The Playlist

First Teaser Poster For Sam Mendes' 007 Movie 'Skyfall' Arrives, Plays On Classic Bond Imagery

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 17, 2012 12:09 PM
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4 Comments

News

Bond is back. Of course, Bond has been been back 21 times since "Dr. No" kicked cinema's longest-running continuous franchise off fifty years ago, but the financial difficulties of MGM seemed to be one of Ian Fleming's superspies most deadly foes. Fortunately, Bond survived, as he always done, and his latest entry, "Skyfall," is the most anticipated we can remember, thanks to a script from "Hugo" writer John Logan, Oscar-winner Sam Mendes in the director's chair, and a cast that includes Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Albert Finney backing up Daniel Craig as the movies' secret agent.

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24th James Bond Film Now Slated For A 2014 Release, But Will Daniel Craig Return?

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 26, 2012 3:28 PM
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3 Comments

News

It has been a long four years since we last had James Bond saving the world on the big screen. Throughout the history of the franchise, the producers have generally stuck to a new Bond film every two years, though there have been hiccups along the way (the longest gap was six years between "License To Kill" and "GoldenEye"). But it looks like with the motor back and running, Eon Productions aren't going to be wasting any more time.

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5 Things We Learned About New James Bond Film 'Skyfall' From The Latest Issue Of Empire Magazine

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 26, 2012 9:02 AM
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2 Comments

News

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, the longest-running and arguably most successful (although Harry Potter might have pipped in in total gross in recent years) film series of all time. So it's appropriate that Ian Fleming's character, currently played by Daniel Craig, is returning to the screen for the first time in four years, after being mired in MGM's financial difficulties for some time.

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Daniel Craig On The Heineken/'Skyfall' Relationship: "It’s Unfortunate But That’s How It Is"

By Edward Davis
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April 18, 2012 2:45 PM
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8 Comments

News

Is multi-tiered corporate sponsorship the way of the future for cinema? Will it go beyond basic product placement and something more nefarious that seeps deep into the narrative of the picture? Will Taco Bell burritos with a deliciously disgusting Doritos taco shell become a plot point in "Transformers 4"? Undoubtedly you've heard about the sponsorship deal the new 007 film "Skyfall" made with Dutch beer conglomerate Heineken -- a relationship thought of dubious to most fans of James Bond because of the secret agent's well-renowned love of martinis, not Dutch beer.

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New Looks At Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes & Naomie Harris In Bond Film 'Skyfall'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 11, 2012 3:42 PM
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7 Comments

News

Listen, we know the new Daniel Craig-led Bond series is grittier, more realistic and sober than the past incarnations, but if these new images from "Skyfall" are any indication, this is the most morose the world's most famous secret agent has ever been. Would it kill him to smirk?

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Discuss: Why Are There So Few Reliable Leading Men, And Who Might Yet Become One?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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March 20, 2012 4:01 PM
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80 Comments

Features

The box office is up in 2012, but of the ten biggest grossers of the year so far, only one, "Safe House" was sold on the back of an established A-list star, namely Denzel Washington. The rest, for the most part, featured total unknowns, or in the case of "Act of Valor," active Navy SEALs, rather than actors. This is not, it should be said, a new trend. From "Avatar" to "Star Trek," big movies have been shunning established names in the favor of new faces for quite a while. But it is indicative of a problem that Hollywood has been facing lately: a distinct lack of new leading men.

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Watch: First Video Blog For Latest James Bond Flick 'Skyfall' Arrives, Is Mostly Footage Of Sam Mendes Looking At Things

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 22, 2012 9:03 AM
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2 Comments

News

Bond is back. Again. With the MGM financial situation sorted, production on the 23rd official film to feature Ian Fleming's super spy, and the third to star Daniel Craig in the role, got underway late last year, but as ever the security around "Skyfall" has been airtight. We know the cast, which sees Craig joined by Javier Bardem as the villain, Ben Whishaw as gadget-master Q, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe and Helen McCrory, and we know a vague logline, which suggests that the plot revolves around Judi Dench's M, but not a lot besides.

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First Official Image Of Daniel Craig In 'Skyfall' Suggests New James Bond Is A 'Tron' Sequel

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 1, 2012 8:59 AM
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4 Comments

News

Even given the excitement around the reboot of "Casino Royale" a few years back, we can't remember the last time a James Bond film was quite as keenly anticipated as this year's 23rd installment in the franchise, "Skyfall." Not only does it mark the third time that Daniel Craig has played MI6's finest secret agent -- a somewhat belated return, after the movie was held up for over a year due to MGM's financial problems -- but thanks to the presence of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, and Oscar-nominated scribe John Logan ("Hugo"), the bar has been raised in terms of the pedigree of the series.

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David Fincher Talks His Approach For The Opening Credit Sequence For 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 22, 2011 12:02 PM
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7 Comments

Features

It feels like only yesterday we were talking about the back-and-forths on casting, but at long last, David Fincher's take on best-selling Swedish crime novel "The GIrl With The Dragon Tattoo," the first of Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy, is in theaters.

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Review: 'The Adventures of Tintin' Is All Hollow Spectacle & No Joy

By Alison Willmore
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December 21, 2011 11:30 AM
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6 Comments

Reviews

Tintin is a terrible journalist. It has to be said -- his walls are covered with framed news stories about his exploits rather than work published under his byline, he takes not one note (pity his poor fact-checker) and not even by the laxest of Fox News standards could he be considered objective, given how much he involves himself in the tale of pirate ships and lost treasures that unfurls in Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin." You could also argue that Indiana Jones is a questionable archaeologist, with the cultural imperialism of his carefree snagging of international artifacts and the amount of destruction he leaves in the wake of his exploration of historical sites. But Indiana Jones has personality, and, like the man says, personality goes a long way.

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