Bond

It's always good when a new James Bond movie comes out. The movie channels play the old ones back to back. There are twenty-six so far. That's happening now, which is in addition to BBC America's periodic Bond evenings.

We like James Bond movies, particularly the older Bonds: [Sir] Sean Connery, of course, is tops. Pierce Brosnan, even Timothy Dalton, are great. [Sir] Roger Moore, who played Bond most often, is passable, but the franchise is loosing some of its innocence with Daniel Craig. It's not that Craig is a poor Bond, au contraire, but the movies have gotten darker.

Most movies, even the ones I like, I don't care to see again. The genre is different from music. If I like music, I'll play it often. With movies that depend on plots, once you know the ending, that's enough.

The Bond franchise, in the main, is different. Each improbable scene with its unlikely gadgets and escapes is a mini-movie. Great sets, on-location filming, beautiful costumes, and a constant thread of light humor make even the chase scenes fun. It's eye candy, light, with fantasy and a cast of comfortable characters because you know the good guys and the bad guys get the appropriate ending.

Escape is a major reason I watch movies. Unless the subject matter is something I want to learn about, I prefer escape. Each movie, after all, is another person's creation of a dream. Why would I spend time with someone else's dark dream? Brutality and endless tension are dark.

Bond films, like Star Trek Next Generation (also a weekly marathon on BBC America and another welcome opportunity to escape), and their characters somehow do not lose their charm and keep a sense of lightness, fantasy and even idealism.