James Bond

[_madeleine]

Did you see the movie Sky Fall? If not, you should. You will get a heavy dose of Daniel Craig and his amazing fashion sense. OMG he is an amazing dresser. At the end, he wears this jacket, scarf, shirt combo that is absolutely yummy.

Saw it with friends at a IMAX theater. Bond always dresses impeccably and perfectly handsome. Otherwise, he wouldn't be Bond!

[_Morley]

My beef with the movie is blowing up the Aston Martin. I was like Nooooooooooooo!!!!!

My favorite part of the movie was the reveal of the Aston Martin with the accompanying 60s-era Bond music, and the later reference to the ejection seat.

But that was also my biggest problem with the movie. In a Bond reboot, it's problematic to directly reference old Bond movies. A "reboot" has to be just that.

However, please note the inherent symbolism. They reintroduced the Aston Martin, referenced the cheesy gadgetry, then blew the car to smithereens.


My own favorite characters in the movie were the ever-beautiful, always-classy Judi Dench, and the introduction of the new Moneypenny, Naomie Harris (my new cinema crush).

[_MeDotOrg]

I would argue that Goldfinger was the most influential film of the last half-century. Goldfinger set the template for future Bond films: start with geek wet dream techno-toys from Q, garnish with unobtainable luxury, add a psychotic super-villian antagonist, and serve on a bed of Bond girls in a heterosexual reduction sauce.

The producers quickly realized that this formula: power, sex, luxury, violence and geek toys have a pretty universal appeal. It not only has sustained the bond franchise for 50 years, but become the most common international movie success template. 007 is like a cinematic Cole Porter: a jazz standard that artists perpetually riff off.

Bond was the perfect western world archetype for the Cold War: the aesthete iconoclast versus the stoic conformer. The problem was: how do keep making larger than life larger than life? (In one Ian Fleming novel there was a Texan who had the windshield of his Cadillac convertible ground to his eyeglass prescription so he could drive without wearing glasses.)

Years ago, I saw Moonraker (Mission Espacial) in Mexico. The film was in English, with Spanish subtitles. At one point, a character said "You're full of s***". The Spanish subtitle translated this as "You exaggerate too much". It turns out he was right. Moonraker was the apogee of the exaggerated, over-the-top Roger Moore era. You could imagine Mike Meyers as Austin Powers in the same movie without too much trouble.

Over the years Bond has slowly morphed from the consumptive bon-vivant of Sean Connery to the excessive parody of Roger Moore back to a more grounded but somewhat gloomily obsessive Daniel Craig. As Bond has become less British and more international, he seems to have less fun in life. I'll probably see Skyfall. I like Daniel Craig.. But I think 007 has morphed into a character Ian Fleming would have a hard time recognizing. Perhaps that is a testimony to the strength of 007: he has become such an indispensable icon to our Western world of excess that he has become a function of what we want rather than who he is.

[_subgenius]

I liked the movie. I thought the evaluation scene was Bond & M playing down how healthy he was to give a false sense of security to a villain who they knew was an insider.

interesting

Javier Bardem was excellent, though I wanted to see a knife fight at the end, not just thrown, sort of anticlimactic the way he died.

yes, but he still performed it well...it almost needed to be a solo act...especially with the drama of him and M having heads pressed together.

My beef with the movie is blowing up the Aston Martin. I was like Nooooooooooooo!!!!!

it was the most graphic of scenes.... perhaps they used a stunt double....(but not the only nice car destroyed in making that movie)

[_subgenius]

I would argue that Goldfinger was the most influential film of the last half-century. Goldfinger set the template for future Bond films: start with geek wet dream techno-toys from Q, garnish with unobtainable luxury, add a psychotic super-villian antagonist, and serve on a bed of Bond girls in a heterosexual reduction sauce.

The producers quickly realized that this formula: power, sex, luxury, violence and geek toys have a pretty universal appeal. It not only has sustained the bond franchise for 50 years, but become the most common international movie success template. 007 is like a cinematic Cole Porter: a jazz standard that artists perpetually riff off.

Bond was the perfect western world archetype for the Cold War: the aesthete iconoclast versus the stoic conformer. The problem was: how do keep making larger than life larger than life? (In one Ian Fleming novel there was a Texan who had the windshield of his Cadillac convertible ground to his eyeglass prescription so he could drive without wearing glasses.)

Years ago, I saw Moonraker (Mission Espacial) in Mexico. The film was in English, with Spanish subtitles. At one point, a character said "You're full of sh*t". The Spanish subtitle translated this as "You exaggerate too much". It turns out he was right. Moonraker was the apogee of the exaggerated, over-the-top Roger Moore era. You could imagine Mike Meyers as Austin Powers in the same movie without too much trouble.

Over the years Bond has slowly morphed from the consumptive bon-vivant of Sean Connery to the excessive parody of Roger Moore back to a more grounded but somewhat gloomily obsessive Daniel Craig. As Bond has become less British and more international, he seems to have less fun in life. I'll probably see Skyfall. I like Daniel Craig.. But I think 007 has morphed into a character Ian Fleming would have a hard time recognizing.

nice take and mostly agreeable. Though the Craig Bond is less idealized ,that frailty makes him more approachable to me - it adds an exhilaration to the fantasy - the non-sterilized consequences of his actions have expanded his character in my opinion - and not to a larger than life, but rather as large as life. Just the right amount of campy is present in this film to keep the tradition alive - without it being like the old hat of Schwarzenegger muttering "i'll be back" through dentures.

Perhaps that is a testimony to the strength of 007: he has become such an indispensable icon to our Western world of excess that he has become a function of what we want rather than who he is.

Yet, who he really was seems to be less entertaining and more of a documentary.

though i must propose that the icon of excess perpetuated through Brosnan's films has been abandoned to an extent, or perhaps has been ballasted by the subtle details of reality seen in these new films....like the scratches and bruises on his knuckles, the self-doubt, moments of helplessness, etc...

[_cinepro]

it was the most graphic of scenes.... perhaps they used a stunt double....(but not the only nice car destroyed in making that movie)

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/12/voxe ... nt-double/