I spent last Friday night trying to teach a four month old boy how to say “Shaken, not stirred.” It didn’t go very well.

It doesn’t matter that much—there’s still lots of time for life’s important lessons. I only hope he remembers what I told him about shaken martinis being weak. The short explanation is that the ice cubes chip when you shake them, which makes them melt faster. The martini is weak as a result.

That’s the important part, Benjamin. Don’t forget.

The occasion, of course, was the opening of Casino Royale starring Craig Daniels as the new James Bond.

Calling this the best Bond movie ever would be a stretch. That’s a long and storied history to rewrite, after all, and it does depend on perspective.

From one perspective, it might be a stretch to call this a Bond movie at all.

The new Casino Royale is extremely entertaining and a very good action thriller. It opens—post credits—with a Parkour chase scene which was thrilling to watch.

The movie then launches into a somewhat convoluted plot that requires attention, but does make sense. The point of the plot, it would seem, is to drive home the most fundamental rule of a movie spy’s life: “Trust No One.”

The women are beautiful and the scenery exotic. There are Aston Martin’s driven, crashed and gambled. Judi Dench is back as M.

This is most definitely a Bond movie, although it’s not much like any that has gone before. It’s well worth seeing.

If this movie means Moonraker slips into distant memory, it will be a money well spent too.

Posted by skooter at 10:03 PM This entry is filed under Entertainment.
This entry is tagged: Bond, Movies