Letters From Bobby

I liked QUANTUM OF SOLACE a lot. It’s not great, but very enjoyable. Lots of action. Everything moves. Except for Daniel Craig’s facial muscles. I know that James Bond is sad in this sequel, but did he have to go through the whole movie looking like he’s about to pose for Mount Rushmore? Nevertheless, Daniel Craig is gourmet eye candy and a versatile, skilled actor who possesses movie star charisma.

His movie star flavor was quite tasty in LAYER CAKE. In that British modern-day gangster caper from a few years ago, he practically channels the spirit of Steve McQueen. That’s a fun weekend DVD rental. A bearded Craig plays the semi-clad young handyman who’s sexually attracted to a woman very eligible for AARP benefits. That British forbidden love story is called THE MOTHER. Watching that overlooked, dowdy woman spruce herself up and get some spring in her step after getting her groove on once again is quite interesting — especially knowing that she pulled his attention from younger women. Like her grown daughter. Also, I think a must-see Daniel Craig performance is in INFAMOUS. That’s another Truman Capote biopic that came out after the Oscar-winning one starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. CAPOTE is more about the seductive and dangerous intersection of celebrity, entertainment and journalism. That’s crystalized when the writer brings in a famous supermodel photographer (Richard Avedon) to photograph the two men convicted of slaughtering a farm family in Kansas. Capote is writing about the crime. Hoffman’s Capote seeks red carpet celebrity status but the red carpet becomes to him what flypaper is to a fly.

In INFAMOUS, we’re focused on self-deception, truth and how the artist uses truth in the exhausting creative process. To me, this one is better. When I attended the critics’ screening, I told the Warner Bros rep that the studio should’ve launched an Oscar campaign for it. The picture was so quietly released that film-goers didn’t even know it was out. Toby Jones was extraordinary as Truman Capote, resembling the late writer more so than Hoffman did. Also, Sandra Bullock was Best Supporting Actress material for her interpretation of Capote’s best friend and often-annoying voice of truth, To Kill A Mockingbird novelist Harper Lee. Bullock does beautifully understated and touching work as the steel magnolia undramatically at war with herself while tackling injustice and stonewalling for the truth of things. Truman’s jealous that she’s so comfortable in her own skin. She’s a bit jealous that he’s so prolific. Bullock’s performance in INFAMOUS is one of the finest she’s ever given on film and it was grossly overlooked. Daniel Craig is very effective as the more sympathetic of the two killers. Capote and the convict kiss in this one, thus further complicating the writer’s motives for his journalistic novelization of the gruesome murders. Craig’s the poor cowboy killer Robert Blake portrayed so memorably in the film version of Capote’s landmark work, In Cold Blood.

Now, with the major foreign and domestic success of the new James Bond adventure, Daniel Craig has struck career gold. Oh! In it, there’s a visual reference to an iconic moment in GOLDFINGER, starring my favorite Bond, Sean Connery. Just like Bush administration modern times, QUANTUM OF SOLACE has oil-based crimes. It also has a gorgeous Bond girl.

However, I really miss the sass and style of the Sean Connery days and those campy Bond girl names. I can’t recall presently the name of Daniel Craig’s new Bond girl. That’s why I want a return to names like Lotta Booty, Iva Bigrack and Juana DuMee. Those were the days!