James Bond's latest outing mediocre, unsatisfying

Bryant West

Media Credit: Rottentomatoes.com

Quantum of Solace does not feel like a James Bond movie. Normally in the 45 years that movie audiences have witnessed his smooth, sophisticated spy movies, we've grown used to Bond's adventures containing more wit and less punch. That is why it is easy to see Quantum of Solace as less of an actual Bond movie and more of a action flick borrowing Agent 007. Between its many, many high speed chases, the movie seems more concerned about being a Jason Bourne-look alike, but the movie loses its story along the way.

For the first time in the series' history, Quantum is a direct sequel to the previous 2006 Bond flick, Casino Royale. Bond (Daniel Criag) is trying to get information on Quantum, a shady international organization that blackmailed Bond's lady love, Vesper Lynd, causing her to kill herself in the end of Royale. His search eventually leads him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of Quantum who makes his living pretending to be an eco-friendly chair of the aped named "Greene Planet" while in reality making his fortunes as an international scammer. Bond learns of Greene's plot to assassinate his girlfriend, Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and he finds out Greene is making a deal with a Bolivian military official (Joaquin Cosio).

The multiple twists in the plot are nearly overshadowed by the movies' apparent love for chase scenes. There are car chases, motorbike chases, boat chases and even an overly elaborate and excruciatingly long plane chase. Miraculously, every time the chase places Bond right at the point he needs to be at for the plot to progress. The movie has become so focused on high speed chases for the entire plot, that it makes the story very hard to follow.

It is a shame, because despite the overabundance of action and the tangled plot, the movie is well acted. Craig, the first blonde Bonds is the perfect Bond, very smooth and calm, despite the movies' pace. Kurylenko also does a great job as Camille, and perhaps the strongest aspect of the movie's plot is her backstory. Amalric does a fine job as the cool and collected scammer Greene. With all three main actors doing such a fine job, it is really disappointing that their acting talents have to get lost in the action.

Quantum of Solace would probably have been better if it didn't have the James Bond title next to it. It is action-heavy style isn't common to the series, and its plot gets lost. The great acting job by Craig gets lost, and it leaves a simply mediocre film.

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The 7 Funniest Black Men of All Time

By COED Staff

With times getting tougher and tougher by the day, it’s important to remember to laugh every once in a while. So while the first black president prepares to take office and get this show back on the road, we thought we’d take a look at COED’s 7 Funniest Black Men of All Time for some comic inspiration.

Check out The 7 Funniest Black Men of All Time after the break!

[Warning: Language in videos is NSFW, so put in some headphones]

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7. Bill Cosby

Many of you probably only remember Bill Cosby from The Bill Cosby Show, as host of Kids Say the Darndest Things or simply as a Jello salesman. But that’d be like judging Def Leppard entirely on their career after losing a guitar player and a drummer’s arm - it misses all the best stuff.

Originally from North Philly, Cosby got his start in comedy working as a bartender, telling jokes to up his tips. He was soon being booked at bars in Philadelphia and New York, landing a spot at the Gaslight Cafe in 1962. By ‘64, he’d toured the entire US and released his first comedy album, Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow…Right!, which highlights the humor of his childhood rather than focusing on the raunchier sides of life. And while Cosby remains righteous in his promotion of family values, the son-of-a-bitch can still tell a joke.

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6. Robin Harris

Known for his hard-hitting humor and quick put-downs, Robin Harris big-eyed act began developing a mainstream following in 1985. His recurring “Bébé’s Kids” act, based on having to take his girlfriend’s three punkass kids with them on vacation, became his best-known and was scheduled to be made into a movie before Harris died from a heart attack in 1990. In addition to his stand-up performances, Harris debuted his acting career in ghetto-acclaimed, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and played “Sweet Dick Willy” in Spike Lee’s classic, Do the Right Thing.

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5. Chris Rock

Voted the fifth greatest comedian of all time, Chris Rock is a modern-day comedic powerhouse, with scorching social commentary that cuts straight through the bullsh*t. After a few minor roles in movies like Beverly Hills Cop II, a stint on Saturday Night Live and the success of New Jack City, Rock landed his first HBO special, Big Ass Jokes, which first aired in 1994. Since then, he’s produced five hit HBO specials, had his own television show and stared in scores of movies.

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4. Eddie Murphy

Despite coming out with some real pieces of crap movies later in life, Eddie Murphy is one of the most talented comedians of all time. From his early stand-ups like Delirious and Raw to his swath of movies like Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America, Eddie Murphy’s ability to rip apart people from all walks of life while still being gut-bustingly hilarious has made him one of the most copied comedians in history. And he’s currently ranked as the highest grossing film star in history, with 33 films grossing a total of $3.4 billion just in the U.S.

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3. Dave Chappelle

Before fame (and a $50 million contract) made him lose his mind and run off to Africa, Dave Chappelle was on the fast track to becoming one of the biggest stars on television. By the second season “The Chappelle Show” took off, making him the funniest man in America, and causing every single person you know to run around saying “I’m Rick James, bitch!” every 10 f**king seconds. Thanks, Dave…

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2. Redd Fox

Best known for his role on the television series Sanford and Son, Redd Fox is a godfather of modern comedy, with what was considered one of the raunchiest stand-up acts of his day. The subversive topics and language changed how people viewed stand-up comedy, and came to pave the way for later greats like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock.

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1. Richard Pryor

Laugh Messiah, The One, the Godfather of Comedy - this guy did it all, from writing to acting to his imfamous stand-up acts, Richard Pryor was what we call a “comedic genius”. And if you haven’t ever heard his stand-up acts, take the time to study them. Listen closely, and you’ll probably hear every joke any commedian’s told in the past 25 years. His storytelling style and liberal use of vulgar language and racial epiphets are so integrated with modern comedy, it’s hard to imagine how there were jokes before this guy got on a stage.

Who Is The Funniest Black Man of All Time?

Bill Cosby
Robin Harris
Chris Rock
Eddie Murphy
Dave Chappelle
Redd Fox
Richard Pryor

View Results
Polldaddy.com

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TV is Broken - The 2008 Season Sucks

Last season’s writers’ strike caused nearly every non-reality show to have very short runs last season. Between the strike and Kiefer Southerland’s DWI conviction, 24 didn’t even have a season. As a result, TV fans across the nation have been bored with reality shows about modeling (yawn), or worse, they had to go get social lives. But after 18 months of boredom, die-hards from coast to coast ditched their friends, upgraded their DVRs and got ready for an awesome 2008 Fall season. What they got instead was a bad Sex in the City ripoff, two mediocre X Files clones, and some terrible plotlines for their favorite returning shows. TV is broken, here’s our proof:
The Worst New Sitcom: Kath & Kim It is almost impossible to get viewers behind a show with entirely unlikeable characters. Even when you do it perfectly (It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia), you’re limited to a niche audience at best. Kath & Kim chronicles a spoiled, self-involved woman-child and her enabling mother. If we wanted to watch annoying people who are in love with themselves, we would have watched The Simple Life.
The Worst New Serial: Eleventh Hour With more interesting actors than J.J. Abrams’ Fringe, and with Jerry Bruckheimmer at the helm, we’d hoped this would be interesting. Instead we found an utterly boring, sort of sci-fi show that in its debut chose to get at the forefront of the stemcell/cloning controversy. Of course nobody likes to be preached at, and they’re about six years too late to join the debate.
The Worst Returning Serial: Prison Break This is what happens when TV executives get greedy, pure and simple. Prison Break was never supposed to last more than two seasons. But it was making money, so when some producer needed a new chinchilla-skin car cover, they asked “does this really have to be about people breaking out of prison?” Then they started bringing people back from the dead, and not wanting to spend much on the makeup budget, lasered off the ginormous tattoo covering Wentworth Miller’s top half. You’ve jumped the shark, please get off TV now.
The Most Annoying Plotline: Heroes Every season is referred to by the show’s creators as a “volume.” First season was “Generations,” followed by “Exodus,” and now we are in the middle of “Villians.” Clearly Tim Kring is a fan of Empire Strikes Back, but who wants to tune in week-after-week to watch their favorite characters get their back-sides handed to them? To compensate for such wimpy heroes, every time one of them dies, they are miraculously brought back (or turned into a triplet). As long as they keep this up, they’re going to lose tens-of-thousands of regular viewers every week.

Final Thoughts
In The 40 Year Old Virgin Steve Carrell asked “is it true that if you don’t use it, you lose it?” And when it comes to writing compelling TV shows, the answer is a resounding yes. TV writers’ brains have atrophied from not working for so long. And we’re pretty sure they’ll get their groove back, but we have two questions…by the time they do, will anyone still be watching? And, anyone want to buy a used DVR?

Call us corporate shills, but it’s times like these, we’re seriously glad we have Netflix.

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