Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bond could have good bad guys again

Who said the Cold War ended 20 years ago? According to this New York Times story, there have been at least 10 Russian spies living amongst us Americans in the past decade. They had secret identities, made secret drops and used invisible ink. How sweet is that?

OK, so maybe it's not that sweet as they may have been selling nuclear secrets to our enemies. But this opens up the possibility of James Bond having legitimate bad guys to vanquish, something that has been lacking since the Cold War. By the way, SNL predicted this problem through a Wayne's World sketch back in the early 90s. I can't find it on YouTube, but trust me.

Just look at all the bad guys from the "Goldeneye" to "Quantum of Solace". Goldeneye had a good bad guy because Trevelyan had ties to Soviet Russia. After that they were all crap. From a guy with a bullet in his brain who doesn't feel pain (except when Bond kicked him in the groin on the sub) to a man with a menstruating eye, they all suck! New Bond Daniel Craig needs someone whose ass is worth kicking.

One of the main points people loved about "Casino Royale" was that it was more realistic. I point to the 3-hour poker scene and the final hand as an argument against that statement, but compared to previous Bond movies it did have a more real feel to it. Bond didn't have any crazy gadgets like laser pens or shoe phones like he did in the previous films. Well now there is a real story of Russian spies that can be used as source material.

Maybe it's all a big misunderstanding and the FBI wasted the past five years chasing ghosts, but I sure hope not. Russian spies running around trying to create mischief can help writers piece together at least three Bond movies.

For those of you who think the recent ones are great and don't need Soviet spy bad guys, go watch the poker scene from "Casino Royale" and try telling me they weren't desperate to fill time.

Asia - Heat of the Moment

6 comments:

  1. You framed an Asia poster?

    -name that movie...

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  3. How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?

    Apparently, the Bond folks have bigger concerns than Russian spies, production shut down over financial concerns.
    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36662867

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  4. You wanna know how I know you're gay? You like Coldplay.

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  5. Hi Jeff! When I reported for a certain paper in Japan, we shared building space with actual U.S. spooks, also known in benign language as intelligence analysts. I don't think they did anything so covert as to pass info via laptop FTP. They were defensive, monitoring dangerous, anti-U.S. activities. Even so, none of this helped the credibility of our journalists when we tried to ask tough questions to Japanese officials. Pretty hard to tell Japanese gov officials you aren't a spy -- which clearly we were not -- when you share the same lunch room with the intel folks. I had some sources ask me directly if I was a spy. Even a denial rings with a certain suspicion in a case like that.

    So if ever there is a Japanese-made Bond flick, perhaps the swashbuckling reporter, looking tremendously like me, but more courageous, sinister and athletic, will turn out to be involved in the dangerously diplomatic caper. I could use the image enhancement.

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  6. Glenn! Hope you are doing well.

    That is an awesome story about the spies. I would find it very challenging not to mess with them. Like slip them a note in the elevator with some statement like "The gorillas are in the pen." and then give them a look like it's really important.

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