Skyfall: Bond #23

That actually happened in Spooks. I love Spooks.

I like how Vaio paid big product placement bucks to show their computers getting repeatedly hacked

Or Heineken so that James Bond is seen covering the label with his hand, while drinking himself to death.

There's only been one 007 I think - they retire the numbers.

Talking of product placement bucks, virtually every single ad before the film was Bond-related, some even including appearances by Daniel Craig. Really shameless stuff, even considering how nakedly commercial the films have been for a long time now. I wonder what proportion of the budget was raised through tie-ins? Wouldn't be surprised if they turned a profit even before they started shooting.

The lingering close-up of Bond's watch during the otherwise breathless opening chase scene got a major lol from me.

and yet, what does it matter. if movies get made cos some rich ppl still think marketing so obviously works, what harm.

Most obvious markets was ' MACALLAN 15 YR I HEAR IT'S FUCKIN YUMMY' but i mean, it is fuckin yummy, cheekless ghoul otm and i'd expect bond to know it's fuckin yummy ppl like stuff and like to be seen liking the right stuff even (especially?) pyscho ubernationalist killer playboys

and obviously the books are full of relentless lifestyle porn, what he drinks, what he wears, what he smokes etc etc

ahah, yeah, the commercials were pretty fun. especially since they were saying where the shops were nearby the theater (I watched it on champs elysees) !
yet, since I don't care about cars, watches, hi-tech or else, the only thing I wanted after the movie was... a glass of whisky !

Well, it matters to me in that I find it distracting when characters stop what they're doing to deliver a pitch for a product. The last couple of seasons of Fringe stick in my mind for having the most horribly obvious shilling for phones and cars, for example, which did annoy the fuck out of me. If it means the difference between the show, or others like it, being made then I guess I'd rather they did it but it doesn't mean I can't find it horribly crass or think it's the thin edge of a wedge which will force even more distracting ads into narratives where they don't naturally fit.

In the case of Bond, it's less of an issue to me because the series has always been an aspirational jet-set fantasy and it's doesn't seem unrealistic for these characters to compare their money-dicks by extolling the virtues of expensive stuff. It did seem notable that the commercial sponsorships bled from the film itself into nearly all of the ads beforehand too, simply because I don't think I've ever seen that level of blanket tie-in advertising before.

xxp, obv

all fair enough. I found myself distracted more by the fact than M hadn't been sacked ten minutes in, or that bond hadn't been killed falling shot through the chest off've a mountain, etc etc. The rest, i think you take going in as v much part of the knowing wink-wink bond franchise lifestyle porn that, as NV says, is directly transferred from the books

i mean, the car, the watch, the drink, the tailor- i think that a good writer or director can use these products as very apt and telling shorthand for the character- with bond lately it's hard to tell where the shill becomes the knowing reference becomes the scathing comment and back to shill again.

If the next bond was just a docustyle following of craig in character on bond's day offshopping in the high-end parts of london at what stage would it become satire of the whole job lot?

about M being sacked, it's also weird that Fiennes tells her they decided to let her go, she says no, and they just say ok you can stay !
I also thought that a younger fiennes would have been a nice bond.

I think it's more "If you go now you can go quietly please go quietly", and she doesn't so it gets dragged out in a tribunal.

Also good to see Norn Iron is still providing a proving ground for British officers of a certain age.

There's only been one 007 I think - they retire the numbers.

― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, November 14, 2012 6:03 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I was making a bad joke based on past casting changes. Although "Casino Royale" kind of screws up any kind of continuity by establishing that Bond acquired 00 status with his second kill in the Czech Republic; I.e. some time after 1993.

Oh surely there's something in the 60s that ties it to then - you'd go mad trying to keep it all in step.

yeah, also why would moneypenny appear now when she was already there in the 60s !

The Bond Ouroboros

about M being sacked, it's also weird that Fiennes tells her they decided to let her go, she says no, and they just say ok you can stay !

ha ha yes. "Just kidding! Of course you can still run MI6"

Samantha Bond played Moneypenny during the Brosnan years, which means there was already a Moneypenny during Judi Dench's time as M.

xp

so is moneypenny like a codename like M ?

I don't think I have thought/discussed so much about a bond movie !

I... guess so? Maybe? There's really no logical way to make the franchise hang together as a cohesive whole, fun as it is to try.

Maybe they should have a Crisis on Infinite Bonds movie where Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig are forced to team up to fight a secret evil hellbent on rewriting reality. Then reboot the whole thing with Milla Jovovich as Bond. Directed by Paul WS Anderson.

ahah, that would be brilliant (the all bonds together) !
and there would be CGI versions of young connery, moore... and they would meet their old self !

I guess it depends on whether, when Naomie Harris says she is Eve Moneypenny, you think she is saying "I am M's secretary now"

I would watch the living shit out of an Anderson/Jovovich Bond.

Doesn't she talk about being given a desk job? If they were trying to give any impression other than "I am M's secretary now" I think they failed.

I'd watch a Bond / Resident Evil crossover for the lulz.

M does get sacked, fiennes tells her she has 2 months to get out

someone said it already but it's pretty fun cos when she gets sacked, M says she doesn't want to leave the MI6 in a worse state than she got it... but things only get worse and worse after that !

That's less irony than Silva's plan working, though.

I did love the He says you sold his ass down the river / I sold his ass all the way down the river.

someone said it already but it's pretty fun cos when she gets sacked, M says she doesn't want to leave the MI6 in a worse state than she got it... but things only get worse and worse after that !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, November 14, 2012 9:29 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

come on, mi6 only gets... blown up...

xp, haha yes, "You bet your ass I gave him to the Chinese, and I'd do it again!'

Oh man, the product shilling in this film was so less overt than it is in other places. My theater didn't have any Craig-starring commercials before the movie, luckily. bg otm about Fringe being a bad offender, but it always struck me that those scenes existed in some sort of aside and could be ignored completely.

On the other hand, I rewatched the tv series Alias and there's a pivotal chase scene in one episode where a F-150 is chasing a Mustang for about five minutes

If I were M, I would be super-pissed at the Chinese for not just killing the dude

Things I learned from this movie: If I had to live/work next to a building with a gigantic electronic billboard that constantly made it appear that my whole building was collapsing straight down, I'd probably throw up a lot.

The product placement in Casino Royale was a lot worse, btw. I especially loved the resort in Nassau whose security camera backups were conspicuously done on SONY BLU-RAY.

Alias was shilling for F-150s?

Things I "learned" from this movie - cyanide tablets don't work, but can fuck up your teeth.

Hang on, I misunderstood what you meant there mh... carry on.

Things I learned from this movie: if you're having trouble aiming your weapons following serious bullet wounds, shoot two teacups under the tutelage of Albert Finney and you'll be cured.

Things I learned from this movie: radios are badass.

hahaha ya. "ever hear of RADIO!?!?!"

I love how Bardem says "James!"

i love how he says bond

I love how Bardem says everything tbh

bardem was lots of fun in this.
him and the komodo dragons.

Is his hair in this perhaps more ridiculous than his Anton Chigurh bowl cut?

I'm bleaching my hair to see if it works on me, brb

Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig are forced to team up to fight a secret evil hellbent on rewriting reality

Or just have them in a deathmatch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9C7yYomVuo

Meantime, just now on Twitter:

Cee Angi ‏@CeeAngi

Hospital employee to a full waiting room looking for a patient: "Last name BOND....James? Are you kidding me?!"

Of course the old man scooted over with his walker and said "yes. I'm Bond. James Bond." I love this place.

And that man... was Sean Connery.

FB friend said that George Lazenby needs to let it go.