Movie: "Casino Royale"

Director: Martin Campbell 2006
Easily the best Bond since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (yes, the one with George Lazenby). The producers wisely chose to reinvent Bond, meaning he's been born anew as the character Ian Fleming created 53 years ago. Daniel Craig is excellent, and nearly makes you forget Sean Connery (impossible, of course, when you remember those first three Connerys). Gone are the gadgets. Craig's Bond bleeds, shows pain, betrays emotion. The film's a bit long, but that's a minor complaint. The Bond franchise easily could have gone downhill with sillier plots and invisible cars and all the claptrap that started taking over the series as early as "Thunderball." The movie ends with something of a cliffhanger--the story line will continue. I wonder if Ernst Stavro Blofeld may be resurrected in the next outing. Definitely go see this one.