Me and James Bond

I love James Bond. And, as if I'm not geeky enough about other stuff, I can tell you way more about the whole Bond Thing than you'd ever want to know. It is one of those shallow, completely useless indulgences that act as the whipped cream on my chocolate cake of life.

I've loved the movie franchise ever since I was a teen watching them when they would occasionally come on TV. I loved the action and the romance. I adored all the exotic locations. I had opinions about which actor was my favorite from early on. It never occurred to me that these were films mostly for men. Who wouldn't want to watch those awesome chases and see Bond get out of those ridiculous scrapes and still look like a million bucks?? I quickly learned that most girls didn't. So, I dreamt of the Ultimate Man all alone. Bond and Han Solo were my crushes from the time I was about 11 years old (it never occurred to me that Bond can be seen as more than a chauvinist, but as an actual misogynist-I never was a very good feminist.)

I had no desire to be a Bond Girl-I knew I wasn't that type. But Oh how I wanted to be Moneypenny. She was the smart one that I always felt secretly that Bond knew was the right woman for him-his intellectual match who would convince him that there was another life for him. Oh the sighs.

Then I got busy with my family and Roger Moore's spoofy, almost campy humor was gone. It was the end of an era. Timothy Dalton didn't do it for me. Pierce Brosnan was gorgeous and elegant and all that, and the movies got better, but there was still something missing. The 4 Bond films that Pierce made were too slick-too dependent on CGI special effects and product placement (although the decision to cast Judi Dench as M was pure genius). So, when 2006 came and there was a new film with a new Bond, it all sort of went past me. I never actually watched Casino Royale in the theaters. I knew nothing about Daniel Craig and was satisfied to occasionlly watch the old classics on TV.

Till now my friends. As part of the build-up to the release of A Quantum of Solace, Showtime has been running Casino Royale. Daniel Craig has completely won me over as the Best Bond Ever. He's a better actor than all the others put together. I have thorougly enjoyed those electric blue eyes and the way he looks in a tux. I think DC plays Bond as so much more multi-faceted than recent attempts: He can take care of 3 bad guys with steely-eyed precision, comfort the poor crying girl so tenderly it breaks your heart, then change his shirt and be back to the poker game in less than an hour looking fabulous and perfectly calm-for a while now I haven't believed that Bond could really do all that, but DC makes it so. The movie also goes back to the spare, understated style (and a little more like the books) of some of the earlier ones-less gadgets, more cleverness.

So, more information than you needed and a really long lead-up to exclaim that I am really looking forward to seeing this new Bond film. Here's an invitation: Come watch this guy save the world instead of pining away for another week until you can watch Edward lurk in the darkness.