Who is Ulrich Thomsen? He's played a neo-Nazi locked in a battle between good and evil (Adam's Apples), a famous pianist returning to his hometown (Allegro), a befuddled criminal forced into running a restaurant (Flickering Lights), a Templar Master in the late 12th century (Kingdom of Heaven), and even a villainous henchman (The World is Not Enough) among dozens of parts since 1994. His signature role is probably the lead in the intense dysfunctional family drama The Celebration. According to Variety, he has now signed on to star in The Frost, a psychological drama "turning on the disintegration of a marriage after a son's death."

The Frost sounds like an unusual beast. It's a Spanish/Scandinavian co-production, specifically involving Spain's Alta Realitat, Norway's Frost Media and Sweden's Gota Film. Director Ferran Audí is an experienced Spanish actor; The Frost will be his feature debut. The film is loosely based on Henrik Ibsen's 1894 play Little Eyoff, which has never been dramatized for the screen before.

Ibsen.net reported this past August that Thomsen would star in The Frost and added that Audí had written the English-language script with contributions by Swedish playwright Lars Norén. Ibsen.net also indicated that Swedish actresses Annika Hallin (the very good mystery thriller Kissed by Winter and the upcoming period epic Arn: The Knight Templar) and Bibi Andersson (Ingmar Bergman's Persona) would appear. With such good actors on board, The Frost looks like a strong contender for the festival circuit sometime next year.

Hey, did you know Casino Royale was coming out this Friday? After a four-year wait, we now have a new Bond in Daniel Craig, as well as a new direction for the entire franchise. Early reviews indicate the film is wicked cool, and I for one am very excited about it. Martin Campbell returns to the directing chair, having last helmed 1995's Goldeneye. He becomes the first director since John Glen (who directed a whopping five Bond films) to direct more than one 007 flick. (The other three dudes to do that were Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert and Terence Young.) Royale's Bond girls (Eva Green and Caterina Murino) look perfect -- a combination of sexy, exotic and dangerous -- which is something the last few Bond films have lacked. Am I leaving anything out? Oh yeah, the bad guy. Does it get any better than Mads Mikkelsen?

For your viewing pleasure, Cinematical has already kicked off its Seven Days of 007 feature. For the next seven days, we'll be taking a closer look at James Bond, his girls, his enemies and the twenty films that we have either grown to love or loved to hate. Where will Casino Royale fit in? In just a couple of days, we'll have our answer. However, before we begin gushing over the legendary character, I'd like to know which Bond films failed to entertain. Which ones did you absolutely hate? For me, it's a toss up between A View to a Kill and The World is Not Enough. The latter I dislike for obvious reasons -- c'mon, you can't do any better than Denise Richards? The girl was a complete moron -- but besides that -- who's bright idea was it to have Michael Apted direct this flick? Sure, the guy is great at what he does, but boy did he fail here. As far as A View to a Kill is concerned, aside from a groovy song by Duran Duran, was I the only one who was completely freaked out by Grace Jones. Ugh, just thinking about her in this film gives me the bad kind of goose bumps. And while Christopher Walken should have been an awesome bad guy, in my opinion, his talent was completely wasted.

So, I ask you: Which films showed James Bond at his worst?