Farewell to a Classic Bond - Roger Moore

It is with a heavy heart that I reflect on the acting career of Sir Roger Moore on this day of his passing. Though dear ol' Rog was never my favourite James Bond actor, his work in the role does make me wax nostalgic... after all, it was his Bond films that I first saw at the cinema as a young lad. I was a bit too young to have seen Connery's movies on the big screen. 

This Sir Rog pic greets visitors as they step into my front hall at home

I remember first seeing the Connery and early Moore Bond films on TV when I was just entering my teenage years. Usually as a Sunday night movie, and I'd often get permission to stay up for the whole thing, a bit late but hey, this was Bond.

I think at that tender age, I was equally enamored by both of those first two "classic" Bond performers. I didn't even question the fact that there were two different actors in the role. I'm not sure if I saw On Her Majesty's Secret Service back then, because I'm sure that would certainly have confused me. What... a third Bond? And in only one movie? I don't remember, but it's possible I did. 

Anyway, I recall enjoying Live and Let Die just as much as Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice back then. This was Moore's debut as Bond, and I thought he did a great job. He had big shoes to fill, and I think he did it quite ably. He presented a more urbane, gentlemanly James Bond. Less gruff and brawny than Connery, Moore was the romantic smooth-talker, also relying more on his brains than his physicality to take on the bad guys. Don't get me wrong, Moore threw (and took) plenty of kicks and punches during his years in the role; he looked and behaved more like the agile and wily agent that we came to enjoy during his run of 007 flicks. 

Remember View-Masters? Well, here's my still-in-mint-condition

Live and Let Die!

It wasn't until many years later that I learned about Moore's work on TV's The Saint of the 1960's. I found myself a neat little box set of DVDs so I could enjoy Roger in this sort of Bond-ish role before he even inherited the coveted Walther PPK and 007 status. 

At age thirteen, I finally saw a Bond movie at its theatrical release... The Spy Who Loved Me. And wow, did that ever bowl me over. Fond memories of that evening.... is it strange that I remember it so well? I'm quite sure I saw the remaining Moore Bond movies when they hit theatres. So Roger did make an impression on me for a time. 

Many fans agree that The Spy Who Loved Me is Moore's best Bond feature. I have always felt the same way... between the exciting and glamorous story and the girls, guns, and gadgets formula, it all came together and meshed perfectly here. Live and Let Die was the litmus test for Moore in the part - lots of action, both in the bedroom and hassling the baddies. The Man With the Golden Gun was a sleeker, simpler tale that focused more closely on Bond and his opponent, the villainous Scaramanga. It was The Spy Who Loved Me that established some grander fixtures in the Bond canon... like that ski chase leading to the parachute jump. There were slight re-hashes of Bond-isms, like the fight on the train (seen that before, right), though this time with a seven-foot tall dude with metal chompers. Yikes!

All in all, though, that movie cemented Moore in the role as a solid contender with Connery... for many fans. Though it took me many years to learn to appreciate Roger's later Bond movies, I now enjoy them each in their own quirky ways. Even when you could clearly see the poor fellow was getting a bit creaky for climbing stairs and pummeling fist-fights, we sort of look the other way when the (obvious) stunt-man stepped in. Fair enough. We're all going to get there someday.

Moore is the guy who I picture when I think of Bond with the ladies. He was the suave and sophisticated 007 of that era. And I associated Moore more with the gadgets - from Q section, naturally - in that bygone era of vintage Bond pictures. 

I also saw a small handful of Roger Moore's non-Bond films, like The Sea Wolves, Sherlock Holmes in New York, The Cannonball Run, The Quest, and of course - Spice World!

I even read his amusing memoirs on his years as the cinematic James Bond, entitled Bond On Bond. I highly recommend it... as least to die-hard fans. Loads of photos and stories I'd not seen or heard before. Great fun!

So long, Sir Roger Moore.... we shall miss you... though you will live on forever in film. And you'll always be 007 to me. 

A Movie Star Was Born - James Stewart

It was on this day way back in 1908 that James - or Jimmy, as I like to call him - Stewart was born. Stewart, through his impressive career as an actor, became one of the biggest names in that era of Hollywood. Ranked alongside Humphrey Bogarte and Cary Grant. He was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures with several nominations and a win (The Philadelphia Story). 

I remember, as a kid, first seeing Stewart's movies on TV. He nearly always played a likable, self-deprecating, genteel yet down-to-earth character. His acting range enabled him to star in mysteries, westerns, dramas, and in comedies. One of my very favourite Stewart films is Harvey, where he plays a tippler who has an invisible giant rabbit as a best friend. Many of his pictures, like this one, are warm, maybe a little folksy, and gently funny. When he wasn't sweetly stammering, he might be rather ornery. I'm not sure about Jimmy's personality in real life, but I'd hazard a guess that he brought more than a touch of his own self to the roles the played. 

A few of my favourite Stewart films are: Winchester '73 (perhaps my fave - where he plays a rougher character than usual in the Old West), The Far Country and The Man From Laramie (two more great westerns), Rear Window and Rope (a pair of Hitchcock murder mystery classics), and The Flight of the Phoenix (an adventure story boasting an all-star cast sweating it out under the Sahara sun).

Director Anthony Mann liked working so much with Stewart that he called him back again and again to star in his movies, mostly rugged tales of the Old West. Stewart seemed to thrive in these genre pictures, truly assuming the traits of his character, and giving a believable and life-like performance every time. 

The eminent John Ford took on Stewart for his trio of western masterpieces, Cheyenne Autumn, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Two Rode Together. Even when Stewart played against type, he retained a charisma that captivated viewers. 

Alfred Hitchcock, too, kept Stewart close as he built his casts around the star. The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo are a couple more great thrillers where Jimmy's everyman endured harrowing experiences, sputtering, and trying to do the right thing. And director Otto Preminger used Stewart's talents to make his Anatomy of a Murder as unforgettable a classic as Hitch's pictures. 

And of course, we can't forget the Frank Capra Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life, which to this day is still a favourite during the holiday season. Here, we see Stewart joyful, flailing, exasperated, crumbling, and humbled... he exercises his chops fully in this bittersweet comedy-drama. One of the most loved films in American cinema. 

I've seen all of the movies I've mentioned here, and own most of them in my home video collection. I'd say Winchester '73 and Rear Window are the ones I've watched the most. No cinephile should be without some James Stewart movies on his shelves.  

I'll leave you with this quote (and Stewart was very quotable):

"There's not much I can tell you about this war. It's like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning."  - Jimmy Stewart in Shenandoah (1965)

Rock World Mourns the Loss of Cornell

I couldn't believe my ears this morning when I heard the news of the passing of Chris Cornell, once the singer for Soundgarden and for Audioslave (among others, like Temple of the Dog). I've always thought he had one of the coolest voices in modern rock. Too young to leave this world. 

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Cornell has always been scant. I liked the few Soundgarden tunes I heard on the radio back in the 90's, like Black Hole Sun, Rusty Cage, and Spoon Man, and I enjoyed the song and music video for Jesus Christ Pose - metallic and pummeling. I read a little about the band's guitarist Kim Thayil in guitar magazines back then, too.... pretty cool, but I just never got the full treatment with those guys. Maybe now? It's not too late.

I also knew a bit about Cornell through his music in the 1992 movie Singles, which featured a lot of Seattle scene tunes at the time. I was never a huge fan of any of his bands, though I must confess I wasn't really exposed to much of his music, other than the obvious radio singles. Neither my friends nor I really got much into the "grunge" stuff back then. Some of us, including me, did latch onto Nirvana big-time, but even that interest waned after their handful of roger-dodger albums. Alice in Chains had a more lasting effect for me.

A bit more recently, in 2006, Cornell's song You Know My Name was nominated for a Grammy for its appearance in the James Bond film Casino Royale. That tune was the one that really won me over. Cornell belted out a powerful performance on probably the best Bond theme song in recent years. Yeah, I love Adele's more traditional style of Bond song on Skyfall, too. You Know My Name charted around the world and did win some awards. In fact, this was the first song I thought of when I heard of Cornell's death. 

Well, here's to a great vocalist moving on from our little dirt ball Earth and joining the rock pantheon in the afterlife. Rest in peace, Chris.

Between the Covers - Part III

This week I'd like to take a look at some more cover songs. Delving back in time, I'm going to talk about a handful of cool oldies, some more aged than others.. 

First up, how about that early Pink Floyd classic, Astronomy Domine? To be honest, I had never heard the song until Canadian band Voivod released their version on the Nothingface album of 1989. I loved that metal treatment of the psychedelic gem. A lot of time passed before I even learned the song was a cover, let alone realized it was a Floyd composition. 

Quebecois thrashers Voivod put their own spin on a Floyd epic

I'll address this song beginning with my introduction to it via Voivod. Back in the 80's I tuned in weekly to the MuchMusic metal show on Canadian television. That was one of my main sources of new music back in the days before the internet. 1989 was a year of great metal: I was plugged into my CD player and radio for the latest releases by Faith No More, solo Bruce Dickenson (of Iron Maiden), Accept, Joe Satriani, and Motley Crue. Those artists had videos in heavy rotation on MuchMusic, and it was there that I stumbled upon Quebec group Voivod and the singularly freaky and metallic song Astronomy Domine. I went so far as to record the music video onto VHS tape and I kept and revisited that for years. The video alone was a trip, all spinning cameras with artsy lighting and close-ups. 

Astronomy Domine as performed by Voivod isn't too far off the original, just with more volume and aggression. But even then, I'd say Voivod exercised restraint. They could easily have taken it into a more industrial and distorted direction, but instead followed the Floyd original as a template, simply playing it as Voivod would.... their trademark vocals, guitar and drum sounds add a heavier, searing modern element to the mix. And I have to say that I actually prefer this cover to the original. 

Pink Floyd, twenty-two years earlier, penned, performed and recorded the song in a fashion befitting the period. The druggy 60's were in full force, and loads of bands were inventing the psychedelic music scene and sound. Heavy on keyboards, strange noises and voices, and dissonant meanderings on guitar, this Astronomy is far more trippy... and even more melodic, if you can call it that. Don't get me wrong - this is a great song. The fledgling Floyd were up against established acts like The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour arrived that same year), The Doors (they debuted in '67, too), Hendrix (two classics that year), and Cream (their Disraeli Gears hit store shelves), Jefferson Airplane, and The Who. Just to name a few. Stiff competition. And while other tracks on Floyd's Piper At the Gates of Dawn album sort of fit in with the hippy vibe of the era, they don't sound (to my ears, today) like very catchy, radio-friendly songs. Astronomy Domine actually seems to be the most normal of the bunch, more accessible, and certainly far more memorable. 

Five necks are better than one, or so says Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Neilsen

Now let's jump a little further back in time to 1965, when The Beatles released a single composed of two tunes that were recorded during their Rubber Soul studio sessions. Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out were those songs, and the 7-inch was marketed as a double A-side single. I guess both songs were considered so good that neither could assume second billing. Day Tripper was always among my favourite Beatles songs, right from the very beginning. It was one of the first songs I seriously learned on guitar. I'm pretty rusty on it now, but it was fun to jam that one. My version was no hell, but The Beatles' did it so well it made a big impression on the music charts back in the day.

The full electric guitar twang and bright percussive drums and tambourine of Day Tripper made it a winner. Add on the Fab Four's distinctive vocal harmonies and Paul and John's double-tracked leads, and it's a rock classic. That riff has got to be one of the most famous in all of pop music, right up there with Satisfaction, Johnny B. Goode, You Really Got Me, and Sunshine of Your Love. 

Fifteen years later, in 1980, my teenage self bought the brand new Cheap Trick EP called Found All the Parts. Damn, I still curse myself for selling my records all those years ago.... this one, in particular, is now a rarity. It took over two decades for it to finally make it to CD, and even then, only as a Japanese import. I found a digital copy through circuitous means several years ago and made my own CD. Then - finally - those dummies decided to include the four tracks from Found on the re-release of 1980's All Shook Up album (which I now have, too). Man, the things I do for music!

Ah, back to my story: on that EP was a song called Day Tripper, culled from the massive Beatles catalogue and played with reverence and energy. Cheap Trick adored the Liverpool mop tops and made no secret of it in both their Beatle covers and their own compositions. This version of Day Tripper is presented as a live recording, though in reality this was a re-recording in the studio, because the band hated the true live recording. They mixed in the live crowd audio to create what sounded like a concert. Hey, it fooled me for years, until I learned this little factoid. That doesn't hurt the song or my feelings about it, though. 

Cheap Trick's Day Tripper came along at just the right time for me. I had already steeped myself in Beatles music and lore, and was also a massive Trick fan. I was so ready for one of my favourite modern (at the time) bands covering one of my fave all-time bands. This Trick version of the song is big and brawny, loud and noisy... it makes me think of how The Beatles might have blasted out (or tried to) the song in their stadium shows in the 60's. The crowd is mixed in a bit loud, kind of detracting, but not entirely. In the last run-through of the chorus, singer Robin Zander throws in a "She loves you, yeah, yeah yeah...." Nothing too pandering, just a fun tribute to their influential idols. 

The punk band Fear is somewhere in there amongst the slamdancers

And now for something a little different: I've never been a fan of punk music. I just couldn't - and can't - relate to it on any level. Certainly not the scene, the shows, and the fashion (or anti-fashion). The odd song caught my ear back in the late 70's, like a few Sex Pistols tunes. Not much of that genre made it to TV music video shows, at least not in my neighbourhood. Or maybe there was some out there, and I just ignored it. Musically, the form was just too chaotic and crude for me. I was so intensely focused on the musicianship and slick production of bands like Rush and Iron Maiden to take much notice of punk. I remain rather ignorant of the musical style, though I've at least tried out a little something here and there thanks to a punk fan friend. Nothing stuck. 

I told you that so I can now tell you this: when I listened to the latest Megadeth album, I noticed that the rawer, leaner sound of the disc's last song, Foreign Policy, differed from the rest. I was curious. I noted that this song was not even written by Megadave, but by a 70's punk band called Fear. Never heard of 'em. But I gave their original version of Foreign Policy a spin and did not mind it at all. And that's because Megadeth stayed very true to Fear's vision. It's pretty easy to see how some early punk influenced the thrash metallers of the 80's - and beyond.

Fear were an infamous L.A.-based hardcore punk band who helped develop the sound and style of the genre, and were early major players in the California scene. End of history lesson. 

Megadeth sped up the song a tad but retained the gritty wailing guitars and snarling vocals (singer Dave Mustaine had plenty of practice in that department). A bashy approach that's fun and wild, though the addition of a nasty little guitar solo wasn't really needed. But it didn't hurt. I suppose that with this cover, Mustaine wanted to tip his hat to one of his musical influences and inspirations. 

That's it for now... see you back here soon!

Sequels, Prequels, and Reboots, Oh My

It seems Hollywood has reached the bottom of the barrel these days, rarely producing a new and original idea in a film. We get sequels and prequels and reboots up the yin-yang all the time. In fact, the spin-offs often outnumber the "one-offs" at the box office. How have we come to this?

The franchise rules.... long-term money-making ventures are the priority. Art is secondary. Quality, good taste, and good judgement are of less importance. 

While I may still enjoy the first instalments of slasher horror classics like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street, I've never been very keen on the many sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots. That sub-genre always felt weak within the world of horror cinema. Yet there was - and is - money to be made. There's an audience out there.

Speaking of money, we've apparently got reboots of all the old Universal monster movies coming our way... Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and more. I am filled with trepidation as I consider how these efforts may turn out. There have been some pretty awful revamps of my favourite old-school horrors. I'm thinking of Van Helsing (2004) and The Wolfman (2010)... yikes.

These days there are precious few movie franchises that I will loyally follow through to the end. I'm rather worn out on even the ones that I've long adored, Star Wars being the most notable. I never even saw Rogue One on its theatrical run. I was underwhelmed when I finally rented a digital version online. I will, to the day I croak, swear by the original trilogy - those classics are untouchable. The three prequels are a serious low point, though even among those, there are moments that stand out. The Force Awakens was a cool ride, very clearly a revamp of Episode IV: A New Hope, yet it was an indication that we must soon bid farewell to many of the familiar faces of the Star Wars universe. Now we're looking at a Star Wars movie every year until gawd-knows-when. Can they sustain this momentum for long? What does the future hold for this now-Disney-run franchise?

Star Trek.... I loved the 60's show as a kid and I still admire the imagination and intelligence behind it. The "original crew" movies of the 70's and 80's were okay at best, but never (for me) captured the essence of 60's Trek. And that was really the end of it for me. I'll forever be a fan of the Shatner/Nimoy lineup on TV, but just can't get behind the reboot movies with Chris Pine in the captain's chair. They have their moments, but sadly, the more cerebral approach of creator Roddenberry's 60's Trek was tossed in favour of a more Star Wars-y action-and-explosions approach. Which has won over younger viewers the world over, but oldsters like me prefer the more dialogue-driven stories enhanced by shaky studio sets and old-school phasor beams. 

And the superhero movies.... I've lost all interest in them. When I was a kid, like most boys my age, I loved the action fantasy in the comic books. The earlier adaptations to film were eye-candy to my young eyes. Even as an adult, the advances in special effects have made superheroic displays more seamlessly possible, and I did enjoy some of those films. But as time wore on, I realized I just didn't care for this assembly line of lacklustre blockbusters. The obsession with quantity over quality became more and more obvious as year after year, the movie industry churned out the bad and the ugly... and not so much of the good. Still, tickets are sold and seats are filled. There's no accounting for taste.

I was on board for the first few Spider-Man films, and even the Andrew Garfield reboot, but that was it for me. Same deal with Ironman... I enjoyed the first one, the second one considerably less, then I dropped out of the fan club entirely. All of the cross-over Avengers flicks are so overblown and undernourished that I can't get my head around them. The first one was vaguely interesting, but man, it's always that last half hour or so (after already wading through two hours of ho-hum) of endless superhuman battles that bores me to tears. So I avoided the sequels and other related movies. I never got into X-Men, though I did endure the first movie. I think that was it for the Marvel universe. Oh wait, Thor was mildly entertaining, but again, one was enough for me. Ant Man was a very fun exception... I loved it. 

I gave the Batman V Superman flick a miss... I'd heard so many disappointing reviews that I didn't care to invest (waste) the time on it. When it comes to Superman, give me the Christopher Reeve pictures any day of the week. And as for Batman, I enjoyed the '89 Michael Keaton film and its sequel, and even the George Clooney realization. But after that, well, the Kilmer one was a disappointment, and believe it or not, the Dark Knight reboot series with Christian Bale simply was not my cup of tea. Way too dark and violent... and un-fun, too far away from what I knew in the comic books I read as a kid. If I had to choose a Batman to watch this very moment, I'd pull that old 1966 Adam West gem off my DVD shelf. That colourful, tongue-in-cheek approach truly defined Batman for me. 

I love Jurassic Park and still get a kick out of its inferior, but still fun, two follow-ups. I skipped Jurassic World at the cinema, though maybe I'll find it on Netflix one day. Even the holiest of the holy, the Tolkien-inspired films by Peter Jackson took their toll on me. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is indeed a masterpiece, deserving of its nine-hour-plus treatment and its accolades. But The Hobbit, in my opinion, was a master class in how to ruin a classic tale. I disliked the first movie so much that I intentionally avoided parts two and three. How sad that director Jackson mishandled the Tolkien book so terribly. I mean... three massive movies to tell a story that first appeared in so slim a novel? One would have sufficed, for I still believe in the art of adapting literature to film through judicious artistic licence and editing. Few of the movie-going population want to sit for three to four hours just to see part one of a three part story... and to wait a year or more for the next instalment. Well, maybe the masses have been conditioned to accept whatever Hollywood throws at them. Not this guy.

The James Bond film series is one of the few that I will faithfully fork over for at the cineplex every few years. I've followed the 007 spy movies ever since I was a young teen. Daniel Craig as the latest Bond has given the franchise a serious boost as one of the most successful reboots in history. Though I'm not the biggest Craig fan, I do find the stories presented in most of his movies exceptional, showing cinematic artistry and a knack for high entertainment, a delicate balance few can match. 

The Ip Man martial arts movies are so beautifully filmed, written and acted, capturing the time period and Asian culture, that I do look forward to more of star Donnie Yen in the role of Ip Man (the real-life Ip was Bruce Lee's teacher, in case you didn't know). Let's hope there are further adventures of Ip Man down the road. 

The Alien film franchise has captured my imagination for decades, even though the last "true" Alien movie appeared in '97. But we all know that Prometheus, which I loved despite sneers and criticisms from other quarters, has a tie to the Alien universe, don't we? The upcoming Alien: Covenant promises to further explain that connection. Can't wait!

Some other movie franchises that I've loved (and still do, for the most part) are Back to the Future (not sure if that'll get a reboot some day), The Matrix (love the first one, while the rest were forgettable), The Terminator series (though they aren't what they used to be, the newer entries are still cool and fun, if in a dopey way), Mad Max (the latest was the greatest, but can this carry on with an aging director?), Planet of the Apes (I love the oldies, especially the original, and while the new reboots are cool, I'm not a huge fan), and for a more real-world example, the Dirty Harry films of the 70's and 80's, starring Clint Eastwood... they stand the test of time and I see no reason to ever reboot that "franchise"... gritty and lean and steeped in that era... perfection.

Then there are the remakes of King Kong over the decades. First there was the 1933 Kong, then a jokey spin-off Son of Kong, the Toho version of Kong who battled Godzilla in '62, a remake of the original in '76, then Peter Jackson's modern retelling of the big ape story from 2005. And Kong: Skull Island has done the rounds with mixed reactions. I'm in no hurry to see it, but will check it out eventually.

Speaking of giant monsters, there is of course the venerable Godzilla with a record-breaking twenty-eight freakin' motion pictures from Toho Studios alone! I enjoyed the 2014 reboot and I believe we are in for more, including a remake of the Kong rumble flick.

It must sound as though I'm tearing a new one in the Hollywood movie-making machine, and yes, I do have issues with it, but happily, the odd film of quality slips out. Something of nuance and originality, artistically and technically exceptional, and doesn't demand a follow-up Part II... or more. Those attributes don't have to cost an arm and a leg, so that is why it is often independent studios, both domestic and foreign, that are responsible for modern cinematic success stories. Think Pulp Fiction, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Primer, Little Miss Sunshine, and Lost in Translation.... just to name a few. 

So c'mon Hollywood, let's see some good movies... and fewer of these Fast and Furious (eight movies - really?) vehicles.