Daniel Craig runs alot in the new Bond movie. Luckily, he does not move like a duck when he does so. Even better, I can happily report that I really enjoyed Casino Royale. The story moves along nicely minus a bit of drag towards the 2/3's mark. Craig's Bond is funny, self depricating sometimes, and full of spot on English charm with just the right touch of ego. The more realistic action set pieces hold up nicely in this age of CGI. Granted, there are a couple of times where you could spot the stunt double, but overall Craig's stuntwork stands up to scrutiny. His is a grittier and dirtier Bond. The first of two kills he must do to achieve "double O" status is messy and devoid of the slickness one usually expects. He's got it down by the 2nd one though.
The first major action piece is very impressive. If you've ever seen any of the ads on tv that feature what I believe is called "free running," then you'll know what to expect. It was amazing to watch the baddie jumping, climbing and moving like a younger Jackie Chan on speed. The script stumbles a couple of times. There was a moment between Bond and his love interest, Vesper ( all I can think of when I hear that name is a Vespa scooter), in which I almost laughed out loud at the less than stellar phrase that came out of her mouth. Still, she is not quite your traditional Bond chick and most of the verbal sparring is done well.
As I mentioned before, a lot of the now almost artifical slickness has been stripped away and there is some genuine emotion on screen. There are still plenty of guns and explosions and fighting so don't worry. I really enjoyed the scene after a fight in a stairwell, in addition to the scene where Bond has been poisioned and he must excuse himself from the poker game in order to stop his death. The gadgets are kept to a minimum, but the few that do get used are pretty cool and make sense in the grand scheme of things.
Straight women and gay men may rejoice!!! Most of the nudity involves Daniel Craig, a nice change of pace from the norm. Don't worry straight boys, you'll get plenty of cleavage. But seriously, I lost count of the number of times Craig has no shirt on or is (deliciously) wet, which is almost as good as being naked. OH, and the torture scene involves a completely naked Bond, but sadly we do not get the "full monty."
The only complaints I would have would involve the less than exciting title sequence, the rather bland theme song, and a dud line here or there. Overall, I would definitely recommend seeing Casino Royale...let's just hope you don't have a woman in your theater that exclaimed rather loud "oh's" at every major plot point/twist. Errrggghhh. I need my own theater dammitt.
On another note, today we had our Holiday Meeting at work. Everyone had to be there at 6:45 A-Freakin'-M. I have now been to 10 of these things and they have always sucked. Sadly, this year we did not have the usual video to watch. Over the years, the videos have been everything from full out dull to ones with "plots" featuring the best of Jersey dinner theater...or worst, actual employees. Instead, we played a "game." We broke off into smaller groups and the managers were given a set of questions to ask our groups. Get an answer right you got a point.
I got my sheet this morning so I can happily report I had no idea what I was doing. One of my "questions" was the directive to have someone in the group gift wrap a book. I was supposed to judge the results and give points on how good it looked and how quickly it was wrapped. I skipped that one. The best bit was corporate flat out told us we wouldn't get through the whole set of questions. This begs the question: Why not make the damn thing shorter? Also, we in no way tallyed the points and no one got anything for their efforts. I'm hard pressed to think of something more pointless.
Wait, I got it. THE REST OF THE MEETING!!! Moving like cattle to the abattoir, we went from one section to another to get 2-3 minutes of important info that would be promptly forgotten. Then we had 20 or so minutes of more important facts (employee appreciation dates, where to park, etc.), but by then the heckling had begun. I know this because I sat amongst "the people" (in the back, just like a senior in high school) and not up front with the managers. My heckle? Not so much a heckle as an attempt at humor. I asked if one of the groups having a bookfair was like the Freemasons and were in control of the world.
Finally, we got to the service awards portion of the morning. Now, I saw an memo/agenda type thingie stating that everyone who was getting a pin was to be interviewed and asked for comments about why they enjoyed their job, etc. Not surprisingly, no one talked to me. Because we were pressed for time, it was a bit of a rush job. One manager took care of the 5 year awards, tossing out mostly just comments on what sections of the store each person had worked in. Then we get to the 10 year award and I had to haul ass up to the front of the group.
I had told Jinn (fellow receiver for those keeping track at home) I guessed the store manager would mention the number of boxes I'd received or the number of books I'd touched over the years. He's a numbers guy, not a people person. I was right. After listing the various and numerous places I'd worked in the store, he rattles off some numbers (apparently I've lifted, along with my comrades, 6 million lbs of books or something) then gives me my crappy pin.
The thing was, if he would have asked me for stories, I could have given him a couple. I could have talked about going to a fancy dinner in Chicago the first year we hit a major sales goal and because I was sick I barely ate anything, slept the whole way up and back and couldn't tell you much about the restaurant, but plenty about the bathroom.
I could have talked about the time, back when the employees had to clean the whole store, I was the only chick manager here and had to take care of a stuck piece of poo in the women's restroom the size of my foot. I'm talkin' size 9's here people.
I could have talked about the time myself, an ASM named Jim and the bargain manager Terry, closed the store without counting the drawers so we could go to a midnight showing of a new Jackie Chan movie. We came back around 2am and finished our closing responsiblities and listened to music while counting drawers.
I could have talked about being Winnie The Pooh the first summer we were open. I could've talked about the games we play in receiving when we get bored. I could have talked about paging for a doctor when someone in the parking lot was having a seizure.
Nope. Instead, we get numbers. Sad, I think.
WATCH IT:
Casino Royale--see above
HEAR IT:
R.E.M.--Driver 8 Paul sent me a link to a Slate article comparing R.E.M. and U2 and I had to pull out Fables Of The Reconstruction, my absolute fave R.E.M. cd. Comments coming soon Paul!
Speaking of Paul, only 51 years, 3 months and 2 days till the wedding. Start planning now!
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