We couldn't wait to kick off our special series of posts to prepare you (and ourselves) for the long awaited (and frequently postponed ) "No Time To Die" the 25th James Bond movie from Eon Productions......and the 5th and final film of Daniel Craig's portrayal of 007.
As Bond fans well know, in that count of films, we're leaving out the silly trainwreck of the rogue 1967 all star "Casino Royale" and Sir Sean Connery's equally rogue 1983 "Never Say Never Again", the stilted remake of "Thunderball"
Welcome, BQ visitors, to what we call our Autumn Bond-Fire!
We'll kick it off with Being James Bond (2021), a 45 minute documentary available as a free rental on I-Tunes.
All Bond fanatics will want check this one out, a behind-the-scenes retrospective of Daniel Craig's career as Bond, accompanied by some fascinating offscreen conversation between Craig and Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.
There's a film-by-film breakdown in chronological order, starting with the vicious social media attacks on Craig for having been chosen as Bond (mocking him as the "blonde Bond")......followed by, as we all know, Craig stunning the world in "Casino Royale" with his re-invention of Bond as an almost feral killing machine who begins to take on the tuxedo and martini trappings of the suave Bond we'd all been familiar with.
Some terrific behind the scenes footage accompanies the film as it moves on to the somewhat star-crossed and overly maligned "Quantum Of Solace" which suffered from a half-completed script (due to a writer's strike) and the terrible decision to make its action sequences look like "Bourne Identity" retreads.
From there we go to "Skyfall", in which all the filmmaking elements seemed to perfectly align....character, action and the continuation of the story arc begun in "Casino Royale".......and then on to "Spectre" which shows Craig filming the spectacular Mexico City-Day Of The Dead opening sequence with a severely injured leg.
Great stuff to watch for all of us Bond-o-maniacs, with some very cool "making of" footage and some honest, candid observations from Craig and his two producers.
For us, we found it telling that the brief film's conclusion, a montage of Craig's tenure as Bond, is underscored with John Barry's beautifully sweet and sad orchestral version of "We Have All The Time In The World".....from his score for BQ's all time favorite Bond film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (more on that film, we promise, as our Autumn Bond-Fire continues through the week.)
To start your Bond countdown, try sampling "Being James Bond" as tasty appetizer. 4 stars (****)
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