Casino Royale 2

Steffan snuck into town, so we went out to see the new James Bond film, which has garnered divisive reviews. Despite the near universal love for Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace appears to have polarized viewers.

When Kill Bill was released, in two separate parts, audiences knew it was coming, and many complained about it in advance.

If there was widespread knowledge that the follow up to Casino Royale would be a continuation of the same story, it never got to me. Of course, as one who only saw that film for the first time a few weeks ago, I was primed and ready, and pleasantly surprised by, the sequel.

I don't know how well the film could be judged on it's own, and I highly recommend revisiting Casino Royale as close to your trip to see Quantum as possible. As the second half of a much larger tale, I found it quite satisfying. Is it perfect? No. Is it totally convincing? Never. But that said, the characters were interesting and the action set pieces come one after another. It should make a nice double-bill in the Slaughtered Lamb next year...

Also wanted to mention the Star Trek trailer - which should be available online come Monday, and we'll have it to show as soon as the first HD version is made available. The trailer is cut like an episode of Battlestar Galactica, and it will be interested to see how J.J. Abrams pulls it off. As I was never a huge fan of the Trek franchise, I'm open to whatever they do with it. That said, the most exciting moment in the trailer for me was seeing Simon Pegg as Scotty.