The Daniel Craig films since that high point have generally been a mixed-bag, but Craig -- even when it's been clear that he was fairly miserable being there -- has always been rock solid (and yes of course I mean that in multiple fashions). The plots got convoluted and who-cares but I always cared about his Bond, a surprisingly vulnerable and tender mass-murderer under all those abs. Which brings us to his fifth and they-say final film in the role, No Time To Die, finally hitting theaters this weekend after ten thousand months of delays. How is it? It's fine!
Don't ask me to narrate the plot or how that entirely relates to the previous films, because I'd be terrible at that -- most of them, Royale aside, I haven't seen a second time. I enjoyed them but these aren't exactly films I revisit. They're disposable pop entertainment to me, and No Time To Die has plenty of that to offer. In a good way. What struck me the hardest with No Time To Die was just that -- this was the first very expensive action film I've seen on a big screen since I saw Casino Royale in February of 2020, and there's something to be said for that spectacle in and of itself. The money drips off the screen -- the costumes and locations and cars and special-effects. I missed the feeling of all of that, and this film absolutely delivers on each one of those fronts.
This is especially noticeable with the two main actors I didn't list above, Léa Seydoux as Bond's main squeeze Madeleine, and Rami Malek as the big villain. The film begins with Madeleine nodding her head towards how she has long felt the shadow of Eva Green's character over her relationship with Bond, and speaking for myself I felt it too -- Seydoux is in it a lot yet she leaves very little impression in the film, and she and Craig don't have anything approaching the crackling chemistry he had with Green. No Time To Die very much wants to be the great romance that Casino Royale effortlessly was, and comes up a hard short there.
But it looks great, it sounds great, and Daniel Craig is everything looking and sounding great one could ask for, and that all might be enough... for about half the movie No Time To Die is anyway. Nearly three hours is too much of an ask, but contradictorily I felt the urge to hang on with Mr. Bond for all of those extra minutes too. Depending on who gets the role next and what direction they take I can probably move on with my life now though, putting such double-oh things behind me, and maybe that's No Time To Die's biggest gift of all.
Scott: Why, you wouldn't even look at a clock unlesshours were lines of coke, dials looked like the signs ofgay bars, or time itself was a fair hustler in black leather.
Ooh thanks to @InterviewMag for scanning the Keanu & River photoshoot from their November 1991 issue! https://t.co/5lZjA8cqp9 pic.twitter.com/XaqCqpOn7l
— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) August 25, 2021
#NoTimeToDie star Ben Whishaw tells Attitude he'd 'love' to see an out gay British actor cast as James Bond - and he reckons @TheRealLukevans or Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey would do a 'thrilling' job... pic.twitter.com/sWCLcSZ6gP
— Attitude Magazine (@AttitudeMag) September 27, 2021
Wore my fancy shoes today for the Bond screening (all so I can have a bomb dropped on my head I guess) pic.twitter.com/GIcsurIyle
— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 28, 2021
"This is the thing. No one likes to admit this, but, we got beat at our own game. That’s basically what happened. There’s really nothing more to say about it than that. There’s always another project. Sticking your neck out, hoping to get to tell the stories you love and that have been in your heart for a very long time is something to be proud of. And that story, that idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years, but sometimes those things don’t work out. In this business, if you’re lucky enough to stick it out for a while, we can easily forget that getting to tell the story isn’t the most important thing. I mean, this is our life. Gotta enjoy it. Bottom line, and this may be my Achilles heel or it may be my superpower, but I wish them the best."
With The Guilty out in a couple of days (reviewed here) we're getting lots and lots of Jake content this week (including several other shots of him in that pink sweater seen up top, although somebody was wonderful enough to photoshop the text off of one, much to my eyeball's delight), not that we like it any other way -- this quote comes from a new chat with Deadline (thx Mac) and it's him talking about his Leonard Bernstein project, announced in May of 2018, and how the rival production starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Steven Spielberg came around after (literally nine days later!) and stole their thing. I still think Jake is better casting than Cooper personally, but I guess this officially puts the nail in Jake's take -- I don't think I'd seen confirmation of that before this quote. Sigh. I was hoping it'd be like Capote or volcanoes and we'd get dueling versions! Moving on, some new Jake fashion moments:
And just now seeing Jake in his short-sleeved red sweater on TV this morning and gonna need a moment.... pic.twitter.com/5pNmdex2Ic
— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 28, 2021
You know maybe Jonathan Majors or Lakeith will show their asses. It's possible. A classic western scene always involves those small wooden tubs that people were forced to bathe in. We could have one of those scenes, maybe? And yes I am still talking about this. I'll be talking about this... well I was gonna say "days" but there's no end in sight, let's be truthful. No end! Speaking of ends... okay I'll stop. Sorry. Hit the jump for a few more new photos from the film...
"Aaahh. I don’t know. Maybe? Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts. There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that? And I think it was very important to both of us to break that stigma. ... But then again I think that has led the way towards people saying, you know, people of all different experiences should be playing more roles, that it shouldn’t be limited to a small group of people. And I believe that. But at the same time, I was very proud to be in that space and to be given that opportunity. And the reaction from the majority of the gay community when the movie came out, I got this sort of — we both did, everyone in the movie — we got this overwhelming sense of open-heartedness and gratitude.”
I think we all have confused and contradictory opinions on this subject because there is no hard answer -- I think it just depends on the situation, and he's right that it was a huge deal in 2005, these name actors taking on these gay roles. You had to be there. And I wouldn't give up Jake or Heath's performances, or Timothee Chalamet's performance in Call Me By Your Name, for the world. But of course LGBT actors need better, fairer opportunities, and there's not nothing to the lived-in experience that they'd bring to these roles. I mean just think how much better the world would be without having been forced to suffer through James Corden in The Prom?
This movie actually has a hell of a cast -- there's also Halt and Catch Fire's Kerry Bishé (we love love love her), there's also Nymphomaniac's own Stacy Martin, there's also Lily f'ing Taylor. I imagine somebody out of these people is making this movie worthwhile! I mean I have yet to see Cosmo gives an uninteresting performance; I'm really surprised bigger directors haven't snatched him up yet. Hopefully he catches the attention of the right person soon -- maybe the new Persuasion movie with Dakota Johnson & Henry Golding will be the one -- but until then we will watch him in everything. Including this new photoshoot (swoon) after the jump...
"I too quit smoking (2013) AND find this type of pictures cool. Also, PSA: if you're feeling like you want to start smoking again, just remind yourself "I do not want my body and house to stink like stale horseshit", then go drink one more glass of water to entertain your hands and lips. Congrats, btw."--- Anonymous congratulates us on another year of not smoking, which we celebrated with an enormous photo-dump of sexy smoking pictures as we're wont to do, annually. .
Posts
