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At this point, the most dangerous threat James Bond faces does not shoot from the barrel of a gun or glimmer from the lens of a laser but instead springs from the tightly-coiled engine of the audience's expectations. Any new Bond film has to not only compete with the films that have come before but also the other high-end entries in the action genre; any political or moral ideas in the film have to compete with the political and moral landscape of the world we live in. Quantum of Solace, the 22nd Bond film, is Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond, and the blunt, brutal and brisk Casino Royale set the bar very high; if Casino Royale marked a return to greatness for the Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace represents a return to adequacy.

Directed by Mark Forster, Quantum of Solace has the basic bones of a Bond film -- globe-trotting settings, cars and chases, hair's-breadth escapes, nefarious plots. It does not, fortunately, have much of the fat that the worst Bond films have larded onto the series -- there's a minimum of high-tech gadgetry, no skiing sequences, no invisible cars, no henchmen with metal teeth. While Casino Royale brought Judi Dench's gruff spymaster M back to the series from the Brosnan era, it also brought Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion back to the franchise; in the new Bond era, cars crash and buildings break with thundering, shuddering force as Daniel Craig's Bond smashes, crashes and grunts his way through a hard, painful world. In the film's opening car chase, on the winding coastal roads of Italy, there are a number of moments where the crunch and thud of the action catches you up in a two-fisted grip of exhilaration and terror. Part of that's the stunt work, but a big part of it is Craig's Bond -- who you believe as being capable of executing a perfect shift-and-skid turn while firing an automatic weapon out of what used to be his car window with shards of glass lacerating his face.

Cinematical has received this exclusive clip for the buzzed-about French flick A Christmas Tale, directed by Arnaud Desplechin. Back when Cinematical premiered the poster, we told you how the film centers on a family who, throughout the years, struggle to come to terms with a personal tragedy that changed their lives forever. In our review from Cannes, Kim called it a "tragically comic tale of love, death, and familial strife and forgiveness." And that pretty much describes the scene below -- obviously tensions are high for this family, and important decisions need to be made, but there's still light humor to be found in the darkest of places. Starring Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve, Anne Consigny and Jean-Paul Rossillon, IFC will place A Christmas Tale in theaters and On Demand on November 14, before it expands to other cities.

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Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for A Christmas Tale, directed by Arnaud Desplechin. The emotional French drama centers on a family who, throughout the years, struggle to come to terms with a personal tragedy that changed their lives forever. Reviewing the film from this year's Cannes Film Festival, Kim called it a "tragically comic tale of love, death, and familial strife and forgiveness."

Starring Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve, Anne Consigny and Jean-Paul Rossillon, this French flick has received nothing but good buzz since debuting a few months back. Toward the end of her review, Kim adds "I hope the film will secure distribution in the United States as well, so that American audiences might also get to appreciate its humor, beauty and depth."

Well, good news is IFC picked up A Christmas Tale and it will arrive in select theaters and On Demand on November 14, before expanding to other cities. Check it out.

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As part of Cinematical's recent James Bond-related trip to London, we were handed six brand new photos from the film to share with our readers. Next week I'm allowed to start telling you what exactly went on over in London -- the danger, intrigue, romance, adventure and excellent room service -- but for now I want you to feast your eyes on these new images, which you can access by either clicking on the image above or into the gallery below.

Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace picks up 10 minutes after Casino Royale left off, and it follows Bond (Daniel Craig) while he continues his quest to take down the secret organization that blackmailed his ex-lover Vesper. During his mission, Bond will once again woo the ladies, as well as uncover one man's (Mathieu Amalric) sinister plot to control earth's water supply. Check out our brief conversation (using your questions) with both Craig and Forster over here.

Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.

Three intriguing titles top my list of indie films to check out this week on DVD. Coincidentally, two of them feature actors who also directed (or directors who also acted).

Taiwanese film Help Me Eros, directed by and starring Lee Kang-Sheng, became slightly notorious at the Toronto film festival because droves of otherwise hardy film critics walked out of a press screening, either out of boredom or disgust. Ryan Stewart stayed, even though the first scene made him consider vomiting and the film as a whole was an unpleasant experience. Any film that provokes that strong a reaction, of course, makes it a perfect choice for adventurous renters who don't mind gambling a few dollars on the possibility that they'll never finish watching the movie. (The plot doesn't really matter in this case, does it?) DVD extras are limited to various trailers.

The English-language Big Dreams, Little Tokyo, directed by and starring Dave Boyle, is a culture clash comedy. Boyle plays a man who wants to become a language instruction guru, while his Japanese American roommate (Jason Watabe) wants to become a Sumo wrestler despite his slight build. KJ Doughton at Film Threat gave it a four-star rating ("a fresh filmic entree"). DVD extras include an audio commentary, behind the scenes interviews and "making of" footage, deleted scenes, web spots, and more.

French flick Heartbeat Detector (AKA La Question Humaine), directed by Nicolas Klotz, arrives with little fanfare that I can recall, though it did enjoy a brief, limited theatrical run earlier this year, and Scott Foundas admired "its epic sense of humanity" in the pages of The Village Voice. Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) plays a company psychiatrist with odd methods of motivating the corporate troops. DVD extras appear to be non-existent.

I had never heard of Jacques Mesrine before today, but I should have. Take a look at this Wikipedia entry, which matter-of-factly details the dozens of murders, bank robberies and prison escapes pulled off by the legendary French criminal over a 20-year "career." The best part is that he once fled from a sentencing hearing by taking the judge hostage. How can that possibly work?

Anyway, the story's obviously well-known in France, and it has finally made its way to the screen in a two-part biopic called Public Enemy No. 1, starring (who else?) Vincent Cassel as Mesrine. Budgeted at $80 million, it's one of the biggest French productions ever. At least the first of the films is slated to get an October release in France, and the American rights have gone to Senator Entertainment -- the distributor that helped bury All the Boys Love Mandy Lane after the Weinsteins dumped it. Its president promises to do better with Public Enemy, hoping to have the first film in American theaters by the end of the year. He compares it to GoodFellas and Scarface. Honestly, though, Mesrine sounds like more of a badass than Tony Montana.

The movies were directed by Jean-François Richet, who made the not-terrible American remake of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 a couple of years back. They co-star Gerard Depardieu and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Mathieu Amalric (who will also be seen in Quantum of Solace). Oh, and Ludivigne Sagnier, whom I just saw in the very good Love Songs.

"When you can't tell your friends from your enemies, it's time to go."

The first trailer for Quantum of Solace (aka the next James Bond film) has just arrived online (watch above or over on Moviefone in glorious HD), and I'm totally hooked. First thing I noticed is there seems to be quite a bit more action this time around, including what looks to be a pretty slick speedboat scene. Like in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace (which picks up right where Royale left off) appears to leave us with a Bond (Daniel Craig) who still can't differentiate between what's personal and what's simply business. Once again, M (Judi Dench) continues to chase after Bond, who's still somewhat of a loose cannon.

Starring Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton and Jeffrey Wright, Quantum of Solace finds Bond on the hunt for the organization responsible for the death of his shady ex-girlfriend, Vesper Lynd. His mission eventually leads to an environmentalist (Amalric) hell bent on taking over the country's water supply. Those interested can check out the full, official synopsis after the jump.

Quantum of Solace arrives in theaters on November 7th, 2008. What do you think of the trailer?

Arnaud Desplechin's film Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale), playing in competition here at Cannes, is a tragically comic tale of love, death, and familial strife and forgiveness. The film centers around Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and her husband Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon), whose oldest child, Joseph, is diagnosed at a young age with Burkitt's lymphoma.

The boy's disease is curable only with a bone marrow transplant, and neither the parents nor his younger sister, Elizabeth, are compatible. The couple conceives another child in the hopes of making a match to cure their son, but the third child, Henri, is also incompatible, and Joseph dies at the age of six. Eventually the grieving parents have a fourth child, Ivan, and in time the family's wounds over the death of the eldest son heal ... but not really.

A whole new batch of images from the next James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, have just arrived online. So, in honor of a badly beaten-up Daniel Craig, we've decided that now is definitely the right time to launch our official Quantum of Solace photo gallery -- complete with good guys, bad guys and women who may or not be good or bad. (Can I just say that I absolutely love this photo above. Obviously they've had a long night -- and even though he's all sorts of damaged, Bond has that "I bet I could still tap that" look on his face.)

What do we know about Quantum of Solace? Well, it picks up right where Casino Royale left off, and it follows 007 on a mission to figure out which moron came up with the name for this film. I kid, I kid. Actually, we're with Bond as he attempts to figure out more about the organization that blackmailed Vesper -- a mission that ultimately leads him to several countries and to a couple of men; one of which, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), is conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources. There's double the action, double the intensity and (we hope) double the love-making.

Quantum of Solace arrives in theaters on November 7. Check out our brand new gallery below.

Wow, so if this rumor is true it could potentially be very good or very bad for the Bond franchise, and, especially, Quantum of Solace. Now take this whole thing with a huge grain of salt because there is no proof or official word, but a scooper wrote into AICN with the name of an actor who might have snagged the chief villain role in the next James Bond film. No, I'm not talking about Mathieu Amalric -- who we already know is playing Bond's main opponent. And Anatole Taubman is apparently playing another baddie. I'm talking about the boss of all bosses -- the guy Bond was after in Casino Royale, and will be after in Quantum of Solace. The dude behind the entire operation -- the man behind the curtains -- the guy who reports to himself. Oh yes. Him. Well word has it Bond will finally meet up with this head boss at the end of the next film, and the actor currently rumored to be playing him is none other than -- drum roll please -- Al Pacino. Hoo-ahh!

Here's part of what the scooper wrote in to AICN: "But the big news that he leaked was that Al Pacino would be taking part in filming. I was a little shocked as the cast has been revealed already, but he said Pacino would play the head of the terrorist group introduced in CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Al is said to come to Pinewood in April-May to film what is said to be a brief cameo." Hmmm. Pacino? As the big villain in a Bond film? Keep in mind this is only a rumor right now, but if true, what do you think?