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[cleolinda]

From annlarimer: The Casino Royale title sequence with the original Herb Alpert song dubbed over. Meanwhile, Manhattan's Film Forum To Host Bond Marathon. I wish I could go see this, because I shocked the living hell out of my mother* last night by admitting that I have never actually seen a pre-Craig Bond movie in my entire life. WAIT! WAIT! LET ME EXPLAIN! My mother loves the Bond movies, and when I was growing up, she always had some movie or other on TV. (A large portion of my childhood was spent eating dinner in front of Raiders of the Lost Ark and/or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or The Empire Strikes Back, or even Aliens, a particular favorite of hers.) Many of these movies were Bond movies--I think TBS ran them a lot. So I would be eight years old or so, walking through the house, stop and watch a couple of minutes, decide that it was a Silly Grownup Movie (I could always tell when a movie was a Silly Grownup Movie because it usually involved girls in bikinis), and move on. I mean, when I saw Austin Powers in high school or college or thereabouts, I got all the jokes; Bond has so permeated the culture that I felt like I'd seen the movies even if I hadn't. But I was watching the Bond Girls documentary on the Casino Royale DVD (I think it aired on some cable channel originally) and saw all the clips from the various movies (hilariously, they went to great lengths to avoid mentioning Denise Richards, Thermonuclear Hotpantsologist), and I realized that the time has come to watch these movies** with a rare combination of fresh eyes and adult sensibility. Actually, it was the "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir" clip that convinced me, so... I'm basically in it for the cheese at this point.

* Seriously, she did this quadruple-take, no kidding, like I'd just said, "I've decided to devote my life to the Great God Cthulhu in the wilds of Japanistan, and also, I'm pregnant."

** I gave her the entire series on DVD for Christmas a couple of years back, so there's nothing stopping me, really. She suggested I start with the very first one


Pet food deaths a mystery.

Euthanize Knut the baby polar bear? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Granted, the guy backtracks and says, in essence, "Well, what I meant was that they should have let him die when he was first abandoned..." (More Knut. MORE, I SAY!)

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!

Houdini may be exhumed to answer mystery.

School sued over girl's Pooh socks.

Online anonymity lets users get nasty; sky allegedly blue.

Chasing the duclod man, or stalking a stalker. "As early as 1992, students at Grinnell College, a small liberal arts school in Iowa, began receiving strange, anonymous letters in the mail. The letters contained homemade greeting cards with crudely drawn pictures—men crawling on the ground, toilets and trash cans, twin closet doors—and jokes that didn’t make any sense. Q: What would a duclod like about the land of the giants? A: Standing in two closets without touching either knob."

Get a thing right - by making a mess of it. On the other hand, if you'd rather be organized, there's Behance, with its appealing Action Step pads and stickers.

London cabbie, 92, retires after 70 years.

Mitt Romney accidentally ends a Republican dinner in FL with a Castro catchphrase.

Chinese Pirate Convicted, But Receives Slap on Wrist; Movie pirates put bounty on heads of 2 sniffer dogs. Bad pirates! No biscuit!

New Ingrid Bergman Bio Supposedly Has Much New 'Casablanca' Info.

Lee, Bionic Add Cast Members.

Tarantino Bound by Bondage Shoot.

Natalie Portman Nudity Turns Out Disappointing.

Photographer: "Keanu Reeves Ran Me Down Then Tried To Flee."

Jet Li in The Mummy 3, which will be directed by... Rob Cohen. Say what you will about Stephen "Van Helsing" Sommers, he made the first two Mummys fun.

Emily Blunt is The Young Victoria.

Margaret Thatcher Film Coming From Makers of The Queen.

Tom Cruise Set for Singer's WWII Thriller.

Jolie, McAvoy, Freeman Are Wanted.

Snyder Talks Rorschach Glimpse.

Universal Releases 'Hellboy 2' Plot Details.

From Neil Gaiman: Stardust website updated; trailer will go up on Friday.

Two new POTC3 pics; hi-res gallery here. Meanwhile, Yahoo Movies has a HD trailer download and a lo-res movie clip ("You're the--chart man!").

Jennifer Garner to Play Spock's Love Interest in Star Trek XI? There are so many things wrong with this sentence that I kind of don't even know where to start.

Nancy Drew Sequel is No Mystery.

Lily Tomlin On That Whole 'Huckabees' Deal.

Julie Taymor Fighting Studio Over 'Universe' -- May Remove Her Name; More Details of Taymor-Roth Feud.

Superman Sequel Still Alive; Batman Will Absolutely Be In Justice League Film, Source Says. Assuming it gets made, that is.

Hogwarts Train Damaged by Vandals. Again?

'Groove Back' author sues ex-husband for $40M.

Actor 'sick of being a boy.' I have to say, my first thought was, "Okay, who's going under the knife?" Turns out it's just about Shia LaBeouf.

Gruesome movie posters pulled after complaints. The posters in question; another two. What the hell is this movie about? ("A fashion model and a chauffeur are kidnapped and held hostage in a small room by a serial killer. While the madman methodically terrorizes them, the victims draw strength from each other and fall in love." But not before putting Elisha Cuthbert in as many tantalizingly gruesome poses as possible! OKAY.)

Comments

[spidey-88.livejournal.com]

Don't blame you at all. My parents like the old Bond movies a lot and I can't say I've ever actually watched any of them to the point where I remember anything about any of the stories. Although I vaguely remember a guy with big metal teeth.

[nitedula.livejournal.com]

"Personally, I wasn't going to go with this campaign. I thought it was OTP (over the top)," Solomon said. "Nothing like this can ever happen again."

Uh... did he really mean "OTP"?

Enjoy Bond, by the way. I haven't really seen many either.

[gwynevere1.livejournal.com]

"Personally, I wasn't going to go with this campaign. I thought it was OTP (over the top)," Solomon said. "Nothing like this can ever happen again."

Uh... did he really mean "OTP"?

I thought the exact. same. thing. Either that was a Freudian slip about how *perfectly* he thought the movie and the campaign belong together, or *someone* needs to go watch some more Sesame Street.

[la-sonnambula.livejournal.com]

Japanese women, gushing blood and bondage. How nice for Tarantino that LaChapelle is shooting his fantasies, with his trademark candy-color aesthetics no doubt.

I'm excited to see the Scorseses-produced biopic of Queen Victoria. Have you seen Victoria & Albert (http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Albert-Hamilton/dp/B00005O7N8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7264340-8240141?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1174617480&sr=1-1) (Colin Firth's brother, Jonathan plays Albert)? It's quite affecting.

I'm surprised that Casino Royale is the first Bond movie you saw since you're keen on Bond theme songs. You should host your own Bond marathon.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think it's the Garbage song that first sucked me in. And it's easier to hear a song in passing than see an entire movie, you know?

[lauthe.livejournal.com]

FYI, the Julie Taymor link leads to the Lily Tomlin interview.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Fixed.

[koritsimou.livejournal.com]

I will be the only person to say: Shia LaBeouf is adorable and surprisingly hot.

[maliekai.livejournal.com]

No, you won't!

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

I just rewatched Casino Royale and I must say, the part where he barrels through that drywall at the beginning remains my favorite part.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, I liked that. I think mine may be the part where Vesper first shows up on the train ("Every penny of it"). That, and the way he says the word "loathing" sometime later.

[brainchild129.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad - hell, I've only seen four of them, counting Casino Royale. Most of them I wasn't crazy for, but most of them had their good points and bad. For example:

Goldeneye
The Good: Pierce Brosnan is good, Sean Bean is hot as hell and is an awesome villain in a hand-on, willing to kick Bond's ass personally sort of way. Famke Janssen is awesome and crazy and crushes heads with her thighs.
The Bad: I always start zoning out of this movie during the middle...or at least until Sean Bean gets back on screen again. This was the first one I saw, and I would definitely recommend it.

Goldfinger
The Good: The theme song!
The Bad: Personally, I just did not get into this movie. Found it downright boring, in fact. Yes, in spite of Sean Connery. From my understanding, this is a minority opinion, so take my opinion with a big-ass grain of salt.

The Man With The Golden Gun
The Good: Christopher Lee plays the villain and is awesome, as per usual.
The Bad: Sadly, everything else in the movie is nowhere near that level of awesome. In fact, much of it is ridiculous. Also, an absolutely terrible theme song.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd heard that Golden Gun was pretty bad, but... Christopher Lee! And I had heard that Goldeneye is actually really good.

Houdini to Escape the Grave Again?

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I found an Associated Press article about the proposed exhumation that included an odd detail:

A 2006 biography, ``The Secret Life of Houdini,'' raised the issue again and convinced some that he might have been poisoned, including [Houdini’s great-grandson] George Hardeen, who lives in Arizona and is the chief spokesman for the president of the Navajo Nation. (Italics mine)

...Now that is an interesting family tree.

Re: Houdini to Escape the Grave Again?

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Oops! For “great-grandson” read great-grandnephew.

Bond, Bond, Bong...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I'm especially fond of You Only Live Twice; I once told a friend who has never seen a Bond film that YOLT would be a good place for her to start watching. (YOLT; I've never seen that acronym until now, but I like it.) Outer space shenanigans, Japan action, some surprising death, Nancy Sinatra singing the theme song, a screenplay by Roald Dahl...oh, it's fun. Wait 'til you see the fight that uses a couch.

I need to recreate the moment in my life when I was one of the few straight people in a mostly gay group watching The Spy Who Loved Me. There's gotta be comedy gold somewhere in that set-up...

Re: Bond, Bond, BOND, damnit

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

("Interesting slip, there, Chris," he grumbles...)

[gaminette.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you have an interest in this particular story, but seeing as how it's intarwebs-related and kinda sordid, well, who knows. ^_~ Bad MySpace Meeting: Staten Island Boy Handcuffed to Tree (http://www.gothamist.com/2007/03/22/earlier_today_t.php). I'm sorry that the kid was assaulted, but I'm not sure who's more foolish here: the 13 year-old boy who agreed to meet someone he "met" on MySpace, or said someone leaving the kid half-naked and handcuffed to a tree when he's easily trace-able via his computer since the kid knew him on MySpace? Eeejits. >_<;;;;

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

I had never seen a Bond film until about a month ago, and I ended up being really bored (it was Goldeneye). I guess Austin Powers has made me expect humor?

The best part about Knut (other than being so incredibly adorable) is that there's this one German news program that said, because everyone wants to hear about him, they'd devote one segment per week to him. In fact, they should have had a new one tonight!

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

No, wait, Goldfinger. It made that little of an impression on me that I mixed up its name.

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

I'm basically in it for the cheese at this point.

There *are* a couple of legitimately good movies in there. Thunderball is good. From Russia With Love is great, just great, I used to say it was far and away the best Bond movie ever, and I still think it's the best, but CR narrowed the gap. The cheese came later; can't even blame Roger Moore for that, since Diamonds Are Forever was a Connery joint.

[jacques-louis.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how trippy that opening sequence is!

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

Granted, the guy backtracks and says, in essence, "Well, what I meant was that they should have let him die when he was first abandoned..."

"The zoo must kill the polar bear," seems pretty clear-cut to me, and also, screw that guy.

I would also recommend GoldenEye. It's got dealing with the aftermath of the Cold War and also Sean Bean is a hotass. It's kind of slashy.

[princessstarr.livejournal.com]

Bond-wise, I'm in a similar boat, except I just can't get into the old movies. I do like reminding my mom (a HUUGE Bond fan) about how much I loved Casino Royale.

She hasn't seen it.

[eveybean.livejournal.com]

I am a HUGE Bond fan. I've seen all the movies and I just got around to Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is the hottest Bond ever and yes, he does damn near get to the Connery level.

I could talk about this franchise for hours. I definitely suggest watching On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I think Diana Rigg was the best and classiest Bond girl ever. Lazenby really wasn't a bad Bond at all.

A co-worker of mine thought Goldfinger was the first Bond but I was like, no, it was Dr. No.

And personally I really don't like any of the Roger Moore movies because of the self awareness he brought with the character. I really, really hated that. But for some reason, I actually like Moonraker. Go figure.

Yeah, I'm a Bond freak.

[evilprodigy.livejournal.com]

Empire also asked Snyder about recent talk that Ron Perlman might take on the role of the Comedian in the film. His non-committal response: "Awesome! I love Ron Perlman. I don't know if that's going to happen, but it would be cool. Awesome!"

I have to like anyone who answers questions like that.

[themadfish.livejournal.com]

I love how when Knot is first put into the small pan of water he's like, "Arrrgh no! Oh, water! Yay!"

[lots42.livejournal.com]

I tried to watch Connery-Bond and I got creeped out when he choked a woman with her own bikini.

Then Daltry Bond was just sad in the low, low, low budget.

Goldeneye is funny in that the video game version is fifty-eight times better.

The one before Casino had a death ray from space. And apparently, it's okay to blow up the 38th Parrelell, just don't actually cross the border into North or South.

[cindyg.livejournal.com]

Dear God in heaven. I am old enough to have been able to watch all the Connery!Bond movies in theatre screenings!

Loved Bond, loved Moneypenny more. ::grin::

And Q! ::sniffles at the memory:: Q was a darling - rather like Dr. McCoy in Star Trek, with his constant refrains to Bond to please bring back the equipment in one piece, why don't you.

I always thought Roger Moore was too much of Simon Templar (The Saint) for the role of Bond, though in the Charteris books, Templar is quite handy with his fists. I loved Moore as Templar in the TV series, much better than I did when he was Bond.

That said...enjoy the films! There's a lot to enjoy in all of them.

^__^

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

If you're going to watch the Bond movies, I would echo the sentiment to see On Her Majesty's SecretService. Diana Rigg is AWESOME, the plot is pretty cool, and George Lazenby is not nearly as sucky as people think. In some ways I think the franchise would have been better off if they had stuck with him and not gone back to Connery (yes, this is heresy I know).

For me, Roger Moore is my least favorite Bond, but I do think For Your Eyes Only was the best of the lot. And Live And Let Die is a lor of fun, plus Jane Seymour is in it in one of her first film roles. I also really liked both Timothy Dalton films, and I think he's gotten the critical shaft from ciritcs. I think his take on Bond is very similar to Craig's.

[yarha.livejournal.com]

I'm basically in it for the cheese at this point

You won't be disappointed, then. Bond is limburger-filled.

Yarha, Not Putting the Knuts in Curlers

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

i haven't seen Casino Royale yet.

but excluding that, of all the other Bond films, I think the best by far is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. A lot of people slag this one off and evidently Lazenby as Bond didn't test well, which is why he wasn't in any further Bond films. But he's the most believable Bond. It is less about him as an actor and more about the role. Plus, the story is completely different from the other Bond movies and kind of progressive in that it features a Bond girl who's capable and not just there for teh pretty.

Although Diana Rigg was also gorgeous, no denying that. :)

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

"Best day of my life," said Tarantino. "Usually I have to pay for that kind of stuff."

My first Bond was Live and Let Die, which I went to mainly because the theme tune was fantastic. One of the major plot points was Jane Seymour's virginity. I left the theater with a feeling that I now recognize as Extreme Bad Touch.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heeeee. They showed a couple of Jane Seymour clips on the Bond Girls thing, and I felt the Bad Touch.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute--I GET the duclod joke! What does that say about me?

My favorite Bond film (not counting Casino Royale--that may be my new favorite; not sure yet) is The Living Daylights. Timothy Dalton is somber and dangerous, there are almost no "quips," and no throwaway women (well, okay, there's just one before the opening credits, and at least that one's only implied). Dalton's Bond actually spends most of the film romancing the heroine rather than just falling into bed with her, and she's portrayed as sweet and lovely rather than a sexpot. At the end, you seriously think they're going to be married. It's a chickflick disguised as a Bond film, it really is. (You do have to endure Joe Don Baker as a peripheral villain, though, which I agree is kinda cruel.)

[zrath.livejournal.com]

And then Joe Don Baker turned into Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA pal, and suprisingly did not suck.
This almost makes up for "Mitchell". Almost.
He's not Leiter in "Casino Royale" though, so I guess that's that.