We were catching up on our reading and found this item, written by Patrick Goldstein and originally published on April 20 in the “Big Picture” blog of the Los Angeles Times. Goldstein argued, in effect, that while Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc’s financial troubles forced the production of Bond 23 to be indefinitely delayed, the hiatus would do 007 good. An excerpt:
In fact, if I were at the Bond helm, I’d put the franchise in suspended animation for a while. If you were unlucky enough to see the last Bond entry, the unbelievably awfully titled “Quantum of Solace,” you’d know that it’s time to send the series back into the shop. The 2008 film cost far more than any of its predecessors, but actually made less money (in worldwide grosses) than 2006’s “Casino Royale,” though of course when you still make $576.3 million, it’s nothing to sneeze at.
But the franchise felt tired. In fact, it looked like an aging hipster with a bad face lift, especially when you tried to imagine Bond competing with all of its younger, sleeker offspring, films like “Iron Man,” “Wanted” and “The Bourne Identity” series, which all are deeply rooted in the Bond adventure hero mystique, but have updated both the tone (more irony) and technology (even more gadgets) of the story. With Hollywood in the midst of a torrid love affair with 3-D, it might be a good idea for the Bond folks to sit on the sidelines and see how the 3-D mania plays out.
You can view the entire blog item by CLICKING HERE. Given the way the MGM story is going, Goldstein may get his wish.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Bond 23, James Bond Films, LA Times blog says 007 hiatus needed, Los Angeles Times, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM's financial troubles putting Bond 23 in limbo, Patrick Goldstein |
Hey, Patrick Goldstein: WHO ASKED YOU? 😦
The piece as a whole reads like the ramblings of a guy who’s been asked to express an opinion on a subject he hasn’t really thought about, and is trying to bluff his way through an answer: it’s poorly structured, leaps about from subject to subject at random (3D, for heaven’s sakes?), and clearly hasn’t been thought out even from one comma to the next. If it wasn’t for the LA Times brand name it’d be dismissed quite rightly as incoherent drivel.
Goldstein clearly knows //BLEEP// all about Bond. “Quantum of Solace” (which is a Fleming title and makes perfect sense when you think about Bond’s state of mind during the movie, so there goes your whole “awfully titled” comment, you chode) and “Casino Royale” clearly freshened up the series with a darker, brutal, more down to Earth approach after it had nearly been run into the ground in 2002’s “Die Another Day”. Perhaps I should remind you of that last CGI-nightmare with Pierce Brosnan? Ya know, the one with the Ice Palace, the invisible car, and the Madonna cameo. I’ve read some stupid, uninformed blogs in my time, but this //BLEEP// drizzle by Goldstein takes the cake.