Casino Royale: Froggy's Official Review (& then some...)
It's pretty late into the year to rave about this movie but Daniel Craig deserves my wanton praise. *worships at his altar* He has this little pout that just wants you to kiss it off his face. A sequel, or a trace of it, is frothing in the internets and I'll be sure to be one of the first to line up for a ticket.
The sport parkour was used by the man Bond was chasing after in the streets of Madagascar.
Spectacular action scenes, both on the streets and the buildings. The scene with the cranes was hair-raising, but entirely possible especially with parkour skills and that African man certainly had parkour skills of the most wicked sort. You can outrun cops with props like that.
One could see how crass Bond is when he blew up a piece of the embassy; his evolution from raucous bad-boy to dignified killer is...interesting.
I have several missions in life, being a bike messenger in New York notwithstanding (tristanskye knows how well I want to add 'bike messenger' to my resume).
(EEEE! Bike Messengers! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!)
I've made it my business to add parkour to the list of 'things to do before I'm 30'; if not to dance, then to at least study the art of running, leaping, and doing daredevil stunts. I don't know if the discipline is being practised here; I'd love to get in touch with any parkour groups in the Philippines. To give me credit, I do have gymnastics background...er, 15 years ago, anyway when I was six. HA! Never too late for the willful, yes?
Here's a sample of the sport:
With enough training and money, I can sculpt my body into parkour perfection:
Casino Royale's portrayal of women was a definite improvement from the past Bond films; none of them rising from the waters to haunt you with their beautiful breasts and bare stomachs...
Halle Berry...izdatchu?!
Well, that's maybe because I have a full on crush on Eva Green and not for her body but for her wit. And that rather scratchy, low voice she adopted for the part.
Didn't like her at all in that movie with Orlando Bloom:
I've only just discovered her charm amidst the background of Venice so I crush her now...
Really, was there any doubt?
James Bond looks absolutely YUMMY in a suit (see above) and it was a definite plus that he changed his clothes a gazillion times during that poker game. The game itself was the longest act in the movie, took up a fourth of the film and whacked up my sense of time.
Some friends tried to teach me the finer points of James' stroke of poker genius and all I've really started playing is puso y dos. I always lose! Well anyway, I hang out with the Geography majors and those wonderful, worldly fellows know more about life, bluffing, and hiding their hands than I do about...women. It's highly entertaining how one's ugly hand could be turned into a spectacular win.
Must. Learn. Poker. Face! NEXT...
And that's him in trunks. Yes, quite yummy. Ohhhh, yummy!
And this next picture-link is because I'm a pornographer...avert your eyes! It's Daniel Craig nekkid! (I know you want to clickety-click on the link *squiggles eyebrows* Totally worth it! Unless you hate nekkid, hot men.)
Link of Daniel Craig Nekkid!
Oh, and I also fell in love with his Aston Martin. Just because it's a handsome devil.
I saw a definite parallel between the vistas in Casino Royale and the Star Wars ones, where Anakin woos Amidala with badly strewn words on the planet Naboo. Though Casino Royale didn't push me into fits of laughter, I could definitely see that the beautiful pieces of land and (cheesy) love stories/scenes were the same in Royale and Episode II. Especially the-villa-by-the-river scenes. After some research, I find out that these were shot in the same place; namely Villa de Balbaniello in Italy.
This is why I'm a producer. I see these things!
Did you know that I used to have great memory when it came to movie/TV show extras? That I could somehow trace their careers and that when they finally found themselves in a lead role/in the silver screen, I'd shout to no one in particular, "I liked these people before they became famous!" That goes for Daniel Craig. He was in Blade: Trinity, and he had this puny role and rocked my socks more than Blade did. So did Peli (who is soooo HOT. There were no pics of Craig in that movie, so I opted to post a pic of Peli instead...)
Moving on...
This is for posterity's sake because you all remember how awful the writing was in that film...I mean, how much effort do you need to exert to make Natalie Portman look bad?
Casino's lovey-dovey scenes were written much better, to give it credit.
"You've stripped my armor off." *dies* I mean, how much cheesier could Bond get?!
I suspected that Eva's character and her deeds would somehow fit into the loooong minutes before the credits rolled. There was impending doom in space between the minutes where they frolicked in the sand like love-sick children and the minutes for the credits.
Indeed, impending doom was spelled out in an elevator shaft, in the deadly waters of Venice. Dear God. Poor James Bond. He dressed less tacky after that incident, too, opting for the tie and suit.
Alas! Married women are less complicated...did you hear that, omfg math test?! (This is an inside joke, you know who you are...)
I can't wait for a sequel. Unfortunately, the only GAY I could find in the movie, was the gay man raving inside of me. Because James got some butt action, and a whipping (so sexy!).
Well anyhu, I hope you liked that bit of Casino Royale interspersed with my own life.
*
In the music world, musicians and projects I've recently fallen in love with and whom I suggest you take some time to listen to. They're a rewarding bunch:
1) Gotan Project - An Argentinian band with serious chill-out tunes that favor tango and folk music. Though they're very up-beat, they chill enough for sleep. Lovely, lovely original sound from these boys.
2) Skye - Her latest album, "Mind Where You Go" only goes to show that as her self, she can be a force to deal with. She was the voice behind Morcheeba and now that Morcheeba has gone on sabbatical, I could honestly say that I've fallen in love with her music, going solo like this.
It's really wonderful what you discover when you take the time to scour the internets for rare and powerful music.