New James Bond = Daniel Craig.

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

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

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

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.

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!)

UH

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

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

Ah right, the Feast of the Enunciation.

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

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)

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.

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...)

They're like the Tigers in the World Series in this respect.

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.

I was thinking that as well! The sole remarkable point about it, I think.

"Tell me about this Chris Cornell guy. I've never heard of him!"

This will be an interesting conversation.

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!)

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.