To Celebrate James Bond Day Prime Video announced that 25 James Bond films will be available to stream in the U.S., U.K, and other key territories as part of the 60th-anniversary celebration of the legendary film franchise. Prime Video also unveiled the official posters and trailers for the 60th-anniversary celebration and for The Sound of 007, a Mat Whitecross-helmed feature documentary about the remarkable history of six decades of James Bond music that will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide. All 25 of the Bond franchise films and The Sound of 007 will be available from today, October 5th.
THE SOUND OF 007
You can read my review for The Sound of 007 Documentary HERE
The 25 films coming to Prime Video in the U.S., U.K., Australia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico/Latin America (excluding Brazil), Spain, and Southeast Asia for a limited time are Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time To Die. With the exception of No Time To Die, the 24 films will be available for a limited time in territories including Germany, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Brazil.
THE SOUND OF 007 IN CONCERT
Additionally, following the live October 4 EON Productions and David Arnold-created charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Prime Video will globally stream an exclusive recording of the show—The Sound of 007: LIVE from the Royal Albert Hall.
At the event, guest vocalists and a host of stars performed the iconic Bond themes. The event marked 60 years since the world premiere of Dr. No,the first 007 film,on 5 October 1962 and will benefit Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and The BRIT Trust. All funds raised from this spectacular event will go directly towards helping thousands of people across the UK to connect and communicate through the power of music.
Highlights included Dame Shirley Bassey, the only artist to record three James Bond songs, who delighted fans by opening the show with ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and ‘Goldfinger’. Original performing artists Lulu and Garbage then took to the stage to perform their hits ‘The Man with the Golden Gun” and ‘The World Is Not Enough’ respectively. Paying tribute to more recent Bond films, legendary composer Hans Zimmer accompanied the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and David Arnold to perform a “No Time To Die” suite.
The Hall’s celebration of James Bond will continue with Films in Concert screenings of Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015) from 17-20 November.
The Sound of 007 in concert at The Royal Albert Hall on October 04, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for EON Productions & Prime Video)
SIXTY YEARS OF JAMES BOND CHARITY AUCTION
Christie’s and EON Productions charity evening auction, Sixty Years of James Bond, realises a total of £6,103,500
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of 007 on the silver screen, 100% of the 25 lots presented were sold during the evening. The auction vendors, led by EON Productions, are donating 100% of their auction proceeds to nominated charitable causes, and Christie’s is donating 100% of the profitable proceeds from the buyer’s premium.
The top lot of Part I Live Auction was the No Time To DieAston Martin replica DB5 stunt car, selling for an impressive £2,922,000. Lively bidding saw a Swarovski crystal-mounted prop egg made by Asprey, London in the manner of Fabergé from the film Octopussy (1983) reach £327,600, against a pre-sale high estimate of £10,000 to benefit UNICEF. Other highlights included The World Is Not Enough Q jet boat, realising £126,000, No Time To Die Aston Martin V8, making £630,000, and an OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition, selling for £226,800. The No Time To Die Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE stunt motorcycle closed the spectacular evening achieving £138,600 for Severn Hospice.
DECCA RECORDS PRESENTS BOND 25
Decca Records presents Bond 25, an orchestrated album featuring all 25 of the iconic Bond themes expertly reimagined and newly recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The album, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, includes brand new arrangements of the iconic title themes including From Russia With Love, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, GoldenEye andDie Another Day, tracks listed chronologically from 1962’s Dr. No to 2020’s UK No.1 single No Time To Die.
The 60th Anniversary Celebrations have well and truly started as we celebrate an iconic and monumental occasion. This year is all about the music and showcasing the remarkable history of the iconic Bond themes and scores that have been written/sung for more than 6 decades.
Ever since The Boys premiered on Prime Video in 2019, it has consistently dropped jaws and blown people’s minds with its weirdly whacky, bloody and horny storytelling about corrupt superheroes. Hollywood had never seen anything quite like this. It is developed by Eric Kripke and creative forces such as Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were also involved. Three incredible seasons have made it into one of the biggest shows right now. It was no surprise that Prime Video would expand such a beloved universe and greenlight a spinoff series titled Gen V which is finally coming to Prime Video.
Gen V is focused around teen supes studying at Godolkin University, who strive to make their careers in crime fighting and potentially join the seven one day. This 8-episode series is set after the events of The Boys Season 3. This series is developed by Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg, and Evan Goldberg. It stars Jaz Sinclair, Chance Perdomo, Maddie Phillips, Lizzie Broadway, and Patrick Schwarzenegger among others.
If anyone was worried that this series would not be as wild and horny as The Boys just because it is set around teens, let me put those worries to bed because this series stays true to every aspect of its predecessor and maintains the unfiltered storytelling throughout. The tone is as outlandish as always and keeps up all the horniness in the characters, including the obsession with penises. It is very much a hard R-rated show, so it might be safe to think about who you recommend it to.
Chance Perdomo (Andre Anderson)
The performances here are excellent, by everyone. Jaz Sinclair who plays Marie Moreau, and Chance Perdomo who plays Andre Anderson are particularly great. They have an emotional vulnerability that makes them totally convincing and makes the viewer sympathize with them. Shelley Conn is mysterious and shrewd as Dean Shetty. Maddie Phillips and Lizzie Broadway are good too. But there isn’t a powerhouse performance such as Antony Starr as Homelander.
The story still revolves around supes, though this time a younger generation of them, and the overall world-building of this franchise but it is surprisingly deeper and more mature than most would expect. At its core, there is a meaningful coming-of-age story about dealing with loss, power and the pressure of high expectations. Every character has interesting arcs and the character development is very smooth. The writers also managed to juggle so many subplots at the same time and managed to keep most of them intriguing. The pacing is also very consistent and rarely slows down.
Several people just find The Boys too disgusting and can’t stand the extreme and explicit nature of the narrative. Gen V also runs on a very similar track in terms of storytelling. So those who did not enjoy The Boys, will most probably not enjoy the new spin-off either. But this show will definitely delight the die-hard fans of this iconic franchise. Gen V does take a lot of shortcuts in its narrative and I wish they let the relationships between characters marinate for a little while longer. The plot may also seem overstuffed at times and there is arguably a lack of action so far.
Gen V embraces the outrageousness of The Boys while delivering an engaging coming-of-age story and manages to stand out on its own. It is as bloody, horny, crudely funny and dramatic as you would expect. The series finds new energy and carries the legacy of its predecessor. The first six episodes are thoroughly engaging and get you invested in the characters and their motivations. Expect to have a blast and see a lot of cameos.
Episodes Viewed – 6 out of 8.
Gen V episodes 1-3 will stream on Prime on September 29 with the finale on November 3.
“I want to change the way that women birth.” “How does that vomit-inducing idealism translate into $$?”.
Today, Prime Video released the official trailer for the highly anticipated psychological thriller Dead Ringers. A modern take on David Cronenberg’s 1988 classic film, Dead Ringers is a limited series starring Rachel Weisz playing the double-lead role of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes—including pushing the boundaries on medical ethics—in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s health care to the forefront. All six episodes premiere on the 21st of April exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Rachel Weisz also serves as an executive producer for the limited series, which is created, written, and executive produced by Emmy-nominated writer and playwright Alice Birch (Normal People, Succession, The Wonder). The series’ ensemble cast includes Britne Oldford (The Umbrella Academy, American Horror Story: Asylum) as Genevieve, Poppy Liu (Hacks, Better Call Saul) as Greta, Michael Chernus (Severance, Orange Is the New Black) as Tom, Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty, Saint Maud) as Rebecca, and Emily Meade (The Deuce, The Leftovers) as Susan.
This looks wild and bold and devious! The two Weisz’s are tantalizing fun, but the deeper goals behind what they’re doing and how they’re trying to flip things over looks genius.
The psychosexual thriller premieres exclusively on Prime Video on the 21st of April. Here’s the main official trailer (+ official key art) stay tuned to the site for our coverage
With much of the talk surrounding Henry Cavill regarding his exit from Netflix’s The Witcher along with the shift of mentality from new DC Studios leadership, the actor is in need of a new franchise to jumpstart. It appears that Cavill has done just that with the latest news that comes from The Hot Mic podcast via Above the Line.
It appears that Cavill (Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice) will steer head an adaptation of Warhammer 40,000 for Amazon Prime Video. Cavill confirmed the news this morning via his Instagram. The property started as a miniature war game akin to Dungeons & Dragons where players control different characters across a battle board, so to speak. The game was a staple in England where Cavill played it much as a kid and his passion for the property has stuck ever since. So much so, that the actor still paints figures to this day for when he engages in play.
The property which is often abbreviated to Warhammer 40K, features a fictional war set 40,000 years into the future between humans and other mystical beings that include orcs, gods, demons, elves, aliens and supernatural entities. The game eventually was brought to the video game space where it amasses tons of players across the sci-fi fantasy gaming landscape. The property also lends itself to novels leaving a lot of room to grow as a franchise in the entertainment space with lore to play with.
Amazon continues to take steps towards building out large franchise plays for their streaming service, Prime Video. In addition to the acquisition of the rights to Warhammer 40,000, the streamer has recently made deals for video game properties like God of War, with creators like Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and of course, a 2022 that was massive for the streamer with the launches of the pricey Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Thursday Night Football. As they look to compete with Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming services, it’s a clear shift from Amazon to take some bigger risks for bigger rewards.
Cavill was most recently seen reprising his role as Sherlock Holmes in Netflix’s Enola Holmes 2 starring Millie Bobby Brown. In 2023, Cavill will star in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle which aims to kickstart a new spy-based franchise similar to Mission: Impossible which Cavill also appeared in. He will star in Argylle alongside an all-star cast that includes Catherine O’Hara, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, Ariana DeBose and Dua Lipa.