Thoughts about filmed entertainment
1. Saw tonight's Torchwood. Was wasted opportunity in some ways. In others, makes me frustrated with the quality of writing in TV horror/SF. Can't you guys hire some writers who know the territory and can do something other than the shallow and the obvious with the widget of the week? And yet... still quite interesting.
2. Casino Royale. Many thoughts about this film, about the take on Bond, about the goodness of the return to the plots of the novels, about the set pieces. (And the shedding of the camp elements.) Strongest reaction I had while viewing was to the soundtrack. Title sequence was fantastic aside from the horrible, bad, awful song they had over it. Soundtrack teased deliciously with the Bond theme, giving us tastes of the instrumentation and the intervals at moments when Craig's character is being Bond-ish. But we wait, on tenterhooks, for that Bond theme until just before the end titles, when Craig finally gives us the most famous Bond trope. Then, boom, we get it in full, no teasing, no screwing around with modernity. Well done. Excellent establishment of intentions for a new sequence of Bond films.
2. Casino Royale. Many thoughts about this film, about the take on Bond, about the goodness of the return to the plots of the novels, about the set pieces. (And the shedding of the camp elements.) Strongest reaction I had while viewing was to the soundtrack. Title sequence was fantastic aside from the horrible, bad, awful song they had over it. Soundtrack teased deliciously with the Bond theme, giving us tastes of the instrumentation and the intervals at moments when Craig's character is being Bond-ish. But we wait, on tenterhooks, for that Bond theme until just before the end titles, when Craig finally gives us the most famous Bond trope. Then, boom, we get it in full, no teasing, no screwing around with modernity. Well done. Excellent establishment of intentions for a new sequence of Bond films.
