Skip to main content

Die Another Day...



WARNING: If you haven't yet seen Skyfall -- and plan on doing so -- then don't read any further. Otherwise, carry on.

After watching the latest James Bond movie this weekend, I realized that it had done something no other Bond film had been able to do before -- touch me on an emotional level. Granted, it was a fairly brief and none-too-deep emotional level, yet it was there. I refer, of course, to the death of Judi Dench's M character.

It became clear, as I exited the theater and reflected on what had just transpired on the screen, that the past 17 years of the Bond franchise hadn't been two eras (one of Pierce Brosnan and one of Daniel Craig in the title role), but simply one era: that of Judi Dench. Having played the head of MI-6 since 1995's GoldenEye, Dench has made the role of M her own.

When it came time -- after a four year hiatus -- to re-boot the Bond series with Casino Royale, the only constant was Dench's M. She presided over the introduction, and first three films, of Daniel Craig as the British secret agent. Now, in Skyfall, we must bid adieu to the powerful lady. After a series of cock-ups and mistakes that cost several lives, M dies in the arms of Bond. Upon seeing his tears, her last words are, "Well, at least I did one thing right."

More than one thing, M. More than one thing.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yesterday's Restaurants

The local newspaper has a feature from one of Champaign-Urbana's most legendary restaurateur's, John Katsinas, on what his favorite area restaurants were that have now since closed (or will soon be closing).  It's a nice little read, and has made me stop and think about the restaurants that have come and gone that have left an indelible (and edible) impression on me throughout the years. Here we go....
Post a Comment
Read more

Watching The Hours

A Twitter friend named Paula has asked for folks to submit ideas for a blog-a-thon about what we think will be the classic films of the future. In other words, what relatively recent movies (namely, from the 21st century), do we think will be considered classics in the decades to come, possibly airing on such venerable stations as Turner Classic Movies ? While a number of films come to mind for such a category, one in particular stood out from the rest, and thus is my entry for Paula's blog-a-thon.
5 comments
Read more

She's Madonna

Today we're going to talk about something very important. We're going to talk about Madonna. "Madge," as she's affectionately known around the gay scene, has been making music for over thirty years. I grew up with her songs, many of them pop classics. In recent years, it can be arguably said that her popularity has waned a bit. During the past decade, Madonna has put out seventeen singles. Of those, three have charted in the US Top 40. Ten Failed to chart at all on the Billboard Hot 100. We now have at least one possibility offered as to why Madge's chart power is waning: Ageism. At least, that's what Diplo (just, Diplo), a producer of some of the tracks off her latest album, thinks . I know it's difficult to be objective about something you've worked on -- whether you were the producer or the artist -- but, as a listener/fan, I have to say that Madonna's most recent work has simply not been that good. Still, we'll hear what ...
Post a Comment
Read more