The name is Spectre

Ohhhh, goodie, goodie, goodie! The Bond fan in me was happy today: the new, full, full blown and fully glorious trailer of Spectre was released this morning, at 8:00AM  BST. I know I am that precise, because I watched it first thing in the morning on my phone, as soon as it was released. I was not merely happy, or excited, I was bleeding ecstatic. This may actually be the Bond movie I have been dreaming about, but never daring to hope, let alone expect, to see one day. Bond's nemesis Blofeld is most likely back, with the face of Christoph Waltz. This is a lovely throwback not only to the old days, but also to the novels. I don't want to dwell on it like I did for the previous teaser and the first one. So I am leaving the trailer below for you to enjoy and please feel free to comment on it. Am I the only one to be excited about this movie? I don't think so. And by the way, the acrylic painting on this post was done by local (I think) artist Teresa Illman, based on a scene from Skyfall. I thought I would put it here to give this post a personal touch.

New Spectre teaser

This acrylic painting was done by (local?) artist Teresa Illman. It is titled James Bond/Daniel Craig and it is of course inspired from a scene of Skyfall. I wonder if Ms Illman is into the movie, the character or the actor. But in any case, fan art doesn't get any better than this and looking at the picture I felt a connection with the artist as a fellow Bond fan. A Bond fan that is getting very excited as Spectre is getting filmed and its release date is getting closer and closer. And we are getting more news about the upcoming movie. Recently it was a first glimpse at Christoph Waltz as the (most likely) villain of the piece, today we have the new TV spot teaser. You can see it below. There is a lot from the original teaser, which I loved, but also a good deal of new footage.

I have a few observations about it:

-Obviously, this one is far more action orientated. The set pieces are impressive and everything looks very exciting.
 - Hinx seems to be one nasty piece of work: at what appears to be a SPECTRE meeting, he dispatches someone by twisting his neck like a chicken.
-Bond is depicted more like a seducer, as you first see him getting closer to the character of Léa Seydoux, then Monica Bellucci's.
-There is a beautiful feeling of danger coming from that scene between Bond and Lucia Sciarra: she is warning him about imminent danger... which does not stop him from coming at her.
-The classic line: "Bond, James Bond" delivered by Craig here is the best in a long time.

So here we have it. What did you think of it? I am enthusiastic, as you can tell. Oh, and for the observers, I left another bit of homage to James Bond on this post. Try to find it.

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.

"A bloody big ship"

I took this picture in a pub in Totnes, Devon. A painting that was right above one of the fireplaces. I cannot remember which one right now, but it will get back to me eventually. It is one of the things I remember most about this pub. It struck me then: "That's a bloody big ship". I was of course thinking about a scene from Skyfall, the first meeting of James Bond and Q (played by Ben Whishaw). Okay, the paintings are not exactly similar, but the subject is the same on both. And I think of this scene every time I see the picture, or I think of this painting I saw in a pub in Totnes every time I watch the scene in Skyfall. In any case, it is a great scene, so here it is. Tell me what you think about it.

Skyfall and life imitating art

Last year, about the same time, I went to see Skyfall in cinema. I loved the movie. Those who watched it remember that there was a scene in it, when M played by Judi Dench, is taken to a public parliamentary hearing about the events of the movie. Well, it appears that life imitates art, as the head of SIS aka MI6 (who is called in real life C and not M, and yes I know why and it is very sad that I do) among other important figures of UK intelligence and counterintelligence is summoned to a parliamentary hearing, in order "to provide greater transparency about their work", says the BBC article. It is not as dramatic, in fact it looks like and sound just as tedious as a parliamentary committee hearing does, nevertheless I find it fascinating. Because it gives insights to a secret world, because it is always interesting to see the reality that inspired fiction.

Attack of the Komodo dragon

Yesterday, I was blogging about James Bond. Today, I read a piece of news that reminded me of a scene in Skyfall: a 83 years old woman was attacked by a Komodo dragon. And she survived. In Skyfall, I thought the scene when the Komodo dragon attacks the badguy was a bit far-fetched: until recently, well until I read the story today, I thought they were basically bigger, scarier iguanas. One can get things wrong. In fact, Komodo dragons may not be as famous as crocodiles or alligators, but they are nasty hunters capable of aggressive behavior towards humans. They are pretty much carnivorous dinosaurs walking on earth. As a child, my brothers had some interest in them, we even thought that there were some Komodo dragons living in the wild not too far from home. This is a story I might tell in another blog post. Until then, what I read about them today renewed my interest in the reptile.

Boom! Boom!

I thought this blog needed a bit of music, so here is some. I should first put some spoiler alert, if you have not seen the latest James Bond stop reading now and just go to the YouTube video.

Thanks to Yahoo Answers, I know which song was played in Skyfall when Silva is about raid the Scottish manor. It is Boom! Boom! from John Lee Hooker. I don't think I ever uploaded blues before. So here it is.

The Background of James Bond

I recently rediscovered the official website of the movie Casino Royale. Apart from the usual promotional stuff, there is a lengthy backstory of James Bond, written in the form of reports to MI6, which is an updated yet strongly inspired by his literary one. Back in 2006, when I was eagerly waiting for the movie to be released, I had as much fun listening those to these reports than watching the trailers. A lot of effort has been made in the modernized James Bond biography. Of course, since then Skyfall explored Bond's past, but it is Casino Royale that started it. I love the biography as it gives dimension to the character. Action heroes seldom have dimension, and while James Bond was developed in Fleming's works, it rarely showed on screen. Things are different since Daniel Craig took the role. But anyway, this was my geek moment of the week, finding this still available. Listen to it/have a look at it and tell me what you think.

Skyfall for Friday

I never thought I would upload an Adele song on Vraie Fiction, but circumstances, fanboyishness and well, I have to admit, quality of said song imposed it to me. So Adele is the singer of the theme song of Skyfall. It was leaked recently, it has been released today. I love it. So I had to have it here. It is Friday, enjoy the treat...

Skyfall (the other countdown)

Just for tonight (maybe just for tonight), I will quickly blog about something else than Halloween. That said, if you read my previous post in English, you would know that Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming's brother, wrote at least one horror story, so by proxy and by talking about the creation of a blood relative., I still sort of keep in the spirit of the season. Sort of.

So my long time readers know that I am a big James Bond fan and that I have been eagerly waiting for the release of Skyfall. Even though it is released just before Halloween, at a time when my mind is set on horror rather than other kinds of fiction. I am seasonal like that. But not enough to not think about my other little obsessions. And Bond movies are one of them. It was made official recently that Adele is going to sing the theme song, although it had been rumoured for quite a while now. I care little about Adele or her music, I am not a fan of her but I don't dislike her. I was fairly optimistic about her singing the theme song. In any case, it couldn't be any worse than Madonna in that dreadful movie which I should not name (I hate it that much). Now, a bit of the song was "mysteriously" leaked in the media (you can listen to it here). From the little we can hear, I am very happy. It sounds like a good, old, classic Bond theme song, with a voice that is powerful, yet subdued enough, it covers you and brings you the "Bond atmosphere", the solitary life, the danger, the glamour... It fits the Craig era perfectly, more so than the previous two I think. Maybe I am now overly enthusiastic, but I am very excited about the movie.

Skyfall: the teaser trailer

Today I watched the teaser trailer of Skyfall. I am getting really excited by the upcoming movie. I blogged about it before. Here is the trailer, followed by my observations:



Some observations:

1)I love the interrogation scene with someone who I think is a psychologist. Especially the line: "Agent"... "Provocateur". It is witty and very Flemingesque, a word play which is not a stupid one liner. The whole scene shows a Bond very close to the novels.
2)I think we will see Bond in training, in a scene similar to the one in the beginning of the novel Moonraker. And not a dumb, sci-fi virtual reality training scene like in Die Another Day (the nadir of the series) but a proper training scene in a proper, low key training environment.
3)The Bond girl shaving Bond: it is a very nice touch, with sensuality and just enough danger inuendos.
4)The images are dark, much darker than most Bond movies, but they are not gloomy. It looks lush and darkly glamourous.
5)We only see glimpses of the villain. It is the biggest quasi-absence of this teaser. Is he this shadowy figure? Or this hooded man? I am glad we have (so far) a mysterious villain. We know he is Raoul Silva played by Javier Bardem, but so far he is nothing but a shadow to us.

Skyfall

I don't go very often to cinema these days and there are a number of movies I was curious about, even interested, which I didn't see on the big screen. I don't know why exactly. But now I got really enthusiastic about Skyfall, the next James Bond movie. As my long time readership knows, I am a big fan of James Bond, both in movies (especially the early ones) and the original novels. I try to read one every year, this year it is going to be The Spy Who Loved Me, which Ian Fleming didn't like. But I am curious about it: the Bond girl character is from Québec. Since the story is set in winter, it will be my Christmas reading treat. Oh and don't you like the book cover? Very stylish!

I was becoming blasé with the movies until Casino Royale in 2006 and the way Craig played the role. I became enthusiastic again. Now I didn't find Quantum of Solace nearly as good, but I still enjoyed it and found the plot quite inventive. I also thought the casting was flawless. In any case, it was still a solid, intelligent movie. Now I am skeptical about some elements of Skyfall, but I am reasonably confident. I have mixed feelings about Sam Mendes as a director (American Beauty is maybe the most overrated movie I ever saw, but I really enjoyed Revolution Road and Road to Perdition). I don't like the idea of a young Q (why?), the fact that one Bond girl has to be yet another spy (why not a damsel in distress? or simply, like Sylvia Trench, someone oblivious to the world of espionnage?) and I am bit concerned that they go back to the heavy gadgetry (not necessary). That said, I love the casting, albeit it is made of more famous people than the previous two films. And I love the title. Skyfall. It sounds like something from Ian Fleming. It is sharp, ominous, it feels like danger. Just for it, I cannot wait.