Until today, I had no idea what the book was. Turns out it’s a fragment of The James Bond Encylopedia by John Cork and Collin Stutz that focuses strictly on Bond’s vehicles. The full book was released last September in the UK and in October in the US. The image on the right is of the book that was included with the DVD.

James Bond Encyclopedia – at Amazon.com

For 2 to 3 weeks now, I’ve been hearing how Quantum of Solace wasn’t that good. These reports from some friends, others from critics around the world. I think I bought into that. My expectations for this movie dropped like a rock. But after finally seeing this movie for myself last night, I gotta admit: I’m confused as to what everyone is talking about. I thought it was terrific.

We call this a revenge film, and I’ve said as much to others, but it’s also not a revenge film. That’s really the interesting aspect of the movie for me. Probably more so than most if not all the Bond films, this was all Bond (i.e., Daniel Craig). He drove the entire movie. The plot was about him, not some take over the world scheme where Bond jumps in to brave danger and save the world and get the girl, though it had a touch of that. That sort of standard Bond film plot took a back seat to what was going on with Bond. I actually liked that. Of course that route has consequences, some apparently very severe to some reviewers. It makes the villains not as big of a deal as past villains or Bond girls as significant as others, but that wasn’t really the heart of the story. Not to me anyway.

The only major problem with the movie in this respect is that it struggles to stand on its own without the help of Casino Royale. Bond films tend to always stand on their own. You can watch Goldfinger before or after Thunderball, it doesn’t matter. Quantum of Solace requires Casino Royale, heavily. I suppose you can say it comes off as sort of an interlude or closing chapter before whatever comes next, which again could have a major impact on how people view this movie. As surprised as I am about some of the negativity for this film, I suspect Bond 23 could redeem it for some of those depending on its direction. Maybe not.

What scares me the most is that I’m worried that with all the critics, the producers will approach the next film without pushing anything. It’ll go right back to the safety of the old Bond formula and that’d be a terrible waste. Once again the critics will pile on and talk about how it’s all a cliche and typical and how they want something different.

I never expected everyone to like Quantum of Solace (hell would freeze over) so I can understand it not being viewed as the greatest thing since slice bread or even Casino Royale and I can understand some fans being miffed over some missing Bond staples, but I don’t get all the negative reviews.

Whatever though. I had a good experience. I liked it. That’s all that matters to me. This was as I said, sort of an interlude chapter. A piece that unfortunately appears to struggle to stand on its own. I’m okay with that, personally.

Bond will always be back and so will I.

Thoughts, changes, and ideas for the future:

• Daniel Kleinman needs to return. While the credit sequence was nifty, it lacked… heart. Say what you will about the themes, but Kleinman was 5 for 5.
• I don’t ever judge a Bond movie with the theme in mind. If it’s a bad theme then.. no big deal. If it’s a great Bond theme then that’s just a bonus. That said, next time lets try hard for a really good theme song. Deal?
• Less shaky cam or no shaky cam. Casino Royale had an intense and very awesome foot chase and I don’t recall them shaking the camera around.
• Don’t borrow from other Bond films. Keep it original. In fact lets just not borrow from any films at all. No homages.
• A new direction. Bond’s Live and Let Die (the novel) moment is over. The Vesper chapter is largely closed. Time for something new. Don’t fall into the same ol formula we’ve been exposed to for years. Give us something fresh, but of course keep it Bond. Throw the old, don’t-want-to-see-’change’-fans a bone if need be. Introduce Villier’s replacement. Keep Q hidden or at most subtlely reveal him as merely the armourer a la From Russia with Love.
• The villain. Two ways to go here. It’s either time for the Goldfinger-like villain to enter the picture with a scheme so brilliant that even Connery’s Bond sits back in amazement and calls it brilliant or the Scaramanga-like villain. I vote the latter at the moment. Bond is definitely on Quantum’s radar. One of the things SPECTRE always did was ignore Bond. Stupid mistake. They set out with a grandiose scheme of world domination, in popped Bond and then they lost. Quantum should be smarter. They send a villain to kill Bond. Not some lackey assassin who Bond disposes of in 30 seconds. Scaramanga-like. He’s great at what he does. He’s the anti-Bond. Forget the grand scheme or maybe the scheme is to get Bond. It’s very From Russia with Love in that respect. No double agents though.
• Stop changing MI6. There was something really great about how the early Bond films all pretty much had the same set. Bond walks in, tosses his hat, says hello to Moneypenny, gets the green light above the door and then walks through the double doors into the familiar room where M manages the entirety of the secret service. Lets see.. Dame Judi Dench has had modern, post-modern, ultra-glass-modern-with-Microsoft-Surface and a few more in-between. Reuse the Casino Royale set please. Somethings just don’t need to change.
• Years and years of saying Sean Connery was the best James Bond has led to a very difficult conflict within my brain as to whether I should acknowledge that Daniel Craig is actually the best. He’s close, but I haven’t acknowledged it yet. I’ll say this though to the producers that are obviously reading this post, don’t blow your opportunity to make something really great by retreating to the formula because of a few bad reviews. Use Daniel Crag to the fullest.

The included short stories:

• “From a View to a Kill”
• “For Your Eyes Only”
• “Risico”
• “Quantum of Solace”
• “The Hildebrand Rarity”
• “Octopussy”
• “The Living Daylights”
• “The Property of a Lady”
• “007 in New York”

Probably the neatest aspect of this edition is the fact that it features a Richie Fahey like cover design that fits in with all the other Fleming Bond novels currently released in the States.

Order it from Amazon

This is kind of odd that his will be on 21 August and Moore’s is coming out a month later on 2 October. It’s like the “Battle of the Bonds” all over again, in literary form this time.

Pre-order Being a Scot at Amazon.co.uk.

The book will be published by Michael O’Mara Books in the UK (2 October) and HarperCollins in the US (4 November). For more information check out this article on CommanderBond.net.

Casino Royale was the best selling title of 2007 for both DVD and Blu-ray and obviously with that stat it ranks #1 on Blu-ray’s top selling list of all time. Of course, lest we forget at least 500,000 of the Blu-ray edition were given away for signing up for the PlayStation Network (PS3) and recently it was bundled again with the PlayStation 3. According to the report Casino Royale on DVD has currently sold 3.1 million units in the UK.

I’m curious to see how it’s been doing in the United States since we last heard.

The included short stories:

• “From a View to a Kill”
• “For Your Eyes Only”
• “Risico”
• “Quantum of Solace”
• “The Hildebrand Rarity”
• “Octopussy”
• “The Living Daylights”
• “The Property of a Lady”
• “007 in New York”

The UK edition will be due out on 29 May of this year. (Amazon.co.uk – picture bottom right)

The US edition is currently set for a 26 August release. Probably the neatest aspect of this edition is the fact that it features a Richie Fahey like cover design (probably designed by Fahey, but I can’t say for sure) that fits in with all the other Fleming Bond novels currently released in the States. (Amazon see top right)

Big thanks to Double O Section.

In the good ol’ US of A, we’ll be getting an 80GB PS3 bundle with the new DualShock 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots for $499.

British secret agent James Bond is reported to be ‘privately a little disappointed’ that official recognition of his services to his country apparently amounts to only to an MBE.

Okay on the surface this is a decent premise, however, what really kills it for me is the fact that James Bond never wants recognition for his services to his country. This is sad – no no, for me. It’s one of those jokes that a fan can’t find all that funny because it doesn’t make sense in the universe in which the joke is being made. For this joke, the first thing I thought of when I read the headline was how in Ian Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun Bond turns down knighthood, though he does have a CMG.

“He had never been a public figure and he did not wish to become one. He had no prejudice against letters after one’s name, or before it. But there was one thing above all he treasured. His privacy. His anonymity. To become a public person, a person, in the snobbish world of England, of any country, who would be called upon to open things, lay foundation stones, make after-dinner speeches, brought the sweat to his armpits. ‘James Bond’! No middle name. No hyphen. A quiet, dull, anonymous name.” – The Man with the Golden Gun

Whatever, it’s a joke. …. Sort of. I suppose you can argue Film Bond v Literary Bond, but even the film incarnation enjoys a certain amount of anonymity. Anyway, ready for some really bad ones? Seriously, don’t even read these. They’re terrible.

New James Bond Film ‘A Quantity Of Shoelaces’ Set For December Release
Sean Connery to appear in new Bond film (Chubby Cauliflower – really? You guys are so clever.)
James Bond to have gay lover in new film
ABBA to reform to record James Bond theme tune
New James Bond Movie Title revealed (I don’t think these guys know Cubby Broccoli died in 1996)

And that’s all I’m going to link. These are atrocious. This one site, The Spoof, has published practically one a day. Stick to The Onion. At least they’re occasionally funny.