Edward Norton, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman

[verushka70]

Mmmmmm. Men. Screen men, that is. Droolicious.

Saw The Illusionist. Though I predicted the major plot twist & ending, it was nevertheless a beautiful period piece and I was happy to sit through to the end. Giamatti is great (love that guy -- fantastic character actor), Jessica Biel surprised me, and Edward Norton was way fuckable as the illusionist. (He's a great example of why I love (neatly trimmed) facial hair on men.)

While I saw the Illusionist, I saw a preview for The Prestige with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale... omg,stfu. I'm so out of touch, I didn't know HJ was going to be in anything but Scoop (haven't seen yet) and the Wolverine film 'til I saw him on the cover of. HJ and Bale in the same film. Fuck me.

And Daniel Craig is on the cover of Esquire in an article about the new Bond film.
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2006/060807_mfe_September_06_Bond.html
I don't give a rat's ass what Bond purists claim. First of all, how many of the filmic Bond purists have actually read the Fleming novels? Well, I've read one of the Fleming Bond novels, and James Bond in the novel was nothing really like any of the film Bonds, except the Bond of the novel was even colder, crueler, and more misogynistic than the film Bonds.

Don't get me wrong, I have seen the Bond films, many of them... but I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan, mainly because I could drool all over almost any one of the film Bonds as personified by various actors... especially the old ones with Sean Connery and the later ones with Pierce Brosnan. What Bond purists fail to acknowledge is that the Bond franchise is no longer sole property of Fleming fans or Bond-film fans. It's become a long-term pop culture reference akin to Superman (except not descended from comics).

I could see any of the speculative guesses (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Colin Farrel, etc.) as Bond 'til they settled on Craig. And after they settled on Craig, I just rewatched Layer Cake and thought, "He's perfect." He seems to be even more like Fleming's Bond from the novels than any of the previous cinematic incarnations (except the very, very old ones).

One of the problems was that the franchise films were so campy and cheesy. But then, that was one of the things that makes them so fun. My top five favorite things about the pop-culture Bond film franchise have always been

1. The often cheesy yet always eye-catching opening credits featuring naked or scantily clad chicks in a variety of graphical contexts: gun barrels, oil droplets, fire and ice... guess my ex-art student roots are showing... sometimes when Spike TV or another station is having a marathon, I just tune in for the opening credits;
   
2. The unabashed hairy chests of Connery and Brosnan (so unlike our waxed American movie stars, sadly...)... praise the lord for masculine sex characteristsics!
   
3. To paraphrase rotten.com's take on Bond, Bond the character as a combination of "unsophisticated female masturbatory fare" (oh yes...);
   
4. The many interesting takes on Bond theme songs (from Paul McCartney & Wings' "Live And Let Die" to Garbage's "The World Is Not Enough" -- least favorite: Madonna's "Die Another Day," which surprised me because usually I like her stuff)
   
5. The frequent portrayal of Bond in restraints of some kind (cuffs, rope, whatever), about to be tortured (sometimes unspeakably), in multiple Bond films -- reaching its pinnacle in the actual on-screen torture of Brosnan-as-Bond at the beginning of Die Another Day (provided me as much unsophisticated female masturbatory fare as any of the Bond girls (especially the femme fatales who got nasty deaths) provided male masturbatory fare.
   
   I simply can't resist the visual of a man restrained by the wrists, whether it's Anthony LaPaglia tied to the bed by his wrists in Bulletproof Heart (probably the only good movie Mimi Rogers ever did), or RayK cuffed by Fraser in DS ep Asylum, or Angel or Spike manacled to the wall in BTVS or Angel, or Ryan Reynolds manacled to the floor about to get his ass kicked by Parker Posey in Blade: Trinity. I'm not sure where this fetish came from -- possibly Avengers or original Star Trek re-runs I watched with my elder siblings in the 70s -- but I happily enjoy this whenever I see it... Strangely (perversely?), the more mainstream the movie or TV show, the better!
   
   So, I hope they take Daniel Craig in the upcoming Casino Royale Bond flick and tie him up for my viewing pleasure. I'm totally up for that.
   
   RL sucks. My step-dad's cancer has been confirmed: prostate, that has invaded the bowel/rectum, and involves lymph nodes in his pelvis, abdomen, and neck. In other words, metastasized. Got that news the week I barely passed my Med/Surg IV 4th exam and failed the final exam (by 3 fucking points). At least my course average was 83. Ended the summer Med/Surg course Fri 8/18; started fall semester and Maternal-Child nursing 8/22. Will complete Med/Surg IV clinicals & labs beginning 10/16/06. Meanwhile, my mother finished chemo the week I failed my final exam & my step-dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. She starts radiation in a month or less; depends on the results of some scans.
   
   Movies & TV are so much better than RL. Ran out & bought the Veronica Mars 2nd season the morning it came out. Couldn't resist. There's still some slashiness to Logan/Weevil. Would love to write it, but RL interferes yet again (or still; either term applies).

Comments

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about your step-dad. That on top of what your mother is and has been going through, and school being so challenging on top of it all... god. There's a circle of hell that looks like this, isn't there? *hugs*

yes...

[verushka70.livejournal.com]

...there is a circle of hell like this. But worse than my experience of it must be that of my mother and step-dad, who are going through it. It's just so shitty to sit by and be so helpless, able to do nothing but take them to dr. appointments, cook for them, go grocery shopping, etc. At least so far radiation doesn't seem as debilitating as the chemo. Sigh.

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

Hi there. I'm just prowling around in your lj, because I'm going to rec one of your stories for the ds_recsredux kinks challenge, and had to burst in with my two cents worth about James Bond.

0.01) Yay! Hairy chests!

0.02) I read Ian Flemming's books when I was 13 (before I'd cracked the spine of a Mills&Boon) and thinking back on them, I realise how full of soft core porn and sadomasochism they are! Casino Royale, I vividly remember (nearly 30 years later), has a scene where Bond is tied naked to a chair and his testicles are beaten with one of those cane carpet beaters.

I have no idea what that did to my budding sexuality, but naked men tied up? Nrrrgghh!

[verushka70.livejournal.com]

Ooooohhhhhhh. I only read one Ian Fleming Bond novel... and it was a long time ago. I think I need to go to the library and get Casino Royale. Thanks for revving my engine! And the rec of course... thank you.

a stupid question

[verushka70.livejournal.com]

Being stuck in the hell of nursing school & RL, I have been offline for... well, weeks if not months.

What exactly is Hugh/Callum wingfic? (she asked curiously)

I mean, very little Hugh/Callum ANYTHING wouldn't turn my crank. If that makes sense...

Re: a stupid question

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

Pretty much what it sounds like - crack! With wings! My obsession with this was fuelled by this story, written by geekwriter143.

There's a snippet of Hugh wingfic which china_shop wrote for me - you have to scroll past our batshitcrazy conversation first. /warning

And if Hugh/Callum is what you want, I highly recommend china_shop's rps. She posts on a filter, but is happy to add people when they ask. The index is here (http://china-shop.livejournal.com/118575.html) (http://community.livejournal.com/wtf27/32610.html)

Casino Royale novel

[verushka70.livejournal.com]

Casino Royale, I vividly remember (nearly 30 years later), has a scene where Bond is tied naked to a chair and his testicles are beaten with one of those cane carpet beaters.

OMFG, you're right! I just finished the novel -- what trash! (in the best & funnest sense) And so very sadomasochistic. They removed the seat of the chair, sat him in it naked, tied him to it as you said, and his "manhood" was severely beaten. Much was made of his worries during his recovery as to whether he would still function normally with "Vesper," the female assistant. The novel was also very predictable at the end. But, eh, that's trash. :)

Bond Torture (new Casino Royale)

[verushka70.livejournal.com]

Well, they were pretty faithful to the novel's torture scene in the new movie. It's not a cane carpet beater, but it's almost the same. (And, imho, Daniel Craig is frakkin' amazing as Bond.)

Re: Bond Torture (new Casino Royale)

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! I'll have to keep an eye out for the release date here.

Also, I think that possibly You Only Live Twice was the most perverted book he wrote - I'd love to see a remake of that one.