WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING BOND?

Hmmm, well let's let 007 Daniel Craig tell us. For those under a rock, the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" picks up from where "Casino Royale" left off and sees Daniel Craig in his second outing as 007. Sky's Anna Botting has been to meet the star.

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DANIEL CRAIG INTERVIEW

OK, this latest James Bond is one of the world's hottest stars, but Daniel Craig says donning the 007 mantel hasn't been a bed of roses.

Check out this pretty damn good interveiw at Dark Horizons.

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'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' REVIEWS - EARLY BUZZ NOT ALL THAT POSITIVE

Hmmm, we're sorta bummed about this. It seems that many of the London papers and tabs are exactly thrilled by the new James Bond flick. And while most of them agree that Daniel Craig is pretty damn awesome as 007, the film doesn't hit the mark in the manner that "Casino Royale" did.

Times Online: “It’s James Bond, licence to bore. Quantum of Solace may be a sequel to Casino Royale but it lacks that movie’s panache and brio.” … “Bond is a boorish oaf who simply rushes from country to country with the manic speed of Jason Bourne, including sequences shot in Panama, Chile, Italy, Mexico and Austria, in a plot about holding a country to ransom over its water supply. Quantum of Solace lacks any wit, ironic or otherwise, which has been a strength of so many 007 films.” … “At around one hour 40 minutes, this Bond is shorter than most. Somehow it felt longer.”

The Guardian: “This didn’t excite me as much as Casino Royale and the villain is especially underpowered.” … “This is a crash-bang Bond, high on action, low on quips, long on location glamour, short on product placement.” … “I was disappointed there was so little dialogue, flirtation and characterization in this Bond: Forster and his writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade clearly thought this sort of sissy nonsense has to be cut out in favor of explosions. Well, perhaps that is what Bond fans want (not this Bond fan, though). But I was also baffled that relatively little was made of the deliciously villainous Amalric”.

The Telegraph: “…owes much to the quick-fire editing of the Bourne thrillers.” … “In this much darker film” … ” For half an hour or so after the pre-credits ‘teaser’, the film barely lets up.” … “And then, the pacing becomes more fractured. One wonders if director Marc Forster and screenwriters Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis haven’t tried a little too hard to distance the film from traditional Bond plots. The expository dialogue scenes can be dull, and cram in so many machinations and double-crossings that it’s easy to lose track of who’s duping whom. And yet, several times - just when you’re tempted to consult your watch - the movie suddenly surprises.”

The Daily Mirror: “Quantum of Solace is a leaner, meaner animal, rammed with shoot-outs, a boat chase and even an aerial dogfight. And our hero is an angry, embittered man out for blood. Mostly it doesn’t feel like a Bond film at all. Not once does Craig say: “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” There’s no Q or his gadgets. Heck, we even see Bond in a cardigan. There are no risque quips or arched eyebrows.” … “It doesn’t disappoint - just don’t expect the brilliance of Casino Royale.”

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'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' DOSSIER

Check out this awesome piece by Tom Burns... It's pretty much everything you want to know about Bond's upcoming adventure. Also, check out the new teaser poster.

James Bond Dossier: What We Know About Quantum of Solace

Have you gone on the internet in the last 36 hours? Are you a man, woman, or child who has, at one point, expressed even a passing interest in motion pictures? If so, I'd wager that 90% of you have already been forwarded the link to the beyond bad-ass trailer for the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, a trailer that debuted online this week and already has Bond fans drooling onto their shaken-not-stirred vodka martinis.

(If you're part of that lonely 10% who haven't seen the trailer yet, you can check it out right here. How cool is the trailer? Well, we think people will immediately stop mocking the title - it wasn't warmly received by online pundits - because, even though "Quantum of Solace" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, with a trailer as exciting as the one that just hit the 'net, they could re-title the film "Mr. Bond's Wonder Emporium" and we'd still be preordering our opening night tickets as early as possible.

But how did we get here? Perhaps more than any other film series, the Bond franchise has been relaunched again and again - going from the quiet cool of the early Connery years to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Lazenby chapter to the '70s swingin' Roger Moore era, back to a balding, half-assed Connery Bond (damn you, Never Say Never Again), moving on to the doomed-though-not-as-bad-as-you-remember Dalton legacy and floundering out with the Pierce Brosnan "always had potential but never really delivered" 007. But then Bond was relaunched yet again with 2006's Casino Royale - starring a blonde Bond, no less - and something strange happened. The relaunch worked. Not only did it work, but it blew Bond into the stratosphere, giving the secret agent a level of cool cache that he hadn't seen since Goldfinger and re-making Bond into a truly international film icon. Casino Royale pulled Bond out of the fanboy subconscious and made him once again relevant (and desirable) across all film demographics. 500 bucks says you would've been hard-pressed to find more than five women in the opening night crowd for The World Is Not Enough. But trust us, Quantum of Solace will be packed with hordes of new female Bond converts of all ages, all hoping to console poor 007 over the loss of his tragic love Vesper.

To read the rest of the piece, click HERE.

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'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' TEASER

We love this new teaser for the upcoming Bond adventure "Quantum of Solace." It's filled with typical Bond trappings like kick-butt action, hot women, fast cars and exotic locales. You can also watch the trailer in High Definition on Moviefone. "Quantum of Solace" hits theaters on November 7th 2008.

Here's the official plot synopsis:

Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (JUDI DENCH) interrogate Mr White (JESPER CHRISTENSEN) who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (OLGA KURYLENKO), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (MATHIEU AMALRIC), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organization.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (JOAQUIN COSIO). Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organisation.

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SEEKING A 'SOLACE' FROM STUNTS?

Hmmm, is the revamped Bond franchise suffering from a wee bit of a sophomore jinx? The third accident in a week plagued the highly-anticpated production. Here's the report via This Is London.

Stuntman fighting for life after third accident in a week on Italian set of 'jinxed' Bond movie

A stuntman was fighting for his life today after a spectacular accident on the Italian set of the latest James Bond movie - the third in less than a week.

Insiders on "Quantum Of Solace" are already speaking of a jinx following a series of mishaps in the shooting of the latest escapade of Her Majesty's favourite secret agent.

Last weekend British engineer Fraser Dunn, 29, cheated death after he crashed a £134,000 Aston Martin DBS into the water at Lake Garda in northern Italy. And just hours later a stuntman was injured in another car chase.

The latest incident involved a Greek stuntman, who suffered serious head injuries after an Alfa Romeo 159 he was driving in a chase scene involving James Bond ploughed into a lorry.

The stuntman, who was playing a villain, had to be cut free from the mangled wreckage of the car by firefighters following the accident at Limone dell Garda near Brescia.

He was airlifted to hospital and was today in a critical condition in hospital with serious head injuries.

Another stunt driver Italian Bruno Verdirosi suffered minor injuries.

Filming on the 22nd Bond film - which again stars Daniel Craig - was immediately halted and today producers were still debating whether to reshoot the scene or scrap it completely.

Sandro Pelligrini, of the Italian production team, said: "It was the second to last day of filming at Lake Garda and we still don't know what is going to happen - whether it is going to be reshot or scrapped."

One set insider said: "There is talk of a jinx on this movie - three accidents in a week even for an action spectacular like James Bond is too much.

To read the rest of the story, click HERE.

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MUTHALOAD OF 'BOND' PICS

Columbia Pictures has released 21 new photos from the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace," including higher resolution versions of the action photos which appeared in USA Today last week (and here on the blog).

Click HERE to check them all out. Looks awesome ...

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NEW BOND PICS LEAKED (APRIL)

USA Today was on the set of the forthcoming James Bond actioner "Quantum of Solace," in Chile's Atacama desert and recently published a beautiful and extensive report of the goings on.

The 22nd Bond flick is halfway through shooting - Panama and Baja scenes are complete, Chile is about to wrap, with Italy, Austria and finally London's famed Pinewood Studios left to be shot.

The action sequence filmed current Bond Daniel Craig hightailing it at full speed along the rooftop of a long, narrow building firing a prop gun into mirrored skylights below. Bond will shatter the skylights and plunge down atop the fleeing villain - tycoon Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Not helping is an impending explosion that will kill various innocent lives.

Craig says about the new spy pic: "He [Bond] has his heart broken. The love of his life is killed, and he finds out she's not who she said she was. … He's out for revenge. But he's also out to find — and this is what the title is about — a 'quantum of solace.' Something has been taken away from him, and he's out to get that back."

Though largely separate from one another, Bond films have had some continuity in the past - most notably during Sean Connery's six film run. This however is a true sequel to 2006's "Casino Royale" with Bond working his way up the chain of command of the terrorists who blackmailed Vesper. It's been revealed that the organisation mentioned in 'Casino' now has a name - Quantum - hence that dopey title

Producer Michael G. Wilson admits that they plan to keep the continuity going for now with an evolving Bond but sometime in the future filmmakers might go back to stand-alone plots. He also admits that there's no romance angle in the movie (the horror!) with Bond only having a one-night fling with another MI6 agent (Gemma Arterton).

For a stunning slide show with a plethora of more pics, click HERE

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CONNERY AS A BOND VILLAIN? APRIL FOOLS?

Being that whispers of this broke over the weekend, it may be less likely to be an April Fool's joke. Then again, who knows?

According to Ace Showbiz, the so-called retired Sean Connery says he wouldn't mind coming back to the film franchise he helped build as none other than a villain.

Typical Connery, though - it's all about the benjamins.

Says Connery: "I wouldn't mind coming back as a Bond villain. But I don't think they would pay me enough. They don't pay the money for other parts, only for the Bond character, although that wasn't the case when I was doing it."

Meanwhile, Ford has negotiated a $36 million deal to have their little Ka Zetec Climate model featured in the upcoming Bond film "Quantum of Solace". Current Bond Daniel Craig will be seen driving the sensible car in the opening scenes of the forthcoming film before returning to his usual Aston Martin sports car.

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HE'S BAAAACK ...

Here's the new teaser poster for the forthcoming Bond pic "Quantum of Solace," courtesy of Moviefone. Not sure how I feel about it per se. Badass, yes. Bond? Um, not so sure ... Is it me or does anyone see Tony Montana from "Scarface" with that over-the-shoulder machine gun?

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