James Bond 🤝 Denis Villeneuve
Nine reasons why Amazon chose well (and no, this is not sponcon).
Hey film freaks – Welcome to the 25th edition of Absolute Box Office, the newsletter. That’s right, what Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is to Steven Spielberg’s (more on him below) filmography, this Bond-centric issue of ABO is to my newsletter as a whole. Right? It made sense in my head.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read, responded to, or passed along any of these emails, it really is great hearing people’s thoughts on how Materialists is both dumb and genius and how Friendship is either the the funniest movie of the 2020s or potentially a sign of the fall of western civilization. Everyone’s got a take! With that in mind, there’s no review this week, but expect my thoughts on Brad Pitt’s F1: The Movie (yes, that’s the real title) after the Fourth of July. Instead, I’m using this milestone issue to look at what I’m predicting will be one of the best marriages of steward and intellectual property since Denis Villeneuve and Dune: Denis Villeneuve and James Bond.
PS - I am running the NYC Marathon this year and could really use your help with the necessary $3,000 for charity that I need to fundraise in order to do so. So, think about it, won’t ya? Maybe I’ll do a whole running-themed edition of the newsletter later this summer… good thought, me. DONATE HERE PLEASE!
- Cheers, MB
In this week’s issue:
🛸 Spielberg’s secretive return to UFO territory
📋 NYT’s 100 best movies of the century
🍸 Nine reasons why Amazon got the right guy
🔫 The man who was Bond (once), and so much more
The Weekend Take: June 27-29 💰
Well well well, check out the big
brainbox office onBradApple! F1: The Movie raked in $55.6 million at home this weekend and almost $150 million globally. It’s going to be a minute before it recoups its rumored $250 million+ budget, but hey, I’m def ready to watch Brad Pitt go vroom-vroom later this week.
But First, the News 🗞️
• Breaking news: Steven Spielberg has quietly finished filming a massive new alien movie. Note that’s “alien” lowercase, not “Alien” a la the face-huggers and what not (although, that franchise is heading to TV soon). Anyway, in his first project since The Fabelmans, the master auteur is returning to the sci-fi world of visitors from elsewhere. He himself wrote the treatment, which was then passed off to famed screenwriter David Koepp, who has worked on everything from Jurassic Park to the last two Indiana Jones movies to… Premium Rush? 2012 was an odd time for bike culture. Anyway, this cast is stacked with Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, and Wyatt Russell. Let’s hope it’s rad.
• Everyone ready for some freaky Ron Howard sexy Lord of the Flies action? Eden, which also has a stacked cast (Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Jude Law, and Daniel Brühl), is about a group of hot people in the 1950s who attempt to establish a new utopia on an island and, well, you can guess how that goes. This movie has been kicking around for a while and frankly seems like perfect Neftlix bait, but is instead getting a theatrical release… We wish them well.
• Lanthimos/Stone, Vol. 4 is here. The trailer for Bugonia from Yorgos Lanthimos, which stars Jesse Plemons as a conspiracy theorist who thinks a high-powered CEO (Emma Stone) is an alien and therefor kidnaps her, looks exactly as you’re imagining it in your head right now. For all the Kinds of Kindness homies out there, congrats – looks like Yorgos has found a new lane and he’s sticking with it.
• In the wake of Elio’s underperformance, everyone’s favorite rat is back. Just when you didn’t think Disney could quadruple down anymore on existing IP, they’re apparently going back to the Ratatouille well. Elio severely underperformed and Bob Iger and co. will now attempt to right the Pixar ship the only way they know how. While I love Remy as much as the next person, this is less than ideal. But still, I would watch Little Chef hang out in his little Paris windowsill for another 90 minutes. That’s what happens in Ratatouille right?
• Presented without comment: The Social Network sequel is in the works. OK, I lied, there will be comment. The Social Network is one of the great films of this century (as you’ll see noted below). In fact, I’d argue it might be the best movie of the past 25 years, and while there is plenty of good Facebook material to mine from the last decade+ since the movie’s release, there are two key details missing from this news: the involvement of Jesse Eisenberg and David Finisher. While Aaron Sorkin, who is both writing and directing the sequel, is one of the great scripters of the spoken word that this medium has ever seen, this does not fill me with confidence. So I guess the question is: which sequel will be better: Rata2ille or The Social Networks (dear god, please don’t actually let either of those be their actual titles).
The New York Times’ 100 Best Movies of the Century
OK, so recently The New York Times did this very cool rollout of their 100 best movies of the century (according to them, The Social Network is actually the 10th best movie of the past 25 years, but whatever) where they released 20 films on the list per day for five days. If you’re curious about the rest of the top 10, here’s how it looks:
9 - Spirited Away, 8 - Get Out, 7- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 6 - No Country for Old Men, 5 - Moonlight, 4 - In the Mood for Love, 3 - There Will Be Blood, 2 - Mulholland Drive, 1 - Parasite
Overall, this is a very strong list and one of these (along with Mark! The Young Zuck Chronicles) does also appear in my personal top 10, however, I have sadly not seen one of them, which has brought much shame upon my house. So sometime this summer, expect a Mulholland Drive review. David Lynch, wherever you are, I love the memes and I promise I’ll watch your masterpiece soon.
Otherwise, here’s how many of the top 100 I’ve seen. Overall, pretty solid right? And for those of you curious, yes that’s my personal top 10 below. And no, Wedding Crashers is not a typo, you old sailor you.
Nine Reasons Why Denis Villeneuve Is the Right Guy to Make the Next Bond
Yes, you heard that right – Mr. Arrakis himself, the man who painted Emily Blunt in blood, who taught us how to think in non-linear time (kind of), the guy who made one of the most stunning (but sort of meh) movies of this century – Denis Villeneuve has been handed the keys to the Aston Martin and will direct the next, and Amazon-MGM’s first, James Bond film.
Since February, when Bezos and co. finally got full control of Bond from the Broccoli family (the film producers, not the cruciferous vegetable (although some people have probably called Barbara Broccoli worse post-No Time to Die)), there have been multiple names rumored to be heading up the project with Amy Pascal (of Spiderman and Little Women fame) and David Heyman (of the entire Harry Potter sphere) producing, most prominently Christopher Nolan and Alfonso Cuarón, both of whom could still make Bond movies one day. But in the meantime, Villeneuve will lead the franchise into its new, post-Broccoli era. Here are nine reasons why that’s a good thing.
Villeneuve appears to really love James Bond, and when DV loves something, he sets it free (aka let’s it rip). According to the press release, the French-Canadian director is, “a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor.” If this tone sounds familiar, it’s because he was similarly effusive when Dune was announced, which was Villeneuve’s favorite book and reportedly the number one piece of IP he wanted to adapt. As we learned with Dune, when DV loves something, he really sends it, and this can only be a good sign for his future Bond.
As I said, Villeneuve’s incredibly good at adapting beloved IP. While not all Bond movies are based on books, something tells me Villeneuve will choose one of Ian Fleming’s original 14 novels to restart the franchise under his direction. This is a very good thing, as no one love the little details, the nooks and crannies of story, more than this guy. Think about the murals in the palace on Arrakis in Dune, or the general feeling of sweat in the air in Sicario, or the sound of the aliens breathing in Arrival. For a guy who does spectacle better than almost anyone, it’s the texture of his movies that sets them apart, and as most Bond adventures tend to be rather tactile, intimate affairs, this should work well in his advantage.
Villeneuve has a unique eye for violence. If there’s one movie of his that feels like a sketch for how Villeneuve may approach Bond, it is Sicario, as it’s his most real-world violent film (the atomics and sand worms of Dune are their own thing). The gun violence in these movies is abrupt, messy, and personal – three things that seem highly likely to influence his view of 007. If you want an example of what I’m talking about, watch this night-vision sequence and then come back to this-here newsletter, I’ll wait.
Villeneuve enjoys looking at the grey areas governments inhabit and operate within. Again, Sicario’s moral complexity and downright bleak look at the US-Mexico border does this at a level unseen since. However, Arrival plays into this as well, as we watch different nations and branches of government whip back and forth between wanting to destroy the aliens, capture them, and communicate with them. While Bond hasn’t always reflected real-life politics very accurately, Villeneuve will have an opportunity to insert his ideas about the state of our world more than previous film makers as the Broccolis were notorious for dissecting every single line of dialogue in the scripts for their movies. Amazon will undoubtedly be thorough, but you have to think that DV’s been given a bit more license to kill, and tell the story he wants (even if that doesn’t include final cut).
Speaking of story, Villeneuve won’t get bogged down in plot. As the man once said, “Frankly, I hate dialogue,” which is both very funny and quite telling of what he prioritizes when making a film. Similarly, while Bond movies are famous for various one liners, these are not Shakespearian tragedies and rely much more on style and tone than actual discussions to move the plot forward. There will probably be cool cars and beautiful women and neat gadgets and some very handsome dude at the center of it all, trying to save the world before something terrible happens. That’s the framework, and if Amazon is as competent as they seem in making this hire (vs. the Amazon who thought Rings of Power was a good idea), then they’ll know to get out of the way and let Villeneuve mold the rest to his exact specifications.
My god can this dude direct a set piece. I’m just going to leave this here, and this, and maybe this too just in case. OK, f*ck it, I can’t not include this one too. There are plenty others you could throw in (the Harkonnen gladiator scene in Dune: Part 2, a lot of f*cked up stuff in Prisoners), but Villeneuve understands action in such a, at times, matter-of-fact way, while also knowing how to use it to perfectly heighten the moment. He’s a master manipulator and I love that about him.
Villeneuve loves vibe (and I hate that I wrote that). You know what the best parts about Daniel Craig’s (dang, it took seven of these points to mention the guy who may be the most important Bond ever) Bond were? When he was vibing (yep, still hate it). When he catches the gun and throws it back at the guy in the parkour scene in Casino Royale? Big vibe. Him saying “I always hated this place” before he blows up his family’s Scottish Skyfall estate in Skyfall? Mega vibe. Him having romantic, physical, and comedic chemistry with Ana de Armas in No Time to Die? This movie doesn’t have much, but it DOES have that. Similarly, Villeneuve knows how to vibe out too, and if you aren’t thinking of the classroom scene in Arrival or the Gom Jabbar sequence in Dune, then I don’t know what to tell ya.
He also has a great sense of how much weird is the right amount of weird. Prisoners? Very weird and disturbing film. Both Dune movies, while not as “weird” as David Lynch’s version, are still very eccentric and indulge in the both the sci and fi of it all. And then there’s Enemy, which has one of the most jarring final scenes in any movie I’ve ever seen. As a head’s up, if the name “Aragog” or “Shelob” sends a shiver down your spine, do not seek that treasure. Similarly, the best Bond movies have some weird. Sometimes it’s silly weird (i.e. Pierce Brosnan tsunami surfing) or goofy weird (i.e. Oddjob’s entire persona) or WTF weird (i.e. Mads Mikkelsen smashing Daniel Craig’s sack (not a statement I was expecting to write (sorry mom!))). Again, these two can and will form a more perfect union.
Villeneuve has an incredible eye for talent. This could just be a very long list of people DV’s cast in his movies, but outside of the incredible ensemble he chose to populate his Dune world with, Villeneuve also put Daniel Kaluuya in Sicario two years before Get Out and chose Paul Dano to be his psychotic villain in Prisoners before that seemed like a totally normal thing to do. There are already heaps of rumors surrounding who’s most likely to don the tux next – including James Norton, Damson Idris, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, Regé-Jean Page, Richard Madden, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson – and while my personal pick Dev Patel is sadly more likely to make his own spy movie than join a massive franchise, I trust Denis Villeneuve to find the right person for the job, just like he did with Paul Atreides (and look how that worked out).
What the F*ck Is This Movie? 🍸
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
You know, the one with George Lazenby, who is the only guy to ever play Bond… once (there was a whole contract dispute situation with Sean Connery, let’s not get into it). Take it away, whoever (or whatever AI) wrote this description:
Agent 007 (George Lazenby) and the adventurous Tracy Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) join forces to battle the evil SPECTRE organization in the treacherous Swiss Alps. But the group's powerful leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), is launching his most calamitous scheme yet: a germ warfare plot that could kill millions!
Well, this movie looks very silly and suddenly, Austin Powers’ whole look makes a lot more sense. While it’s probably for the best that Bond has adjusted with the times in most regards, it might be fun to see him run around in some crushed velvet again. You know, just something to think about, Denis.
Seen anything good lately (other than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)? How many of the NYT top 100 movies of the century have you seen? Will Shai-Hulud make a crossover appearance in DV’s Bond? Let me know by responding to this email.