Re: Seamaster and Iago's endless rehashing Bond thread

**Iago** Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:39 pm

I did rewatch the feature on the Casino Royale disc that glancingly mentions the hubhub. They show Daniel Craig's arrival at the first press conference via the Royal Marines when he was wearing a life jacket and the press leapt on him for it. (The featurette shows the Marines telling Craig to put it on before he even got on the boat!) Seems silly now, but they attacked him for everything like that.

**Seamaster** Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:08 pm

Well, he sure proved the critics wrong.

**Iago** Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:58 pm

The last story that I read about Skyfall claimed that Ralph Fiennes was NOT going to be a villian in the film, but possibly someone who is training to be M's replacement. Take that with as many grains of salt as you wish.

**Seamaster** Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:10 am

I thought Javier Bardem was slated to be the villain.

I could actually see Ralph Fiennes as M, though I'm not really sure what the motive would be for that storyline unless Judi Dench is looking to leave the Bond scene.

**Iago** Fri Jan 06, 2012 4:01 pm

Bardem is indeed supposed to be A villian, but that does not necessarily mean that he is the only one . Most of the early rumours have pegged Fiennes for some kind of a villian as well.

If the new rumours are true, the motivation may be nothing more than looking to the future since Dench is not exactly a spring chicken. On the other hand, it could easily serve a dramatic purpose as well. Maybe the PM is gunning for her head and they are grooming her replacement to get rid of her. There were some hints in that direction in the preceding films, such as in Casino when she and Bill Tanner are coming out of an unseen meeting where she apparently got a severe dressing-down for Bond's actions at the embassy. There is another scene in Quantum where she goes before some kind of a higher-up who acts quite disdainfully toward her. You could have sort of a double-redemption story for Bond and M together.

**Seamaster** Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:13 am

All that political talk sounds too close to home and real life . . . . Still, it would make for a more intellectual and drama-driven Bond, which would coincide with the rumours that have been made around the tone of Skyfall.

**Iago** Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:31 pm

Interesting that the post-2000 Bond films have rather studiously avoided the current political situations. The earliest films fit right into the Cold War environment (thought to be fair they abandoned that pretty quickly after Goldfinger) but the newer ones have avoided the so-called War on Terror.

**Seamaster** Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:06 am

All a good Bond film needs is a proper villain and an international threat.

**Iago** Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:04 pm

Bill Hunt just posted on The Digital Bits Facebook page that there is going to be an announcement of a complete James Bond collection tomorrow at CES. He will be there, of course, I asked him to keep us posted on what he can find out about the packaging and the content.

**Iago** Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:14 pm

I just checked the 007.com website and there is one new story -- it looks like David Arnold is out as composer and they are going with Thomas Newman, who has done the music for all of Sam Mendes's other films. It appears that Arnold is going to be a bit busy as he is the musical director for the London Olympics.

I have enjoyed all of Arnold's scores (especially, as you know, Tomorrow Never Dies) but there is certainly nothing wrong with a change at this point.

**Seamaster** Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:13 pm

Interesting. I have no issue with the composer swap. Both are very good.

I'm also interested in the Bond collection release. I hope each disc is still available individually, otherwise I'm hooped.

**Iago** Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:24 pm

Not many details yet, but here is a brief recap of the announcement:

http://www.financialpost.com/markets/news/James+Bond+Celebrates+Fifty+Incredible+Years+with+Golden+Anniversary/5974868/story.html

**Seamaster** Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:52 pm

Darn it. Looks like it's just a box set for now.

**Iago** Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:31 am

No, the announcement made it clear that there were new features. The question is whether that means new pressings for the discs, in which case you are screwed, or if there will be an extra bonus disc on the set. Either way, I suspect you will take the plunge. Amazon US has it up for pre-order:

http://www.amazon.com/Bond-50-Blu-ray/dp/B006U1J5ZY/ref=sr_tr_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1326281486&sr=1-1

I rent my Movies from Redbox... <----useless comment

**Seamaster** Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:17 pm

Amazon.ca has it available for pre-order as well. The irony is that while both Amazons advertise the same list price, the actual price is not quite as good on Amazon.ca: $269.99 versus $199.99 on Amazon.com.

Yes, you're right. I likely will take the plunge. Dammit!

**Iago** Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:51 pm

Someone posted a comment on Amazon that the U.K. set was listed as $129.99. I did not check to see if he was correct, or if he just could not distinguish dollars from pounds!

**Seamaster** Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:55 pm

Of course, now I had to look it up!

It's listed for £89.99. I can't be bothered doing the math, but that works out to about $140, assuming exchange rates haven't drastically changed in the last while.

**Iago** Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:25 am

Well, he may have been correct at the time then. Regardless, major UK discs are usually region coded, and even if they are not if there are any supplements on the discs not in HD, they will be in PAL instead. (Oppos, by the way, have traditionally been able to covert formats.) Mind you, I did pick up my Blu-Ray of Capricorn One via Amazon UK and it is not region coded, but I seriously doubt that they will let that slide with something like the Bonds.

Just get your preorder in. You know that you are going to do it eventually.

**Seamaster** Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:07 am

Now I need to find a home for my other Bond Blus . . . .

**Iago** Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:04 am

And here I thought that I could talk you into buying mine!

**Seamaster** Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:02 pm

In this case, you thought wrong.

**Iago** Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:05 pm

Remember the importance of data redundancy.

**Seamaster** Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:14 pm

Can you repeat that one more time?

**Iago** Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:57 pm

Actually, I can repeat it more than once.

**Seamaster** Tue Jan 17, 2012 10:25 am

I'm waiting . . .

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