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There are certain roles that can change the course of an actor's life. Few of them are quite as big as that of James Bond. The iconic MI6 spy has been a staple of cinema for more than 60 years, dating back to Sean Connery's debut as 007 in "Dr. No." Every actor, save for George Lazenby, has been catapulted to another level of stardom due to their involvement in the "James Bond" franchise. As a result, it's tough to imagine an up-and-coming actor turning the role down. Yet, that's exactly what Christian Bale did.

In the early 2000s, Bale was very much one of Hollywood's most promising stars. From "American Psycho" to "The Machinist," the actor was earning high praise for his deep commitment to various roles. That's probably why the "James Bond" producers, namely Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson,...

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We've gone nearly four years without much news regarding the future of the "James Bond" franchise. Daniel Craig said goodbye to the role with the release of "No Time to Die" in 2021 but, in truth, the actor hung up his Walther Ppk long before that as the film was delayed for literally years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, all eyes are on who the next 007 will be since Amazon recently gained full control of Bond. Might the future look to the past by bringing back Pierce Brosnan for one last ride? The actor is at least open to the idea. Sort of.

Brosnan recently spoke with GQ about his upcoming show "Mobland." Conversation eventually turned to "James Bond," given that Brosnan played the character in four films from "GoldenEye" to "Die Another Day" in 2002, with Craig succeeding him. Brosnan...

Exclusive: Following the success of a number of documentaries set in the music industry, Apple is now planning a doc that takes a deep dive into the music of one of the great movie franchises. Apple has announced the new doc, The Sound of 007, a new feature documentary about the remarkable history of six decades of James Bond music. Brought to audiences by MGM, Eon Productions and Ventureland, the documentary will make its global debut on Apple TV+ to mark the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film series in October 2022. The doc will go behind the lens into one of the greatest movie franchise in history from the genesis of Dr No and the iconic 007 theme song all the way to No Time To Die, mixing heartfelt interviews with incredible James Bond archive material. Produced by MGM, The Sound of 007 brings together Ventureland and Eon Productions, the award-winning...

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As 007 fans know all too well, no big-budget film in recent memory has been plagued by more setbacks and delays than “No Time to Die.” But Daniel Craig’s final entry as James Bond is finally here after hitting theaters on Oct. 8 — and it’s already received rave reviews.

Now that the long-awaited film is here, there’s no better time to stock up on gifts for the lucky Bond fan in your life, especially as the holidays approach.

Q’s Union Jack Design Smeg Toaster

Up the interior design in your kitchen with this compact Smeg toaster, the same one that eagle-eyed fans will know is tucked away in Q’s apartment in “No Time to Die.

Developer Io Interactive shocked the world today by releasing a teaser trailer for a new James Bond game known simply as Project 007. I highly recommend you check out the teaser trailer for this Bond origin story project if you haven’t already done so.

It has been eight long years since the release of the last James Bond game. If you’re wondering why it feels like it’s been even longer than that, it’s probably because 2012’s 007 Legends was a poor attempt at not only recapturing the glory days of Bond himself (its gimmick was that you got to play as every major film version of Bond) but the glory days of Bond video games. Its failure to do so was the sadly appropriate end of Activision’s run with the James Bone license which failed to produce a single title that felt worthy of legendary Bond games...

Completion is often an important facet of one’s fandom: you have all of The Beatles’ studio albums on your iPod, or sitting on your shelf is every novel Virginia Woolf ever wrote, or you own multiple versions Cinema Paradiso. But what if you planned to have everything and you didn’t get what you thought you […]

The post Everything or Nothing: What a James Bond Lawsuit Says About the Legacy of the Franchise appeared first on /Film.

The battle lines are drawn: It's La La Land, a musical fantasy about white lovers in Hollywood, versus Moonlight, a searing drama about black youth surviving on the streets of Miami. That contest is symptomatic of how serious Oscar is – or isn't – about diversity. After two years in which not a single black actor showed up among the acting nominees, this year's crop includes seven actors of color: Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis, Naomie Harris, Ruth Negga, Dev Patel, Octavia Spencer and Denzel Washington.

"Wow, what a difference a year makes,...

James Bond endures, with the 24th film, Spectre, scheduled to open November 6. The sinister organization has plagued 007 from the earliest films but have yet to rear their hoary heads in the current incarnation with Daniel Craig as Bond.

For those who are new to Mi-6 and international espionage, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment want you to come up to speed. To that end, they have released seven of the films in special edition Blu-rays, DVDs and collectible box-sets.

The Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbooks spotlight the six films featuring the Spectre organization (From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only) and the three recent features (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall) each featuring packaging inspired by the films’ iconic opening title sequences.

For those who own these in some other high definition incarnation,...

An acting titan, man of gargantuan appetites and island-owning maverick, it’ll take more than the umpteen tomes written about him to unmask the real Marlon Brando. Fortunately, there’s a new documentary to help with that. Listen To Me Marlon is a Brando-led trail that, via thus-far unheard audio tapes, leads the viewer through the mind of the great man. The film’s new trailer is online and viewable below.British director Stevan Riley, the man behind West Indies cricket doc Fire In Babylon and 007 history Everything Or Nothing, has used Brando’s own contemplations and utterances to construct a character study of one of Hollywood’s true enigmas. From his early breakthroughs in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One and On The Waterfront to later years in self-imposed exile, the picture that will emerge is one of a restive, enquiring mind always searching for peace, but never finding it.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:'

The History Press is delighted to announce that it will be publishing Some Kind of Hero this October.

For over 50 years, Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions has navigated the ups and downs of the volatile British film industry, enduring both critical wrath and acclaim in equal measure for its now legendary James Bond series. Latterly, this family-run business has been crowned with box office gold and recognised by motion picture academies around the world. However, it has not always been plain sailing.

Changing tax regimes forced 007 to relocate to France and Mexico; changing fashions and politics led to box office disappointments; and changing studio regimes and business disputes all but killed the franchise. And the rise of competing action heroes has constantly questioned Bond’s place in popular culture. But against all odds the filmmakers continue to wring new life from the series,...

This week on The Collision, Adam and I take on a variety of subjects. Our main topic of conversation is Steven Spielberg. We talk about why he's the best choice to helm Ready Player One, we look back at his career, his working habits, why he's not only a transformative and influential filmmaker, but also one who's managed to stay relevant over the years. In other news, we talk about Hugh Jackman leaving Wolverine behind (which leads to a tangent about Deadpool and my comment that there's no way Fox is going to release an R-rated version) and the first trailer for Spectre. As always, we finish up with our recommendations. Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode ("Insurgent: Book vs. Film"), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To...

Park City, Utah – This is the last batch of Sundance reviews I’ve got to offer. A tad late, but I couldn’t let these films go uncommented on, especially with their special offerings for those who seek them out. I hope that each of these films finds an audience.

Aside from “Listen to Me Marlon” (which will be debuting on Showtime soon), I have also recommended both of these films for the third annual Chicago Critics Film Festival, the next fest for your radar, which takes off May 1-7, 2015 at the Music Box Theater.

Nonetheless, below are reviews for documentaries “Listen to Me Marlon” and “Pervert Park,” along with a take on a personal favorite, the narrative film “Seoul Searching.” After that, you’ll find a brief recap of my Sundance experience, along with very brief words on a few other movies I saw.

Listen to Me Marlon

‘Listen...

In the golden age of cinema, a movie could stand on its own. Old Hollywood was all about the films and nothing else. Stars were the commodities and movies were the products – the industry began and ended with what was put on the silver screen.

However, the blockbuster culture of the 1980s repositioned films as the centre point of a large orbit of merchandise. Soon, a film was not a success unless it became a franchise. It was no longer just about the box office returns but how many tie-in lunch boxes or coffee mugs were sold.

Movie merchandise is still expanding to this day and every new product, medium or technology is accompanied by a wave of tie-in material. These days it is tie-in video games which have perhaps become the most lucrative.

These extensions of movie franchises are becoming so self-sufficient that they are now produced independently of their film equivalent.

Richard Kiel, whose towering height and distinctive baritone voice defined his nearly 50-year career in television and films, most notably as the steely toothed James Bond villain Jaws, died Wednesday afternoon in Fresno, Calif. at the age of 74, TMZ reports. The actor had been hospitalized after breaking his leg earlier in the week, but it is still unclear if that was related to his death.

Kiel’s rep did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

The Detroit-born Kiel, who grew to be 7 feet 1.5 inches, worked various odd jobs, including cemetery plot salesman and nightclub bouncer, before making...

New Netflix movies and TV shows are plentiful in February. 

Highlights include:

"Breaking Bad's" final eight episodes (on February 24)"House of Cards" Season 2 (February 14)Showtime's "Queer as Folk" which has been off air since 2005. 

On the movie side of things, new additions to Netflix include:"Mash""The Naked Gun""Sunset Boulevard""Star Trek V: The Final Frontier""Crocodile Dundee 2""Airplane!" 

The full list of everything added:

"Airheads""Airplane!""Airplane 2: The Sequel""Bubba Ho-Tep""City of Men""Cocoon: The Return""The Dancer Upstairs""Death Wish 2""Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry""Down Periscope""Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007""Failure to Launch""Flashdance""From the Terrace""The Good, the Bad and the Ugly""The Hard Way""Harold and Maude""Heartbreakers""Home of the Brave""Intersection""Leap of Faith""A Life Less Ordinary""Marathon Man""Mash""The Naked Gun""North Dallas Forty""Patriot Games""Queer as Folk""Star Trek V: The Final Frontier...

The legacy of the James Bond film franchise is not without its twists and turns, many of which are excellently captured in the documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007. One of the more difficult stories related to the film series involves Thunderball, which began with an original screenplay by Bond creator Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory, before Fleming decided to cut McClory out of the picture and publish the novel Thunderball—based on the idea the two hatched together—with nary a mention of McClory. The result was a decades-long legal battle and two “unofficial” Bond films (Thunderball and Never Say Never Again), but at long last the entanglement has ended. Hit the jump for more, including what this means for the Bond franchise going forward. Per HitFix, MGM and Danjaq have reached a settlement deal resulting in MGM now controlling all of the rights to James Bond.

Skyfall; Everything or Nothing: the Untold Story of 007; To Rome With Love; Savages

After the shambles of Quantum of Solace (I still have no idea what that title meant), it was touch and go whether the Bond franchise, so spectacularly revivified by Casino Royale, actually had a future in the 21st century. Enter secret weapon Sam Mendes who, 50 years after the screen debut of this very British screen icon, has ensured that 007 has more bite, relevance and popularity that at any time in his changeable career.

Focusing first and foremost on story and character but without skimping on the spectacular action set pieces, Skyfall (2012, MGM/Fox, 12) establishes a template for a new era of Bond movies that acknowledges the past while looking towards the future, balancing the "orgy of nostalgia" provoked by the appearance of an Aston Martin with a notable lack of gadgets (goodbye invisible cars, hello snippy...

Welcome back to our weekly look at the new podcasts available at our “partners in podcast crime,” the GeekCast Radio Network. As usual here’s our look at the podcasts from Gcrn, with descriptions and links to each and every one for your audio/visual pleasure!

Beyond The Knight – Episode 18

In the 18th episode of Beyond The Knight TFG1Mike and Duyahn The Music Man talk about Halloween Knight, K.I.T.T. Vs K.A.R.R., and finally The Rotten Apples! All in the latest thrilling episode as we take you Beyond the Knight!

From The Command Center – Episode 21

In Episode 21 of From The Command Center, Scotty is missing, we think Master Xandred Ranger napped him. however Spada The Baltmatrix joins TFG1Mike to talk about Samurai, as we end the PR Series talk. Ftcc will continue on as we celebrate 20 years of Power Rangers later this year.

The name ‘Broccoli’ has been most closely associated with the James Bond film series over the last 50 years: famously the late Albert R “Cubby” Broccoli, and now his daughter, Barbara (who co-produces the 007 movies with her stepbrother, Michael G Wilson.)

But in the early days — from Dr No (1962) to The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) — another producer shared the Bond film billings with Cubby: Harry Saltzman.

In fact it was Harry, a no-nonsense and flamboyant Canadian, who had originally secured the film rights from Bond author Ian Fleming. Already a successful film producer known for the British kitchen sink dramas Look back in Anger and The Entertainer, Harry teamed up with Cubby and kick-started the 007 franchise with their company, Eon productions.

It wasn’t easy. Harry and Cubby wanted the then unknown Sean Connery to star as Bond while the studio was pushing for a household name. How Saltzman and Broccoli stood their ground,...

It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a very light week this week, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, January 28th 2013.

Pick Of The Week

ParaNorman (DVD/Blu-ray)

In ParaNorman, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst of all, moronic grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits. ParaNorman review

And the rest…

Looper (DVD/Blu-ray)

In the futuristic action thriller Looper,...

Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story Of 007

Featuring: George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Christopher Lee | Directed by Stevan Riley

James Bond is the longest running film franchise in history and with the monumental success of the 23rd movie Skyfall, 007 is still the most enduring and iconic fictional hero of our time. Directed by Stevan Riley (Fire In Babylon) and produced by John Battsek (Searching for Sugar Man, The Imposter) and Simon Chinn (Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man) Everything Or Nothing tells the unique story of three men with a shared dream; producers Albert R. Broccoli & Harry Saltzman and author Ian Fleming.

James Bond has been a British icon for fifty years, so from the get-go you know that Everything Or Nothing won’t be able to cover each and every aspect of the series. But it does touch upon the trials and tribulations faced by Ian Fleming,...