Category: Reviews

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.

This lunch hour brought me to, what I may affectionately now call, my favourite spot on Earth. The Royal Naval Association is a hidden gem down the hill on the bridge between Ottawa and Hull. Krista and Sara introduced me to this amazing spot. Let’s just say I got some fish & chips, a beer, entered a 50/50 draw, left a tip – all for $10. I am impressed.

I’m an easy guy to please. The best way to please me is simplicity. I loved the ambiance of this joint. Walking in to a bar full of old codgers having a good laugh on a Friday afternoon…walls strewn with Naval accessories. I even shared a Navy story of my uncle’s with my table which they enjoyed.

All in all, I doubt this will be the last time I end up at this place. You know what I really enjoyed though? You paid up front and then left the place when you pleased. No need to wait for the bill. Beauty. It’s like…fast food service, but restaurant level fare. Mmm boy.

Last night I popped in a movie that Mike had rented and said was pretty good. I hadn’t popped in a movie in awhile (what’s wrong with me? I think it’s my mass television show watching that takes up my time nowadays) so I figured if I wasn’t into it, I would just shut it off.

Well, was I in for a surprise. Lucky Number Slevin has everything I like in a movie. Intriguing characters, not your general storyline, and good dialogue.

At some points I even though the dialogue was reminiscent of our favourite Tarantino movies. Not really having to do with much, but amusing nonetheless.

The movie revolves around Slevin, who shows up in town to stay with his buddy Nick Fisher but when he gets there, he is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately for Slevin, he is mugged on the way and has no ID, hence when some thugs come looking Nick Fisher to pay back some gambling debt, Slevin can’t prove he isn’t Nick Fisher so he gets brought to the ‘boss’. The boss wants him to do something for him to remove his debt and then chaos ensues.

While this may be the setup of a serious action flick, it’s really a dry humour comedy. Josh Hartnett’s (Slevin) repartée with everyone is amazing and I wish I had his aloofness. He claims he has some condition called adorexia where the person doesn’t worry about anything. So it’s pretty funny when this ‘boss’ comes to him asking him to do some pretty major stuff and Slevin really doesn’t get concerned about it. He just shrugs and tells them that they have the wrong guy but realizes resistance is futile.

Big, big, big actors in here – Sir Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu, Josh, Bruce Willis…you can’t go wrong. Man, I love Bruce Willis in these roles. He’s the laid back guy who just has this air about him.

For anyone who has seen this film, I had a feeling I knew what was going on since the flashback in the beginning of the movie. Call my bullshit if you will, but I had the feeling. Not like when Mike thought about something that happens after the credits in X-Men 3. He totally checked out the spoilers on the Internet for that thoughtstream.

Two big thumbs up for this flick. Catch it and you won’t be disappointed. I send this post out to cousin Shawn as he and I have similar taste in movies and I thought about him while watching it.

On Friday night, Vero, Mike, Claudine and I headed out to Hull to check out a play Vero’s friends were in. The play was called ‘La Soif de l’or.’. We arrived at le théatre de l’ile which is right across from the hotel I swim at. It was a very nice theatre, but I swear I could hear the airplanes going overhead through the log roof.

Anyhow, the story revolves around a mining town where something has gone awry (aka, someone getting killed), as well as talks of the mining company shutting down some jobs in the area. All in all, I really enjoyed this play and I recommend people go to it if they have the chance. I had a good laugh when I realized who Vero’s friend was as she had changed her hair colour. She was the token ‘lady’ of the streets in the play which was funny considering she was dressed up the same way I saw her the last time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the last part of the play where they revealed the big plot twist. The reason of this is due to Mike, or should I say, Mike’s spicy sausages for dinner. Right near the end of the play where the most dramatic part is about to come up, there is silence, there’s no music, someone is whispering and then it happens.

Mike’s stomach grumbles in what sounded like a a fart. In a silent theatre, it sounded like the cry of a wildebeast, or more appropriately (for Maren), a coyote howl.

As I had visions of remaining calm and respecting the actors on stage, I let out a little snicker. That started the cavalcade of laughter between Vero, Claudine and I. You know when you’re trying not to laugh because you’re in a quiet room and not trying to disturb anyone so all you do is have this silent laughter and once in awhile your vocal chords let out a little girl laugh? Well, that’s what was going on. I felt bad for the people in front of us having to deal with our laughter.

The problem was, it was one of those times in life where I couldn’t stop laughing. No matter how much I tried, it just came back to me. As I type this three days later, I am still laughing. Anyhow, I had to leave my seat to not bother anyone else. But then the play ended thirty seconds later so in hindsight, I should have just stayed there.

Anyhow, I’d like to put a shout out to Mike for giving me one of the best laughs in awhile. Claudine even commented that she hasn’t laughed like that since she was a kid.

After the play, we headed over to Carrie’s and Holly’s place for a little get-together which was great. We brought over a portable record player and put on a record that Danny had found at a garage sale. All it has on the cover is a naked woman and some German wording. So we figured we would ask Philipp what it was all about. Hilarily enough, when he saw it, he was having a good laugh as the entire album was some sort of pornography record from the 70s. We all had a good laugh listening to it with Philipp translating. Not a bad purchase Danny! We even went onto Ebay to see how much it was worth and found it for $10 in Yugoslavia. That album gets around!

Good times were had at Carrie’s and Holly’s – got to check out Holly’s new bed, walked around in a lab coat for awhile and witnessed the marvel which was Carrie’s new remote control farting machine. That thing was great, but not as great as Mike.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been reading an autobiography of Stompin’ Tom Connors, whom if you don’t know who he is, check yourself out the door as a Canadian and remind me to call up Citizenship and Immigration Canada to change their immagration tests to include a question about the Stomper.

Stompin’ Tom is a country singer born and bred in Canada and is the stuff of legend. Hitchhiking across Canada dozens of times, living on scraps, he came to know 2300 songs by heart, hence a performer was born.

The book is based on his recollections of the time spent in his youth before becoming famous. I’m about 50 pages from the end so I figured it’s a good time to give a review. The book is amazingly funny as he gives you a glimpse of how it was hitchhiking across Canada literally dozens of times between the age of 15-30. There are quite a few good stories along the way and here’s a teaser.

One day a gentleman from Ireland was in Saint John New Brunswick and couldn’t figure out a way to Montreal where his family lived due to no money on his person (remember, these were hard times.). Tom Connors decided to offer up the services of showing him how to hitchhike to Montreal. Along the way, they usually took turns knocking on people’s doors asking for a bit of food. One day, Tom was walking up to a house and out of nowhere two pies were placed on the window sill, straight out of the oven to cool down. Tom thought about it and made a run for it with these pies, giving one to this Irish buddy and the other to himself. When his buddy was about to chuck the plate across the street, Tom said “Now listen, this lady was nice enough to give us some pies for free, the least you can do is return her plates in good condition.” He agreed and took back both of their plates. Well, the front door open and he got a frying pan to the head! Cursing and swearing and chasing him away, the Irish lad didn’t know what was going on! Tom was rolled over in the ditch laughing until his sides hurt and the Irish lad was pretty peeved.

Anyhow, the hilarity continues throughout the book, but also there are some sombre times when Tom recounts tales of not eating for days on end which, I can’t really even fathom how people functioned. Also, the entire outlook on hitchhikers and the drifters is a fascinating one as nowadays, people seem to disregard these people who are down on their luck, but really, the majority of them are just like you and me – but they have run into some bad luck.

You don’t even have to be a Stompin’ Tom fan to enjoy these stories! Just know that you’re reading about a Canadian icon!

All in all, I really enjoyed this read as it’s just stories from the road. It’s also funny to see him talk about places I know, such as Timmins and Kapuskasing. If you’re into biographies, or just plain old good stories, I highly recommend picking this up! It had me laughing out loud on the bus many times. Thanks to Dad for suggesting this to me.

This movie is the cats meow, loaded with special effects, killer action and a great cast!

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star in this high octane action movie trying to thwart the menacing meanderings of one Dennis Hopper (a fan, I am).

So get this. Dennis Hopper is some maniac wanting some money so he bombs an elevator shaft hoping to hold them hostage. But then Keanu comes in and saves the day and it’s awesome goodness because Keanu is the man and all is good in the world as he saves the hostages. But then he’s trying to save his partner (Jeff Daniels!!!) who is being held hostage by Dennis Hopper but then Keanu shoots him (right in the leg!!!), like WHOA DUDE, chill out! But it stems back to the awesome ‘Pop Quiz’ line in the movie where Keanu said he would shoot the hostage if need be in a situation to ‘take them out of the equation’.

Anyhow Dennis Hopper manages to escape, blow up a bus with some friend of Keanu’s on it and then says that there’s a bomb on some other bus in the city which…get this…this will BLOW YOUR MIND…

It will blow up if the bus falls below the speed of 50 miles an hour.

HOLY MOLEY! WHAT A CONCEPT! Unbelievable! For a Canadian like myself, I couldn’t even do the conversions in my head…it must be close to 300 km/hr or something like that! I couldn’t fathom how it would feel to be on this bus full of people all freaking out. But there is Keanu, keeping his cool (until one part where he freaks out and it’s definitely Oscar worthy.)

Anyhow, I couldn’t believe the bus made the jump across the freeway gap which was 50 feet across! I fainted after that point because I was jumping up and down wondering what would happen.

All in all, 2 thumbs up for this great action movie. What a gem, and I hope that everyone gets to see this great movie. Sandra Bullock wasn’t too bad in it either, although all she did was drive the bus. But she was cute, in a sort of a Sandra Bullock way.

If you’re a fan of good movies, you have to watch this when it comes out on DVD!

Yesterday provided me with ample opportunity to sit down and relax. With school starting up, this is a rare occurrence so I embraced it with what I enjoy the most. Sitting myself down on the couch and checking out some TV shows that I downloaded. Keep in mind that I may have subconsciously left a school assignment on my desk at work so I wouldn’t be able to work on it this weekend. 😉

I could probably have an entire entry dedicated to a review on the TV shows I’ve seen, but I’ll just keep it short and sweet.

Star Trek: Enterprise – Hey, I know this has been off the air for a few years, but I somehow missed the last six episodes so while at Joe’s this weekend, I popped in the finale and took a look at it. AWESOME finale. I really loved how they tied it into Star Trek: The Next Generation. Do I enjoy the Enterprise series? Heck yeah. It was great. Too bad it got cancelled.

Jericho – New TV show here revolving around the town of Jericho and they see a nuclear blast in the distance which hit Denver. Joe, Vero and I watched the second episode of the show so the only thing we had as a recap of the first episode was the two minute recap at the beginning of the episode. The show seemed alright…part of me is intrigued to see who is bombing the States, part of me is saying that the show is kind of boring considering it’s revolving around a town trying to find shelter from the fallout. Nonetheless, it is an interesting concept and it has everyone’s Johnny Depp lookalike; Skeet Ulrich! After seeing one episode, I would say I’ll watch a few others and see if it picks up a little more. Sounds like they may be using the Lost formula in keeping the watcher in suspense.

Grey’s Anatomy – Well, I got into this show over the summer – really enjoy the characters and the stories. I was a fan of ER for years so I enjoy the hospital dramas. The good thing about the setting of a hospital is that it brings forth some interesting stories. Oh, what’s that? You have a tree that went through your entire body? WHOA! I also laugh at how every patient that comes through their doors somehow has a metaphoric mirror image life to one of the cast members and they say one line that helps out the cast solve a troubling problem that they have been trying to deal with. Quite amusing. Anyhow, I watched the first two episodes and was impressed with the season so far. Get into this show!

Heroes – Maren had suggested this because she knew I am a fan of the comic books. She called this ‘a believable X-Men’. It started up really good and I could tell that they really had the comic book in mind when filming the series with the quick pans to action and the focus on character’s faces. After watching this show I have to say it’s probably my fave of the new batch of shows for the season. This show is AMAZING! It’s not geeky, it’s a good drama that would rope the comic book hater in. It all revolves around how geneticists say that humans are evolving and they don’t know how (aka into mutants), but they’ll have random powers like teleportation, the power of flight, etc. There is a solar eclipse in the first episode which may or may not be the catalyst for these super powers. An interesting part of the show is that on their website, they go a little further into the story (making it MORE than a show) as they have some graphic novels showing what happened to some of the characters before arriving on the show, as well as a blog of one of the characters. If anyone has the time for it, the high interactivity level of TV shows is impressive nowadays. It would be like getting a phon call from Carol Burnett telling you what she thought of a certain scene. I highly recommend this show. I will be watching it faithfully this year.

The 4400 – I can’t say I know much about this show other than Joe and Trish recommended it to me. I think it’s in its third of fourth season right now. It starts off with a slew of people being abducted (perhaps by aliens?) over the past 60 years and then they all randomly (4400 of them!) show up one day from this mysterious ball of light. I’ve only watched 20 minutes of it, but it seems interesting and we’ll be wondering what did happen to these guys. I can’t say much more about this show. 20 minutes of it was intriguing, but we’ll wait to give it the Palmer stamp of approval once I finish watching the pilot episode.

Friends – Why did they have to cancel this show? 😉 Only my favourite show ever. I downloaded Season 10 and was having a good laugh with Mike yesterday when we watched the episode where Joey visits Monica and Chandler’s new pad.

I hope this gives you a little heads up to the shows people are talking about so you can get a better sense on whether or not you wish to check them out for yourself!

Alright, if you know me, you’ll know that whenever I tout a movie, the words “BEST MOVIE EVER!!!” come out of my mouth.

But let’s be serious here. I did see the best movie of the summer last night with Claudine, Vero and Mike. It’s name was Bon Cop Bad Cop.

Patrick Huard’s is a comedian/actor from Quebec who I’ve seen in Les Boys movies. Very funny stuff. I enjoy the Quebec humour. In fact, I enjoy CANADIAN humour. I like hearing jokes that Canadians would get. In this case, perhaps Ontario/Quebec residents may get more jokes…unsure.

So the premise of this movie is like any other good cop movie where two cops have to join together on a case, but unfortunately for them, one is a ‘by-the-book’ guy, and the other…not so much.

Colm Feore (of Trudeau fame) plays Martin Ward from Toronto (the prim and proper) while Patrick Huard plays David Bouchard from Montreal (the rough and tumble). They end up on the 401 at the border between Ontario and Quebec start; to find a body laying atop of the border crossing sign. After debating who should take the case, the end up accidentally ripping the body in two and discover that their fates are joined for the remainder of the movie.

They claim that this is the first Canadian bilingual movie and it’s true. Languages are interchanged all the time. It’s not like when they are in Quebec, they speak French, but if they are in Ontario they speak English. They speak the different languages all the time, so it’s convenient if you can understand both. But they have subtitles in case you can’t understand.

One thing I found odd was that the translation was WAY off in some parts. At one point, they are speaking in French and say “Well, we can either go to the helicopter pad, or St. Hubert” but they translated St. Hubert to airport. Did they think that there would be some English folk that just wouldn’t get the joke? St. Hubert is the best freakin’ restaurant alive!!!

I also enjoyed the fact that the English police chief’s name was LeBoeuf, while the French chief’s name was MacDuff. Classic.

There was also a great lesson on how to swear in French that every English person should watch to better their understanding.

Anyhow, jokes, action, cool Canadiana made for an ultimate movie. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this film and I implore every good Canadian reading this to watch this film.
I even recommend this movie to Nanny. Even though there are a few swear words and action scenes, you should take a look at this film as it’s a part of our culture.

The best thing about Apple updating their product line is the fact that they usually update iTunes which is free and makes me feel better at handling the fact that I can’t purchase their new products. 🙁

Anyhow, there are two new features on iTunes that I thought are intriguing.

The first is the Cover Flow option for viewing your songs. As seen in the picture above, it will show you what song is playing along with displaying the album cover. On its sides are the album before and after in your list of songs. When you switch to another song, it flips to the album cover which is a pretty neat effect.

The other feature which has been sought out by many live music afficiandos is the GAPLESS MUSIC PLAYBACK which essentially eliminates the annoying gap between MP3 files. This isn’t inherent in the actual MP3 file itself, so they must have just created a workaround to eliminate the gap it causes.

This is great for the live concerts I listen to as it was always annoying to have a little gap when the track changes. You want the thing to flow!

I noticed that the software was processing all my songs for gapless playback when I installed it so I thought it would be complete, but nothing changed. After reading about the feature more this morning, I found out that you need to select the tracks and click the YES button for Gapless playback.

Kind of silly when you think of it. Wouldn’t you want all your songs to be gapless?

iplaying: Happiness is A Warm Gun – The Beatles (White Album)

I almost forgot about my Saturday night! I spent the first part of the night going through some old recordings with Vero, but later on we hit up Sarah’s pad (just down the hall, boy do I love residence!) to play some Stock Ticker.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2680

From the onset, the game looked pretty lame, but then I got into it and it turned out to be cool that I will be keeping my eye open at garage sales for this gem.

Stock Ticker basically involves stocks. You all start out with $5K and are able to buy stocks. The players determine a time when the game will end (let’s say 2 hours from now) and then the dice start rolling. There are three dice – the name of the stock, the action of the stock (it can go up, down, or pay out dividends), and the number associated with the action (for example if you roll a 20 and it’s dividends, then you get 20% of whatever stock you own).

We set up two rounds of rolling and then you get the chance to buy or sell stock. So in this time of two rounds, the stock market has fluctuated due to the rolling of the dice. Stocks have either gone up or down so you have to think about either keeping your stock or selling it.

That’s it! It’s a really simple game but there is definitely strategy involved which I failed at miserably as I came out with $2700 which was a definite loss whereas all others were in the positive.

Two thumbs up for this great game. As soon as I find it, I’m calling a games night.