Casino Royal: Super Human Bond with Super Great Bonus Narration

Last night Amber and I went to Casino Royal. All in all, we gave it 4 thumbs-up. Good pacing, believable villains, and terrific action scenes. Daniel Craig brought a rough, slightly depressed Bond to the screen; quite a contrast to Pierce Brosnan’s spit-shinned version. The more muted, yet still heroic Bond worked well in Casino Royal.

As an added bonus we had Ma and Pa Obvious behind us. Ma and Pa Obvious, a middle aged couple, found it necessary to share their thoughts with those of us unlucky enough to sit next to them. They made no attempt to whisper. During the chase scenes, every stunt was accompanied by a loud gasp or comment. And the comments were decidedly infantile. During the poker scenes Ma Obvious would give her analysis of the cards as they fell.

2, 6, 5 on the flop

“Oh, those are bad cards.” Ma remarked.

K, Q, J, K

“Wow, now those are good cards.” She later blurted out.

I almost turned around and said, “Depends on what you have in your hand. Now shut-up!” I didn’t because I’m as passive aggressive as they come. (Being raised Lutheran in Minnesota will do that to you) So I just shot them my dirtiest, dirty looks. But Ma and Pa continued to give obvious commentary, undaunted by my best dirty looks.

For some reason I’ve run into a lot of lousy movie neighbors recently. And my “are you going to shut-up or am I going to have to move” looks have been less than effective. Maybe there are more rude people at the movies on the weekend. I don’t know, but it is sucking the joy out of my movie-going experience.