New Skyfall Videos For James Bond's 50th Anniversary

Two new official videos have been released today in celebration of Global James Bond Day. The first is another videoblog from the official 007 website with Broccoli, Wilson, Craig and other Skyfall production personnell discussing the anniversary. The second is a much more in-depth, 10-minute video examining "The Secrets of Skyfall." While it doesn't actualy give away any major plot points, it does give a much clearer picture of the film as a whole than any of the trailers have, so if you're hoping to go in fresh, you might want to hold off watching that one. However, if you simply must ingest every bit of Skyfall you can get your eyes on before the movie premieres, then you'll be in 007th heaven.

New James Bond Documentary Everything or Nothing Airs Tonight

Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, the feature-length James Bond documentary celebrating 007's fiftieth anniversary that we first heard about back in January, debuts tonight in America on the HD channel EPIX. It's the main attraction in the celebration of Global James Bond Day. And you don't even need to subscribe to the cable channel to see the movie. If you have DISH, Cox, Verizon or Charter cable, then you can take advantage of the EPIX free preview weekend and watch Everything or Nothing on TV. (It premieres at 8pm tonight.) Otherwise, you can also sign up on their website for a free trial (you don't even have to enter credit card info), and watch the documentary online for free. EPIX have released a number of clips to give you a taste of what's in store:  

Happy Global James Bond Day!

On my way into work this morning as I listened to my freshly updated Bond songs playlist on shuffle to see how Adele's "Skyfall" fit in with the canon (quite well!), I passed two Aston Martins. Not that rare in LA, but it still felt affirmingly appropriate on the morning of Global James Bond Day. I'm shocked at how much I enjoy that notion (and actually saying "Happy Global James Bond Day!" to random people), but it makes me feel good (a nice feeling after several particularly crappy months) that there is such a day and that it's today and that there's a brand new James Bond movie opening very soon! (I saw my first LA billboard for Skyfall last night, adding further to that sense of anticipation.) While I'm very much looking forward to attending the Music of James Bond event at the Academy tonight, I don't feel like you need a big event in your city to enjoy Global James Bond Day. I suppose that I'm taking the role of a cartoon elf and saying that the true meaning of Global James Bond Day isn't found in splashy events or buying Blu-rays; it's found within all of us! (Please picture me rising up on a pedestal like Woody Allen's Jimmy Bond in Casino Royale as you read that, but with Nina's "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" playing in the background.)

Anyway, besides the foolishly giddy feeling I get thinking about it, it is a pretty amazing accomplishment that this film series has run continuously for fifty years. When Dr. No opened in Britain fifty years ago today, it was a different world. It was a world divided between East and West, locked in a seemingly eternal Cold War that has come and gone. It was the dawn of a Jet Age, also sadly come and gone, which suddenly made the possibility of world travel open to everyone--even if traveling in the style of James Bond was still beyond the means of most families. A lot has changed in those fifty years, and it's pretty amazing that, thanks to numerous reinventions by the series' producers, 007 remains not only relevant but hugely popular. It's even more amazing to look fifty years on the other side of Dr. No. Going back the same amount of time that's passed between then and now, we find a world that hadn't yet experienced two world wars, let alone a cold one. A world where cars were still rarities. Thinking about it that way makes fifty years seem like a really long time to me. But I know why James Bond has remained popular for such a duration, and why he will remain popular for the next fifty-year increment as well. I know it for the same reason that anyone reading this blog knows it. The things that appeal to fans in James Bond are not rooted in the Cold War, the Jet Age, or any specific time. They're things audiences in any age will always enjoy: exotic locations, beautiful people, impressive technology and, above all, a call to adventure. So on this Global James Bond Day, I'm thankful to everyone who shaped this film franchise I love so much fifty years ago, and the custodians of it who have continued to provide me with so much enjoyment ever since. And I don't feel the least bit corny about typing that.

Dr. No Back on the Big Screen Tonight, For One Night Only!

Nearly fifty years after Dr. No first opened, James Bond fans in America have the opportunity to see the movie that started it all on the big screen once again, for one night only. Tonight, AMC Cinemas across the country will show James Bond's big screen debut, starring Sean Connery. Find out which theaters near you are playing it and get tickets on AMC's website. Also, attending fans will receive a free James Bond 50th Anniversary print while supplies last!

Expanded Dr. No 50th Anniversary Soundtrack on the Way

The excellent spy music site Spy Bop Royale provides the heads-up that there's an unexpected treat coming this fall for fans of James Bond music! The Harkit label (who have put out such spy essentials as Modesty Blaise and Fathom) will release a special 50th Anniversary Edition of the soundtrack to Dr. No in October. According to the intriguing copy in their newsletter (reprinted verbatim), "we have assembled what we believe is the DEFINITIVE edition of the music from the soundtrack of this genre-changing movie with many previously unreleased cues. Long a contentious issue of who actually wrote and/or scored the movie (John [Barry] finally revealed on British radio that it was he who wrote the famous guitar-led theme.) This album seeks to put many myths to bed. With a brand new essay by noted and respected film music writer, Randall Larson, we hope you will enjoy this outstanding release." Sounds wonderful! And potentially controversial! But is it authorized by Danjaq? There is no official Bond logo anywhere on the cover (which looks a bit more Tomorrow Never Dies than Dr. No), adding to the mystery. But the CD is real. The catalog number is HRKCD 8395.

NBC Covers Bond Anniversary During Olympics

Last night NBC's Olympics coverage featured a surprising (and surprisingly long) segment on James Bond and Ian Fleming. Perhaps when Sony or EON or whoever agreed to let the IOC use 007 in their opening ceremony, the deal was that they'd get some free promotion during the games? That seems probably. Overall, reporter Mary Carillo's piece is pretty entertaining. Even if it's marred by a few inaccuracies (like the particularly glaring assertion early on that Fleming wrote a book called Goldeneye, which the slightest bit of fact-checking could have caught!), viewers are still treated to glimpses of famous Bond costumes and cars. Carillo even gets a high-speed ride in an Aston Martin! Take a look here.

Latest Skyfall Videoblog Focuses on Bond's Aston Martin DB5

The latest Skyfall videoblog posted on 007.com focuses on one of my favorite aspects of the James Bond legacy, and one that I'm very happy is included in Skyfall: the classic Aston Martin DB5. Through behind-the-scenes footage and a little bit of film footage that we've already seen in the trailer, we get to see the most classic of all Bond cars in action. After waxing nostalgic about owning the Corgi toy we all played with as kids, director Sam Mendes intriguingly states that the last part of Skyfall, featuring the DB5, "deliberately, very consciously could have taken place in 1962." Forgiving the nitpick that that clearly isn't quite true since the DB5 itself wasn't unveiled until '63, that's a very interesting statement. And after hearing it, I look at that footage differently. Yes, the Tom Ford suit that Craig is wearing, despite a decidedly modern cut, has a very retro appeal in keeping with the suits Sean Connery wore back then. And the two locations we see the Aston in are both reminiscent of Goldfinger, the film in which it made its stunning, unforgettable debut. The Scottish highlands recall the Swiss mountain roads on which Bond pursues Goldfinger's Rolls Royce with the aid of Q's homer, and first encounters Tilly Masterson, and the London warehouses recall the narrow streets of Goldfinger's Zurich industrial complex in which Bond demonstrates the car's lethal gadgetry. All in all, it strikes me as a subtler and more appropriate homage than Marc Forster's blatant oily appropriation of that film's Golden Girl imagery in Quantum of Solace, and a nice way to mark the franchise's 50th anniversary.

Needless to say, all of this certainly serves its marketing purpose, and makes me all the more excited for Skyfall! It's a pity that there's no new Aston Martin in this film (since the 3-picture licensing deal EON signed with Ford prior to Die Another Day expired with Quantum of Solace, and Ford no longer owns the famous marque), but I'm very glad that Mendes found a way to keep the association going between the character and the car by giving the DB5 what looks to be its most screentime since GoldenEye (when the licensing deal for a modern car was with BMW). As previously noted, the license plate here is back to the classic Goldfinger nomenclature of BMT 216A after a BMT 214A plate in the Pierce Brosnan era and Bahamas plates the first time we saw this vehicle in the Craig era in Casino Royale. Anyway, have a look:

Official James Bond 50th Anniversary "Golden Girl" Poster

007.com has revealed the official "Golden Girl" James Bond 50th Anniversary poster that Michael G. Wilson alluded to in today's "Bond 50" Blu-ray press release. Quite stunning! I always liked that 25th Anniversary poster that simply showed all the 1-sheets, but this is better. And check out that SkyFall title treatment down there by the Golden Girl's nether region: it's pretty cool to see it in the context of all the others, isn't it?