Skip to main content

Casino Royale - Re view

Owning DVDs is a good way to entertain oneself.  I can re watch any movie I want, when I want, how I want.  So last night I re-watched some of the rather long run time remake of the Bond adventure - called Casino Royale -  cast with a new lead to play the iconic spy - Daniel Craig.  This viewing took place after a few years of my original viewing.


I decided I like this new Bond.  I also enjoyed Casino Royale.  I think the villain makes half the movie and I liked the Danish Mads Mikkelsen (who knew Danes acted - that is part of the Bond franchise - I think - they find unusual cast to be in the film including the opposite sex) as Le Chifre a mean dude who bleeds blood through his tear duct and who believes in a 'reasonable rate of return'.


Although the two installments that followed Casino Royale that released nine years ago, respectively 'Quantum of Solace' in 2008 and 'Skyfall' in 2012, were somewhat lame even for the Bondantics.


Part of the lack of charm was a poor character for the villain role - Skyfall had Javier Bardeim who is great as an actor but IMHO was a poor choice for a Bond villain.


Casino Royale in its Xth remake was quintessentially Bond with as the name suggests, gambling, running (free running to be specific), shooting, killing, drinking (shaken, stirred and neat), womanizing and spending (in this case her majesty's money - lots of dollars in this film, but no pennies including lack of Moneypenny).  It did not have too much of high speed driving which I missed.


I am eagerly awaiting SPECTRE the latest installment due later this year.

Comments

  1. I generally haven't liked Craig, but I liked Casino Royale with him in it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. perhaps his 'perfectly formed' ass helped

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...