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The original plan for this weekend involved going to Williamsburg to visit a relative after surgery, but she decided she didn't want visitors for another day or so, so my dad and I stayed in the county and flew gliders all day-or, rather, he flew gliders, and I hung out at the airport, doing my reading for history class and feeling guilty that I wasn't the one manning the counter. There's a new girl being trained to take over that job, but now I feel like I'm slacking off every time I sit in the pilots' lounge instead of behind the flight schedule computer.
Then we went to see Casino Royale
It wasn't the book, but it was closer than I expected--there was about 30-40 minutes of action and chase sequences as a set-up for the gambling match against Le Chiffre rather than a mission brief full of backstory, and the final denoument featured a shoot-out in Venice instead of a suicide note, but the high-stakes card game (complete with Bond's initial loss and subsequent comeback, and one attempt on his life while at the card table), Felix's lend-lease money, the car crash, Le Chiffre's execution, Vesper's role as a double agent and eventual death... all of it was there. They even included the torture scene, nudity and all, including several verbatim lines from Le Chiffre's pre-torture monalogue.
They managed to keep some of the more vital elements of the movies--the one liners, the excessive number of explosions and chase sequences, and the requisate making-out-on-the-beach scene--while sticking with the slightly grittier and more serious tone of the books. Bond was just a little bit rougher, with the arrogance, sluttiness, and recklessness as more ambiguous qualities (i.e. there's a nod to the fact that he's screwed up as well as cool and badass). And they kept in both his spur-of-the-moment order of a made-up gin/vodka/vermouth cocktail in the Casino bar (with verbatim book dialogue! Yay!) and his "the bitch is dead" dismissal of Vesper at the end. Craig's delivery was perfect--he had this flat, dead look in his eyes that made you unsure whether you wanted to slug him or hug him.
I have decided upon the strength of his performance that I can forgive Craig's blondness--he doesn't look quite right, but he has the voice down, and the physicality, and the ability to look cold and aloof yet simultaneously woobie ("cold & aloof + woobie" being a vital part of James's characterization). He's not Sean Connery (is anyone?), but I think he does a better Bond than Roger Moore.
Felix's role was slightly smaller than in the book, and the actor who played him was, as usual, perfectly good, but not quite Felix (he should have been just a bit younger and thiner, clean-shaven, and given to smirking, and he and Bond should have exchanged a bit more banter--I'd have settled for just the friendly banter and the smirking). Le Chifre was just right, as was Vesper, and Judy Dench as M, as always, rocked hard.
And have I mentioned that they included both the sexual torture and Vesper turning out to be evil? I expected them to pull their punches more, but they stuck to the outlines of Flemming's plot. (well, they toned the torture scene down just a bit, in that it was shorter and involved a knotted piece of rope instead of something harder, thinner, and capable of drawing blood, and we didn't get the close-up shot of said blood pooling under the chair, but still--naked torture with sexual overtones, performed by a guy).
Also, they're making a Spiderman III, and it's going to have Venom in it. I made undignified squealing noises when the preview started. Noises even more shrill than the muffled squeak I made when Bond ordered a Vesper.
Then we went to see Casino Royale
It wasn't the book, but it was closer than I expected--there was about 30-40 minutes of action and chase sequences as a set-up for the gambling match against Le Chiffre rather than a mission brief full of backstory, and the final denoument featured a shoot-out in Venice instead of a suicide note, but the high-stakes card game (complete with Bond's initial loss and subsequent comeback, and one attempt on his life while at the card table), Felix's lend-lease money, the car crash, Le Chiffre's execution, Vesper's role as a double agent and eventual death... all of it was there. They even included the torture scene, nudity and all, including several verbatim lines from Le Chiffre's pre-torture monalogue.
They managed to keep some of the more vital elements of the movies--the one liners, the excessive number of explosions and chase sequences, and the requisate making-out-on-the-beach scene--while sticking with the slightly grittier and more serious tone of the books. Bond was just a little bit rougher, with the arrogance, sluttiness, and recklessness as more ambiguous qualities (i.e. there's a nod to the fact that he's screwed up as well as cool and badass). And they kept in both his spur-of-the-moment order of a made-up gin/vodka/vermouth cocktail in the Casino bar (with verbatim book dialogue! Yay!) and his "the bitch is dead" dismissal of Vesper at the end. Craig's delivery was perfect--he had this flat, dead look in his eyes that made you unsure whether you wanted to slug him or hug him.
I have decided upon the strength of his performance that I can forgive Craig's blondness--he doesn't look quite right, but he has the voice down, and the physicality, and the ability to look cold and aloof yet simultaneously woobie ("cold & aloof + woobie" being a vital part of James's characterization). He's not Sean Connery (is anyone?), but I think he does a better Bond than Roger Moore.
Felix's role was slightly smaller than in the book, and the actor who played him was, as usual, perfectly good, but not quite Felix (he should have been just a bit younger and thiner, clean-shaven, and given to smirking, and he and Bond should have exchanged a bit more banter--I'd have settled for just the friendly banter and the smirking). Le Chifre was just right, as was Vesper, and Judy Dench as M, as always, rocked hard.
And have I mentioned that they included both the sexual torture and Vesper turning out to be evil? I expected them to pull their punches more, but they stuck to the outlines of Flemming's plot. (well, they toned the torture scene down just a bit, in that it was shorter and involved a knotted piece of rope instead of something harder, thinner, and capable of drawing blood, and we didn't get the close-up shot of said blood pooling under the chair, but still--naked torture with sexual overtones, performed by a guy).
Also, they're making a Spiderman III, and it's going to have Venom in it. I made undignified squealing noises when the preview started. Noises even more shrill than the muffled squeak I made when Bond ordered a Vesper.
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Also, are you still back tommorow? If so, I'll post up the little bits of Egyptology! So that we can talk about them. If not, I'll probably hold off on posting 'til I've got more done.
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And I should be home/at the apartment tomorrow night.
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*Makes choked noise* How much would that cost? Because I have a suit I could wear and everything.
Not a purple suit, though. I want a purple suit like Lex's. It would look good on meFrom:
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Rigoletto and Don Carlo are also playing, Thursday and Friday, but I really don't know much about them.