bond.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:16 (twenty years ago)

The only downside to this thread - jed doesn't like Bond! >:(

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:17 (twenty years ago)

Who's playing Le Chiffre (the Orson Welles part) in this film?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

I think only Craig and Judi Dench have been confirmed.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

long time since i read the book, but...

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 14:02 (twenty years ago)

I believe that the filming begins next week in the Bahamas. Three or so weeks there, then several months in Prague, then over to Pinewood for a week only sometime in June. Bah.

― Ella Megalast, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Le Chiffre = Mads Mikkelsen, who i keep confusing with William Fichtner for some reason.

― Yawn (Wintermute), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:04 (twenty years ago)

He's Danish!

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:08 (twenty years ago)

but he looks and acts like William Fichtner!!

― Yawn (Wintermute), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

William Fichtner!

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/the_perfect_storm/william_fichtner/storm.jpg

William Fichtner!

It's fun to say!

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:12 (twenty years ago)

he looks a little like daniel craig!

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

WILLIAM FICHTER!

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:21 (twenty years ago)

and we have a bond girl, as well.

― Yawn (Wintermute), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

interesting

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:30 (twenty years ago)

She any good? I didn't see the Dreamers

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:33 (twenty years ago)

"good"?

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

I liked her in that, but she doesn't strike me as a Bond girl in the traditional sense. Could be interesting though.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

does she look like william fitchner?

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

who doesn't?

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:35 (twenty years ago)

no photoshop plz

― Yawn (Wintermute), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:37 (twenty years ago)

http://im.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/10craig.jpg http://adorocinema.cidadeinternet.com.br/personalidades/atores/eva-green/eva-green01.jpg http://i2.tv2.dk/images/s/ec129bd3ed1f4c74e5507a71cf24e38a/507678.jpeg

= weirdest-looking bond cast since From Russia With Love?

― Yawn (Wintermute), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:37 (twenty years ago)

chin up, mads, your career's going well

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:39 (twenty years ago)

We must draw strong dividing lines here: bond girls should not look like william fichter, but bond villians and bond sidekicks/contacts* should.

http://www.rosenbaumcreative.com/walken/gallery/pg3/view4.jpg http://www.jamesbond.com/mmpr/media/henchmen/locque/thumb.jpg

I'm thinking like the Robbie Coltrane or Felix Lighter-type bond associates.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:41 (twenty years ago)

"good"?

"good" as in "entertaining and decent enough actress to be Jill St. John or Denise Richards-level horrid"

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

I always had a soft spot for Maryam d'Abo in the Living Daylights. I'd gladly ride a cello case down a mountainside with her.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, and speaking of "For Your Eyes Only," will there be any ski sequences in the new flick whre Bond is bedecked in a brightly colored full ski-suit?

it's worked so well before.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:45 (twenty years ago)

Hmm. what happens to bond villians when they can't be blonde anymore? or have we already talked about this?

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 18:50 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Teaser trailer is online

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Monday, 1 May 2006 17:58 (twenty years ago)

Gotta admit, I like it so far...

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:03 (twenty years ago)

I liked the black and white stuff a lot. The color stuff was okay, too, but the overall effect of including both was 'Hey, wouldn't it be a great twist to do a modern hi-tech thriller in black and white?'

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:22 (twenty years ago)

i think shooting this movie in french is going to turn out to be a huge mistake.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:24 (twenty years ago)

It's not shot in French. You can clearly see the dubbing.

They are, however, going to leave the French dubbed dialog in for the US and UK releases, with subtitles.

In Gujrati.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:26 (twenty years ago)

Looks VERY nice.
The bits with Sebastien Foucan freerunning around look incredible.
Though I am slightly disappointed that the baccarat of the original story has been replaced with Texas Hold'em.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:28 (twenty years ago)

I'm not, I know how to play Texas Hold'em!

Looking good - grittier and more atmospheric.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Monday, 1 May 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Unfortunately, he's still ugly. He just looks like the bad guy in every shot (not that every ugly person is bad, but this is a Bond movie).

― i'm from hollywood, Monday, 1 May 2006 19:04 (twenty years ago)

I thought Pierce would've been pretty good if they'd let him have a better script. He's great in The Tailor of Panama -- much more Bond-like than his Bond.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Monday, 1 May 2006 20:04 (twenty years ago)

daniel craig will be better than any bond since connery, mark my words!

though i just saw layer cake, and that was a sack of shit.

― gear (gear), Monday, 1 May 2006 20:06 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/casinoroyale/trailer1a/high.html

looks much like Goldeneye (in style - no weirdo-invisible cars and stuff that Brosnan got later), I was hoping they'd strip it down some more.

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 1 October 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

what say you, rightwing film geek site?

...And Daniel Craig could be an inspired choice. I was disappointed at first because I had only seen him in Spielberg’s self-loathing love letter to terrorists, but having recently seen Layer Cake I found him to have quite the screen presence and some of the dark grit Connery possessed.
The drawback of course is Dame Judi Dench returning as “M.” Her feminist approach creates too many eye roll moments as she’s so obviously there to compensate for forty years of so-called sexism. But I’m quibbling. The producers should be complimented. The last two Bond films made a ton of cash and yet rather than sticking to a lousy formula that was profitable, they’ve scrapped it and started over. That’s no small thing, especially considering the history.
In the early 80’s Cubby Broccoli, coming off the mammoth success of Moonraker, decided to bring Bond back to earth in For Your Eyes Only – my personal favorite – but it was nowhere near as successful. So, it should be interesting to see how this plays out.
My one major concern? Paul-Hate-America-Haggis is listed as one of the writers. He’s already done his bit tearing down the icon of Iwo Jima. What has he done to this icon?

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

I suppose that last complaint would make sense if James Bond was American.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

The disembodied head of Orson Welles is creeping me out.

― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

That said, having finally seen the trailer, I am impressed in that it does seem like an inspired combination of, indeed, the violent grit of the original books -- for all their fairy-tale (and many other questionable) aspects, they have some incredibly rough edges, and Bond himself is usually thrashed and then some by the end of each -- and a far more modern feel to the cinematography and editing than I've sensed in years upon years of the Bonds. Considering that the guy who directed Goldeneye is directing this, that's saying something.

I've often thought that there could be something in redoing the original Bond stories as period pieces now -- picturing an England grinding along in a post-WWII austerity, Bond as blatantly bigoted and viciously cynical antihero searching for some sort of temporary release via his assignments. The film Bonds have barely ever touched this aspect of the character except sporadically -- part of Dr. No, a fair amount of For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights, my own underrated favorite, as I still think Dalton was a great and perfectly cast actor in a promising but ultimately failed script. And trying to convey all the internal reflections and monologues in the books would be hard. But it is interesting, for all of the Fleming 'sweep' in his stories, just how much of a Le Carre character the literary Bond is in the end -- it's a tension that the films understandably lost early on, because the spectacle provided its own rationale.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

I forgot to complete the thought here, but the film this most reminded me of in terms of look and approach -- again, it's just the trailer here to go on so far, admittedly -- is Batman Begins. There are worse role models.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

i might have to go and see this so i can see more of CD in his trunks.

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

they have some incredibly rough edges, and Bond himself is usually thrashed and then some by the end of each

yeah, i remember reading a bit of the CR novel in a film class, and I wonder if they'll have the torture sequences in this one.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

CD? DC!

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

It is interesting (not to ignore the very fine points that Ned has made, with which I heartily agree), how many otherwise fairly unimpressible women I know have lost the plot completely at the sight of Daniel in his speedo. I don't really see it myself. I mean, he's lovely and all, but he's no Clive Owen.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

Timothy Dalton always seemed a bit cross-eyed to me.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

isn't most of casino royale, the book, about james bond getting his balls thrashed with a whip?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

it's a carpet beater you idiot -- how would a whip work?

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

I read CR 20+ years ago and that ball-torture scene has unpleasantly remained with me ever since.

― Django Blowhardt (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

how would a whip work?

Indiana Jones and The Trussed-Up Agent

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

Are the Bond novels a worthy read? I've always heard them written off as terrible fiction but the new editions look awfully good (I firmly believe you can judge a book by its cover).

― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

Are the Bond novels a worthy read?

I'm not going to defend them down to the last word or anything, but I always thought Fleming's own wonderfully biased statement of intent -- "I have no messages for suffering humanity... they are written for warm-blooded heterosexuals in trains, plains or, in bed" -- sums up what they are. Colin Wilson, a somewhat curious man in general, did I think capture what Fleming was about with the title of his study of UK mystery/thriller authors -- Snobbery With Violence. That applies to Fleming's work perfectly, but as I muttered above, it's tempered by two great gifts -- his sense of pace and tension and Bond-as-patriotic-antihero.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

I liked Casino Royale and The Spy Who Loved Me, which doesn't involve any worldwide spy stuff, just a mentally and physically exhausted Bond having to pull his shit together to deal with a several-against-one dispute he gets caught up in by accident. Also, sort of unusually, it's told from the POV of the female lead, the damsel whose rescue Bond comes to.

― Django Blowhardt (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, The Spy Who Loved Me is a very interesting experiment in the context of the series, his only break-from-the-formula. Notoriously, it was the one novel that Fleming specified could NOT be made into a film, due to how poorly it was received by his readership -- though the title was okay to use, resulting in the partial remake of You Only Live Twice (film version) that the cinematic Spy is.

If I had to pick any of the books offhand -- Casino Royale (the first one, no 'preset' ideas of Bond even in Fleming's mind, a very black ending all around), Moonraker (first full-on megalomaniac supervillian, plays with the idea of one last Nazi counterattack in the atomic age, and actually has my favorite sequence in all the books, Bond exposing Drax at cheating at cards), and On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice (last fully revised and completed Bond novels before Fleming's death, obsessed with mortality and vengeance, and very much meant to be considered as two parts of an overarching story of love and revenge).

For sheer description, any of the Bond books set in Jamaica or the Caribbean -- Live and Let Die, Doctor No and Thunderball -- are probably the best. That was the area Fleming loved most in the world and it shows (though you could spend a year unpacking all the colonial assumptions in each book).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

it's a carpet beater you idiot -- how would a whip work?

-- mark s (mar...), Yesterday 8:52 PM. (mark s) (later)

trust me, it works :(

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 4 November 2006 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

the jb paperback covers in the uk were famous for their neat series design, in the 60s and 70s: over several successive reprints, with new design-theme ideas each time

my favourite was probably thunderball, which had a naked back with two bullet-holes in it, which were cut right throgh the cover

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 23:39 (nineteen years ago)

this is first ever i think:

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/articles/images/literary_casino_royale1.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

http://thetrashcollector.bizland.com/Books/BookFromRussiaWithLoveUK23.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

this is the same series the bulletholes was in

http://img.tfd.com/thumb/c/cb/YouOnlyLiveTwiceNovel.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

there was a later series i can't find any evidence of on the net -- but seem to have lots of, which means it must have been around the mid-70s, when i wz readin them as 1xteen

they have a bunch of objects from the story -- like "man w/golden gun" has a golden gun, some banknotes, a watch, a scooped stilton, a snakeskin, a cork thing i can't identify, and a pic of the girly du jour -- all tumbled together and beautifully lit and photographed

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 November 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/0d/bc/32757220eca06ada48446010.L.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 5 November 2006 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

jere we go:
http://www.thrillermagazine.it/imgbank/RUBRICHE/thunderball.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 5 November 2006 00:06 (nineteen years ago)

not as good as i remember it but i was like 12:
http://www.nireland.com/goldeneye/fleming/thunder.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 5 November 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

> To me he looks too "rough" and weathered to play Bond.

I've been hearing this a lot. It seems like a small concession to the realities of espionage. Who makes a better spy, a heartbreaker or an weathered average-looking bloke? I wonder if the new bond film will take a "back to basics" approach and more closely approximate the novels, which, although fantastical, had Bond engage in at least some espionage instead of just shooting it out with bad guys.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Sunday, 5 November 2006 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

Mark S, that is the very version of Thunderball that my parents had. Oh, the memories.

I never read it though. Stinky pages.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 5 November 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

The books are great reads. Nasty, unsentimental, misogynistic pieces of work, but thrillingly plotted with a real sense of (post war) time and place and dark comedy.

Casino Royale has one of the greatest opening lines in any fiction ever.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Sunday, 5 November 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

Which is of course...The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Sunday, 5 November 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

the trailer looks great. honestly tho I don't think I've ever seen a bond movie in the the-ater

― If you fuck with Jimmy Mod, you call down the thunder (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

I believe I've seen every Bond since The Living Daylights in the theater.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

I've seen all of them since License to Kill, even though they got progressively worse after GoldenEye. I fell asleep during the Denise Richards one.

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, I didn't think that one was so bad. Certainly nothing like as shit as the Halle Berry monstrosity.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't seen the Halle Berry monstrosity. I fell asleep at Tomorrow Never Dies (was that what it was called?) in the cinema. The end was really boring.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

I bought that edition of Thunderball, with the two bullet holes in, this weekend! Whenever I'm in a second-hand bookshop I always search for those Pan editions of Bond novels, I'm building up a little collection. Casino Royale was the first I read and I'd second any recommendation of it, it's such a good read.

― ampersand, hearts, semicolon (cis), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

And yet I don't think I've ever seen a Bond film in full, certainly never gone to a cinema for one.

― ampersand, hearts, semicolon (cis), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

For the films it started with seeing For Your Eyes Only on cable a number of times in 1982 -- I'm glad about that, since that meant by chance and an accident of time and technology it was Moore's best Bond by a mile which got imprinted on me. The only two Bonds I saw in the theater at the time of release were the two Daltons, oddly enough -- saw The Living Daylights twice! Everything else, not that I've seen them all all the way through, has been TV or DVD -- I have all the Connerys through You Only Live Twice along with The Living Daylights, and I need to finally get For Your Eyes Only.

So if I go see this one in the theater, which is looking much more likely now, that'll be the first time since 1989.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

I really like The Living Daylights, it's hugely underrated in my opinion (which might be a wee bit affected by it being my first experience of Bond on the big screen). License to Kill is rubbish, though.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

Living is ultimately a strange mess -- too many villains spoil the broth, which is a pity since (though nobody knew it at the time) it turned out to be one of the last Cold War movies as such. The short story it's based on, which provides the first five minutes after the precredits sequence, is one of Fleming's most effective about moral decisions under pressure, and initially the film really lives up to that in a standard Bond film context. Even the clunky Third Man references work (but it is actually nice to see the difference between Vienna then and now). I like it but a better ending would have helped, and often it's Dalton rising above the material.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

Dalton had the potential to be the most interesting Bond (though I have high hopes for Craig), it's a pity he wasn't given a longer tenure. The fight on the big bag of drugs hanging out the back of the plane in TLD is great, it's a shame they tacked on a weak second climax.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 17:29 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, disrupted the flow of the film -- putting together the other two villians in that small scene into the plane sequence would have wrapped it up nicely. At the same time (even for a series that loves self-recycling), that might have been a bit too close in the end with the plane fight that ends Octopussy (which for all its own flaws has some surprisingly effective moments, like when Bond is desperately trying to convince the US Army bods that, yes, there's a nuke on the base and yes, it's about to go off *right now*...).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

I always like it when Bond films indulge in a bit of gratuitous yank bashing.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Meantime, a slew of positive reviews over in the UK, I gather, and though this is a tiny spoiler I do admit I liked hearing this:

Several reviewers noted one joke that deliberately breaks a Bond tradition. When asked if he wants his vodka martini shaken or stirred, Craig replies: "Do I look like I give a damn?"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Ooh, hopefully the next Indiana Jones movie will be more emo too.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

It'll be a very crusty emo.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I read some rumor somewhere that Diddy eventually wants to play James Bond. Needless to say this would be the greatest movie in the universe.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

With Pharell as Q and the ghost of Biggie as M.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

He should settle for a remake of Action Jackson.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

I can see Diddy as Batman

― latebloomer: none of th movies make scence but they r good. (latebloomer), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, here we go:

"One day the time will come for a black Bond and hopefully I can audition for it," the 36-year-old said at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen.

Diddy, who appeared in Monster's Ball in 2001, said: "It's a dream of mine to play a great role like that."

Actor Daniel Craig's first outing as 007 is later this month when Casino Royale is released.

"I love the Bond they have now," said the musician. "He's a great actor and I think they made a great choice."

The rap star - real name Sean Combs - vowed that he would keep the audience entertained if he were to land the 007 role, saying: "That's what we get paid to do."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

The first thing I thought of when I heard about this was Barry Adamson's "007, A Phantasy Bond Theme," which rules.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

If Diddy is Batman, would we get Ma$e as Robin?

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

Jermaine Dupri takes the Michael Caine role.

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 5 November 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

one thing i like about casino royale the novel = bond is a RUBBISH agent who acts like an idiot throughout

he is got out of a tight spot:
i. by the incompetence of a lowly SMERSH agent
ii. by his own skeez at makin a twat of himself
iii. by the incompetent greed of a less lowly SMERSH agent
iv. by the poor briefing of a by-the-book SMERSH agent
v. by the greater honour of a SMERSH agent

END SPOILERS END SPOILERS END SPOILERS END SPOILERS

in my copy, page 13 is my favourite viz:
"Satisfied that his room had not been searched while he was at the casino, Bond undressed and took a cold shower. Then he lit his seventieth cigarette of the day and sat down at the writing table..."

"Then he slept, and with the warmth and humour of his eyes extinguished, his features relapsed into a taciturn mask, ironical, brutal and cold."

neat trick!

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 5 November 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

The first thing I thought of when I heard about this was Barry Adamson's "007, A Phantasy Bond Theme," which rules.

Oh, yes that is a great reimagining of the theme. Certainly better than Chris Cornell's theme which is almost enough to stop me going to see the film.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Sunday, 5 November 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

as heretical it might sound to bond fans, i think it's time to go back and just start going through the fleming novels again. pretty much all of those brosnan bond films were useless.

― gear (gear), Monday, 6 November 2006 02:46 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the guy from Trainspotting and Ravenous was a good villain.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 November 2006 03:23 (nineteen years ago)

that one with denise richards was especially awful

― latebloomer: none of th movies make scence but they r good. (latebloomer), Monday, 6 November 2006 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

Here I'd like to note that I didn't say it was a good movie - I said he was a good villain.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 November 2006 03:40 (nineteen years ago)

i think pierce brosnan is actually quite a good actor, but he played bond strictly lightweight (maybe because the movies were). i think the idea of brosnan as bond was much better than the reality. it's possible craig could be better than any previous bond with the exception of connery, though i don't believe connery's 'best bond ever' title is unassailable and i don't believe craig is incapable of taking it from him.

― gear (gear), Monday, 6 November 2006 03:47 (nineteen years ago)

he tried to complicate bond slightly, that north korean torture stuff in dad, but generally those movies looked so ugly there wasn't much he could do. i think another reason a bond period piece film might be a good idea (obv it will never happen) besides 'britain as major player on world stage' plausibility is to allow a different approach to technology, in the recent bond the gadgetry's been unlikely in a very dull way ('it's...an invisible car!'). i've seen the others in the theater for some reason so i'm sure i'll see this one, glad to drool over eva green anytime and daniel craig could be a good choice, one reason connery's the best is that he captures bond as sociopath killer as much/well as bond as suave brit tuxfiller - when connery uttered bond quips it was an extension of bond's cruelty and coldness, when other's have done it (following moore's lead obv) it's been an extension of bond's suaveness. from what i can tell from the trailers craig's bond definitely has the thuggish aspect already (and the quips i saw seemed nicely nihilistic), w/ the class aspect to trained in appropriately as the civilized gentleman aspect is bond's front he shows to the world (coldblooded murderer is his reality)(for 'bond' read 'the west' lol). more to the point of the 'franchise' they should take a page from bourne movies (and a history of violence haha)(and maybe 24) and make bond this freakish superfast badass that we only briefly even see in action but when we do we're in terror/awe and then make his delimma/motivation/conflict whatever what happens when being a freakish superfast badass isn't enough. and i'm sure others will disagree but personally i think it'd be better if the villain's plots were strictly macguffins, more mundane, less giant laser that's gonna wipe north america off earth, etc.

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 6 November 2006 04:08 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno; I think Craig only can be only be so much better than the shit he's given. The last two bond flicks couldn't have been saved with any actor in the lead.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 6 November 2006 05:00 (nineteen years ago)

one reason connery's the best is that he captures bond as sociopath killer as much/well as bond as suave brit tuxfiller - when connery uttered bond quips it was an extension of bond's cruelty and coldness, when other's have done it (following moore's lead obv) it's been an extension of bond's suaveness.

Connery is the best at maintaining cool while surrounded by chaos - which are ultimately my favorite moments in any of the Bond movies because for all of the talk about Queen, country, duty, Bond is also just trying to do his job without getting hassled by SPECTRE or the Soviets. My fave Connery moment (out of many) is the pre-title sequence to Goldfinger when the tanks blow up and everyone in the cantina panics. Bond? He's utterly unflappable casually smoking a cigarette and taking a break before dealing with that unfinished business. He's not fully sociopathic and not completely the suave jokester, just someone who can Get Things Done.

The opposite hold true for Moore's Bond, who's more like a John Steed-type quipping his way through Situations. Moore isn't a Connery-type and shouldn't be, but it's surprising and pretty cool when he does. Fave Moore scene is in For Your Eyes Only (not surprisingly) when he kicks Locque's car over the cliff.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 6 November 2006 05:37 (nineteen years ago)

i haven't seen for your eyes only in forever - definitely worth rewatching? i remember seeing those 70s bond flix like crazy on tbs when i was a kid (bond, eastwood, and beastmaster). i'll rewatch a connery bond occasionally but more for 'this is a solid action flick like hollywood used to be able to churn out in its sleep but no more alas' than any attachment to the mythos.

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 6 November 2006 05:47 (nineteen years ago)

FYEO was the prime Bond from my childhood, mainly due to HBO's constate re-running.

It's worth seeing again.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

"i remember seeing those 70s bond flix like crazy on tbs when i was a kid (bond, eastwood, and beastmaster)"

haha YES. don't forget bloodsport!!

my favorite bond movie is the one where connery has an operation to give him SLANTY EYES so he can infiltrate a group of japanese bad dudes. i think roald dahl wrote it.

― (9ò_ó)-o Q(^.^Q) (Adrian Langston), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:25 (nineteen years ago)

i remember that! the villain boiled children and sold them as cookies!

― latebloomer: none of th movies make scence but they r good. (latebloomer), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:32 (nineteen years ago)

bedtime

― latebloomer: none of th movies make scence but they r good. (latebloomer), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:32 (nineteen years ago)

FYEO was the prime Bond from my childhood, mainly due to HBO's constate re-running.

Yup, just like me. And as Elvis says, the kicking the car scene is just amazing. About the only thing like it in the entire film series is in Dr. No when Connery plugs Strangways in the back, having already shot him once.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:57 (nineteen years ago)

The drawback of course is Dame Judi Dench returning as “M.” Her feminist approach creates too many eye roll moments as she’s so obviously there to compensate for forty years of so-called sexism.

He obviously wasn't aware that there was a female head of the UK secret service before Dench got the role.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 6 November 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

He might eventually twig.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 November 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe he'll make like a tree!

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 6 November 2006 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

FYEO has some excruciatingly good 80s italoflair on the OST. Recommended.

― FACTS: I'M A WAITER (TOMBOT), Monday, 6 November 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

which brings up another point about brosnan bond: the soundtracks blow ass, what up broccolis.

― FACTS: I'M A WAITER (TOMBOT), Monday, 6 November 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

My other fave part of FYEO is at the end with the Soviet general/KGB guy

"That's detente, comrade. You don't have it. I don't have it."

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 6 November 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

the soundtracks blow ass

yeah, i don't remember anything about the music, except for the remixing of the bond theme that occasionally pops up in TND. The title theme isn't too bad, tho, w/ sheryl crow doing the breathy thing.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 6 November 2006 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

Why has no one got Alison Goldfrapp to do a Bond theme yet?

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Monday, 6 November 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Because Chris Cornell needs teh cash!

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 6 November 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

How else could he afford blowouts and styling on all of that hair?

― Beth S. (Ex Leon), Monday, 6 November 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

I'd only consider seeing another Bond if was a '50s period piece.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

What if it were set in 1949 or 1960?

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

no dice

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

booo. What was Bond supposed to have done during the war? Some sorta SAS/OSS/SOE thing?

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Pretty much, yes. The books establish his earliest work as being just pre-WWII.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

possibly details of his war exploits are contained in the times obit for him in ohmss -- which unfortunately is one of the ones i don't currently own (it's the one where he tries to kill M)

as he is "commander bond" i sorta assume he was naval prior to being secret, and vaguely remember this to be so (but may be mistaken)

1948 is mentioned in CR -- as the date of an agent's assassination prior to the events of the book -- so i would tentatively place these as 1950-52 (date = pub.of book = 1953)

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

oops x-post -- ned, details please!

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

pah of course the details are on the net

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

HAH i am a genius -- date of events of casino royale established (in goldfinger) (ie CANON) as 1951

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

HAH i am a genius talkin nonsense -- the obit in in "You Only Live Twice" which i DO own

"To serve the confidential nature of his duties, he was accorded the rank of lieutenant in the Special Branch of the RVNR and... ended the war with the rank of Commander"

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

(RVNR = Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve)

and the one where he tries to kill M = man w.golden gun

in my defence this is a pretty mediocre bond which i have not read since i wz about 14, even tho its villain scaramanga has THREE NIPPLES

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 November 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Sony sunk $250 million into this? Crazy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 November 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

I think they prefer the term "invested," Ned.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 10 November 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

No doubt.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 November 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

Saw the trailer on the big screen before Borat the other night, and it got me really quite excited.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Friday, 10 November 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

I think this will be the best non-Connery Bond movie, but maybe the hype is warping my mind.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 10 November 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

what did these guys usually do? coastal defense, or did they ship out with the regulars?

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 10 November 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

Variety review from Todd McCarthy

and here's where the rest of the review will be

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 10 November 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

but final stretch contains two indelible interludes crucial to defining this new incarnation of Bond. Constrained nude to a bottomed-out chair, Bond is tortured by Le Chiffre who repeatedly launches a hard-tipped rope upon his nemesis' most sensitive area,

hey, whaddayaknow, the sequence IS in the flick.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 10 November 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

The things you can get away with when you've got a PG-13.

― The Dusty Baker Selection (Charles McCain), Friday, 10 November 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

perhaps that explains why we don't hear about Bond's illegitimate children?

― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

(re: ball-lashing)

― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

though i'd love to see a movie where Bond confronts a supervillain who *spoiler*turns out to be his bastard son!*end spoiler*

it could be called The Bastard Who Hated Me

― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

i just set myself up for some austin powers jokes, didn't i *shoots self*

― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

That's actually a really good idea. Employees of United Artists who may be reading: Steal Latebloomer's idea.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 11 November 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

anybody seen this yet?

RT is now up to 96% for 119 reviews, and the Onion liked it.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 November 2006 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

Craig is still ugly.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Friday, 17 November 2006 22:43 (nineteen years ago)

thank you for your thought-out contribution

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 November 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

I might actually have to see it given the reception. ARMOND WHITE liked it.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 November 2006 22:53 (nineteen years ago)

Bond film smashes b.o. record in Britain!

"stinks" that bad, eh?

(i make pun!)

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 17 November 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

not that I was planning on seeing this anyway but Paul Haggis is involved = fuck that

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'll go to this tonight. TS: seeing it here (horrible shitty sound system but only 10 blocks away) vs. seeing it in Tupelo (moderately crappy sound system, 35 miles away, + sushi).

― Django Blowhardt (Rock Hardy), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:17 (nineteen years ago)

metacritic >>>> rottentomatoes

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

dude, it only takes 30 minutes to drive that far, don't be a pussy

― gbx (skowly), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

haha shakey you really think paul haggis injected some simplistic urban malaise subtext into this?

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

haha no but it would be kinda funny if he did! he's just got such a horrible track record I don't want to be anywhere near anything he's had a hand in.

but I've never really "gotten" the cult of Bond anyway, so no big loss.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

well i mean considering a good 2/3rds of bond films are mediocre at best it's understandable and i only saw the last three brosnan films by complete accident (i personally don't know why brosnan is regarded as this awesome bond, i guess he's just generic enough not to offend any dumbass fanboys?). this one looks and sounds a lot better than his work, at least.

― gear (gear), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

Metacritic has this at 80% for 34 reviews, so there ya go.

Also, Haggis was only _one_ of the scriptwriters assoc. w/ the script, but not _the_.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:32 (nineteen years ago)

I'm interested in seeing this. Anything that reminds me of the Timothy Dalton glory days has gotta be good.

― adam (adam), Friday, 17 November 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

oh FFS. according to IMDB, they don't play baccarat in this flick. they play fucking TEXAS HOLD-EM.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 18 November 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://i18.ebayimg.com/03/i/06/86/24/18_1_b.JPG

― gear (gear), Saturday, 18 November 2006 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

It's not the canon-breaking that i disagree with, it's that they replaced one of the trademarks(one which exemplifies Bond's usual exotic, upper-class, european shenanigans) with such a bullshit ordinary american pop trend. It's like setting a climatic scene at a nascar race.

Of course, one could hold that they did this 23 years ago and it worked then, in Never Say Never Again(with the vid games).

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 18 November 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

I imagine it was basically a utilitarian decision to heighten the drama for an audience of which a far larger porportion will have a basic understanding of Texas Hold Em than the now rather obscure Baccarat. I'm fine with that; Bond is a profoundly populist franchise after all.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

you're forgetting one thing: 9/11

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:18 (nineteen years ago)

which is to say: chap OTM. They updated the plot to now, and nobody plays freaking Bacarrat, assuming they ever did.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:22 (nineteen years ago)

And (I have not seen the movie yet) this is supposed to be a NEW BOND, released from the trappings of finery and endless vapid pussy, and allowed to be buff, brooding, and vicious. I approve.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

"Ah Mr. Bond, we meet at last. Both of our fates will be decided over the course of this single game of bagatelle. Would you care for a mead, shaken, not stirred?"

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:34 (nineteen years ago)

Exactly. It's a good decision to change to game to something that's actually played in casinos now. The early Bond stuff was written in a time and culture that might have actually had reverence for games and affectations that were limited to the elite and the royal. The kind of thing closes out of town now.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:38 (nineteen years ago)

bond should play the slots

― gear (gear), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:39 (nineteen years ago)

He should try to find the loosest in town.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:40 (nineteen years ago)

As a caveat I will say that I think that Bond should retain some of its nostalgia for the never-was world of men being men and overblown casino glamour and Britain being important all that, but having a card game that no one fucking understands anymore as a central plot point would just be stupid.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:44 (nineteen years ago)

I've seen plenty of movies with games or sporting events that I didn't understand at all, but I still got the point the scene was making. I'm sticking with my argument about how an "upper class" Bond doesn't play like it once did. Most of the audience doesn't know the intricacies of Texas Hold 'Em, either, I bet.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

Fair point, but eh, Bond has always occupied a semi-fictional class (probably less fictional in the sixties than now, but still). Part of what makes a Bond film a Bond film is the absurdness of the world he inhabits - if you want realistic espionage stories go to Le Carre. My favourite Bonds do tend to be the ones that at least allude to the real world, though.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:06 (nineteen years ago)

I don't really know what point I'm arguing any more, probably time for bed.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

I hate most Bond movies. I like Connery, because I can see that it's kind-of of its time, but other than that... Bond movies really feel OUT of their time. They feel dated and geeky and sexist and all-around awful, even for the years in which they were made. Especially Roger Moore.

I welcome a Bond movie that I might be able to watch and not cringe.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:11 (nineteen years ago)

Did anyone EVER believe that Roger Moore could kick anyone's ass? Or had the franchise by that point totally given itself over to the idea that all 007 had to be was good-looking, no matter how mannerless and spindly?

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:15 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, come on. Roger Moore can take a punch from Jaws, much less many. These are some of the silliest movies EVER.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:18 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, it is an utterly and inherently ridiculous series of films. I think that many (including myself) have a degree of uncritical love for them instilled in childhood. The strange alchemy of a bloke in a tux leaping off something while that theme tune plays never fails to stir something in me.

I was never that fond of Moore, though.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:24 (nineteen years ago)

I have a weird affection, too.

― dutch girls must be punished for having big boobs (kenan), Saturday, 18 November 2006 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

i liked this one ok. defintely better than the last few Brosnan flicks (i liked Goldeneye)!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 18 November 2006 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

Quite a good movie, to be honest. And Daniel Craig's Bond is a badass man...even more so than Craig in Layer Cake. Well...maybe not yet. But his Bond is pretty damn cool.

And all the shots of Lake Cuomo were amazing.

― B.L.A.M. (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Saturday, 18 November 2006 06:27 (nineteen years ago)

Just got back from seeing it at Grauman's Chinese with a full theater... Details to follow

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 18 November 2006 07:06 (nineteen years ago)

Just got back from seeing it in Tupelo, in a theater maybe 20% full (though the 7:30 show did sell out)...no details to follow, but I did like it.

― Django Blowhardt (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 18 November 2006 07:34 (nineteen years ago)

For once we have a Bond who won't sit around and wait for the Evil Villian to outline every detail of his plan, Craig's Bond would just shoot the bloody bastard, but not before taking out henchmen, random machinery, and the foundations of the building just to make sure. Bond is indeed badass but instead of merely aping the previous Bonds, Craig plays him as Steve McQueen-by-way-of-Universal Exports (disco violence upthread is SO OTM). It works well: the things that Craig was being criticized for early on (he's blonde! he's not like Connery!) are advantages - it genuinely seems like a fresh take on the character with just a sufficient enough familarity.

So on the ConneryMoore axis, Craig picks a little from everyone - most importantly, the what-the-hell sense of humor that Connery had. Stuff blows up, there's millions of dollars on the table, what the heck... enjoy it!

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 18 November 2006 07:45 (nineteen years ago)

Other things I liked...

- Actual SPYING AND SECRET AGENT STUFF. Bond actually has to work without having the entire plot of the movie (An evil villian has Something Bad and wants money, power, etc.) delivered to him at the office.

- Outrageousness over absurdity. It's a James Bond movie! It's supposed to be ridiculous and outrageous, but within a certain range of tolerances. The action in CR is over-the-top, but there's no invisible car, Bond jumping after a falling plane, etc.

- The opening title graphics. Cool enough to offset the anonymous Chris Cornell song.

- A relative lack of product placement. Yeah, there's Sony stuff everywhere, but I probably see more Vaios in local coffee bars than I did in CR.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 18 November 2006 08:00 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, Felix Leiter is *still* the Outclassed CIA Guy.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 18 November 2006 08:08 (nineteen years ago)

saw this last night.

thought it was a brilliant action flick. probably my favorite straight-up action film (not that there are many anymore) since bourne identity.

craig was just fantastic i thought, kept enough of what i liked about old bond films but dispensing with all the ho-ho-ho smarmy smug shit.

the opening action sequence was pretty breathtaking i thought.

yeah, overall, way better than i had hoped.

― M@tt He1geson: Sassy and I Don't Care Who Knows It (Matt Helgeson), Saturday, 18 November 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

i really liked this movie.

and the poker thing makes 100% sense.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 18 November 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

wikipedia:
"In casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, this version of baccarat [ie Punto Banco or North American Baccarat] is usually played in special rooms separated from the main gaming floor, ostensibly to provide an extra measure of privacy and security because of the high stakes often involved... Baccarat Chemin de Fer is the game of choice of Ian Fleming's secret agent creation, James Bond. ]

(the subtle difference between the two IS too dreary to explain -- but the rules they share, which is all you'd need, take abt 1 second to explain = highest sum of cards wins; face cards are worth 0; if yr cards or any subgroup thereof sum to ten (or 20) then you count that sum as zero; hence hightest possible score is 9)

the purpose in the book -- i think -- of the setting being such a highly arcane world is that it's contra expectations for EITHER side (i.e. a soviet agent OR any kind of spy really!) to be this good as such a conspicuous-consumption kind of a thing

the dynamic of the book is that at the start bond is very jaded and disillusioned about his job -- he's getting to feel that there's no difference between his side and theirs; that the entire job is m absurd charade, which he's good at but sick of (with fleming's added joke i think that actually bond is really NOT that good at it, just enormously arrogant ... see above)

by the end he is angry and worldsick and vengeful and humiliated and -- i think -- thrown back into cynical commitment once more (ie the joke HERE is that what catapults him back into being the old full-on anti-SMERSH bond is, again see above, the heartbreaking honour of one SMERSH agent and the casual lifesaving decency of another)

it's such a great book!

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 18 November 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

so what are they going to do next? haven't they run out of fleming books and stories? will they start remaking the canonical films?

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 18 November 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, they ran out of Fleming titles a while back - all the Brosnans have made-up names, I think.

― chap who would dare to welcome our new stingray masters (chap), Saturday, 18 November 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Next one is "Taking Sides: Bond vs. Smersh FITE"

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 18 November 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

he has been on the same side as SMERSH since he first encountered blofeld! (ie official superpowers combine to combat master criminal running undersea -- or in-volcano -- rogue state)

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 18 November 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

God I loved this movie. I generally despise this trend of making pop action movies 2 1/2 hours long, but the length was perfectly justified here. It almost felt lean. And the odd structure worked too. The third act ends, and then the film continues for another 20 minutes or so. Unusual, but it really solidified this as a James Bond character piece, which hit me just right. I've never had any sort of emotional attachment to a 007 film before. Blondie and hot naked girl from "The Dreamers" totally sold this.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Saturday, 18 November 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

i still though 2.5 hours was too long

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 18 November 2006 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

cosmo on the moneypenny about the connection between Bond and Vesper. First time I've ever seen what I thought was real chemistry in a 007 pic. Although I guess the point of that was so she could later betray him, then die, then finally turn out to actually have sacrificed herself for him and thus we see the origin of the steely sexual-user persona.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 19 November 2006 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, they ran out of Fleming titles a while back - all the Brosnans have made-up names, I think.

Goldeneye was the name of Fleming's estate in Jamaica and "The World Is Not Enough" was the Bond family motto (as revealed in OHMSS)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 19 November 2006 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

"Steve McQueen-by-way-of-Universal Exports"
OTM

I loved the film, but I wonder how long they can keep up the Fleming-era bad guys. Our modern lot have no class, hiding in caves and using low-tech equipment. Drilling holes in mountains, that's what you want.

― stet (stet), Sunday, 19 November 2006 00:35 (nineteen years ago)

So did anyone else notice that Craig was... uh... packing a weapon of significant caliber? Or was I imagining things? In any case: Hottest. Bond. Ever.

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Sunday, 19 November 2006 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

The title graphics were my favorite of any bond movie opening I've ever seen, especially the men falling apart into shapes when they were shot and the heart lines from the guns. Beautiful. I was highly disappointed in Vesper's evening wear, though. Actually, the only outfit on her that I really liked was the red dress she wore in Venice. The first Bond movie I ever saw in a movie theater that I really enjoyed, though, so not too bad.

― lyra (lyra), Sunday, 19 November 2006 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

He traded in the PPK for a .357 Magnum, Elmo?

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 19 November 2006 02:21 (nineteen years ago)

So did anyone else notice that Craig was... uh... packing a weapon of significant caliber? Or was I imagining things? In any case: Hottest. Bond. Ever.

-- elmo argonaut (elmo.oxyge...), November 18th, 2006 6:57 PM. (allocryptic) (later) (link)

...pushing a basket?

― gbx (skowly), Sunday, 19 November 2006 02:27 (nineteen years ago)

Yes. Pushing a basket. A veritable grocery groin, one might say.

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Sunday, 19 November 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

So did anyone else notice that Craig was... uh... packing a weapon of significant caliber?

I didn't notice anything in the scenes of him walking out of the ocean (I was too busy cursing his flat abs), but yeah, in the scene with M in Jamaica? Yeah.

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 19 November 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

that's really OTM re: the McQueen comparison. Dude's got that same combo of non-trad good looks and raw charisma. I don't know why anyone would prefer Brosnan over this guy.

― gear (gear), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:11 (nineteen years ago)

craignotbond.com has been closed for awhile too, from what i hear.

― gear (gear), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

craig has had his cock out in a number of films i think.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:22 (nineteen years ago)

he certainly gets it out in "Love Is The Devil".

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:25 (nineteen years ago)

NSFW COCK

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

damn that was supposed to be a link.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

NSFW COCK! http://rjr10036.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/danielcraignaked03.jpg

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

This movie was great. It's gotta be my favorite Bond to come out since I was old enough to pay attention (ca. License to Kill).

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 19 November 2006 03:56 (nineteen years ago)

1. Daniel Craig is the best bond since Connery, no surprises there.
2. Obv this Bond spent many years mastering the Sony-Ericcson user interface. There are more cell phones in this movie than there are guns. He should just turn around and txt msg the camera in the intro instead of shooting it. Where the antagonists used to run out of bullets, they now find themselves "Searching..."
3. I wonder how Mr. M deals with pretending he doesn't sleep three feet away from a pop-up computer terminal that gives you access to all of MI5's dirty secrets and requires no authentication
4. For about thirty minutes I thought Bond was going to start making friends with animals and open his own jetski rental shop or some such shit. ATTENTION 007, QUIT FAFFING ABOUT WITH ANGEL TITS AND SHOOT SOMEONE. PLEASE. GOD.
5. Music was crap. Not just the theme tune. John Barry's tremendous contribution to the sound of awesome shit happening does not need updating with half-assed breakbeats or whatever. It needs to be big bold diminished chord vamps even louder than the machineguns and anything else is a waste of everyone's time. There are some things that are not broken; stop fixing them for fuck's sake.
6. Beginning: construction site smashup. End: same thing. This is broken; fix THAT.
7. I love that when he gets in scraps he now has to actually wear bandages and keeps cuts on his face for more than one scene. This DEFINITELY works for Daniel Craig, too, since he kind of looks like he's gotten in a fistfight every day since he was eleven anyway.
8. I know that Bond is a sociopathic narcissist. It is completely unnecessary to have he and his female companion discuss this fact. This is the 21st official Bond film; it's all well and good to fill out the backstory on this violent too-cool-for-the-room douchebag, but talking about how egocentric and reckless he is like, I don't know, those echo chamber threads where everybody's in a race to tell the world that war is bad.
9. I did like the backstory of Bond being a scholarship kid at Oxford and developing his utter contempt for rich fuckbags as a result. It was like when Ridley Scott finally just told the world that Deckard was a replicant.
10. Borat should be the next villain.

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Sunday, 19 November 2006 04:04 (nineteen years ago)

hot naked girl from "The Dreamers"

Ah, thanks. I swear I sat through the whole movie thinking "Where the HELL do I know her from?" English accent + clothing threw me, I guess.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 19 November 2006 04:56 (nineteen years ago)

10. [edit] Borat should be the head of SMERSH. Kind of like how in Unbreakable, where Bruce Willis + Samuel Jackson are complete polar opposites, destined to cancel each other out, Borat is the hirsute uberincompetent foil in a monstrous neon man-thong to 007's smooth player in navy speedo.

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Sunday, 19 November 2006 06:18 (nineteen years ago)

The romantic interlude was kind of to the end-of-Return-of-the-King-hobbits-faffing level of DO NOT WANT, I was incredibly glad when that ended. Was it really necessary to have 30 minutes (?? at least?) of that? Other than that I have no complaints.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Sunday, 19 November 2006 06:39 (nineteen years ago)

is nobody going to talk about TESTICLE CONKERS!?!?!?

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 19 November 2006 08:17 (nineteen years ago)

> 2. Obv this Bond spent many years mastering the Sony-Ericcson user interface. There are more cell phones in this movie than there are guns. He should just turn around and txt msg the camera in the intro instead of shooting it. Where the antagonists used to run out of bullets, they now find themselves "Searching..."

I actually thought it was funny - at least for those of us stuck on "The Wire" - that this super-sophistimacated international terrorism ring actually has LESS savvy wrt communication hygeine than some West Bawlmer dope slangas.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Sunday, 19 November 2006 10:30 (nineteen years ago)

The reason hold'em is a better game for the film than baccarat is that poker is a game of skil (with a large element of fortune) and baccarat is a game of pure luck. I haven't seen it yet (Richmond Odeon, 2.50 this afternoon, woo!) so I don't know if skill comes into it but the reasoning's sound.

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Sunday, 19 November 2006 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

which scene do they play "The Look of Love" in?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 19 November 2006 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

it was considerate of bond not to close the lid of M's laptop completely and stop all her torrents.

exotica bosom-babe galloping stiff-backed down the beach with little children giddily chasing behind was laugh-out-loud awesome

so much was great

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Sunday, 19 November 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

can't wait to see this.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 19 November 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

Undoubtedly better than the last three, but I don't know if it was any better than Goldeneye (which, satellite laser aside, was no more gimmicky than this one). Definitely pales in comparison to the Bourne films.

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 20 November 2006 00:51 (nineteen years ago)

And the odd structure worked too.

It's from the book. Just saw it and have been avoiding the thread until now. Much said upthread I totally agree with but in sum -- Dalton was the best 'literary' Bond before now but Craig is up there and if the next film is in the same vein will cement it. Too long, totally agree with Ally/Tom that the googie-eyes bits killed the pacing for a bit (not helped by my wanting to hit the restroom BADLY by then), otherwise way the hell better than I expected, a great series reboot. My guess that this was their version of Batman Begins essentially OTM except that this was a better action film than that was.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 00:58 (nineteen years ago)

no more gimmicky than this one

Weakest 'action' part of the film because of gimmicks -- the cardiac arrest part. "Hey, it looks like he's going into cardiac arrest, he has this poison, he ate eggs for breakfast this morning and that mole on his back is flaking." Felt beamed in from another movie and especially jarring given how effective the overexposed bathroom scene right before it was. Necessary for the plot in the end but not in the way it was handled. Still, I'll give it a miss.

The "Military Intelligence" wallpaper made me roffle a bit. Who knew?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

exotica bosom-babe galloping stiff-backed down the beach with little children giddily chasing behind was laugh-out-loud awesome

The Harlequin Romance moment, yes. Or the Billy Ocean video moment if you like. Or Tina Turner.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

The opening title graphics. Cool enough to offset the anonymous Chris Cornell song.

As friend Ben said, 'lounge grunge' -- me in response: "Lunge?"

Definitely did like the way they introduced the 'view down a barrel of a gun' moment this time around -- first time ever they HAVEN'T done that. Also liked how the pre-credits adventure was turned into the post-credits one and given more room to go all over the place with in favor of the quick backstory setup.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

HAVEN'T done that = haven't done that as the opening frames. It was actually kind of surprising not to hear *the* theme in full until the very end credits, but it suits the final line.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

The "Military Intelligence" wallpaper made me roffle a bit. Who knew?

in modern classified environments where everyone has an ESPN/Hotmail terminal next to their UMBRANET and FUBARNET and SUMBITCH.NAVMILK operator consoles, you actually have shit like this, arguably so that you don't accidentally relay the daily blackops anecdotes to yr coworkers via the wrong e-mail server.

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

You know, you put it that way and now I'm not surprised at all.

Most jarring moment -- a FORD? Thank god he traded up as quickly as possible.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

it's such a great book!

Reading this through, I think they encapsulated that as well as they could in this plot.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

I think a many of my quibbles -- the Ford, the love story -- are down to the dissonance between Bond-movie-expectations and it being a reboot. If you grant that he's still naive and falling in love, driving a crap car etc it works a bit better.

Cardiac arrest thing jarred with me too, but then I realised it arguably makes more sense to have a basic albeit high-tech medical kit in your car as opposed to a super-high-tech device that only has one conceivable, and extremely unlikely use (which will pop up in ten minutes). The transmission thing was bollocks tho.

― stet (stet), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

That Ford was pretty hot (for a Ford). Hope they bring it to the states.

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:28 (nineteen years ago)

I realised it arguably makes more sense to have a basic albeit high-tech medical kit in your car

Yeah, that makes sense, I agree.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

Anyway, if you wanted to have real fun with continuity/lack thereof, an easy answer for the purposes of the films: 'James Bond' is always a pseudonym as much as 007; Craig is a relatively newly promoted agent who gets the Bond/007 identity as part of his line of work; we're not stepping back in the current M/Bond timeline so much as creating a new one with a newly attendant dynamic. I refuse to think seriously about this any further lest I end up writing fanfic or worse.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:48 (nineteen years ago)

John Barry's tremendous contribution to the sound of awesome shit happening does not need updating with half-assed breakbeats or whatever.

I admit when I saw David Arnold's name in the credits I winced.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 01:53 (nineteen years ago)

'James Bond' is always a pseudonym as much as 007; Craig is a relatively newly promoted agent who gets the Bond/007 identity as part of his line of work;

James Bond: [to the camera] This never happened to the other fellow.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:17 (nineteen years ago)

Hahahah. George's prime moment.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, Felix Leiter is *still* the Outclassed CIA Guy.

More's the pity -- I didn't even realize that was Jeffrey Wright!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:26 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that guy is a chameleon. I've only seen a few of those, but Basquiat -->Belize-->Felix Leiter is a pretty damn good range. I've also seen Celebrity but don't remember his character.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:32 (nineteen years ago)

The more I look over the IMDB list the more I'm impressed with the range of actors they got in, even if the roles were at points thankless. Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis, Isaach de Bankole is Obanno (the African armed group leader), Jesper Christensen as Mr. White...not quite the ensemble group dynamic of From Russia With Love but still.

Mads Mikkelsen did pretty well as Le Chiffre precisely because of two factors in the script rather than his own pretty good performance: 1) no time wasted on his backstory, 2) carrying over from the book the fact that he's as much under severe pressure as 'in charge.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:37 (nineteen years ago)

I loved how fast his expression changed at the end of the torture scene when dude walked in with the gun.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

(by the way does anybody know enuf about sfx in modern films to offer some kind of explanation as to HOW IN THE HELL they got his eye to leak red Karo?)

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

Bond actually has to work without having the entire plot of the movie (An evil villian has Something Bad and wants money, power, etc.) delivered to him at the office.

I think the last time they did something even close to that was The Living Daylights. Actually there's a series of threads you can run through all the movies that purport to be taking Bond 'back to its roots' pretty clearly -- moral ambiguity, no clarity about who is on what side at many points, and an initial unsureness about what the villain exactly wants (though this can be the case in the canonical classics as well, with Goldfinger being a prime example; Bond only finds out what Goldfinger's exact plan is with about half an hour to go). On Her Majesty's Secret Service *kinda* aims for that mix but the Blofeld stuff gets in the way (I still love that it's Kojak leading SPECTRE), but For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights both went this route, as does this one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:59 (nineteen years ago)

I've only seen a few of those, but Basquiat -->Belize-->Felix Leiter is a pretty damn good range.
I was about to correct you on Basquiat, until I looked at IMDB and GIS to double-check and THE LAWYER FROM SYRIANA WAS BASQUIAT? Yer shittin me!

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 20 November 2006 02:59 (nineteen years ago)

> (by the way does anybody know enuf about sfx in modern films to offer some kind of explanation as to HOW IN THE HELL they got his eye to leak red Karo?)

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Monday, 20 November 2006 07:03 (nineteen years ago)

saw this tonight. tom is correct w/ most assessments.

1. loved the main title sequence, song was...disposable.

Say, when was the last non-disposable title song? The one wot Jarvis sang?

2. pacing in the 3rd act was FUCT. way too many postcard shorts. half an hour too long, too much meta-discussion, didn't get to where we needed to go.

3. we never found out what happened to the blonde chick(Le Chiffre's moll). Normally, whatever arm candy the bond villain has is either converted to Bond's side or dies by the last reel.

4. bond chase scenes always tend to end with the death of whoever he's chasing.

5. Daniel Craig will be a great bond, especially if they keep giving him good scripts.

6. the married chick from the first act uses my old phone: a sony ericcson t637.

7. product placement has been a part of Bond since Goldfinger or before. this time i really noticed the logos popping up in prominent parts of the frame(virgin airlines, louis vuitton, etc).

8. the part i didn't like was where the bad guys from the last part showed up. this could have been handled far better.

9. the poker sequence went far better than i had ever expected. i retract my earlier horror.

10. Le Chiffre at the table looked like McGoohan. The part when the italian guy has to say "Look! It's the Tell!" made me want to scratch out my eyeballs.

11. i hope the next one has Q and Moneypenny, and they keep Felix Leiter.

12. bond villain = cool boat. i found myself being more impressed by the effort to include the cool boat than the cool boat itself.

13. i want one of those "Military Intelligence" backgrounds for my PC

14. the stunts were great, and of an even better level than most brosnan moves. the jumpy jumpy bombmaker reminded me of one of jackie chan's guys.

15. modern times = even the bond chicks have raccoon eyeshadow

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 20 November 2006 07:48 (nineteen years ago)

Bomb-maker dude was Sebastien Foucan, who was one of the guys who started the whole parkour / free running sport. And yeah, it was a great action sequence.

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Monday, 20 November 2006 07:56 (nineteen years ago)

16. i'm not nearly drunk enough

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 20 November 2006 09:07 (nineteen years ago)

*GREAT* and very satisfying movie, but the retro-1997 Flash-player required title sequence was truly awful (even worse than the song) and, as I said before, Craig still looks like an ugly thug, but that's exactly what the movie was trying to say about the character I suppose (Clive Owen would have been even better). I think the NY Times said (in a fairly glowing review) something along the lines of, every age gets the Bond it deserves. Of course it's not just Craig's face, "The job is done and the bitch is dead" would sound merely humorously anachronistic if Connery was saying it in 'Goldfinger', but the line said in spyworld 2006 revels in Bond's ugly brutality.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Monday, 20 November 2006 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

The discussion boards on IMDB have to be read to be believed, makes ILX seem like an oasis of peace and quiet.

I thought Craig was outstanding as Bond, a subtle, nuanced performance which touched at the inner turmoil of the character. Physically he was the part too, he's the only Bond who looks like he actually came from a military background.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 20 November 2006 10:21 (nineteen years ago)

well i woke up thinkin about this movie (OK, i woke up thinkin about vesper)

the getting ready scene in the hotel bathroom, before the big game, may have been my favorite - vesper looking even more gorgeous without her makeup, preparing to fix her face in the mirror, and telling bond, via the mirror, after he's feigned dignified outrage that she's had the temerity to buy a dinner jacket FOR him - "there are dinner jackets and then there are dinner jackets - and this is the latter" and "i'd sized you up the moment i laid eyes on you" - phewEE! and capped with the luxuriously long take of bond trying it on, and looking at HIMself in the mirror, and loving what he sees (shades of the boy who did not come from money, learning how to "pass")

and the equally generous shot just after, of vesper looking at herself in the mirror with an unexplained weariness, trying to rise above her burgeoning interest in this thug, knowing more specifically than bond the way that it would all end badly

xpost: it is said that craig hit the gym for months for precisely that reason, that bond should look like he was fresh from his naval commander days

i'm disappointed in ned's tepid reaction to the baddie, i thought he was EXCELLENT although/because pointedly not, as has been mentioned in the classic bond villain mold: he is not humourless nor consumingly "evil", just a bad man in a bad world - his laughing-despite-himself in the torture scene, his reluctant admiration of bond's grit, was so fantastic

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 20 November 2006 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha oh, also: vesper is a total GOTH HOTTIE!!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 20 November 2006 10:36 (nineteen years ago)

Anyone else a little bit uncomfortable that there was a gratuitous murder in the Bodyworlds Exhibition? Sure they real actual dead bodies signed on to being displayed for the good of science. Not to be in a Bond as a pritty backdrop.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 20 November 2006 10:50 (nineteen years ago)

the guy was a terrible dresser and mean to caterina murino = he deserved to die.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 20 November 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

"The job is done and the bitch is dead" would sound merely humorously anachronistic if Connery was saying it in 'Goldfinger', but the line said in spyworld 2006 revels in Bond's ugly brutality.

It's a paraphrase from the book's final line, FWIW:

"Yes, dammit, I said 'was.' The bitch is dead now."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 13:35 (nineteen years ago)

oh Pete - i didn't understand!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 20 November 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

i'm disappointed in ned's tepid reaction to the baddie, i thought he was EXCELLENT

Well, I think he's unavoidably overshadowed by the focus on Craig's debut -- understandable for a lot of reasons (in comparison I think the villains in the next two will get greater attention by default). I'm not saying Mikkelsen did terribly; rather I think that the filmmakers had to make sure he ended up not rivalling Craig in terms of dominating the film, and the story and script helped there. He is exactly "just a bad man in a bad world" -- that's how the book had him and that's how the script carried him over, and the fact that Mikkelsen played him at that level is to his credit.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

Anyone else a little bit uncomfortable that there was a gratuitous murder in the Bodyworlds Exhibition?

It was a bit jarring. Arguably though the whole idea of the exhibit was 'public' display, period. (I would have been much more surprised if there had been some sort of fight scene in there that involved knocking the figures down!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

Who was the guy playing the chap who was trying to blow up the plane? I can't remember a character name to IMDB it.

― Pandas At War (pandas at war), Monday, 20 November 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

Claudio Santamaria

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

thanks. looking him up there's only Besieged that I could remember him from. weird.

― Pandas At War (pandas at war), Monday, 20 November 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

The one wot Jarvis sang?

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not even sure what I'm UHing more, the idea that that was a good Pulp song or the idea that the Bond franchise did not, actually, cut the song and use an equally terrible Sheryl Crow song instead. :\

Still both songs better than that Chris Cornell song. Jesus, who dusted him off?

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

That Chris Cornell song, Jesus H. I was imagining him singing "Rusty Cage" and "Black Hole Sun" all smoothed out during that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

I recognized the Swiss banker guy as the driving dude from Run Lola Run, the one who comes to meet with the dad.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

They should get Ruben Studdard to do the next one

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.delafont.com/music_acts/Music_Images/r-studdard.jpg
and he STRIKES!!!! (babadabaBUM!) LIKE THUUUUUUUNNNNNNNDAABAAAAAWWWWWWWLLLL

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

:-D

Clay Aiken can remake "All Time High" or something.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

I enjoyed it, Craig was good but 2 things: he talks in his boots and I completely missed at least 2 lines of dialogue - when a film moves that fast I don't want to be wondering what's been said.. ANNUNCIATE lad. and I agree the theme song was crap.

― Pandas At War (pandas at war), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

he talks in his boots
He whats?

― stet (stet), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

deep/low voice...!

― Pandas At War (pandas at war), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

ANNUNCIATE lad

Ah right, the Feast of the Enunciation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

Clay Aiken can remake "All Time High" or something.

The sad thing is that this would still be a thousand times better than the Chris Cornell abomination.

― Beth S. (Ex Leon), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

Pulp's cover of All Time High: ALSO TERRIBLE. What is with a band that makes nothing but Bond tunes striking out like A-Rod in the post-season with their actual Bond songs???

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

whatever, Bodyworlds is a freakin' travelling circus that's been making big $$$ everywhere on ticket sales. it's all just curious people coming to check it out (not that i have a problem w/that but jeez let's not get all huffy abt it)

― M@tt He1geson: Sassy and I Don't Care Who Knows It (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

I would also like to say I had no trouble understanding Daniel Craig perfectly well.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

The sad thing is that this would still be a thousand times better than the Chris Cornell abomination.

Billy Dods on the ILM Bond theme thread just said that song and the opening credits sequence work perfectly together -- which I'd have to agree with since I didn't think much of the credit sequence either!

I think I missed one Craig line but otherwise perfectly understandable.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

What is with a band that makes nothing but Bond tunes striking out like A-Rod in the post-season with their actual Bond songs???

I always loved the weirdness in how "I Spy" ended up on the soundtrack to the first Mission: Impossible movie. Which is doubly ridiculous because now that I think about it that song's a PERFECT one to be sung from the point of view of Craig's Bond! (Seducing wives, loathing the upper class...)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

What is with a band that makes nothing but Bond tunes striking out like A-Rod in the post-season with their actual Bond songs???

They're like the Tigers in the World Series in this respect.

― Beth S. (Ex Leon), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

NED, YOU ONLY JUST THOUGHT OF THAT??????????????????????

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE.

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

Uh? (I said *Craig's* Bond, not anyone else's. It certainly wouldn't the fuck be Pierce Goddamn Brosnan's!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, what I meant was it compliments the pre-titles sequence where Bond goes on his first kills. The title sequence itself I think is a pretty smart realignment of the franchise. The lack of willowy dancing girls neatly echoes the film itself, less playful and more business like.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Pierce Brosnan's Bond wasn't a Bond in my opinion, but I think you'd have to be completely retarded to think that Connery's Bond didn't echo that sentiment quite frequently. There was no need to explicitly state the fact in Casino Royale, it was just something that came through. It's not the character's fault that some douchebags thought Pierce Brosnan was a good idea (I'm just going to go ahead and start by saying "for example, his parents").

― Allyzay Eisenschefter (allyzay), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:34 (nineteen years ago)

Roffle. (You're right about Connery, true.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

dudes the opening credits looked like a bum Flash animation

― DOCTOR METH KING (TOMBOT), Monday, 20 November 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

Tombot's right, I thought some of the visual elements of the title sequence were clever, but make no mistake, it's already dated.

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Monday, 20 November 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

i sort of half-expected one of the fighting silhouettes to start rockin out with a iPod

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 20 November 2006 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the silhouettes were kind of skewed/blocky at points in some sort of Saul Bass homage, but I might have been imagining it.

― mh. (mike h.), Monday, 20 November 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha nice one TCM: "Loosely based on the 1967 farce of the same name."

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 00:59 (nineteen years ago)

While I enjoyed the movie for the most part, there is one plot point I had some trouble swallowing. If Vesper was needed alive to reveal the account number to the bad guys, why did they leave her bound in the middle of the road while Bond was racing after them?

― Binjominia (Brilhante), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

Different set of bad guys. (Le Chiffre's versus Mr. White's)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 04:13 (nineteen years ago)

the point about the title sequence.. for the first time (as far as i know) it wasn't "tales of the unexpected" style ladies, but all blokes..

― Pandas At War (pandas at war), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

I heep forgetting that Daniel Craig played Francis Bacon's rough-trade muse/lover in Love Is the Devil -- good film.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to see this in an hour, will need to nip out to woolies shortly for some pick and mix.

― leigh (leigh), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

for the first time (as far as i know) it wasn't "tales of the unexpected" style ladies, but all blokes

I was thinking that as well! The sole remarkable point about it, I think.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

Have we talked about the cameos? There was Richard Branson going through airport security, and far more pleasant, Alessandra Ambrosio (probably the most beautiful woman in the world) in tennis apparel, checking out 007 even though he drives a Ford Mondeo (which actually looked cool, if a bit out of place). Any others I'm forgetting?

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Tuesday, 21 November 2006 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Oops -- on my answering machine just now, my mom, saying about how she and dad saw the film and loved it. (No surprise there.) But then she says:

"Tell me about this Chris Cornell guy. I've never heard of him!"

This will be an interesting conversation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

(Stolen from my own post on another board)

I had yet to find anything to complain about - at length anyway - after watching CR. I felt the Astons could've been utilised more and I did wonder how well Clive Owen would've done. Despite having never read any of the books, I can see Daniel as a very good approximation of Bond as Fleming intended him, much like Tim Dalton was. While DC doesn't have TD's looks, he has more of an edge and doesn't have the slight look of discomfort I sometimes got from watching TD in his two flicks.

However, Sean is still king. Granted, Daniel's playing a fairly different Bond altogether, not to mention for a different time, and it's really up to the next 2 films for DC to portray the Bond we actually know effectively, but he wasn't truly playing the same 007 as the others were and until he does, I wouldn't quite judge him on their criteria.

Havin' said that, I definitely enjoyed it and the strip-down/delayed introduction of Bond's characteristics really gave a lot of effect to conveying his job - a glorified hitman and point-and-click problem solver for MI6 - what makes him special is his gift of being ultra-adaptable to missions and in situations, which I personally think is as much a defining trait of his as the catchphrases. The real trick is not just overcoming Connery, but also From Russia With Love, which is still the pinnacle of 007-ness.

Also: EVA GREEN (never more beautiful than when applying her make-up in the bathroom - the minimal approach clearly works for her too!)

― Badrock Example (Barima), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

Ally: "Pierce Brosnan's Bond wasn't a Bond in my opinion."

Dead right. I was never convinced by Brosnan, and his films were just washed-out, synthetic pastiches of the real thing.

My thoughts on Casino Royale:

Craig was excellent.... another film and he'll be the best Bond ever.

Bollock-torture scene was discreetly done and still incredibly daring.

Eva Green was very good but she wasn't quite "Diana Rigg enough" for me to buy into the Bond/Vesper love story.

Overall, I think the casual Bond film viewer won't like the lack of a true central villain, they could've cut about fifteen minutes from the running time but several scenes were just breathtaking.

Not quite the best but better than any Moore, Dalton or Brosnan film. Definite top five material. OHMSS still my all-time favourite Bond film.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

The real trick is not just overcoming Connery, but also From Russia With Love, which is still the pinnacle of 007-ness.

Yup. But if they're smart they can find a way to get there.

Turns out my mom knew who Soundgarden and Audioslave were, which honestly surprised me. Therefore explaining Chris Cornell was easy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

I think to say that Pierce Brosnan wasn't Bond is kind of odd. In many ways, he was born to play Bond and I think he would have done just fine in a better film (I still LOVE 'Goldeneye' too).

The only problem with the Aston Martin was the interior. The diamond shaped suede stitching and suede dash are a little too precious for Bond.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Born to play a Roger Moore-style Bond, yes. He *might* have been able to pull off a For Your Eyes Only equivalent, but it wouldn't have been Casino Royale as filmed.

Craig in a much tougher Goldeneye vs. Sean Bean, hmm...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

I find this Brosnan revisionism to be distasteful. He was a great Bond (and not as consciously as campy as Moore) even if the films were ridiculous.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know why everything has to be SO much tougher these days.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

haha i almost forgot to mention how amazing the shower scene was! this girl is truly shaken by what she has just seen and overcome with fear about - well EVERYTHING: almost dying, the reality of what her boyfriend is going through, her growing interest in bond and knowing the betrayal that lies (lays?) ahead; she is shattered.

and bond sits down with her, gives her a big shoulder to lean on. so touching. and then - starts sucking on her fingers??! he is totally emotionally INEPT. "chicks always dig it when i suck on their fingers... so uh that oughtta do the trick amirite?"

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

Good stuff. The problem with the "Bond franchise" is that it's not really a Bond franchise at all, it's a "Sean Connery franchise". With Craig, though, the Connery comparisons become meaningless, because he's effectively playing a different character -- much more in the Hammett hard-boiled tradition than the rakish Bulldog Drummond/Hannay "super-spy" type.

I love Pierce, but he was rub as Bond. The main frustration is that he could've done better. He's much more assured (and Bond-ian) in Thomas Crown and the Tailor of Panama. But he's a bit of a milquetoast in the Bond movies.

Also, I'm really glad Clive Owen didn't get it. Horrible actor!

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

clive owen is okay but like pierce brosnan he's too obvious a pick in some ways, plus i think a lot of people wanted him for the role because he wore a tux in 'croupier'. the great thing about sean connery is he doesn't fit the smarmy-slick bond mold as personified by moore and brosnan, which is why craig is an awesome pick.

i can't believe people were talking about hugh jackman as bond at one point.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

Gear: there was weirder.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

I thought Chow Yun-Fat was the most interesting contender, but apparently he's too smooth and not ugly enough to play James Bond!

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

The finger sucking was about how she had blood on her hands and couldn't get it off, right?

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I thought it was tender. Water wouldn't get the blood off, but saliva would.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Also, licking wounds etc etc.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

There were serious rumours about Robbie Williams at one point too, were there not? Ornaldo Bloomps would have been fantastic in comparison (actually, no, they'd both have been horrendous).

I *liked* Pierce Brosnan. I've never read the books, but he looked good and camped it up in some of the campest Bond films, so yeah, horses for courses, he was the best actor for those films. Imagine someone playing them for serious, ugh.

However, Daniel Craig was marvellous. As was the film. And you lot whinging about Chris Cornell just because he's Chris Cornell, get over yourselves. As a "Bond theme" (and let's face it, there *is* a genre of that), it pissed all over, say, Die Another Day. You listened to that Cornell song alongside the credits which were great and stylish and retro enough for a revisitation of the start of Bond's career but without the wavey women, and the whole thing just screamed "HELLO!! THIS IS A BOND MOVIE"!!! Is that not all one wants from a Bond theme?

(note, I never need to hear it again in my life out of context, but it worked perfectly fine where it was for what it was)

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

xp - that scene was markedly better than Eva Green's other cinematic 'blood on the hands' moment.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

uh guys she didn't have blood on her hands, she was going sorta loco right then.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

it pissed all over, say, Die Another Day

I couldn't disagree more.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

The Cornell was horrendous...truly awful.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

I liked it *in context*. That doesn't mean I like it.

Die Another Day I liked out of context. In context, urgh.

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

meanwhile, let's hear an amusing review from the guys who didn't like Judi Dench upthread, with their amusing mix of disdain for both the "vapid 90’s feminist-Amazon warrior"(i.e. Michelle Yeoh) AND the low culture of the masses and their teen-aged, misogynistic, multiplex-going ways.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

Just watched this, thought it was fabulous. Craig is a truly great Bond, he's rekindled my love for the franchise.

There was Richard Branson going through airport security,

er, wasn't it a cardboard cut out? something to do with virgin airlines

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

I really thought it was him! They don't usually have humorous cardboard cutouts in the metal detectors, do they?

uh guys she didn't have blood on her hands, she was going sorta loco right then.

I distinctly remember her saying the blood wouldn't all come off even though she had been in the shower all that time, but perhaps your post is also metaphoric!

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:22 (nineteen years ago)

At least I'm 1000% sure it was Alessandra Ambrosio.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:22 (nineteen years ago)

no you're right it was him, i just checked. maybe my error is a reflection on his acting ability, lol

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

uh guys she didn't have blood on her hands, she was going sorta loco right then.
Right, but that doesn't alter what I said. She had 'blood on her hands,' he 'cleaned it off.' It wasn't Bond being 'emotionally inept' - he was making a funny, dude.

― milo z (mlp), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

just saw this, quite possibly the best ever bond film. definitely the best in a long, long time. and the credits were cool! the song sucked, sure, but no biggie. but yeah "casino royale" is what the franchise has needed for a long, long time (and i think it's better than the bourne films, matt damon just isn't all that convincing to me) (tho the trailer for the "the good shepherd" looked pretty cool, maybe i'll see that).

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 23 November 2006 08:12 (nineteen years ago)

OK milo, the next time you're having a nervous breakdown i will remember to solemnly suck your fingers!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:26 (nineteen years ago)

I remeber reading about a leaked memo describing Jackman as "too fey" for Bond (and some other dismissals of well-known actuhs.

Read yet another "Could Bond be black?" piece in the Grauniad the other day, the issue being the difficulty in reconciling Bond being black and British in a way that suggested the writer may have never met the likes of me ;-).

I remember when Pierce stopped compensating for the shortcomings of his movies, which was right around The World Is Not Enough. Did anyone besides me enjoy The Matador, btw?

― Badrock Example (Barima), Thursday, 23 November 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

B4rim4 for Bond!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 November 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

Actually that's a pretty good idea. Also, Ailsa is absolutely OTM about 20 posts ago.

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Thursday, 23 November 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

Dudes, I wasn't fishing for support, but thanks for real (quite like the idea of playing Doctor Who actually). There was a lot of talk about grooming Colin Salmon for the role (he has a kind of black approximation of Connery's physicality) after he'd been knocking around as Robinson in the background of the last 3 Brosnan flicks. Nothing to stop 'em using him as 008 or something.

I wasn't a fan of the Cornell, but on reflection, think it could've been aces if a woman (Bjork!) sung it.

― Badrock Example (Barima), Thursday, 23 November 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

"YooooOOOOOuuuu KNOW my NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME..."

Hm, I can hear that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 November 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

also of note: the rocky trailer got lots of roffles.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 23 November 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

how could it not?

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Thursday, 23 November 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

good question. but i don't think that was what the filmmakers were hoping for.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 23 November 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god, I had successfully forgotten about that until now. Thanks!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 November 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

Stallone looked like a pickled pig's foot.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Thursday, 23 November 2006 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bond!

― gear (gear), Thursday, 23 November 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bond!

― gear (gear), Thursday, 23 November 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I was gunna say, Colin Salmon is pretty much the first guy comes to mind as a black Bond...

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 23 November 2006 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I was gunna say, Colin Salmon is pretty much the first guy comes to mind as a black Bond...

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 23 November 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bond!

Duuuuuude.

Russian girl from The Good Thief as Bond Girl.
Directed by Doug Liman.

I'm there.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 24 November 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

Finally got round to seeingt this. thank you Orange 2 4 1.

Supoib. Absolutely nothing to complain about apart from the titles which I thought were a bit Catch Me if You Can silliness rather than Maurice Binder's dancing girl glamour. I assume they decided dancing girls to be too tacky for the new Bond. Fair enuff.

Some wonderful scenes and Vesper ispossibly the most beautiful Bond girl ever, as well as the most convincing relationship. is it the first time Bond has ever said "I love you"?

The action was wicked and did not miss the silly explosions at all. Long but not too long. I wanna see it again already.

― uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

I've seen it twice. Gonna read the book now, I've only read From Russia and Dr. No before.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, ilx has actually been down since before I saw this. Anyway, it's terrific and I'm now entirely less certain that Bauer could take Bond.

― chap (chap), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

Read the book over the weekend. Fun. Economical. Lots of recurring descriptive stuff, everything is "ironical", "incurious" or "distrait". Over the top misogyny, of course. I'll just quote this bit:

"And now he knew that she was profoundly, excitingly sensual, but that the conquest of her body, because of the central privacy in her, would each time have the sweet tang of rape."

lol Ian Fleming wtf

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

the sweet tang of rape

yes

― ‘•’u (gear), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

Yup, sounds like him.

Movie has now made around the same amount worldwide as Die Another Day, which was a huge hit = odds are very unlikely they'll ease back on the style and approach in this one for the next film. Good thing too.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 01:46 (nineteen years ago)

I was surprised to find out exactly how much stuff they added to the movie. They could have done a straight adaptation of the book in about 90 minutes. The book starts in Casino Royale, with a quick two chapter flashback of the mission breifing, and the post-torture recovery stuff goes down just with Vesper gobbling a bunch of pills because she was a double agent without getting into any big action sequence over it.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

Yup. It was actually a fairly good stitch-job, actually.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

actually it must have been or I wouldn't have actually seen it twice, actually

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

Hahahah, good catch.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:04 (nineteen years ago)

Nah, I agree. I'm trying to think of another book to movie adaption that added more than it took away and whether or not it worked.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:05 (nineteen years ago)

Blade Runner

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:11 (nineteen years ago)

well, that took a lot out. hmm...

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:12 (nineteen years ago)

It was so great when Bond went all hey kool aid through a wall

― A B C (sparklecock), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 02:49 (nineteen years ago)

they could have cut all the mushy stuff.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 09:14 (nineteen years ago)

I'm on Joe Haldeman's(sci-fi author, most notably _Forever War_) listserv, and this was his take on movie vs book:

Finished _Casino Royale_ and found it was fascinating to compare the movie with the book; what they say about popular culture changing -- but more than that, instructive about the differences in storytelling in the two mediums. The torture scene in the movie is straight from the book (and could not have been filmed at the time), but many plot points were shifted or expressed metaphorically, and two important characters were profoundly changed, but not without regard to the integrity of the story.
A case in point is the basic plot turn, a casino card game. In the book it's baccarat, unfamiliar to most readers and thus explained fairly meticulously. Rather than slow down the movie, they used tournament-style Texas Hold-'em, and explained nothing.
The difference in believability is profound. A large amount of money has to be bet and lost, so in the poker game it's done with a combination of bluffing and absolutely unbelievable luck -- you'd have to play for years, a lifetime, for those hands to come up.
But the only way to win a huge pile in baccarat is to bet a huge pile and wait for the cards to fall. It changes the psychology in an important way, because nobody can bluff. I think the technical term is "balls to the wall."
Of course the role of coincidence is different in movies. Impossible poker hands in a book make me put the book away. But movies treat reality differently: that guy _does_ have a royal flush. I can see it.
I think the book's story is better. The characters have to be viewed with a bit of a filter, allowing for the half century that's passed. Women are primarily sexual commodities to Bond and the Soviets are out to conquer the world, preferably with evil tools. But after almost being tortured to death by a monster, Bond has an extended epiphany where he realizes that he is no less monstrous -- that his "license to kill" is permission to perform psychotic acts for God and Crown. The earlier Bond movies had a touch of that, and so does this latest, but the middle ones feature a denatured hero with a killing smirk...

I like the bit about the cards.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

I just saw this movie on Saturday. It was fucking out of control. I loved it. (The torture scene was a little YEOUCH though.)

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

I want to see this again just for the opening chase.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

they used tournament-style Texas Hold-'em, and explained nothing

Actually, one of the worse bits of the movie was that guy explaining all the hands to Vespa just to clue in the noobs in the audience.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

VESPER

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

I know, Dan. It was a scooter joke.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.iweb.cz/~vecer/fotky/spac/vesdot2u.jpg

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

"Actually, one of the worse bits of the movie was that guy explaining all the hands to Vespa just to clue in the noobs in the audience."

As a n00b, I aappreciated that part, although in storytelling terms it was dead as a canned sardine.

― Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy. (Austin, Still), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

lolz

Daniel Craig was EASILY the menacing Bond on film to date.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Yeah, I just thought it could've been written better. It's a really good film, but the length of it made me a bit nitpicky at times.

Craig is undoubtedly best Bond evah. Fleming would've approved.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

(Except he'd have wanted him to be a bit more rapey or something.)

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

sweet tang of rape

ewww

― latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

rape of sweet tang

― latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

sweet grape tang

― latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Daniel Craig was EASILY the menacing Bond on film to date.

I like how he seduced horse woman by just staring at her in an intense, neanderthal manner.

― chap (chap), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

At least he ordered her some caviar before ditching her and leaving her to certain death. Now that's class.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 02:14 (nineteen years ago)

I have to tell this story here...

Right after they announced that Craig was to be the new Bond, I rented "Layer Cake" and watched it twice in a row, back to back. Loved it. I then went out and bought the first two books - Casino Royale and Live and Let Die. Upon finishing Casino Royale at the office on a SLOW day of work, I walked home, and found myself (as often happend around that time) in a bar where I knew the bartenders quite well. I propositioned them to make me the Vesper, which they did. And then followed it by three more. Add on top of that a rather enourmous dinner, and I was feeling absolutely no pain whatsoever. I walked home. After a botched attempt to speak to a lost Moroccan in French, I made my way up my street to my apartment and sit down on the couch to begin reading "Live and Let Die." I made it about two pages in, and pass out with the book in my lap. About an hour later, or so I'm told, my brother and his girlfriend-at-the-time come home (he was staying with me then). I carried on a lucid, but drunk conversation with them as the dropped off some stuff and got ready to go out. As they were leaving, I whispered to my brother "You hhhaaaaffff to khilll hhherrrr....Ssssheesh an enemy agshent..."

Translation: " You have to kill her. She's an enemy agent. "

I no longer drink martinis.

― B.L.A.M. (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

But do you look like Daniel Craig?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

hahahaha awesome. x-post

btw, I picked up a huge stack of Fleming at a used book shop for about $26 the other day, including a $6 hardcover with Live and Let Die, Moonraker and Diamonds Are Forever.

The other paperbacks are: For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Octopussy, another copy of Casino Royale for a friend who saw the movie with me but hasn't read it, and some weird 1965 Bond overview called 007 James Bond: A Report by O.F. Snelling.

Also scored a hardcover first edition of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for $4.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 04:18 (nineteen years ago)

i did think this was one of the best bond films, but i'm torn as to whether it needed more plausibility or less.

the whole mission -- win money off terrorist banker -- doesn't make sense. why not just kill the banker and seize his assets?

which is fine only they try to give bond human emotions and stuff. i like that bond rescues le chiffre from the african guys.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:19 (nineteen years ago)

They don't kill the banker because they want him to narc on his customers.

― 31g (31g), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:23 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah. still could they not just put him in a plane and get some friendly dictatorship to torture the info out of him a la the real world?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:26 (nineteen years ago)

Le Chiffre doesn't seem like the kind of guy who makes his assets very seizable.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 10:47 (nineteen years ago)

yeah you're right, sending one of your guys to win it from him in a game of texas holdem was the only way.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

when i think about this movie i get stuck on vesper's choking accent. why not make her an EU functionary and let eva green speak in frenchy angleesh like the whole world wanted her to?

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

P.S. I am wanking as I write this.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 26 January 2007 10:02 (nineteen years ago)

i didn't know her mum was in 'masculin feminin' though. that kind of takes it to the next level. everyone was on about garrel pere's film background, but green's is almost equally cool.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 26 January 2007 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

Did you feel that it was ungallant of Craig to have bigger boobs than you?

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, I can't believe they wanted her to get undressed for that scene! It would have ruined the dramatic impact (altho granted it would also have been awesome).

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Friday, 26 January 2007 13:26 (nineteen years ago)

god damn it all to hell she is gorgeous.

writer comes off like a total loser.

― geoff (gcannon), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't seen Black Dahlia, but did they mean she would have had Hilary Swank's part? I might have gone if she was in it.

I didn't know you're supposed to pronounce it Eva GRIN, either.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

i think it's more like eva GREN.

at least she maybe looks a little more like that dead girl.

― roger goodell (gear), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

no idea she was french!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure I hear how grin sounds different from gren. But grin is a word.

Latebloomer you never saw the Dreamers?

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

Her mother NSFW, but it's the only one I see where she's young.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

I wish I hadn't seen the Dreamers.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry mom, daughter's hotter
x-post

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

i don't watch Bertolucci films. i post on ilx talking about my nipples and eat soup out of cans.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

Dreamers is better if you can tune out everything Michael Pitt says.

Anyway lb next time you watch Casino Royale, you can totally hear her accent around the 'r's and such, but she does ok.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i'll probably notice it next time. her eyes look a lot like my sisters eyes up close which is really freaky.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

if there's any kind of family resemblance, stay far far away from The Dreamers.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

HAHAHAHA OTM

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Finally saw this. Very good if a bit long also WTF @ building at the end? Genius. Also chase at the beginning was very exciting. Best Bond film I've seen I think if only because it was actually quite different. Joke is that two weeks ago I saw Efter Bryllupet (After the Wedding) so head was completely twisted by Mads Mikkelsen being a Bond villain!

― kv_nol, Monday, 26 March 2007 09:59 (nineteen years ago)

Finally saw it last week. Fuck all her Oscar nods: the Dame's first confrontation with Bond is her finest hour.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

eight months pass...

WTF @ building at the end?

OTM... This was fine, except I don't like poker or balls-torture in 007 films. Or, as fine as Craig-Green chem was (I liked the Veronica Broadchest or whatever line), kinda aping the tragic Diana Rigg thing from OHMSS.

Keep the next one under 130 minutes and I might pay $11 to see it.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 17:40 (eighteen years ago)

except I don't like poker or balls-torture in 007 films

In other contexts both are acceptable?

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 17:44 (eighteen years ago)

no. but I don't encounter them in other contexts (I vet my dates).

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

They need to shoot movies in color again.

― sexyDancer, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

and the next villain is Mathieu Amalric:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/12/05/mathieu-amalric-will-play-bond-22-villain/

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

excellent -- amalric is awes.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

So, they are going PC by casting a euro white as the voodoo lord of the New Orleans underground.

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 20:52 (eighteen years ago)

no. but I don't encounter them in other contexts (I vet my dates).

-- Dr Morbius, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 12:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

hey i kicked u in da nuts

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

WASNT A DATE (and u missed)

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

jon do you have peter pan syndrome

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:05 (eighteen years ago)

No I was drunk. Do you have aspergers?

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:06 (eighteen years ago)

No, I'm bored.

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)

Almaric should be silky.

― Eric H., Thursday, 6 December 2007 03:46 (eighteen years ago)

And, as a probable Oscar nominee, "bankable."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 December 2007 03:51 (eighteen years ago)

oh, what the Bana team of Munich has come to...

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 6 December 2007 15:07 (eighteen years ago)

i hear seth rogen is playing a henchman.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 7 December 2007 09:35 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

will he ever get a Q and/or Moneypenny? I nominate David Thewlis and Parminder Nagra

― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:45 (eighteen years ago)

thewlis a bit too obvious?

― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:46 (eighteen years ago)

He should play the part in Mike Leigh/Naked mode.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 23 March 2008 19:00 (eighteen years ago)

Everyone should get a Parminder Nagra.

― HI DERE, Sunday, 23 March 2008 19:06 (eighteen years ago)

or two

― milo z, Sunday, 23 March 2008 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

He should play the part in Mike Leigh/Naked mode.

"Well, could they not train a tall chimpanzee to do that? Or, a small chimpanzee with a bigger... gizmo?"

― DavidM, Sunday, 23 March 2008 20:31 (eighteen years ago)

Everyone should get a Parminder Nagra.

This is even more true than the statment "I need air."

― B.L.A.M., Sunday, 23 March 2008 20:51 (eighteen years ago)

Pedant.

― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 March 2008 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.nme.com/movies/news/peter-morgan-to-quit-james/170533

New Bond to be directed by Sam Mendes and written by Patrick 'curmudgeonly cornish face' Marber!

― piscesx, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:20 (sixteen years ago)

totally what the nme should be covering

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:22 (sixteen years ago)

If Richard Herring keeps the Hitler mustache he sported on HIGNFY, then he can play the villain.

― Convenience Fish (snoball), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:22 (sixteen years ago)

marber and mendes doing bond is s.thing out of a satirical ben elton novel, wherein brett ratner becomes artistic director at the royal court

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:23 (sixteen years ago)

"it is a mystery worthy of a bond script" - can't think of a single 'mystery' in a james bond movie

on the other hand, doesn't seem to be that diff from kingsley amis or (gd help us) sebastian faulks writing bond novs, or anthony burgess and george macdonald fraser writing bond screenplays

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:27 (sixteen years ago)

gonna be interesting to see how mendes turns bond into a cutting satire abt the deadly numbness of american suburban life

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:30 (sixteen years ago)

This, Every Day, For The Rest Of Your Live And Let Die

― gucci magnet (acoleuthic), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:31 (sixteen years ago)

gonna be interesting to have michael sheen oh you get it

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:32 (sixteen years ago)

this is gonna be fuckin garbage

― goole, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:33 (sixteen years ago)

From Russia With Vague Longing

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:34 (sixteen years ago)

The Living-Room Lights

― gucci magnet (acoleuthic), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:35 (sixteen years ago)

The Bitch Who Loved Me

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:36 (sixteen years ago)

octo yeah you know he actually made a war film and a fuckin gangster film so this applies to, like, two his films? pussy

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:36 (sixteen years ago)

License to Brood

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:37 (sixteen years ago)

dr. no, dds

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:37 (sixteen years ago)

a view to a kil...... from a suburban living room

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:37 (sixteen years ago)

My Job is Not Enough

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:37 (sixteen years ago)

tomorrow never dies.... BUT YOUR DREAMS DO WHEN YOU MOVE TO THE SUBURBS

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:38 (sixteen years ago)

the man with the golden JOB AS AN INSURANCE AGENT IN THE SUBURBS

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:38 (sixteen years ago)

WOMBRAKER (it is about ABORTION)

― gucci magnet (acoleuthic), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:38 (sixteen years ago)

octo yeah you know he actually made a war film and a fuckin gangster film so this applies to, like, two his films? pussy

lol

― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

Octopissy

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

... moonraker 2: electric boogaloo: the moonrakening

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

moonrake harder

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:39 (sixteen years ago)

LICENCE TO KILL..... TOM HANKS WITH A MUSTACHE

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:40 (sixteen years ago)

how do you use a mustache to kill someone

― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:40 (sixteen years ago)

you must keep its leading edge very sharp

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:41 (sixteen years ago)

and then hurl it with downward force, as a boomerang

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:41 (sixteen years ago)

FUCKIN GANGSTER MOVIE AND WAR FILM ARE... for your eyes only

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:42 (sixteen years ago)

the (imaginary) spy who loved me (unlike my husband!) [he turned out to be real though]

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:42 (sixteen years ago)

Powerball

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:43 (sixteen years ago)

saw neither his fuckin gangster film nor war film, can he put together an action sequence?

― goole, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:45 (sixteen years ago)

Dr No, I've Got a Headache

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:45 (sixteen years ago)

Diamonds Are Forever The Superficial Signifiers Of Unhappy Relationships Between Affluent Suburban Want-Aways

― gucci magnet (acoleuthic), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:45 (sixteen years ago)

on "am beauty" he left the shootin' of the pictures to the DoP, so i'd guess maybe not; but action sequences in bond films are done by the second-unit ne way

xpost

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:46 (sixteen years ago)

'at this point "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" is proving a bit restrictive if you know what i mean? sry'

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:49 (sixteen years ago)

tomorrow never dies.... BUT YOUR DREAMS DO WHEN YOU MOVE TO THE SUBURBS

This is perfect. The villain will probably be a woman who wants to marry Bond and make him move to a suburb in New Jersey.

― ô_o (Nicole), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:51 (sixteen years ago)

(Bond enters, throws hat on couch, collapses exhausted into chair.)

"God, I need a martini."

"I'll make a couple. How do you want it chilled?"

"I don't care anymore. You know that. I haven't cared for years. You took that from me."

― antexit, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:55 (sixteen years ago)

Timely! The Onion AV Club looks at "The Road To Perdition": http://www.avclub.com/articles/road-to-perdition,39987/

― Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:56 (sixteen years ago)

golden eh

― conrad, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:56 (sixteen years ago)

A+

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:57 (sixteen years ago)

Dr No, I've Got a Headache

― Tracer Hand, Monday, April 12, 2010 10:45 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is pretty good imo

― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Monday, 12 April 2010 16:10 (sixteen years ago)

Quantum of Perdition

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 April 2010 17:09 (sixteen years ago)

jarhead royale

― conrad, Monday, 12 April 2010 17:55 (sixteen years ago)

Away We Goldfinger

― Convenience Fish (snoball), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:06 (sixteen years ago)

the man with the away we golden gun

― conrad, Monday, 12 April 2010 18:09 (sixteen years ago)

Octopussawaywego

― Convenience Fish (snoball), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:26 (sixteen years ago)

On Her Majesty's STFU

― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:27 (sixteen years ago)

diamonds are revolutionary road forever

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:27 (sixteen years ago)

you only live twice... jarhead

― max, Monday, 12 April 2010 18:28 (sixteen years ago)

On Her Majesty's STFU

― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:27 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

hahahahahaha

― gucci magnet (acoleuthic), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:28 (sixteen years ago)

never say Butcher's Crossing (details only on IMDbPro) again

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:29 (sixteen years ago)

From Russia With LOL

― Convenience Fish (snoball), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:32 (sixteen years ago)

johnny english

― conrad, Monday, 12 April 2010 19:13 (sixteen years ago)

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/furloughs-arent-forever-career-advice-for-james-bond/

― goole, Tuesday, 20 April 2010 19:24 (sixteen years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8635409.stm

just a stupid story (hopes) but omfg

― conrad, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:11 (sixteen years ago)

not like I care about james bond but omfg

― conrad, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:12 (sixteen years ago)

craig should be bond for a long time.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:13 (sixteen years ago)

more importantly worthington should not be in movies ever

― conrad, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:15 (sixteen years ago)

Broccoli, daughter of long-time Bond producer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, is known to have purchased the film rights to A Steady Rain, the Broadway play Craig appeared in with X-Men star Hugh Jackman last year.
If made, the film would be the first non-Bond film made by the Eon production company since Bob Hope comedy Call Me Bwana in 1963.

I smell reboot...wait.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:16 (sixteen years ago)

Kinda lol, mostly lol

― HI DERE, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:18 (sixteen years ago)

craig should be bond for a long time.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 21 April 2010 23:13 (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

more importantly worthington should not be in movies ever

― conrad, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 23:15 (19 minutes ago) Bookmark
Agreed!

― not_goodwin, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:38 (sixteen years ago)

i thought i just read yesterday that bond was on indefinite hold while the studio figures out if it's bankrupt or not. anyway I don't know why they now feel like they have to replace bond every three films.

― akm, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:51 (sixteen years ago)

maybe to keep the franchise in people's minds, retain its vitality, capitalize on daniel craig's availability to play bond, and so forth. all guesses, of course.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:52 (sixteen years ago)

puurhaps the exp of sam mendes making a bond movie was so blindingly stupid to all involved that they called it off w/ the "oh studio's bankrupt maybe" as pretext. could be.

― goole, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 22:55 (sixteen years ago)

eight months pass...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/12/bond-23-daniel-craig-mgm 50 years since the first Bond film!
I hope this one isn't.. influenced by Inception or something.

― piscesx, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:07 (fifteen years ago)

Some talk here:

Thread Title TBC: Bond #23

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:08 (fifteen years ago)

SMH for Mendes, I wish someone else was directing.

― not the sort of person who would wind up in a landfill (Nicole), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:08 (fifteen years ago)

McG. Oh wait.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:22 (fifteen years ago)

Even he would be an improvement!

― not the sort of person who would wind up in a landfill (Nicole), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 14:35 (fifteen years ago)

I'd be intrigued to watch QT's mooted Bond film. It would almost certainly be more a Tarantino movie than a Bond movie though.

― A brownish area with points (chap), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 15:00 (fifteen years ago)

Actually dream director for the next bond would be Cuaron.

― A brownish area with points (chap), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 15:01 (fifteen years ago)

SMH for Mendes, I wish someone else was directing.

http://www.reallymeansounds.com/forum/attachments/motor-movies/26073-fast-furious-5-sexy_eva_mendes.jpg

― Indolence Mission (DJP), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 17:41 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

best part was how bond goes from getting his onions peeled with a bell ringer rope to being healthy enough to sex up eva 5 minutes later

― 乒乓, Monday, 7 January 2013 17:56 (thirteen years ago)

he is James Bond, you know; that was probably foreplay for him

― Solange Knowles is my hero (DJP), Monday, 7 January 2013 18:26 (thirteen years ago)

three years pass...

casino royale was such a great movie, the tone was so excellent and craig had the perfect humor and devil may care attitude and even when it got "serious" it wasn't stifling. then they had to go and fuck up the reboot and make it deadly serious. there's a perfect middle ground between "octopussy" and "it is i james, the author of all your pain" or whatever and i think CR was it.

― nomar, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 18:52 (ten years ago)

That's a big problem when the reboot of a series gets it right first time: the writers can't leave well enough alone and mess it up. QoS particularly is such a joyless movie, a bit of humour wouldn't have made it a great film, but at least it would have been a bit more watchable. Moore's run has the same basic problem: first movie gets it right, but then the attempts at humour make it worse, until they try and make the films serious around FYEO but that didn't work out either.

― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:02 (ten years ago)

Moore's first go has aged p badly (eg race)

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:03 (ten years ago)

the hillbilly sheriff from the moore era is the disco stu of the bond franchise

― nomar, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:04 (ten years ago)

xp yeah it' o________O from start to finish. So is TMWTGG in the middle.

― an opportunity thick enough to taste (snoball), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:08 (ten years ago)

no love for live and let die then? I thought that was by far the best moore film

― akm, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:09 (ten years ago)

oh, live and let die WAS the first moore. my bad.

― akm, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:10 (ten years ago)

QoS is so good. Skyfall and Spectre are bottom tier Bonds but QoS is one of my favorites. A stumped, dumb Bond staggering around killing people, no interest in the girl, she's got no interest in him. I think there's some humour there. And it's so zippy, neat, lean. Villain with a mundane, realistic plan but quite entertainingly portrayed. Nice real world locales. The opposite of the two disasters that followed basically.

― abcfsk, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:10 (ten years ago)

i feel a little better about QoS now after the last pair of Bonds bc its minor ambitions to be a bourne ripoff are more charming and more in keeping with the bond series kind of following action movie trends.

― nomar, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:13 (ten years ago)

I saw no glaring qualitative difference between the last four James Bond movies. All serviceably entertaining, moderately dumb action movies featuring fan service that I at least half understood due to the cultural ubiquity of the 468 Bond movies which I haven't seen.

― My Whole Existence Is Flan (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 19:14 (ten years ago)

I just rewatched Casino Royale after reading the book, and also because I needed cheering up after Spectre. Nomar OTM -- it's a really good film, and the action scenes are tight -- I can't believe Sam Mendes saw them and thought "What Bond movies *really* need are worse action scenes and better cinematography."

What I didn't remember is just how cheesey it is, at least for the first hour: the old mobile phones, the chintzy Miami hotel scenes, the dorky jokes. Very nineties. It's like a Brosnan Bond done right.

Also, Eva Green is really fun - a definite improvement on Vesper in the book, and just miles and miles better than any ot the other subsequent female leads (not counting M).

― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:46 (ten years ago)

thinking over it again, dave bautista might be the best part of this recent one

the plane chase down the mountain was tight, enjoyed the really sterile clinic before it, too

― μpright mammal (mh), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:55 (ten years ago)

the idea that james bond is more comfortable in a shack or rat's nest drinking booze than in anything nice and modern is a good touch, the character should only seem at home in a sleek modern building if it's on fire

― μpright mammal (mh), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:56 (ten years ago)

"What ~~Bond~~ movies *really* need are worse action scenes and better cinematography."

Now Sam Mendes is otm.

― Frederik B, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 20:58 (ten years ago)

this is about Bond, not whether Sam Mendes has ever had salient ideas

― μpright mammal (mh), Wednesday, 6 April 2016 21:00 (ten years ago)

casino royale was such a great movie, the tone was so excellent and craig had the perfect humor and devil may care attitude and even when it got "serious" it wasn't stifling. then they had to go and fuck up the reboot and make it deadly serious

otm

― marcos, Wednesday, 6 April 2016 21:04 (ten years ago)

nah come on Léa Seydoux rocked.

― piscesx, Thursday, 7 April 2016 12:24 (ten years ago)

CR is great until car crash. After that is Mendez shit.

― Ecomigrant gnomics (darraghmac), Thursday, 7 April 2016 12:35 (ten years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.