Skyfall director Sam Mendes will not be helming the next 007 adventure. Why Martin Campbell should return to the fold...

Okay, so Sam Mendes is officially out.  There was rumbling over the last few weeks that Sam Mendes would actual But as of today, Mendes politely bowed out of the running.  He will not return to helm the next James Bond picture following his phenomenally successful Skyfall.  I'm sure I will be but one of a million people offering their thoughts on who should helm the next 007 picture. It's tempting to once again half-jokingly offer up Terrance Malick, Warner Herzog, Sophia Coppola, and Michael Haneke as go-to picks.  But the choice is obvious.  The name is Campbell, Martin Campbell.  He directed two of the very best 007 pictures of the post-Connery era, if not outright ever (it's no secret where I stand on this... Goldfinger can suck it).  He revitalized the franchise twice with two different Bond actors in the last 18 years.  The stain of Green Lantern leaves him in a position of 'needing a hit', and there is no reason to presume he won't knock it out of the park for a third time.  But more importantly, doing the follow-up to Skyfall gives Campbell a new set of tools to play with in the 007 sandbox.  This time he'll just get to play with few restraints, without the burden of franchise rebirth.

The lesson of Jack the Giant Slayer: Delaying failure and fixing the unfix-able is expensive and often counter-productive.

As most of you know, Warner Bros. intended to release Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Killer in June of 2012 before pulling it from release, ordering reshoots and the like, and calling it a more kid-friendly Jack the Giant Slayer.  I don't know what the film's budget was prior to the date change and related reshoots, but it was probably a lot less than the $195 million that they ended up with.  And for what?  The film opened this weekend to $28 million.  If patterns hold for this kind of release, it'll likely top out at $70 million domestic at best and around $250 million worldwide as a best case scenario.  But point being, how much better of an opening could Warner Bros. expecting for a half kid-friendly/half dark-and-violent retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk starring absolutely no one of any box office worth? How much worse of an opening would Warner Bros. be looking at had it just gone ahead and opened it in June of 2012 as they intended?  Is it really worth the extra tens-of-millions of dollars that they ended up spending on the picture? Delaying the inevitable oftentimes merely gets you the same result at a greater cost.

Brandon Peters dissects the 007 series part 17: GoldenEye

With Skyfall dropping in theaters in just a couple months, along with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, a close friend and fellow film nerd, Brandon Peters, has generously offered to do a comprehensive review of the entire 007 film franchise. Today is the seventeenth entry, with a full review of  Pierce Brosnan's smashing debut (and my personal favorite of the whole series*) GoldenEye. I hope you enjoy what is a pretty massive feature leading up the November 9th release of Skyfall. I'll do my best to leave my two-cents out of it, give or take a few items I have up my sleeve (including a possible guest review from my wife as she sings the praises of her favorite 007 film, you won't believe what it is). But just because I'm stepping aside doesn't mean you should. Without further ado...

GoldenEye

1995

Director:  Martin Campbell

Starring:  Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Judi Dench, Famke Janssen, Izabella Scorupco, Alan Cumming, Robbie Coltrane, Gottifried John

Rated PG-13

Need I remind you, 007, that you have a license to kill, not to break the traffic laws.

                        -Q

STATS

Kills:  25 (estimate)

Girls:  Natalya Simonova, Xenia Onatopp, Caroline

Car:  BMWZ3, however Bond’s casual vehicle is the Aston Martin

Locales:  Monte Carlo, St. Petersburg, Cuba

Odd Villain Trait:  Xenia Onatopp gets off on violence (literally) and can crush a man wrapping her legs around his waist

Song:  “Goldeneye” performed by Tina Turner (written by Bono & Edge of U2 fame)

Other notable song:  “The Experience of Love” performed by Serra

After 6 ½ years removed from theaters around the globe, James Bond reloaded and returned in a big way for GoldenEye.  GoldenEye was a major cinematic event for 1995.  The Berlin wall had fallen and many felt Bond’s legacy should go with it.  It was questioned as to whether the character could remain relevant with no cold war.  Also, debuting in the role of James Bond was Pierce Brosnan, an actor who many had been clamoring to see play this part (and as we all know my mother was one of those people).  Would he be able to live up to expectation?  Could Bond manage to win back audiences and pick back up where he had left off?

Nobody did it better: Goldeneye, still my favorite 007 adventure, turns 15 years old.

15 years after the fact, it's still my favorite James Bond film. Yes, you read that right. I like most of the Connery pictures (especially From Russia With Love and Thunderball), and I've learned to appreciate some of the Roger Moore entries (even Moonraker is a fast-paced action picture before that final reel set in space). And it's no secret that both Timothy Dalton entries are pretty high on the list. But Goldeneye is still my personal favorite.