Rising Spectre

Oh, goodie, goodie, goodie! The geek in me is so happy today! The James Bond fan, a thousand times more. If it is even possible. Because the Spectre teaser trailer was finally released. What can I say? First, as you can see, I love it. I love how the story will tie in with the previous three Craig Bond movies. I love that at least a good deal of the plot seems to be based on the short story Octopussy. Also, Eyes Wide Shut, one of Kubrick's most underrated masterpiece, seems to have inspired the meeting scene, down to the use of the James Bond theme. There is a neat little nod at ornithology, which gave Ian Fleming his inspiration for the name of James Bond, when you see Bond walking in the old house and the crows flying by him. Maybe I am reading too much about it, but I don't think so: Sam Mendes is good with making these kind of references.

 And of course there is Blofeld, the character I was looking forward to meet (again). Because I think it is fairly sure now that Christoph Waltz will be Blofeld, as I was expecting/hoping when we learned he was cast. Here, if he is not Blofeld, he seems to have the same function as him in the organization: chairman of the board, leader, literally the enemy in the shadow, the affable villain whose veneer of amiability does not hide his ruthless and cruel nature. If Waltz is indeed Blofeld, he is devoid of all the parodied elements of a certain spoof I will not dignify to name here. He is back to its roots. Anyway, here is the trailer for you to enjoy, if you have not done so. And tell me what you think.

Quantum of Solace

My wife and I went to see Quantum of Solace this afternoon. It was good, but not nearly as good as Casino Royale. I guess we ran out of Fleming material, so it's more difficult to get something as intelligent as the previous movie. That said, Daniel Craig is excellent as usual and the casting is flawless. Mathieu Amalric is absolutely disgusting as Dominic Greene, he is a great villain. But I think I will need to watch this movie again to fully appreciate it, especially since the action scenes were way too frantic.

Quantum of Solace trailer

It has been released today, the teaser trailer of Quantum of Solace:




I think it's going to be good. I can't wait.

Quantum of Solace as a title

This entry was quite popular in French, so I will write here an English version. I have read this on cyberpresse last Friday, which made me jump. I then read the original article/column here and was apalled by the ignorance and lack of judgment of Jack Lechner. Friom what I see of his background, he should know better. Quantum of Solace is an excellent title for a Bond movie, regardless of the quality of the film (I am pretty confident about it, but that's not the point). Titles should not be obvious and generic. Quantum of Solace works because:

1)It's a Bond movie. Even if it was a bad title (it isn't), people would come and see it.
2)The title is evocative and atmospheric. It's not an easy title, as it's meaning is not obvious, but you don't need a dumb, obvious title. Nobody knew what Thunderball meant exactly, or Moonraker, both movies were very successful. Both titles were as cryptic as Quantum of Solace.
3)The title describes perfectly the state of Bond/his situation after the death of Vesper and the events of Casino Royale. Good that they didn't try to give it a stupid, generic title that could be tagged on any action movie. Die Another Day was a really dumb title (adequate for the movie, I guess), I am glad viewers can actually build their vocabulary a bit with Quantum of Solace.
4)The title comes from Ian Fleming. It doesn't make it a good title per se, but at least they get back to the source material. I am happy that they get elements from the mind of the creator of Bond, and not just superficial things that average viewers associate with Bond.

Quantum of Solace

Lu ceci sur cyberpresse, ce qui m'a fait bondir. J'ai lu l'article original, qui m'a fait bondir à nouveau. Jack Lechner ne connait pas grand chose à Bond s'il croit que Quantum of Solace est un mauvais titre:

1)C'est un James Bond, alors le nom du personnage principal est suffisant pour faire venir les foules.
2)C'est un titre évocateur.
3)Le titre évoque l'état d'esprit de Bond après les évènements de Casino Royale, pas un titre générique qui essaie d'être catchy.
4)C'est un titre qui vient d'Ian Fleming. Ce qui n'en fait pas nécessairement un bon titre, mais au moins on sait qu'il a déjà marché. Et c'est heureux qu'ils prennent du matériel du créateur de James Bond.

J'ai très hâte au 7 novembre 2008.