Eight simple steps to becoming a evil villain by EveryGuyed in honour of Free Comic Book Day. Turns out I'm only 28 Flying Monkeys short of my goal, but the breeding program has really slowed down.
They also have a guide for becoming a hero, but what fun would that be?
After the Star Wars series played out, Boba Fett had a little know career in B-movies. (Carbonite Is Forever by Cliff Chiang and Slave Racer by Jared Moraitis)
Hot damn, I cannot wait until Quantum of Solace hits theatres! The new trailer out today (above) practically had me cheering in my seat. If a 2 1/2 minute clip show is any evidence, the James Bond producers have stayed true to their extreme makeover of 007, showcasing a hardened, brooding, dangerous Bond.
The reboot of the Bond franchise was a risk, but letting it become a stagnating parody of itself would have been worse. Casino Royale was a roaring success. Can Quantum follow through? So far, so good.
The 22nd chapter of the James Bond saga was announced today — Quantum of Solace. I'm not so crazy about the title, but it still beats Octopussy.
Already there are complaints of the "worst title ever" variety, by people who suffer under the delusion that they titles are usually masterpieces. Take a look, there are as many hits as misses.
Co-producer Michael Wilson told the BBC that the name had only been decided upon a few days ago, so I don't know if this poster is real or not, but I like the look, so there it is.
The title is in reference to the last remaining element in a relationship after love has died, before the inevitable split. Daniel Craig told reporters that author Ian Fleming defined a quantum of solace — it means, roughly, a measure of comfort — as "that spark of niceness in a relationship that if you don't have, you might as well give up."
The film begins "literally an hour after the last film left off," says Wilson. "We thought it was an intriguing title and referenced what happened to Bond and what is happening in the film." Quantum finds 007 learning more about his betrayal by Vesper Lynd and lookin for some payback. "He had his heart broken at the end of the last movie and that certainly is a spur for him in this one," added Craig.
"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't revenge in his heart. But it's more than that. That spurs him on, but that's not what the movie is. It's not a revenge movie. It's about him figuring a few things out."
Hopefully not. The last revenge-based Bond, Licence to Kill, was a disaster. A Bond out to murder, overrun by his emotions, was so out of characters. Of course it could have had something to do with the unloved Timothy Dalton too.
The relaunch of of the Bond franchise with Craig in 2006's Casino Royale was a stunning success, as the producers took a character and an film icon that was growing long in the tooth and dragged him into the new century by returning to his past. The film was darker and less gadget obsessed, having more in common with the stunning Bourne series than the preceding installment, Die Another Day. Hopefully lightning can strike twice — we'll know in 10 months.
Bond: Do you expect me to talk? Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
The 30-Second Bunnies pulled out all the stops for this Bond marathon (well, marathon by bunny standards at 74 seconds), touching on almost all of the 007 oeuvre. Great stuff.
Here's what's been announced for the Bunny universe for the rest of the year: Spiderman 1, 2 & 3 Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 & 3 March of the Penguins Die Hard Napoleon Dynamite Saw The Grudge Kill Bill
I'm happy to see Kill Bill there as creator Jennifer Shiman does a great job with Quentin Tarantino films and she is clearly a fan. I'd love to see her tackle a classic war movie like Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket. A boy can dream, can't he?
What would New Year’s be without me adding to the plethora of lists? So without further ado, here is my picks for the best in pop culture for 2006, in no particular order:
Heroes The most sci-fi show on network television since The X-Files is also the best show on TV this year, topping Prison Break and even Lost. Random people suddenly develop powers and must figure out how to handle and use them, for better or worse. It is the best comic-inspired work of fiction since Sin City, doling out plot developments at a furious pace.
Hiro Nakamura Super Hiro is the heart and soul of Heroes and the one character who wholeheartedly embraces his newfound powers and sets out to do good with them. Also, as a Star Trek quoting Japanese nerd, he provides the show with comic relief.
Truthiness Stephen Colbert was on a tear this year: he lambasted George Bush and the assembled media as a speaker at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner; he had his fans stuff the online ballot box to have a Hungarian bridge named after him; and the Merriam-Webster dictionary selected truthiness as its Word of the Year for 2006. The Colbert Report is spectacular satire.
OK Go I’d never heard of these guys until the day I got sent a link to a video for a catchy song – Here It Goes Again – and their treadmill-hoping, choreographic perfection. Then I watched it over and over and over again.
Royale With Cheese After the unceremonious dumping of Pierce Brosnan as the agent with the licence to kill and years of speculation on who would fill the tux, Daniel Craig emerged as the new, hard-edged 007, reinvigorating the venerable franchise without abandoning its past.
Parkour The most thrilling movie chase of the year had no gadgets and no cars, just two people making their way though a construction site at a death-defying, breakneck speed. The opening sequence of Casino Royale showed a terrorist using the technique, also known as free running, to escape the pursuing James Bond. Pure adrenaline.
Sloan After 15 years, the Canadian power pop quartet refuses to phone it in, releasing the 30-song Never Hear the End of It and heading back out on tour. Much goodness to be had.
Toronto During TIFF Visitors often complain that Torontonians are cold and aloof – and they aren’t wrong – but all of that changes during the Toronto Film Festival. Suddenly complete strangers are chatting with each other with ease while in lines and theatres. They compare notes, thoughts on films, celebs they’ve spotted and then as quickly as it began, it evaporates. I wish the city were like this year-round.
The Tick vs. Season One The big blue bug of justice finally comes to DVD after 12 years and multiple fan requests. A parody of superheroes, The Tick is as dim as he is strong – neigh well invincible – as he battles bizarre villains alongside an equally bizarre cast of characters, including American Maid, Die Fledermaus and the Civic-Minded Five. I’m so thrilled, all I can say is spooooon!
Shut Up and Sing I’m no Dixie Chicks fan, but the documentary on what the country stars went through after lead sing Natalie Maines said “Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” was a real eye-opener. Their statement is mild by today’s standards though it was almost a career killer a scant three years ago. I picked Fido as my top movie of the Toronto Film Festival, but months later, it’s the Chicks that I keep talking about.
S.O.A.P. Suds Despite massive amounts of internet hype, Snakes on a Plane is grounded. Turns out all the bloggers saying “wouldn’t it be cool if they did…” never had any intention of going to see it. Best web hoax of the year!
Video Mashups It was like the birth of a new art form as digital videos, YouTube and people with loads of free time collided to create some of the most hilarious web moments of the year, from Toy Story 2 recast in the Requiem for a Dream trailer to the Peanuts gang shakin’ like a Polaroid picture to Outkast’s Hey Ya. Absolute brilliance.
Britney Spears While there are many pretenders to her throne, Spears is in a class of her own when it comes to young celebrity train wrecks. From questionable parenting (now where did I put Sean Preston?) to finally dumping her parasite impregnator Kevin Federline, and then partying harder than Paris Hilton in a one-week period, she bows down to none. Keep trying Lindsay and Nicole.
Not Ready for Prime Time Players Saturday Night Live is hot this year, not so much the show, but the shows about the show. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip gives West Wing fans a taste of what they’re missing (even if it does take comedy writing far to seriously) and 30 Rock has all the laughs, especially with the sublime Alec Bladwin playing network blowhard Jack Donaghy. As for SNL itself, on the rare occasions it has a funny skit, I can watch it the next day on YouTube – see Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box.
Yul & Ozzie The top two finalists in Survivor: Cook Islands actually deserved to be there: Yul for his masterful playing of the game and controlling other contestants without it ever being obvious and Ozzie for being one of the most natural physical players ever to compete. The reality show granddaddy proved it still has chops.
For more lists than you can possibly imagine, be sure to check out Fimoculous' stunning list of lists, including such gems as the Best Re-cut Movie Trailers, the Top 10 Retro Gadgets, the Top 10 Sex Toys, the Top 5 Most Pretentious Looks and more music and film Top 10s than you will ever be able to read.
It's the start of another new year, better call the newspaper up. I'm not usually one for self-indulgent posts (cough, cough) and I have studiously avoided blogging memes, but I couldn't resist end of year wrap-up, even if there are still a few days left in 2006. For those interested, just snag the first sentence of the first post of each month and let 'er rip.
January: There are no 20-something acting superstars these days, and The New York Times blames it on the actors. Almost a year later and it's still true. Come on 20-somethings, step it up. Is Lindsay Lohan the best you have to offer?
February: Lots of interesting tidbits about the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, today. Yeah, I was going on about the new Bond back them and months later it was totally worth it. Best Bond in years.
March: Forget the Seinfeld curse, that’s so early 2000s. The question now, is there a Friends curse? Seems like Matthew Perry has put an end to that speculation with the full-year pick-up of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Not that any of the rest of them have anything to brag about.
April: Why do TV shows have such inferiority complexes? I still don't really want to see The Simpsons movie.
May: It’s funny how pop culture moments happen. It sure is. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
June: File these under Ways In Which My Life is Unlike a Celebrity. I could pretty much begin all posts this way.
July: Canadian musicians haven’t recorded anything worth commemorating since 1970. I don't actually believe that to be true - just being overly dramatic for effect.
August: Jer is back at his cottage - lucky bastard - and tagged me to step in for a post. Yeah, I'm a real slacker. I wish it was summer already.
September: I wonder who looked at the short and stubby Hobbits and thought, “what it would be like if they could sing Broadway tunes?” September was a truly geeky month for me.
October: Will Lost sink or swim this year? Still waiting to see. The second-half of the season better rock. And enough with the Others.
November: It’s odd, I know this song, but I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it. Pop culture, you don't always need to participate in it to be part of it.
December: It's down to the final day of voting for the Canadian Blog Awards and Popped Culture is in a tight, three-way battle for the title of Best Entertainment Blog, thanks to your votes and proselytizing on my behalf. Second! It's the new first!
James Bond is dead. Long live the new James Bond. After a couple of years of waiting (and gnashing of teeth by some petulant, stuck-in the-past fans), Daniel Craig, the new face of 007 has made it to the big screen and truly brought the legendary franchise into the 21st century, by stripping him down to the basics in order to rebuild him.
When Pierce Brosnan was unceremoniously dumped as the world’s most famous spy, I was not happy. Brosnan hewed most closely to the Bond I was introduced to – early ‘70s Roger Moore, and managed the role with more swagger and fewer quips. But once he was gone the realization set in that the franchise had, despite raking in record box office takes, had lost its already tenuous grip on reality. The stories and villains had spiraled out of control, as has the gadgets and miraculous escapes. While these were the essential elements of every Bond movie I had grown up with, the films now bore more of a resemblance to Goldmember than Goldfinger.
The release of The Bourne Identity in the same year as Die Another Day set the bar higher for any spy film that was to follow. Compared to Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, Commander Bond looked soft and effete. Bourne could beat someone half to death with a rolled up magazine, while Bond was rolling about in an invisible car. It was hard not acknowledge that the torch had been passed.
That didn’t mean that it was time for James to slip quietly into the night though, and the producers recognized it. They returned to 007 creator Ian Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, and hired a relatively unknown actor for the role, eschewing the A-listers circling the part. And the results are a fantastic success. Craig plays a much harder Bond, disassociating himself from what he does with arrogance instead of smarmy one-liners. He’s rough around the edges and less than infallible. He makes mistakes and is more than willing to get his hands dirty – dispatching bad guys up close and bloodily personal. Craig comes across as leaner, meaner and far more believable because of it.
The film even deals with one of the most improbable aspects of a secret agent – the fact that he tells everyone his name. It is one of many nods to the character’s long lineage, from the vodka martini to the Aston Martin and a reinterpretation of a famous scene from Dr. No. This Bond film hasn’t forgotten where it came from, but nor is it tied down by history – jettisoning Q, gadgets and Miss Moneypenny, at least for now. The critics that were up in arms with the choice of Craig as the new face of 007 have been silenced.
Don't forget to vote Popped Culture for Best Entertainment Blog. C'mon, you know you wanna.
My name is Bond. James Bond. That line always gives me a thrill. The first 007 I ever saw on the big screen was Moonraker – at a dive-in with my 17-year-old aunt who was supposed to take me to something far more age appropriate. In retrospect, it was hardly the best introduction to the franchise, but outer space and a huge, metal-mouthed villain named Jaws and I was in a 9-year-old’s idea of heaven.
Over the next few years I saw Bond films mostly on TV and mainly starring Roger Moore. For the longest time I thought he was the only actor to have ever portrayed the suave secret agent. As a kid, my favourite was Live and Let Die, featuring the fat southern sheriff, J. W. Pepper. Thinking about it now, that might have been because I also loved The Dukes of Hazzard (Boss Hogg) and Smokey and the Bandit (Sheriff Buford T. Justice). It wasn’t until years later that I heard of the word blaxploitation and saw how campy and full of ‘70s kitsch the film was.
Eventually I was introduced to oeuvre of Sean Connery – he was a harder man, more willing to lay a beating on anyone, including woman. Such was the time I suppose. Still I found myself drawn to Diamonds are Forever, one of his last runs at the character. Nowadays I give high praise to From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, which are the true origins of the Bond and Austin Powers film franchises. It was those movies that introduced gadgets to 007, including the Aston Martin and gadget man Q.
At the end of Grade 9, my graduation gift was a movie – and I chose to go and see The Living Daylights. It was Moore’s last portrayal of the role of Commander Bond and he had become increasingly creaky. The film itself was a pastiche of ‘80s pop culture, with a Duran Duran theme song, a villain played by Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as a Bond girl May Day. Again, not much of a film to speak of.
When Moore retired (and it was about time) the producers installed Timothy Dalton, whose characterization in The Living Daylights was darker and more serious than the light-hearted jokiness of Moore’s performance. I wasn’t a fan, which is ironic as that’s what I’ve been hoping for in the new Bond.
When Dalton was replaced after two films with Pierce Brosnan (who I had enjoyed in Remington Steele), it was like a return to a young Roger Moore. I liked what he brought to the role, but by the end of his run it was the stories that had gotten out of control. Invisible cars and a diamond-encrusted villain were too much and even showing Bond being held prisoner and tortured didn’t do enough to ground the spy in reality.
So tomorrow we are going to go and see Casino Royale (and our first time away from Tristan) and I’ll get a look at the new face of Bond. Can Daniel Craig take 007 into the new century or is he a spy out of time? I’ll find out soon.
Don't forget to vote Popped Culture for Best Entertainment Blog. C'mon, you know you wanna.
It’s Bond Week here at Popped Cultre. With Casino Royale and a new James Bond on the horizon, I thought it would be interesting to see where the film version of 007 originated. The franchise was in need of a revival – the stories had become bloated and Bond was out of touch with today’s world. Not to say Pierce Brosnan wasn’t doing a good job, but radical change was required.
Back in 1962, James Bond was new to the silver screen – a character know only from the Ian Flemming novels. With the relatively unknown Sean Connery’s appearance in Dr. No, the first Bond film, many of the icons of the franchise were put into motion. We are introduced to the high-society dapper spy, who has expensive tastes and never has a hair out of place. We learn what he drinks (vodka martini, shaken not stirred), what gun he carries (the Walther PPk), meet his boss M, the flirty secretary Ms. Moneypenny, and CIA Agent Felix Leitner – all who make repeated appearances over the years.
We also get a taste of the Bond “wit,” when a hearse full of bad guys goes off the road and explodes (natch) and 007 dryly remarks: “I think they were on their way to a funeral.” Connery, in a documentary following the film, says that kind of one-liner was introduced by the Bond series. So we now know who’s to blame.
Dr. No also introduced the theme music, the opening sequence through the barrel of the gun and the most persistent of Bond’s enemies, SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) and their over-the-top underwater lair. Last, but not least is the ubiquitous Bond girl, taking the form of Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress. When she emerged out the water in a less-than-skimpy white bikini, she stepped into movie history and set the standard for all Bond girls to follow.
Notably, the movie was gadget free – no secret spy gear, no tricked out car, no Q. It was just Bond and his Licence to Kill, which he does, remorselessly shooting an unarmed man. He was a colder character in the beginning.
It was fascinating to watch all the pieces come together for the first time and the longevity that many of them have had. What will survive into the newest incarnation? We’ll know in a week.
Forget the Walthur PPK and the Aston Martin, the greatest gadget issued to James Bond appears to be an extremely efficient PR agent. Despite the fact Casino Royale will not hit theatres until November 17, I have read multiple articles about the filming, Daniel Craig and other 007 related subjects.
Apropos of nothing, new Bond girl Caterina Murino, who play Solonge, has chimed in on the debate over the blonde Bond: "Daniel is giving to this James Bond something else we never saw before. When he's going to kill someone, he looks like a real killer. When he kisses me, when he makes love, he's so sexy."
Um, good to know. I have been solidly on the side of refreshing the Bond franchise and think Craig is a good choice, including the controversy that he has stirred among some of the more rabid fans. If the producers had chosen someone who pleased everyone and could slip into the tux without notice, than there would hardly be much material to drum up publicity for our moribund hero.
But how else to generate some more attention for the series? Why not give one of the world’s greatest self-promoters, Sir Richard Branson, a cameo? "James Bond is original, cool and sophisticated - just like an airline I know. Virgin Atlantic is delighted to be a global partner of the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, and I'm just a little excited to be playing a cameo in the film." I’m sure that won’t be the last he has to say about it.
In a kinda related story, Sean Connery is writing a book about Scotland. While it has nothing to do with Bond, anything he touches will make mention of it. He could cure cancer and his eulogy would still make reference to him as one of, if not the greatest, James Bond.
It probably would have gone straight to video or at least died a quick death during the August cinema doldrums, but because of the rabid interest of fans on the web, Snakes on a Plane is well on its way to becoming a cult classic.
The film has been floating around Hollywood since 2000 and has since been the subject of fan art, trailer mashups, shirts and blogs, a phenomenon of its own. Interest in the movie has encouraged the studio to shoot more scenes, adding more deaths, nudity and, of course, snakes to the film. It’s called Snakes on a Plane, what else could you expect? Also on tap will be Samuel L. Jackson yelling: "I want these motherf**king snakes off the motherf**king plane!"
Jackson stars as an FBI agent who has to fight a planeload of snakes unleashed by an assassin bent on killing a witness in protective custody. "That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title. You either want to see that, or you don't," Jackson has said of the film. Collinder.com agrees, stating that maybe fans just want what they want, ironic or not.
Not all fans are quite so lucky. Depite much whiney resistance to new 007 Daniel Craig by fan groups such as the Craignotbond site, the blonde Bond has been signed on to a second round, once Casino Royale wraps.
Some have vowed not to see any Bond film starring Craig, despite there having been little footage to base their opinion of his work on. So here we have two films with intense online interest and it will be intriguing to see which group will impact the box office more.
There has been a storm raging over the new James Bond and the remake of Casino Royale (see the trailer above.) There are sites calling for Daniel Craig’s removal, complaints about the Blonde Bond abound and tabloids and gossip sites snicker at his abilities.
On the other side there are fans behind the rethink of the franchise who are looking forward to a younger, harder Bond and are solidly behind Craig (or are at least willing to give him a chance.)
But why do we care so much? I’ve found myself caught up in the debate and have written over a half dozen entries about it. And I’m hardly an obsessive. Craig himself has felt compelled to respond to the criticism. It has to do with the longevity of the franchise.
There were six Bond films before I was born. Moonraker was the first film I ever saw at a drive-in when my teenaged aunt took me their when she was supposed to take me to Return from Witch Mountain. Watching A View to a Kill was my treat on the last day of school one year and a lot of the earlier films I watched on TV with my dad.
What other series has that kind of history? Lord of the Rings happened over a few short years. Star Wars has wrapped up after only six films and Harry Potter will be finished after seven. Casino Royale is the 21st in the 007 franchise and has become part of the pop culture firmament.
People feel like they have a vested interest in the character and the films. I realize that the debate, good or bad, is really just publicity for the film, but I don’t care, because Bond matters to me.
I’ve spent the day surfing, wondering what to write about. My time wasting is you gain. Here are some of the great things I found on some of my favorite blogs:
• I Watch Stuff site joins the ranks of sites moaning that Daniel Craig doesn’t look like James Bond should, whatever that means. The upside is that I was pointed to new publicity pics of Casino Royale, so my many, many thanks.
• I’ve never been able to write these, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good haiku about Munich, found on Film Experience.
• Is Scrubs not long for this TV life? It’s on Child of TV’s list of 21 shows likely to be cancelled this year, on top of what has already been announced as no longer for this world.
• TVGasm gives a great overview of the story and cast of the long-in-hibernation Prison Break. It will be back March 20th and I can't wait. Stupid Fox network. Surprise fact? John Abruzzi was the guy who fed Steve Buscemi into the wood chipper in Fargo.
• Hee, hee – betcha George Clooney used to offer free mustache rides. Thanks to Pop Culture Junkies for digging this up.
• Much love to Population Statistic for pointing out the original Fred & Barney cigarette ad on the Flintstones, courtesy of You Tube (them again!) I love seeing how tobacco used to be imbedded directly into pop culture.
Daniel Craig just can’t catch a break. After a huge search to find a new James Bond, the iconic British spy, the actor got the nod.
It’s a huge role, vaulting any actor who snags it into the international spotlight. You’d think it would be a time to celebrate, foregoing the shaken martinis and cracking open the champagne.
And perhaps he is, but there is some serious opposition to the “blonde Bond.” A group of 007 fans is seriously unhappy with the choice.
"How can a short, blond actor with the rough face of a professional boxer and a penchant for playing killers, cranks, cads and gigolos pull off the role of a tall, dark, handsome and suave secret agent?" asks the site CraigNotBond.com.
The complainers are calling for a boycott of any film with Craig in it and are calling for Pierce Brosnan to be reinstated. I agree that Brosnan was an excellent Bond and he did get unceremoniously pushed out of the role, I also understand what the producers are doing.
Casino Royale is meant to hark back to a younger, harder Bond of the Ian Flemming novels, a more youthful, realistic and cold character, a la Jason Bourne. They are reinventing the franchise by returning to the origins of the character, much like Batman has recently done. It’s a good idea.
The petitioners don’t appear to be complaining about this, just about he physical appearance of Craig, which is a fantastically superficial complaint. They also say there have been five great Bonds. Anyone who says George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton were great Bonds are clearly dillusional.
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen will join new 007 Daniel Craig as Le Chiffre, an evil genius known as the Cipher. Mikkelsen, best know to North American audiences for his role as Tristan in King Arthur, is a star in his home country.
Oddly enough, I’ve seen a couple of his Danish films. At last year’s Toronto film festival he played a delusional priest who would turn the other cheek, no matter what in the comedy Adam’s Apples. I also saw him two years (and pre-blog) earlier in The Green Butchers. Both were very funny roles and not villainous in the least. It will be interesting to see how this works out as he’s definitely talented.
With today’s announcement of Eva Green as the new Bond girl, the Casino Royale cast is complete. Beating out names like Charlize Theron and Thandie Newton, the little-known French actress, last seen in the crusades drama Kingdom of Heaven, will play Vesper Lynn. It’s a fine name, but let's face it, no Pussy Galore or Honey Ryder.
Casino Royale is meant to hark back to a younger, harder Bond of the Ian Flemming novels so I’m pleased to see relative unknowns being brought in. The franchise will have a much better chance of success without stunt casting. I’m looking at you Halle Berry.
Lots of interesting tidbits about the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, today. Seems that they have started filming in Prague with new 007, Danielle Craig.
I'm a bit of a Bond freak so I've been watching the revival of the franchise with great interest. I liked Pierce Brosnan, but feel that he was more in the Roger Moore mold and they need to go more Sean Connery this time around.
It looks like they have with Casino Royale. It is an adaptation of creator Ian Fleming's first Bond novel and our favourite spy was introduced as a more youthful, realistic and cold character than the films. More like Jason Bourne is my guess.
Of course the reinvention is having some bumps. While the cameras have started rolling, nobody had been cast as Bond girl Vesper Lynn or as the main villain says The Hollywood Reporter. "They're talking to three to four girls right now," Royale scribe Paul Haggis said. "Every week I read there's a new Bond girl, and I call them and they say, No, you idiot."
What was that name? Paul Haggis? Yes, it's the Oscar-nominated director and writer of Crash, who also adapted last year's Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby for the screen. Now I'm really intrigued. Does this really mean there will be character development in a spy movie? Interesting.
Haggis has had an interesting writing career -- seems that he started up writing for some of the most well-known '70s sitcoms: One Day at a Time; Diff'rent Strokes; The Facts of Life; did a stint on The Love Boat (go Issac!) and he was one of the creators of Walker, Texas Ranger (Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.) And he's from London, Ontario which has as good a claim on being my hometown as any.
What does that all have to do with Bond? Not so much, but I can't wait to see how it turns out.
The 22nd chapter of the James Bond saga was announced today — Quantum of Solace. I'm not so crazy about the title, but it still beats Octopussy.
Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
What would New Year’s be without me adding to the plethora of lists? So without further ado, here is my picks for the best in pop culture for 2006, in no particular order:
Royale With Cheese
The Tick vs. Season One
It's the start of another new year, better call the newspaper up. I'm not usually one for self-indulgent posts (cough, cough) and I have studiously avoided blogging memes, but I couldn't resist end of year wrap-up, even if there are still a few days left in 2006. For those interested, just snag the first sentence of the first post of each month and let 'er rip.
James Bond is dead. Long live the new James Bond. After a couple of years of waiting (and gnashing of teeth by some petulant, stuck-in the-past fans), Daniel Craig, the new face of 007 has made it to the big screen and truly brought the legendary franchise into the 21st century, by stripping him down to the basics in order to rebuild him.
That didn’t mean that it was time for James to slip quietly into the night though, and the producers recognized it. They returned to 007 creator Ian Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, and hired a relatively unknown actor for the role, eschewing the A-listers circling the part. And the results are a fantastic success. Craig plays a much harder Bond, disassociating himself from what he does with arrogance instead of smarmy one-liners. He’s rough around the edges and less than infallible. He makes mistakes and is more than willing to get his hands dirty – dispatching bad guys up close and bloodily personal. Craig comes across as leaner, meaner and far more believable because of it.
Don't forget to vote Popped Culture 
My name is Bond. James Bond. That line always gives me a thrill. The first 007 I ever saw on the big screen was Moonraker – at a dive-in with my 17-year-old aunt who was supposed to take me to something far more age appropriate. In retrospect, it was hardly the best introduction to the franchise, but outer space and a huge, metal-mouthed villain named Jaws and I was in a 9-year-old’s idea of heaven.
At the end of Grade 9, my graduation gift was a movie – and I chose to go and see The Living Daylights. It was Moore’s last portrayal of the role of Commander Bond and he had become increasingly creaky. The film itself was a pastiche of ‘80s pop culture, with a Duran Duran theme song, a villain played by Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as a Bond girl May Day. Again, not much of a film to speak of.
It’s Bond Week here at Popped Cultre. With Casino Royale and a new James Bond on the horizon, I thought it would be interesting to see where the film version of 007 originated. The franchise was in need of a revival – the stories had become bloated and Bond was out of touch with today’s world. Not to say Pierce Brosnan wasn’t doing a good job, but radical change was required.
Dr. No also introduced the theme music, the opening sequence through the barrel of the gun and the most persistent of Bond’s enemies, SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) and their over-the-top underwater lair. Last, but not least is the ubiquitous Bond girl, taking the form of Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress. When she emerged out the water in a less-than-skimpy white bikini, she stepped into movie history and set the standard for all Bond girls to follow.
Forget the Walthur PPK and the Aston Martin, the greatest gadget issued to James Bond appears to be an extremely efficient PR agent. Despite the fact Casino Royale will not hit theatres until November 17, I have read multiple articles about the filming, Daniel Craig and other 007 related subjects.
It probably would have gone straight to video or at least died a quick death during the August cinema doldrums, but because of the rabid interest of fans on the web, Snakes on a Plane is well on its way to becoming a cult classic.
I’ve spent the day surfing, wondering what to write about. My time wasting is you gain. Here are some of the great things I found on some of my favorite blogs:
James Bond has found his new villain and femme fatale.
Lots of interesting tidbits about the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, today. Seems that they have started filming in Prague with new 007, Danielle Craig.
