It's yet another one of those posts where i get to wax lyrical about a current love. No, I'm not in love - I'm disinclined to cast such words about frivolously. It's the other L-word that comes to mind instead ;o)

It's Bond season once again and this time, bloody hell, I've got it bad. I've like a chirpy, gushy teenager...Casino Royale - this is the blog site! (oh and hallo, annoying plebians, it's Royale the e is there for a reason!) the 21st Bond film to be released this year to much controversy as everyone knows but well... This is actually the first time since GoldenEye that I was compelled to go watch a Bond movie in the cinema. Why? Well, usually because the Bond franchise is rather campy and silly. It's a cinematic institution, yes but well, it's a silly one...and frankly, not as excitng as the Star Wars ot Lord of the Rings series.

But despite the numerous complaints that's been heaped on the much maligned Daniel Craig, I think he makes a worthy succesor to the Bond title. How worthy? Well, over the past week, Anne and I have managed to torment all the guys at the monitoring table as well as an assortment of friends and acquaintances with numberous oohs and aahs, swoons, etc over how good he looks, it's the presence, the body, the eyes, the body, the accent, the body...We actually considered tagging the pages with purple tags - that's how bad it is! Looks-wise, he's rough and tumble but attractive. Pretty boy, he's not (thank god!) but the interesting looking ones are definately worth a few extra looks. And just in case you think I've gone off the deep end, the monitoring table spawned its benefit in the form of Sylvia Toh Paik Choo's Licensed to Thrill article in The New Paper on Nov 13.

I practically ran to the cinema the moment the movie opened and the verdict is: Casino Royale IS worth it. The Bond character is finally personified as he should be; a cold, calculating, sometimes amusing and always smart, bastard. The biggest surprise of all is that the movie humanizes him and also makes him more accessible as a person in contrast to the slick and rather fantastical persona that Pierce Brosnan wore for the last four movies. If Connery is the ultimate, Moore was a sleasy ah pek and Larzenby didn't even warrant a seconf take...who cuts it for me then? Well, up until now, it's been Timothy Dalton - much to the horror of many.

Back to the gush, uh ah post...Kudos to Martin Campbell and Paul Haggis who overhauled a franchise that was about to plunge into the complete idiocy of the Batman & Robin territory. It's the rejuvenation of the heroes and much like Batman, Superman and even Spiderman - we finally get to see the foundation of the character instead of just having him jumping from bed to bed or just action scene to action scene. And before I go all insane again, I have to say that this is the most satifying Bond in years.

The second surprise was to hear Chris Cornell do the theme song...OMG. It's a bit like a testosterone overload - but in a good way...hehe. It's not as great as the one I have in the title or a few others but, it's alright. As for the Bond girl, Eva Green's Vesper Lynd is charismatic, mysterious and as calculating as Bond is - for once I didn't wish that she got killed off instantly...hah. But no Q? WTF? Ah, well...next movie maybe...

All's fantastic in the world right now...Now, I'll just have to wait for the DVD. But for the time being, I do beg your indulgence if you hear me turn on the gush yet again, forgive me...It's just one of those times ;o)