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OH my. This is one of those movies that you would cringe at if you brought your mother to. But luckily, I had Vero instead and we had a barrel of laughs at this movie! We started off the night by hitting up Moxie’s where the shanghai noodles were so-so. I think they changed their recipe on it. We then traipsed around the area looking for new shoes for yours truly as I like to wear them out to the point where when it rains, my feet get soaked. I just can’t find any that will replace my $10 pair of shoes that I got in Boston a few years ago.

Borat begins in all its goodness…bringing us a glimpse of his life in Kazahkstan. The story is that Borat is going to film a documentary for his country on how Americans live. So he sets out and hilarity ensues. If anyone has seen Da Ali G Show and seen Borat in his glory before, you have to understand that the movie ups the bar (as it should!) and delivers some shocking, shocking material. Stuff where the whole theatre gasps and then one lone voice starts cracking up at the absurdity of it all.

Revolving around a simple plotline of Borat trying to meet Pamela Anderson, the movie pulls some tricks out of its hat from the TV show and there are some similar events happening (like Borat visiting the Feminist club), but overall, the movie is amazing. We had a great time watching it. I would recommend the TV show to anyone, and if you enjoy it and are able to accept crude, crude humour, then Borat is for you.

On a separate note, Vero and I hit up Future Shop to take a look at a MacBook (that’s a laptop by Apple for all you non-geeks). For the past year I have wanted to pick one up, but it’s this thing where I always can’t justify the purchase of a laptop when I have some other debts to take care of. Then, on the other hand, I think I’ll never be out of debt so why bother waiting? 😉 Anyhow, for Black Friday, they had $200 the laptop which was a steal. I was tempted, but reality set in and I realized that today wasn’t the day for the MacBook, regardless of the savings.

Last night, because I am an old man and do not wish to see Death of a President at 10PM, Anne-Marie and I decided to hit up some artsy flick at the Bytowne Cinema. It was called Manufactured Landscapes, which looked at Edward Burtynsky‘s visit to China to photograph the Three Gorges dam.

While waiting for Anne-Marie, I stumbled into this great bookstore right next to the Bytowne Cinema and found Pierre Trudeau’s Memoirs for $7. You can’t go wrong. I wonder what revealing stories I will stumble upon there? Hey, while we’re on the subject of books, I’m currently in the middle of a slew of them. Reading bits here and there. I am reading Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only which has a bunch of James Bond short stories, one of which has Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang travelling from Montreal to Ottawa! I was plesantly surprised! Why don’t we ever see that trek in the films?

The other book I’m reading (well, other than Casino Royale which I have lost) is Magical Mystery Tours by Tony Bramwell. I received this from my parents last year at Christmas and I figured I should actually get around to reading it before a new Christmas is upon us! It follows childhood friend of the Beatles, Tony Bramwell around on his life with the Beatles. It’s an alright read so far…nothing out of this world exciting, but it is pretty cool to see the ‘inside scoop’ on some stories about the Fab Four. I think it will get better as I get more into it, as it’s mainly focussing on their life growing up in Liverpool.

Back to the movie…the Bytowne Cinema is THE place to catch the independent films out there that aren’t shown in the mega-halls of cinema. Anne-Marie, Krista, Amy and Vero showed up to settle down in their seats and take the movie in. Please keep in mind that I have no idea who this photographer is or what this movie is really going to be about. Perhaps my photographer mates in life – Uncle Greg and Gary, Joe, or even Mike may know who Edward Burtynsky is, but I sure do not.

The movie starts off with a camera panning industrial workstations in a warehouse in China. This goes on for 10 minutes. All silence. Then it pans outward to show the scale of what they just panned through – kilometres of workstations were workers sit and assemble items that we take for granted, like your thermostat. There is no talking, no laughing, no getting up for a break.

Fast forward to the villages containing ‘e-waste’ (which I must assume stands for electronic waste) where landfills of electronics are dumped and people scavenge them for salveable materials. We’re talking landfills of transistors, and computer motherboards, and old telephones, all separated out to re-use. China takes our resources, forms something out of them, ships it back to us, we use it, then when it gets thrown out, it returns to China to be recycled for new items for us to use. Insane.

Let’s fast forward to the Three Gorges Dam (which I never knew anything about until now). Taken from Wikipedia: “It will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, more than five times the size of the Hoover Dam. The reservoir began filling on June 1, 2003, and will occupy the present position of the scenic Three Gorges area, between the cities of Yichang, Hubei; and Fuling, Chongqing. Structural work was finished on May 20, 2006, nine months ahead of schedule. However, several generators still have to be installed and the dam is not expected to become fully operational until 2009.”

Now, what’s the reason for this dam? Energy! China has become this nation where they want to be the frontrunners in the industrialized world. Well, they may be achieving it, but at what cost? The cities that will be filled in with water are taken apart – brick by brick. Villagers are paid to take apart their own villages. That is insane. The imagery presented here was awesome, not so much a good thing, but awesome in the scope of what they are doing to their land.

The film is interspersed with lanscape photographs taken by the Mr. Burtynsky which create a serene picture of industrialized China. I can’t remember if he mentioned in the movie or if I dreamt the word up, but it is like looking at ‘Industrial Nature’ when you look at his photographs. Very amazing work actually. Google up some images and you’ll see what I mean. How there is a different form of nature nowadays…industrial nature.

Let’s be clear on something…Edward Burtynsky isn’t trying to relay a message on whether the industrialized nation is a good or bad thing. He just wants to demonstrate that it’s there and that people can form their own opinions.

Thought provoking, surreal, and beautiful, this movie allows you time to think on the issues. There isn’t much dialogue, the random interview here and there. It’s more about the images portrayed.

Before I even start this review, who the heck nicked my copy of Casino Royale from my office? I was reading it and POOF, it’s gone. Perhaps I left it at Vero’s? I can’t get no satisfaction.

We all know my love for James Bond. He is the uber-spy. The megastar that has sweeped a nation. Men want to be him and women want to be WITH him. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang himself.

My love of James Bond started when I watched Goldfinger with Regan when I was visiting him in Cornwall one summer. Everything about it bled awe. The music, the exotic locales, the quick wit of one Sir Sean Connery. Evil henchmen, megalamania run amuck…it was all there.

Over the years, I have watched all the movie as well as hosting Summer of Bond where every Wednesday, one of the 20 films aired at our house and even if I had other plans, the film still aired.

James Bond is epic. I could go on about the franchise, but I digress from the original subject. The film Casino Royale.

The character of James Bond was written by Ian Fleming and the first novel was Casino Royale, dealing with James Bond taking part of a baccarat player. Baccarat is a card game for those not in the know (as I was). Essentially, a Soviet agent of SMERSH, Le Chiffre, has lost some of the organization’s money and has to win it back in a baccarat game that he hosts at the Casino Royale. SMERSH is like your modern day terrorist organization. In the films, SMERSH was renamed SPECTRE if that rings a bell. This is the organization that Ernst Blofeld was in charge of. You know…the bald dude with the cat.

So, essentially James Bond takes the assignment as he is a master baccarat player and then all around goodness happens within the novel. However, let’s point out some clear distinctions between the novel and the film franchise that we all know and love. Keep in mind that I read the novel after watching 15 or so films.

• From what I know, Casino Royale is more of a classic spy novel – the spy is rugged, fights rough, not polished at all.
• James Bond isn’t the womanizer we all know and love. He cares for the women he meets in this novel.
• He has no gadgets at his disposal.
• He doesn’t really have any witty comments.

With that being said, I wasn’t overly impressed the first time I read Casino Royale. However, I knew from the novel, that it set things in motion to what James Bond would become. Think of it being (gasp) a prequel. But let’s be honest here…it was the first book in the 11 book series (well, at least from the pen of Fleming), so it can’t be a prequel.

Fast forward to yesterday when I went with Krista and the Delion clan to see Casino Royale. It got off to a bad start as there were projector problems and it didn’t start until 30 minutes later. I didn’t mind…this was Bond we were talking about.

Wait. What am I saying? Was I excited to see this Bond film? YES! In a complete 180, I originally was very hesistant to see this film as I didn’t like how Daniel Craig was a rough looking, BLOND James Bond. This was not the Bond we have grown up with. Very hesistant indeed.

Until the reviews started pouring in. 5 stars everywhere. I’ve never heard of a 5 star film. Although I believe that the review industry gives a little extra oomph to a review of a Bond film just for the sheer size within the movie industry.

So with the great reviews coming in, I realized that I should start getting pumped for this film, not dismayed! 30 minutes of waiting ended and the movie began.

The movie is different from the other Bond films that I’ve seen. It’s rough. It’s grimy. It’s like watching an old school espionage film. At least in the beginning. Then the extraordinary locales make their appearance, and the inevitable action/chase scenes. Bravo on these. The first 45 minutes sets the stage for Bond to travel to the Casino Royale to take part in a poker match worth over $100M. I give the producers kudos for throwing poker into the mix instead of baccarat as the world has a poker fever for the past few years so they would understand the game.

Once they hit up Casino Royale, things get more into the vein of the actual novel (from what I can remember of it) and from the reviews I’ve read, it stays true to the novel. There’s not many gadgets in the film either and the cheesiness has been virtually stripped from the film.

In the film, we see Bond starting out in the double-0 business. He isn’t the cold, cool killer we know. It still bothers him to have to kill people. He has feelings, and you can see how he tries to hide those feelings behind his repartée. He makes mistakes along the way, he trips, he falls. Bond of old wouldn’t do this! He doesn’t depend on many gadgets other than this brute force. Also, he does a lot of running. I had a good laugh at how many different scenes have Bond running full tilt.

Right near the end, the projector messed up again…literally in the last five minutes. It came back on after a few minutes, but we got a refund on our tickets for the mishap.

So, what are my thoughts on the film?

• The style: A lot less polished than previous releases. Very gritty. It reminded me of the Bourne films. I see they were trying for this aspect…to get away from the old Bond films. Bravo, you have accomplished your wish EON Productions.
• The story: Hmm…Casino Royale, is not so much a prequel, but a reboot of the series. Sure, it follows Bond as he is starting out, but it’s set in modern times – cell phones, laptops, post-9/11. So it’s a little strange to watch it thinking it’s supposed to be a prequel. But it’s not. It’s a reboot. Keep that in mind. Forget everything you know about Bond. It was Krista and Maren’s first time watching a Bond film. I wonder if they enjoy the older ones?
• The characters: Well, all the supporting cast and villains were excellent. The question is, is Daniel Craig the man suited for the job? I am undecided as of yet. I don’t hate him, and he does portray the roguish version of Bond very well. So I can’t tell if it’s the actor I have a problem with, or the rough and tumble, non-debonaire version of Bond that I don’t care for. People say that this Bond is the first Bond who is more true to the novels…but I am a fan of the films, as well as everyone else in the world! It’s a tough gamble. Although I will point out that Daniel Craig is Maren’s choice of Bond – clearly indicated by the thumbs up she gave me during the movie when he walks out of the water in his swim trunks. Groan.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It definitely had the classic Bond elements, just less of them. Definitely no gadgets, unless you count a needle going into your arm and relaying what’s the status of your health back to HQ a gadget. No rocket packs here people. I highly recommend that you go see the film in the theatre. It’s bombastic. It actually reminded me a lot of the Connerry era Bond films – the way it’s paced, the cinematography.

A lot of people found the poker scenes to drag on, but I disagree. I enjoyed the playing back and forth between Bond and Le Chiffre.

We’ll have to wait and see if this becomes a better than average Bond film in my book. I am very fond of the recent Brosnan era films so this one is a grand departure, but not necessarily a bad one.