#and look at mathi looking on in the background on the second gif

[flowerwreaththings]

2020 // 2022

King Philippe being a proud and loving dad, as he hands out to his children, Princess Elisabeth and Prince Gabriel, their respective blue beret, followed by an affectionate arm pat, at an official ceremony, marking the start of their traing at the Belgian Royal Military Academy in Brussels, Belgium.

[amescastaignede]

FOR: @mobscene-starters WHEN: 08th of May, 2024. WHERE: Outside the London Advocate.

Amélie walked down the corridor of The London Advocate, her steps echoing off the polished floors. The hum of activity filled the air as journalists hurried about their tasks, phones ringing incessantly in the background, and loud clamors as new stories flew in faster than they could write them. Sources here, and there. It was manic, and for a woman such as herself, it was odd that she found such comfort here: amongst the noise and the chaos. Glancing at her old, antic watch which had once been Mathis, she sighed, a deadline looming, and her latest piece on the French Organization needed final touches before submission.

But not tonight, no, that was tomorrow's task.

Approaching her over-crowded desk, usually tidy at this time on a Wednesday, was a simple 'fuck you' to the clock that rang 7:00pm, telling everyone it was time to go home. Chucking things into her bag with careful handling, catching sight of Felicity Woodward, her editor, engrossed in conversation with another staff member. Animated, over the top, and wholly different from anything Amélie could've ever attempted. Even If she'd tried...that'd be a failure she wasn't sure she'd be able to live down. Felicity was a formidable woman, sharp eyes never missing a beat. And from the looks of it -- she wouldn't be leaving the office any time soon.

Lifting her hand in a simple goodbye was enough to have her leave...quickly. Before she was pulled in to meet with a source or stay longer than she needed. And just like that, she was up and out, exiting the doors until she came to an almost screeching halt...

What?

"I wasn't expecting to see you...here?" Amélie said, a look of confused bemusement taking over her porcelain features. "You, uh, wait, are you waiting for me?" -- gone was the smile only seconds later, head cocking to the side.

[slamsams-blog]

Quantum of Solace - #24WeeksofBond

And we are back with another Daniel Craig installment of the James Bond franchise for this week’s Bond movie, “Quantum Of Solace”.  Don’t ask me about the name of the film because I don’t really get it.  I know that the organization’s name is Quantum, but that’s as far as my understanding goes.  Is it in reference to Camille’s story of her family being pillaged and burned and how she comes to deal with it?  Who knows, but confusion is kinda the theme here with this movie...it’s just a little confusing.  For those of you who watched this for the first time and completely understood it, then I applaud you.  I’ve seen this movie countless times and still can’t figure it out.  I’d be willing to bet that I’ve watched Quantum more than any other Bond movie because, for a while, it was just always on TV.  Seriously, everyday I would see this movie playing somewhere.

This is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, the 2006 film where EON productions and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson decided to hit the reset button on the franchise to freshen it up and give the Bond movies a little more grit, thrill, and depth.   This was just odd seeing as all the previous Bond movies were stand alone installments that you could just pick up and not really have to wonder what the hell was going on.  But now we are forever stuck with a Bond movie that is so reliant on the story of Casino Royale that one cannot simply pick this up and enjoy it.  The Bond fan and traditionalist in me dies a little when I watch this movie for that reason.

This film, even when knowing the story of Casino Royale, is difficult to follow.  There are so many different avenues this film takes with little to no explanation. It gets to a point where you are hearing new bits of information about the plot in the final scenes of the movie.  I’m not going to lie - I’m still not too sure I have all the answers but I will do my best.

Basically, this is the story of a pissed off Bond who is carrying the weight of Vesper’s death with him. (Vesper is his love interest in Casino Royale - sorry for the spoiler if you haven’t seen it.). At this point we are still building up to the James Bond that we know and love...the James Bond we will eventually get come “Spectre”.  Bond had just gotten to double 0 status, so he is not exactly seasoned - quite the opposite, actually.  Bond is so blinded by revenge on the man who betrayed and played Vesper into what she does in Casino Royale that he ends up killing every lead he comes across.  Bond is sloppy, and M is losing trust in him.

Lol, look at that GIF above...I’m noticing that guy in the background isn’t sweeping the floor...hahaha.

This movie opens up with a pre-title sequence of a high speed car chase for a reason unbeknownst to us.  This car chase, like all the other action scenes in this film, is so choppy and hard to watch without it giving you a headache.  The shots are so fast and cut to hell that they are hard to follow and difficult to  understand what is happening.  Bond gets away and opens up the trunk where Mr. White is lying.  Mr. White is the man at the end of Casino Royale who Bond delivers his famous “Bond, James Bond” line to.

Mr. White explains that his organization has people everywhere and that they are so hidden, MI6 doesn’t even know they exist. This is made more evident when one of M’s men, who’d worked for her for years, ends up trying to kill her.  Now M really needs to know how this organization has slipped through their fingers.  So Bond is out to find out and to avenge Vesper in the process.  After Bond accidentally kills a lead, he does some improv that would earn him a spot on Second City’s main stage and runs into Camille who was supposed to be the target of a hit.  I do enjoy that scene where Bond jokingly says “I think someone wants to kill you”, then subsequently flips that guys bike.  Makes me chuckle.

Camille (Olga Kurylenko) plays a Bolivian secret service agent who has infiltrated the organization in question to satisfy a revenge mission of her own.  She is out to kill General Medrano for murdering her family and burning her house down when she was just a little girl.  Olga Kurylenko does fine in this film as far as dark, brooding, mysterious, and spiteful goes, but her performance is rather un-inspiring, and not on my most memorable “Bond Girl” list.  

Dominic Green (Mathieu Amalric) turns out to be the man heading this secret band of fools, a band in which - to my understanding - does all the logistics work for a dirty politician to gain power for a price.  Enter General Medrano who is a dictator at heart and is seeking to overthrow the current Bolivian government to make way for his tyrannical leadership.  So now we have Bond on the heels of Greene to get to Vesper’s betrayer, and Camille on the heels of Green to get to Medrano.

One scene that I find enjoyable in this film is where Bond follows Greene to the opera where his secret organization is to discretely meet and chat over ear piece in the audience while the show is going.  (I would’ve been hushing them the whole time).  Bond has infiltrated and gotten ahold of an ear piece and interrupts the conversation letting them know they are comprised.  I love it when Bond cleverly bests the bad guys.

Like Camille, Mathieu Amalric’s performance as Dominic Green doesn’t really do much for me.  His end goal with Medrano’s partnership is to basically become the Comcast of his water supply.  Monopolize and then charge whatever you want.  Not exactly super villain material.  This happens because he has tricked Medrano into giving him ownership of land that Medrano thinks he wants for the oil.  It’s actually the water Greene is after.  He has created a drought in Bolivia and now everyone will need to turn to him for their lives.  Well, when I put it like THAT then I guess that could be somewhat super villain. 

The plot doesn’t exactly scream “get off your couch and pick this movie up now”, and it has some really dark undertones of sexual violence.  General Medrano is an all around creep and scum bag who rapes and kills, and we see that on full display at the end when a poor cocktail waitress almost falls victim to his “needs”.  It’s rather uncomfortable.

We also have Fields (Gemma Arterton) who is basically there to give us the “Goldfinger” shoutout to Jill Masterson with her dead body lying on the bed covered in oil, black oil.  (You’ll get that joke when we watch Goldfinger).  We also have the return of Mathis who was Bond’s contact for Casino Royale who Bond mistakingly accused as being a traitor.  Well he got an acquittal, and now finds himself helping Bond again after Bond’s cards and passport was frozen.  Mathis eventually gets killed at the hands of one of his connections who ends up betraying him.  Plenty of betrayal to go around. 

In the end, Bond ends up sparing the life of Greene to find out more about Quantum - the name of the organization that we just find out about at the very end of the film.  Bond leaves him in the middle of the desert.  Then he spares the life of the man who betrayed Vesper - leaving M to be impressed with Bond’s newfound restraint.  He’s slowly becoming James Bond!

Apart from some amusing scenes and a great Bond theme by Jack White and Alicia Keys, Quantum Of Solace is Craig’s least inspired film.  Only time will tell how “No Time To Die” ends up being, but I’ve noticed that the longer we have to wait for a Bond movie, the better the film is going to be....

After Licence To Kill we waited 6 years and got Goldeneye, after Die Another Day we waited 4 years and got Casino Royale, after Quantum we waited 4 years and got Skyfall...we’re on year 5 now, so you can imagine that No Time To Die has potential to be amazing!  (Its slated to be the longest Bond movie in history.)

Too much confusion, open ended questions, and hard to follow action makes Quantum of Solace one of my least favorite Bond films.  That isn’t to say that I can’t follow complexity, I love a good puzzle as much as the next guy...but this just feels like it is confusing on accident.  It is worth noting that this film was in production during the infamous writers strike of 2007, not sure if that is to blame or not, but it is not well thought out or executed. And that, my friends, is all I got to say about that.  What did you think?

Let your voices be heard!  See you next week!

Reviews from Friends:

My Mom

I am relieved to hear that you "younguns" did not follow this film either. It is very frustrating to turn the volume up so high that the ensuing music blasts lifts the speakers off the wall, and you still don't understand what they are talking about. I agree that Dominic Green was not the most interesting villain. Just kind of creepy. I have never seen Casino Royale, so I guess I'll be in for a treat. Here is what I googled about the title: "It was the name of a short story in Ian Fleming's anthology For Your Eyes Only (1960). The film is related to the title in one of its thematic elements: "when the 'Quantum of Solace' drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone."

Tyler Dahlgren

Yep don’t like any part of this one. The only part I was liking was Mathis...and then they kill him.

Jake Benrud

I feel like I understood this movie and the plot progression, but it was still just kind of meh. If you didn't see Casino Royale, you would be really lost.

24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with - 

Octopussy