James Bond Movie Primer

The new James Bond film "Casino Royale" is out and it's pretty good--Daniel Craig gets it done. I recently wrote the first half of a Bond movie primer for Greencine.com (similar to Netflix) which can be found here (or click on title above for direct link):

www.greencine.com/static/primers/bond1.jsp

To be exact, I wrote about the early Bond films up through "The Spy Who Loved Me" and my friend Craig Phillips wrote about the later period up until now. I'll include a quick sample of what I wrote about the 007 factor:

Similar to the written tales, the James Bond films have always been a triumph of style over substance, as Bond's frequent black tie attire would seem to attest. Bond, a.k.a. Agent 007, will never win any humanitarian awards for his brand of public service-which in many ways is part of his charm. He isn't bound by the usual rules of civilized society. In fact, as a member of the British Secret Service, he officially carries a "License to Kill." He also drives only the sportiest of cars (e.g. the Aston Martin DB5), dresses impeccably, enjoys "a certain way with the ladies," and-perhaps most importantly-boasts an uncanny knack for getting himself into and out of harm's way. Bond breathes that rarefied air most of us can only dream about; he is above the law and beyond reproach (despite the occasional scolding from his boss, M).

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