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TO:
007

FROM:
MIt seems that Le Chiffre - aka “The Number” - is alive and well, despite intelligence reports to the contrary. We know that he provides a global money-laundering service to terrorists - offering them cash anywhere, at any time, to fund their operations. We now believe that he has been using his clients’ money and these terrorist contacts to manipulate the stock market. Thanks to your efforts, he lost a great deal on his last transaction. He has set up a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro in an attempt to make up his losses. We’re sending you to disrupt his plans. This is not a game, 007. We want you to stop him from winning but we need him alive. He can offer valuable information that we can use to penetrate and shut down terrorist activities worldwide. The Treasury has agreed to stake you in the game and are sending one of their foreign liaison officers, Vesper Lynd, to accompany you. It will be her decision to release additional funds, if necessary. She will contact you on your way to Montenegro. Once you arrive, you will rendezvous with our local contact, Renee Mathis. We have been informed of another player who recently joined the game at the last minute, Felix Leiter. His story seems in order but it would be wise to remain alert. I will need your full report on the Solange affair before you depart. Please submit this to me before 0900 tomorrow. Good luck, M   

CASINO ROYALE is based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name. Published in 1953, it was the first book in his ‘James Bond’ series. EON Productions’ CASINO ROYALE produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will mark the introduction of Daniel Craig (Munich/Layer Cake) as legendary secret agent, 007. Martin Campbell (GoldenEye/The Legend Of Zorro) is directing this film, the 21st in the 44 year franchise.STORY OUTLINECASINO ROYALE introduces JAMES BOND before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to “00″ status.Bond’s first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar, where he is to spy on a terrorist, MOLLAKA (Sebastien Foucan). Not everything goes to plan and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. Following a lead to the Bahamas, he encounters DIMITRIOS (Simon Abkarian) and his girlfriend, SOLANGE (Caterina Murino). He learns that Dimitrios is involved with LE CHIFFRE (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorist organizations.Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization.’M’ (Judi Dench) places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling VESPER LYND (Eva Green). At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond’s interest in her deepens as they brave danger together and even torture at the hands of Le Chiffre.In Montenegro, Bond allies himself with MATHIS (Giancarlo Giannini), MI6’s local field agent, and FELIX LEITER (Jeffrey Wright), who is representing the interests of the CIA. The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax. 

CASINO ROYALE is based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name. Published in 1953, it was the first book in his ‘James Bond’ series. EON Productions’ CASINO ROYALE produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will mark the introduction of Daniel Craig (Munich/Layer Cake) as legendary secret agent, 007. Martin Campbell (GoldenEye/The Legend Of Zorro) is directing this film, the 21st in the 44 year franchise.STORY OUTLINECASINO ROYALE introduces JAMES BOND before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to “00″ status.Bond’s first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar, where he is to spy on a terrorist, MOLLAKA (Sebastien Foucan). Not everything goes to plan and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. Following a lead to the Bahamas, he encounters DIMITRIOS (Simon Abkarian) and his girlfriend, SOLANGE (Caterina Murino). He learns that Dimitrios is involved with LE CHIFFRE (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorist organizations.Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization.’M’ (Judi Dench) places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling VESPER LYND (Eva Green). At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond’s interest in her deepens as they brave danger together and even torture at the hands of Le Chiffre.In Montenegro, Bond allies himself with MATHIS (Giancarlo Giannini), MI6’s local field agent, and FELIX LEITER (Jeffrey Wright), who is representing the interests of the CIA. The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax. 

Seven times did Roger Moore wrap himself in the mantle of James Bond … do I have to look up the titles? Hell, no, not a wretched Bondgeek such as I — I could do it blindfolded: Live and Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and, the absolute all-time nadir of the series, A View to A Kill. Let’s see, 1973-85, a 12-year-long fashion violation, a veritable limbo game in which the image of Our Hero was pitched lower, ever lower. And finally Bond literally turns up in clown makeup in Octopussy.

One dozen years of vacant bimbos, horrendous puns, and obsolete gadgets … remember the pretitle sequence of Live and Let Die? Behold, o mortals! The futuristic wonder of … the digital watch! Oh, how the God of Bond Movies tested our faith during those years. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember how good Bond films can be when they’re at their best, following a Moore marathon (or, if you will, a Mooreathon). All those twtichings of what Anthony Lane described as “Roger Moore’s stunt-eyebrows … ” Now that these terrible films have been dredged up for DVD, they’re worsened by commentary tracks by public-school accented second unit directors, reminiscing about “Dear Wodger’s” sense of humor, like the time he hid Bernard Lee’s Metamucil, or something …

But today, let us praise seven moments during Moore’s tenure. It wasn’t all bad, was it?

Hey, did you know Casino Royale was coming out this Friday? After a four-year wait, we now have a new Bond in Daniel Craig, as well as a new direction for the entire franchise. Early reviews indicate the film is wicked cool, and I for one am very excited about it. Martin Campbell returns to the directing chair, having last helmed 1995’s Goldeneye. He becomes the first director since John Glen (who directed a whopping five Bond films) to direct more than one 007 flick. (The other three dudes to do that were Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert and Terence Young.) Royale’s Bond girls (Eva Green and Caterina Murino) look perfect — a combination of sexy, exotic and dangerous — which is something the last few Bond films have lacked. Am I leaving anything out? Oh yeah, the bad guy. Does it get any better than Mads Mikkelsen?

For your viewing pleasure, Cinematical has already kicked off its Seven Days of 007 feature. For the next seven days, we’ll be taking a closer look at James Bond, his girls, his enemies and the twenty films that we have either grown to love or loved to hate. Where will Casino Royale fit in? In just a couple of days, we’ll have our answer. However, before we begin gushing over the legendary character, I’d like to know which Bond films failed to entertain. Which ones did you absolutely hate? For me, it’s a toss up between A View to a Kill and The World is Not Enough. The latter I dislike for obvious reasons — c’mon, you can’t do any better than Denise Richards? The girl was a complete moron — but besides that — who’s bright idea was it to have Michael Apted direct this flick? Sure, the guy is great at what he does, but boy did he fail here. As far as A View to a Kill is concerned, aside from a groovy song by Duran Duran, was I the only one who was completely freaked out by Grace Jones. Ugh, just thinking about her in this film gives me the bad kind of goose bumps. And while Christopher Walken should have been an awesome bad guy, in my opinion, his talent was completely wasted.

So, I ask you: Which films showed James Bond at his worst?

If you haven’t seen any or all of the previous 20 Bond films, then you can catch yourself up by watching the trailers for all of the movies. Extremely enterprising YouTube user famouswillie (and other folks with an extraordinary amount of free time on their hands) have made us very happy Cinemites by doing the tedious uploading work for us.

After the jump check out the trailer for every Bond film up through Casino Royale, and some bonus video treats at the very bottom of the list.

These trailers also serve as a sort of visual history of film. It’s especially eye-opening to contrast the Dr. No trailer with the one for Casino Royale. We certainly have come a long way, Mr. Bond.