Casin007 Royale

I have great hopes for the new Bond... so they better not blow it. Given the cool factor of the trailers (and the fact that Audioslave is doing the bond theme!!) I am fairly confident that this latest installment will effectively rock my world.

I am a major "Bond" freak. HUGE. I've seen every bond film at LEAST twice- including the crappy "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with George Lazenby. Seriously- what were they thinking with that one? One and done???

Luxury for me would be having cable so that I could get the TBS "Bond Marathon" or that man TV channel that shows bond films all the time. There's always a bond movie somewhere out in the nether-reaches of cable spectrum. And I LOVE it!

I never get tired of watching Bond films either. The action. The gagetry. The misogeny. The cool cars and chase sequences that always one-up each other in subsequent films. The inventive death scenes. The movies are so contrived- yet so bloody brilliant! I mean, Bond gets a watch that has a built in laser, a garotte, and a remote control explosive device... and somehow James gets to use ALL THREE to escape. Huh.

And no, I don't have a favourite Bond. I know MOST people prefer Sean Connery... but I'm not sure if I do. He was good, to be sure, (and quite hirsute!) but my Bond fascination began in the 70's when Roger Moore was firmly ensconced in the role. Not that Roger was the best Bond; he certainly wasn't the best kisser (ewwwww). But he does star in my favorite of all Bond films "The Spy Who Loved Me". And of course I loved Pierce "Remmington Steele" Brosnan's take on Bond.

Timothy Dalton (while hot and awesome as Prince Baron in Flash Gordon) was not a good bond. Either was the afforementioned Mr. Lazenby.

My predisposition to the Bond franchise has a little bit to do with how easily they swim about the whole Bond milleu. They change 'M's and Bonds and Ms. Moneypenny's and Q's and Cars with ease. Yet they always give a nod to their past- and I like that.

Take, for example, this newest Bond coming out of the ocean wearing a white brief trunk. I LOVE this metrosexual twist to Ursula Andress's famous 'venus in a white bikini' scene in Dr. No. Which Halle Berry did a lesser version of it in Die Another Day.

Gotta love that kind of stuff.

And they've gone back to using Aston Martins, which I heartily applaud. Except for the Lotus Esprit that turned into a submarine, Aston Martins kick ass. And as a side note- the company that I work for makes an engine component that goes into all of the Aston Martins. How 'bout THAT?

So yes, I will be standing in line on opening night to see this latest Bond Film. I hope Casino Royale is as cool as it looks. I'll keep you posted.