Casino Royale

[SoL. 0]

I wanna see the movie and check the new Bond. They attacked him so much because of his looks, but I actually don't think he looks thaaaaaat bad He looks interesting to me....

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I still like a lot of that stuff. Has a lot to do with my writing - I write short stories in what little spare time I have - I the style of a lot of the old pulp fiction. James Bond is interesting because the character itself has changed relatively little as opposed to the narrative which has changed a hell of a lot.

...yeah, he manages to bag the ladies as a sort of one-upmanship on them. Even the sex is competitive. There's this whole misogynistic element to his persona - you can sleep with them but don't trust them with your life.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

One thing I don't get, is the casting of M. Judi Dench, who has played M since "Tomorrow Never Dies," was supposed to be the replacement for the previous M, who was male, played by various actors through the franchise. Casino Royale is supposed to be the prequel for the series, giving the backstory of how Bond became 007. Yet, Judi Dench is playing the M who hires Bond. Are they pretending M was always a woman, and the same woman?

Not necessarily. In the John Gardner Bond novels, M is identified by name as a (male) admiral--not sure of the original Fleming novels. In the movies, id'd only as "M"--maybe meant as a title rather than a name.

I'll opine however that casting Daniel Craig as Bond is like casting Matt McConaughey as Dirk Pitt (done last year in "Sahara").

"I love myself" McConaughey was woefully miscast - but that movie would have tanked even without him. It was incredibly awful.

True, both times anyone was cast as Dirk Pitt (first was the late Richard Jordan in "Raise The Titanic), it was done neither with an actor who could have played Bond (Pitt is a very "Bondlike" character) nor a plotline close to the original.

[Scott & Lai 12]

One thing I don't get, is the casting of M. Judi Dench, who has played M since "Tomorrow Never Dies," was supposed to be the replacement for the previous M, who was male, played by various actors through the franchise. Casino Royale is supposed to be the prequel for the series, giving the backstory of how Bond became 007. Yet, Judi Dench is playing the M who hires Bond. Are they pretending M was always a woman, and the same woman?

Not necessarily. In the John Gardner Bond novels, M is identified by name as a (male) admiral--not sure of the original Fleming novels. In the movies, id'd only as "M"--maybe meant as a title rather than a name.

Yes, I know "M" is meant as a title. I was referring to who had that title chronologically.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Yes, I know "M" is meant as a title. I was referring to who had that title chronologically.

Of course the one constant for a long time (till 1983's "Octopussy") was Moneypenny (played by Canuck Lois Maxwell).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

One thing I don't get, is the casting of M. Judi Dench, who has played M since "Tomorrow Never Dies," was supposed to be the replacement for the previous M, who was male, played by various actors through the franchise. Casino Royale is supposed to be the prequel for the series, giving the backstory of how Bond became 007. Yet, Judi Dench is playing the M who hires Bond. Are they pretending M was always a woman, and the same woman?

Not necessarily. In the John Gardner Bond novels, M is identified by name as a (male) admiral--not sure of the original Fleming novels. In the movies, id'd only as "M"--maybe meant as a title rather than a name.

Yes, I know "M" is meant as a title. I was referring to who had that title chronologically.

Bernard Lee did the role originally - before his death around 1980-81.

It will be interesting to see how different her character is written in this movie than in the previous films. There's one clip online where she tells Bond something along the lines of "if you say anything else I'll have you killed".

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it, and I'm not a big Bond fan or anything

All 5 ladies I was with agree on Daniel Craig: ugly-sexy

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Yes, I know "M" is meant as a title. I was referring to who had that title chronologically.

Bernard Lee did the role originally - before his death around 1980-81.

I actually thought he was the best at that role.

It will be interesting to see how different her character is written in this movie than in the previous films. There's one clip online where she tells Bond something along the lines of "if you say anything else I'll have you killed".

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Yes, I know "M" is meant as a title. I was referring to who had that title chronologically.

Bernard Lee did the role originally - before his death around 1980-81.

I actually thought he was the best at that role.

Yes he was. His replacement who started in Octopussy I think wasn't bad either.

The problem I have with many of the new Bond films is not the acting - I think Brosnan did the role pretty well, I think its the writing which on a couple of the films was just terrible. Can't fault the action stuff - but the last 3 films seemed more like a "James Bond tribute" rather than a genuine Bond film.

Casino Royale is getting overwhelmingly excellent reviews. Incidentally, this film has the same writing team as the last 3 Brosnan films - the only difference... they hired Oscar winning screenwriter Paul Haggis (who wrote Crash) to 'tweak things'.

[heishe 2]

I saw it last night. It was fantastic! I'm already forming plans to dress my future British husband up in a tuxedo and make him play cards and dash around and such. Mm yes.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This was great - I loved that the poker game really did look like a real game, rather than just an excuse for a few "cute" one-liners.

Definitely not one for the kids though. Some people took their under 8's into the theatre - that didn't sit easy with me, with all the screaming in the "cross your legs" scene.

Total reinvention of the character - very OHMSS

[Garfield fan 0]

Just saw it tonight with hubby (with free tickets from my workplace... ). It's really good, not a lot of cool gadgets though just as the reviews say, but the cool-looking car was still there.

Daniel Craig has good body, I agree with the "ugly-sexy" term for him... LOL ! He makes Bond look "colder", not as dandy as before, he could use more smiles With his current expression, he fits more as KGB agent or something...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

"I've got an itch... down there... NO!! other side