12/2/2008 - quantum of bonds

I was quite skeptical when Daniel Craig was named as the new James Bond. I was silently rooting for either Hugh Jackman or Julian McMahon for the role. Actually, I would have preferred to see Pierce Brosnan in at least one more outing. He made some pretty good Bond movies and I didn't want to see him go out on the lame Die Another Day. But when they said that they were rebooting the franchise, that meant that they had to choose a new actor.

The only other movie I saw Daniel Craig in was the first Tomb Raider movie and I was not impressed (ironically, he had to fake an American accent for his role while Angelina Jolie faked a British accent). Lots of other bond fans weren't pleased either as "Craig is not Bond" websites started showing up. I didn't even watch Casino Royale in the theaters and it took me a while to watch it on DVD. While I still prefer Brosnan as Bond, I can see why the producers chose Craig. In an era where Jack Bauer of 24 could eat James Bond for breakfast, a new Bond has to be every bit as rough around the edges as Jack Bauer is, but still be a natural in a tuxedo. Craig does fit the bill, and Casino Royale was a pretty good movie, but I can't say that it was a classic Bond movie.

I'll tell you what I do want to see, though. I'd like to see the two Bonds duke it out in some way, maybe in another movie or venue. It doesn't seem like that would ever happen, though. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a movie with two Bond actors in it. Even the GoldenEye Nintendo 64 game was supposed to include the old Bonds as playable characters in the multiplayer, but the feature was scrapped before release. Is there some law of nature that prevents two Bond actors to appear on the screen at once? I guess this video breaks that law then:

8/21/2007 - Sean Connery on smackin' bitches

Out of all the James Bonds (Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, and Craig), Sean Connery's is probably the favorite of most of the fans of the series. A lot of that fondness probably is due to the fact that that he is the "original" Bond... most people tend to favor the original actors of iconic characters as they probably think they're the represent the "authentic" version of that character, while the others that follow are merely imitators. One exception may be the Batman series, where people have taken to Christian Bale's version of the Dark Knight. Personally, I still like Michael Keaton's Batman.

Back to Sean Connery, I think people have a certain affinity to his male chauvinistic Bond. All the Bonds are fairly chauvinistic, but Connery's almost reveled in the politically incorrect environment of the 60's. If you watch the old movies, you wouldn't believe the stuff he got away with, even if it was a movie, and even if it was James Bond slapping the butts of the various Bond girls. I think Sean Connery took some of this Bond attitude to his real life. He stated in an interview that "it's not the worst thing in the world to slap a woman now and then" and Barbara Walters called him on it. You'd think that maybe he would shy way from those comments, but no... he regrets nothing! Now, I don't condone what he's advocating, but I do admire his honesty in the matter. In fact, the character of Bond he created may not be too far off from himself after all.