The spy who birthed me

Are you a big James Bond fan? Then you may be interested in the four-part miniseries that chronicles the life of Ian Fleming, the author of the 007 novels that is set to air on BBC America this January. Here's a trailer to show you what you can expect to see.

James Bond's greatest victory

From comingsoon.net:

The long-running battle between Kevin McClory and his estate with MGM and Danjaq, who own the rights to James Bond and related characters, is finally over after fifty years with MGM able to acquire the rights to the 007 franchise that had been held by McClory, who helped come up with the story for Thunderball with creator Ian Fleming. In the process of doing so, McClory has claimed that he created many of the iconic characters from the world of James Bond, presumably Blofeld and SPECTRE, who would appear in successive movies following that.

The lawsuits started flying in 1961 when McClory sued Fleming and received partial copyright to Thunderball that allowed him to remake it with Sean Connery in 1983 under the title Never Say Never Again. Neither MGM nor EON Productions have ever included that movie in any of the many James Bond box sets, considering it to take place outside of canon. Sony tried buying the rights from McClory and were promptly sued by MGM and McClory and his estate continued to be a problem for MGM and Danjaq over the years.

What could this mean for the future of the James Bond franchise? Well, for one thing, Danjaq's production division EON Productions could now theoretically introduce a new Ernst Stavro Blofeld or reintroduce SPECTRE after having created the crime organization "Quantum" for the Daniel Craig reboot Casino Royale.

No details of the settlement or the amount paid have been released.

Doc-topussy

From comingsoon.net:

MGM, Columbia Pictures, Passion Pictures and Red Box Films announced today their new feature documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 directed by Stevan Riley (Fire in Babylon), produced by John Battsek (One Day in September, The Tillman Story) and Simon Chinn (Man on Wire, Project Nim) to coincide with the 50th anniversary of James Bond films on October 5. Country specific release plans to be announced shortly.

"Everything or Nothing" focuses on three men with a shared dream: Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman and author Ian Fleming. It's the thrilling and inspiring narrative behind the longest running film franchise in cinema history which began in 1962. With unprecedented access both to the key players involved and to Eon Productions' extensive archive, this is the first time the inside story of the franchise has ever been told on screen in this way.

Director Stevan Riley follows a story that begins with a ground-breaking spy thriller and continues six Bonds and five decades later. While Bond was saving the world from chaos and catastrophe on screen, this compelling documentary draws back the curtain to reveal the battles, threats and real stakes unfolding behind the camera.

Bond countdown: Dr. No (1962)

We're about 22 weeks away from the newest James Bond film, Skyfall, so I've decided to once again look back at the past Bond films leading up to the new one. I wanted to do something different this time so that you wouldn't feel like I was simply doing a repost of my past thoughts. So I've decided to use Voicethread, which allows you to create audio commentary to images. Simply press play on the presentation below and you'll hear my thoughts on anything and everything that I found to be notable on that particular Bond film. Since this is my first outing using Voicethread in this particular manner, my commentary may sound a little rough, but I'm hoping that I'll improve as I get more comfortable sharing my thoughts in this manner. Certainly I would love to hear anyone and everyone's thoughts on both the films and my opinions on them, so sound off in the comments below. And without further ado, here's my take on the first Bond film, Dr. No