The property of a lady.

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 14, 2008

The last line of the Casino Royale, the novel, is, “The bitch is dead.”

The line is used in the 2006 film adaptation, though buried in the second to last scene, and in a lot of ways, it hangs over the new Bond movie opening today, Quantum Of Solace.

As far as reviews go, there isn’t much to say here, and I’ll try to be as spoiler-lite as possible, but this is basically a film about a lost man chasing after something resembling closure and using himself as a weapon to smash through anything that could possibly get in his way. He has his sights set on a group of people he holds responsible for the loss of the woman he was starting to love, and for the loss of his trust in even her memory, and he intends to smash them into the same pieces that he feels he’s been left in. All of that looks a little something like this:

In passing small talk with a stranger yesterday, I mentioned that I had seen Quantum Of Solace already and their first question to me was not “Was it good?” as you, and definitely I, would expect, but “Was it a good Bond movie?”

The simple answer to that right now is I don’t know. I can tell you right now that it’s the greatest Bourne movie that you’ve ever seen. A lot of the same behind the scenes people from the Bourne flicks were brought over to work on this, and you can tell in the level of super frenetic always on the go action scenes, only clearer. You really felt the hyper adrenaline rush in the last Bourne flick, but quite often, due to weird camera work and incredibly jarring editing, you couldn’t tell what the fuck was going on and were left feeling a little ill. The only time Quantum Of Solace comes close to suffering that is in the pre-title car chase, but it’s done with a certain level of artistry and beautiful cinematography that the Bourne films, under both Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass, never seemed to possess. But what that opening car chase lacks in clarity, it more than makes up for in raw power.

That said, I think it’s somewhat indicative to point out that before the movie even hits the 15 minute mark, there’s been at least three decent and fairly violent action sequences/chase scenes.

The villain this time around is a man named Dominic Greene, head of a well known company working to fight global warming, but secretly a member of the cabal that manipulated the woman Bond loves in the previous film. I’m fascinated by this organization, a kind of SPECTRE for the 21st century, made up of well known figures and members of various espionage outfits. They have an ingenius method for all being in the same room for their meetings without being photographed or linked together. But it’s Greene himself, who’s basically just a smug little prick, that helps make this outing so interesting in a real world sense. Dominic Greene could be any ruthless business man, a charming philanphropist side seen above the water and never showing what leaks beneath the surface. One review I read said that he could be Al Gore or Richard Branson, and Mathieu Amalric, the actor who plays him and was in Munich and The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, said that he played the character with “the smile of Tony Blair and the craziness of Sarkozy.”

The other refreshing factor with the villain isn’t that he wants to steal a bunch of nukes and hold the world hostage for one hundred BILLIONS of dollars. His nefarious scheme seems very plausible and incredibly grounded in the real world. You can see him discuss his ultimate goal in the trailer a bit when he says “this is the world’s most precious resource and we need to control as much of it as possible.” You should really be able to guess what that resource is.

Then there’s the ladies… Amazing to me that the leading lady in this film gets the shit for being the flimsiest, when to me, she seems to be one of the more capable of Bond girls we’ve had. I mean, do you people remember Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones? Trust me, it can get so much worse than Olga Kurylenko’s remarkably driven Camille who is singular in her goal in this film, her passion for revenge nicely complimenting Bond’s own.

The other Bond girl in this outing is named Strawberry Fields (Forever!), played by the lovely Gemma Arterton (who apparently has an extra finger or two), and right from the get go, you know she’s there for to be eye candy and to fuck Bond and to… well, guess. These films are incredibly sexist beasts by their very design (though less so in the Daniel Craig years, I would say), Agent Fields knows what Bond wants and even though he uses quite possibly the flimsiest line in cinema history to lure her into bed, she doesn’t come off as an idiot or a tricked woman. She beds him because she wants to, and I could be wrong, but is there anything more feminist than that?

And then of course there’s Dame Judi Dench who just commands more and more of these films as she goes on, and rightfully so. I was rewatching bits of both Goldeneye and Casino Royale the other day and some of her best scenes are when she gets to verbally dress down Bond as the Cold War hold over/misogynist dinosaur that he is. Craig is growing more and more solid in these films not as the suave, good looking superspy that we’re used to, but as the ugly and messed up guy, the violent creature that would probably inhabit this role in real life. Will he eventually turn into Roger Moore or Sean Connery in this role (or even Pierce Brosnan, who started off with a certain Connery-ish flavor and then eventually melted into more solid Roger Moore territory) or will he be something else altogether? It’ll be fun to watch.

It will also be interesting to see where the series goes following this entry, being that Casino Royale was a new set up in their reboot program and Quantum Of Solace was a straight sequel, springing to life probably about an hour after where Royale left off (with it’s proud announcement of “The name’s Bond… James Bond,” a line sadly, but rightfully, not appearing in this current film). Marc Forster, kind of the king of indie acclaim already, does a competent job, but other than bringing a lovely framing to the images and empowering his set designers to to channel a little of that classic Ken Adam vibe, he appears to be mostly staying out of the way and letting the action and the pathos work their magic.

It’s disgusting how much more I could go on about this film, this series, all of it, but I should put a cork in it here. I have one more Bond post in me, just as I threatened in my previous one, talking about the rejected music of the series, but until then… Go see the movie. I want to know what you think.

Nobody does it better…

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 13, 2008

On Monday night I had the pleasure of seeing the new James Bond movie, Quantum Of Solace, a few days early, and I thought I’d talk about it. I’ve always considered myself a fan of the Bond movies, and whether it’s a good or bad thing, I’ve become something of an amateur expert over the years on the films, the books, the aura, etc. So I thought I’d do a few posts on the return of the franchise, but Commander Light suggested that the most interesting post would probably be one on the music of Bond, so for what could be the first of several posts dealing with the films, I’ll give you the six best Bond themes…

6. “Live And Let Die” by Paul McCartney & Wings.

This 1973 song was used as the introduction to the third official James Bond on film, Roger Moore (after Sean Connery and the criminally underrated George Lazenby), and with the 70s in full swing, it was time for a change along with the new leading man. To do this, the producers brought in George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, who then brought in McCartney to write the song (along with wife Linda), which was eventually nominated for an Oscar (but lost out to the theme from The Way We Were). The orchestral break in this song (written by Martin) is also used throughout the film diegetically, at point performed by a woman in a New Orleans club as a warning to Bond, and then later outside as part of a funeral dirge. And of course there’s all the covers of it, including Guns N’ Roses and certain well known glamorous trannies. This song is a weird standout on a James Bond playlist, but a fun one.

5. “You Only Live Twice” by Nancy Sinatra.

This song, written by John Barry (the man who pretty much championed how every Bond movie would sound musically up until the Brosnan years) with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, for the 5th Bond movie of the same name, has been covered by quite a few people, including Bjork, The Postmarks, and even Coldplay, which is just an interesting and very eclectic list. the opening 2 bars of the song are incredibly striking, lovely, and memorable, especially when you realize that they were sampled for Robbie William’s “Millennium.” This is just a lovely song, lush and dreamy, as it should be concerning it’s lyrical subject matter, and the soundtrack to You Only Live Twice is one of the few of the Bond films that I actually possess and much like the film and this title song, it’s perfect. You could put it on to fall asleep to or to have a nice, swinging party. Or maybe both, if you’re so inclined.

4. “The Living Daylights” by A-ha.

The Timothy Dalton movies are not highly regarded by most Bond purists, but they contained some excellent moments, and really are something of a blueprint for what you’r starting to see in the Daniel Craig years, both in style of storytelling and the level of anti-social brooding you’ll see in the main character. I wonder if the Daniel Craig films, which now are critically acclaimed, will be seen as underappreciated as Dalton’s tenure with the role was. This film in particular, before we even get to the song, is easily one of my favorites of the pre-title sequences in all the Bond films. Take a gander:

As for the title song itself… it’s not “Take On Me,” but honestly, how can you not be digging this song. This is a pure pop gem, if you ask me. The credits list it as written by John Barry and a-ha’s guitarist Peter Waaktaar-Savoy, and in addition to the version used for the film, there’s apparently different versions of the song out there, some re-done by Barry and some re-done by the band themselves, since there appears to have been some arguing and fighting amongst the band the producer. The band claims that Barry wasn’t involved in the creative process at all and therefore shouldn’t have his name on the song and Barry says that they were insolent little children who kept trying to push their vision on him. Also, he apparently compared them to the Hitlerjugend in a newspaper interview. Awesome.

3. “Diamonds Are Forever” by Shirley Bassey.

You’ll see her mentioned again, but Shirley Bassey just seems to kind of go hand in hand with the Bond franchise, her music and especially her amazing voice becoming so synonymous with the series. Since this was Connery’s one off return to the official series after the producers showed him that they had no problem going a different way in lieu of paying him a fortune (see below), it was decided to go back to a classic: Shirely Bassey. But then producers hated the song, and the especially the innuendo (Bassey was told in the studio by John Barry to imagine that she was singing about a penis), but they kept it in anyways. The song was later covered by the Arctic Monkeys and sampled by Kanye West.

2. “We Have All The Time In The World” by Louis Armstrong.

As a jazz trumpeteer, the fantastic Mr. Armstrong wins the award for least likely performer of a Bond song, I believe, but this is a beautiful song, not the theme song (which is also good, but is an instrumental, which is odd but understandable), but more of the tragic love theme of the movie, and if you’ve never seen On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, then you absolutely need to. Staring one off Bond George Lazenby, it has one of the best, most meta of openings (remember that Lazenby was the first to follow Connery), one of the best and most classy Bond girls in Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas as the most swingin’ of villains, and has the character development that all the rest of the Bond actors wanted (Brosnan famously tried to campaign the producers to remake this film with him). The song went on to be covered by artists such as My Bloody Valentine and Iggy Pop and the title track was remixed by the Propellerheads.

1. “Goldfinger” by Shirley Bassey.

This song, sung by the ridiculously talented Bassey, and written by Bond’s super composer John Barry with lyrics by Anthony Newly and Leslie Bricusse, is basically what we think of when we think of a Bond theme. Lush and orchestral, something that you can easily imagine sung by a woman with an amazing voice in an evening dress in front of a full symphony before a rousing action thriller. This song is perfect in so many ways. Making heavy use of brass and metallic chimes, it’s loud and epic, boisterous in it’s power, and Bassey’s voice is completely unrestrained, and not surprisingly, it won her a gold record in America. So revered is her performance here that they asked her back for Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker, and to record a song for Thunderball that was never used. She’s in her 70s, but Jesus, I wish they’d bring her back for the new films. Dare I even go so far as to say that it’s set the gold standard by which we measure all Bond songs?

Honorable mentions/runner ups include:

“A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran. This is easily one of my favorite of the Bond songs because of how perfectly it fits in with the film, which is such a subject of the 80s. Roger Moore is running around bedding Grace Jones and women who look like they could be his great-granddaughters and fighting of Christopher Walken as a nazi test tube baby hellbent on sinking Silicon Valley. It doesn’t get much better or crazier than than that. Oh, and did I mention that they have their final battle on the Golden Gate bridge after their zeppelin crashes into it? Pure sweaty genius.

“Nobody Does It Better” by Carly Simon from The Spy Who Loved Me. Do I even need to qualify this? It’s a super power ballad and was even called “the sexiest song that was ever written” by Thom Yorke. Makes me feel sad for the rest.

“The Look Of Love” by Dusty Springfield. The song, with music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David, was written for the original 1967 James Bond film “spoof” Casino Royale, staring David Niven, William Holden, John Huston, Woody Allen, Orson Welles, and quite a few other stars (I could write about this movie forever, honestly). According to Wikipedia, the song has become synonymous with loung and easy listening music, ha ha. The song was originally intended to be just an instrumental, inspired by the lusty feelings Bacharach felt when looking at star Ursula Andress in an early cut of the movie. Andress, I hope somebody out there remembers, was the original gorgeous babe crawling out of the ocean for Bond’s eyes to feast on (before Halle Berry and later Craig himself occupied that role). Anyways, the song is lovely and you know we love us some Dusty here at Counterforce.

And just for Commander Light, I’ll end this with “The World Is Not Enough” by Garbage. The title of the song and film comes from a reference to the Bond family coat of arms from way back when, and Garbage was the perfect choice for a new artist to dabble in that classic Bond vibe. The song is not great, but it has a lovely lush vibe that floats on the pure sex waves of Shirley Manson herself. Tomorrow I plan to do a post on the songs that didn’t make the cut for whatever reason in Bond films and will probably use the original version of this song by the band Straw. (And, you’ll of course notice that the theme song from Quantum Of Solace is no where on this list, and not even close to it.) Until then…

Winning IS everything.

Posted by counterforce! on November 11, 2008

Well, hello there, America:

Crazy week, right?

We here at Counterforce were just like you this time last week.

Because of this:

and this too:

Ha ha! Beautiful.

The transition is beginning, the big meetings are happening, the staff is being hired, and soon Renegade, Renaissance, Radiance, and Rosebud will be moving into the White House.

So that just leaves the question… What’s next?

The election is over, we have a candidate, so what’s next for the country, the world, and even, selfishly, for us here at Counterforce?

No idea. But let’s find out, what do you say?

It’s a Tarp!

Posted by Benjamin Light on November 4, 2008

Not to steal Marco’s thunder, but…

this has been a long time coming motherfuckers

now let’s all get drunk and celebrate!

ATTN COUNTERFORCE: Our next post will be #100! Let’s hold off and do something special for it. Discuss what within.

And the winner is… John McCAIN!

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 4, 2008

PSYCHE! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

Some of this hologram bullshit.

Goodbye, Sarah Palin, it’s… not really been fun, but it’s been something. If Ted Stevens wins and goes to jail, does she appoint herself?

Joe the Plumber tries voting at the wrong place.

Why vote against Republicans? Because fuck them, that’s why.

Presidency, corner pocket.

Alright, everybody, let’s go get drunk. The first round is on Counterforce (and by Counterforce, I mean Benjamin Light, but whatever). It’s time to believe again. It’s nice to be excited about tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and every tomorrow to come. Let’s do this!

And eating it too. PS. Suck it, Al Michaels!

Posted by Benjamin Light on November 3, 2008

“It’s just a matter of time.” — Terrell Owens

Tonight worked out especially well. As you may or may not know, Political Science stipulates that if the Washington Redskins win their last home game before the November election, the incumbent party will win the Presidential Election.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, what the fuck happened in ’04. The Packers beat the Redskins and Kerry lost. Ah, but you see, Bush didn’t actually win in ’00, Gore did. Thus, the true incumbent party lost in ’04 and the laws of the Universe are preserved.

Waste of a good windshield

But for the laws to be preserved tonight, it meant I had to cheer for the Steelers, specifically Big Ben Roeaeiouthsxthlistburgjer. For those of you who don’t watch sports, “Big Ben” is the biggest tool in all of professional sports. Were it not for the sudden, unwelcome ascendance of Samuel J. “The Plumber” Wurtzelbachksher, Ben might be the biggest douche the world over.

If Big Ben and Joe the Plumber were to mutually masturbate each other into a turkey baster (yes, yes, picture that!) and then spray the tip of Elizabeth Hassellback’s sybian with their combined product, the resulting fetus would grow up to be this guy:

William Frederick Durst: The Supreme Douchebag by which all other 'bags shall be weighed and measured against. And found lacking.

But alas, everything is going our way these days. Not only did the Steelers win, all but assuring an Obama victory, but Roeoesthluistburgrer got injured by half time, and it looks like a separated shoulder, possibly out for the season.

Woo hoo!

It’s gonna be a fucking landslide. I think the question isn’t 300, it’s 400. But not if you don’t get out there and motherfucking VOTE!

Quick sports note: ESPN Monday Night Football Third Wheel Tony Kornheiser said before the game that Jason Campbell was the MVP of the league through nine weeks. Campbell backed it up by getting sacked 7 times and doing jack shit to move the ball. Later, Tony K complained that he had all this material lined up to verbally fellate Skins coach Jim “I’m very over-rated by the ESPN right-wing Cabal” Zorn, and that Washington sucked so bad he couldn’t use it. Why does this guy have a job again?

Tomorrow, part two: Politics is bullshit.

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 3, 2008

Vote for Obama. Vote for McCain. Light your vote on fire and throw it away on a douchebag like Bob Barr or any of those other losers (I think Nader’s on the ballot in a few states again), but whatever the fuck you do, VOTE TOMORROW.

A few last minute headlines:

Obama’s grandmother dies.

Obama’s Nevada campaign director dies.

Palin goes after Obama on coal comments.

Polls point to McCain upset if you are polling John McCain himself.

Unrelated: How to have sex with a dolphin.

Joe the Plummer questions Obama’s loyalty to America.

Palin on Democrats: “Do they think that terrorists… are the good guys?”

Republican Mayor of San Diego now supports gay marriage.

Palin as big as problem as Bush and the economy for McCain.

Dirty tricks!

How much is your vote worth?

Obama’s grandmother.

Poll closing times.

John McCain would like one last word with you regarding tomorrow’s very important election.

Just remember: If you don’t vote tomorrow, you’re really just fucking yourself.

Tomorrow, part one: For a better way…

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 3, 2008

“Politics is bullshit.”

The other day I completed the same ritual I do every four years: watching The Candidate, the 1972 Michael Ritchie movie starring Robert Redford and Pete Boyle about how the political machine works.

Even being over a quarter of a century old, this movie still feels relevant to me. Probably because the system hasn’t really changed all that much in the decades since it was just released, just got faster and slicker. And you could make the argument that while a lot of us got smarter and savvier, a good deal more of us let ourselves become stupid and lazier.

The plot is simple: Boyle’s character is the democratic operative who’s tasked with the unwinnable mission of unseating a popular Republican senator from California. Knowing that he absolutely can’t win, he seeks out Bill McCkay, Robert Redford’s character, the good looking son of a former governor who couldn’t care less about politics, and instead works as a lawyer for liberal causes. But Boyle’s hard sell to Redford’s character isn’t all that hard: He can’t win, everyone knows that the Republican will win, so therefore he can out there and say whatever he wants and to a much larger audience than he has now. Mckay accepts, but on the condition that he can say whatever he wants and that he can keep his father, whom he’s had a falling out with, out of the campaign and do this on his own.

From the get go, his political staff is crafting him to be your typical candidate with cheesy commercials designed to make their opponent look old and out of touch, and ridiculous slogans that don’t mean anything (“McKay: The Better Way”), but McKay sticks to his guns delivering speeches about things no one wants to talk about like abortion rights, welfare, and environmental regulations. He easily wins the primary (no one else is stupid enough to run in it), and then realizes through his polling projections that he’ll get destroyed in the general election. Losing is one thing, but being flat out humiliated is another and at this point, he can’t back out.

So as they get closer to election day, McKay starts playing the game. His liberal statements erode away and his speeches become nothing but the same old clichés and empty statements as everyone else. He ignores what’s in his heart and follows what he’s told to do. But then he has a new problem: Since his father has stayed out of the campaign up to this point, the media takes that as a silent endorsement of the opponent. McKay goes to his father to make a comment to the contrary, but his simple statement that he doesn’t endorse the republican only makes it worse. Regardless, McKay is still moving up in the polls, not by much, but enough that his opponent is getting concerned and agrees to a debate.

The debate itself is a pretty sad affair, with prepared answers and generic barbs being traded. But right as it’s ending, McKay’s conscience forces him to let out an outburst about how nothing was said in the debate, how none of the real issues such as race and poverty were addressed, and his campaign staff is mortified. This could cost him the election by making him look liked a hot headed nut job, but it’s saved at the last moment as his father shows up and gives him a loud and resounding endorsement, so that the media only reports the reemeergence of the father and not on McKay’s political gaffe.

The day of the election comes and the vote is gotten out. There’s a nice little montage of some of the tactics employed, such as getting the homeless to vote with the promise of free booze, and McKay is left with the fact that he’s completely sold out his values for political victory. I’m going to spoil the ending for you here and tell you that he wins. But it’s a confusing victory and in the movie’s famous last scene, McKay pulls the Peter Boyle character away from everyone else to ask him simply, “What do we do now?” But before Boyle can answer, the throngs of their overjoyous supporters and the excited media show up, hungry for celebration in the heat of their victory and McKay never gets his answer.

The movie could use a remake because of how raw and unpolished it is, but that’s part of what makes it feel so authentic. And it does feel real, with the campaign’s heavy emphasis on image and wealth and almost hated chagrin of substance. It almost feels like it’s painted out a majority of how politics has played out since then (McKay is apparently having an affair with a supporter at one point, just to show that even idealistic men all have vices, it would seem). I remember reading that Redford was considering a sequel/remake back around 2000, but sadly nothing’s come of the talk.

Oh, and Dan Quayle has been quoted as saying that this film is one of the reasons he went into politics.

But then there’s the thesis of the movie: Politics is bullshit. It’s what Redford’s character tells Peter Boyle’s character at the start of the film when he realizes what he wants from him. What do you think? Is politics bullshit? Personally, I’d say yes, it is, but only about 60% of the time. Real, honest change for the better can be accomplished by people who actually want it and strive to make it happen. And by you when you vote. Think your vote is meaningless? Frustrated because yours is just a small drop in a large pond? Well, it is. But you’re still in that pond. It’s still your fault if someone comes and takes a piss in that pond and you don’t do anything to try and stop them. Or, as William E. Simon said, “bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote.”

Something wicked this way came.

Posted by Marco Sparks on November 1, 2008

Just over three days to go!

Happy (day after) Halloween.

Just to recap you: Commander Light went as Jim from The Office.

Last night amidst all the other trick or treaters, a little girl came up to my door dressed as Amy Winehouse. It took me a second to realize that she wasn’t in fact a coked up looking micro witch, but the British singer.

Her pale face (with this caked on white powdery stuff) lit up and her eyes got bigger and brighter and she gave me a big hug. “Thank you so much,” she said. “You’re the first person tonight to recognize what my costume is.”

And then she ran off into the night. And I sighed at the state of the future.

As I write this, I’m watching tonight’s SNL. Don’t ask me why. I have no good, valid reason. Thankfully, with the election on Tuesday I can go back (if I even do that) to what my usual routine has been the past few weeks: Scan Tumblr and Hulu for highlights. One of last weeks’ Don Draper skits was excellent, but the one featuring more of the Mad Men cast was not. A typical SNL skit, really.

Also, Ben Affleck’s impression of Keith Olbermann is astonishingly bad. For some reason, he plays him as extra poncy British.

But without Amy Poehler on the show anymore, I don’t know why anyone would continue to watch after Tuesday (there’s apparently another primetime special on Monday night). Except for the last month and a half, I don’t think I’ve really watched this show (either than the occasional Andy Samberg clip online) since four years ago. And I’m okay with not coming back for another four years.

Though McCain’s appearance did feel like a bit of a concession. Here’s John and Cindy backstage.