James Bonding - Casino of Solace Part 2 with Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

We're back, earlier than expected, with part 2 of our back to back watch of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Learn more now at newsy.com slash podcast or find Newsie on Fire TV, Roku, YouTube TV, Hulu, and dozens of other streaming platforms. I find news important. Just a quick note before we get started, and it's a good one, James Bonding is coming to the London Podcast Festival Sunday, September 16th, 2018 at 7 p.m. That's right, Matt and I are getting on a plane, flying ourselves over there, and talking about James Bond as a bunch of Americans in the city where it was basically born. But still, we hope you'll come out and visit us. Go to kingsplace.com.com to get tickets. We hope to see you there. And also, I've released another of my series of art prints on the stunt spectaculars of James Bond. If you go to Matt goarly.com, you can see On Her Majesty's Secret Stunt.

show available now on Red Bubble. Matt end. Mad and James Bonding podcast. Previously on James Bonding. Vespa, come on, please breathe. He kept on trying to bring her back and continued failing. He was giving up hope. When he saw a twitch of movement in her mouth,

he wasn't sure whether or not his eyes had deceived him, but he would take anything as a sign. He tried even harder, pushing down on her chest, harder than before, breathing more air in her lungs than before, until he heard a faint cough from her pale form. His hands pushed down on her chest again, and his prayers were answered, and her eyes shot open, and she began to cough up excessive amounts of water. Oh, God, he said, and grabbed her still coughing body, and pulled her close to him, squeezing

his arms around her and rocking her back and forth. Vesper, I thought you were dead. How could you do that? How? You are so stupid. That doesn't sound like Bond. The writing or my impression? No, the writing. The impression is spot on.

Hold on, not finished. What would I have done if I'd lost you? If I hadn't gotten to you in time. Do you even think about that? Did you? Okay, that sounds like that. Bond held her out in front of him. His strong hands firmly placed on her shoulders.

She was no longer coughing, but now her body racked with sobs. Only when James realized this, did he realize that he was crying nearly as hard as she was. James, James, she said between sobs, I'm sorry. Sorry, Marie just pantom I'm discovering your sobbing. She's covered in water. I could see that if it was underwater.

I would know that you were sobbing. I'm so sorry, I couldn't let them hurt you. If I'm with you, then they wouldn't. have only come after me, they would have come off to you too. And I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to you because of me. Oh, we're getting some answers. You should have left me, James. You should have left, just left me down there. Barham looked at her as if she was completely insane. Bespel look at me. He turned her face to look directly into his eyes. If you died and I couldn't see you again. I'll hear your voice. Do you think I would care what had happened

to me? I wouldn't care in the slightest because you wouldn't be here with me. Vesper shook her head. James, you really are impossible. Do you know that? We'll both be hunted down because of me, and I can't let you put yourself through that. Vesper, I do believe we can handle it. If we beat Lechief and got through this mission together,

what can't we get through? Besides, I don't think they'll come after us. The only thing that matters is that I love you. I love you enough to do anything for you, and I certainly love you enough to not let you do something as stupid as tried to drown in an elevator. She gave him a watery, smile.

Oh, James, I love you too. I love you more than anything, but there are other things that I haven't told you. There's so much that you don't know, and I'm scared that if you knew those things, you would stop loving me that instance. If I had died, knowing that at least you still loved me, I would have at least been happy when I went. Okay, that makes a loose. Okay,

all right. All right. Wait, say that one more time. Oh, James, I love you, too. I love you more than anything, but if there are other things I haven't told you, there are so many that you don't know. and I'm scared that if you knew those things, you would stop loving me at that instant. If I had died, knowing that at least you still loved me, I would have at least been happy when I went.

Bond looked at her disbelievingly. How can you say that? How can you possibly even think that? I love you. I will always love you, no matter what you tell me. She tried to protest, but he put a hand over her mouth. Would you please shut up? Please?

You do argue much, you know. Vesper laughed Hold on Vesper laughed through her sobs that still persisted Well if I do It's because of your

impossible ego Bond laughed But the laugh Turned into a bit of a choke As another sob tried to break through He grabbed her and wrapped his arms Around her tightly Squeezing her to him

As if to never let her go again And that is exactly what he intended He buried his face into her hair And for once in his life Let himself cry Thankful she was alive thankful that he had a reason for living and thankful he could still feel her breath on his skin.

Vesper wrapped her arms around him as well and pulled him even closer. I love you, James. Later, neither one would be sure how long they sat like that on the roof of the collapsed building. When people came around to begin investigating, they made a quick exit by borrowing one of the boats nearby. They got off the small boat on a busy street not too far away, and despite their dishevel appearance, they blended relatively well into the crowd. Bond still held Vesper close to him, as if he were afraid to let her go.

They made it uneventfully back to their hotel. They had disgusted on the way back and decided that since Mr. White had the money, he would see no purpose in coming after them. After all, both Bond and Vesper had resigned from their positions. Still, they side with relief when they were back safely in the room. Bond brought Vesper into another tight embrace, thankful that she was alive. Vespa, he said, I suggest you go ahead and tell me those things you're so worried. about because I don't want you to be fretting about them.

Best preside and nodded, as you already know. All right. I was a double agent on this mission. I had an Algerian love that was captured and held ransom. I was given the choice to either participate as they wanted me to or condemn him to death. As you can see, I chose to let them use me as a spy. But when I got into this mission, I fell madly in love with you. So in love that I realized I wanted to be with you more than anything.

And though I love you, I didn't wish my old love to die. so I wired the money to the other account. I knew you would find out and never want to see me again. I knew that when I was to meet these men, I was most likely going to my death, but I accepted it because I knew that when I died, you would still love me.

Then you followed me and saved me. Bond processed the information. It all fit. It would explain several different questions. What became of your lover then? He asked, almost bitterly, I'm switching between accents in my narrator voice and Bond.

I don't know where I am. Vesper shook her head. Oh, heaven only knows. I couldn't tell you if he lived or died. I wish him well, but James don't be bitter. I love you now. I love you more than I could ever imagine loving anyone, and I hope that's enough.

Bond immediately softened when he saw the tears in her eyes. Of course it is. I promise you back there on that roof that would be, wouldn't it? I promise I'll have M take care of all of this. Don't get the money back from White, and then you and I are going around the world wherever we like just as we were before. Pause, pause, pause, time out for one second.

His plan is to call him, be like, listen, you've got to get this money back from Mr. White so that we can have $100 million and sail around the world. Why would also Mr. White leave them alive? Don't worry about that. Because they resigned. Right. Vesfer smiled. Are we really, James?

You mean after what's just happened? You still want to go through with it? Yes. If I stayed here with this job any longer, I would barely be a human being anymore. More of a machine, really. I say we use all the money we've saved up to go wherever we please. If you want to settle down somewhere eventually, fine, too. Rome, Paris, London, anywhere you want to go.

Scottland, I have a mansion. He smiled down at her and stroked her cheek. She leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. She stayed like this for a moment, enjoying just being near him. Finally, she spoke and opened her eyes with a mischievous look in her eye. Right now, Mr. Bond is only one place I want you. Bond caught on and gave her a devilish grin. I knew it.

And picked her up, kissing her passionately. His mouth crushed onto hers. Ew. This is turning into pornography. Each one of them filled with amazing passion for the other. He carried her across the room and shut the bedroom door behind them. Damn. Oh, that's the end?

That's it. Oh, that's a classy end to a fan fix. I don't know. I think it's better. She died. I agree. This makes me realize why she had to die. Because there's no happy ending.

No, there's no way that they can be happy. They call M and she gets the money back for them. Everything's going to be okay. Yeah, she'll handle it. Yeah, no, no, I know they did this, but they're out of the game now. Yeah. You could just let them. Look, Mr. Well.

They resigned, so no one's going to come after them. Yeah. Yeah. They posted their resignation on Facebook. So that everyone can see it. I'm tweeting this. Oh, poor Vesper. Well, who wrote that?

Can we credit that author? I suppose we could. We should, right? Yes, it was nice. Famefiction.net. It's called Love is Enough by M-Girll 1904. What if it's our Emily? Oh, no, Emily.

Who's Emily? Emily Shmemmeli, our head of social media. Yeah, well, that was very interesting. And I think I needed to hear that just to, now I can stop asking why did she have to die? As nice as that was, I think... It doesn't make sense, because character-wise, they're not going to be...

It's just not going to work out. They're going to get bored. to one another anyway. That's true. I love how casual podcasting is happening here. Maria's reclining in her draw me like one of my French girls' pose. Amanda's put out a blanket on the floor, holding the mic and just petting the cat

because we are, for us, this is 90 minutes in. We've just handled Casino Royale. This episode is continuing on with Quantum of Solace. My name is Matt. My name is also Matt. This is James Bonding. I know that you guys might have been confused by that wonderful story read up top, but it was the continuation of a story that told us what would happen if Vesper had lived. But alas, she does not. And that brings us the quantum of solace.

Marie and Amanda have thankfully joined us again now to discuss the movie that we all slogged through. No, we know. What? No, not all of us. I really like this movie. I agree. May I ask your question? It's slow, but I agree.

You'd like it? I do like it. I also don't I like it as well I just don't think it's up there with Casino Realty I don't like it at all You don't like it at all Now let me just ask a quick question

Before we get into the movie The theme song by Jack White and Alicia Keys Now I was a fan when this song came out But I always did have it When I hear it They sound off key And they sound it's almost like nails

On a chalkboard All they are you sing a little bit of it? No. Yeah, you sing the other one. I just mean to refresh my memory. See, I think it would have been better if there would have been no singing and just all instrumental in that. Yeah. Because it sounds like their voices together, I think it sounds bad.

Well, you also, I was surprised to hear that who I think is Jack White is actually Alicia Keys and vice versa. The one that sounds like the woman is actually Jack White. What? Yeah. You want me to bring it up? Yeah, please. Okay. Because I can't imagine.

Oh, like the, a da left open. That. Maybe why it sounds so discordient to you. It doesn't. It just, their voices together sound wrong. And the way it's mixed is also, like, the voices are very prevalent. But I like the song and I love the instrumental. Yeah, this.

Pay for YouTube Red, Matt. I'll give you the $10 every month. Stop it. Stop with these ads. Jesus. All right. It's worth mentioning that apparently Amy Winehouse was supposed to do a song for this film. Then she went to rehab, I think.

And so I think this was a bit of a last-minute thing for Jack White. Oh, well, I mean, the guitar and everything sounds great. See, this is all great. We're watching the music video here, too. This is cool. I like this part. Yeah. That's Alicia Keys.

Yeah. That sounds good. But that's Jack White. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds to me like... Okay, listen to how off-key this sounds. It sounds like they're straining.

Yeah. I agree. It's not pleasant. It's not pleasant, but I do enjoy the song very much so, but... Well, let me throw this at you. You might recognize this melody from the film, and it's what the composer wrote to be the opening song for... Shirley Bassie to sing.

But why didn't she do it? The producers wanted something more hit. So this was supposed to be the opening title? It was the intention of the composer, but they didn't want it. Do you recognize this from the score? I like this. Yeah. I like that I still hold out of space

I like that a lot I think I think I still hold out hope one day that they'll do a director's cut that Mark Forster gets to go back in clear up the editing do a bit of a longer cut throw this on as the title song Wouldn't that be something?

Yeah I'd be open to watching that You know there's a franchise that would never do it It's the Bond franchise you know You're right Have they ever I feel like they have a hard time admitting any wrongdoing creatively. Or they're comfortable in what's past is past. Yeah.

I mean, I think Michael G. Wilson probably just isn't a great teacher, as we've learned. Teacher, what do you mean teacher? Professor visiting at USC. If you listen to the Austin Powers episode, you guys would know what we're talking about. Yeah, baby. So, Maria, what do you think about this direct sequel? Monitor's still on. Oh.

It's okay. You have headphones on. Yay. What do you think about this as a direct sequel? Like taking place minutes after, even though he's in a different suit. Oh, wow. I didn't... You never noticed that?

Oh, my God. I thought for sure you'd be picking that apart. He's no longer in a three-piece suit. This movie's worse than I thought. I don't like it. I just, I don't... Like, I get what they were trying to do, and that's all great. You know, keep In Vesper alive in the...

in the sequel to Casino Royale making Bond's emotions real but I just did not I just don't I didn't enjoy watching it it was honestly like

watching a Fast and the Furious movie No yes it was especially the editing It was like the editing I can imagine You've never seen a Fast in the Furious Not a single Well you watched one last night

You watched that this morning Look This opening shot this helicopter shot coming in in this beautiful Italian. I love it. Italy's gorgeous. And the film grain is all heavy. And then I know that this first scene is crazy.

It's a little hard to tell what's going on. I think it's the best car chase in a Bond movie. I agree. And just the sound design that comes in and out, the sound of the machine gun. There's nothing crazy or unique or special. It's just a good car chase shoot them up. Yeah. Oh, I love it.

Sound design. It sounds like heat, like Michael Mann. Yeah, because it just sounds. so real. But then it goes out. Yes. And it does that throughout the film. They do that too much.

They do that too much, I think, the silence. But the way that... This is the best car chase in a James Bond movie for me. But also, like, the indicator where I was just like, yes, this is a great car chase. Is the way that that Alfa Romeo falls off the cliff. Yeah. It just falls like a car is supposed to fall. It spins.

Yeah, not one of these, like, you know, when you cut away to stock footage of a car falling off a cliff and on fire where it just goes straight down like it was just pushed off a cliff. Do you know what I mean? Maria, when he pivots the car, the door's torn off and he pulls that machine gun from the passenger side and you see his face. You didn't get a chill? No, I did get a chill when I did like was a little after that when the motorcycle guy, he flips up the motorcycle guy over. I got a little. Yeah, I liked that. And I, to me, I liked it at the end when they opened the trunk and reveal that his friend is in there.

Mr. White. Mr. White, yeah. Because that made it make, all made it make sense to me why they jumped right into that car chase. Yeah. That was, that was exciting. Maybe he put Mr. White in the trunk. He went up to Mr. White's bedroom, took a suit, said, because his other one, he'd probably been wearing for a little bit, and that's why he was wearing a new suit.

Well, I understand. I think their impulse was right to put him in a new suit just because, like, we've seen the other suit. At least they're giving us that. You know, I think the impulse was. Oh, he was wearing a brioani. We have to put him in a Tom Ford. But also, like, why not say to Tom Ford, Tom, can you get us a three-piece blue suit?

And he would have been like, sure. Yeah. I assume Tom would have been, sure. Sure. I'll ask my best friend, Julianne Moore. What do you think, Julianne Moore? Oh, are they best friends? Yeah.

Yes, yes, yes, that makes sense. So admittedly, there are some issues. I remember the first time I watched this, I didn't catch that when that semi-truck hits the side of the tunnel, it shoves a big metal bar out, which crashes. into Craigs as Martin pulls the door off. Same thing with when they've got Mr. White down for interrogation. It looks like M gets shot, but then runs off. So the editing...

She's like limping around. Yeah, it doesn't help. She doesn't get shot. Oh, she gets grazed. Like, well, not grazed, but like a bullet goes by her as far as I always thought. She just falls down and then runs away. Oh, okay, right. I love Mr. White.

Yeah. I've always been a fan of him. And I really enjoy. the interrogation scene and I really by the fact that he's chuckling about it and like going like

we would have had you too if she hadn't killed herself Yeah I didn't understand that line I didn't understand why they would have had him too if she wouldn't have killed him because they would have pulled the whole kidnapping scheme again and been like James Bond you have to get her

if you don't we're going to kill her if you don't But she knew he was she knew he was going to follow her No, I don't think she knew. She was leaving the phone so he could find Mr. White. She didn't want him to follow her. I mean, that's a little bit confusing.

The reason he follows her is because he gets the call from M and realizes something is up. Yeah. There's a nice man from the treasury here. Right, so she's actually responsible for everything that went down in that abandoned. M's the one that needs to be getting the blame. M should resign. Yes.

No. Am does have to think on her sins in the next movie. I'm not understand what you mean by in quantum when he says we would have had you two. I'm not understanding that. What does he mean? He means that if we could have done the same thing we did to everyone with the Yusuf, we would have used Vesper to be your Yusuf. Or like they just know that he would have come to them.

Yeah, he would have done anything for her. He says that. He says you would have done anything for her. Meaning like you would have turned for her. her and we would have had you. Wow. See, the other thing I love about this is that it takes it a step up,

maybe too much for some people, and that you learn that this thing called quantum exists and Mr. White was involved in the whole Casino Royal thing as a member of Quantum, which to me was a better way to handle Spector than actually making it Spector. Correct. I would have loved that they would have kept

Blofeld part of Quantum instead of Spector. Yeah. Spector's the old terrorist organization. from the Bond films and some of the books. You're trailing off there, buddy. What's a matter? I feel like I'm girding up my energy to protect this. Well, your feet are up, and you look over at Maria,

and she's Bert Reynolds and Playgirl. It seems like we're having a slumber part. I know. Yeah, so I, and, you know, we talked about this, I believed last time we talked about Quantum of Salas all four years. years ago, whenever the hell we did that movie. I love him. I love Mr. White going, like, we're always like thinking, oh, no, the CIA's over our

shoulders. I don't even know we exist, and he's genuinely laughing about it. Yeah, I like that interrogation scene, and it really, you know, it's not something I remembered from when I had seen the movie before that, you know, we have people everywhere, and then that guy pulls out a gun. And then I understand Judy Dunge being like, he worked for me for so long. like I went to his wedding. Yeah.

She didn't say that. No, but I think that she probably did. I bet she did officiate his wedding, honestly. Yeah, I'd like to know what went through his mind, like, leading up to that day, being like, I've been working. Yeah, I've been working with these people for so long. He probably, you know, like, I think there was a reason why he doesn't kill M straight away. I think he's probably got a girlfriend that's being held.

Like he's a member of Quantum that's blackmailing him. Oh, my God. Is that all they did? I don't know. Do you think that they like just ignored the meatloaf opus? I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. I feel like that might be... He's proven himself to be an effective agent meatloaf.

What did you guys think of? I've forgotten that there are some real iconic moments in this film too, like when he fights Mitchell in that cathedral under construction and that just that turn where he has the gun, grabs the rope to stay. steady himself and shoots Mitchell in time. It's another one that benefits from a couple of rewatches like the car chase because after you realize what's really going on, it's super cool. Well, okay, so this is my thoughts on that because that was a really, really cool scene

and it's a great action sequence. But when I'm comparing that against the parkour, I'm like, I've just seen this before. Like there's, this is well done and I was following what was happening and there was a lot of like people like hitting things and falling and sliding and grabbing a rope. But it was like I just felt like there wasn't anything special about it. How do people always get ropes tied to their feet? Do you know what I mean when anyone ever gets like a rope like goes around their foot and they get lifted up? Does that happen in real life?

Oh, it's never happened to you? No. No. Oh, you probably don't go walking by construction sites all the time. No, but like how to come out to our rope garden? How does a rope tie around your ankle? like that lift you up. If you step in an open coil of something, like if this

if this cable were, you know. And then they snatch it up real quick. Yeah. And that were to like go like, hang on. But who's lifting up the rope? No, no. That's that there's a whole pulley system in this. It's happening to me right now. Oh, see? It can happen. And he's on that rope and then kind of gets his foot tangled in it and then falls ass over tea kettle and is just hanging there, but they're both on a pulley system spinning at the same time. It's worth rewatching.

It's really cool. Oh, I guess. They did it a disservice. I love that fight. I just think when I see, I understand that that is super cool, but the minute I see, like, something like that in a cathedral, like, I just, I've seen it before, and honestly, I kind of just, like, zone out. Same with the opera scene.

It's like we've seen the opera, the dichotomy of death with opera and all that stuff. just all been done. Well, this had, this, you know, I think, I think Amanda, you said it last, two weeks ago. Uh, about the cutting back and forth between the, the horse racing and the, you know, chase and the opera and this, and this movie does it a few times. And I agree with you guys that it's just, it's a little too much. It's, it's, I don't need it. What do the horses have to do with anything?

Well, they could pop out then and then that race was going. I know, but that was in. And that poor blonde got killed. That was something they shot for the film well before production because I think that thing only, it either happens once a year or once every four years or something and they knew they wanted to get it and use it. And so they shot, like took a small crew and shot it. And so for some reason they worked it in.

Oh my God. And then they had to do a shoot of him popping up from underground with just a bunch of extras in front of him acting like they were at that horse race. I don't know. As a Bond outlier, I like. I like that they cut back and forth because it's just... You like that it's different? Yeah, it's different in my mind an interesting way.

This is the artsiest Bond movie by far. Would you agree? Yes. With the sound design. Even the labeling of the places they are. Like when they say we're in Belize or... And I don't think it fails at it. I think it feels a little weird for a Bond movie,

but I think it does it fairly well. And so for that reason alone, I like it as a different kind of. thing. Oh, I do too. And I what I love about this first fight, the first chase and the first hand-to-hand fight of Bond in this movie is that

he is chasing after another agent. He's chasing after someone who's had the same training as him who has been M's bodyguard, you know. So essentially when they're, I buy them fighting, more

than I buy Bond fighting general thug number 7-4, whatever it is. because they've both been to the same sort of training program. And I do think that the, I think the whole thing is, it does suffer from the frenetic stylized editing of the time. But in the same way that I wonder if it will date worse or better because of it. I liked it as something different for some reason. Because it actually goes a step beyond born.

films. I mean, it's perfectly, like, what's the word, when you can't follow something? Like, incoherent at times. No, that's what it's, it's like almost like when I watch Avengers or something, there's so much action and there's so much happening that I get bored because it's, I can't. It's overload and I can't follow anything. Like, and so it's just like action, action, action. I haven't seen it. I haven't either. Avengers? No, yeah, but that's what this one felt like to me was, like, to me was like. like an Avengers movie because it was just just action that I

just couldn't follow. I think also, I don't know, Maria, if you feel the same way, but the things that I like about watching James Bond movies, this one was, didn't take the time for those things. And so for me, it's not as enjoyable. He didn't have like a

cool like repartee or whatever with a girl. Is that the right word? Reparthe with a girl or... He didn't like order, you know, like, I love the scene when he's like in the hotel room in Casino Reale. with that woman and he orders caviar and they go for two or one and he's like for one he goes what for one yeah like such a crazy he's like why would you ask me that you don't know oh yeah sorry i'm not it's me it's me it's me guys no and just those little moments of like like the kind of fun that's fun for

me and so this one i think doesn't take as much time for that that was a big complaint when this movie came out that it was too serious and not enough fun and i think skyfall was in a answered to this exactly. Even Craig was saying he wanted to do something more fun and get back to the spirit. Skyfall is just a hoot. Skyfall hits the tone well. Yeah. It's funny?

It's got some humor. It's got some humor. It's really, it's Craig at his most franchised. It's just not as deathly serious as this one. Also, the villain in this one, you know, just seemed to me. another waxy European man. I loved him. He's got the eyes of a shark.

He had shark eyes. That's exactly why I love him because he is almost so not a someone you'd cast as a villain, you know? Yeah. No, I feel like I can't see him playing anything but. I'm glad to see that he's feeling better though.

Since diving villain the butterfly. Oh, right. Yeah. I don't know why like he just didn't fully scare me or. I liked how creepy he was. And I love it. But at the end when he's just screaming with the ax. Yeah, I liked that.

That was an interviewer. He said, like, this little guy probably couldn't fight, so he would just go all out and start screaming. I liked that, yeah. I'm confused by the plot of this movie. Can someone tell me who that guy is? Let me say, this is the only James Bond movie in the entire history of me watching James Bond movies,

that I saw this in the theater and never watched it again until five years after it came out. And it's the only one that I did not remember the plot of until I went back and watched it. I think the plot's actually pretty simple. It's the movie's fault for kind of like keeping it in the background in some way. Yeah. Okay. So Bond captures Mr. White. Mr. White reveals himself to be part of quantum and quantum is everywhere.

After that interrogation scene, they find a guy in Haiti that has some of Le Schiff's money. He has a whole stack of it because they tracked it. So he travels to Haiti. finds that guy, that guy tries to kill him. As he's leaving, he finds out that that guy is working with whoever he doesn't know yet. He gets his briefcase from the hotel. And as he's going out,

Camille picks him up expecting it to be the other guy he just killed, the geologist. Yes, yes, yes. Not the a geologist, sorry. Who wasn't really a geologist? The original geologist is dead. This guy's not the geologist. He's a hitman who's supposed to kill Camille.

Why? because Camille is a leak. He doesn't know that, does he? Isn't that what he assumes? He assumes the leaks coming from either the geologist or Camille, so he wants them both dead. That's right. Okay, yeah.

So as he gets in the car with Camille to figure out himself what's going on, they both realize whoever this was supposed to kill her, she takes off. He follows her to Green, and Green is saying that this geologist who's working for him to survey this land in Bolivia, and she's been helping with that. both leaks. That's why the geologist is dead in the water. A prop, by the way, which is at the D.C.

Spy Museum. That guy's, half of that guy's torso. No way. It's so fake looking. It's crazy. I can't wait. And then also that general that is going to help Quantum by staging a coup in Bolivia so that quantum can get the rights to water, although everybody thinks it's oil. They want water. Why do they, oh, because there's no water there. They're just because it's a precious future resource. create a drought by making those dams and then they're going to have control of all the water. Yeah.

Okay. So a lot of people complain about that being and not a very exciting villain plot. Right. But it is. I mean, think about what Nestle has done. Oh. Yeah. Anyway.

So General Madrano had killed Camille's family prior to that. So she wants to kill him. She's as an agent to infiltrate thing, but she has a personal revenge mission to kill this guy because he killed her family. not Green, that Bolivian general. Okay. And she tries to kill him. Bond tries to save her and thwarts her killing him.

She's angry with him. Bond follows this plot and follows Green from Haiti to Austria, where Green is meeting with the CIA so that they will kind of like support this coup that he's planning so that they can get oil. But there is no oil. And that's why Green keeps saying, you keep saying it's oil, but if we have oil, we'll give it to you, but we're not saying there's oil. Well, why do they think it's oil if he keeps saying, well, it's not oil? Because they ordered all this piping, but it's really for water.

Yeah, they thought the American government monitored all the pipeline that had been sold. Wow. And was like, okay, someone's on to some big oil line. And so that's why Felix Lider isn't really into it all that much, but then David Harbor is. Yeah. Yeah. But that's essentially it. And then you learn that Quantum is doing all this.

They want to control all the stuff around the world. and Bond infiltrates, brings him down, and she kills her guy. And then why do they bring in strawberry fields? She's sent by MI6, because Bond has gone rogue, to turn him around and say, you need to go back home, you can't be here. Why would they send a pretty girl to do that? Exactly, exactly. Why would they?

Also, a pretty girl and tell her just to wear a trench coat and boots and nothing under you. Yeah. That's what we were watching, Craig was like, wait, she's like, they're checking into that, like, shitty hotel, and she's going, like, we can't blow our cover, and it's like, girl, you are not, what cover? You're wearing trench coat and boots and you look sexy as hell. Like, is that supposed to be like just sort of a hint at how inexperienced she was with the field? No, I think it's solely like we need a secondary bond girl and they didn't disguise it well.

Like they, you know, wrote her in because they need it. And then just, I mean, it is a little bit like behind the times now at least that she's just suddenly like sleeping with him. Like they didn't even have any sort of like. I will say at least they acknowledge that in the movie. They do. From a couple standpoints where she is annoyed at herself. And she is like, I can't believe that I just did that. Like, that's a dialogue that's spoken that has never been spoken in a Bond movie before.

Follow up to that is that another thing we have never seen before is that M is sort of reprimanding him for it later. Where it's like you can't, she was just a desk. She worked at a desk. She just came to send you home and this is what you did. Yeah, that was sad. So that... But they know... Right, they know him and shouldn't be sending anyone.

They know him there and they should not be sending her there. They do, but she also knows he gets results and she herself is always struggling with that. Yeah, he gets results. And that's why she's like half trying to stop him with her fieldman, but then when he gets out, going, oh, fuck it, let him go. I love that line. There's a capture or kill order out on you and he just goes, now who would have done that? It just goes off. Yeah.

Yeah, I like that hotel was really cool. Oh, I like when he's on the outside of the staircase. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about? That was a cool move. And then he so easily hops back over. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I asked Craig, I said, would you be able to do something like that?

And he said, of all the stunts I've seen, that's probably one of the easier ones. I said, all right, well. Craig. Let's get you to a hotel. We should go to that hotel. I know. Where is that? It's in somewhere.

That's in Panama. They shot that in Panama. But where I was saying we should go is to that astronomy hotel in the high desert of Chile that takes place at the end. So that's an actual hotel for scientists. Wow. Because it's like the best place to see stars in the world or something. In where? Chile.

Chile. Chile. There's a lot to like, there's a lot to discuss with this movie. So I would like to bounce back over to your original statement two weeks ago, Matt, where you said that James Bond looks the best he's ever looked. in this movie. Yeah, because he's a little leaner than Casino Royale.

So he's toned and just a little, I feel like he's a little leaner, a little fiercer. Exactly. But I love both what he's wearing in Haiti and what he's wearing at the end. He just looks like kind of cool. The fight scene at the hotel

with the geologist assassin, I love that scene. Yeah. I think that's such a, that fight is so brutal. It's such a brutal fight. All the fights are good. I'm just watching him sort of,

of drain the blood from his artery while Daniel Craig just looks out. Yeah, that's pretty good. It was amazing. Yeah. And also, like, the whole idea of, like, these people don't know the difference between white, blonde guys. I'm just going to go put on this coat and be this guy. They did

look alike, though. Yeah. How cool, I think Felix Leiter has some really cool stuff in this. I love David Harbor in this film. I want him to come back so bad, Jeffrey Wright. How much would you love to be on that plane with him? That is the coolest plane ever with those two people on there. how much would I love it

I would love it let me ask is Dominic Green on the plane at the time and Elvis oh boy Elvis is there I love Elvis what a time Elvis is my favorite he's making more with that character

than he was anything on the page the guy with the hair cut the guy with the bangs when he has that neck brace on I caught a couple things these are just observances but I've got a full blown cloths

I've got a full blown clothed First of all, when he's on the plane, his belt buckle is a big silver heart. Whose is? Elvis. And, I mean, we've talked about this before that obviously he's gay. He's always kind of making eyes at Felix. And then...

We've talked about that? I don't remember that. Is he? That's great. That's like a fun sort of angle. Yeah. But also, when they're at the opera and he looks to the second green henchman, the kind of blonde Rutger-Hauer-looking guy, he never has a lion or anything.

He looks at him not in a way like... like I'm attracted to you or anything that has to do with that. He looks at him like, isn't this music beautiful and what a nice moment we're sharing? And that guy gives him nothing, but it makes me feel so sympathetic for Elvis that he's, yeah, he's working for a bad organization,

but he still just wants to have friends. He just wants to love. Yeah. But my gloft about him is that if I'm not mistaken, the first time you see him and he's on the phone on the dock in Haiti, he starts the phone conversation by saying, yeah, mommy, I think he's talking to his mom.

Oh. Isn't mommy like a pet term? You could also call someone mommy. Like hey mommy or like hey poppy. It could be but I like to believe it's his mom. Because also the way he dies where Green props his arm up with the gun like wait here and shoot them when they come but then he just burns and flames. Burns up and flames. Oh he does.

I didn't. I missed that. Yeah. When Green is running through the lobby and the glass is all shattering. Right before that there's a shot of fire just engulfing Elvis. Oh, I like to think he made it. No, he's dead. I love that scene.

I mean, we'll get to the end. We'll talk about the end when we talk about the end. But there's a lot of happening in that action scene that I really like. Back to Elvis for a bit. His, like, I feel so bad for him when his wig falls off when he hits the bottom of the stairs. Yeah. Oh, I didn't even catch that. His wig falls off.

That's the thing is they edit, I don't know, like five frames too early on almost all this stuff that you need to know. I just wish they would have sat in that because it seems like these are cool little things that happen but... That's why it's worth watching 10 more times today. Why not just not edit it so quickly? I know. That's a really valid argument against this film.

But I will say, of all the bonds, I think it's one of the most rewarding for rewatching. That's a consolation. I don't know. I'll agree with that. I love the logo of this movie. The font of Quantum of Solace? Like, I just, for some reason, I love it.

I also like the title a lot where it's like not, it's not your traditional Bond title. Not at all, even though it's from Fleming. Yeah, but it also is like so perfect for this character and what he's looking for in life. Quantum of Solis. So what does that mean? He's like just, you know how you say someone will take a little solace in something? Bond can't even have a little solace. It has to be a quantum measurable amount.

But he gets it at the end of this. He just gets the tiny, tiny, tiniest amount of being okay. Right. And it's at the very end of the movie. We covered this last time, but this comes from a short story where Bond is told a story by a guy at a party about how this man and a woman fought so much that they had no measurement of peace left in their relationship. And that's when they knew they were done. And so it just means like the barest amount of peace or goodness you need for something to be worth something. Oh, so we, I think what, yeah, because it was like he was about to really turn that corner and become a bad person and then he just got a quantum of soul.

What was the thing that he got just by seeing Yousef in the flesh and what? Well, I think by actually finally believing that Vesper loved him. Yes. Through the death of Mathis, him saying she loved you, M saying that and then finally seen Yussef knowing that he's doing exactly what he did to Vesper. and then he doesn't kill him. Right, but then those men go in after him. Oh, just to debrief. But he didn't kill him, but I wonder what he did. Yeah, I also wonder that too, and I like that they didn't show us,

because I don't know that I'd want to see him, like, just beating the crap out of someone. It's also interesting at the end of this movie. He has learned everything about quantum. We don't hear any of it, and then we never hear about it again. He got all the info from Dominic Green when they get out of the truck in the desert. and he said, I told you everything you wanted to know about quantum. Yeah. Yeah.

So where did he get that can of oil? It's just in the car. Yeah. Like an oil for that. And why did he? So what makes Dominic Green so bad? So he's part of quantum and I get that he wants to control the water and all the wells. But what, why is he so bad?

Well, he's a murderer. And he's also like not giving water to the people. Okay. Yeah. but why is he a murder? Like what, I guess I just don't understand his, his character.

His arc. Yeah, is he just a bad guy? Yeah, he's like a front of an environmentalist. He's charitable environmentalist and philanthropist. That's what that party is. Yeah. And when he's taking the money, he's taking the money to be able to buy land

that will have water on it that he can then use to sell it to people. I don't know, he just seems like kind of tacked on there. Like, I just did not understand why he was doing what he was doing. It does feel like they parse out this story a little oddly. But it's also like the whole thing of, you're in these James Bond movies sometimes

and you're finding things out along with James Bond. Yeah. And sometimes I'm into that. Sometimes I'm not into that. But this I think is more that the writer strike happened and it wasn't well done. I think the plot is sound, but the delivery of it was problematic because of the strike.

They probably, honestly, they probably had four or five giraffes sitting around. not giraffes, I'm sorry, drafts. That sounded like you said drafts. They probably four or five drafts who each had their own draft of the script. And what I'm saying is like, I think they could have pieced this together

a little easier. But that's what I think they weren't done is the problem and the strike literally hit. But they were writing up until like 1159 p.m. The day before the strike, I believe. Yeah. Paul Haggos was like rushing to get that final draft done.

long strike. It came up and I think they also thought maybe this will be over by the time we start shooting and it wasn't. So they were all in at that point and it's clearly, even the director said like this, this film is not what's intended. So like a month, when did they start shooting? They rolled like May 1st or something like that, right? Because the strike happened in April, if I remember correctly and that strike lasted a very, very long time. That was the strike in case anyone's wondering out there. That was the strike where the Writers Guild was asking, for these giant companies to start to pay residuals for things that would be on the internet. And the producers guild is like, there's no money on the internet, you guys.

You don't deserve to get any money. And we finally, they got like some concessions for like fractions of pennies. But thank God they did because now everything's on the internet. Yeah. Right. Thanks to quantum of solace. Thanks to quantum of solace. It's another reason to love this movie.

Everything's on the internet. Yeah. This movie suffered so that I could get one. one cent checks. The producers are Quantum and the Writers Guild is MI6. Matt said that and then looked at me with a big smile.

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Mad, Mad, Mad, Podcast. Okay, so the, hey, when they go to Austria and Bond takes the tuxedo and then we have that scene the cutting back and forth between the opera and him observing everybody I guess it's really cutting back from the chase

through that facility through that kitchen and everything I felt like I would love to watch that I would like to watch the scene of James Bond running through an industrial kitchen being chased by people who are shooting at him but I didn't get to see it

I had to watch. Kind of like a little mermaid type thing when the crab gets away and the chef is like, hey! And he tries to chop James Bond, but he accidentally chops a carrot that goes into the sauce, and then he searches to the guests

and they're like, this is great. Yeah. What's in this? That's actually where Ratatoui came from. What's this quantum earpiece doing in the soup? So what bottom of me was that everyone got up as soon as he talked

and he went, Wow, you guys have to find a better place to meet. It's like, whoa, way to be, because he didn't know who was talking, right? And then as soon as he said that, he saw everyone that was. I think the jig was up and they had to get out of town. And that's why they deliberately show Mr. White not get up because he's the smarter of the bunch that doesn't panic. Yeah. Yeah, when I first saw this movie in theaters.

I love him. Yeah, he's so good. I really liked that scene. Like, really. I love it. It took my breath away. Toska's not for everyone. Yeah.

Oh, God. But this time I didn't do it. it for me as much, but I don't know why. Let me throw this at you. So I'm with you that you don't get to see this chase through the kitchen essentially. But every single Bond movie has those in spades. So I don't mind taking one movie for going. Let's see this almost like, I don't know, like music video style or something. That's a bad way to put it. But just a little bit differently, when I put this movie on, it's refreshing in a weird way. I think because it does take a different tact with this sort of thing. something. I don't know. I'm not saying it's great, but one movie is not too much for me in this form. Right. Oh, I agree with that. And I'm glad that this didn't like this born sort of aesthetic didn't stick around the franchise for too long. And I also want to say that there's a couple things that really, you know, I'm a sucker for procedure and stuff like that. I like to see how the inner workings of MI6 go. And I really like all the MI6 stuff that happens in this movie. I

love the aesthetic of the computer table. I love the wall that also turns into a screen, this glass wall. Yeah. I mean, A, it's ridiculous for M's screen to be opaque and that everyone in the office can see what M is looking at, like the most secretive person in the British government. You mean transparent? Yeah. Sorry, yeah, not opaque, but like, it's not opaque. Do you know what I mean? So you could just see like, oh boy, if I could just read backwards, I'd know what she was looking at. But it's like anyone in there is going to see what Emma is doing if she's looking on that wall screen. But I really like Tanner. Yeah.

And I love those scenes of sort of like the whole James taking those pictures and it getting re-uploaded to MI6's server. And for Tanner to sit there and look at everything going like, holy shit, he's on to something huge. On a rewatch too, I think we also probably talked about this. But when Bond is saying, I need information on green over the phone, he says, G R-W-E. And when you see his voice go, it's spelling it on the screen,

it goes, G-R-W, and then switches to two E's as he's talking. Whoa, that's a gloft. No way you'd said that before. I'm sure we talked about that. I don't know. I saw it. Yeah.

And so, to me, that's a little detail that you catch the, well, you the first or second time, but like third or fourth time. And that thing is interpreting and assessing everything they're saying right away. Yeah. And it's not just an eye candy.

And it's like, I'm sad we moved away from that a little bit. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that sort of a, that modern aesthetic of MI6. I'm a little sad we move it away from it. How do you feel about it,

the aesthetic of that computer design also being, like that's in the world of the film, but it's also the branding design of the film itself, to the posters, to the credits. Yeah, like they carried that through. A few movies do that.

Like Jurassic Park does that. The title of the movie looks the same as the title of the theme park in the world of the movie. Yeah. You rarely see that kind of thing. it's interesting yeah i think it's a good for me that's a lot like that's taking the like um echoing of like the score you know the echoing of the theme throughout the movie and the score that's sort of like i like an aesthetic through line as well as an audio through line i like to sort of like have a

thematic presentation to the movie it plays out too because in the 50th anniversary DVDs collection when you put on casino royale it is in line with all of the other films in the DVD menu this one does its own thing where it has the DVD menu as if it's like that smart table look. You know, I think it was honestly so fat. Like, I think it was such a cool, new aesthetic for people to see. And, like, the whole idea of this computer table, which had sort of existed in prototype for Microsoft, but wasn't a real thing yet.

And I think that, like, that just sort of fell in the lap of whoever was designing the DVD menu and was like, oh, my God, that stuff's awesome. Why don't we just do that? It's that one company that did the titles, too, that Mark Forster had worked with before on the Kite Runner. And so he had them do the opening titles and all the graphic aesthetic for... God, I would... I know we don't do this typically kind of thing.

I want to figure out if we could... He would be such an interesting interview. Who? Mark Forrester. Oh, yeah. Regarding this movie. I've seen him live talking about this before a little bit. But we haven't talked to him.

And he, you know who he started dating. Who? Camille. I don't think they're together anymore, but they... Wow. Wow. Sacri blue. Can I say I just felt like the Bond girls in this were just kind of, they didn't bring much, not the actresses, I'm just saying the characters didn't bring much to the table.

I agree. But do you think that was deliberate because in this movie you're dealing with a shell of a man who just watched Vesper guy? Yeah, but you can still like have them be of some use of some way. Like they were just kind of walking around. I think Camille is so involved in the action and has a depth to her. I like Camille quite a bit. I could see that about Strawberry Fields. Well, yeah, that's it.

Strawberry Fields was like an extreme. Like it was, she was more underdeveloped than like Bond Girls of yesteryear. Yeah, she's purely like a plot device or a checklist thing. We've got to have this, like dead Bond Girl basically. Yeah. And then there just wasn't much really to hook your teeth into as far as the female characters. Yeah, I didn't feel anything for whatever her backstory was, like her parents dying or like I just, none of it stuck out as something that I should care about. How does you feel about the ending where they're,

kiss and she kind of pulls away from him and is like, you're even too damaged for me. And they never, that was the only hint of romance they ever really. I really liked that. I didn't get that. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't? What did you take from it?

That they just, I didn't see that she pulled away. Did you see that? No. She goes something about, what does she say about in your head? Something. Your problems are here. Yeah. Like that kind of thing.

And like until you deal with that. Oh, I guess, yeah. She was supposed to reject him. Yeah, I don't know. It just seemed to just, you know, I don't know. It just fell flat for me. The girls in it.

Yeah. That was interesting. Because even their goodbye is like very unceremonious compared to the other ones where he just goes like, you should stay and make sure that that water goes to the civilians. Okay, bye. And it's a weird way for it. Like Casino Royale where the heart of the story was a romance, but they could have still, I don't know.

I just agree that the characters were a little underdeveloped. That we've watched or whatever, it's like at least the characters had something. thing that, like, had them stand out in some way. Even the way, like, the looks weren't great. Like, yeah. It was just, like, there wasn't anything, like, fashion-wise that was really good. And I hated Strawberry Fields' dress when he, like, picked her out that dress to wear to the party.

Yeah. The ugliest thing I've ever seen. Well, that's because he usually had Vesper picking things out. Well, he picked out Vesper. Well, he picked out that really slutty dress for Vesbrose. You guys didn't like. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she has bad taste in women's clothing.

Yeah. I think when they kiss at the end, she's, He's saying he's still in love with Vesper. Oh, totally. And he's, like, this movie doesn't have a typical bond girl romance because he's still shattered. And he, I think he kind of kisses her going like, okay, if I kiss her, we'll move on. And they both know that that's futile.

Yeah. And I find that really interesting. I just wish they did more with the, I just wish the women had more to do. I agree. But she's on a revenge plot. They say that, but where am I? I'm not feeling it. Where am I saying it? She's got a fire scar on her back. Yeah, we're, yes, fine. Her mother and sister were killed and raped. Her father was killed.

Well, she's, that's what we, we heard about it. Yeah, we heard about it. I have yet, we can see the scar. We can hear about her backstory, but my God, did I feel anything? No, I did not. I felt a little flat for me. Yeah, I guess you can't argue with that. You either feel it or you don't. It's certainly not as impactful as Vesper, but I don't think it's meant to be. I think it's meant to be kind of...

No, I'm not saying it should be as impactful as Vesper. I'm just saying you should have something. If it's not going to have the impact that Vesper had, at least make it fun in some way, then make these... Have the same character trait. Yeah. The relationship, too, I didn't fully...

I get that they were both on these, like, separate revenge missions, but there wasn't... I just didn't feel that. sort of connection between them that I wanted to. I would like to see a James Bond film. You know, we talk about James Bond out for revenge a lot, just as a just sort of as a concept that this movie tries to do.

And, you know, the beginning of Diamonds or Forever is sort of that. But I would love to see a James Bond film that is sort of your Charles Bronson sort of like, or Denzel Washington Man on Fire. situation where he or John Wick I'd love to see like James Bond John Wick like a true like a true all out it's James Bond versus everyone but that's what this is kind of but there's too much there's too much of the there's still they want to have their cake and eat it yeah there's too much downtime in this there's too much like the whole thing with um the Americans that storyline of like Felix and no

I'm not like saying that it was bad I'm just like but we're spending time on that and like then we have to spend time on um scenery like it's like I feel like they really do take their time with this movie and it's so weird

to me that this movie feels slow and it's actually the quick the fastest James Bond movie it's an hour 46 minutes and this movie I think does it feels it feels long longer than it is.

It definitely, you could see where a third and intended draft of this would really help it. And you can kind of picture what this movie could be. Yeah, because I do like that he and the girl were, what's her name, Claudia? Camille. Camille, we're both out for revenge. I just think it could have, we could have seen them sort of in alignment more. Like there were scenes that hit on it, but it just, nothing really landed. I love when he's going to kill them both.

Yeah. I love when he's going to put that. gun in there. But I also find her to be believable in the sense that she's an agent. And there are times where she really knows what she's doing. Like she pushes them out of the way on the boat and they're really struggling with each other. And she's like, let me drive. And same thing within the plane. Like she's, they always talk about, oh, finally a capable bond woman and all this stuff. I think she is. And they also don't wear it on their sleeve. She just kind of handles stuff. She is very capable. And I like that she goes, runs to the back of the plane to look out the window to sort of spot for him of like where the plane's coming. She goes, I think we lost him. And I was like, how the hell do you know? You looked at one window. But they also don't shy away from her, from her, like. I would also like a DVD feature where Maria pops up.

What are you? How do you know? Don't listen to her, James. She looked at one window. They don't masculinize her either because part of her thing is she's slept with green to get with him. And so she's using her femininity in a way, in a way, you know, like maybe Bond does in a masculine sense. Sure.

She's female, James Bonding. it more than the other female James Bond's have. Yeah. Yeah. I like that moment when she was like, does that bother you? And he was like, no. Not in the slightest. Yeah. So let's talk about Mathis's death.

Because this is something people have a problem with, the way he so coldly casts him off. But I was watching it this time, really kind of thinking about that. And he really tends to him when he's lying like dying. He puts his hand on his face. He asks him, what is, is that your cover name? he's comforting him. But the minute he dies, it just gives a lot to me

in terms of character development for Bond, and that is he's dead. He is gone. There's no reason to be sentimental anymore. I'm going, I need to get on with my mission. And I think they're making that statement by him throwing him in the garbage

with himself saying that Mathis would not care. And they all understand this is the job. Yeah. And he does start to care. Like he cares about as a human. He cares that, Fields has died because of him. But he also is broken and is trying to be pragmatic.

And it shows that it's like a complicated character. Well, I think that the point of that was to show that he isn't really being a good friend. And he's kind of just out for this mission and doesn't care who gets hurt, even though, you know, he obviously still loved Mathis. That's what I thought the first time, too. Yeah, I think he did. Because the way he was holding him while he was dying, it seemed like he really did care. Yeah.

It does, yeah. Yeah, but maybe, you know, didn't fully take it in until Strawberry Fields dies after that. Yeah, and I don't think he was taking, I don't think he picked him up for him to be a human shield. I think he was taking him out of, oh, no, he didn't. And then they shot and they knew they were going to shoot him. Yeah, that was their plan. Yeah, he just went into full bond mode at that point. But then when he's lying there, like, you've never, you've never in the history of the franchise seen James take that kind of care with someone who has been dying.

And as a result of sort of his action, sort of not his actions. Kind of with Felix in license to kill when he holds him there. But Felix doesn't die. Well, he doesn't know that, though. He thinks he's dead. That's sort of true. I get it. Spoiler alert, everyone.

Is Jeffrey right not doing any more of them? Is that why you said you wish you'd come back? They just haven't written a Felix lighter roll in. Felix comes and goes throughout the franchise. He's not in every one. Like, I'd really like to see it in this time. It's going to be so fucking, this next James Bond movie. I'm worried about it.

It's going to be so weird. Just because, like, the world is so weird at this point? The rumor is a, it's hell and a bottom card or they haven't announced it yet. Ooh, that could be good. Oh, I'd be into that for sure. We haven't had a female villain since 1999. Yeah.

Who is that, Halliberry? Sophie, Sophie Marceau. She's really good. But yeah, I think that that moment with Mathis is beautiful. And I also think the moment at the bar on the plane is just such a great sort of, it's one of these downbeat moments, but I think it's used very well. Is that a Vesper he's drinking? Yes, and that's what I love about that scene is there's a little reading between the lines.

This may seem obvious, but maybe not. When Mathis says, what are you drinking? Bond's playing dumb as if, like, I don't know, any old drink, but what he's really doing is telling the bartender specifically, it's got to be this and this and this, because I'm still in love with this woman. And the bartender is saying, like, oh, it's this. He's not being like a no-it-all asshole. He's saying this guy has made sure that I've made this martini this way.

Yes, but he's six into it. And he plays drunk so well. And then Mathis has that little speech about the sleeping pills and he says, I've got pills to make you taller. There's just something about that dialogue that I felt like that must have been some of the stuff they were heading toward that I think this film could have been really good. Yeah. And his like, the whole idea that he's like, I've got pills to make you forget, I've got pills to. But like when Mathis finishes the bartender sentence and like, and says Keena Lle, like, as the final ingredient of the drink, he knows what Bond is doing. Drinking the Vesper.

Yeah. Mathis really liked Vesper too. Yeah. Yeah. He liked their little trio. I mean, who doesn't? The three amigos. I know.

I'm very attracted to Mathis. Yeah, he's, what is it about him? It's, he's just a very elegant man. He's, he, as a younger man, he's in a lot of these European films. Yeah. He was like a well-known European actor. And I liked Mathis's wife or girlfriend or her. Oh, yeah.

I love her. I love her. Get a load of her real name. Okay. Okay. Her name is, what is her name in the movie? It's, they say it. I don't know.

Carmen or something like that, I can't remember. Her real name is Lucrezia Lante della rovere. Wow. Hello, baby. Mama Mia. But he just funny that in the middle of that meeting, she's just like, I want your hands on my body. Oh, and there's a weird cut in there, too. Did you notice a weird cut at the end where it cuts to her and then it cuts to just James drinking alone?

There's like this weird cut. Yeah, there's this weird cut that's just very shocking at the end of that scene. The shot is him alone or they've left him? The shot is him alone. It's shot is him alone drinking. It's just a very weird cut. It really took me out of it. I love the don't give this guy, don't waste our fine wine on him.

And she's like, you never buy fine wine. Yeah, you only buy cheap wine. That's a little color to it, you know? Some of those scenes have some good dialogue. Yeah, well, I think that moment I really liked. I just would have wanted sort of more, moments like that. Here's another thing toward character development that I like.

Okay. He is responsible for Fields' death, and it registers with him. Then, when he's fighting Dominic at the end, and the gunshot goes off, and he says, looks like he's just lost another one, meaning, like, I killed Fields, and this probably means Camille's dead. Bond, let's go of the villain. For the first time in his life, he drops the mission, and he runs to save Camille. And I think he's learned something, and he's changed.

That wasn't smart But what's also problematic is They never show that Green has seen that Camille is there So how does he know that she's been shot? How does he even know that she's there? She sneaked in and went right from Medrano So I feel like there was something lost in there

Well I think that he knows that if another gun If he just heard a gun go off Like what would be the reasoning for a gun to go I mean it's a lot to process While you're being hung by your hair In a fire But I love that fight too That fight is so good

Yeah that whole sequence was was pretty cool. That whole hotel sequence from the, from the jump onto the Land Rover saying, we had a mutual friend, pop, pop, oh, yeah.

Oh, love it. Yeah. And the way he's dragged in by the car and then just let's go and continue running. Oh, also like, I love that he, what did he do?

He did something, did he kill the driver? Like, and then, real, like, and then knew the car was out of control and then ran off.

Do you know what I mean? Like, isn't that what he did? I just wish he'd said Mathis sent me Instead of I have a mutual friend Yeah because that guy is directly responsible for Mathis's deaths So who killed Strawberry Fields

Green And why'd they cover in oil if they didn't have any oil To lead them off the sense Yeah to make it's... They want everyone to believe it's about oil Oh and that's why he gave him That motor oil to drink at the end And do you guys recognize also that it's a nod to gold finger

Yes I did Yeah Yes, I did. Did you guys recognize that the motor oil aesthetic of the label is just like M's operating system? No. I want to just touch real quick on strawberry blonde's bangs at the... No, Strawberry Fields. On Strawberry Blonde.

Is she credited as Strawberry Fields? That's why when he asks her name, she feels Fields. Just Fields. Right, right, right. Getting back to her bang situation at the gala, Maria, did you notice how feathered they were? I noticed. It was like 1984. Not only Herbings, but Camilla or whatever her name is, Herbanks too.

I mean, it was just like mopheads is what I was looking at. No. Well, Fields is what it is, but I think Camille looks amazing. It's very of the time, and it's not really. It's not right. It's not right. I think I know what happened. Because it was a large scene with a lot of the lead actors in it, there's an A unit

hair person and a B unit hair person. And I think the B unit was a local hire with not as much experience, and they sent strawberry fields. Why would, but she's a main character. I think Bond gets A. Camille got a, and they didn't have time. So they put strawberry fields through the B unit. That's why I like that period.

I like that period. He had the C unit. He had to see unit. Oh, my God. I was saying those bings were a shock. I've never seen anything like it. This is the perspective that we're looking for. Yeah, well, you heard it here first.

Yeah, bang, what did you call it before? A feathered bans. No, you called a Miss Bang. A Miss Bing Bang. A Miss Bang bang. So, M having to remove James from the field. We don't ever establish why the British PM's advisor is there, just that he might be bad and in quantum. Oh, Guy Haynes.

Yeah, he is. He's in quantum. Yeah, so. And I love, by the way, it's so weird of me for me to just see James Bond never go like, no, no, I just dropped him onto a roof of a car, someone else shot him. You mean he didn't? He just does. He never bothers.

He never bothers to correct anyone. I know. And like, we found green in the desert with motor oil and two bullets in the back of his skull. Do you know anything about that? No. Yeah. I think he probably figures who cares. I'm already deep in it.

What did you guys think of M's bathroom? Gorgeous. Oh, I commented on it. That fireplace. It was a full living room with just a bathroom. It was very beautiful. And it had a face cream. You know that's how,

oh, yes. That's how, I mean, that's how you live when you're, M. That's the lifestyle. You know, I just kept thinking, especially at the beginning of this movie, how anxious I would be if I lived that life. How's that?

No, just as a secret agent. Oh, sure. Just the anxiety. that goes with that. I just don't think I could do it. But that's why I think Craig is the first one to play the circumstances and the consequences of that. He's a bit of a psychopath

and detached because that would be the only way you could live that. You can't really do what Brosnan and Mordoo, which is Gallivant around and like those movies for that reason, but he plays the weathering of that. He does, but he plays it, he plays the weathering of it in every

movie. We've never gotten a scene of Daniel Craig as James Bond where he seems to be truly enjoying his lifestyle, whereas I feel like with Roger Moore and Connery and Brosnan, we've gotten those moments. Daniel Craig's James Bond never gets to exhale. But I think he likes that. End of Casino Royale is the only time. And I actually was thinking that I could watch a whole movie that's just the end of Casino

Royale. Yes, me sure. Yes. And it's very brief. Mr. White? No, where they're gallivanting around hospital rooms. I think it's. But he's still so.

injured at that point. No, he's the dinner after the poker game. That's fun too, but it's a phantom thread situation where the only way he was able to enjoy his life and be present with his girlfriend is to have sit on a chair with no bottom. Yeah, I think you're right. He has to be debilitated. He had to go through that to have that moment. He's obsessive.

But he's not in control. Well, I guess what more of I'm saying is he's not in control in those moments when he's enjoying life with Vesper, which arguably. is his sort of exhale moment. It's still not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a... What about on the train inspector with Madeline Swan? I don't know, because he's got to deal with his brother.

It's a whole thing. Yeah, you want to see him just like having a great meal and he gets to get through the whole meal. And like, they don't even ever do the thing. Wait, wait, the train in Castino Royale. Exactly. He's enjoying his shit out of that. His meal after the poker game where he's like shoveling food in his

mouth, but you never see Bonn. Oh, wow. Yeah, no, he's loving it. Watching these movies, I want a martini so bad. Oh, yeah. I have a full supply of Kina Lle in my fridge. You do? What is that?

But they don't make it anymore. It's Lillet Blanc, I'm sorry, made by Kina. Mike, since he's a friend of mine, got me the ingredients to get the closest to a classic Vesper Martini, and it was that, what the kind of gin of it? Gordon's. No, because they say that this is closer to the recipe what it used to be. Oh, the original gorgeous. And then that Americano vermouth that is closer to quino-lilay.

Oh, interesting. And it is so good. I've had, you know, like a bar martini before. I'm not really a fan. This tastes differently. How would you describe it? It's very clean. It is a refreshing.

It's a refreshing drink of pure alcohol. And that's what she was, a refreshing drink, a refreshing sigh in a world of anxiety. and hurt. She was also something that if he had too much of, it would ruin him. Yep, that's right. Think about it. Yeah, how? I don't know.

Well, that's why he's got to throw the Algerian love knot in the snow. Oh, when he does that. When he sort of releases, you just want him to, I don't know, what do you want for James Bond? As a viewer of James Bond and as a person who has sat through all of these movies. Well, I think I want what we want And that is he's been through his His tough times now, just get on some missions Oh, I don't mean from the franchise

No, but that's what I want for him I'm talking about from the character That's what you want? You want him to be working and happy Yeah, because he wants to do clearly Yeah I'd like to see what he'd do with me around I don't think he'd like it

No, I don't think he'd like it very much He'd probably shoot you in the head Yeah All right, let's do a little role play here Okay. Oh, long day of work. Oh, God. Can you believe it?

I thought that teen mom was on tonight, and it's not. They're skipping a week. I really don't have the mind for television. I'm going to have a drink. I can't tell you what I did, but I had to kill someone today. Oh, no. Oh, my God. Who did you have to kill?

It's a hedge fund investor that had been abusing his wife. What's a hedge fund? Well, it's like when you bet on, well, money is pooled for investments. Oh, God, I don't care. Can we go out to dinner? I'm very tired. Then forget it.

Okay, we'll go to the club, Le Serk. Yes. All right, things are, I guess things are all right with us. I think it worked out. I think you guys are going to be playing Baccarat well into the morning. I've had two great loves in my life, and that is Tracy and Vespa, but none compared to you. Who's Tracy? My first wife.

Is, do I, have I heard about her before? If you watched the movies like I asked you to do before we got married. No. What about the latest lady? Who's Madeline? Oh, right. Well, I did walk away with her at the end of a movie, so that's as yet unwritten. Okay.

Here's a fun thing to say to Maria. James Bond winds up falling in love with Mr. White's daughter. You've never seen that? What movie is it in? Inspector. No, I told you earlier today. I end-Sein-Spector. But I just like.

wonder like just throw that at someone white swan madeline swan white swan wait what is your connection if his name's white and her last name is swan then they're of the same ilk because they're both white swans or white unless they're black or any other color can you tell i'm leaving it all behind i'm losing steve yeah well we can wrap we are all happy amanda and i are both laying down fully. Oh yeah. Well, this is part of the Bond double shot marathon where you have to have the stamina to talk about minutia for longer than. Speaking of marathons, though, we are kicking around this idea of doing an episode where we set up multiple mics in here and we roll as long as we want to roll and any guest of the show, any past guest of the show can come over during those

four to five hours. Join in for a bit and two guys reached out to us that are, James Bond cocktail specialists will come over, make cocktails from the films, and anyone can come and have a drink, hop on mic, and hopefully we'll do this. I love this. Will the movies you playing in the background? We could do that, sure. That sounds fun. Because then you could do a real marathon. This could go on for an entire day. Yeah. Well, it could really, if you did all the Bond movies in a row, that's going to be, what, 60 hours? Like two and a half. Yeah, that's probably 60. to 70 hours. No, no, no, that's too much.

I could do it. I, yeah. People do it. People do it. People do weekends where they all stay over and watch them all. Oh my God. Do they take a nap or anything?

Or they just go. I think they fall asleep in the chair. You'd have to have a power nap during like, uh, during diamonds or forever. He's apparently made it. Oh my God. Did you see solo? Yeah.

Is it good? I liked it. I had a good time. Yeah. Your voice got high. Yeah, I know. I know. I didn't get a hard.

I'm telling the truth. I don't know what you... Why is suspicious? Why is Ron Howard on your roof with a sniper rifle? All right, guys, let's give our rating of Quantum of Salas. Ten years old this year. Wow. I wonder how much of this is I love an outlier.

And also, I have a nostalgia for that time because Casino Real changed my movie, love, and world that I was so excited for Quantum of Solace and even though it maybe didn't totally live up to it, it was a time that I remember being a very big bond time in my life. So I have a fondness for it. Best poster. It's a good poster. Oh, quick question.

The hats, the Bolivian people wear I really like, what is that? We did too, yeah. Yeah, I love those. Just the girls wear a derby up top. Are those like cultural? Like, what? They must be. We should look into that. Yeah, I like that. I like that aesthetic. You should, I could see you. wearing sweats like you are now, but there's a little derby up on the top of you.

Just a little derby. I mean, yeah. Put me in the desert. Who knows? Well, consider those hats when you give it your rank in. I didn't even know Bolivia was a desert. Is that,

did you guys know that Bolivia was a desert? I didn't think it was like a rainforest. I know. I think it did. I know only what James Bond tells me. Chili is a desert? Yeah, Chile is a high, it's the coldest desert, I think.

Okay, well, I need to check my, geography because I don't quite understand that part of the world. High deserts. Oregon has a high desert. Oregon? Oregon is a, the middle of Oregon is a high desert. So it's cold and like looks like that. It's kind of brushy but sandy.

David Harbor, by the way. Delightful in this picture. Delightfulness picture. Some little kid peeing in it. That feels like it was found on the day. Don't you think that he and Jeffrey Wright kind of came up with that? Yeah, definitely. I bet they had a good time.

Yeah, they probably had so much fun. On that plane. They tried. So hard. All right, guys, we rank these 000-0 to 007. 00-7, of course, being a casino royale. Triple O being, who knows? Die another day.

Oh. Close to it. No. Or tomorrow. Hey. Guys, what do you think? Should we ask you two again to go first? I'm going to give it a double.

002. Wow. Because the reason I'm not going lower is because it's got DC in it. You know, I love him. It's also, you know, a continuation of my favorite film, Casino Royale. But you know what? I just do not care for the movie. I find it to be quite boring.

Okay. Fair. I'm going to go with a double oh. Yikes. A double of four. Yeah, that's above average. I was solid. I liked it okay.

I saw it in theaters. And I think there are some fun set pieces in it. I love Daniel Craig, love him. I think the women do a good job, and it's not their fault that they're a little bit underdeveloped. I think they're great actresses, especially Camille. And I think there are some fun moments, but I also am bored during it. Fair.

Matt? I think Amanda's right where I am, a double four for this picture. A little bit better than, I think. I think it's aesthetically, I think it's very pleasing. And I think that it has enough moments and it's elevated above the average. I'm going to double down on my theory that this film will continue to be praised as time goes on and will be reassessed as a better film than it seems. I'm giving it a 006. Whoa!

Wow. But, Matt, don't you think it's odd that because the editing is so poorly executed in this movie, you have to watch it, 10 times to be able to understand what's going. But you're adding, giving it a, yeah, you're adding. I knocked it down from a deviless. You're acting as though that's part of the charm of the movie is that, it is that you go back and you see all these things. No, you just see the things that you were supposed to have seen the first time, but someone

didn't edit it right. I think in the full spectrum of things, I, and I like having one movie that is that way. And it's a flawed movie for sure. But a lot of my favorite Bond movies are the flawed ones. I like them because they're different and I like in some ways this has happy mistakes and it's not a total loss that you miss things the first time because it makes it enjoyable to rewatch and I kind of feel like there's an element of figuring out a mystery by rewatching a few times. Not the film's intention, but that's an added benefit for me that I really like and

it was a time in my life. Part of it's nostalgia part of it is it's so weird. I like the art he risks it takes. I like that there's no real relationship between the Bond girl and Bond. Yeah, no. Some would say that's a flaw. I mean, superficial sexual relationship, I mean. Oh. Like, like every Bond movie, for the most part, it has this understood thing that you've got to have these things. And this just doesn't go there. This was as far as the Bond franchise was willing to get in terms of gritty, realistic drama. And it might have taken some missteps, but no other Bond movie goes this far for that element. Like this is what Moonwraker is on the other side, you know, and I love that about it.

Yeah. It's not perfect, but I like that it, I like we see what the pendulum swing to one side looks like. That's interesting, I guess. I hear you. All right. And I hear you guys. I'll allow it. Okay.

Wow. We all came to each other's sides, met in the middle. That's right. We're done. We're done with the original. franchise. Wow. And we have yet to figure out exactly how consistent will be.

But I do think we should, you know, think about some of these off-brand things, think about this marathon, and then never say never again, too, we should get back. Absolutely. Yeah. Maria, Amanda, you continue to be favorite guests of the listeners of Matt and myself. And you've done this quite a bit now. We want to thank you. Thank you.

Thank you guys for having us. It's not easy, I know, to sit through some of this. Thank you for being a part of the franchise. Thank you for being a part of our lives. And thank you for really agreeing with me on this movie. Yeah. We'll come back any time for Casino Real, but probably never again for Quantum of Soul.

Yeah, no. But if there's any other movies that I haven't seen the Pierce Brosnan ones, I'd be happy to come through. That's good. I wonder what you'd think of Never Say Never Again. That's when Connery came back in 1983 for an unofficial Bond movie, not made by the same people. I don't know.

I don't know. It's only one way to find out. Make her do it. I can't. You guys probably need a break. Give us a couple weeks. I can fill my wife's fatigue and that is not a critique. I hope.

That's not a critique. I understand. Yeah. I noticed you in watching these last ones where you're kind of like, you were, it felt like work and I get it. No, I loved watching Casino Royale. It was just hard because we crammed him into like two days and had to wake up her in this morning to watch them. It's a hard. That's hard.

do. Still, I feel like it's a, when that has to happen, I'll have to force myself to watch him. It still feels like two hours of pure joy. You got to get him watching Titanic and stuff on your side. I mean, but just like, how about because I said so. He's seen it once, but he'll only watch movies I like when he's on medication. That's not true. Marty. Yeah, but he used to say he's not on medication now. I'm just kidding. I'm teasing. He loves all the movies I love. We're watching fear for this. I'm outdoor movie.

It's going to be great. On that roller coaster? Come on. I love that movie. Come on. Yeah. Well, once you see it, you won't be able to see it.

Matt likes Titanic. Well, there you go. You and I almost always watch strange, like, weird 90s thrillers that we both enjoy. Yeah. I'm just saying that you should do a podcast based on like Nancy Myers movies.

I should or she should and I'll be a guest. I'd be happy to do it. Maybe you should. Like re-up trading movies. Yeah, with Maria and Craig. You guys, yeah, listeners should check that out. You guys used to have a podcast called Trading Movies where Amanda hosted, but Craig Kikowsky is closer to my age.

And you, Maria, you would force each other to watch a movie. That's what my wife and I do on Saturdays. Really? For force each other to watch movies we like. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. I have to watch a... Yes, big time.

Like goofy movie versus French connection. She was like, you've never seen Pump Up the Volume. You have to watch Pump Up of the Volume. So I was like, okay. Then I'm like, oh, God. Wow. And I'll make her watch a... Thor Ragnar Rock.

Oh, boy. But check out the big ones while you guys are listening. Yeah, check out the big ones. Yeah. Available wherever podcasts are downloaded. You guys have a Patreon? Oh, yes. Please.

Give us to our Patreon. We do extra episodes on Patreon once a month, but once we get over 500 a month, we'll do two episodes a month. How close are you? We're pretty close. I think we're less than maybe $40 away. That's great. Cool. That means there's like a few dumdums out there could shift the tide.

Yes, they could. Let's get those dumbs out there to donate. Yeah, where are my dumbdums at? Yeah, where my dumm's at? Holler at me if you a dumb dumb dumb. Get on that Patreon. All right, thanks, guys. Thanks for having us.

Thank you. Rest easy because I know you're all tired. Good night, everyone. And good love. James Bonding will return eventually. Yeah, James Bonding will return. Hey, this is Arnie Neekamp from the Improft Fantasy podcast. Hello from the Magic Tavern.

I fell through a dimensional portal behind a Burger King in Chicago into the magical Land of Foon, and I started a podcast. Season 3 has just begun with a brand new adventure to defeat the Dark Lord. If you're a new listener or you've fallen behind season 3 is a great jumping on point, and we've got great guests like Justin McElroy.

I sat like a fancy college professor. Fake nuts. Rachel Bloom. You all see my collection of men, corpses, and one woman. Felicia Day and Colton Dunn. You've seen me have intercourse with a variety of species. It's a bummer. Andy Daly.

have the members of Genesis listed, but Phil Collins has crossed out and then circled it crossed out again. Yes, I have killed Phil Collins twice. Thomas Middle Ditch. Jesus, I mean, Jazzos, ruler of the eighth circle. And that's just the beginning. Season three, a low from the magic tavern is out now. Listen in Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.