The James Bond... Bingo?

 I blogged last Friday about a board game based on the universe of James Bond. Well, it's not the only game available based on my favourite spy: during one of my visits to the local bookshop I stumbled upon... the James Bond Bingo Game. As much as I am a 007 fan, I don't really like bingo and this looks like a very silly derived product, so I resisted temptation and I did not buy it. Nice box though, with the classic gunbarrel. And I might pay more attention in the future to what kind of games our bookshop sells.

SPECTRE: the board game

You know I'm a fan of James Bond, both the novels and the films. Well, I learned not long ago that there was a board game based on the films that was being made: SPECTRE: The Board Game. You play an agent of the nefarious terrorist organisation. That sounds like a lot of fun. It will be released in August-September, but you can pre-order now. It looks absoluely gorgeous and I love board games, but at £50.00, given that I don't have many occasions to play to the games I have, I might ask for it for Christmas or my birthday or something.

Blofeld will Return...

You know I am a huge James Bond fan and I am getting very excited about the untitled yet "Bond 25", which is being filmed and coming next year. Well, I am getting more and more excited, as we learned recently that actor Christoph Waltz, who played Bond archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld, is most likely going to be in the next movie in some capacity. The Daily Mail article on the subject here. I am very, very happy about this development. There were a few things I did not agree with regarding the way they developed the Blofeld character in Spectre, but overall I thought Waltz was competent and gave a chilling performance as the criminal mastermind. So I am glad we will see more of him.

"The dead are alive"

I have never been a big fan of the first of November: it is after Halloween, I feel the post-Halloween blues, November is a month I generally dislike and so on. But I am learning to appreciate the month and its beginning. One movie in particular made me rediscover and enjoy that date, albeit by proxy. I am talking of course of Spectre, the last James Bond movie. It has its share of flaws, but I enjoyed it nevertheless and it is a brilliant piece of cinematography. The pre-title sequence is set during the Mexican Day of the Dead. Far more fun than All Saints' Day. It is a brilliant opening and has a great sense of place, character and atmosphere. You will find a short bit of it below. I think watching the movie might become a new November tradition for me.

Blofeld: I was right all along

I haven't blogged about James Bond for a while and wanted to post something since I saw the last movie. Before reading forward, for those who have not seen Spectre yet: spoiler alert! This post is revealing a big plot twist. Okay, so now let's get on. So for a while, I had been hoping for Ernst Stavro Blofeld to return. I had my ideas about who would play him and started suspecting him from the moment he was rumoured to be cast as a villain. Well, turned out I was right all along. I am not singing my own praise here, as it was pretty much a Jekyll and Hyde twist. Still, I was right. And, while Blofeld did not turned up as close to the novels as I wanted him to, I am still quite happy about how things turned out. And the revelation, however expected, was chilling. You can see it (and hopefully enjoy it) below. My wife did not understand why I was so happy about this revelation. But it was like a long, long dream coming true. So here it is:

Countdown to Spectre

For today's countdown to Halloween, please see this post. Tonight, I want to mention that I am going through another countdown and another kind of ghost: the countdown to the upcoming Bond movie Spectre. It is coming near the end of the month and I cannot wait to see it. As you know, I'm a huge Bond fan. So this is something else I am looking forward to. To cope with the wait, I have been watching over and over again the trailers and reading articles about the movie. And it reminded me that I had not uploaded the latest trailer on Vraie Fiction. So here it is.

Writing's on the Wall

As Spectre is going to be released very soon, I thought I would upload the full theme song, Writing's on the Wall, by Sam Smith. To be honest, I don't like his voice much, but I do like the song. Anyone else is excited about the next Bond movie? I know I am.

"Writing's on the Wall"

Quick post tonight, as there is a big bit of news today about the upcoming James Bond movie Spectre: Sam Smith will be doing the song. It is titled Writing's on the Wall. I know absolutely nothing about Sam Smith and I cannot remember hearing even one song of his.That is how little I know or care about the music industry nowadays. That said, I have a good feeling about this one. I might be wrong, of course. And my hunch is based on very little: I just love the title. Writing's on the Wall, which is a British expression meaning there is a sign of an impending doom, difficult if not impossible to avert. Fatality, in other words. I love how ominous it is. So there you have it. I can barely wait.

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.

Bond in Rome

I thought I would blog a bit more about the upcoming James Bond movie Spectre. Because there are some tidbits of news regarding the movie I am quite excited about. They have filmed a car chase in Rome between James Bond and villain Mr Hinx, played by Dave Bautista. There is a vlog about it, which I have uploaded below.

Some observation:

-Rome is beautifully atmospheric and so perfect for such a movie. Because of the rich history of the city, full of ghosts itself.
-Orange for the Jaguar is a very menacing colour.
-Mr Hinx looks like such a great villain: elegant yet brutish looking, and with something anachronistic about him, his pointy beard giving him the look of a Renaissance assassin. There is something also devilish about his beard.
-That said, Bautista seems like such a nice guy.

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.

Waiting for Spectre

People will forgive me for using an old poster of a nearly ten years old movie for the topic of this blog post. As my readers know since at least December, I am getting very excited about the coming of Spectre, the 24th Bond movie. Because it will see the return of a certain criminal organization of old, and very likely the return of its leader Ernt Stavro Blofeld, who is also Bond's nemesis. I have made a personal obsession about Blofeld, whom I consider one of the greatest villains of all time. I have been following eagerly the reports of the shooting. I did not have time before to make a post about it, so I thought I would do it now. We have been treated to our first behind the scene footage about two weeks ago. The return of Bond in snowy mountains makes me suspect that the story will be at least partially based on On Her Majesty's Secret Service. A novel which also featured Blofeld. We will see anyway, but as a Bond connoisseur, I have been so far quite good at guessing a thing or two about upcoming movies, if I may praise myself so blatantly. Anyway, I loved this behind the scene video. You can see/feel the sober glamor of classic Bond movies. So these videos and the glimpses of news we have will keep me patient until Spectre is released.

It will be SPECTRE

Breaking news today, something that got be very excited: the title for the 24th Bond movie has been revealed, at last. And it will be SPECTRE. As in SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. That means yes, Blofeld might finally be back. You can see how Sam Mendes presented it here. I say I am excited. In fact, it is a terrible understatement: I have been wanting to see SPECTRE and Blofeld back. I have been hoping for it for a while. Half expecting it more recently. Now, this is no more a rumor pr wishful thinking. I am very much looking forward to the new movie. You will find below the teaser title, which I uploaded just for kicks. And did I mention that I love the title? It echoes so much history of the Bond franchise and the novels too. And it is a great title in its own right: the menace a spy fights, in reality or fiction, is shadowy and spectral.