Casino Royale

[Pubrick]

there's only a few actresses i would accept as replacements, fortunately they chose one of em..

Sony Pictures has announced that French actress Eva Green (Kingdom of Heaven) has been cast as love interest Vesper Lynd in the next James Bond installment,

hell yes. this might be the first bond movie i'll pay to see.

hopefully, also the last.

[modage]

yes, for some reason i think i'm interested in this film now.  after months of not-giving-a-shit. 

[Gold Trumpet]

I heard her name rumored for the first time on Dark Horizon just the other day. I thought the idea was too good to be true. Glad I was wrong.

[Redlum]

I can't beleive this. This might be decent. If Craig takes the Dalton approach to the character (don't laugh, he really tried to be the most credible secret agent of them all) and they take it easy on the CGI and make the most of that great soundstage for some great Casino sets this could be quite a success.

[grand theft sparrow]

http://www.craignotbond.com/

This is just the worst display of geekdom I've ever seen.

[polkablues]

http://www.craignotbond.com/

This is just the worst display of geekdom I've ever seen.

More evidence to support my thesis: people are dumb.

[MacGuffin]

Royale Revealed!
Casino Royale teaser trailer and poster online.

CommanderBond.net was the first to bring to our attention that the teaser poster and trailer for the next James Bond movie, Casino Royale, are now online. The teaser trailer is dubbed in French since it first appeared on a French TV show.

The teaser poster, which can be seen below, is a very Film Noir shot of new 007 Daniel Craig dressed in a tux and sitting at a card table with a gun in hand. It was first posted by the Finnish site Nordisk Film. The moody poster evokes the 1950s-early '60s era of Bond novelist Ian Fleming.

The French-dubbed teaser trailer is heavy on mood and action. It can be seen at Planete 007 but it can only be viewed in Internet Explorer, otherwise the page comes out as code. The first part of the teaser trailer is in Noirish black and white, showing Craig's James Bond beating and killing a few different men (one in a restroom, the other in a stairwell and another in a study). There is also a scene between 007 and his boss "M" (Dame Judi Dench).

Then the teaser trailer bursts into color to the familiar strains of the James Bond theme, showing us glimpses of Bond and love interest Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) on the beach, Bond girl Solonge (Caterina Murino), the villainous Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) and Bond's parkour chase/fight with Mollaka (Sebastien Foucan).

There are also shots of the luscious-looking Bahamas, Bond plowing a bulldozer into a wall and sending henchmen scurrying, 007 beating up African soldiers, Bond escaping from explosions and gunfire, and finally the classic image of James Bond dressed in a tuxedo in a casino. This last shot zips in on Bond's face as he turns and looks coldly at the camera. It's a little forced but it clearly establishes Daniel Craig as the new 007.

In related news, the current issue of U.K.-based Car Magazine features a cover story on James Bond's new ride, the Aston Martin DBS, in Casino Royale. The cover and the story feature a new still photo of a tuxedo-clad 007 standing next to the DBS.




EDIT: Updated better quality Quicktime teaser:
Teaser Trailer

[Just Withnail]

Damn. I'd hope'd it'd look a little more classy and vintage, but stylistically it still looks just like the last couple of Bonds, i.e. like any other action film. Putting half the teaser in black and white didn't help, and looked just as tacked-on as it was. Boring, and my expectations (if I even had any) are lowered accordingly.

[MacGuffin]

The Name's Cornell, Chris Cornell
Audioslave frontman performs Casino Royale title song.

Chris Cornell, the screaming siren voiced frontman of Audioslave (and former lead singer for Soundgarden, as well as Temple of the Dog) has written the main title theme to the new James Bond entry Casino Royale.

Cornell collaborated on the song, entitled "You Know My Name," with long time Bond composer David Arnold (who has scored all the Bond films since Tomorrow Never Dies)

"I've always loved Chris' work, both as a writer and as an artist, and had hoped someday to find the right film to inspire him," said Lia Vollack, President, Worldwide Music for Columbia Pictures. "His music is both soulful and tough. It was the perfect complement to Daniel Craig and CASINO ROYALE."

Cornell joins ranks with the likes of Paul McCartney & Wings, Sheryl Crow, Chrissie Hynde, and Madonna in terms of being a modern pop icon who has penned an original James Bond theme song.

[cron]

oh no.
i wanted goldfrapp to write it.

[MacGuffin]

New Trailer here.

[Redlum]

It might just be Eva Green but this looks like it will be pretty entertaining. Its just too bad about the archetypal villain with a facial scar.

[MacGuffin]

[MacGuffin]

Call it, "How Bond Got His Groove Back."

Got exactly what I wanted; a worthy Bond reboot. What the series needed. M calls him a "blunt weapon" and that's exactly what this Bond is. This is before he becomes the debonaire agent, so there's no Q, no Miss Moneypenny, no Bond theme (until the end) -- all conscious decisions to point to this fact. But we get to see what creates the suave man men wanna be and women wanna be with. This Bond makes mistakes, isn't so sleek, almost sloppy in some ways -- and all of that is fine. It humanizes him. I wouldn't exactly compare this to the Bourne films, but the film does make efforts not to repeat what has come before while still being a Bond film. Before this the Brosnan Bond films were kinda becoming cartoons. But here Craig plays a Bond stripped down to be rebuilt back up. It will be interesting to see what direction the next film will take.

The action was fine, but the core of the film is the romance. The back-and-forth/give-and-take banter between Bond and Vesper was pitch-perfect. A woman as an equal. The chemistry was right there.

[gob]

I love a lot of things in the film and since Bond got me into film when I was around 5 years old it was a great experience to get excited about a Bond movie again.
I think it straddles the realistic Bourne type modern gritty thriller and the more fantastical style of Bonds past. Craig is pitch perfect and although I like all of the Bonds for different reasons he's definitely up there with the best. The acting is all of a high standard, I felt Judi Dench suffered a little bit from crappy writing but she still fulfilled the role. Mads Mikkelsen is great as being a sleazy and creepy villain without being a complete cartoon plus he's hot under the collar since his neck is on the line throughout the film as well which added a nice dynamic.
The action is refreshing and brilliantly staged and you can see that time and effort and a lot of care went into it unlike say the fucking cartoon CGI windsailing on a car part on the ocean scene of the monstrosity that is Die Another Day. It's a brave film to make and they don't shy away from the violence and darker sides of the situation which really left me satisfied and surprised.

There are a few things that really pissed me off. The theme song - piece of shit, damn you Chris Cornell. The dialogue - the script is, for the most part, pretty solid but some of the dialogue is painful to watch for the wrong reasons; especially during some of the romance scenes. I felt Craig and Green had a good chemistry and I liked that she wasn't a bimbo but the dialogue came close to messing that up on many occasions. Finally, THE PRODUCT PLACEMENT. Fuck's sake: I'd better drive this Ford Mondeo, oh I've received info on my Sony Ericsson phone, now I'll look at this database on my Sonv VAIO laptop, Lynd says: 'What's that a Rolex?' he replies: 'An Omega.'!!! They even manage to get a two in one shot with Louis Vuitton shop in the background then pan left to reveal Chanel. I appreciate they have to make money back but come on, you don't need so so so many shots doing that and ones that linger on it. I'm praying for less to no product whoring on the next film.

All that said - I enjoyed the film enough to cancel out the problems and not be bothered by its shortcomings. To the people that made this film: the child and the adult in me salute you... Bring on the next one!