Picked up Quantum of Solace
In other movie news, has anyone seen The Foot Fist Way
Finally, it has been a while, so here is a picture of freshly furminated Tunch:
He loves being furminated so much that he doesn’t even mind when I yank him off the window sill where he is sunning himself, just so long as the brushing starts soon.
valdivia
Oh I am so happy to see Tunch! he is looking great John.
Edit–I too love Craig as Bond. And I like him in general as an actor. I hated Munich, but thought he was very good in it.
The Sphynx
Connery is the only true Bond.
blahblahblah
What is a soul? Is it made from a non-material substance that exists beyond time, space, and known matter? Does this non-material substance then escape from the physical corporeal body upon death? Or is it a fantasy created by human beings to assuage the all too common fear of death?
Perhaps there is a third option: The soul is both encased within the constraints of matter and our perception of time. The soul is not a thing but a process, built within our brains of a myriad of electo-chemical impulses that travel along a maze of axons and dendrites within a three dimensional volume. From that perspective, a soul is both immaterial – it is not the electrical impulses, but is an amalgamation of the change of a pattern of impulses over time – and yet also exists within a material substrate. Thus, the soul is a combination of information processing over time and the results of that information processing – which only feed yet more information processing until the physical system that contains it breaks down due to entropy and other physical constraints.
And if that’s true, then the only questions about life after death worth considering are: what is time? Is it truly an arrow moving in only one direction of a space-time vector, say along a continuum from the Big Bang to the Final End? Or is that just what we perceive it to be? Is time really an amalgamation of all potential events? And the next question worth considering is: What is randomness? Do all physical systems create some inherent random outcome, just by their very existence? If so, how then does "randomness" interact with "time?"
For if time is not an arrow in only one direction, and the outcome of all macroscopic physical existence is imbued by microscopic random chance, and can not be considered an ordered set of predictable events after all, then there is no reason to assume that a nonphysical electrochemical pattern emergent from a physical brain (or computer) – ever-changing across the span of its corporeal existence – might disappear just as the matter that calls forth its existence turns to dust.
Existence – information – could well be be conserved in the universe across all time. All process state might thus be conserved too. And there’s your life after death.
Ned R.
Another vote for Craig as Bond — Quantum is a little too much of a mess in the end compared to Casino Royale but he handles the character so well he just has to carry everything with him. He’s due for one more film at least so here’s hoping it’s top of the line.
Kit Smith
I think what we’re seeing is that if people take campy ideas from the 60’s and 70’s and convert them for a more adult audience, people actually enjoy watching them (see also: Battlestar Galactica). Adults (typically) want adult-level content, and if you can throw in some nostalgia as well, you make more money. Life’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and the writers and producers finally figured this out.
Plus, Daniel Craig makes a badass Bond. I wasn’t sure about him until I watched Layer Cake, and afterwards though I couldn’t understand the movie I was sold that he’d do a good job. He certainly has, in my opinion.
ghost poet
Foot Fist Way is incredibly funny in my opinion, the Danny McBride character in it is very similar to the character in East Bound.
Ash
I agree Daniel Craig is the best Bond, but QoS royally sucked. I thought.
Joshua Norton
Hmmm. Pooosey ‘pears to be seriously blissed out.
brent
I saw an episode of EB&D and I thought it was ok if a little annoying and so I decided I would give it another try. The showstopping "joke" in the second episode I watched was the lead character intentionally and very severely crippling a man he didn’t like while a bunch of onlookers cheered him on and then started wilding while the crippled man writhed in agony on the ground. Its really pretty difficult to offend me – I don’t think I can remember ever being particularly offended by anything that was a genuine attempt at humor – but that sure did it. I won’t be wasting my time on another half hour of that particular show.
Keith
I’m a huge fan of Eastbound & Down (it has one of the best openings of a comedy, IMO), but all I’ve seen from Foot Fist Way is a clip of McBride’s character pitting an old lady against one of his top students (spoiler: the top student uppercuts the holy hell out of the lady’s stomach, and then soccer-kicks her when she’s collapsed on the floor…HILARIOUS in context).
My cats start going nuts when I grab the furminator as well. The only problem with it is that it usually leads to a bunch of jealousy/resentment among the other ones. John, have you tried the deshedding spray they recommend before the combing? I’m tempted to give it a try just for kicks.
AhabTRuler
I just thought it meant that Hollywood was out of ideas.
DRD 1812
Tunch’s spread-apart toes kneading of the air is prima facie proof of a contented kitty. Keep up the good work.
eponymous
John,
The Fist Foot Way is similar to Eastbound & Down in that the character McBride portrays in Fist (a tae-kwon-do instructor) is an arrogant, full-of-himself jerk. The story arch also has a similar theme (bad or embarrassing things happen to the instructor, like catching his wife having sex with one of his idols – a tae-kwon-do movie star). Think of the Fist Foot Way as a somewhat less rauchy (and less funny) version of Eastbound and Down.
I should note that I do like the way McBride portrays Kenny Powers in the series – he seems to have a knack for playing assholes.
kamper
Foot Fist Way is quite funny in a deadpan sort of way. It’s rooted in the comedy of discomfort patented by the British version of The Office. Watch the extras for the extremely unfunny alternate ending (which rivals the alternate ending of Clerks in its sheer wrongness).
Also watch Pineapple Express to see McBride steal scenes left and right (and from two other funny dudes).
valdivia
From what I hear Roubini is coming out for the Geithner plan tomorrow in an op-ed. I guess that should calm some people who think Krugman is god no?
Genine
Yay, pictures of Tunch! Its about time.
I like all the pet-blogging on this blog. It’s almost like having my own pet… without the changing the litter, walking the dog, feeding, vet bills and actual physical affection.
I used to have cats all the time, but my current building doesn’t allow pets. Oh, well…
PaulW
Quantum was a below-average Bond, and suffered in some respects:
1) They made a big deal about Bond’s internal twisted emotions regarding Vesper Lynd, but outside of the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes it vanished from the plot. At least in License to Kill the Revenge plot motive came up as an issue from time to time…
2) Wimpiest Bond Villain ever. Can you even remember his name? I can at least still remember Mr. Big’s name from Live and Let Die (previously the worst Bond Villain Ever), but this guy? Hah! And absolutely no psycho henchman with a crazy weapon/memorable scar to do the dirty work. Where’s the Oddjob? The Jaws character? Anybody like that Korean guy with diamonds in his face?
3) Not enough Leiter, which is rare to admit. But Wright is the first guy since Jack Lord to play Leiter cool.
4) Trying too much to be a Bourne flick. To be honest that bank movie The International was more Bond-ish than Quantum was.
5) Somewhat SPOILER: Killing off a key character at a particular point. I know it’s a tradition in the Bond movies to have a minor sidekick Redshirt get killed just to highlight how dangerous the Away mission is, but the guy I’m thinking of wasn’t a minor character, and his involvement and egregious end felt like a huge waste of character.
AhabTRuler
I realize that it is a bad angle to judge by, but I sincerely have less inclination to make jokes about Tunch eating the Autobot’s home planet.
[/ the real Transformer’s movie!]
JoePo
John, what do you mean exactly by "trainwreck"? Do you mean that you think it’s just poorly put together, poorly written and poorly acted, or that it’s a kind of intentional trainwreck, like a confluence of awful characters in a bad situation? I’m just curious, not trying to flame you for calling it a trainwreck.
Footfist’s McBride character is utterly unlikeable. You’re asked to root for him even though he’s totally delusional to the point that he just becomes annoying. Kenny Powers is similar, but just slightly vulnerable, and that was pretty much all the opening I needed to get into the show. I also think it’s just funnier than Foot Fist. And I like McBride in everything else he’s in. He’s the comic relief in "All the Real Girls," one of the movies David Gordon Green did before Pineapple Express – and he’s great in it. And it’s a great movie, though parts of the plot are really familiar in some ways.
cleek
i believe the ultimate plan is to harness the energy released when all the libs’ heads explode, and then sell that to the electrical utilities.
for obvious reasons, they couldn’t tell us that ahead of time.
Incertus
Loved McBride in Tropic Thunder, thought he was okay in Pineapple Express and watched about a third of an episode of East Bound and Down before I finally got tired of the feeling that every person with a southern accent in the movies is some sort of fucking numbskull. Maybe I don’t watch enough tv or something, but seriously, who are the non-idiot southerners out there? Last one I seem to remember was fucking Matlock, and his strategy was often to make people think he was an idiot and then sucker them by not turning out to be one.
Cris
Will the Furminator work if my cat’s undercoat has already started to form dreadlocks?
valdivia
@cleek:
if that was the plan why didn’t we get started in 2001? can you imagine how much money we would have saved?
mr. whipple
freaking wingnuts:
‘The Associated Press: Volcano monitors spot on with warnings: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A month after Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal complained about wasteful spending in President Obama’s economic stimulus package, including money for "something called ‘volcano monitoring,’" Alaska pilots were grateful for such expenditures. The Alaska Volcano Observatory was ready with warnings to flight officials when Alaska’s Mount Redoubt blew five times Sunday night and Monday morning, sending potentially deadly ash clouds north of Anchorage."
I also read Jindal is doing the response *again* tonight after Obama’s presser.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jr2Elxjl-RKZUdHtff4awCV_JPAwD97442900
Ned R.
@mr. whipple:
Hey, great, this time he can rise up out of the ground like the ingredient of choice on Iron Chef.
John Cole
@JoePo: I mean trainwreck in that it is so wrong and so much shit is inappropriate that I often gasp. The stunts he pulls around this kids shocks me.
It is just so over the top wrong that I faithfully watch it every week.
Laura W
@Incertus:
It’s a winner, that strategy. Was getting some mileage out of it with DougJ in previous thread until I fessed up.
Was on Helen’s diary earlier. You are very, very disciplined in your posting frequency and quantity. She was ill an awful lot. I know she died young…do you think her frequent colds and what not were evidence of a weak constitution or maybe deeper, more chronic and undiagnosed health issues?
Cris
An opposition response after a press conference? When the hell did this tradition start?
Krista
Tunch just looks ridiculously soft. Please give him some snorgles for me, John.
OT, but it IS an open thread: Got my 20-week ultrasound on Monday, and Spawn of Krista appears to be healthy and active. It was facing front, so it was kind of entertaining to look right at this freaky little alien face.
And no, we still don’t know the gender. I think I might know, but don’t want to get too emotionally invested in my guess, just in case I’m wrong.
Incertus
@Laura W: I wish I knew the answer to that question. I’d say it was probably part due to the fact that she lived in late 19th century semi-rural New England and lived with lots and lots of people, so the place would be a germ factory.
Incertus
@Cris: Maybe a corollary to the Clinton rules?
Chuck Butcher
Actually Jindal coincidently was speaking on this date and will probably begin before Obama wraps up.
valdivia
Behold Ambinder doing his usually idiotic analysis of Obama’s policies. You see Obama is just throwing money at all of our problems because this is just the way he rolls.
JL
Tunch appears to have lost a few pounds. It might be time to put up a picture of him six months ago, along side a more recent one.
MikeJ
That’s some first class crazy. Obama will raise taxes to pay for the stimulus package that was half tax cuts.
smiley
Rilly. Heavy, man. What is is man? What is time? What is it, man?
Lev
QoS was a B+ Bond, while Casino Royale was an A. I actually liked the pathetic bad guy–Le Chiffre was similar. It’s the weak, snotty, pathetic dudes who do the real dirt, not bald guys in hollowed-out volcanoes. They could have given the girl more to do, but they did include a lot of Judi Dench, which is fine by me.
All in all, not as refined or intoxicating as Casino (and the theme song ain’t nearly as good), but thoroughly good by Bond standards, and let’s face it, there’s probably a handful of objectively good Bond movies in existence. Outside of Daniel Craig, there’s maybe GoldenEye, The Living Daylights (if Tim Dalton works for you), The Spy Who Loved Me, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger (pushing it). Hell, I’ll even throw in Dr. No.
robertdsc
Timothy Dalton remains my favorite Bond.
Tunch iz king! He goes from Death Star to Super Star Destroyer. Keep it up, John.
Cris
[email protected]: Sarah Sidle on CSI has a hint of a twang, if that counts.
Chuck Butcher @32: thanks, that actually makes me feel better .
jl
Yeah, that cat is slimming down. Won’t be able to make fat Tunch jokes anymore.
Laura W
John, will we have a dedicated thread for the PC?
Let’s think of fun titles:
What have you done for us lately?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four days in office?
Edit: Acc. to Lou Dobbs’ two guests, Obama is not working hard enough because he sees his daughters when they come home from school. Slacker! No wonder it’s all gone so wrong so quickly.
Scott de B.
Am I using my furminator wrong? My cat sheds constantly, yet the furminator produces a tiny clump of hair and my cat hates it.
Josh Hueco
OT, but does anyone here know anything about Baltimore? I’m going there for three weeks of challenge training in late April/early May, and the only thing I know about Baltimore is that it was the setting of Homicide. Is there anywhere I should go in particular or stay away from?
geg6
John, I liked QofS and I like the very sexy Mr. Craig as Bond. But I had a horrible experience when the SO and I went to see it. The entire preview before the movie was a promo about 10 minutes long (at least, but it’s hard to measure time when you’re clawing your eyes out) for a tome called "The Christmas Sweater" by none other than Glen Beck. And it was a huge closeup, mostly just his big giant head, weeping and giggling and bloviating about his inspiring holiday tale. We only stayed because we were paralyzed by horror.
zirconium
Tunch’s fur would make excellent pillow stuffing. And if you used a clear plastic pillow cover, you would always be able to see it right next to your head!
MikeJ
Not to be taken internally.
mr. whipple
Sorry, I misunderstood this Jindal thing. Damn, I was looking forward to it!
"WASHINGTON – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will again carry the Republican mantle opposite a primetime appearance from President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Jindal, considered a potential GOP presidential candidate, is slated to headline a major congressional fundraiser that coincidentally fell on the same night as Obama’s planned news conference.
Jindal was widely panned for his televised response to Obama’s address to Congress last month. This time, he will speak to a live audience of Republican faithful in Washington. And his speech — scheduled well before Obama’s news conference — will likely begin before Obama’s evening remarks."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_go_pr_wh/jindal_republicans
Laura W
@mr. whipple: I knew that was too
goodstoopid to be true.Damn.
annie
John,
What happened with Tunch and the puppies? No one seems to be talking.
blahblah
Smily:
I know you’re joking, but I’ll answer you straight. The only way to answer that question right now is to ask: How does one measure time? For thousands of years we counted days, months, and years. For centuries we used sand falling through an hourglass, water dropping on various instruments, and that old standard: the sundial.
These days we count the resonance frequency of a Cesium atom; it’s called an atomic clock. That has implications, not the least of which is that one cannot verify time or causality for subatomic particles. And, in fact, we know that causality breaks down at those tiny distances because when physicists use extremely short bursts of laser light, at a certain time resolution (say in the picosecond range) causality of when the laser light hits its detector breaks down. That is, the detector sometimes responds before the light hits it. Which can be verified, because we know the speed of light pretty damn well.
The question of whether there is a direction to time or it exists as a subset of all possible outcomes across all of existence like a smear jam across a table is not a joke. Real physicists are asking these questions.
demkat620
I don’t know, this president guy is using alot of big words. How are us stoopid merkins supposed to know what he’s sayin’?
Bet he eats arugula, too.
mr. whipple
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=19041#comment-1185706
I dunno, they keep pushing Cheney out there.
Laura W
@demkat620: Thank Allah he’s sportin’ the flag pin.
Laura W
@mr. whipple: You got me there. (Forgive me if you know this but if you hit the gray arrow next to the date/time stamp on the post you want to respond to you’ll link back and their name will be all blue and cool and stuff.)
Laura W
I DEMAND that Chuck Todd sacrifice his facial hair!!
demkat620
@Laura W: Yeah, but he’s not doing the funny names and he’s sounding like a competent adult.
That ain’t right.
Iowa Housewife
Craig is a good Bond, but Transporter 3 was a better movie.
JL
@Laura W: Will Chuck criticize him for not telling the folks to go and shop.
Comrade Darkness
@Scott de B., you are welcome to ship it to me. I’m wanting one.
Rosali
Where was the demand for sacrifice during the past 8 years when there were 2 wars and tax cuts?
Mike in NC
The weather should be ideal for doing the Inner Harbor. There’s sports, shopping, museums, restaurants, the aquarium, etc. Little Italy and Fells Point (where Homicide was partly filmed) are close by. Use the water taxi to get around, it’s a great bargain.
J. Michael Neal
@robertdsc: Agreed, almost. Dalton was my favorite Bond until Daniel Craig got a hold on the role. I think that it’s a fucking shame that he got two terrible scripts, and then the franchise got swamped by legal problems.
What I really like about the character as portrayed by both Dalton and Craig (or one of a substantial list) is a sense of mortality. Watching them, you understand why Bond drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney (which you know he still does, even though they won’t show it) and fucks anything that moves. None of these are going to be what kills him. He’s going to be dead long before lung cancer or cirrhosis become an issue.
I also really liked Quantum of Solace, but it is not at all like a standard Bond film. I think that turns a lot of people off. I also disagree that it’s just like a Bourne film. They are similar in that you have a killer agent who is off the reservation. Beyond that, I don’t see it. The point of QoS is completely different than that of the Bourne movies. Bond really does work for the intelligence agency that created him. He is loyal to it.*
The center of the film is Bond’s relationship with M. It’s also a character study of James Bond, which is something we’ve never really gotten before. It helps when the two leads are played by actors as good as Craig and Dame Judy Dench. This part was all set up in Casino Royale, but it comes to fruition here. Saying that there is a mother/son relationship is almost accurate, but grossly oversimplifies the interactions.
Yes, the plot has some holes in it. That’s okay with me, because the plot is not the main point of the film. It emphasizes character over plot, and does a damned good job with it. Of course, that’s my bias. I’m always prepared to sacrifice plot for characterization. Others’ mileage may vary.
Two specific things I liked about it:
1) I’ve heard some people complain that the chase scenes are too confusing to follow. I thought that that was true only of the very first one, before the opening credits role. That one is confusing. That’s exactly what it’s trying to be. It sets a tone of freneticism, and confusion. That’s a great way to open this movie, because it instills a feeling of what the writers are trying to convey.
2) It doesn’t feel the need to have the characters say out loud things that the audience can infer. There is a lot of unspoken communication between Bond and M. Part of the relationship is that the two of them clearly know each other so well that they can anticipate what the other means.**
*Spoiler Alert: Yes, he is a loose cannon. Yes, he can go rogue. In the end, though, he is a part of MI6, and doesn’t intend to do anything else. Whether or not he truly understands himself, he really believes that he was not motivated by Vesper’s death at any point.
Another Spoiler Alert: The conversation between M and Bond, when she orders him to come back to Britain is the most obvious example. She knows perfectly well that he’s not going to obey. Instead, the two of them exchange information without it being clear that they are doing so, since they are being overheard by others. They have enough confidence in each other that they can leave things unsaid.
Laura W
oh nooooooooooo!
It’s CHIPPER….
I can hardly contain my bladder………
(Oh noes! Helen Thomas is seated right next to him. She must be shame spiraling from the physical proximity alone.)
Comrade Jake
Jake Tapper is such an asshat.
Josh Hueco
@Mike in NC:
Kewl. Thanks!
scruncher
Chuck Todd’s question may be the dumbest question I’ve ever heard at a White House press conference.
geg6
Chuckie T thinks we DFHs aren’t feeling the PAIN like millionaires. So let’s shop!
schrodinger's cat
We has Tunch! He looks happy and seems to have lost some weight. What are you feeding him, John? I have a Tunch sized cat, so I am curious.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
I used to have a wee crush on Chuck Todd (hey, my history is full of geeks, redheads and facial hair). No more.
Can someone take pity on him and bounce him back to number crunching?
shera
Didn’t Todd ask this same question at Obama’s last press conference?
AkaDad
IMO, Sean Connery will always be the best Bond. Craig is a decent Bond, but I’ve always wanted to see Clive Owen take a crack at being Bond.
Laura W
@scruncher:
I don’t mean to quibble with you, but maybe you don’t remember CHIP Reid asking him, THREE weeks into his administration: What Went Wrong?
Not to take one little thing away from Chuck, of course.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Tunch is so hitting a complete 1940s glamourpuss pose. John, if I check the rates, can you ship him up here for a little vacation?
JL
@scruncher: From the NYTimes blog
scruncher
@Laura W: OK, second dumbest ;-) Although one must forgive Reid as he has half a brain.
Ash
I read this to myself and said, out loud, "……..the fuck?"
AhabTRuler
Isn’t that more than one question?
scruncher
@JL: @ Jeff Zeleny: Keep being asked?! Unbelievable.
valdivia
do these people not understand that investment pays off in the long run? in infrastructure? green energy? education? health care?
demkat620
Chuckie T is too much a horse race guy. He don’t do nuance.
J. Michael Neal
"I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak."
Obama FTW
demkat620
Nope, Major Garrett wins the award for outright asshattery.
Worst. question. ever.
valdivia
@J. Michael Neal:
yes that made me smile.
AhabTRuler
What was his response to Ed Henry’s attempt to double-dip on the AIG bonus question? C-SPAN’s feed black-holed on me for a second.
Laura W
@demkat620: Now now. It’s not over until the fattest asshat sings!
demkat620
@AhabTRuler: "I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak."
J. Michael Neal
@AhabTRuler: See my post 81. That was his entire answer.
AhabTRuler
@demkat620: Thx.
Bad Horse's Filly
I had to answer the door, so I missed it…was CNN’s guy as embarrassing as he started out being and did the President hand him his ass when he was done?
Laura W
Looks like John finally opened a dedicated thread…party at Tunch’s…
JL
@scruncher: The commenters on the live blog site must have come from Politco. Zeleny also has the great comment
.
Brachiator
Let’s not get out of hand here. Sean Connery is the standard by which any subsequent Bond shall be measured. That said, Craig is very good. He has returned the streak of cruelty that is essential to Bond. And where he differs from Bourne, who is often a cipher of a killer machine, Bond is pissed when someone tries to get in his way, especially if the opponent is an agent or assassin. But Craig’s Bond is also capable of restraint. In one of the final sequences in the film, Bond shows that he is capable of generosity. By the way, the female actor who features in this scene near the end of the movie now stars in the new ABC TV series, "Castle," and is babelicious.
That said, "Quantum" is more cautious than was "Casino Royale," and suffers from this. The relationship between Bond and the agent he persuades to come out of retirement is too much like the relationship between Bond and Kerim Bey in "From Russia, With Love" (the best Bond movie ever), and another sequence is a steal from "Goldfinger," but is poorly set up and so loses much of its resonance.
I liked the villain, and appreciated the fact that he wasn’t a supermonster, but his henchman was weak tea.
Overall, I am looking forward to seeing more of Craig’s take on Bond. I also hope that Judi Dench continues to return as M.
PanAmerican
If you haven’t, check out Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Ostensibly it’s about a Baghdad metal band but it stands as a scathing condemnation of the US media.
AhabTRuler
See, now a question about poor people. Was that so hard?
blahblah
@J. Michael Neal:
Wonderful comment on the character study that is QoS. It is a flawed film due to rather large plot holes, but I also agree that character studies are what make stories meaningful. And in that way, Craig has the acting chops to express complex emotional conflicts that show the character as human.
I don’t want to defend QoS as I don’t think it’s a very good film. I suspect the screenplay was a good deal better. Here we have an example of a film that should have been slam-dunk, but which somehow got damaged by the director and editor and became much less than it could have been.
Craig is good though. Best since Connery. I look forward to more Bond films with him as the protagonist.
Janefinch
I bought a Furminator after seeing the Tunch results…my cats line up for it. And with one medium- and two long-haired cats, it removes at least a cat’s worth of fur a day, and my carpets look a zillion times better, too!
J. Michael Neal
@blahblah: Where we differ is that I really liked Quantum of Solace, the the title makes no sense. I thought the things that it did well (very, very well) outweigh the things it didn’t.
I need to go out and put some letters in the mail and buy some limes. I’ll be making a stop at Target to get the movie.
blahblah
Not one question on the bank bailout. How fucked up is that?
@J. Michael Neal:
Enjoy your purchase. I don’t want to insult your preferences as that’s personal. However, I’d be curious to see if you retain that positive view of QoS ten years from today. Some movies (and stories) have staying power; most don’t. I don’t think QoS will be one of those Bond films folks will still want to watch years from today. Whereas "From Russia with Love" still works. Craig’s CR probably will too.
Tattoosydney
@J. Michael Neal:
Unfortunately, that’s what happens when the producers decide they need to use the titles of Fleming’s actual stories for the movies…
"Quantum of Solace" is a strange little story , in which Bond’s presence is simply a mechanism to allow another character to tell a tale… it’s a great short story, and definitely worth reading, but it’s only a "Bond" story in the most tangential way…
Mind you, the link between QOS the story and QOS the movie is slightly stronger than in the case of "Octopussy" – Fleming’s original story is about a man who has committed a horrible crime, and who gets killed by an octopus, with Bond only showing up at the very end to discover the body IIRC.
Tattoosydney
@J. Michael Neal:
the title makes no sense
Unfortunately, that’s what happens when the producers decide they need to use the titles of Fleming’s actual stories for the movies…
"Quantum of Solace" is a strange little story , in which Bond’s presence is simply a mechanism to allow another character to tell a tale… it’s a great short story, and definitely worth reading, but it’s only a "Bond" story in the most tangential way…
Mind you, the link between QOS the story and QOS the movie is slightly stronger than in the case of "Octopussy" – Fleming’s original story is about a man who has committed a horrible crime, and who gets killed by an octopus, with Bond only showing up at the very end to discover the body IIRC.
AnneLaurie
Nah — given the swollen sackful of smug CT calls a ‘face’, I say the more of it he can cover up, the better.
With the exception of the guy from Ebony, though, I think every pressdroid who spoke up tonight earned a top-seed ranking on "America’s Biggest Arsehats". Between FauxNews wanting to know why Obama hasn’t yet declared war on alll the KOMMANISTS and SOXIALISTS outside of America, and ABC wanting to know when Obama is going to stop being Black and find an ethnicity Palm Beach can be comfortable with, and the angry fetus from the Moonie Times burbling lies about adult stem cells… it was like the President was doing a "You See the Low Calibre That I Am Stuck Working With?" demonstration for future historians.
AhabTRuler
@Tattoosydney: Same thing with the Spy Who Loved Me.
J. Michael Neal
@blahblah: No offense taken. I’m just disagreeing. And I’ve fielded/started enough questions on the bailout for now.
Will I still like it in ten years? I would guess that the answer is probably yes, though that’s not based solely upon QoS. The fact is, it’s a middle movie. It rests upon Casino Royale for its premise, and it leaves plot threads unresolved. Clearly, there’s at least one more movie in this story arc. If that is good, and since Casino Royale is the best Bond movie ever, Quantum of Solace will still be on the good list.
Corner Stone
I skipped all comments because I was so pumped to admit –
I have a shah-hoooge man-crush on DC as Bond.
I take the Casino Royale remake DVD with me on trips because it’s the balls.
The balls bitchez!
Corner Stone
Also, just saw Get Smart w/ the 40 yr old virgin guy – that was hoogely entertaining. I dug it 6 ways to Sunday.
J. Michael Neal
As for Sean Connery, I absolutely disagree with the idea that he’s the best James Bond. In my book, he comes in third, though, as will all things movie, there will be differences of opinion. I think that Connery is a good, but frequently overrated actor. Here specifically, he does well in the role of James Bond as Cartoon Character.
Connery’s Bond never gives me the feeling that he’s in any danger. Instead, he’s just sort of a relentless force that is going to overwhelm the bad guys. He works better in a situation with an over-the-top villain, with an equally indestructible henchman. The Connery Bond needs to be stopping The Plot To Take Over the World.
I’m tired of that Bond. Actually, I’m tired of the standard action genre as a whole. I no longer want to watch cartoon movies with live actors. I’ve reached the point that I want to be treated as an adult. It only took me forty years.
I don’t object to excessive violence in a movie, per se, but it has to have a point. Gratuitous violence bores me. Violence should have consequences. The Connery Bond has none. In order to show this at all, they had to get him married, and then kill Diana Rigg.
The Daniel Craig Bond fits what I want to see. I want character studies out of my action films, though there are some other takes that suffice. In short, I want a movie that I haven’t already seen 13 times. I’ve seen the Connery-type Bond, sometimes, sadly, starring Roger Moore in basically the same movie more than that. It’s been done.
Yes, Quantum of Solace doesn’t have a memorable henchman that we can see an epic fistfight with. It not only doesn’t have one, it doesn’t need one, and such a character would be grossly out of place. It’s a different kind of movie. As I said, there are going to be a lot of people who just don’t want that kind of James Bond movie. More power to them, and Daniel Craig will get replaced eventually, and they may go back to Cartoon Bond. As good as they are, even I don’t think this particular take can last more than five movies, tops.
Corner Stone
"Your comment is awaiting moderation. "
WTF?
I didn’t even mention cia lis
Corner Stone
Plus, if Chasing Amy taught me anything – and it didn’t – it proved that lesbians are really just confused hotties waiting for Affleck. Or Godot.
On that note I confess my desire to get to know Rachel Maddow better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ue3g2ZLERU
Corner Stone
@valdivia
How the F could you hate Munich?
I’m calling BS.
valdivia
@Corner Stone:
Yep sorry to disappoint and not agree with you. I found the merging of the sex scenes with the images of the dead athletes revolting. And I am no puritan, this just felt lazy and sincerely, cheap. That and the shot of the towers in nyc at the end. If he wanted to make a movie about 9/11 he should have done that.
Corner Stone
@valdivia
It’s a complete rip-off of Sword of Gideon – that’s true.
But I have to say the little mistakes the supposed assassination team made as they worked their way through the bad guys, that sold me on it.
We’re just gonna agree to disagree on this one.
d. b. cooper
If Eastbound & Down is 60% funny and 40% uncomfortable then The Foot Fist Way is 60% uncomfortable and 40% funny. While I love Eastbound without reservation, I only respect Foot Fist. It was too uncomfortable and agitating for my taste. They are very similar though.
PaulB
@Tattoosydney:
Not quite. Bond had discovered the crime and had tracked down the perpetrator. However, apart from that one transgression, he had lived an otherwise blameless life and was a veteran of the British armed forces, so Bond gave him a day to put his affairs in order before taking him in. It was pretty clearly an invitation to commit suicide.
The perpetrator took the opportunity to indulge in his favorite scuba diving activity, visiting his favorite spot on the reef, essentially saying goodbye to its inhabitants that he had watched countless times before. I believe he suffers from a heart attack while doing this and cannot fight off his "pet" octopus when it drags him down and ultimately drowns him.
The conceit of the movie, "Octopussy," is that the lead female character is the daughter of the guy in the story and she is grateful that Bond gave her father a chance to die peacefully rather than dragging him back to England in disgrace.
Brachiator
Not true at all. The fight scene in the train in "From Russia, With Love," not only depicts Bond as being potentially overmatched, but shows him winning more because of his wits than his fists. And in "Goldfinger," Oddjob wipes the floor with 007 until Bond finds a way to short-circuit the fight.
One of Connery’s greatest attributes was that he moved with a kind of feral grace, suggesting not a relentless force but an animal that would track his prey and uncoil with lethal force. Craig is not as graceful, but finds his own way to suggest a tense, barely contained deadly force. By contrast, Roger Moore was far more cartoonish (and you never believed that he could finish a fight without requiring an oxygen mask afterwards). Pierce Brosnan was game, but was never more than a middleweight Bond, and Timothy Dalton was a good actor, but had zero physical presence.
By the way, I give Brosnan and even Moore credit in that they tried to bring something to Bond, who has become as mythic a figure as Robin Hood. And Craig has brought something special to Bond, and has made the character his own. For now.
By the way, it is a tribute to Connery’s sexual charisma that actors who pass the initial tests to play the character have to reprise the coy seduction scene between Bond and Tatiana in "From Russia, With Love." And of course, Ian Fleming originally imagined Bond as a cross between the 40s singer-composer and actor Hoagy Carmichael, and David Niven, but later changed Bond’s personal history so that it reflected Connery’s incarnation of the character.
By the way, I agree that Wright’s Felix Leiter is way cool.
Tattoosydney
@PaulB:
I didn’t know that about Octop**** (the movie). Mind you, I haven’t seen the movie for a very long time, and all I really have is a general impression of Roger Moore horridness.
valdivia
@Corner Stone:
you got it. we can disagree. I still think Craig was great on it.
Tattoosydney
@Tattoosydney:
So now I have to add "Pu55y" to my list of words that trip the moderation filter and must therefore be avoided …
Comrade Desert Hussein Rat
@Cris:
Does Jindal get to face dumbassed questions from Fox News Reporters like Barack?
Equal time…all I ask, equal time.
Comrade Desert Hussein Rat
Re. QoS
Not quite up to the high standard of Casino Royale, which was easily the best Bond since You Only Live Twice.
As someone else noted, Craig really nails the seriousness of Fleming’s character, and the ice cold, cruel streak that’s at the core of him. He’s easily the best since Connery, and may even be better, if they continue to give him good scripts.
The theme song for this one sucked very large rocks through a soda straw. Jack White and Alicia Keys? Really? Put them together and you might have half of Shirley Bassey. Easily the worst theme song in the 22 movie series.
I liked Qos quite a bit actually. It was far superior to any of the Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan ones, and probably about as good as Living Daylights.
It was fun to have a direct sequel, something I’d like to see them do more often with the franchise.
I’d put it in the top 10 in the franchise, anyway. And I definitely look forward to several more with Daniel Craig
Steeplejack
Quantum of–? Oh, sorry. My bad.
Phoebe
Fist Foot Way or Foot Fist, whatever: GREAT.
Daniel Craig: GREAT as Bond, and also see him play Perry Smith in Infamous. He was fantastic.
But Quantum of Solace was horrible.
J. Michael Neal
That’s fine, but I never felt like there was any real danger for him. It isn’t what is shown, it’s how it’s shown. Everything about the character says that he’s indestructible.
Steeplejack
I would go farther and say that people like a return to the previously "serious" ideas that the "camped up" versions of the ’60s and ’70s were based on.
I hated the Batman movies (Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney) and thought they were way too jokey and kitschy, but then Batman Begins was amazing. It basically told the story straight and trusted that that was enough. I am a little ambivalent about The Dark Knight–there probably should be a three- to five-year moratorium on Joker appearances in any movies–but it was still miles ahead of the older movies.
Same with the Bond franchise. Roger Moore was a nadir, increasingly apparent as time passes. I even liked Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in places, but Daniel Craig is definitely the best since Sean Connery.
P.S. Amazing how well Dr. No holds up, even though it looks like it was made for about $100,000 and change.
Corner Stone
Sir/madam – I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.
Ash Can
@Josh Hueco: I second Mike in NC’s recommendations. Also, if you like baseball, Camden Yards and the Babe Ruth museum are musts. For chow, I recommend pit beef sandwiches (Baltimore BBQ), half smokes (hot and mild — basically, Baltimore’s version of the Polish sausage), and seafood.
Brachiator
@J. Michael Neal:
It’s interesting that you repeat this, but the early Bond films contradict you. "Dr No" has the scene in which Bond is almost killed by a deadly spider and throws up in relief and fear after he has found a way to escape the spider bite. The opening of "From Russia, With Love," shows Robert Shaw’s villain killing "Bond," which creates a tension which runs through the entire film. And Bond is saved by Tatiana in "From Russia, With Love," when Rosa Klebb comes calling. Felix Leiter saves Bond from being blown up in "Goldfinger," and as I noted earlier, Oddjob is royally kicking Bond’s butt in their Fort Knox confrontation. In none of these scenes is it obvious that Bond is indestructible, nor is his victory in his own hands.
I will allow that "You Only Live Twice" and "Thunderball" start giving us the indestructible Bond, which is also the major problem of the Roger Moore years of Bondage, but this is just not the case with the early Bonds.
harlana pepper
omg! he looks soooo happy! that’s right, Tunch, time to make biskits on the blankie, good boy.
I ordered my Furminator today!
J. Michael Neal
@Brachiator: You don’t seem to get it. You can list all of the incidents you like, but it won’t change the fact that I never felt like Connery’s Bond was really in danger. End of story. What you got out of those scenes clearly isn’t what I got out of them.
Creating a real sense of danger in a scene involving a movie’s hero is difficult. It’s compounded when the viewer knows that it’s a franchise hero, so he can’t die. It takes a lot of skill to pull it off. For me, the Connery Bond never accomplished that. The combination of the writing and the acting fell short of it. With the Daniel Craig Bond, I do get that sense. With the Timothy Dalton Bond, I always felt that the actor was up to the challenge, but the material sucked.
beedee
I watch this clip from Foot Fist at least once a week and it never fails to crack me up as hard as it did the first time I saw it:
The breakup speech
Cyrus
@Incertus:
What about Sawyer on Lost? He’s not an admirable character, and I’ve only seen the first 8-10 episodes so maybe he got dumber as the show went on, but from what I’ve seen he’s smart enough.
Paul
Re: Craig as Bond.
He’s a very good Bond (He’s not Connery, but who is?).
Quantum, though is a mess of a movie, a Jason Bourne wannabe movie that didn’t feel like Bond at all to me. Craig did much more and much better with Casino Royale.
garyb50
@blahblahblah:
This is why I love BJuice.