October 11, 2005

• one can vote on how well Mr. Craig can fill the role here.
• What happened to Clive Owen? I thought he was a shoe-in.
• Offhand, I musht shay that hish earsh are a wee bit too horizontal to sheem as debonnaire as Jamesh Bond rightly ish. Indeed, he looksh like a bruisher to my discherning eyesh. Howeva. I'll shushpend judgement until I shee him shitting behind the controlsh of the Ashton Martin.
• [ ] pope [ ] darth quidnunc [ ] the small-change avenger! [ ] quidnuncbashi [ ] Dr Whom [x] nunc. quid nunc - 007. Poor quiddy. Disappointed again. Nobel for literature is still up for grabs, though.
• YESSSSSSSSS...
• our friends in the north (for which craig shot to fame, according to the article) is a solid tv drama with multiple good performances. shoe-in? i thought it was shoo-in?
• who shooos anything in? At best, you shoo something out. But you can have one of your shoes in, right? I think.
• "Dr. Whom" made me laugh, thanks Cap'n. It's been a tough day.
• I now refuse to believe any Bond casting rumour until a representative of Her Majesty's Secret Service has actually come round to my house, punched me repeatedly, and written the name of the actor on the walls in the blood of Belorussian dissidents. Then made a wry pun about it.
• Well, he has a face like a well-trodden arse, the man is ugly, which is good, because I'm sick of pretty boys. Clive Owen would've been shit. He has all the charisma of a duck and his acting is as interesting as a frozen herring.
• I dunno, I thought Croupier was pretty good.
• Seconded. And, corny as they were, I liked those BMW short films. Especially the one with James Brown.
• Daniel Craig was pretty good in that film about Francis Bacon (the painter not the early modern thinker) and Our friends in the North probably counts as one of the BBC's best ever dramas in my book. Thing is, never cared for the Bond movies - I'd rather see him using his talent elsewhere, but no doubt with the kind of money he can rake in for this he'll also be free to pursue some more interesting projects. Eh mind o' Geordie.
• I miss out again? Bags singing the theme tune! *For he will destroy you, if you're not nice, And make off with your wife and best pal - 'Cause tomorrow never dies again twice AT CASINO ROY-ALE!!!* /Little bit of Bassey, little bit of Simon Le Bon.
• Sorry, but I've stopped caring. The Bond franchise died when they kicked Lazenby out. The recent films have been embarrassingly banal.
• *He likes a martini, he hangs out with Q, Although some think he's completely banal - And he regenerates more times than Dr Who AT CASINO ROY-ALE!!!*
• I've been saying for years that they should set the films permanently in the late sixties cold war era.
• *He likes his wars cold and his women hot, Be they from Russia or Guadalcanal! Some say that he's secretly gay but he's not - AT CASINO ROY-ALE!!!*
• /smug look
• *He often looks smug, he has a car that can fly, He wasn't created originally by Gore Vidal, But rather by the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang guy - AT CASINO ROY-ALE!!!*
• Chyren: I agree. The decline becomes apparent with Diamonds Are Forever, with it's modish tuxedos and setting in Las Vegas. Pfui. I still respectfully disagree with you about Owen, though, I think he could've pulled it off. Shit, he couldn't have done worse than Timothy Dalton. Bond films, however, have recently been well over the border of ludicrous. I thought Brosnan showed a glimmer of could-have-been in The Tailor of Panama, though. He has that same capacity for cruelty that Connery's Bond showed.
• I didn't think the Brosnan ones were too bad, actually, once you take out certain bits which asked too much of my wilful suspension of disbelief -- the invisible car, Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist... The only one from Brosnan I was really disappointed with was The World Is Not Enough. Robert Carlyle as a bad guy who has no pain receptors. I was looking forward to an extra-long, extra-gruelling punchup, and was sadly disappointed when Begbie was showing signs of pain after all. But these things weren't Brosnan's fault, just as Dalton wasn't responsible for his lousy scripts. Generally satisfied with Brosnan, who seemed a bit lighter than the rest, a bit more playful. But he was no Sean. Obvioushly. I'll stop rambling now...
• Ok, here's one: barring Connery and Lazenby, name the best Bond film? I'm torn between Goldeneye and A View To A Kill. Leaning towards the latter.
• Hmm. View To A Kill was one of the better ones, but that blonde heroine just annoyed me to no end. Too much squealing, and not the good kind. But it had Chris Walken AND Grace Jones AND Duran Duran, so it has a lot going for it. However. I have a sentimental favourite in Man With The Golden Gun. Scaramanga was a great classically Bond villain -- psychologically damaged, ruthless, yet civil. And Tattoo as his independently-minded henchman. And the whole carnival funhouse had to be one of the most inspired sequences in the franchise, although it only really worked on the first viewing. And Britt Eckland. Golden Gun is just the right amount of James Bond cheese. Goldeneye -- it was pretty good. Certainly one of the best villains in Sean Bean. And a great title sequence, which are underrated attractions of the franchise. But it had too much of a rehash of the basic Diamonds Are Forever / Never Say Never Again plot, which has been remade to death. But you're probably right, Fes. Just how Zorin refuses to die at the end, following the action sequence with the blimp, I'm leaning the same way.
• I agree with setting all the films in the 60s--early 60s, but of course we now have all these young 'uns who really don't know the joys of the Cold War and would be confoozed--at least I'm sure that's what the studio execs think. Craven bastids.
• Goldeneye was the best computer game.
• A View To A Kill ranks as my favorite Bond theme. Or it was, before quidnunc's.
• OHMSS music makes me want to go out and fight the Ruskies. With my bare hands.
• "..capacity for cruelty that Connery's Bond showed.." This is exactly right, the nail hit upon the head. Bond is a cruel bastard, as well as a smart, charming, classy, suave, sexy alcoholic and physically perfect specimen of misogynistic manhood, he is also cold and cruel. This is exactly what every Bond since Connery has lacked. He was waiting in the darkness with a silenced pistol, and when he got what he wanted, pfui pfui, the guy was dead. See, they emasculated Bond. Like Batman, in a way, he's a psychopath and if you remove that element, he becomes camp. The only emotion he ever showed (in the books) was for his Russian wife (or whatever it was) who got killed, and that was it. I actually have a soft spot for Live and Let Die, it is a strange outcast among Bond movies, but there is something about it I like, even though I generally despised Moore's portrayal. Moonraker was the absolute worst, though, no Bond movie can be more crap than that. I attack the television at the point where they have the space suit laser battle.
• I despise Brosnan. Fey little Paddy git. Too small for Bond, I've never liked his incarnation, even tho those movies were generally the best since the Connery era. I thought Dalton was physically right, but he was a bit naff and not very charismatic. Bond has to be a bit of an animal, this new bloke has the ugly edge that you need. Bond is a very masculine character. He has to be desireable by *both* men and women, not just sexually, but as an icon. He has to have a presence. Brosnan has no presence, for me.
• *Brosnan has no presence, Dalton made me scream, Lazenby was as painful as a root canal Yet all of these and Moore will fight to be supreme - AT CASINO ROY-ALE!!!*
• A blonde Bond. The world really is coming to an end. Bah.
• My favorite might have to be Diamonds are Forever, if only for the presence of the sniggering and unambiguously gay Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, my favorite Bond heavies.
• Koko, you minxsh! That'sh not what Fesh ashked! Bond filmsh ashide from Sean or Lazshenby! We're going to ashk you one more time, and thish time, you'd better conshider your anshwer quite carefully...
• Beshidesh, everyone knowsh Connery'sh besht Bond is From Rushshia With Love. Sean, Daniela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya chashing Jamesh around with knivesh in her shoesh... Did you shay your clock wash correct? Russian clocks are ALWAYS KORRECKT. Ka-BOOM!!! Heh heh.
• ok ... Goldfinger? *BZZZZZZZ* ah, fuggit.
• For the record, I like my martinis startled, not shaken.
• Movie to be made about Fleming, Ian Fleming. Womanizer, eh? Where? At the CNIB?
• I see 007's employers MI6 now have a website. Spooky!
• it's worth watching layer cake just to see that daniel craig might make a fine bond. it's also just a above average crime/thriller/drama.
• Looks like Craig will shed the blond hair for the role.
• The Fleming novel [Casino Royale] features a lengthy torture scene in which the naked Bond has his genitals tenderised by a carpet beater. You might want a word with your agent here, Daniel.
• Casino Royale trailer. No carpet beaters to be seen.
• *is impressed with awesomeness level*
• Hell yeah. This looks completely brilliant. And Daniel Craig is teh hawt.
• *buys Daniel Craig rubber mask, ticket to Florence*
• If the trailer is any indication, this could be the best Bond since Connery. First time I've been eager to see on in I don't know how long.
• Clive Owen is too much a victim. In every role he has played he always played someone that has been victimized, either by the antagonist, his past, his own nature, etc etc. This is not Bond like, Bond is in control, even when he is not. Don't get me wrong he is a great actor. I loved him in Gosford Park, Croupier and Sin City. Daniel Craig being blonde is as much a factor as Connery being bald. And his rough features are what are needed. Moore was too campy. Dalton was too nice. Brosnan was too pretty. Bond should be frightening and handsome at the same time. He should be a man you immediately fear/worship/respect all at the same time. When it comes down to it, who do we compare the ultimate Bond too? It all comes down to Connery and I think this guy measures up well, but we will see. He could also be submarined by a crappy script.
• Daniel Craig being blonde is as much a factor as Connery being bald. But Connery wore a rug in his 007 movies. (Except for Never Say Never Again, which only counts depending on who you're asking.) If the baldness and the blondeness were of the same inportance, they'd have invested in a box of Clairol for Craig. (That said, the trailer does look feckin' awesome.)