“Academy Award nominations were announced today. I’ll save a write up for later, once I can settle into my predictions. For now, a lot more disappointment than excitement. Granted, part of that is because a lot of what should get me excited was expected (Anne Hathaway, Django Unchained, Argo). But the only truly happy surprise for me was the song from Ted. Other than that, more gasps and sighs than fist pumps as I watched the nomination announcement. Biggest initial outrage was the lack of John Hawkes for best actor, followed by Ben Affleck for director. My only real homework is Amour, which hits Boston next week. Maybe also The Pirates… but I care less about that.
But for now, we’re talking about Bond. James Bond. Sean Connery returns in From Russia With Love. Ah yes, it’s the cold war afterall, let’s bring in the Russians. We’re building out SPECTRE as the leading baddies, and we’ve got our first (partial) glimpse of Blofeld.
This one plays out a bit slow for my taste. I realize that’s gonna be my general feeling for a while, but its true. I do like Bond’s partnership with Kerim, and they do have some fun spy moments. But I didn’t care too much for our Bond girl, Tatiana Romanova played by Daniela Bianchi. She was far more sex than substance. It’s one thing for her to visually flaunt it, but when half of her dialogue is her asking for it then it gets annoying. Thankfully, Russia also gives us one of our best bad Bond girls, Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb. If only she had more than just the one scene with the main himself, but she certainly is in a league of her own when it comes to the Bond women.
Not my favorite opening credits. The way the movement underscores the words, it gets kinda confusing that you end up reading the same thing about three times. And I’m not a fan of the all girl credit sequences. At least we’re just getting started. In a strange twist, the actual theme song From Russia With Love doesn’t play until the end. Bond’s just getting his feet wet, but we’re off to a good start there.”