January | 2011 | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: From Russia With Love

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

Dr. No demonstrated that Ian Fleming’s suave British secret agent could make it to screen. Sean Connery’s James Bond was on the pop culture map, but perhaps just short of becoming a pop culture icon – that was a sequel or two away. Of course, a second movie was pushed into development, with a rich library of Fleming’s novels to adapt – as faithfully or as loosely as the producers might like. When President Kennedy, one of the other “coolest men of the sixties”, announced that From Russia With Love was his ninth favourite novel of all time, it seemed th choice had been made. Rumour has it that Alfred Hitchcock was at one point intended to direct the film, but Terrence Young’s From Russia With Love is still a wonderfully iconic Bond film, which represents a pretty large step from “an entertaining espionage movie” to “globe-spanning spy franchise”.

Bond was already making a splash at this stage of his career...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, Cuban Missile Crisis, espionage, films, From Russia With Love, ian fleming, james bond, james bond january, Movies, non-review review, review, Roger Moore, sean connery, terrence young | Leave a comment »

Pete Postlethwaite

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Darren

The quote from Spielberg about “probably the best actor in the world today” has been doing the rounds today, understandably, as well as Postlethwaite’s good-natured response (he remarked that it sounded like “a beer commercial”), but I think the below quote pretty much sums up my respect for Postlethwaite and his strength as an actor.

There are some moments that work. Pete Postlethwaite, as a big game hunter who flies onto the island with a second wave of dinosaur mercenaries, doesn’t step wrong; he plays a convincing if shallow character, even if he’s called upon to make lengthy speeches in speeding Jeeps, and to utter arty lines about “movable feasts” and having “spent enough time in the company of death.’‘ He alone among the major characters seems convinced that he is on an island with dinosaurs, and not merely in a special-effects movie about them.

– Roger Ebert reviews Jurassic Park: The Lost World

It’s not his best role, nor his most notable. However, even then he managed to shine on the screen, and – when I think of him – that’s the quote that comes to mind. His career featured any number of fantastic films (The Usual Suspects, Inception), but he always brought his best – even when the movie probably didn’t deserve it. I won’t go on at length, because far more authoritative and eloquent individuals have already offered their feelings.

Rest in peace. You will be missed.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, ben affleck, Brassed Off, In The Name Of The Father, Lost World: Jurassic Park, Pete Postlethwaite, steven spielberg, Usual Suspects | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Dr. No

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Darren

Sure, there’s an opening scene involving the murder of a British agent stationed in the Caribbean, but the start of the movie that everybody remembers takes place in a late-night British casino over a game of card. A beautiful young woman is losing to the suave cigarette-smoking stranger on the opposite side of the table. “I admire your luck, Mister…?” she remarks, locking eyes with the figure. He coyly lights a cigarette.

“Bond,” he introduces himself. “James Bond.”

The rest is cinematic history.

You know the name… You know the number…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: British Empire, Caribbean, Dr. No, films, GoldenEye, Honey Rider, james bond, james bond january, List of James Bond villains, Movies, non-review review, quantum of solace, review, reviews, Roger Moore, sean connery | 4 Comments »

the m0vie blog: 2010 in Review

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Darren

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads “Wow”.

I know that it probably sounds a bit self-congratulatory, but I am geniunely chuffed with this email I received this morning, and figured that it might be worth posting up here. I’d like to thank everybody who takes the time to stop by and does so on a regular basis. A special thanks to all the people in my life who have been patient and enthusiastic about this little side project, and for all the encouragement that I’ve received. It’s been a fun year, and here’s to 2011!

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Abstract art, Boeing 747-400, hosts, Jet airliner, Publishers, Tools, WordPress, WordPress.com | 5 Comments »

Who is Bond?

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

If you only count official EON productions, there have been six actors to play the role of suave British Secret Service agent James Bond, 007. However, the continuity of it all gets kind of tangled. Is Roger Moore’s clownish spy the same person as Daniel Craig’s cold-hearted assassin? Has the same agent been in operation since Dr. No (clearly taking place in the 1960s) through to Quantum of Solace (featuring all the technology of now)? There’s a popular fan theory that “James Bond” is just a cover identity, passed down from agent to agent as easily as the number “007” – so each iteration of the character is a different agent given the rank. It actually holds up surprisingly well when you watch the twenty-films in the official series.

What’s on the cards?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bond, daniel craig, EON Productions, films, George Lazenby, james bond, james bond january, Movies, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film), pierce brosnan, Roger Moore, sean connery, timothy dalton | 19 Comments »

Eleven for Eleven: My Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2011

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Darren

What with listing my top ten films of the past year and all that, I thought that I’d take the opportunity to look forward rather than backwards. So here are my eleven most anticipated movies coming out in the next year or so. I picked eleven, because I’m not 100% certain about the release date of one. As ever, these are for Irish and British cinemas, so four of these will be arriving in our theatres within the next three weeks. Which, I suppose is something to look forward to. Anyway, without any further adieu, here are my eleven most anticipated films of the year ahead.