Skyfall: The Legend Finally Continues

SKYFALL is the James Bond film I've been waiting for my entire life and it couldn't have happened at at better time for the both of us. This is the 50th anniversary of the movie series and I've been there the entire way. This new entry in the Bond canon far surpassed my expectations, which were astronomical given the pedigree of talent in front and behind the cameras, a platinum standard, to say the very least. It culminates in accomplishing what no Bond film has before: It actually resonates.

SKYFALL begins with a blissfully old school straight action packed pre-title sequence, beautifully choreographed with a light touch, a wink and a nod that the Daniel Craig era hasn’t had up to this point. For example, when Craig as Bond crashes through the back of a train car with a bulldozer, he leaps inside and, when he lands on his feet, he straightens up and adjusts his cuffs. But by the end of the sequence, things take a abrupt turn for the worse and dramatically so, showing that there is something more at stake here and these actions actually have consequences. It’s obvious from point on that SKYFALL is headed into uncharted territory where a Bond film is elevated from just light entertainment into a movie with substance and even a heart.

For SKYFALL delves into MI6 for the first time in the series and the relationship between 007 and M which plays out throughout the story to a harrowing conclusion, the finest in the series especially given the setting. And James Bond has finally been made into been transformed into a character of flesh and blood, one with deep rooted flaws and emotions, all because the filmmakers have delved into his past to inform his present.

It’s about time. I’ve been clamoring for this for years. When I was twelve years old, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was my favorite James Bond adventure and still is to this very day. Back then, I wanted a hero to save the world from an evil genius whose hidden lair lie within a Japanese volcano. But as I grew older, the films seem to grow younger and even childish.  Sure, they continued to entertain, but always superficially without continuity or weight. Bond as a character seemed to tread water when I knew damn well he could swim the channel. It’s understandable that the Broccoli family wanted to protect their one and only cash cow, but they smothered him. Ian Fleming's creation was treated like a fraile precious object, protected from the outside world for fear of spoilage. Therefore, Bond and his stories remained the same without continuity or even a chance of growth. The formula was just that and that alone made it diluted.

Every time the series took a momentary serious note, it was just a baby step or a breather until the next chase. Bond is married in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE only to have his wife murdered by Blofeld in the closing scene. In the very next installment, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Bond meets up Blofeld again. Any mention of the late missus? Nope. Instead we're treated to a slap-happy Las Vegas affair with Jill St. John and a pre-pork sausage Jimmy Dean. Roger Moore visits his wife's grave at the start of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, but his comeuppance with who is assumed to be Blofeld is handled in Looney Tunes fashion. Timothy Dalton’s Bond in LICENSE TO KILL avenges his CIA friend Felix Leiter, only to have him stray uncomfortably into a MIAMI VICE episode. When Pierce Brosnan came on board, there were positive signs that the character might actually evolve, especially with the introduction of Judi Dench as M. In THE WORLD WAS NOT ENOUGH, she was put into jeopardy for the first time, something SKYFALL echoes. By DIE ANOTHER DAY, however, Bond and the films are turned into a piss poor video game. But with the series reboot beginning with CASINO ROYALE, the dial was turned too far in the other direction, a serious tone that manages to be dour and frankly quite joyless. SKYFALL is a complex juggling act, keeping all the elements in the air at the same time while bridging the gap between the old and the new, thereby regenerating the series for the future.

So many things add to the enjoyment of this film: The cast including Javier Bardem’s brilliant villain, Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whisaw as Q, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris and, of course, Craig who earns his 007 stripes with full honors. Roger Deakin’s superb cinematography makes SKYFALL the most beautifully shot of any Bond film and possibly the finest of any movie this year. Stuart Baird’s razor sharp editing makes 2 1/2 pass by like nothing.

Back in the the 80s the rumor mill (something we had before the Internet), the name of Steven Spielberg was bandied about as a possible director of a Bond film. It seemed too good to be true. With Sam Mendes at the helm of SKYFALL, I'm convinced that not even Stevie-boy could match what he's done. Mendes, along with screenwriters Neil Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan, have done for Bond what Christopher Nolan has for Batman.

Now for a few quibbles:

I have to admit that I’m not a big Adele fan, so the title song is a bit lukewarm for my taste. At least she kept her histrionics in check. Thomas Newman's score, for the most part, works well throughout, though in the pre-title feelings lacking in the car chase, almost laconic. I also find Silva’s big assassination attempt on M to be rather clumsy and unimaginative for something he had been plotting for years on end, though it does set up the superb finale.

All in all, on my list of Top Ten Bond films (see past blogpost: BOND, JAMES BOND: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER), I’ll still put YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE for sentimental reasons my sentimental reasons, but SKYFALL sits right behind it. I could say that the former is my favorite as a boy, while the latter, as a man.

James Bond has finally grown up. Maybe so have I.

With great pride and pleasure, I can say without hesitation, that the legend continues and four words give this fanboy another reason to live:

James Bond Will Return.

2011: All God's Chillun Go to Hebbin

Gosh, an honest-to-blog year-end wrap-up complete with Top Ten lists and everything...

Let's not and say we did.

The truth of the matter is that I'm not really feeling reflective at the moment, odd given the time of year. I suppose my lack of interest in this matter is given to the fact that I engage in this on a daily basis and frankly, I need a bit of a break and so do the rest of you. Can't we just forward with out looking back for a change? I'm not saying "Let's ignore history!" and embrace the ephemeral like the rest of society. No, I'm not conforming to the status quo. I'm just a little sick and tired of instant nostalgia. I want to earn my memories, not cater to them. As for those that I have, I'll wear them like badges of honor, leaving for more as times goes by because it ain't over 'til I sez it's over.

As for what I consider the Best of 2011, I feel ambivalent even mentioning them since it's just more of the same. I can say that the best movie I saw in theaters this year was Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, but the ambiance and my frame of mind had just about everything to do with that choice. I saw it in Brooklyn (Woody's hometown) and I was on one of the best vacations of my entire life. The Book of Mormon was the best live theater event for me this year but once again, I saw it on Broadway and it was the only show I attended this year. (It's still superb, by the way) Do you need to know that I believe Breaking Bad had to be, hands down, the finest TV show of the year and one of the greatest entire seasons in broadcast history, every single episode a knockout? Well, now you do. I also echo just about the entire critical conclave when I say that TV outdid movies AGAIN this year, especially with shows like Treme, Justified, Louie, American Horror Story and Game of Thrones. Music-wise, I stand by my own assessment and choose as my favorite song Dig a Little Deeper from Moonshine Willy's 1998 album Bastard Child and if I hear Adele's Rolling in the Deep one more time, I am going to totally lose my shit. At my age, that's no idle threat. Book-wise, I'll gladly mention Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and hey, an actual title from 2011- Laura Hillebrand's brutally brilliant World War II survival non-fiction work, Unbroken. (Okay. I cheated. I didn't list a Top Ten, just some highlights. I guess I just couldn't resist. Old habits die hard.)

I will look back on 2011 fondly and with gritted teeth. The hardships have increased but it really does make the blessings that much sweeter. And no blessing was greater than the new girl in my life, my incredibly beautiful granddaughter Aefa, born May 31, 2011. It is because of Aefa and what she represents that I will greet 2012 with arms wide open. And that something is hope and with that, I can endure.

To you and yours out there, I wish the same. If you've never had it, find it. If you lost it, reclaim it. Hope will makes us stronger. Hope will allow us to move on. Hope will help us survive. It beats the holy hell out of surrendering.

As always, be good to each other and please be good to yourselves. You deserve it. We all do.

Happy New Year, gang. See you on the other side

Dig A Little Deeper

So here I am at the beginning of August and I didn’t have a summer anthem for this year. like I always do. This has been one of those half-assed traditions of mine that I’ve kept to myself for so long that it has ceased to be an amusing eccentricity and is now just a nervous tic. Eh. Keeps me off the meth. These songs of summer underscore the spirit of that particular year and serve as kind of a mental bookmark, a sense memory if you will. These tunes have run the gamut from Mungo Jerry to Loverboy to Nick Cave to Billy Joel to Kings of Leon right up to Katy Perry. What can I say? I have eclectic tastes.

This year it’s been a bit of a struggle.

I haven’t been able to embrace Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” like the rest of the free world apparently has if you’re to believe the playlist of every radio station on the dial. Talk about Hot Rotation. This thing hasn’t just been played to death. It’s become some sort of zombie siren. I don’t think it’s a bad song. It just feels manufactured for focus groups and demographics, an assembly line power ballad that comes off rather soulless. But hey, this is from a guy who just name-checked Loverboy.

However, there’s no reason Song of Summer 2011 has to be from this year. As the saying goes, if you haven’t heard it before, it’s new to you.

Recently I scored a copy of Moonshine Willy’s 1998 release of Bastard Child. If you’re not familiar with the Willy (at least this one), they were an alt-country band out of Chicago back in the Naughty Nineties. Don’t let the handle “alt-country” throw you, even though it does sound like some sort of too-hip-for-the-room musical category from those most ironic of times before Y2K. The Moonshiners combined elements like bluegrass, rockabilly and even a little folk with 1990s sensibilities into a well-balanced fusion that respected the old while embracing the new.

With full disclosure since I don’t want to sully my reputation as a blogger (we do have strong moral fiber, don’tcha know), I should note that my initial interest in anything by Moonshine Willy is due to the fact that the lead singer/songwriter is Kim Luke (formerly Docter as she’s credited on the album) Kim is a friend and former partner in crime at our days back at the Palace Showboat Theater at Pollardville. Kim appeared in a show I directed called Lights! Camera! Action! and also served as my choreographer on another, California Follies. Knowing her may have prompted me  to purchase Bastard Child in the first place, but the quality of the music is what prompted me to write this piece. Besides it took me 13 years to finally hear this dang thing. I may be late to the party, but at least I showed up.

Bastard Child opens with the delightfully snarky ditty “Burn in Hell” and closes with a rollicking and hilariously countryfied cover of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”. Sandwiched in between is probably the sweetest tune I’ve come across in a month of Sundays (which is what…7 months?). “Dig a Little Deeper” is such a lovely little love song about a couple not realizing that they’re on the same wavelength in their feelings for one another. It begs the question: “How long can one heart ache before two hearts break?” But Kim’s message in the chorus to these two is clear and concise:

Dig a little deeper
And find what brought you here
Dig a little deeper
And find out what holds you near
The love you sought for all your life is
Staring back at you
And all you have to do is
Dig a little deeper.

Dear Abby couldn’t have said it better herself. I choke up every single time I hear that last line. I particularly love that ever-so-brief hesitation she makes before she sings “Staring back at you”.

I’m crazy about this song and that’s why “Dig a Little Deeper’ is this year’s model for my Song of Summer. I found it on Amazon. So can you as well as the rest of Moonshine Willy’s catalog. This one tight-ass band playing in a genre I don’t normally embrace. I guess the sauce they put on their cornpone made it more palatable for me.

I’m really proud to have known so many talented folk intimately in my life. Kindred spirits that find each other in the world is really a blessing and helps us along the way down this freeway under construction known as Life. Therefore it gives great pleasure to trumpet the achievements of my friends, colleagues, peers and pals o’mine. It’s high time I gave Kim her due. Singer, actress, writer, Roller Derby Queen and so much more, Kim Docter Luke really is a Renaissance Woman and I am privileged to have made her acquaintance.
Here ya go, kid. This one’s for you.

SA-LUTE!