Above Average Joe Blogs

If I suffered a catastrophic memory loss and all memory of the film Casino Royale was removed from my mind, I think I'd be a very different person. At the time of its release, I was 15 years old, already well versed in all things Bond (having done a public speaking contest at my school on the topic, where I enjoyed saying "Pussy Galore" to a hall full of students and teachers), and was already ready to defend the then controversial picking of Daniel Craig. I'd read all the Fleming books, I had the DVD boxset, I'd played the games, I thought Bond was "it".  Casino Royale was however something else. I remember seeing it for the first time on a Wednesday night, at a charity screen at the Vue cinema in Southport, England. And then again on the weekend. And then again the next week. Then twice again in Australia, visiting family later in the year. The amount of times I've seen it since then? Countless. Is this the best Bond film in the series? Probably. I...

Although not my first pilgrimage back to the biblical big screen (I'd been lucky enough to see a few classic back to back features in the weeks before - The Shining & A Clockwork Orange, and Aliens & Aliens), Christopher Nolan's Tenet certainly intends to mark the return proper of cinema, in this post-lock down world. And with that return, Nolan is tasked with a feat that Atlas holding up the heavens would baulk at: make cinema relevant in an age when for the majority of the world, the idea of getting within 1.5 metres of another individual is at best frowned upon, at worst criminal.  Of all the directors of the 21st century, perhaps Nolan is most apt to carry this mantle, having (at least in my eyes), consistently delivered with blockbusters with brains. Whereas he has dabbled in franchise, with the greatest cinematic trilogy ever (Batman of course, don't @ me Lord of the Rings fans), he has also proven his boundless imagination with original concepts like Inceptio...

Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film was the first that I saw in the cinema. In England, all of his run of films had been rated 12 certificates on release (barring anyone from attending a screening of that rating if under 12, even if with parent or guardian [until the first Spider-man movie came out, got the 12 rating and which led to the British Board of Film Classification to scramble to come up with a 12a rating, which allowed people under 12 go if with a parent or legal guardian]. I'd just turned 12 on release of Die Another Day, and had already managed to watch a great chunk of the franchise, starting off with a couple of Roger Moore's (with nifty covers, where when each film in the series was assembled in order, spelt out "007" across their spines. The McCormack clan  all ventured to the Southport VUE cinema to see Die Another Day. We got tickets but I remember the screening being jam-packed - Bond movies were and hopefully still are in this post-COVID19 world ...

The Guardian posted an article this week, compiling readers' votes on who they considered to be the best Bond actor. I was slightly shocked with the results, from best to worst being Connery, Dalton, Brosnan, Moore, Craig, Lazenby. I've a lot to say about this list but worse was when I repeated my preference of the Bonds to a friend, I completely, unintentionally, forgot to list Brosnan. And this really sums up his third film as the superspy - The World is Not Enough, despite a bevy of interesting ideas is at best interesting, and seeds some ideas that would be used better in future films, but is mostly forgettable, and at worst downright outrageously bad.  The plot itself is the most interesting aspect of the film, with the longest pre-credit sequence of the series setting up a conspiracy to kill oil heiress Elektra King, after the assassination of her father in the opening. Potentially behind this plot to kill is terrorist, anarchist, Renard, with an underused villain gimmic...

Brosnan's arc of quality over the course of his 4 films as the super spy is a fairly gradual decline, and by movie two, Tomorrow Never Dies, the decline is certainly noticeable (and nowhere near the avalanche of nonsense in his final film), as it hues too close to its predecessor. What it lacks in innovation, it makes up for with wonderful prescience as to its villain, and bombastic non-stop action. Let's talk plot and prescience first. Tomorrow Never Dies, nicely mixes Bondian spectacle - having a third act evil villain assault, and car chases - together with a wonderfully satirical stab at the power and influence of mass media. The film was originally entitled Tomorrow Never Lies, in a reference to the chief bad guys paper "Tomorrow," but it is alleged that in faxing the title to MGM, a typo occurred and the film instead earnt the more grim name.  Elliot Carver is our chief villain, played with scenery chewing glee by Jonathan Pryce, sporting a classic evil genius n...

A lot in the world changed in the years between Licence to Kill and Goldeneye, the most significant event being the fall of the Berlin Wall. Combine this with the seemingly immortal legal fights surrounding the Bond series, and Timothy Dalton unwilling to come back to the role if it meant signing up for several more films, and the series yet again found itself at a crossroads to make an impact and strive for relevance.  With Dalton out, the search was on yet again for a new Bond, and some familiar names were touted again, including Mel Gibson, as well as new names including Hugh Grant (I can almost see it - although I also learnt this week that he was the studios choice for Hannibal in the tv series!) and Liam Neeson. However, it was second time lucky for Pierce Brosnan, who having fallen afoul of his previous TV contract managed to seize the role.  Brosnan tenure as Bond is often difficult to describe, as unlike his predecessor and successor, it is hard to identify a uni...