CommanderBond.net
  1. Bond at the MoMA

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-25

     

     

     

    50 years of Eon Bond films also means 50 years of cinema history. Reason enough for the MoMA, NYC to celebrate the golden jubilee with a complete retrospective of all 22 previous Eon films. From 5th – 31st October the MoMA  will show its entire collection of 35mm prints of the Eon productions on their theatre screens. As such this retrospective is unique and fans may not often have the chance to see especially the classics on the big screen often these days.

     

    Thanks to CBn forum member ‘clublos’ for the heads up on this!

     

    This is what MoMA’s site says about the event:

     

    In 1987, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the release of Dr. No (1962), producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli donated newly made 35mm prints of all 14 Broccoli-produced James Bond feature films to The Museum of Modern Art. With this extraordinary gift came a promise to provide MoMA with a new 35mm print of each subsequent Bond film. To date, this collection has grown to 22 films—all of the James Bond films produced by Eon Productions—and since his passing in 1996, “Cubby” Broccoli’s daughter Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have generously continued this tradition.

     

     

    Created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1953, the iconic James Bond, 007, is among the few MI6 agents with the “00” grade—a license to kill. In addition to his deadly skills, the sophisticated, suave, and impeccably dressed Bond remains a loner, despite countless romantic encounters with stunning female spies, voluptuous assassins, provocative party-girls, and a charismatic psychopath or two. The alluring aura of danger and self-confidence he exudes is irresistible to women, but none are allowed to get too close.

     

     

    Whether portrayed by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig, Bond is forever loyal to Queen and country, possessed of a martini-dry sense of humor, considerably stylish, and eternally enigmatic. When his boss, M, is in need of a formidable agent to quell a globe-spanning espionage crisis, 007 is sent into the field with his trusty Walther PPK, an array of handy spy gadgets, and an unwavering commitment to his mission.

     

     

    In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. No and the extraordinary open-ended donation from Albert R. Broccoli, Barbara Broccoli, and Michael G. Wilson, MoMA presents all 22 films in its James Bond collection.

     

     

     

     

     

  2. New ‘Skyfall’ TV spot airs during Emmys

    By Timothy Williams on 2012-09-24

    An exciting new ‘Skyfall’ TV spot aired during the 2012 Emmy Awards.

    The spot shows several facets of classic James Bond are making a return, so if you don’t want to know, try and not watch!

  3. LOOK UP! – Jacques Stewart’s 007th Minute in ‘Thunderball’

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-23

    Image ‘Staines Wargamers THUNDERBALL’ by Kaptain Kobold (c)

    Look down!

     

    Look out!

     

    For opinion and highly subjective content in this here now fourth entry, Jacques Stewart’s 007th minute of ‘Thunderball’.

     

     

     

    Please feel free to have thoughts on this. Meet other interesting people having thoughts on this here. Share your thoughts and take your chance to spend Christmas in the company of likewise-minded people.

     

    007th minute observed by Jacques Stewart. Italics-piffle as usual added by me.

     

     

     

     

     

    “Hi”.

     

     

    The idea behind all this unnecessariness is “explained” in the Dr No one, and there’s a couple more on From Russia with Love and Goldfinger to subject yourself to as well, if you actually feel you must and don’t have something more fulfilling and pleasurable to do, like drinking the contents of a radiator or molesting ham.

     

    So, Thunderball it is. Before I launch into petty abuse and ill-thought-through sexual metaphor that would be doing well to achieve the status of “gratuitous”, let me put on record this one inalienable fact: I love Thunderball. I think it is the definitive James Bond film, exemplifying all the others’ strengths (many) and weaknesses (many) in one ninety-four hour long extravaganza of blueishness and harpoonydom and Conneryality and fish. I accept – I don’t have to like, but I accept – that this is not the chosen opinion of others and that their choices and opinions are valid, like the choice to use public transport, the choice to wear unpleasant hipsters and the choice to look in the mirror in the morning and yet still carry on.

     

    We’ve gone all wide in this one, wide and (bm-bm) deep. The previous three had quite a lot of standing or sitting, interior-bound snarling or fighting or rudey bits: this one largely keeps its mouth shut to the absolute bare minimum of plottidom, it’s the most basic of the stories so far, and gets out into the open air, as if the Bond series has had a bit of a frowny conversation with its wee-scrutinising GP about unplugging itself from the sofa and going for a nice brisk walk. Look at all the blue and sunshine and widescreen splendour of it; it gives us a show. They wanted us to see some extraordinary things with a bit of a plot stapled on. Patently this would get way out of hand with the next one but here, Barryhorns blasting over clear blue water, the biggest film star in history gliding through it and the production’s tangible air of total confidence in its task (never expressly tipping into the self-reverential smugness that would come to haunt the series later), this is the paradigm. Visually, it remains a big watery blur of old lovely and is a great watch after three pints of Rioja to just sit there in front of it and let the general (and I would maintain, deliberate) relaxedness wash over one as one slumbers into dreams of Claudine Auger licking plum jam from one’s moobs.

     

    continue reading…

  4. CBn

    How to: All the Bonds in 90 seconds

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-22

    In our constant striving to bring our readers information beyond the bare headlines and contents of Google-feed we aim – wherever possible – to go the extra mile for  CommanderBond.net. In doing so we’ve already covered numerous stories going deeper into the works of Bond on page and screen. Now it is high time we talk about that nifty piece of promotional art ingeniously produced for the start of SkyMovies007 HD. Exclusively for CommanderBond.net our member Simon Firth interviewed Sky Producer David Millard, who kindly shed a light on the tricky background of this campaign. It’s far from easy to get all the Bonds in one place and translate this  claim into 90 seconds of the most stunning impact.

     

    Please discuss the clip and this interview in this thread.  

     

     

     

     

     

    David Millard is one of a number of Producers at Sky who create the promos for the new channels and programming – he has recently completed the advert for the upcoming 007 Channel that debuts on Sky Movies in October.

     

     

     

    Can you give us a brief potted background to your career?

     

    I initially trained at Virgin Media and have been a Producer now for the past 3 years – most recently at Sky.  In fact the Head of Creative at Sky Movies (Scott Russell) originally trained me at Virgin Media and so we’ve always had a great working relationship.  I’ve freelanced since 2011 until now but am hoping to go into something more permanent here at Sky.

     

     

    What is the decision process to get to the current advert from a management perspective?

     

    continue reading…

  5. First snippet of ‘Skyfall’ Soundtrack online?

    By Matthew Harkin on 2012-09-21

    As ‘Skyfall’ gears into action, due for release next month, a german website, showcasing the Coca Cola Tie-in campaign has revealed some very dramatic music to cover the site. Could this be a small teaser of Newman’s ‘Skyfall’ soundtrack? One thing is for sure, it’s definitely a damn good track. Listen here.

  6. The Bond 50 – last chance to vote today

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-21

    image ‘Jellion’ by Feggy Art (c)

    How time flies! Today is your last chance to have your say in CommanderBond.net’s big ballot to celebrate our eponymous hero’s 50th year on the silver screen. Don’t let this opportunity pass, share your  five most treasured moments of Eon’s Bond films.

     

     

     

    To take part, by Friday 21 September 2012, send a Private Message to CBn member “Jim” setting out

    – Your top five Eon Bond film moments
    – With an explanation (as short or as long as you like) why you’ve picked each one

    Also – for a bit of a hoot – nominate your “worst” moment in the Eon Bond series.

     

     

    By way of reminder, the Bond 50 moments (of any type) back in the summer of 2006 were:-

     

    continue reading…

  7. New Skyfall Video Blog – Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe

    By Matthew Harkin on 2012-09-20

  8. Skyfall Heineken advert debuts online.

    By Matthew Harkin on 2012-09-20

  9. Bond running upstream…

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-20

    The evil Franken van Banken (Julia Collier); image by courtesy Lyndsey Jones

    ‘Martini Bond’, that is. The play that garnered numerous positive – no, downright raving – reviews already during its run at the Camden Fringe Festival last August is finally moving to Barking’s Broadway Theatre, where it will be centre part of their ‘Bond Week‘ starting tonight. And here the exploits of James Bond’s daughter will take the chance to reach a wider audience beyond the limited seats of the Broadway’s tiers.  As their website informs us the play will be live-streamed from tomorrow, Friday 21th here. But playwright Lyndsey Jones’ blog WomanBitesDog tipped us off they will have a full-scale emergency exercise test run tonight, so eager fans can get to see ‘Martini Bond – The Hunt for The Spy Who Loved Her Mum’ already this evening (from 9.00pm).

     

     

    ‘Bond Week’ at the Broadway Theatre starts tonight and runs through 23rd September. It also includes ‘00 and his 7‘, a dance performance by the London Ballet Company  (also live-streamed from 7.45pm) and a free exhibition of Judith Walker cartoons.

  10. ‘007 Legends’ – Screenshots from the final mission

    By Helmut Schierer on 2012-09-20

    Auric Cauldron concept art

    Goldfinger concept art

    screenshot ‘conspiracy’

    screenshot ‘Fort Knox’

    screenshot ‘Golden Girl’

    screenshot ‘Oddjob’

    Now that Activision confirmed Goldfinger as the final mission of their upcoming game ‘007 Legends’ they also provided the media with some impressive and convincing images of their latest enterprise in the realm of Eon’s Bond films.  See for yourself how the game tries to emulate the distinctive atmosphere of the 1964 classic and perhaps the most iconic of Bond films period.