And while my fan brain usually defaults to secondary concerns of who’s going to do the theme song, I’ve shifted my focus to what the opening title sequence will look like. I would love to see the filmmakers go a little old-school, with some sort of modern flair. Look back at the old paperback spy novel era, something closer to the medium in which Bond originated. And I think if anyone could guide a design team in that direction conceptually, it would be Phil Noto.

Noto’s influences are heavily steeped in the art and design of the 60′s and 70′s, and there’s no denying the old-school Bond films having been some of them. With the right team of people behind him, I can only imagine what it would be like to see his style of art brought to life on screen.

I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I really can’t let this go. I feel like it needs to happen. There’s no getting around it, and I’m sure there are plenty of you who feel the same way. Bond fans, Noto fans, Noto fans who are ALSO Bond fans!! Y’all need to get out there on Twitter (#notoforbond), Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever! Just tell someone! Badger someone! Somebody get Michael Caine on the phone! Make it happen!

For more art from Phil Noto, check out notoart.com and philnoto.tumblr.com.

In the bankruptcy claim, MGM mentioned that not only are they planning on releasing the twenty third Bond flick in 2012, but that they are also looking to release a new Bond film every other year afterwards.

Good news for Bond fans indeed.

Daniel Craig steps into the tuxedo and behind the Aston Marton again to reprise the role of 007. For the first time in the franchise, there is carry-over from the previous film, Casino Royale. Still hurt from the death and betrayal of his lover, Vesper, Bond picks up probably a few hours after Royale’s ending and makes it a personal vendetta to find out what she was up to and is willing to risk his status with M and British Intelligence over it. After M is shot at by a double agent for the secret agency, Quantum, Bond goes into full throttle. Bond follows a lead to Panama where stumbles onto something when he rescues Camile (Olga Kurylenko) from Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric) a businessman and major player within the Quantum circle. Money is tied directly into control and in times when fossil fuels are at a commodity, power players jockey for whatever else can be controlled. Greene though is far more insidious than what he appears to be, determined to control what resources remain in third world Bolivia, if he could just get rid of that mangy 007. Bond takes his anger out on Quantum, fueled by revenge for a woman, but the woman is not who you expect.

The same old Bond conventions are here: several exotic location shoots, fancy car chases, fancy boat chases, oh and fancy plane chases? Yep. Bond girls, check, M, check, huge secret black spy operative (Quantum) who threatens all, yeah check. Q and the gadgets? Mmmmm, no, so that means it’s gotta be bad right? No. What’s being done to the franchise in this modern take on Ian Fleming’s secret agent is take the formulas out, and instead of each film feeling like it’s a random film with all the checks and balances, we get to see the consequence of his actions, an evolutionary arc within the Bond character. The downside of all this is that seeing Casino Royale is essential to see what bug has crawled up Bond’s ass, and if one doesn’t have this history, Quantum of Solace is a little thin on actual development.

The selection of the main crew was a strange assembly. Marc Forster who has been hit or miss with me (Hit-Stranger than Fiction, Miss- Monster’s Ball), has been known for more emotional, thought out dramas so they brought on board Dan Bradley for the second unit whose experience in the Bourne franchise is very apparent ten minutes into the movie. Paul Haggis who is as hot a screenwriter as you can get, co-wrote this with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and all of the gaps seemed to be controlled with the right people, but there was just too much action. While Casino Royale had a slow build in between, Quantum of Solace finally felt like it was getting somewhere at the halfway point. We see a much more interesting relationship between M and Bond, and Camille’s story is fully realized and this is where Forster’s strengths come through but it’s all a little too much too late. There’s no doubt that the action is where it needs to be, but I was hoping for a much better blend.

As a companion to Casino Royale, I think Quantum of Solace works just fine, an emotional release, or comedown if you will for the Bond character dealing with Vesper’s betrayal. Rarely do we get to see a character exercise that in another film. But by itself, Quantum gives you so much action in your face, you almost forget that you want a full story to go along with it. By the film’s end we do feel like the character of 007 has experienced a journey that he will take to his next adventure. He battles mistrust and himself as much as evil crime syndicates and for some Bond fans, that might not be enough, but as a whole, the franchise is still in good hands.

Video: B+
The original 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio is maintained on the DVD, with anamorphic widescreen. All of that high-speed action is held together well, with no artifacts, or pixelation. Colors are strong and might I say that Craig over-tanned or has too much make-up because he’s got a bit of an orange thing going on in his face. Black levels hold up nicely, strong and deep throughout the film and despite some stylistic purpose of slight grain, the image is very clean. This transfer is great, it’s just not as good as a high definition encoded blu-ray but as good as you’re going to see on a SD-DVD.

Audio: A-
You get the choice between a 5.1 DTS and a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, both sound damn good with excellent sound movement in all directions, utilizing all of the channels wisely in the actions scenes. LFE sound is prominent throughout the same scenes as there’s some rattling that will go on in your room. All of this is fine but more importantly is balanced with the clean dialogue from the center channel. There are several accents spoken through the entire film and there was not a problem hearing any of it. If I were asked to prefer one soundtrack over the other, I’d have to go with the DTS track, because there’s just that added punch of the booming explosion and piercing of gunshots that travel around. Again, the knowledge of high definition audio makes me pull back on the rating, so I know it can be that much better, but really, a very satisfactory audio experience.

Extras: D+
One pass through the extras and it’s safe to say that a bigger, badder edition is sure to come for both formats. Whether you see it on DVD or Blu-Ray you get the same extras so no exclusives this time around, but given the two-disc blu-ray for Casino Royale that was released during Quantum’s theatrical release, the wait will be worth it. Getting back to this release, most of the material is EPK (Electronic Press Kit) fluffer-nutter of which will likely never get revisited. And what’s worse is that they’ve spread and divided the extras into smaller segments to give a cosmetic appearance that there is more than what’s really there, kind of like three pieces of candy in a pinata.

Disc One
A Music Video “Another Way to Die” (4:31) by Jack White and Alicia Keyes and 2 Theatrical Trailers.

Disc Two
Bond On Location (24:48) – Interviews with Marc Forster producers Barbara Brocoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig on shoots at Panama, Bolivia, and Italy. Camera set up, making the locations work within the story, and doing stunts in the tight quarters of the Italian cities is also discussed. This is probably the only must see extra in the bunch, I’m afraid.

Featurettes – Shooting Starts (2:56) On Location (3:13) Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase (2:15) Director Marc Forster (2:45) The Music (2:37) - Don’t be fooled by the quantity, the following are a list of EPK vignettes that skim the surface of different elements of the film.

Crew Files (46:18) – is a collection of 34 webisodes profiling key crew members ranging from camera riggers to makeup artists and their contribution to the film. Each has a little, okay, very little to say in their own words over some behind the scenes footage. Each of these last a little over a minute and don’t give you quite enough of what you want to know. Surely the interviews have been edited down or it’s being saved for the inevitable collector’s edition double-dip.

Overall Shock Value: B-
What’s been done to the James Bond character in the last two films has been a superb rejuvenation. This darkness within Bond, the calculated recklessness has taken the character back to the roots of Ian Fleming’s novels while keeping in stride with modern thrillers like the Bourne franchise. Building off of Casino Royale and evolving the character from an agent and his orders was a good move, however there was just a little too much action and not enough building going on in Quantum of Solace for my liking. The DVD still offers a great audio experience and video transfer but the extras do suck. Quantum still a good Bond film, just not a great one.

Ernie Estrella

In just a few hours, before the movie even hits US silver screens, Quantum of Solace will release on consoles. Below is a video trailer of some of the steps Activision took to bring Bond to life in the videogame.

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And as an added treat for the fellas, we’ve also added a trailer of Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko adapting to her videogame role. You know we had to do it.

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To coincide with the release of the 22nd 007 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace on November 14th, MGM Fox has released the first six blu-ray editions of the spy library: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and Die Another Day.

Available now as single blu-ray releases at a Suggested Retail Price of $34.98 or in two three-packs priced at $89.98. Volume 1 has Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, and Dr. No. Volume 2 collects From Russia With Love, For Your Eyes Only, and Thunderball.

All six films have sparkling 1080p transfers and new DTS-HD audio. They all maintain the extras from the 2006 DVD releases full of archival and promotional footage. PCS reviews each blu-ray below:

• Dr. No (1962) A+
• From Russia With Love (1963) A+
• Thunderball (1965) A
• Live and Let Die (1973) B+
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) B+
• Die Another Day (2002) C-

FEATURE: A+

Nearly 50 years later, the character of James Bond is stronger than ever. The 22nd film, Quantum of Solace will surely pack theaters the weekend of November 14th because 007 is a part of our life. The ultimate male fantasy, the culture of Bond lives on: living the high life, drinking dry martinis, traveling to distant places, sitting down at a casino table, playing Goldeneye, driving an Aston Martin, or just uttering the line, “Bond, James Bond.” But every mantra has a beginning, and everyone’s favorite secret agent began as a character in Ian Fleming’s 007 pulp fiction series in 1953. Another eight years would pass until he made the jump from the tattered paperbacks to the silver screen in Dr. No, a production put forth with Fleming’s approval, and the production team of Harry Saltzman and Alfred “Cubbie” Broccoli.

In his film debut, Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to Jamaica with the disappearance of a fellow British agent. He assembles a team with a CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and island local, Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) and a local Crab Key goddess, Honey Ryder (Usula Andress) who literally emerges from the sea. They stumble on the island of an eccentric Dr. No and his plan to attack America and their space program in Cape Canaveral with nuclear assault. I’m leaving out details but this was the making of an epic spy adventure and at the time, such a script was ambitious and grand.

It is said that we create heroes when we need them most. Movie-goers got some kind of satisfaction through Bond movies, at least with European and American audiences. He was a spy who was reluctant to follow orders, he killed when necessary, at times when not. He portrayed the playboy code, driving fast cars and sleeping with women he barely knows whether it helps his mission or not. That recklessness, the disregard for his body made him mysterious and attractive. And so our hero took center stage lit with slick title sequences to introduce him, a hip brass band as his soundtrack, the smell of sex in the air and danger around the corner–we were hooked.

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

There’s a new, 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and it sounds amazing. All of the action scenes are active and appropriately you’ll feel it when things go boom. The original English and Spanish Mono tracks are included for the nostalgic, and so is a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

We get a shiny new 1080p transfer that’s AVC MPEG-4 encoded which thanks to the Lowry Restoration Process looks amazing! The original ratio is 1.66:1 has been brought over and the thing that will catch your eye immediately is the Murice Binder title sequence. The details of the church interior make you feel like you’re not that far away. The different colored lamps show up in the shine of cast members’ hair. As said in the restoration documentary, this film may look like it was shot in the 1960′s but it doesn’t look 45 years old. Dr. No has never looked so good.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Dr. No sports a great Audio Commentary hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation and interviews with director, Terence Young and cast members that weave in and out of scenes they contributed to. The biggest reason why all of these Bond films shine on blu-ray is explored in 007 Licensed to Restore (11:56). It’s a fascinating process and the tedious work of Lowry’s staff is a marvelous achievement.

A BBC special, Guns of James Bond (5:06) interviews Jeffrey Boothroyd who become a gun enthusiast after reading the Fleming novels. Touring through his gun cabinet Boothroyd puts on a show-and-tell of the actual abilities of Bond’s guns in various situations and what kind of gun he would have liked to have seen Bond use. There’s no such thing as a small Bond red carpet event. Premiere Bond: Opening Nights (13:09) is a tell-all of the spectacles and who’s who in the crowd of dashing entrances. From the Royal Premieres at the Odeon Lester Square to Hollywood Boulevard, the featurette is entertaining until the last two minutes where every charity that saw donations from the premieres is mentioned.

Inside Dr. No (42:10) spotlights the important people responsible for the Bond films. Naturally, Harry Saltzman and Alfred “Cubbie” Broccoli were spoken about well. The choice of Sean Connery was the first and most important decision. Next, his villains, the sturdy supporting cast and then… Ursula Andress recalls her memorable entrance scene. Dr. No 1963 (8:40) is a black and white style guide to James Bond showing likes and dislikes, his favorite gun for example. Terence Young: Bond Vivant (17:57) gives credit to the director who is just as responsible as Connery for creating an icon. Young did more with less to establish the franchise, and his films in particular have remained amongst the fan-favorites throughout the decades. It was his style and attitude that Connery pulled from and placed in his performance. He is remembered by past cast and crew members as a man who could have easily been James Bond himself because he shared the same swagger. It’stoo bad he couldn’t direct more.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Binder opening credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” four theatrical trailers (10:57), one TV spots (1:24) and six radio commercials (6:38). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

DR. YES –- OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A+

On that movie lot 1961, the world famous recipe for the next action hero was drawn up. Like a treasured recipe for chocolate chip cookies, follow is and it will always taste as great as that first batch. Change the process or the ingredients and the experience changes. This blu-ray preserves the original recipe like no other previous edition of Dr. No, and I guarantee you it will taste better than what you remembered.

FEATURE: A+

In the second film of the long-running franchise, SPECTRE sets out to exact revenge on James Bond (Sean Connery) for killing Dr. No. They’ve trained a new assassin, Red Grant (Robert Shaw) a towering brute and armed with a garrote in his watch. Trained and approved by SPECTRE Number Three, the vile Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), Grant’s only mission is to wipe out 007.

MI6 sends Bond to Istanbul to retrieve a Russian Lektor cryptograph and a cypher clerk by the name of Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) at the consulate. She has made a deal to defect with the Lektor as long as Bond is the agent to pick her up. Unknown to Bond is that Romanova is acting undercover against her will (by SPECTRE) and is leading Bond to his death. British Intelligence Chief Ali Kerim Bey assists Bond in stealing the Lektor and flee on the Orient Express with Romanova, where Grant is waiting for them. Plenty more action ensues and Bond suspects Romanova is working as a spy for Russia, (not SPECTRE) and a deadly climax awaits them all in Venice.

While Dr. No had a plot with a much larger scope, director, Terence Young came back with a stealthy reconnaissance mission showing the wide array of missions in 007′s world. The importance of an enemy cypher was a very real thing. Any edge could be the difference in a global war and a mission like this was a plausible story viewers could buy. The gypsy theme and Venice channels gave it a warm Mediterranean flavor–a great contrast to the bigger threat, the cold, Eastern Bloc looming in the back. The Bond family was established with the return of Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny and Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Rosa Klebb and Red Grant became legendary adversaries in the 007 lore. If blondes are your thing, Bianchi doesn’t disappoint as the resident Bond girl and balanced by his womanizing and flirting, Connery steps up the physical action in memorable fist fights and explosive chase scenes. Everybody goes home happy. Track down From Russia with Love, it’s one of the very best Bond films ever made, and lives on in high-end form on blu-ray.

PRESENTATION: B+

Packaging is a standard case in a shiny, cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

A new, 5.1 DTS-HD lossless Master Audio track is one of the major upgrades for the blu-ray. The rear channels get a decent spin with music, explosions, and train effects traveling back to them. The scene where Bond goes at it with a helicopter is one of the better immersive scenes in the film. Dialogue is clear from conversations to the grunts of hand-to-hand combat. Also present is original English and Spanish Mono tracks and a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

From Russia gets a new 1080p transfer that’s AVC MPEG-4 encoded and with the Lowry Restoration Process it looks like it’s ready to hit theaters tomorrow! The original ratio is 1.66:1 has preserved and details like the frescos are completely visible now. The title sequences are sexy and alluring using the gypsy dancers and projecting the names onto their bodies. I can’t rave about these title sequences enough as their rich hues in high definition are like ripe fruit. These transfers show no sign of age or artificial enhancement, just a very clean image.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. From Russia with Love has a great Audio Commentary hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation and interviews with director, Terence Young and cast members that weave in and out of scenes they contributed to.

Two excellent featurettes in the Mission Dossier menu are the Inside From Russia With Love (33:46) and Harry Saltzman: Showman (26:42). The former talks about Harry Saltzman and Cubbie Broccoli knows the formula. Release James Bond every year and produce another in between but knowing it and implementing it were two different things. The feature on Saltzman revealed him to be a big showman, and always tried to think big, and tried to take Bond to that big level. His daughter Hilary, and son Steven recollect fondly personal stories of their father, and his peers and friends on his storied career.

Open up the MI6 vault to get to know Ian Fleming in The CBC Interview (7:42) in which he answers questions on his approach to writing the novels and denies that they are corrupting the young boys in school. Two BBC Audio Clips are heard with black and white photo montages. One is with Raymond Chandler (5:11) where the two popular writers converse on their differences, and the other, DESERT Island Discs (5:12) explains how intelligence organizations really work. And if that’s not enough, there’s an Animated  Storyboard (1:28) of the boat chase sequence.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Binder opening credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” four theatrical trailers (7:41), three TV spots (1:35) and three radio commercials (1:38). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FROM ERNIE WITH LOVE –- OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A+

As much as I enjoy all of the Sean Connery Bond films, From Russia with Love sticks out as a big favorite of mine. Sometimes the spy missions that lean on the espionage and reconnaissance intrigue me more than the threat of yet another nuclear weapon. The casting was filled with inspiring choices. Like Thunderball, this film balances out the playful banter with up-close violence. Bond continues to carry a mean streak in his character but is strong enough to take the foot off the throat at any moment. And as the body count in Bond’s wake rises, so do the number of reasons to add this blu-ray to your shelf.

Feature: D+

The nail that could have been driven into the 007 franchise could have been hammered down at the end of Die Another Day and no one would have even cared. Thankfully someone did care as we anticipate the latest James Bond which has evolved to a darker, more faithful adaption to Ian Fleming’s pulp novels. In light of Quantum of Solace, all of the excellent DVD releases are getting upgraded to blu-ray, even Die Another Day. Pierce Brosnan would suit up in the bow tie one last time, a 007 stint that lasted seven years and four films. In that run, there was good and there was Die Another Day.

On a mission to kill a rogue colonel selling weapons for blood diamonds, Bond is exposed as a spy in North Korea . Bond is captured, abandoned and tortured for a year and then exchanged for another prisoner and has his 00 title suspended. At multiple corners of the Earth, including Cuba, London, and Reykjavik meets an curvy American spy, Jinx (Halle Berry) a fellow agent with a cold shoulder, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) and a rich British mogul, Gustav Graves (Toby Stevens) who is in the business of, you guessed it, diamonds. Oh but wait, he has more surprises, believe me. All of that is secondary to a much deadlier plot to unleash the ultimate weapon in space that can beam down destruction to our planet below. Bond plants to exact revenge (huh?), save the day, and of course, get the babe.

In the advent of the Matrix trilogy and XXX, action films of the late 90′s to early 2000′s had too much CGI without any purpose. It seemed as if no one wanted to spend money on a good script just on action scenes on top of more action scenes. Even the title sequences have too many computerized graphics. Madonna’s electronic turn may have been a rebirth for her sound but it’s a big mismatch with James Bond and the font choice looked more appropriate for a home video. And I have to say it, the composed score is just as bad.

Lee Tamahori was chosen to direct based on his decorated films (Once Were Warriors and The Edge) and hopes were set very high. It raked in a ridiculous bank–that can’t be denied–but if you know a good Bond film, ten minutes in, you’ll know this is not one of them. I think the filmmakers set out to make an epic film–got caught up in what computer graphics could do–and the result was an epic mess. All verisimilitude is thrown out the window and the thought of Bond single-handedly stopping a giant satellite laser beaming down is far-fetched, even for 007. This was a James Bond film, right? Not Star Wars? Actually it feels more like Spaceballs because you’re left laughing at the end when two fights break out on a cargo plane, while a huge gaping hole sucks everyone down to their death. Oh and there’s that huge 50 mile wide laser to avoid too. A film’s bad when you’re left with more questions than answers and all I could say at the end was, “Huh-What?” “How?” and “Why?”

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A+

There are three audio tracks, the lossless 5.1 DTS-HD and compared to the older films, this film is a treat. This lossless audio track offers a wide range of big barrel boom and aggressive, active effects that will have your head spinning in your couch. Music roars loudly and anytime there’s a laser on screen (and there’s a lot of them in this film) the buzzing is particularly loud. If there’s anything bad to say about the audio I’d say that it goes so low that the soft spoken dialogue is difficult to pick up without having to increase the volume. A French 5.1 Dolby Digital track and Spanish 2.0 Stereo track are also available.

VIDEO: B+

Once a sore point, the transfer is now a strength. MGM delivers a 2.40:1 1080p transfer with AVC MPEG-4 encoded. The great thing about blu-ray is that the poor effort put forth in the DVDs can be erased. Marred with edge enhancement and pixelation, the DVD drove home theater nuts crazy.Tha absence of artificial “extras” allows us to see what is, actually, a good looking film. Blacks look good, as do the different array of textures seen throughout the film. All of the swirling colors and icy glaciers in Reykjavik come through clearly. In the fencing scene, the leather in Madonna’s outfit and the sculptures that decorate show more colors than just black. The paintings leading to Q’s lair are visibly clear. There’s still a teeny bit of edge enhancement that exists throughout the film, as seen in the opening action sequence but this isn’t as big a problem as the DVD.

EXTRAS: C+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull.

The first of two commentaries is with actors Pierce Bronsnan and Rosamund Pike who recorded two separate tracks. Brosnan picks his spots and can’t help but yuck it up laughing by himself. Pike comes in for the first time when the setting changes to London. She helps fill in some of the dead spots when it was just Brosnan. It’s cute to hear her humbled sitting across from Madame Judi Dench. From this point their combined commentary is split, Pike’s dialogue comes out of the right channel, Brosnan’s on the left and both parties aren’t afraid to say where the film could have been improved. In the second commentary director, Lee Tamahori and producer, Michael G. Wilson have a more natural conversation and play off of each other’s comments, though they seem convinced this was a great flick. One final way to squeeze another viewing is the MI6 Datastream which is a fact-laden track where notes pops up throughout the film. In some instances the picture shrinks down and a mini-featurette explains the scene further. There is no toggling between this track and other audio selections or subtitles once this extra is selected. I missed contributions from John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation who moderated commentaries for the older films. The fact he’s not on the disc at all is saying something.

The other extra of major significance is From Script to Screen (51:40) which is a large overview of the production for example, writing the script, doing damage control on rumors, set design, stunt coordination, bringing on champion surfer Laird Hamilton to casting the Bond girls. Narrated by Robert Carlyle, one interesting theme in this extra is this concern by the crew to not make a bad Bond film, including producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. No one wanted to ruin the franchise, but ironically, the changes in tone and execution in the second Casino Royale proves that Die Another Day will not be one long-remembered. The featurette is very revealing though as problem after problem arose in making the film, perhaps this should have been a sign to the filmmakers.

Shooting action scenes and establishing scenery in a winter wonderland presented lots of challenges. Shaken and Stirred on Ice (23:35) takes you behind the different range of issues in trying to film a car chase in Reykjavik, Iceland like finding ice thick enough and filming quick enough before the ice weakens and becomes a safety hazard. Just Another Day (22:39) films one day of seven months of principle photography. This day happens to day 69, earmarked for the parachute scene in front of Buckingham Palace. It’s not a particularly thrilling featurette because most of it is spent watching stunt coordinators talking in walkie talkies and Lee Tamahori speaking through his megaphone. The remaining minutes show the crew racing before noon to finish the dialogue scenes before the changing of the guard. British Airways makes its way into the film and briefly in the extras in The British Touch: Bond Arrives in London (3:32). Production Designer Peter Lamont revisits all the of the exotic shoots in the film and the hotels from those spots in On Location (13:51) From the brief revisit to the Ice Hotel Sweden to an extended look back at Havana Cuba to have been able to see each of these locales in high definition is a bit of a letdown. I know now my eye’s become spoiled by blu-ray.

007 Mission Control is also carried over from the recent Bond DVDs accessing the various themes of James Bond directly. The title sequences, the villains, the babes, exotic locations, Q’s debriefing on the latest gadgets. It’s a useless, special really. Absent are the trailers and TV spots that are available in the earlier films and so is the Madonna video. I’m not sure if that there wasn’t enough room to fit it or it was just MGM giving us mercy. Thrown in for good measure are the extensive promotional and behind the camera gallery.

SOMETHING DIED ALRIGHT – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: C–

The Bond franchise almost died, but thankfully it was Pierce Brosnan’s run as 007. Rosamund Pike was a nice choice as a Bond girl but I couldn’t stand Halle Berry, no matter how well she fills out an orange bikini. The late 90′s were a lost era for action films; the box office success of Mission Impossible explains a lot. All the trademark Bond swagger and purpose regressed into an over-stylized video game where there’s action just to have action. I think this is another film (given its time period) filled with CG effects without cause. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Recommended as a rental at the very best, or for those Bond completists who have to have everything with 007 attached to it.

Feature: B+

In the final decade of the Cold War, For Your Eyes Only fed off the global threat of the Russians. Sent to retrieve a communication device that went down in a sunken ship, Bond teams up with Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) and comes face to face with Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) and Milos Columbo (Topol) both of whom claim to be Bond’s ally but are not all what they seem to be. Faintly familiar to From Russia With Love, the twelfth Bond film is a cross between a who’s who and a race to an important piece of the nuclear arms race.

Yet another transition in the Bond franchise, this time the film tones the story down from it’s predecessor, Moonraker which was an exercise in excess filmmaking (an ongoing recurring cycle). The basic 007 plot is simple: Put Bond on a mission on an exotic locale, throw some women, an eccentric villain or two, and lots of action. How productions continue to try something different I’ll never know. If it ain’t broke, don’t make Moonraker. Wisely, director John Glen, and writers, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson followed the formula giving us a grittier, more dangerous James Bond instead of letting it become an out of control spectacle. (See Die Another Day)

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A

The action comes alive in this 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track. Compared to this first wave of Bond blu-rays it’s only bested by Die Another Day which was made twenty years later. Lots of spraying gunfire to travel through the room, Sheena Easton belting out the theme song, and an accurate dialogue track make this a job well-done. Also available are the 2.0 Dolby Stereo and Spanish Mono tracks and a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track.

VIDEO: A

A big part of the Bond mystique is the distant locations that could only be accessed by 007 himself. In 1080p, these desirable destinations look even better. Texture and the fine granules of sand and snow can be picked up by the eye easily. The Swiss alps glisten and the Bahamas look lush with paradise. The transfer is AVC MPEG-4 encoded and is in 2.35:1 and even though there was was probably less done by Lowry restoration as the Connery Bond films, the picture is clean of artificial noise and wear-and-tear defects.

EXTRAS: A

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Others have short but insightful featurettes that add a deeper appreciation to the film. Similar to the Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only’s strength is in the commentaries.

Also boasting three commentaries, John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation returns yet again with all of his 007 wisdom in the best of the bunch with excerpts from director, John Glen and members of the cast. Roger Moore does another one of his shooting from the hip solo tracks, and the co-screenwriter, Michael Wilson and the production crew team up for the third track with lots to say about the logistics of putting together a Bond film.

Director John Glen introduces Two Deleted Scenes where there’s a much longer hockey fight scene (2:05) a conversation between Bond and Melina that took away from her personality. The underused angle button gets some action by being able to see the Death of Loque scene from two different camera angles. Michael Wilson narrates a handful of small featurettes about filming at the exotic locations. Bond in Greece (5:58) and Bond in Cortina (4:17) showed how the 1980 Winter Olympics influenced the film’s snowy setting shooting in the Alps. Neptune’s Journey (1:39) talks about how the great set designer, Peter Lamont put the underwater scenes together in the Bahamas and what happened to that Neptune sub after filming. Looking Inside for Your Own Eyes Only (29:48), you’ll take deeper looks into casting choices, the rock climbing scene, the helicopter stunt, filming underwater and action on the slopes with figure skater, Lynn Holly-Johnson. Two Animated Storyboard Sequences show montage compare the drawings for the snowmobile chase (1:14) and underwater sequences (1:46) with their film counterparts.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits.

Sheena Easton’s Video (2:46) for For Your Eyes Only, In the “Ministry of Propaganda” one theatrical trailer (3:49), three TV spots (11:46) and two radio commercials (1:11). One observation worth noting is that nudity is seen in the theatrical trailer, all the TV spots, and music video. An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FOR BOND FANS ONLY – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

A welcomed return to Earth, For Your Eyes Only went back to the fundamentals in both tone and story. Moore has another solid turn as Bond, and the supporting cast was reassembled to please 007 fans. With aggressive Bond girls, wild action sequences and all of the solid extras brought over from DVD, this is one of the twenty plus Bond films you can bring home confidently. With the power boost in the DTS-HD track and visual delight of HD, this is the best way you can watch this film.