James Bond is Dead!

I just returned from watching the latest "James Bond movie". This is the last time I will refer to the movie as "James Bond movie". If anyone tells you that it is a James bond movie please slap the person silly. All the Bonds 007 that we know of were more than just action hero. This so called James Bond is a better action hero than all the ones that came before but he is not James Bond.

I am sory to announce the death pf James Bond at the hands of Jason Bourne Lovers. Shame on you Barbara - You have Killed the Bond that your Father brought to life in order to satisfy your own misguided agenda!

RIP Commander James Bond!

Daniel Craig to quit Bond after Quantum of Solace?

Daniel Craig has finally come out and said that he is uncertain about coming back to play Bond a third time. I am not surprised. Although, there seems to be a hype about his Bond but as we have constantly said on this blog, his Bond is not right!!

To quote him

"I got most of my inspiration from Ian Fleming's books. I reread them. In the books, Bond is suave and sophisticated, yes? but there is also a flawed aspect of Bond.

"In the novels he is quite a depressive character. When he is not working, he is at his worst. I can relate."

Now, to ask you. Do you think that if Sean/Roger/Timothy/Pierce had played the depressed, self loathing, flawed character called James Bond there would have been as many as 20+ Bond movies? I doubt it. what do you have to say? Do you want the Old "Movie" Bond back or are you happy with the "literary" Bond that has come up these days.

Debate Goes On: Best Bond! New Arguments!

There are certain traits that make Bond the superspy that he is. However, they have been changing with every other Bond that came to the screen. I have to admit that each Actor brough something extra to teh role of Bond and it was also attributed to the time and setting that they payed in.

Sean Connery had Russains as the bad guy and his held the basic of Bond very truely. According to me Bond is supposed to be sophisticated, dangerous,and ruthless. Bond was all that when Sean Connery was at the helm.
I see George Lazenby as a good Bond and I truely enjoyed his only outing. I admit that his acting talents left something to be desired but honestly, Roger Moore did not act at his best in half of the movies he did. Lazenby's Bond could have been even greater had his wife been killed in the first half and he turned into an emotionless and ruthless man. Lazenby could act emotionless man with ease and there is no pun intented.
Roger Moore was the Bond for the Hippie era. He was overindulgent as most of the western world was at that time and he was kind of disinterested in Politics. For him the job of 007 was just that - a job. I think want he lacked was decent villains. Most of the Moore Villains were forgettable.

Timothy to most was the perfect Bond. The fact is - he was in the perfect era for Bond. Actually, if you look at it, Bond's charater really belongs in the 80s. An era where the distrust is under the stream and everybody is trying to get along on the face of it. A spy like James Bond finds to many red tapes and takes matter out the different way. His Villains are not maglomaniacs like those of other Bonds.

Pierce to me was the Bond that could have been. He was a serious student of James Bond unlike all the other actors, he actually believed in James Bond. At this time, the producers faltered. They gave Bond the best reboot possible by producing GoldenEye and foillwing it up with TND and TWINE. The mistake was DAD.. The first half of the movie till Bond gets reassigned and gets that wreched car is the greatest in the history of Bond. It is phenomenal. The rest of the Movie was a washout and we all know it.

Craig is young in the role and he seems to be adjusting well, provided the producers do not go overboard with this "Normal" Bond just as they did with "Larger-then-life" Bond.

Girls of James Bond: From Russia With Love

From Honey Ryder to Vesper Lynd, every Bond Girl has bewitched and beguiled. Add what you know to the Bond Girl pages inside. More fashionista than movie buff? Check out the Bond Girls mega post for all the gowns, bikinis, and 'active' wear.

Tanya Romanova
Actress: Daniela Bianchi

Background on Bianchi

• Miss Rome (1960) and Miss Universe (1960) first runner- up, Bianchi made about 15 film appearances, the best known was playing Soviet clerk "Tatiana Romanova" in From Russia with Love, in which her voice was dubbed by actress Barbara Jefford.
• Birthdate/place: January 31, 1942/ Rome, Italy
• Voted Miss Photogenic in the Miss Universe Pageant in 1960
• Status: Married the president of an Italian cargo shipping company in 1985

The Bond Moment:

[Moneypenny, M, and other officials are listening to Bond's taped interview of Tatiana Romanova]
Tatiana: The mechanism is... Oh James, James... Will you make love to me all the time in England?
James Bond: Day and night. Go on about the mechanism.

How she helps save the day:
She lures 007 to Istanbul using a Lektor decoding device as bait. She sneaks into Bond's hotel bedroom (and bed!). This beautiful Russian agent helped Bond to steal the Lektor decoder. She also chose to shoot Rosa Klebb (who's been playing both the British and the Russians) instead of James.

Bikini moment:
None.

Sylvia Trench
Actress: Eunice Gayson

Who is she?
She appears in only two films as the first bond girl seen. She loves playing games with Bond and picnics with him.

How she and Bond meet:
Bond meets Trench from across a Baccarat Chemin de Fer table at the London club Le Cercle. Her love of games of chance comes to the fore when she later appears in his apartment, playing golf while wearing only his shirt.
Her second appearance is in From Russia With Love where she picnics with James Bond before he is paged byMiss Moneypenny, thus making Trench the first Bond Girl to appear in two James Bond films.

Bond Moment:
Bond: "I admire your courage Miss uh..."
Trench: "Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr..."
Bond: "Bond, James Bond" (This was the first time that Bond took his name in this manner)

Bikini Moment:
In From Russia With Love in her outing with Bond, she's wearing a Bikini.

Researchers Agree: Craig not the perfect Bond

www.telegraph.co.uk
By Roger Highfield
Psychologists reveal the secret face of Fleming's perfect James Bond.
Eat your heart out Daniel Craig. The perfect James Bond looks more like Sean Connery, according to a computer reconstruction published by psychologists today.
To discover exactly how the author, Ian Fleming, envisaged his hero, Prof Rob Jenkins, of the University of Glasgow, and Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, have employed a technique known as prototyping.
Most people are poor at describing a face that they have in their mind, but they can easily pick out photographs of faces that resemble the image they are thinking of.
Previous research has shown that blending together several pictures of a face creates an accurate image of that person.
Now the same technique has been used for the first time to create a photograph of a fictional character.
In 1961 Fleming listed several Hollywood actors that he thought had the right facial characteristics to play Bond.
Prof Jenkins tracked down images of these actors - Cary Grant, David Niven, James Mason, Patrick McGoohan, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton and Stewart Granger - and used sophisticated software to blend them into a single composite.
"We have used face merging technology to create the image of Bond that Ian Fleming had in mind when he wrote his books," said Prof Wiseman
"The image shows a clean-cut, classic looking face which is far more Connery than Craig.'' He added: ''Perhaps this is another way of resolving the question of who is the best Bond."
Prof Jenkins said: "The image allows us to turn back the hands of time, go inside Fleming's head and see how he envisioned Bond when he was writing his novels."
The same technique has applications for increasing the accuracy of witness testimony in crime investigations.
It could even be used by online dating websites to help people identify the types of face that they find most attractive.

Girls of James Bond: Dr. No

From Honey Ryder to Vesper Lynd, every Bond Girl has bewitched and beguiled. Add what you know to the Bond Girl pages inside. More fashionista than movie buff? Check out the Bond Girls mega post for all the gowns, bikinis, and 'active' wear.

Honey Ryder
Actress: Ursula Andress

Who is she?
The first-ever Bond girl, Honey Ryder emerged from the sea while hunting for shells.
Of Swiss descent , Ursula was brought to the United States and oft compared to the German femme fatale Marlene Dietrich. She became a sensation after her role (and bikini) as Honey Ryder in Dr. No (1962). She moved onto to star in other films - even with Elvis.

The Bond Moment:

Honey: "What are you doing here? Looking for shells?"
Bond: "No, I'm just looking."

How she helps save the day:
Unlike her literary counterpart, Honey is not a woman of action. Though she probably made Bond's boat ride at the end more memorable.

Bikini moment:
Striding elegantly out of the sea.

Sylvia Trench
Actress: Eunice Gayson

Who is she?
She appears in only two films as the first bond girl seen. She loves playing games with Bond and picnics with him.

How she and Bond meet:
Bond meets Trench from across a Baccarat Chemin de Fer table at the London club Le Cercle. Her love of games of chance comes to the fore when she later appears in his apartment, playing golf while wearing only his shirt.
Her second appearance is in From Russia With Love where she picnics with James Bond before he is paged byMiss Moneypenny, thus making Trench the first Bond Girl to appear in two James Bond films.

Bond Moment:
Bond: "I admire your courage Miss uh..."
Trench: "Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr..."
Bond: "Bond, James Bond" (This was the first time that Bond took his name in this manner)

Bikini Moment:
In From Russia With Love in her outing with Bond, she's wearing a Bikini.

Is James Bond turing into Jason Bourne?

I would love to say that I do not miss Pierce Brosnan as the James Bond but it would be a lie. However, I have to finally admit that he is James Bond no more. I have two choices in front of me, either I all and find someone other than James Bond to entertain me for I can learn to live with the fact that I have a new James Bond to contend with.

There were certain things that made James Bond what he was, his attitude towards women, his attitude towards life, his attitude towards drinking, his attitude towards death; it was all that made the James Bond different from a Jack Ryan or a Jason Bourne. When James Bond comes to our minds the obvious thing about him that we tend to recall of the gadgets, the woman and the villans.
In order to make James Bond more realistically have already taken away all the gadgets that he used right through the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s and for a large part of the 21st century. Without the gadgets, without the woman, without the larger-than-life persona or without those amazing yet unbelievable stunts how his James Bond any different from Jason Bourne? I agree that the invisible car in "Die Another Day" was an insult to the intellect of every James Bond movie fan, however, it was a mistake committed by producers and script writers for the movie and not by the average fan like me. In order to collect their own mistakes they have completely changed the character that we so loved.
If this is what is going to happen to the James Bond franchisee I'm afraid a lot of the loyal James Bond fans will turn their backs but then I must also admit that many new-age fans will also be generated and perhaps that's is what's producers are looking at. is quantum of solace going to be any darker than the last one? Are we finally going to see a transition from the darker Bond to the more carefree Bond? let us remember if this born is a prequel to the James Bond played by Sean Connery then he somewhere in his journey will forget to take things too hard and try to remember it is just a job. When will Craig Daniels move from the Jason Bourne type Bond to the James Bond that we all loved through the decades.

RIP: James Bond Theme is No More

If rumors are to be believed, the James Bond Theme which used to make our pulses race is no more. The producers have apparently decided that the new darker grittier Bond can do without the glitter of the famous James Bond theme written by Monty Norman and performed by John Barry & Orchestra for the first time in Dr. No.

The theme, however, will still form the basis of the opening theme of the movie. Watch the space for more updates on this matter. Meanwhile listen to the theme that we all love...

The Guns of James Bond

007 has to have guns... that is a must for someone licenced to kill... unless he a certain Mahesh Bhatt who can kill people by just talking to him...

Here are some importat tit bits about Bond and his Guns...

1. When Major Geoffrey Boothroyd wrote to James Bond creator Ian Fleming after reading "Casino Royale", he criticized Bond's use of firearms. He stipulated that Bond's Walther PPK was not as potent a weapon as the .44 magnum (used by Dirty Harry) and that a shoulder holster (as seen in Dr. No (1962)) does not provide as quick a draw as a belt holster (viz many Westerns).

2. James Bond creator Ian Fleming once wrote an article for the Sunday Times and Sports Illustrated about the Guns of James Bond.

3. The character of Q (aka Major Boothroyd) in the Ian Fleming James Bond novels is said to be based on Major Geoffrey Boothroyd, a gun expert who lived in Glasgow, Scotland. They share the same surname. Boothroyd wrote to Fleming about the James Bond character and his choice of firearms. Major Geoffrey Boothroyd can be seen with Sean Connery in the black and white 1964 short documentary "The Guns of James Bond".

4. The famous pose of Sean Connery holding a gun across his chest had to be redone at the last minute. The Walther PPK was left at the studio, but the photographer had an old air pistol in his car. The gun in the picture is the air pistol.

5. James Bond has a new gun in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). It is the Walther P99, which is the replacement for his trademark Walther PPK. He picks up the gun in Wai Lin's apartment. Sales of real and toy replica Walther P-99 pistols went through the roof after Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) was released.

6. The only time James Bond fires a gun in Moonraker (1979) is when he shoots the sniper out of the tree with Drax's hunting rifle.

7. In Thunderball (1965), the actor playing James Bond - Sean Connery performed the opening gun-barrel opening sequence for the first time. In the first three Bond films, Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964), the gun barrel walk was done with stuntman Bob Simmons. Roger Moore became the first actor to perform the gun barrel sequence without a hat in Live and Let Die (1973). The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) featured a more modern version of the gun-barrel opening sequence. It featured a closer shot of Roger Moore against a more colored background. In GoldenEye (1995), for the first time, computer graphics were used to create the famous "gun barrel" opening. In Die Another Day (2002), the sequence had a bullet zooming towards through the barrel after James Bond fires. In Casino Royale (2006), the sequence is radically altered, it has no gun barrel walk and begins after the opening sequence not before.

8. During the beginning of the teleplay "Climax!: Casino Royale" (1954), a prop gun was accidentally misfired and went off unintentionally. Four shots are heard but only three gunshot markings are seen on the casino building.

9. The Golden Gun in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) consisted of a number of gold components from Pistols Scaramanga's personal effects. These included: A gold 15 x 1.5 cm fountain pen which became the gun barrel; a 8 x 4 cm gold cigarette lighter which formed the hammer and bullet chamber; a 10 x 6 cm gold cigarette case doubled as the gun's magazine hand grip (or gun butt or handle); whilst a solid gold cuff link from his shirt cuff was adjoined to the cigarette case turned into Publish Post gun's trigger. In the movie, custom made 23 carat golden bullets with nickel trace elements were manufactured for the gun by Eastern expert Portugese gunsmith Lazar. It fired single shot 23 carat 4.2 mm golden bullets with nickel trace elements whereas in the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, The Golden Gun was just a gold plated .45 caliber Colt 45 revolver that fired silver jacketed solid gold bullets.