As of this writing, it's just under a month until Quantum of Solace's November 14th release date. The buzz on it has been oddly neutral; no one's seen it, people still mock the title from time to time, but everyone seems to be calmly assuming that the acknowledged awesomeness of Casino Royale will just sort of carry over. It's been nice to have a build-up to a blockbuster without too much undue hysteria.
Apropos of the calm seas, MSN offers the fairly placid first clip from Quantum of Solace. In it, Craig's Bond has a heart-to-heart with Mathis (the great Giancarlo Giannini), whom he pegged as a double agent at the end of Casino Royale. ("Oddly, right now you're the only one I can trust," he says.) They mourn the death of Vesper Lynd, with Bond understandably conflicted seeing as she betrayed him before she died. Bond drops some pictures on the table and asks for information.
It's not much, but at least it's apparent that Quantum of Solace will embrace Casino Royale's earnestness rather than the Pierce Brosnan films' often annoying snark. And it's good to see that, while I'm sure Quantum will stand alone in most respects, plot threads from Casino Royale haven't just been forgotten, as has been the franchise's unfortunate practice.
UPDATE: Moviefone has just launched a clip from Quantum of Solace as well, and this time Bond and M chat about revenge and Vesper and all sorts of groovy things. Check it out.
Pictured:Ian Fleming in his study with a copy of For Your Eyes Only (April 1960). (Photo by Evening Standard / Getty Images)
Last month, Cinematical was lucky enough to join a few other select outlets on a trip to London for something called The James Bond Experience. One of the cooler activities we took part in (aside from driving an Aston Martin at 150mph and chatting with both Daniel Craig and Marc Forster) was our field trip to the Imperial War Museum London where, to celebrate Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, they're currently housing an exhibit dedicated to the man called For Your Eyes Only.
If you're a James Bond fan or an Ian Fleming fan or both, then I seriously recommend boarding a plane to London in order to check out this exhibit because you'll see so much -- some of which is on display for the very first time. I'm talking a slew of original manuscripts (from Casino Royale to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), props from some of your favorite James Bond films, personal letters, photographs, notes -- essentially Fleming's entire life right there before your eyes.
While there's no photography allowed inside the exhibit, Cinematical managed to snag a bunch of photos showing only a fraction of what's on display across the pond. So, instead of writing a thousand words describing what I saw, I present these two packed galleries full of images from the Imperial War Museum and the For Your Eyes Only exhibit. Show, don't tell ... right?
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For a little more info on the exhibit (which runs through March 1, 2009), head after the jump. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.
So last week, the official theme song for Quantum of Solace -- y'know, that new James Bond flick -- was formally released online, and above is the music video for Jack White and Alicia Keys' "Another Way to Die." This managed to slip past us, probably because we were all still drooling over Erik's chance to comandeer an Aston friggin' Martin (no, no, 'jealous' isn't quite the word...), and now that it's out, opinions are becoming considerably divided.
On his personal blog, Bond devotee David Cornelius of eFilmCritic.com said "it's, um, not good. Really, really not good. The Coke commercial focused on the catchy hook, which was good. But the rest of the song? Not good. We're talking "Die Another Day" not good. Argh."
Devindra Hardawar of /Film feels a little less harsh about it: "It's not a terrible song (see Madonna's for Die Another Day for a good example of that), but it certainly doesn't feel like anything new for the series. It seems as if it tries to do way too much, and the song ends up feeling overstuffed in the process."
Left in the apparent, admitted minority is Devin Faraci over at CHUD.com, who likes the song, if not the video.
As for me, I dig the thing, though it's stuck stubbornly in my head over the past couple of days, but I rarely think that's a bad thing. What say you guys? Is "Another Way to Die" worthy of our favorite double-0 agent? Or would you rather they had just adopted "Something of Boris" instead?
Click Erik Davis' beautiful face above to head straight to our Aston Martin hi-res gallery
"Now this is a fun one -- when you get to 100mph, just slowly take your hands off the wheel and watch what the car does ..." -- Aston Martin Instructor #1
You may remember how last month Cinematical was invited to travel to London for something called "The James Bond Experience." Part of this "experience" included a chat with Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. (You can read all about that over here.) Now, however, we're finally allowed to tell you about some of the activities that took place during our four days across the pond -- and how do I not start with the awesomeness that was driving an Aston Martin -- a car, mind you, that's worth more than my life -- at well over 100mph. But let me back up.
Never sit at the back of a bus for more than an hour and a half. By the time our small group of online writers arrived at the Millbrook test track, I felt like I was ready to puke. Millbrook is literally in the middle of the English countryside -- an hour or so out of London, in Bedfordshire, England -- and it's the sort of place that calls for an escort to be with you at all times. See, Millbrook is where they test all sorts of cars and military vehicles before they're called into action. Thus, cameras are everywhere, the public is not allowed in and security is tighter than a seat belt around Santa.
Hold on to your missile-launching cuff links, 007 lovers -- this bit of James Bond intelligence may leave you searching for solace in more ways than one.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the superspy's latest adventure, Quantum Of Solace, will open in India before the film has even had its U.S. red carpet premiere.
Solace, which first shows in the U.K. on Oct. 31, hits Indian theaters a week later on Nov. 7 and then bows in North American theaters on Nov. 14. The move by Sony marks the first time that a major U.S. film has opened in India before hitting theaters Stateside.
As you may remember, Solace was initially set to storm into theaters across America on Nov. 7, but Sony pushed the release date back a week when Warner Bros. decided to give a certain boy wizard the year off, pushing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to summer 2009.
But before you decide to drop your hard-earned cash on a plane ticket to England or India for an early peek at the flick, there is some good news on the 007 front. The very retro, super sleek new music video for Alicia Keys and Jack White's Quantum theme song, Another Way to Die, hit Yahoo! today. Guess we can take some solace in that. Check it out after the jump.
As part of Cinematical's recent James Bond-related trip to London, we were handed six brand new photos from the film to share with our readers. Next week I'm allowed to start telling you what exactly went on over in London -- the danger, intrigue, romance, adventure and excellent room service -- but for now I want you to feast your eyes on these new images, which you can access by either clicking on the image above or into the gallery below.
Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solacepicks up 10 minutes after Casino Royale left off, and it follows Bond (Daniel Craig) while he continues his quest to take down the secret organization that blackmailed his ex-lover Vesper. During his mission, Bond will once again woo the ladies, as well as uncover one man's (Mathieu Amalric) sinister plot to control earth's water supply. Check out our brief conversation (using your questions) with both Craig and Forster over here. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.
It pains me that I can't go into every little fantastic detail when it comes to my recent Bond-related trip across the pond, but trust me when I say Quantum of Solace will definitely be one film you won't want to miss this fall. And if I go any further, the studio might just serve my head on a platter during the flick's premiere after party. But would I taste like chicken? Anyway, as we shared with you yesterday, Daniel Craig and Marc Forster were making the international rounds over in London late last week (where we sat down for a chat) and the Independent learned from Forster that a couple classic Bond one-liners will not be included in the upcoming Quantum of Solace.
Missing from the film will be the lines, "Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken ... not stirred." Forster says, "There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script. There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out, and Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson [the film's producers] agreed, and Daniel [Craig, who plays Bond] agreed, too. It's nice to be open-minded about the Bond formula. You can always go back to them later on." Some would argue it isn't a James Bond film unless the secret agent utters at least one of those lines at some point during his adventure. Me? I don't mind as much.
What do you Bond fanatics think? Are these two lines really that important in a Bond film? Does it bother you to know they won't be included this time around?
Cinematical (along with a few other select sites) was lucky enough to visit London, England this past week where we enjoyed several James Bond-related activities -- stuff that comes attached with the phrase, "Once in a lifetime experience." I'll be sharing all that with you over the next couple weeks (teaser: I drove an Aston Martin at 150mph!), but first up: James Bond himself. Remember how we asked you to give us questions for Daniel Craig and director Marc Forster regarding Bond and the upcoming film Quantum of Solace? Well, we chose a couple for each and here's what they had to say:
Of Note: Marc Forster revealed to Cinematical that the running time for Quantum of Solace is just over an hour and forty minutes, making it the shortest Bond film ever. Also, read on to find out why Forster won't direct another one.
Daniel Craig Cinematical: (From Joe P.) Sean Connery once said the secret to playing Bond was to make everything seem effortless. This Bond is not that way at all, what changed and why?
Daniel Craig: It's a different movie and that's a simple answer to that. That's a different movie. We've based the first one and we based that more in reality and running up scaffolding and making it look effortless ... it would just be pointless. It's just, it doesn't tie into where we put it. They may develop some of that -- I don't think we've gone that far, maybe we've gone a little further in this one. But sort of the straightening of the tie after the hundred and fifty foot drop is just not my style. I can't make that my style, I can't force a kind of an idea of what Bond is on my version of it. If it comes out of something -- those sort of jokes and that kind of lightness of touch -- it comes out of the fact that something fucking awful has just happened -- there's been a huge explosion, there's just been this, just been that -- and there's a kind of relief of pressure because something funny happens. Because it's just like, 'did you see that', but that's for the audience to sort of like to see. Making it totally effortless ... it's of a different and, you know, the edges will get smoother, they will get smoother, but since this is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, we've certainly taken up the same pace in Quantum of Solace and we have to continue that. Next time round he'll lie on the beach for about half the movie.[LAUGH]
I can't throw these up for you to conveniently click on right in the post (fie embedding disabled!), but read on for links to two funky new television spots.
First up is Adam Sandler'sBedtime Stories. We've seen the gumballs rain down on Sandler, and now there's a cute TV spot to get the whole gist of the picture. Basically, Mr. Zohan plays an architect who concocts bedtime stories for his niece and nephew. They begin coming true, but it's not only raining sugar and fantastic tales of a dude named Skiacus (or Skeetacus? I don't know..). The kids throw dangerous, awe-inspiring feats into the mix, and Sandler must face them in real life. It's a cute premise and I've got to say, a thoroughly enjoyable trailer. Sandler is the perfect guy to match ridiculous feats with real incredulity, and this is the first time I've been excited for a Sandler film in eons. I just hope he doesn't decide to take the Eddie Murphy route and get stuck in the goofy family film rut.
Meanwhile, there's also a new spot for the James Bond extravaganza, Quantum of Solace. It's got all you need to get excited for the film -- Bond music, toughness, and lots of quick clips of action. This is going to be one gorgeous movie that I'm dying to see on the big screen. (And I say this as one of the few who wasn't thrilled with the first installment.) Only 58 days to go!
A week from today, Cinematical is boarding a plane with a bag full of your questions for James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. Destination: London, England. Because we're not waiting for Bond to come here ... we'd rather take your thoughts directly to him. In the meantime, Yahoo! has debuted a brand new trailer for the upcoming James Bond sequel, and darn it if this puppy won't go down as one of the best damn trailers of 2008. Hello Olga Kurylenko! Quantum of Solace picks right up where Casino Royale left off, with a damaged Bond still getting over the death and betrayal of his lover Vesper, while he continues his mission to seek out and destroy the secret organization responsible for her death. Watch the new trailer after the jump or over on Yahoo! in high definition.
Cinematical is absolutely stoked to announce a very cool opportunity. In just a couple of weeks, we'll be heading to London to sit down with James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. We'll also be taking part in some other super awesome secret activities, but we'll fill you in on all that as time goes on. First, however, we need your help. Yes, you! The dude (or dudette) reading this post, with one hand scratching that annoying mosquito bite while the other hand ...
... Anyway, we need your help with some questions. Basically we're sitting down with Bond and Forster, but the words that come out of our mouths will be from you. Is there anything you've always wanted to know about Daniel Craig, Marc Forster, James Bond or Quantum of Solace? Sure there is, so spit it out now or forever live with the fact that you had a chance to ask Craig where he buys his underwear and you passed it up! [Makes shape of an 'L' on my forehead, then sighs because it's so 2004 of me]
Submit any and all questions you have for these boys in the comments below. If you want to keep it private (those are my kind of questions!), then feel free to send an email to leads AT Cinematical DOT Com, and title it JAMES BOND QUESTION. We'll choose our favorites, chuck 'em out to Craig and Forster, then post their answers (with credit to the brilliant readers who asked said questions) when we get back from our trip across the pond. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.
Sound off below (and thanks for helping us out with this -- your next virtual martini is on us)!
In what appears to be part of a most thorough campaign to botch Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview, a recent press release wholly admits that the North American opening of the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, back from November 7th to the 14th marks an effort to capitalize on last week's sudden Harry Potter shift.
Although the removal of the 007th from any coming marketing blitz sure is a shame, it does place this film closer to the release of its predecessor, Casino Royale, which opened on November 17, 2006 to the tune of almost $600 million worldwide. Solace will still premiere in the United Kingdom on October 31.
For those keeping track at home, this now leaves Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and the just now shifted Paul Rudd comedy Role Models on November 7th, and the 14th is now between Bond, Baz Luhrmann's epic drama Australia, and Bernie Mac's final film, Soul Men.
So we already know that White Stripes' frontman Jack White and Alicia Keys are all set to record the latest Bond song, titled Another Way to Die, but what about those folks who missed the cut. Ya know, the songs that almost were ... or tried to be ... or pretended to care? Case in point: You simply have to check out Joe Cornish's proposed version of theQuantum of Solacetheme song up above because it's just ... fabulous. Seriously, not only does he work in a number of plot points that bring us up to date on the story and the characters, but he also works in the title of the movie. I mean, sh*t, shouldn't the theme song for a movie include the title of the movie? If not, you might find people who like the name of the song (ie: Another Way to Die) better than the film's title (ie: Quantum of Solace).
But enough babbling from me -- check out the video above, listen real closely to those captivating lyrics and maybe we can get enough people together to convince Bond producers to use this somewhere in the sequel.
Further ensuring that the band Pulp should have new fans in the future, front man Jarvis Cocker continues to seek younger listeners. This time, in an interview with Time Out Chicago, he claims to have written a few tracks for Wes Anderson's stop-motion-animated film The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is based on the novel by Roald Dahl. He says there are three or four songs and then some music that could become part of the film's score. Additionally, in response to questions regarding his solo track "Disney Time", he notes that writing music for a kid's movie is his chance to "do better" than Disney films, at least in terms of corrupting young minds.
A few years ago, Cocker contributed to the soundtrack for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fireand even appeared in the movie as a member of the fictional group The Weird Sisters, performing the songs he composed, "This is the Night", "Do the Hippogriff" and "Magic Works." Pulp has also written songs specifically for movies in the past, including a rejected theme song to the 007 movie Tomorrow Never Dies (both the original version of "Tomorrow Never Dies" and a retitled version called "Tomorrow Never Lies" were later released as a bonus track and a B-Side, respectively). In the interview, he suggests that Quantum of Solacecould now use his solo effort "Quantum Theory", to which he'd change the lyrics appropriately.
When QOS arrives in theaters this fall, don't be surprised if Cocker's song isn't heard. As for Fantastic Mr. Fox, we'll have to wait until November 2009 to see if the man's music makes its way to impressionable ears.
As of this writing, it's just under a month until Quantum of Solace's November 14th release date. The buzz on it has been oddly neutral; no one's seen it, people still mock the title from time to time, but everyone seems to be calmly assuming that the acknowledged awesomeness of Casino Royale will just sort of carry over. It's been nice to have a build-up to a blockbuster without too much undue hysteria. 
Hold on to your missile-launching cuff links, 007 lovers -- this bit of James Bond intelligence may leave you searching for solace in more ways than one.
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I can't throw these up for you to conveniently click on right in the post (fie embedding disabled!), but read on for links to two funky new television spots.
In what appears to be part of a most thorough campaign to botch 
Further ensuring that the band Pulp should have new fans in the future, front man 
