Casino Royale

Casino Royale (Collector's Edition)
$29.95
Batman Begins was the movie that started the whole franchise reboot craze. Like The Pink Panther, James Bond was soon to follow. Daniel Craig is good but in my opinion he lacks the suave sophistication that Connery, Moore and Brosnan had. He's a fine actor though, able to handle the action (especially Le Chiffre's torture), dramatic and romance scenes. Eva Green was a brilliant choice as Vesper. Unlike previous Bond girls where they had to be a government agent or nuclear physicist in order to be an equal with Bond, Vesper is able to make jabs at Bond and hold her own against his sexist ways but her character is not action oriented and emotionally vulnerable, which makes her more feminine than some of her predecessors. The shower and final scenes are the best examples I can give on how, other than Tracy from OHMSS, Vesper is the only woman Bond has ever fallen in love with. Le Chiffre, while not one of the more memorable villains in the Bond canon, is big step up from the bratty Gustav Graves. He is cold, calculating and not afraid to cut Bond down to size if he doesn't tell him what he wants to know. Judi Dench, the only connection to the previous films, returns as M, who is shown more in this film but some of her scenes just seem unnecesary to the storyline. The plot is good, though the only parts that are adapted from the original novel are the casino and torture scenes. I do hate that they made it seem that Le Chiffre had a hand in 9/11. In this and the following Bond film, I hate how they're striving too hard for realism, in the past, the politcal points of the films were always subtle (the Cold War, detante and the fall of Communnism) and sometimes actually relevant to the story. The reference to 9/11, to me anyways, just seemed pointless as it adds nothing to Le Chiffre's character or the plot. There are too many action sequences in this film, which hurts it a little bit. They make Bond seem like Superman, jumping around on top of construction sites and bursting through walls (I could hear the George Reeves Superman theme in my head when he did that). And the way Bond heals from all of his wounds is so astounding, he'd put Wolverine to shame. David Arnold provides probably his best Bond score, though his music, especially for the action sequences, are loud and obnoxious. And I know that this is Bond's first mission, but that doesn't mean he should just barely use the Bond Theme. I think it was Arnold himself on a special feature on the Bond music who said "Don't be afraid to use the Bond Theme. If it's not in the film, its just a regular action film." Or something of that nature anyway (and I hope they stop making the Bond films look and feel like a regular action film. The Bonds have always been different from the rest and the direction the producers are going in are practically disgracing Broccoli's hard work). Chris Cornell, the first male singer on a Bond song since The Living Daylights, provides an excellent title song.

Casino Royale [Blu-ray]
$28.95
Batman Begins was the movie that started the whole franchise reboot craze. Like The Pink Panther, James Bond was soon to follow. Daniel Craig is good but in my opinion he lacks the suave sophistication that Connery, Moore and Brosnan had. He's a fine actor though, able to handle the action (especially Le Chiffre's torture), dramatic and romance scenes. Eva Green was a brilliant choice as Vesper. Unlike previous Bond girls where they had to be a government agent or nuclear physicist in order to be an equal with Bond, Vesper is able to make jabs at Bond and hold her own against his sexist ways but her character is not action oriented and emotionally vulnerable, which makes her more feminine than some of her predecessors. The shower and final scenes are the best examples I can give on how, other than Tracy from OHMSS, Vesper is the only woman Bond has ever fallen in love with. Le Chiffre, while not one of the more memorable villains in the Bond canon, is big step up from the bratty Gustav Graves. He is cold, calculating and not afraid to cut Bond down to size if he doesn't tell him what he wants to know. Judi Dench, the only connection to the previous films, returns as M, who is shown more in this film but some of her scenes just seem unnecesary to the storyline. The plot is good, though the only parts that are adapted from the original novel are the casino and torture scenes. I do hate that they made it seem that Le Chiffre had a hand in 9/11. In this and the following Bond film, I hate how they're striving too hard for realism, in the past, the politcal points of the films were always subtle (the Cold War, detante and the fall of Communnism) and sometimes actually relevant to the story. The reference to 9/11, to me anyways, just seemed pointless as it adds nothing to Le Chiffre's character or the plot. There are too many action sequences in this film, which hurts it a little bit. They make Bond seem like Superman, jumping around on top of construction sites and bursting through walls (I could hear the George Reeves Superman theme in my head when he did that). And the way Bond heals from all of his wounds is so astounding, he'd put Wolverine to shame. David Arnold provides probably his best Bond score, though his music, especially for the action sequences, are loud and obnoxious. And I know that this is Bond's first mission, but that doesn't mean he should just barely use the Bond Theme. I think it was Arnold himself on a special feature on the Bond music who said "Don't be afraid to use the Bond Theme. If it's not in the film, its just a regular action film." Or something of that nature anyway (and I hope they stop making the Bond films look and feel like a regular action film. The Bonds have always been different from the rest and the direction the producers are going in are practically disgracing Broccoli's hard work). Chris Cornell, the first male singer on a Bond song since The Living Daylights, provides an excellent title song.

Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
$14.94
Batman Begins was the movie that started the whole franchise reboot craze. Like The Pink Panther, James Bond was soon to follow. Daniel Craig is good but in my opinion he lacks the suave sophistication that Connery, Moore and Brosnan had. He's a fine actor though, able to handle the action (especially Le Chiffre's torture), dramatic and romance scenes. Eva Green was a brilliant choice as Vesper. Unlike previous Bond girls where they had to be a government agent or nuclear physicist in order to be an equal with Bond, Vesper is able to make jabs at Bond and hold her own against his sexist ways but her character is not action oriented and emotionally vulnerable, which makes her more feminine than some of her predecessors. The shower and final scenes are the best examples I can give on how, other than Tracy from OHMSS, Vesper is the only woman Bond has ever fallen in love with. Le Chiffre, while not one of the more memorable villains in the Bond canon, is big step up from the bratty Gustav Graves. He is cold, calculating and not afraid to cut Bond down to size if he doesn't tell him what he wants to know. Judi Dench, the only connection to the previous films, returns as M, who is shown more in this film but some of her scenes just seem unnecesary to the storyline. The plot is good, though the only parts that are adapted from the original novel are the casino and torture scenes. I do hate that they made it seem that Le Chiffre had a hand in 9/11. In this and the following Bond film, I hate how they're striving too hard for realism, in the past, the politcal points of the films were always subtle (the Cold War, detante and the fall of Communnism) and sometimes actually relevant to the story. The reference to 9/11, to me anyways, just seemed pointless as it adds nothing to Le Chiffre's character or the plot. There are too many action sequences in this film, which hurts it a little bit. They make Bond seem like Superman, jumping around on top of construction sites and bursting through walls (I could hear the George Reeves Superman theme in my head when he did that). And the way Bond heals from all of his wounds is so astounding, he'd put Wolverine to shame. David Arnold provides probably his best Bond score, though his music, especially for the action sequences, are loud and obnoxious. And I know that this is Bond's first mission, but that doesn't mean he should just barely use the Bond Theme. I think it was Arnold himself on a special feature on the Bond music who said "Don't be afraid to use the Bond Theme. If it's not in the film, its just a regular action film." Or something of that nature anyway (and I hope they stop making the Bond films look and feel like a regular action film. The Bonds have always been different from the rest and the direction the producers are going in are practically disgracing Broccoli's hard work). Chris Cornell, the first male singer on a Bond song since The Living Daylights, provides an excellent title song.

Casino Royale (Two-Disc Collector's Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray]
$38.96
Batman Begins was the movie that started the whole franchise reboot craze. Like The Pink Panther, James Bond was soon to follow. Daniel Craig is good but in my opinion he lacks the suave sophistication that Connery, Moore and Brosnan had. He's a fine actor though, able to handle the action (especially Le Chiffre's torture), dramatic and romance scenes. Eva Green was a brilliant choice as Vesper. Unlike previous Bond girls where they had to be a government agent or nuclear physicist in order to be an equal with Bond, Vesper is able to make jabs at Bond and hold her own against his sexist ways but her character is not action oriented and emotionally vulnerable, which makes her more feminine than some of her predecessors. The shower and final scenes are the best examples I can give on how, other than Tracy from OHMSS, Vesper is the only woman Bond has ever fallen in love with. Le Chiffre, while not one of the more memorable villains in the Bond canon, is big step up from the bratty Gustav Graves. He is cold, calculating and not afraid to cut Bond down to size if he doesn't tell him what he wants to know. Judi Dench, the only connection to the previous films, returns as M, who is shown more in this film but some of her scenes just seem unnecesary to the storyline. The plot is good, though the only parts that are adapted from the original novel are the casino and torture scenes. I do hate that they made it seem that Le Chiffre had a hand in 9/11. In this and the following Bond film, I hate how they're striving too hard for realism, in the past, the politcal points of the films were always subtle (the Cold War, detante and the fall of Communnism) and sometimes actually relevant to the story. The reference to 9/11, to me anyways, just seemed pointless as it adds nothing to Le Chiffre's character or the plot. There are too many action sequences in this film, which hurts it a little bit. They make Bond seem like Superman, jumping around on top of construction sites and bursting through walls (I could hear the George Reeves Superman theme in my head when he did that). And the way Bond heals from all of his wounds is so astounding, he'd put Wolverine to shame. David Arnold provides probably his best Bond score, though his music, especially for the action sequences, are loud and obnoxious. And I know that this is Bond's first mission, but that doesn't mean he should just barely use the Bond Theme. I think it was Arnold himself on a special feature on the Bond music who said "Don't be afraid to use the Bond Theme. If it's not in the film, its just a regular action film." Or something of that nature anyway (and I hope they stop making the Bond films look and feel like a regular action film. The Bonds have always been different from the rest and the direction the producers are going in are practically disgracing Broccoli's hard work). Chris Cornell, the first male singer on a Bond song since The Living Daylights, provides an excellent title song.