Copious Notes

Gert Frobe as Goldfinger and Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger, considered by many to be the best James Bond movie ever. Do we agree?

Since 1962, there have been 21 James Bond movies in the official EON Productions series. They started in relative simplicity with Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963), reached a gadgety zenith in the Roger Moore era of the late 1970s and ’80s, adopted a 1990s elegance with Pierce Brosnan and rebooted as gritty serious drama with Casino Royale in 2006.

So, what’s your pleasure?

The final question in our James Bond poll is what was the best Bond movie? I selected the final seven very e-style, Googling the terms “Best Bond Movie,” Best James Bond movie” and “Best 007 movie” and tallying the votes from the hits on the front pages. The Top seven are what’s in the pool, though again, feel free to write in your vote.

All seven polls will be open until midnight Tuesday, and we’ll wrap the results into our Bond package in her Weekender on Friday. The other polls are to the right, or you can click below to visit them.

Best Bond

Best villain

Best Bond woman

Best Bond song

Best henchman

Best gadget

The late Heath Ledger could be up for a posthumous Oscar in February for his performance in "The Dark Knight." Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

After this year’s Academy Awards, the question was whether the Oscars were still relevant, or if they were going the way of art galleries and modern dance, perceived as too elite and avant garde to appeal to the masses.

Of last year’s best picture nominees, none of them had cracked the Top 10 or $100 million mark at the box office.

Numerous reasons were cited, including studios obsessed with movies calculated to open big, art be damned, and the presence of boutique subsidiaries such as Paramount Vantage and Warner Independent Pictures to release “specialty” and “prestige” fare.

Well, the buzz is Oscar night 2009 may look quite different.

Not that we will suddenly see Harold and Kumar contending for best picture or anything like that.

But you could have Batman.

The late Heath Ledger, a 2006 best actor nominee for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, is seriously being talked about as a best actor possibility for his consumed-by-evil turn as The Joker in Batman: The Dark Knight.

Think that’s funny?

Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller, left) and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr., right) are shooting an epic war movie and wind up in a real battle in “Tropic Thunder.” Photo by Merie Weismiller Wallace | DreamWorks.

A lot of people think that Robert Downey Jr. was brilliantly funny as a method actor who darkened his skin to play a black soldier in Ben Stiller’s Hollywood-bashing Tropic Thunder. Now, he’s a serious contender for a best supporting actor nomination for the box office hit that has made more than $110 million.

Dark Knight, also considered a best picture and director contender, as well as a shoe-in for numerous technical award nominations, now sits atop this year’s box office chart, and it’s likely to stay there. Why? For a while, during the summer, Dark Knight was threatening to overtake Titanic for the all-time box office record of $600 million, though with a home video release of the Batman movie set for Dec. 9, it appears that won’t happen.

Speaking of Titanic, the 1998 Oscar winner for best picture marked the last time the Oscars generated true mass hysteria, and its leading man and woman are back together this year. A Paramount Vantage offering with the downbeat plot of a crumbling 1950s marriage, Revolutionary Road isn’t likely to be all the rage with teenage girls like Titanic was. But it does have an intriguing A-list cast with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Other A-listers on short lists for Oscar contention include Brad Pitt, Clint Eastwood, Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and, seriously, Beyonce Knowles for her role in Cadillac Records. We should also mention that Lexington native Michael Shannon is getting buzz for Revolutionary Road.

This isn’t any concerted effort to help Oscar avoid going the way of the Tony Awards in terms of its national spotlight. But there are a few trends that may be boosting the awards’ star power and box office relevance this year and in years to come:

Read the rest of this entry »

Desmond Llewelyn played Q, James Bond's gadgetmaster in 17 007 movies.

James Bond is a pretty tough athletic guy, well trained in things like marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat. But, sometimes he needs a little help, like a wrist watch with a circular saw to cut ropes from his wrists, or a car that can turn into a submarine when the bad guys have him cornered at the shore. Some seem quaint now, like a pager or a watch with a TV — put a strap on an iPod, eh?

But many Bond gadgets endure as staples of the series, most demonstrated by the eternally patient Q, played by Desmond Llewelyn in 17 Bond films from From Russia with Love (1963) to The World is Not Enough (1999). He died in December 1999, and John Cleese played the head of Q branch since, except in Casino Royale (2006).

So, today’s question is about Q’s creations: What’s your favorite Bond gadget? I selected seven for the poll to the right, or feel free to write one in the comment box. Also, make sure to vote in the other Bond polls:

Best Bond

Best villain

Best Bond woman

Best Bond song

Best henchman

Make sure to come back Sunday for the last poll.

Let’s face it. Despite their grand schemes for world domination, a lot of James Bond’s enemies were not exactly tough guys. In fact, rather than get their own hands messy, they often dispatched henchmen — or women — to do the dirty work. These were often colorful characters of exceptional stature, or lack thereof, and skills.

Don't let him get those teeth on you, Jimbo! Roger Moore as Bond and Richard Kiel as Jaws.

So, that is our question today. Get out your steel-brimmed thinking cap and contemplate the seven henchmen in our poll who took on 007 — a few turned out to not be so bad afterall — and pick your favorite. Or write one in the comments section below, and make sure to vote in the other polls to the right, or as follows:

Best Bond

Best villain

Best Bond woman

Best Bond song

There may be nothing more indicative of the time in which a James Bond movie was made than its title tune. It’s a series that started pre-Beatles, with singers like that big belter Shirley Bassey singing about “Gold-fing-aaah.” Then Bond was touched by a Beatle in the early 1970s and Bon, Simon Le Bon, in the ’80s. So, your favorite Bond song could completely be a product of when you were born. But that is our question today, with seven options on the poll and, as always, the option to write in if you want to support, say, Tom Jones and Thunderball.

And, be sure to weigh in on our other bond polls to the right, or by clicking below:

Best Bond

Best villain

Best Bond woman

Whittling the list of Bond women for the poll down to seven was not easy. Consider we left actors such as Britt Ekland, Teri Hatcher and Jane Seymour off, though you are welcome to write them in, if you’d like.

Diana Rigg and George Lazenby as newlyweds Tracy and James Bond in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

There were the essentials: the original Bond woman, Honey Ryder, and first equal, Pussy Galore (yes, the Vizu polling widget did not let me use her first name, and that’s all I’m saying about that). I also consider Diana Rigg’s Tracy essential, because she remains the only Bond woman who got Bond to the altar. Then, there are personal choices such as From Russia with Love’s Tanya who had a big impact on teenage me.

So, please vote for your fave Bond woman, and if you haven’t already, take our polls on the Bond actors and villains. As I said before, if you have a topic suggestion for one of the remaining four polls, let me know.

Interesting. In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, Benjamin Svetkey wondered what would preoccupy him and many of his friends after the election, and in the same issue he penned the cover story on what I know will be my preoccupation:

The new James Bond movie. The Quantum of Solace.

The introduction of Daniel Craig as the James Bond of the 21st Century has raised anticpation for a new 007 flick from high to hotter than a Bond girl emerging from the surf.

So, to get psyched for the new movie, we’re going to run some polls here at Copious Notes, starting today with everyone’s favorite Bond debate: who is the best Bond? Did anyone do it better than Sean Connery? Did you like Roger Moore’s witty take, Pierce Brosnan’s cool, or Daniel Craig’s grit?

Wander to the right there and make your voice heard. Also, feel free to comment, and even suggest other polls. I’m definitely doing best villians and favorite Bond women, but I am open to suggestions for other categories.