Just saw the new Bond Flick, Casino Royale, and had some interesting (to me) thoughts about it.
The theme song is You Know My Name, by Chris Cornell, former lead singer of Soundgarden. It is the first Bond theme since All Time High, sung by Rita Coolidge, to not be named after the movie, or feature the name of the movie in the lyrics, and only the third Bond film in history to do so (the first was Dr. No, which featured just the James Bond theme as a main title song). I liked it, and thought it led well into the movie, both in terms of the plot, and the fact that a new (and a controversial choice for) actor was in the lead role.
It's a damn good film. Perhaps the best Bond film to date.
Daniel Craig is a damn good Bond. I've always had a soft spot for Sean Connery in the role, but have enjoyed all of the various Bonds, including the much maligned George Lazenby. Is he the best Bond ever? I don't know. In hindsight, he looks to have truly been the best choice for the role now.
Judi Dench: best 'M' ever. Dame, that woman can act!
Mild spoiler below...
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Rather than beginning, the film ends with the famous line, "the name's Bond, James Bond." It's fitting both as a wink to the fans who opposed Craig's hiring - he's pretty firmly established that he owns the role at the end - and as a wind up to the plot, in which Bond's status as a double-0 operative is on shaky ground. In both cases, he's saying, "I have arrived."
Also, why can't theaters ever get the sound right? This new theater in town started out with quite good sound, but over the last year someone has apparently been slowly inching the volume up to the point where it is now at near ear-bleeding levels. Don't get me wrong, loud is good, but speaker distortion is bad, and so was the sound at this movie. Can't wait until it comes out on video so I can watch it with really good sound, in my living room.
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I've come to hate the sound in theaters. The big multiplexes are the worst. And, knowing you (and I think I do), you can pick out a blown speaker pretty much anywhere in the room. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard once you spot it, and it's damn distracting.
-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
Huh... maybe I will like him after all... but Bond is NOT supposed to be blonde!
be well,
Dawn
Yeah, well, he wasn't supposed to have sandy brown hair either, but that didn't stop them from casting Roger Moore, did it. Believe me, Dawn, at the end of the movie, when Daniel Craig says, "the name's Bond, James Bond," you'll say, "yes, you sure are!" He made me a believer.
-Paul
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