NO TIME TO DIE STREAMING NEXT WEEK

 

It's now been confirmed that the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die will be available on the 9th November for streaming in the UK. The VOD, that's video on demand, will be available on Amazon Prime and HBO Max. 

The movie put in a disappointing showing at the domestic box office, but given the Covid crisis the movie did remarkably well. However, the US box office was more concerning and the movie underperformed on its opening taking $55 million when it was fully expected to rake in a minimum of $60 million.

However it must be remembered that  No Time to Die has already shot to £68.6 million ($94.7 million) in the UK. It was already the biggest movie  of the 'pandemic era'. The early jump to streaming will allow the movie to bring in more money, but it is doubtful that the EON originally intended to allow the film to make it's VOD transition so soon after the film hit the big screen; before, in fact, the film is released in all markets.

Daniel Craig's rocky road to 007

 

Daniel Craig's latest and last Bond is raking in the cash and receiving mostly positive, even raving feedback - I've not seen the movie yet and initially wasn't going to bother, but given the news of the shock ending I'm going to see it next weekend.

So I thought now would be a good time to remember the fury Craig met when he initially took the role.

When Craig was first announced as the new Bond the naysayers immediately lamented the “blond Bond” and criticized his blue eyes. The London Daily Mirror on Oct. 15, 2005, ran his photo with the headline “The Name’s Bland … James Bland.”

At Craig’s first meeting with the press, he arrived via a speedboat on the Thames; he was wearing a lifejacket, which led to endless media mockery. Reporters were even more appalled that he chewed gum during the press conference.

Websites launched with names like, DANIELCRAIGISNOTJAMESBOND and BLONDNOTBOND.COM

The hostility shifted into high gear. The Sun newspaper reported that Craig had suffered sunburn that stopped filming of Casino Royale. It also was reported he didn’t know how to drive a manual car. “Craig’s 007 Can’t Get in Gear.”, the headline proclaimed.

“Craig confessed he doesn’t like guns,” said another British newspaper and then went onto report that he lost two teeth in a fight scene with “minor actors” 

This prompted Barbara Broccoli to announce: “His teeth are fine, he doesn’t have heat rash, and he’s not afraid of the water.”

Still Casino Royale” raked in $616 million worldwide, becoming the highest earning Bond film to date and regarded by many as Craig’s finest Bond outing. (By comparison, the final Pierce Brosnan film, “Die Another Day,” had earned $431.9 million.

Craig is the longest-serving Bond, at 15 years, though in fairness this is due to the fact that these days there is a long delay between movies and of course the Covid crisis held back the latest Bond film several times over.

As a Bond fan myself, I'm still not overly fond of Craig's version of the character but there's no escaping the fact he's been a massive success in the role.

Now...who will be next?

No Work for Daniel Craig lookabitalike.

 

This week the East Anglian Times reported about the worries of a professional Daniel Craig lookalike who actually looks nothing like Daniel Craig. For the last 14 years, Steve Wright has been making a fortune as a Craig lookalike but now that Craig has left the Bond role, the lookalike who doesn't really lookalike fears his work will dry up.

'Inevitably I'm not going to be as popular. People obviously want the current Bond, but I've been been 007 for the last 14 years so I'm happy to pass on the mantle.The same thing has happened to the Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan lookalikes after all."

Mr Wright lost dozens of Bond jobs during the pandemic due to cancellations and it now looks as if it's going to get worse, as a new actor steps into 007's shoes. Maybe he can continue as a lookalike who looks nothing alike whoever the new Bond turns out to be.

The one thing Mr Wright won't miss is being chased at high speed by blokes who look vaguely like Blofeld.

Mr Wright is considered the world's best Daniel Craig lookalike....Here, at the Archive we are just not seeing it.

No Time to Die/ No Urge to See

 

It's taken an age to get here - what with production delays and then the covid pandemic closing the world down, and now we're only days away from the 25th Bond movie hitting cinemas. A lot is hanging on the success of the movie, the cinema sector are hoping this film will be the spark that helps them recover after multiple lockdowns and EON productions have a lot riding on the success of the film - perhaps, the future of the franchise itself.

"We’re really hoping that this unlocks everything else and is very much the spark that makes everybody feel safe to return to cinemas,” 

I've seen every Bond movie in the cinema since The Spy Who Loved me - I was but a boy then - and now for the first time ever I feel ambivalent to a new Bond movie. I've never really liked Craig in the role, finding him boring but I still joined the queue for each movie as it came. This time, I'm not going to bother. Maybe I'll see it when the DVD comes around and catch it on one streaming service or other.

Why? Is it that I find the films tedious and lacking the spark of previous eras?

 Well, there is something in that - I consider Moonraker to be the worse of Roger Moore's Bond movies and yet I'd prefer to watch that movie than any of the Daniel Craig Bonds. Though, despite my lack of love for the latest Bond era I did love Skyfall and rate Spectre as pretty good too. I also think that the franchise has been heading back to the classic feel of the series since Skyfall - there's much more humour than there was in the Bourne-alike Casino Royale and the absolutely terrible Quantum of Solace.

Is it Covid fear? 

No, I don't think so. I've worked straight through the pandemic and am double jabbed. I'll visit a packed whisky bar in a heartbeat, I'm in the local library at least once a week and I'm still working, often driving a packed bus. So it's not a fear of the bastarding pandemic.

Is it the gimmicks the movie seem to have employed - making the new 007 a woman?

No, whilst I think it would be a step too far to bow down to the Woke lot and make Bond a woman. The code 007 can go to any agent, male or female and Bond is, of course in the movie and it's still a Bond movie. Anyway, it may be fun to see Bond teamed up with a truly strong female character. Though, it's a safe bet that Craig won't give the sexy new agent the benefit of some great 007 sex as Moore would have.  Remember, Mrs Ringo was a super tough agent in the Spy Who Loved Me, and yet she couldn't resist a little moore rogering. Whoops, sexist joke. I do apologise.

It's troubling that No Time to Die director, Cary Fukunaga recently told the Hollywood Reporter that Connery's Bond was basically a rapist. 

The scene Fukunaga is talking about is in Thunderball where Connery seduces a nurse (Molly Peters) in a playful scene where 007 basically promises to keep quiet about something that could cost her her job if she sleeps with him. I suppose you could see that scene as rape if you wanted to, but come on...it's really not.

Guess, they are still missing the point that Bond is basically a fantasy and not meant at all to be taken seriously.

Anyway, the Bond films have always employed gimmicks.

In short, I don't know why I just can't be arsed with this - maybe I've outgrown the movies. Maybe I'm out of time and long for the days when Roger Moore walked across the screen and fired down those famous gun barrels, when Connery purred as he seduced yet another fair maiden. I guess it's time to step aside and leave the Bond movies, at least those made in the last decade or so to those who love Craig's angst ridden spy and they are legion. Me, I prefer the past when a new Bond movie was really an event, when the Death Star was visually cutting edge, when Smokey and the Bandit tore up the celluloid roads and blockbuster movies  were fun. 

I guess the answer to the questions above is that I'm Too Old to Care.

Or am I?

Though in fairness to the movies Casino Royale did invigorate a franchise that seemed to have run out of steam, and Craig was hailed as the best Bond in many years. And yet most of his movie are forgettable whilst the older movies remain fondly in memory. Maybe this all new serious Bond was another gimmick. Maybe, fans didn't realise how much they would miss the over the top villains seeking world domination. Maybe the odd henchmen, the whimsical plots, the insane gadgets were the things that made the Bond franchise the powerhouse it was. 

All of those elements were the things that made Bond such a beloved fantasy espionage icon - in short, this was what made Bond Bond. All of these things seemed to separate Bond from other mindless action spectacles, but these days Bond, in the guise of being super serious is just another member of the pack. The women no longer make love to Bond but instead they are tortured and killed. Bond's witty quips are no longer fun - the movies used to be about escapism and beautiful locations with a martini or two thrown into the mix, but now they wallow in sombre moody landscapes, filthy basements and larger louts.

You know, maybe I'm not too old for the films after all - I guess I'm still a Bond mega-fan and I guess I always will be but the fact remains I'm not paying for a ticket to see John Mclane or Jason Bourne. I want to truly see that other guy - The name's Bond, James Bond.

No Time To Die will be released in cinemas on Thursday September 30, with the premiere taking place on Tuesday September 28

Countdown to Skyfall - Daniel Craig's knickers snapped up

Back in the day, we used to get to see curvaceous women prancing about in skimpy costumes in our James Bond movies, but in this crazy mixed up modern age it is Daniel Craig who prances about in the skimpies. What was that all about?


So iconic have Craig's powder blue knickers become that an anonymous bidder paid  £44,450 at auction for the shorts Daniel Craig wore to recreate the Ursula Andress scene from Doctor No, in his first James Bland movie, Casino Royale.

The skimpy shorts, which were featured in an iconic scene from the 2006 flick which was Craig’s first appearance as the British secret agent, were among a number of items sold in a 007-themed auction last Friday (October 5). The auction took place as part of Global James Bond Day, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the film franchise.

With proceeds from the event donated to a number of charities including Unicef UK and Childline, other popular Bond memorabilia from the 50 items which went under the hammer included a navy woollen suit to be worn by Craig in new 007 film Skyfall, which raised £46,850, and an Aston Martin DBS car driven by the actor in Quantum Of Solace, which was sold for £241,250.

The Archive congratulates the buyer of Craig's knickers though would like to point out that a similar pair can be picked up for a fiver at Marks and Spencers. However the Archive is old school and Craig's knickers don't do anything for us and so here's a pic of Ursula in hers.

He's still not James Bond, you know

Found and enjoyed on you tube:

THE SEARCH FOR A NEW JAMES BOND

There has been no official announcement but the smart money is on the fact that Daniel Craig has quit as James Bond - Bookies have opened their books with Clive Owen being the odds on favourite.

The Archive think Owen would be superb.