In a few short weeks it will be the 40th anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The film is a) one of the best, if not the best, James Bond movies; b) the “first major hiccup” in the Bond series (as TCM weekend host Ben Mankiewicz put it in introducing Diamonds Are Forever when that film was shown on TCM in May; c) the rare Bond film with an unhappy ending.

It’s such an important film to the Bond series, we figured it was worth the same treatment we gave to Goldfinger’s 45th anniversary. The best place to start is with the obvious: it was the first film in the official 007 film series not to star Sean Connery.

The reasons for that have been much written about, including Connery’s tiring of the role *and* feeling unappreciated and underpaid (particularly in comparison to the paychecks Dean Martin was getting for the Matt Helm film series). You can’t have a Bond movie without a Bond, so somebody had to be chosen.

Life magazine gave its readers a view of the five finalists in a collage of photographs taken by Loomis Dean.

The late Peter Hunt, the film’s director, described in the documentary Inside On Her Majesty’s Secret Service there were numerous potential Bonds tested. The Life photos gave a hint of that, including actor John Richardson performing a love scene. Also shown was a shot of actor Anthony Rogers’s screen test. Others under consideration were Hans De Vries, Robert Cambell and an Australian model named George Lazenby.

Life also showed actors auditioning for other roles including Agneta Eckemyr doing a screen test, apparently for the role of Tracy, 007’s doomed bride. In that photo Hunt can be seen in the lower right.

In the end, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman went with George Lazenby, the least experienced of the five 007 finalists. The move would have a major effect on the film.

PRAG av Ole Christian Madsen (2006)
Med Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade, Borivoj Navrátil, Jana Plodková, Josef Vajnar, Nicola Meisselová

VISS SPOILERVARNING

Inledningen gjorde mig rätt sur. Det här är en dansk film som utspelas i Prag. Det var faktiskt därför jag såg den. På grund av Prag. Jag har varit i Prag. Två gånger. Prag är förmodligen den vackraste huvudstaden på jordens yta. Jag kan inte svära på det, för jag har inte varit i alla, men den är utan tvivel den vackraste jag har sett. Den utklassar det påstått eviga Rom. Och så har filmteamet lyckats leta reda på några gråsjaskiga hyreshus i en avlägsen förort (förmodligen en förort till en annan tjeckisk stad) och presenterar dem som Prag. Med undantag av en kamerasvepning över Karlsbron och slottet och för all del ett par scener på torget i gamla stan och en på den judiska kyrkogården som helt missar att visa hur spektakulär kyrkogården är, framstår denna vidunderligt vackra stad som en trist betongförort längs tunnelbanans blå linje i Stockholm. Man kan undra över skälet till att ställa upp kameran i betongförorten. Prag följde ju så att säga med på köpet när man valde inspelningsplats. Kan det möjligen tänkas att det danska filmteamet var ansträngt patriotiskt och inte i en danskproducerad film ville visa upp en stad som utklassar inte bara Rom utan för den delen även Köpenhamn? Man kan undra. Särskilt som tjeckerna, framför allt läkaren och sköterskorna i sjukhuskulverten, framställs som något slags bisarr, militäriskt robotlik variant av stereotypa, känslolösa östatsmänniskor från sovjeteran. Vad i hela fridens namn är avsikten med detta? Jag förstår det inte. Tjecker är normalt inte militäriska robotar utan känslor. I verkligheten är de riktiga människor. Inte helt oväntat, kanske. Varför framställs de som parodiska östatsmonster i filmen?

Fast nu är ju Prag en spelfilm, inte en film gjord av en turistbyrå i avsikt att locka turister till staden. Och som spelfilm har den sina avsevärda poänger.

Musiken är en av dem. Den skärande, märkliga, monotona och mycket dystra stråkmusiken inte bara illustrerar temat, den koncentrerar det. Sorgen som vilar över huvudpersonerna – och betongförorten Prag – får ett påträngande fokus.

Mads Mikkelsen gör sin roll enligt modellen stenansikte som försöker dölja sina känslor men inte riktigt lyckas, och själv lyckas han inte riktigt i rollen. Han har nog fel sorts ansikte. Det är inte vidare känsligt och gör sig bättre som endimensionell skurk i en trekunda så kallad James Bond-film utan Sean Connery. Fast han misslyckas inte heller och eftersom Stine Stengade är en förnämlig skådespelerska fungerar det här dramat väl.

När man i tidiga medelåldern drabbas av en livskris som inte bara vänder upp och ned på tillvaron utan består av flera hårda smällar på varandra, ser tillvaron lätt endimensionellt dyster ut och det är lätt för den drabbade att se vems felet är, vem som är syndabocken. Men så enkelt är det ju sällan. Det känns både trovärdigt och sympatiskt att även Stine Stengades sida av saken så tydligt framkommer, eftersom det här annars skulle ha blivit ett enkelspårigt drama om en man som bryter samman utan att tittaren får veta hur hans fru har uppfattat situationen och varför hon har handlat som hon gjort, vilket skulle ha gjort Prag till ett banalt otrohetsdrama i stället för ett mångfacetterat och därför trovärdigt och gripande relationsdrama.

Och smällarna är som sagt flera, förvecklingarna kommer på varandra. Ingen av dem känns påklistrad, ingen av dem osannolik. Tvärtom är samtliga intressanta dominobrickor i den rad som faller samman i Mads Mikkelsens psyke. Och de hänger samman. Alltsammans utspelas dessutom mot bakgrund av hans i livet ständigt frånvarande far, som bott i Prag och dött i Prag och som sonen nu i sällskap med sin hustru åkt dit för att hämta hem. Och som fortsätter att spela en väsentlig roll i sonens tillvaro även bortsett från att han i och med sin död på nytt väcker dennes besvikelse och frustration till liv, eftersom Mads Mikkelsen oväntat kommer sin far närmare inpå livet, får veta saker om honom som han aldrig kunnat ana.

Händelser som dessa, om än inte identiska, drabbar förr eller senare de flesta av oss och i någon variant drabbar de miljoner människor varje dag. De berör oss. De handlar om vilka vi är och varför vi handlar och reagerar som vi gör. Med det lyckas Prag, för filmen är inträngande trovärdig där den försöker – i relationsdramat. Det känns mindre uppmuntrande att den även så övertygande lyckas få den tittare som inte besökt staden att tro att Prag är en trist betongförort längs blå linjen i Stockholm. Även om det här som sagt inte inte är en reklamfilm från en turistbyrå skulle det knappast ha skadat att visa upp Prag, kanske i synnerhet som sorg och skönhet så ofta gör sig så väl ihop.

Kör hårt,
Bellis

I thought now would be a good time to write a blog about my personal favorites of the long running series broken down into different categories with my top 5 picks in each of them. So here we go:




FAVORITE BOND
1. Sean Connery – this was actually a close call. I grew up watching Bond when Roger Moore was playing him and recently I loved when Pierce Brosnan took over. But I had to go with Sean…he did start it after all.
2. Pierce Brosnan
3. Roger Moore
4. Daniel Craig – is off to a good start but he needs to lighten up just a bit
5. Timonty Dalton – not as bad as everyone remembers.

The ‘sound’ of a brand is as important as how it looks, as the importance of regional accents is brought into spotlight.

56 per cent of Brits will listen to a special offer or promotion if they like sound of the voice delivering the message, with the Queen’s English and Scottish accents being the most popular accents. The Cheryl Cole factor means that Geordie was voted the third most favoured accent according to the poll of consumers by Nuance Communications.

Liverpool and Birmingham faired poorly in the research, with scouse and brumie brogues deemed to be the least effective for upselling purposes.

Ian Turner, northern European general manager at Nuance Communications, says it is human nature to react differently to different voice types. “Some of the world’s biggest companies invest millions of pounds each year ensuring that the way their brands ‘look’ and ‘feel’ reflect the values and beliefs of the brand. Yet very few organisations actually think about how their brand ‘speaks’, despite the fact that the vast majority of customer service communication and advertising is based on listening.”

Source

“The name is Bond. James Bond.”

Everyone knows this line. Everyone knows who Bond is, a ‘00′ agent for the British Secret Service; how Bond likes his martini’s, ’shaken, not stirred; what kind of car he drives, a silver Aston Martin; and how he’s usually dressed for his missions, in a dapper tuxedo. This fictional character  is probably one of the most beloved characters ever created.

I am currently watching ‘Casino Royale’ starring Daniel Craig (which is why I’m blogging about Bond) one of the newest actors in a line of those who have portrayed the iconic spy throughout the decades. As a ’90s child, I grew up with Pierce Brosnan as Bond. The legendary actor before him was Sean Connery.

As most people know, the Bond movies are based on the books by Ian Fleming. I’ve yet to read these books, but I heard they’re extraordinary. The first book is Casino Royale, which details the beginning of Bond as a ‘00′ agent.  James Bond was introduced in the 1950s/1960s on television, with Casino Royale portrayed as a parody. But it then took off with the movie Dr. No.

What I want to know is this–Why are the ‘007′ movies/books so appealing? What is it about Bond that seems to transcend any other spy story?

I asked a friend, and he jokingly responded: ” Maybe its the fact that he seems to break everything and doesn’t have to pay for it.”

That could be it. Bond has a certain status, a certain level of suave and cool that makes him seem untouchable, almost invincible. He never really pays the consequences for any damage he’s done (although he has lost some girlfriends).

Bond is also an incredible individual. Strong (but also violent) smart, sophisticated–it makes sense why he is, in essence, a perfect spy. Women love him and men want to be him. What guy watching a Bond movie does not want to live that kind of lifestyle? Action-packed, dangerous, traveling all over the world, womanizing (ok, that’s not ok but we’ll let it slide).

A different mission everytime–different villains, different women, gadgets, places. From a story point-of-view, its the same idea repeated: someone with power has a diabolical plan that will unstabilize the world, and Bond must stop him. But it’s brilliantly executed each time, which is why I think it makes it so popular. There’ve been twenty-two movies afterall!

Then there’s also the Bond women. Femme Fatales. They’re sexy, smart and badass. They’ve also broken the race barrier, which is a good step in the right direction. What’s great about the Bond Women, both the villains and the good ones, are that the are role models for female empowerment. Women no longer have to fit into one role. We can do a plethora of things–whether it be fighting bad guys, hacking into computers, or running an agency–and still be considered a woman.

But back to Bond. I think what Bond represents for everyone–man or woman– is an individual in control of himself and his destiny. Maybe that’s a stretch, but I like the idea.

What do you think?

Mini-update–A blog completely dedicated to all things related to Bond. Well done. http://licencetoblog.wordpress.com/

Woke with much excitement this morning; off to the Isle of Skye today.   Had breakfast and packed a picnic lunch and set off real early. We wanted to make good progress as the island is over 50 miles away and would take about an hour or so to get there.   Hahaha! Little did we know!

On the way out I stopped at reception to ask for a new kettle; ours had died and to take a photo of the reception area.   This set the tone for the day!    Everything is so gorgeous and we didn’t stop once or twice, we stopped dozens of times!

We barely left the grounds of the park when we made or first stop!   At Laggan Swing Bridge.   The day was absolutely glorious and the water on the Loch such a beautiful blue, it just begged for a photo or two.

Laggan Swing Bridge

part of the bridge mechanisms

The valley we are in is just breathtakingly gorgeous and yet we had no idea of the splendour that waited ahead.   The next stop was hardly a mile down the road and so it went.   We eventually got to Invergarry where we were to turn left for the Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye.

Invergarry Hotel

Of course we stopped once again in Invergarry to take photos of the wonderful hotel

the bridge with river running swiftly below

the beautiful stone bridge we had just driven over and the river that rushed by in the ravine below.

colours too gorgeous to imagine

The colours of the forest are just too gorgeous to imagine.

We did not linger too long and soon made our way towards Skye.   Oh my word!   The scenery was absolutely spectacular.  We hardly got anywhere at all with the frequent stops along the way.   Driving through hills of Glen Quoich was such a treat.  We gasped with disbelief when we rounded a bend and there before our eyes was Loch Garry! 

Loch Garry

Stupendous is just insufficient to describe the beauty.   The Loch is huge and stretches for mile upon mile, a massive expanse of beautiful blue water snug amongst the steeply sloping tree covered hills.

wooded slopes leading down into glacial valley; Loch Garry

A left-over from the glaciers that formed these valleys 12,000 years ago, the water is a flat expanse of icy-blue.

mile upon mile of blue water

We spent ages just looking, reluctant to leave, but time was fleeting and we still had quite a way to go.

The road twists and winds, up and steeply down through towering hills and wooded glacial valleys,

gushing waterfalls everywhere you look

gushing waterfalls round every corner and rushing headlong down the mountain sides.

rushing, gurgling down the mountainsides

At one spot where we stopped, right at the top of the mountain, we were greeted by a really strange spectacle: a large flat expanse of ground with countless little cairns dotting the area. Really bizarre.

hundreds of little cairns dotted the hilltop

countless cairns, blue glacial waters of Loch Garry in the backround

We kept saying: ‘Ok, no more stops now till we get to Eilean Donan Castle’!   Pointless words, every corner revealed another view, another waterfall,    

another bridge, and we screamed to a stop so many times that it eventually became a joke.

welcome to Skye and Lochalsh

Welcome to Skye and Lochalsh

Nearing Kyle of Lochalsh we passed through a tiny village situated right on the edge of the Sound of Sleat, a massive stretch of water on the left and on the right a valley cut in the cleft of the mountains we had just driven through.

The village of Dornie in the background, the Sound of Sleat on the right

As we passed through the village I noticed a statue high on top of a hill and a ramshackle church in the middle of an ancient graveyard.  

roofless church in graveyard

We screamed to a stop once again (I am sure I wore the brakes out!) and parking the car snug against the hedges, walked along a winding dirt path that took us up the steep sides of the hill and eventually to the top and behold: the statue.   It was actually a memorial erected by the clan Macrae and friends in memory of Macrae’s home and abroad who fell at home and abroad in the Great War of 1914-1918. 

Memorial inscription

the stone memorial and statue

The stone edifice of a man in uniform with the family crest carved into  the stone; has a view second to none, as far as the eye can see,

a view as far as the eye can see

across the hills and along the valleys far, far away. 

me on the hillside

There are a couple of benches atop the crest and even though the wind was attempting to blow us off our feet we sat and tarried for a while in the peace and quiet. 

CJ sitting on the bench atop the hill

Then we clambered back down through slushy mud and peat, ever mindful of holes and uneven ground just waiting to twist an unwary ankle!

Thence to the graveyard; to explore the tumble down roofless church, with

tumble down church

new memorials alongside ancient gravestones and memorials; I love those old cemeteries, the stories they tell.  

As we clambered about the sun broke through the clouds and shone down in a stream of silver light onto the loch and hills. 

sun touching the mountains

What is quite amazing is that these two photos were taken within minutes of each other from slightly different angles!

Not long and just after we had said no more stopping till we get to the castle, we rounded a bend and there it was!

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle perched on its island at the head of Loch Duich.

Eilean Donan Castle

Only one of the most photographed castles in Scotland and on every calendar you get of castles of Scotland.   Awesome.

an island fortress

When you see photos of the castle it always looks like it is in the middle of the Loch, but although on it’s own little island, in fact it is not in the middle of the Loch.   Just a short walk over a beautiful stone bridge

the bridge leading up to the castle

and you are on the wee island that supports the structure.   The castle per se is closed from October till March, but that did not stop us exploring the outer perimeters.

CJ exploring the outer walls of Eilean Donan Castle

the bridge leading to the castle Eilean Donan

At the entrance to the castle is a family memorial carrying the family crest or arms and listing all the names of fallen Macraes from the 1914-1918 war       

Clan Macrae memorial to family members fallen during the Great War 1914-18

and alongside 2 fine cannons pointing across the Loch and along the bridge.

....down the barrel of a gun!

after exploring I then clambered down to the rocks below to look at the views from under the bridge.

view of the Loch from under the bridge at Eilean Donan Castle

Amazing views from under the bridge.

The castle is situated on a tidal Loch and the rocks were covered with seaweed, with that wonderful salty sea smell. With a long history dating back centuries, the castle is famous for many events, and more recently the film Highlander starring Sean Connery.

me and CJ at Eilean Donan Castle

The castle is a fabulous stone structure,

Eilean Donan Castle

imperious and imposing as castles are meant to be,

view across the Sound

and with an incredible view across the loch and mountains.

I can see that once the tide comes in how the castle would be inaccessible from the road.  

Very near to the Isle of Skye now and with the day waning, we decided to hotfoot it along and get there before the sun disappeared.   There is a fantastic new bridge that crosses the Firth from Kyle of Lochalsh to the isle.

bridge across the sea to Skye as seen from the car

The views are just incredible and we gasped at every turn.   As we drove over the sea to Skye and onto the island we cheered, hooray!   It had taken us 5 hours to get there!

Making a sharp turn to the left we stopped off in a wee town called Kyleakin, the gateway to Skye, with a long and proud history.

history of Kyleakin; gateway to Skye

Kyleakin is a harbour town with views to die for.

Kyleakin harbour

On a rocky outcrop near the edge of town are the remains of Castle Moil.

Castle Moil on the Isle of Skye (this is CJ's photo)

Looking across the Inner Sound we could see Scalpay Island across the water.

Scalpay Island across Inner Sound

The bridge looked magnificent against the blue sky and with the sun beginning to set, looked mystical in the soft misty air.

a soft misty look across the Sound to the bridge

We decided to explore further inland so set off along the road to Broadford.

a tiny croft, a stunning view

The views are just incredible and we saw tiny little crofts snug amongst the grass with a fabulous backdrop of sea and sky.

dusk falls on the Isle of Sky

Now it was starting to get darker so we stopped off at a hotel for tea and scones with cream.   Thence homeward bound.

crossing the bridge from the Isle of Skye to Kyle of Lochalsh

Re-crossing the bridge we pledge to return at a later date and explore the whole island.

A quick stop at the castle for some sunset photos,

night falls on Eilean Donan Castle (one of CJ's photos)

Eilean Donan Castle as dusk falls (one of CJ's photos)

then with the rain starting up again we set off for home.

Driving along the winding roads we were once again enchanted by the waterfalls that plunge down the slopes of the mountains!

plunging waterfalls

Earlier on in the day before we reached Kyle of Lochalsh we had noticed a wonderful old-fashioned stone bridge (no longer in use) along the way, but as we had no-where to park decided to stop on the way back home.   The rain was pouring down by now and we almost missed the stop when CJ happened to glance out the window and noticed it again.   I slammed on brakes and did a quick turn to the left onto the hard-shoulder and pulled into a lay-bye nearby.   Jumping out the car in the rain we splooshed and splashed along slipping and sliding in the mud and reached the crest of the road in one piece.   So far, so good!   Hahaha.   Not wanting to get soaked to the skin we ran along to the centre of the main-road bridge to get a good viewpoint. 

old stone bridge

As we ran CJ happened to glance up and noticed a huge puddle of water on the left of where we were heading and a great big truck heading our way.   As she turned to shout a warning: “Puddle!” the truck roared by and all I had time to do was duck my head and turn my back as a huge arc of dirty, greasy, black water poured over my head.   I was soaked to the skin.   Thankfully I had, had just enough time to raise my camera into the air just out of reach of the torrent as the water poured over me.    We were laughing so much that it wasn’t just the rain that was to blame for my trousers being wet .    By now we were absolutely soaked so with no further ado snapped away with the cameras (with very blurry results)

a very blurry photo

and then ran lickety-split for the car.   With no time to spare we jumped off the road and down onto the lay-bye as another stream of cars whooshed by.    What a scream.

one last photo for the day!

And so to home!  One last stop along the way in the waning light to photograph one last river

icy rivers rush headlong down the valleys (Cj's photo)

by the time we got back to the cabin we were wet and cold and still hysterical with laughter.   Next up; a hot steaming shower…of clean water accompanied by a towel.   What a brilliant day.

Looking at a map of Scotland after our adventure, I was amazed to see just how many islands are off the west coast.   There is of course Skye, then Rana, Raasay, Scalpay, Canna, Rum, Eigg, Muck, Coll, Tiree, Mull, Lismore, Colonsay, Jura, Islay, Kintyre, Arran, Bute, as well as farther northwest is Lewis, Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Barra (a tiny little island with it’s own airport), hundreds of little splotches of land with no names, and way north are the Orkney Islands (including the isle of Hoy), and even farther north are the Shetland Islands.   Awesome!”

Academy Award winning director John Huston, once described it as “the only film festival that’s worth a damn!”. Each year, rising talent and current favourites of the film industry gather in Edinburgh for one of Britain’s premier festivals. This would be The Edinburgh International Film Festival or The EIFF for those in the know. Running from the 17^th to the 28^th of June, thousands of movie-goers gather in the capital for the 11 day event. The EIFF is the world’s longest continually-running film festival, being founded in 1947, and has become the cornerstone to all other events that are now so pivotal to film culture all over the world. So forget Cannes, Toronto or Sundance, Edinburgh is the place to be.

Originally established as a means of bringing the increasing documentary movement to the general public’s attention, The EIFF slowly began to attract the attention of all sorts of film-makers and audiences, and by the 1950s expanded to incorporate fiction. During the 60s the festival decided to add a retrospective element to the programme, focussing on a particular key player in the industry and studying their work. Past subjects have included John Huston, Douglas Sirk, Werner Herzog and this year, Roger Corman. The dawn of the 70s saw, The EIFF pick up on the experimental new wave of cinema with Independent American films, black and feminist filmmakers or new age German pictures. Audiences are witness to the whole spectrum of film culture. The festival now has combined the mainstream cinema, work of upcoming film-makers, and features and shorts from all corners of the world.

Although the festival offers a diverse range of content, it still manages promote its strong Scottish influences.  The presence of Sir Sean Connery alone ensures that The EIFF is going to be steeped in Scottish culture. Through initiatives like Scottish Screen, young Scot’s are encouraged to enter their work into the festival for a chance it to be released and be judged by a professional jury. There’s a series of Tartan Shorts, showcasing the best short films by accomplished Scottish film-makers, as well as the chance to see the finalists of the Saltire Society Grierson Award for Short Documentary which recognises the best films made by first time directors from Scotland.

EIFF Logo

As well as rising stars, The EIFF also promotes the work of film veterans and A-List stars like Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Bacon, Alan Cumming, Sir Sean Connery, Tilda Swinton, Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller.  If submitting your first film into one of the world’s largest film festivals isn’t nerve wracking enough, entrants to the festival have their work scrutinised by industry heavyweights and members of the media. Last year the panel included Award winning actor, Frank Langella, star of Frost/Nixon and Superman Returns. Also judging was Alan Cumming, a regular to the festival, who’s upcoming film Boogie Woogie made headlines at the festival in 2009.  Hundreds of fans gather on the Opening Gala night to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars, at the packed Cineworld in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh.  Boasting 23 World premiers, the festival generates a lot of media attention and buzz round the film-industry. It truly is one of the ideal places to be for anyone genuinely interested in film.

The festival offers a wide variety of awards for numerous sorts of work ranging from short films to documentaries. The highest regarded award at The EIFF is The Michael Powell Award for Best New Feature Film. Named after the famous wartime director whose numerous credits include A Matter of Life and Death and Peeping Tom – two films that changed the face of cinema.  This award is sponsored by the UK Film Council with the winner getting a £20,000 prize. Although this is judged by the Film Jury of the Festival, the audience also get a say in which films take the awards. The Standard Life Audience Award focuses on mainstream cinema and like the title suggests, is chosen from audience votes. Numerous past winners have included Billy Elliot and The Full Monty. Other awards include: The Skillset New Directors Award, which is aimed at first time directors and offers a cash prize of £5,000. Acting is also rewarded with The PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Film, one by Robert Carlyle this year. Plus, a handful of awards for short features, documentaries, animation and international films. The festival covers a diverse range of films and has something that will appeal to mainstream audiences and those searching for something a bit more out of the box.

EIFF Launch

2009 was an extremely successful year for The EIFF. Almost all screenings sold out and films that premiered at the festival have all gone on to critical acclaim – such as Moon and Mesrine: Killer Instinct. Don’t think the creative team behind the festival can kick back and relax; planning is already rolling forward for next June, which is set to be another influential year to the world of film.
SIDEBAR – Best EIFF Films of the Decade

Antichrist (2009) : Willem Dafoe stars in Lars Von Trier’s story of a grieving couple, who retreat to their isolated cabin in the woods in an attempt to mend their broken marriage and recover from the death of their son.

Moon (2009): The story of a solitary lunar employee who is nearing the end of his three year stint working on the moon, and the personal crisis he faces during this.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006): Tale of a dysfunctional family who trek halfway across America to enter their daughter into a beauty pageant. Stars Alan Arkin, Greg Kinear and Abigail Breslin.

Supersize Me (2004): Critically acclaimed documentary by Morgan Spurlock, exposing the danger that fast food has and the effect it’s having on the American population.

The War Zone (1999): Tim Roth steps behind the camera with this powerful drama that follows a young boy who moves to London with his family, leaving behind his school and friends. However he soon discovers his father’s dark secret.

The SyFy Channel will be airing a total of sixteen James Bond films this Thanksgiving weekend. Below is the full schedule:

Thursday – November 26th 2009

8:00 AM -  Dr. No
10:30 AM – Licence To Kill
1:30 PM -  Live And Let Die
4:00 PM – The Spy Who Loved Me
6:30 PM – Tomorrow Never Dies
9:00 PM – Casino Royale

Friday – November 27th 2009:

12:00 AM – For Your Eyes Only
2:30 AM – The Man With The Golden Gun
08:00 AM – Thunderball
10:30 AM – From Russia With Love
1:00 PM – You Only Live Twice
3:30 PM – Diamonds Are Forever
6:00 PM – Casino Royale
9:00 PM – GoldenEye

Saturday November 28th 2009:

12:00 AM – Goldfinger
2:30 AM – Never Say Never Again

All times are EST.

This young man came along with his sister, (a few posts back) to get his picture taken, while I took some for her Senior pictures. When I first met him, I recognized his “cuteness” right away. It wasn’t until later, when I really looked at him through my lens, that I saw……”The Look.”

So,…. I think he favors Sean Connery, in “The Look” kinda way. =0)

Maybe it’s the brown eyes, or the eyebrows…different eyebrow arching. Nonetheless, this is one cute kid and I really enjoyed talking while we walked from place to place taking pictures. He came up with a lot of his own poses…very creative!

I used this shot on my blog for his sister too, but I love this one. They have a very loving “brother and sister” relationship, so this fun shot makes me smile even more.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

“Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which stand by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.” Psalms 134

I thought it worthwhile to show some more screenshots from the Connery movie “The Offence” today. It gives some idea as to what parts of Bracknell were like in the early 70s.

Great Hollands from Wildridings

A view of Great Hollands from Wildridings. It all looks so new. What also strikes me is that it looks so quiet. There’s barely a car on the road.

Point Royal

Point Royal, built in 1964,  is one of the tallest buildings in Bracknell (is it the tallest? does anyone know? I assume it’s not taller than the 3M building), it’s also Grade II listed! It’s also the home of Sean Connery in the picture.

Bracknell?

All of the outdoor scenes for The Offence were done in Bracknell but I don’t recognise this building. It may be that I am making a bit of a fool of myself here but I can’t work out where this is…

Text About IAN FLEMING

Text About IAN FLEMING:

Terrorism Is Like Nazism, A Bug That we Have to Erase now Definitely. And I can’t do It alone with This novel. So, I’m about to buy tomorrow, Friday, November 28, 2009, One IAN FLEMING james BondNovel, From Russia With Love, and John Le Carre, A MOST WANTED MAN, To learn more About good Writings and Improve My literacy Style, in a short while. Because, I decided to stop the movie industry, as a producer, just now An Adviser and An Actor (with AKA FRED KELLY), I feel FREE to Begin THE NEW STEP: Step-Writing Of a Novel: F-COP: Aftermath. It’s Not anymore the Old Cop, you know and That Hollywood Refused, It’s a Young man, with The same Name, Me? VINCE SAUVAN, My hero, my Character, this Time in a double double, double Crossover, double Spinoff, Story, Joined By VeLvEt EyEs Partner-Wife, VALENtine Douglas, Leather Gloves, One of the Heroes you prefer on My WordPress, right?

F-Cop in a double Combat, In Cyber-Space, Heroic Fantasy World, and On Earth In VeLvEt EyEs Universe, Will Couter=Attacks with Gloves the Terrorism because It’s The evil Chaos organized that stop The progress Of our Civilization, A NOVEL conceived Like a Film, a Feature one, A Story already in progress on my papers At home, It begins Now and I want to Thank FLEMING And LE CARRE For The challenge I have Now To be Not too bad in my Writings, iN front Of These 2 great Masters, Not only of Mine. See you on the Blog, Next time, Soon!

MIKE FULLER,
November Thanksgiving, 26, 2009
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Ian FLEMING, If He Was There, He Would Help Us To Destroy This Al Qaeda that Harass Our Country Since 2001! A Novel Can Change The World, even If Army and Authorities are The Ones who Fight The Evil Organization, On Location!!

 

Music:
CONFIRMATION InDIaN SuMmEr Tour Dates NOW 2 Hours Before Show Open-Mic, Regarding Fact Heavy Work On Blog, Twitter And FV own Agenda COORD!!

5:48pm: Breaking News: The Q&A Regarding The Real Show TWITTER FV (about 2 change tilte) Is DELAYED 2 Tomorrow, Wednesday, Morning Due 2 Priorities!

Fred Has Enough 2 Read In VARIETY: Hollywood kind Of SICK (Biz feeling), LIKE In Lindsay LOHAN Song: DISCONNECTED, So LET’S WritE A NOVEL!!

From The Tweets:
TIMEFRAMES, Hollywood: TOWN, Neighborhood, CONCEPT (?) -we don’t think so – The SIGN Is Now Ready To Partner With Us, I Hope, On AMBITION!!

TIMEFRAMES, Hollywood: In This TOWN Inside The City Of LOS ANGELES, The Audience Is Small But Good To Understand What Works And What Don’t!

TF, h: 2 Partner ON A NOVEL. Fred-VIDAL Is Traumatized By Failure Of His previous Project, The “FRENCH” COP, French Like The Fries, or Kiss!

TIMEFRAMES, Hollywood: TOWN, Neighborhood, CONCEPT (?) -we don’t think so – The SIGN Is Now Ready To Partner With Us, I Hope, On AMBITION!!

SO Trauma Is Good When You Do A Post-TRAUMA Therapy, We heard, I Mean GOOD Experience/Not Memories, It’s BIZ-Therapy, Fred NEVER DEPRESSED!

• Homage-Text to IAN FLEMING By MIKE FULLER,
  Before Midnight, Today, Nov 24!

Yesterday, Monday:
Breaking News (November 23, 6:45am)
From http://twitter.com/fredvidal

F-COP: AfTeRmAtH (The DARKPOL LegacY)  Is AbouT To Be PuBlIsHeD oN WORDPRESS FV In December (F-COP is new name of FRENCH COP). ThE WRIting Will Be A 31 Day One, From DecembeR 1 2 31st. SigneD FV (Mike FULLER).  The LAST Sequel NOVEL Of Series Of FILM-PROJECTS FC-DP Is Also SPINOFF Of THe MaN WiTh ThE VeLvEt EyEs (2 be Explained Tuesday On The BloG). F-COP: AFTERMATH Is Definitive End SAGA FRENCH COP, Writings Began In 2006!! The NOVEL Will be Offered To NY Publishers Jan.!

With F-Cop: Aftermath, Fred VIDAL, PhD Begins The Writing Of An e-Novel Against Terrorism & Evil Organizations Like Al-Qaeda! It’s Daily On This Blog On WordPress Until 2010!

On TWITTER FV: http://twitter.com/fredvidal

This Morning:

BREAKING NEWS: Fred VIDAL, PhD AKA Mike FULLER, & Team, To Begin Today Writing Novel ‘F-Cop: AFTERMATH’, An e-NOVEL Vs Terrorism & Terror!!

In This Unique SpinOff’s Crossover, The F-COP Works With LEATHER GLOVES 4 MORE RESULTS + the NOVEL Franchise 2 Be USEFUL 4 Our Country & Us!

You Can’T ChangE The World, BUT You Can ContributE, When NOVELIST (Fred) To ImprovE It!! We Don’T AccepT Terrorism And F-COP To FiGht 4 USA!

Explanation: This is 2 Technical!! CROSSOVER: 2 Characters Of Different UNiverses MEET, SPINOFF: One Character Of One UNIVERSE Has OWN SHOW!

Fred VIDAL: In The Man With The Velvet Eyes, The Character Of VALENTINE DOUGLAS Isn’t Developed Yet, So it’s Time To write about Her, Right?

Fred VIDAL: F-COP: AfTeRmAtH, It’s About – DON’T SEE IT AS A MOVIE or Possible feature film, It’s A Novel – Vince & VALENTINE (see TMVTVE)!

SAUVAN, In the VELVET EYES Universe (Diplomacy, espionage, Arts, Weird Environment, History) Won’t Be The Same exactly Because He’s + MATURE

No, It’s Fantastic 4 Team, Hurrah (because it’s something important)! IT’S A DOUBLE SPINOFF! We Understood: ONE CHARACTER Of Each Story tgt!

ONE CHARACTER Of Each Story together: VS from F-franchise + Valentine “LEATHER GLOVES” Douglas of TMWTVE, in her UniVeRsE, VELVET EYES 2010!

DOUBLE SPINOFF Done: ONE CHARACTER Of Each FRANCHISE Together in Same Story One Universe Female Character! This Is Not Brilliant, BuT Very!!

Vince Sauvan (I don’t like name, don’t like mine, I like only one, names are not the persons) IS NOT (A) BOND!! He’s Counter-Terrorist Agent

It’s Written in 2006, I Follow The Screenplay / Before The UFOs, not Only On TWITTER! He’s noT A Soldier, even If He Works with Them, Often!

He’s DARKPOL but You already READ about DarkPol. He’s Not Freelance In this (Last? oR 1st?) MISSION, He’s In VELVET EYES Saga’s Network USA!

Picture: Roger MOORE, After Sean CONNERY, 1st % Forever To Have Been BOND For The Big Screen, Is For FRed VIDAL, The Man Who Had The Most Influenced His Life In The CINEMA SHOW, movie Industry Until TIMEFRAMES!! Homage To Him And The JAMES BOND Franchise That The Author Of VELVET EYES Will Keep In Mid As A Good Example To Follow For The NOVEL’s Writing Of F-COP: Aftermath!!!

Roger MOORE, After Sean CONNERY, 1st % Forever To Have Been BOND On The Big Screen, Is For FRed VIDAL, The Man Who Had The Most Influenced His Life In The CINEMA SHOW, movie Industry Until TIMEFRAMES!! Homage To Him And The JAMES BOND Franchise That The Author Of VELVET EYES Will Keep In Mid As A Good Example To Follow For The NOVEL's Writing Of F-COP: Aftermath!!!

AN IMPORTANT FIRST TEXT OF THE WEB-NOVEL F-C:A IN THIS POST THIS AFTERNOON! ThanK You To The FANSHIP And THE FRIENDOM!! Let It Rock!!

Fred-VIDAL, Phd, November 23, 2009
From Los Angeles, California

TF: JAMES BOND, The Latest Movie, It Was Splendid, From The Screenplay 2 Theaters Results With American Moviegoers Who ADORE ACTION Movies!!

TF: So, Beginning January 2006, Fred VIDAL Was Thinking 2 This Great Success 2 Build His Own WITHOUT IMITATION, Just A Motivation/Biz Master

TIMEFRAMES: The JAMES BOND Franchise Is The Best Example Of Successful FRANCHISE, In The Industry (With STAR WARS, probably That is Unique)

Why JAMES BOND COMPARISON? French Cop, NO Sorry F(rederic)-COP, no basically Letter F… 6th Letter Alphabet, F-COP Has Nothing 2 Do With JB

F-COP Has Nothing 2 Do With JB, Maybe More With G-FORCE – team laughs – (Title can Change), Is An UNIVERSE, The same Style, to Some Extend!!

FV Never Read Really JAMES BOND by Ian FLEMING (to Be confirmed, He has SO MANY memories!), Looks like MASTERPIECES, Movies TOO, HeRo Great!

TF synchronicity: Fred’s Not at all Talent Ian FLEMING or Same Literary Objectives, But It means, We will wait For Opportunity A  LONG TIME!

Stemningsfull space western med Sean Connery i hovedrollen

I en nær fremtid stasjoneres marshallen O’Niel (Sean Connery) på en fjern gruvekoloni på Io, en måne som går i bane rundt Jupiter. Etter å ha etterforsket noen tragiske dødsfall oppdager O’Neil en omfattende narkotikasmuglingskonspirasjon hvor selv hans egne politimenn er involvert. O’Niel nekter å la seg kjøpe av de mektige bakmennene, og snart står han alene mot en gruppe leiemordere sendt for å kverke ham.

Outland er en stykke science fiction etter min smak. I motsetning til Star Trek og Star Wars, hvor stjernereiser skildres på en kvalmende idyllisk og romantisk måte, portretterer Outland livet i verdensrommet som det antagelivis vil være: monotomt, klaustrofobisk og farlig. Filmen spekulerer sobert i hvordan den nære fremtiden vil være. Teknologien er passe avansert og det går på ingen måte fort å reise i verdensrommet. Reisen fra jorda til Jupiter, f.eks., tar ett helt år. Det finnes heller ingen latterlige laservåpen. Her går det i gode gamle pumpehagler.

(Outland: Poster fra filmen.)

Filmens føles på mange måter litt cyberpunk, i den forstand at den skildrer det lavere sosiale sjiktet i et høyteknologisk samfunn. Arbeiderne på gruven er skjeggete og brautende. De drikker, røyker og har seg jevnlig med horer. Tidlig i filmen, i en scene hvor  O’neils kone har forlatt ham og fremtidsutsiktene generelt virker dystre, gir sersjanten O’neil noen trøstende ord: ”At least the hookers here are good”. I Outlands fremtidsscenario har altså ikke menneskenaturen endret seg nevneverdig.

Outland omtales gjerne som space western og det er ikke uten grunn. Filmen har mye western i seg. Pumpehaglene er bare én av mange referanser til sjangeren. Andre artige western-motiv er marhallens sheriffstjerne, gruveby-konseptet og svingdørene (!) i “saloonen”.  Handlingen i seg selv er dessuten en direkte rip-off av western-klassikeren High Noon, en film jeg for øvrig ikke har sett. Kanskje jeg burde gjøre det.

Outland er science fiction-film slik den bør lages. Filmen får terningkast fem av meg.

Starring: Sean Connery, Charles Gray, Jill St. John
Director: Guy Hamilton
Writer(s): Ian Fleming, (novel) Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay)
Studio: EON
Runtime: 115 min
Rated: PG
Official HZ Cinema Score: *** stars

“Curious… how everyone who touches those diamonds seems to die”

[Warning—this review contains a couple spoilers within it, of both this movie, and also concerning ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’… If you wish not to be spoiled, cease reading now.]

Hello everyone and welcome to the seventh installment in my series of reviews covering the famed ‘James Bond’ movie franchise. This time around the movie we’ve got on tap is 1971’s ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ starring Sean Connery once more in the role of secret agent Double O’ Seven for what would be the final time for over a decade, and the final time for good as far as the official EON cannon of films is concerned. For some brief back-story concerning this, Sean Connery was reportedly finished with Bond for good when he left the role after 1967’s ‘You Only Live Twice’ but after the abysmal box office performance of 1969’s ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ and its star George Lazenby declining to return to the role again, it was decided by the producers and the studio that the only option was simply to offer Connery more money than he could reasonably resist, which at the time was a cold one million two hundred thousand pounds, or two million dollars (or twenty million you could say, after being adjusted for inflation in today’s currency…) and so that, as they say, was that. A few other new actors were considered for the role, but once Connery’s name was down in black ink, all of that dilly dallying ceased, and work began in earnest.

So now, as the question always goes at the end of the day in each of these reviews, was this particular Bond movie worthy of the lofty price tag its star actor commanded? All in all I would have to give this movie a “thumbs in the middle” perhaps leaning slightly up. Connery of course, is his usual impeccable Bond best, so unlike last time there are no complaints in that department. Guy Hamilton, the man who directed the five star classic ‘Goldfinger’ returned to the franchise here for his second of four films in the series… And as far as gadgets, girls, style, and action goes, this movie has all of that and then some, as well as arguably the greatest villain Bond ever faced in Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

With all that said, why, you ask, would I give this movie such a middle of the road rating? Well, personally, for me, the reason for the rating boils down solely to one thing, that being, redundancy. While Goldfinger had a fully engaged plot that kept you guessing and waiting to see just how Bond was going to get out of each situation he encountered, here instead there was only the old familiar Bond formula, with every cliché (entertaining as they might be) in the book, being recycled with the precision of an advanced computer program. Yes there were the usual instances of Bond being chased, or trapped, or whathaveyou, but never at any point did I feel even the slightest bit concerned for him, I mean after all, he’s James freakin’ Bond ya know? To make matters worse, the biggest physical threat to Bond in this movie isn’t Blofeld, or any of his highly trained henchmen, but rather, Bambie and Thumper, two beautiful leggy gals who appear to be plucked straight out of some kind of cheap blacksploitation movie from later on in the decade from which this movie was made. If I were to make an uber-sexist comparison here from Bond movies to women (two themes that normally go together, on screen anyway), ‘From Russia With Love’ and ‘Goldfinger’, would be the equivalent of two world class supermodels, with perfectly proportioned, all natural bodies, the faces of divine angels, as well as interesting and engaging personalities to boot, standing at a high class cocktail bar in expensive evening dress, drinking some vintage chilled champagne and casually glancing at you from afar with alluring looks, while ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ would be their equally hot but mentally vacuous and all in all uninteresting (from a conversational point of view) younger cousin with mammoth silicone implants and a high pitched squeaky voice, standing outside your local pub, wearing a see through top and barely there mini skirt, cheap yager shot in hand, crudely crossing and uncrossing her legs, and yelling for you to come over and… Well, you get the picture I presume.

With those thoughts out of the way, now we can dig into the actual meat and bones of this movie. First of all the story, if that’s what it wishes to be called, begins with what Bond himself refers to as a routine diamond smuggling operation, hardly worthy of his time. In the grand scheme of things, this smuggling operation is somehow contrived into being the source of power for a giant space laser (operated strangely enough, by a cassette tape), owned and operated by you guessed it, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, to be used to hold hostage the entire world for a massive sum of extortion money. That Blofeld, what a glutton for punishment this guy is, time after time, he spends countless billions on these cockamamie schemes for world domination or at the very least, to turn some kind of profit, but that ‘waskily wabbit’ James Bond, is always right there, mucking up the works and denying him his much worked for prize. Repeated enough times, you can actually watch these movies and begin to view Blofeld as the victim, and Bond as the bully, who just can’t let poor little Blooey (my nickname for the mad villain) have even a brief moment in the sun. Before this all begins, we first see Bond on the hunt for the aforementioned Blofeld, who in the last movie, if we are to assume there is to be any kind of continuity between the Lazenby film in 1969 and this one directly following it in 1971, murdered Bond’s newlywed wife, Tracy. Bond eventually catches up with the person he assumes to be Blofeld, undergoing some kind of plastic surgery to alter his appearance, while submerged in some bubbly mud like substance, which Bond promptly uses to drown him in.

This sets the scene for Bond to return to routine work as usual back at headquarters. In one of the early briefing scenes between Bond and M, when Bond complains of this smuggling assignment being beneath his stature as an agent, M reprimands him like a father might take to ask a not too ambitious adult son still living at home and spending all day on the couch playing video games. After the debriefing, which gets into the specifics of the smuggling operation to a degree which neither Bond himself, or any of us could possibly be interested in, he is finally released into this tangled mess of a smuggling conspiracy to put all the pieces together and bring to justice the mastermind behind the whole affair.

Before we move on to the rest of the fun stuff found in this movie though, there is one short exchange during the beginning of this movie that while I had watched it several times before, never really gave me pause until just recently watching it. The scene I’m referring to is the one where Bond is just about to set off for Amsterdam, (the location where he begins his mission in this movie) and just before departure he engages Miss Moneypenny in some fairly typical and polite flirting comments which she returns in jest back at him… However, I noticed at the end, how, when Bond asks Moneypenny if there’s anything he can get her while he’s away in Amsterdam, she matter-of-factly says something to the effect of “how about a diamond… in a ring perhaps?…” to which Bond makes a witty retort, smiles, and then departs on his merry way. Now, viewed from the point of view that this is a stand alone movie, that’s nothing more than the usual flirtatious cuteness that Miss Moneypenny provides in every picture she’s in and of no real consequence. However, if you are to take the series as a whole, or in the form of a continuing saga, chronicling the complete evolution of the Bond character from the point of view of the trauma that was just inflicted upon him in the last movie, then James should’ve promptly slapped Moneypenny in the mouth and said “You cold hearted bitch… you know my wife was just murdered recently. You were at the wedding for pete’s sake!” I don’t know why, but that whole deal there made me shake my head somewhat, although if nothing else, it is probably proof that at the time anyway, the producers of the Bond series, wanted so little to do with the previous Lazenby film, that they were now treating it like it never even existed at all, so in that sense perhaps this movie could be considered the first of many coming ‘Bond reboots’…

One high point for this movie, to me anyway, was the steady supply of Bond girls. I already mentioned ‘Bambie and Thumper’ up above, so leaving them aside, Tiffany Case was the primary leading lady in this picture, and she fulfilled all the duties required for her role. Her character was that of a smuggler, working under Blofeld who Bond was to get close enough to, to glean valuable information from her. The next one, and the girl whose name everyone remembers, even though her character is hardly on screen for more than five minutes, is Plenty O’ Toole, who showed plenty of style and personality, not to mention cleavage, so much so that I was really hoping she would stick around and replace Ms. Case… Such was not to be the case though. Aside from the girls, Bond also had his usual back-ups, first of all in the ever reliable old Q, who provided him with those ever useful creative contraptions to get him out of all the various jams he finds himself in. There’s also Felix Leiter, an American CIA agent, and longtime Bond ally dating back to Bond’s first picture, Dr. No. Among the people who Bond has to deal with as enemies in this movie include two rather bizarre characters called Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, two openly homosexual hitmen who tail Bond and kill various people related to the smuggling operation in order to cover Blofeld’s tracks. They have the annoying habits of making horrifically bad jokes and finishing each others sentences. I wanted them both killed the second they appeared on screen, but unfortunately had to put up with them through virtually the entire movie. Blofeld himself here was played quite capably by Charles Gray, who formerly was best known in the Bond world for playing a man named Henderson who was one of Bond’s contacts in ‘You Only Live Twice’.

While he does a commendable job here and can in no way be criticized for his performance, I consider it a lost opportunity that the casting people were not able to sign on Donald Pleasence to reprise the role that he mastered, even given the scandalously little screen time he had in the last Connery movie. All in all Blofeld’s scenes with Bond in this movie are, aside from the great car chase scenes, the high point of the entire film for me, and without them here, this movie would receive a far lower rating than the one it currently enjoys. Another major character who plays a role in Blofeld’s scheme here is ‘Willard Whyte’ a reclusive billionaire played by Jimmy Dean meant to bring to mind the late Howard Hughes, who supposedly lives in the top floor of his Las Vegas hotel dubbed ‘The Whyte House’ and hasn’t been seen outside of it in over five years. Finally, anyone who has watched a lot of old westerns or John Wayne movies will be pleased to recognize old Bruce Cabot in this movie, who plays an employee of Mr. Whyte, as well as an underling and trusted ally of Blofeld.

I mentioned the car chases above there, and for my money, the ones here are some of the best in the entire series. Although he doesn’t have his trademark Aston Martin with him, James Bond more than makes up for that with a shiny new red Mustang which he drives in ways that I’m pretty sure are actually physically impossible. The police chase him throughout the streets of Las Vegas, but are alas, unable to even come remotely close to cornering him as you would expect. Aside from that he also at one point commandeers a ‘Moon Buggy’ for a fun little romp through the desert that sees plenty of overturned automobiles and hapless underlings crashing into one another. The only complaint I had with these scenes is that the classic James Bond theme music was not played at any point throughout either chase. To make up for that misjudgment I simply hummed the tune in my head while Bond swerved around the city streets and desert trails in his various souped up rides. On top of the chases, there is also a lot of witty one liners from Bond and others throughout this movie, which made for some fun moments, and which were a pre-curser to the light hearted days to come with the next actor who would take the role from Connery.

So what’s my final verdict on this movie you ask? Personally, in light of some of the criticisms above, I say see it. I wouldn’t rush out to the video store and snatch it up mind you, but it’s of a high enough quality in my mind to warrant either catching it on television or watching it on a rainy day when there’s little else to do. The fact that it’s not in my mind at least, one of the essential Bond movies, in no way negates from the fact that it is still, for all its flaws, a very fun piece of afternoon matinee material. So to sum up my thoughts here, I again say ’see it’ if you’ve got nothing better going on, but by no means make it a priority, as there are far better Bond movies out there worth seeking out before you get to this one. That concludes our review for the time being. I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to stop by and check it out, and of course, James Bond will return next time in my review of ‘Live and Let Die’ and with that we will formally begin to run down the legendary era of Bond movies staring none other than Sir Roger Moore in the role of Agent Double O’ Seven. So with that, I bid you a fond Bond farewell and say “see you all, next time…”

Cheerio.

Jules

Bracknell has been the location of many cinematic pieces. It’s proximity to London and easy access are obviously two of the main reasons for its use. One of the first films to use Bracknell as a base was the 1972 Sean Connery film ‘The Offence’. It’s a pretty grim tale so I’ll gloss over the subject matter and get onto the connections with Bracknell.

Pretty much all of the outdoor scenes are taken in Bracknell. The first ten minutes are all filmed in the Wildridings area of the town.

Crossfell, Wildridings

The above picture shows Connery about to turn up into Crossfell. The fields behind are still there and used for football on the weekends, though it appears the bus lane hasn’t yet been built – and the trees are mere saplings. The houses within Wildridings were built in the late 60s, so when The Offence was filmed the estate can only have been three or four years old. What is quite interesting is that the streetsign in the photo has a space between Cross and Fell, these days it’s simply Crossfell. Is that interesting? Well, perhaps not..

Connery and Point Royal

This is the inimitable Sean Connery with the famous Point Royal in the background. Connery’s character actually lives there in the film, and I’ll certainly bring you pictures of that at a later date! This film only happened due to Connery’s pressure, he returned as James Bond in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ under the condition that he could star in two films of his own choosing, this was one of them.

Mill Pond

The puddle in the background is where Mill Pond is now, the café is not there yet (it’s a fantastic place that I’ll surely feature at some point)  and neither are the many friendly ducks, swans and geese who now live on the pond.

Arcnliffe, Wildridings

A lady walks up Arncliffe, Mill Pond in the background as is Great Hollands. As you can see this is before McDonald’s evil corporate juggernaught arrived on the Mill Pond roundabout. It goes to show that some things were better in the 70s.

It’s actually a very, very good film. However, the subject matter is pretty draining and dark. A young girl is abducted by Mill Pond in the first ten minutes of the picture. Still, this is fiction. Perhaps it may have been better to cover a friendlier film such as Harry Potter or Time Bandits (both part filmed in Bracknell). Next time, maybe.

The Movie Overdose attempts to contain the apocalypse with a review of Roland Emmerich’s 2012. We chat about how we would change Eddie Murphy for the better, what kind of sequel we want for Star Trek and whether we are glad to see Sean Connery coming back, if only in voice form. Tom slightly dampens the praise given to An Education and Sam revels in the madness of Running Scared and the flawed ambition of Dogma. The conclusion involves a discussion of actors that, no matter what, we always look forward to seeing on screen.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 42

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On today’s show: Another K&B Instant Request: Gene Simmons talks to Adam Lambert, your biggest screw up at work, the King of Mexico is making a New Moon shirt and more Miss Double D-cember highlights.

Also, Sean Connery has a new movie project, NBC Community’s Joel McHale stops by, the 2009 World Series of Poker Champion Joe Cada calls in and Ralph’s Showbiz Beat.

A pesar de su anuncio sobre su retiro definitivo de las pantallas, parece que el actor Sean Connery lo único que hizo fue buscar otros campos que explotar. Por lo pronto, se dio a conocer que estará trabajando en la animación Sir Billy the Vet, producción escocesa que, si bien se comenzó a producir en el 2006, es hasta ahora que se está concluyendo. Si bien es la primera vez que encarnará a un personaje animado, no es la primera ocasión en que presta su voz para un proyecto cinematográfico. Seguramente todos lo recordamos en su caracterización de Draco en Corazón de Dragón.

Recently I defended Michael Bay (while simultaneously expressing how odious his movies can be), and now I rush to the defense of another man used as a lazy punchline to a billion deeply unfunny jokes about bad cinema: the acting colossus called Nicolas Cage. As with Bay, Cage is treated like a cautionary tale about how that vile, Chthonic monolith called Hollywood can drive people insane with greed, how talented individuals can lose their way and begin a descent from making art to making dross. He is accused of sleepwalking through films, cashing checks, appearing in unworthy crowd-pleasing dreck, and working with anti-cinematic infidels. His personal life is raked over (he keeps impulsively marrying women! He calls his kid a silly name! He buys too much crap!), his eccentricities treated as signs of mental illness, and his success used as example number two in the case against modern culture (example one being the success of Bay). Only Ben Affleck is treated with less respect, a fact that I intend to address in a future post where I defend him too. (I’m serious about that. Affleck is awesome.)

There are millions who seem to love to take a short-cut in thinking and just refer to Cage as a has-been with no understanding of what a joke he has become, though Cage’s most famous critic has been Sean Penn, the former friend who once told the New York Times, “Nic Cage is no longer an actor. He could be again, but now he’s more like a…performer”. This was said around the time that Cage appeared in two Bruckheimer productions — The Rock and Con Air — which seems to be the one thing an artist can do that will sink his credibility. Why did Penn single out Cage for that and not Cage’s co-stars Ed Harris, or Sean Connery, or John Cusack, or John Malkovich? They’re respected actors who have won awards and are considered to be fine actors, but Cage falls into the line of fire for moving from carefully considered character pieces like Leaving Las Vegas to action movies, three of which he did in a row (the third being the classic John Woo SF actioner Face/Off). His wildly broad performances in those movies were almost certainly a factor, but then he has always given broad performances, within which lie subtle moments (see also Wild At Heart, Birdy, Peggy Sue Got Married, etc.). They’re entertaining displays of eye-rolling crowd-pleasing acting pyrotechnics, but there’s a soul there too. This is what I think of as getting The Full-On Cage Experience, with madness and soulfulness tied together. Penn could never pull off anything like that. When he mugs, he ends up wrecking the movie.

By all that’s holy and unholy, how much better was Penn in Milk, or Dead Man Walking (incidentally, that’s one of my favourite screen performances of all time)? It’s not even a fair competition. Besides, this accusation, insinuating that Cage is no longer an actor, is rich coming from someone who appeared in I Am Sam. I’ll take an entertaining and unpretentious actor having fun playing a demonic avenger with a flaming skull than some humourless chide wasting his talent on Oscar-baiting bullshit like that any day of the week. Sadly, Penn’s not the only one who thinks Cage has pissed his talent away. In this little essay, Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman compares Cage to Dr. Wesley T. Snipes, which is prescient considering Cage’s current tax woes, but while Snipes has descended into Direct-To-DVD hell, Cage is still working on big-budget movies and smaller curios, still attracting the viewing public, and still cranking out performances that are — at best — thrilling, and — at worst — merely entertaining.

The one argument that genuinely annoys me is the one where Cage is cranking out piss-poor, lazy performances since his last truly astonishing performance in Jonze and Kaufman’s Adaptation. I’ve often said that I think his work in that (along with his work in Leaving Las Vegas and Raising Arizona) deserves a coveted Shades of Caruso Free Pass…

…but of all the movies he has made since, only three performances really disappointed me: his work as Benjamin Gates in the first National Treasure movie, where he seemed awfully tired; his creepy performance in Next, the empty action thriller adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s clever short story; and his catatonic turn as a greasy-haired loser assassin in the disastrous remake of Bangkok Dangerous, which I suspect he took so he could get a holiday in Thailand. That last one really did give me cause for concern, but Gleiberman likes to make out that Cage is regularly signing on for “grade-Z genre schlockers”, which apparently include Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man. Neither of them are good movies, but they were not developed as low-budget cash-ins. Ghost Rider was obviously meant to be a big comic book adaptation, with a pretty good cast and a $110m budget, and even if it was absolutely dire, it was made with love by fans of the character, of which Cage is one.

The Wicker Man is a dumb-ass movie by any standards, but it’s made by Neil LaBute, who was once a promising director. He could have turned in a thoughtless remake of the excellent original (which would fit under Gleiberman’s umbrella of “genre schlocker”) but instead made something personal, for better or worse. For all it’s faults it’s obviously of a part with his other movies, dealing with his favourite themes of misanthropy, deceit, misogyny, fear of opening up to others, and gynophobia. I’ve occasionally argued that The Wicker Man is a satire on male fear of impotence and castration, a paranoid comical fantasy about a scheming cabal of exaggerated feminist ballbreakers who are out to destroy the penis, turning all men into drones and semen-donors whose sexuality is merely a sacrifice of power to the almighty womb in order to replenish the earth with children.

Sadly, even if this was LaBute’s intention — and even if Cage was in on this project for that reason alone — it’s still ridiculous and poorly made and filled with wonderfully camp moments. Cage maintains that the comedic aspects of the movie were not lost on him. In an interview with Spike Jonze, Drew McWeeny discusses meeting Cage, and Jonze is full of praise:

Jonze: I love [Cage]. We had the best time working together. He really works and focuses.
McWeeny: His publicist was a little wary of me being there, I guess, because he doesn’t do a lot of press and he doesn’t allow press around a lot, but he really was very accessible once I’d been there for a few days, and he kind of warmed up to me. And he was really just fascinating. I loved chatting with him about stuff.
Jonze: Totally chill.
McWeeny: Yeah. And I think far more self-aware than most people think. Like I think some people think Nic is in this vacuum and doesn’t realize how crazy some of his performances are. I got the feeling he was totally aware of how people perceive things. We were talking about THE WICKER MAN, and he was like, “How do people call that an unintentional comedy? I’m in a bear suit kicking Lelee Sobieski in the throat. I know it’s funny.”
Jonze: He just takes it so seriously that nobody knows how to take him. Like PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, I was like, “What is that?” Like I was 15 so I didn’t really know.
McWeeny: I just love how you can always count on him to push things further, like VAMPIRE’S KISS. He ate a roach, man.
Jonze: And also just the insanity of that performance, just the balls-out fearlessness.

Is it enough that Cage is aware of the ridiculousness of the movies he is appearing in? For me it is. I strongly suspect Cage is the most easily bored person in the world, and unfortunately that is paired with the ability to get work in movies that pay millions of dollars for him to spend on cars and comics and castles. Some of the films he has been in lately are truly awful, and I would never argue that they weren’t. Neverthless, I watch them for those flashes of manic commitment from Cage — The Partial Cage Experience — that delight me so. Are they valid acting choices, or is he merely trying to entertain himself while he trudges through formulaic populist bilge? As far as I’m concerned, even if he’s merely trying to entertain himself, he succeeding in entertaining me, and surely that’s what counts.

The only other popular actors that delight me as much are Clooney (who can do pathos and comedy equally well), Streep (who is always the best thing about everything she has ever been in), and maybe Jeff Bridges. Even those fine actors have not given me as much pleasure as Cage does, even when you forget about his early, golden years and concentrate on this bizarre stretch of poor movies. Since Adaptation we’ve had the insanity of Not The Bees…

…a literally hysterical fiery transformation…

…a Shout-Off with Rose Byrne (who is utterly overmatched, despite her invention of the word “chuldren”)…

…a run in with an obnoxious know-it-all child (the best part of which is how he treats the kid like an adult for most of the scene)…

…and a frustrating teaser of what could be his finest hour, if ever Rob Zombie got the money to make it…

His willingness to make fun of himself is the thing that keeps his crazy public and professional persona viable, and though many of his actions seem completely deranged, I honestly believe he’s playing a trick on us. Can someone who makes a series of adverts like these really be unintentionally weird?

(N.B. Anyone who has a sense of humour about themselves gets a break from me. Even the reportedly tyrannical and insensitive director Michael Bay gets points for playing up to his image with this commercial for Verizon:)

I’m a fully paid up Cage fan. For entertainment value, he can’t be beat. To see a person with such intelligence, quirkiness, restlessness, fearlessness, and energy do his thing in such big-screen movies is a rare thrill. If I squint I can see why Cage is now considered a hack by critics and film-watchers, because it’s easy to confuse being in a terrible movie and actually being terrible, but I worry that maybe people are also turned off by his intensity and his allegiance to the weird. The odd soporific performance aside, perhaps what baffles people the most is seeing him devote so much energy to projects that they feel don’t deserve it. Personally, I think that’s admirable. He’s getting paid enough, after all. Dance, you fucking monkey! Dance for your millions!

And yet even though I revel in his passionate and unpredictable work in crud, I’ve become concerned that we would never get another performance out of Cage that is as electrifying as his best work (disclaimer: I’ve not seen Lord of War or The Weather Man, and some have said he gives solid, rounded performances in both). Once upon a time he would work with Lynch and Scorsese, and the performances he gave were over-the-top yet grounded in some kind of emotional profundity, but lately those performances — while entertaining, memorable, and stronger than popular wisdom would have you believe — are lacking that extra fire. Well, I’m happy to report the return of The Full-On Cage Experience, as he takes on the task of being the 21st Century Klaus Kinski. More on that tomorrow, when I review Werner Herzog’s excellent Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

The is seeking authors to write studies and commentaries about James Bond movies and novels. Some of the suggested topics from a Web page by the group:

Quantum of Solace hit the theatres and many criticized it as being too much like the Jason Bourne movies? Is this accurate?

Raymond Benson or James Gardner as Bond Novelist Presumably they mean John Gardner.

How does James Bond novel Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks stand up as a direct sequel to Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming.

The Post Fleming Novels

Time is getting short, however. The submission deadline is Dec. 15. To view all the information (including the contact information and more details about the conference, which will be in New Mexico): just CLICK RIGHT HERE.

Producers at Scottish based independent Billi Productions Ltd have officially announced this week that British singing legend Dame Shirley Bassey has joined the project to perform the title track ‘Guardian of the Highlands’ in the forthcoming animated feature film ‘Sir Billi’, starring the voice of Sir Sean Connery. It is indeed the first time Sir Sean and Dame Shirley have worked together since Goldfinger!

After 5 years in production, the original feature created by husband and wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann is currently in post production, due for completion and release in 2010.

Scotland’s first full length animated feature also stars a host of A list talent including Alan Cumming, Miriam Margolyes, Ruby Wax, Alex Norton, Ford Kiernan, Greg Hempill, Barbara Rafferty, John Amabile, Larry Sullivan and US based newcomer Chris Jai Alex and NYC night queen Amy Sacco, with her first foray as a voice artist.

When asked how the collaboration with Dame Shirley came about Director Sascha Hartmann, who also composed the original song said: ‘My wife Tessa and I agreed that Dame Shirley was the ultimate artist to perform the title track for this film, especially given the ‘Bond’ connection of Sir Sean and Dame Shirley. So I sat down and wrote a song for her! Tessa approached her management and thankfully she fell in love with the song. It really was a dream come true for us as she is an absolute icon, consummate professional and a pleasure to work with’.

The song has already been recorded and Dame Shirley is thrilled with the outcome. When asked how the producers persuaded her to join the project, Dame Shirley said:

‘There was no persuading needed here, I liked the song from the moment I heard it. Sascha and Tessa made the process incredibly fun and easy for me and we got a great result’.

Man attends his own funeral! That’s the dream.

Speaking of the end of the world, could see Dick Cheney running for President in 2012?

The fuckers want to do a new TV version of fucking Charlie’s Fucking Angels.

“Is it any wonder I can’t sleep?”

Top 10 snipers in history.

Sean Connery was having sex with women at a very young age.

Missing girl recites fantasy novel but cannot remember own name.

Fuck off, Beard Rock.

William Goldman and Harold Pinter.

Woman wants webcam to replace her lost eye, see above.

Accidental dong.

An interview with Costa-Gavras.

Greyhound now offering direct service from Kansas to L.A. porn director’s driveway.

Why do some people see ghosts and others don’t?

David Brooks calls Sarah Palin a joke, and here’s the punchline: He’s right.

Gay sex scenes censored in From Here To Eternity.

Physicists: It’s what we don’t know that scares us.

Forever haunted by man’s suicide.

“Enforcement Routine.”

Qui a Latveria, siamo dei ragazzi semplici. Ci piace leggere i fumetti, andare in birreria, limonare duro e andare al cinematografo. Quando qualcuno decide di trasportare su grande schermo le imprese di qualche nostro beniamino, noi siamo più che felici di andare a dare dei soldini a qualche annoiata cassiera. Anche se tutti ci fanno notare che abbiamo una certa età, che siamo laureati, che ormai siamo delle persone quasi rispettabili e che il panettiere del quartiere ci riconosce e ci tiene via il pane nei giorni di festa… insomma, ci siamo capiti… nonostante tutto questo, noi giovani e semplici ragazzi di Latveria, non vediamo l’ora di sederci al buio di una sala per vedere dal vivo, dal vero veramente, ciò che su carta ci ha emozionato per una vita intera… E spesso, quasi sempre, usciamo sconfitti, delusi, arrabbiati che ci viene da sbavare, roteare i pugni vero il cielo, sbarrare gli occhi e urlare “Perché? CRISTO, MA PERCHÉ?”

La redazione è dunque fiera di fare i nomi e i cognomi dei colpevoli dei 15 più orribili crimini contro l’umanità mai commessi in ambito fumettistico-cinematografico. Come ai tempi di Dj X & Maurizio Seimandi, andiamo con ordine, calma e parsimonia: oggi andiamo a scoprire chi c’è dalla posizione 15 alla 13…

15- Superman Returns, Bryan Singer, 2006

Il problema con i film di SuperMan è che gli si fa solo spostare-evitare-aggiustare-modificare oggetti inanimati e mai gli si lascia la libertà mollare due ceffoni. E dire che Supes nella sua carriera fumettistica non si è risparmiato in ceffoni.
Nonstante ciò (Do you know Bizarro? Mongul?…etc) nei film il suo unico grande avversario è sempre e comunque (con dovute ma anche risibili eccezioni) una pietra colorata. Non si parte benissimo.

SuperMan alla fine agisce come una gru blu e rossa. Un film in cui non fa altro che sollevare qualcosa.

I grandi avversari e sfide di SuperMan in SM Returns:

Solleva aerei, globi di metallo e donne in carriera (senza provocare upskirt)!

Naturalmente anche il gran finale del film è costituito da una scena in cui SuperMan solleva qualcosa, in questo caso una Capri di Kryptonite.

Tutto questo senza fare riferimenti all’irritantissime storie sul figlioletto di Superman (mai bambino fu più irritante) e su Lois che si spupazza Ciclope.

Attore di pregio che qui mette a rischio la sua carriera:
Frank Langella

14- X-Men: Conflitto Finale, Brett Ratner, 2006

Mentre Bryan Singer era alle prese con il sollevatore di ferro di cui sopra, le redini del terzo e atteso film sui nostri mutanti prefe di sempre, passa nelle manone tozze di Brett Ratner. Il regista di tanti video di Mariah Carey, colui che ha rovinato la carriera di Jackie Chan in terra americana, ce la mette tutta per girare un film all’altezza dei primi due. Sfortunatamente le ambizioni del film si scontrano e si sfracellano contro una sceneggiatura orribile, attori costretti a dire a fare delle cose che li rendono stupidi (il povero Hank McCoy per esempio qui ne esce malissimo) e un regista che giustamente adesso fa i video per Miley Cirus. Si riesce nella difficile impresa di buttare in vacca tutta, TUTTA, la Saga della Fenice Nera. Il bambino “cura” Cameron Bright fa venire voglia di invadere la Polonia. Unica cosa notevole: l’inseguimento tra la nostra amata Kitty Pride (interpretata da Ellen Page) e il grande Vinnie Jones aka Jaggernaut (il Fenomeno in italiano). Infatti…

Attore di pregio che qui mette a rischio la sua carriera:
Ian Mckellen

13 – La Leggenda degli Uomini Straordinari, Stephen Norrington, 2003.

Già dal titolo si capiscono un paio di cose: dagli Straordinari Gentiluomini del libro di Moore, siamo passati ai ben più ordinari Uomini Straordinari di Norrington. Per la cronaca, il nome completo di questo straordinario cretino è Stephen Norrington. Che a confronto Stephen Sommers è Otto Preminger. Ci si nasconde dietro a un “liberamente tratto” per non incappare in denunce da parte di Alan Moore . il quale ovviamente si è tenuto lontano da questa mega cazzata – e poter poi fare di testa propria. Con la simpatica conseguenza di aver rovinato uno dei racconti metaletterari più divertenti e intelligenti degli ultimi anni. Oltre ad aver aggiunto ad cazzum due personaggi come Tom Sawyer e Dorian Gray, si brancola nel buio cercando di trovare almeno una storia da raccontare. Con scarsissimi risultati. Sean Connery col toupé ai minimi storici. I soldi per gli effetti speciali devono essere finiti dopo i primi tre giorni di produzione per cui, dopo una sequenza iniziale con almeno un po’ di verve (leggi: qualche esplosione), il resto sembra brutta televisione. Una nota per coloro che hanno curato l’edizione italiana: Graphic Novel non si traduce Novella Grafica (perché io ve lo giuro, nei titoli di testa c’è scritto così…). Dovreste ridarci i soldi. O almeno la decenza di cambiare lavoro.

Attore di pregio che qui mette a rischio la sua carriera:
Sean Connery

Adriano & Fede MC