Quantum at Midnight

At midnight Maria, Marky Mark and I went to the showing of the new Bond film, Quantum of Solace at the Zeigfeld Theater. I'm a big fan of the midnight showing, as it usually bring out the best crowd. Sure, sometimes you get those weird people who choose to dress up, and it can be cool like those with a fedora and whip at Indy 4, or it can be a little much like those who choose to go all out with their Jedi get-up and lightsaber. And last night was no different, as some movie-goers chose to dress to the nines in their tuxes to emulate the uber-suave (and oh-so-tasty looking, in pretty much everything!) Agent 007. This is who you want to see a movie with, people who are genuinely excited to see what will unspool before them. The people who clap when the lights go down, the people who clap after they show previews (Star Trek amazingly got the biggest applause, while the Tom Cruise-starring Valkyrie got the most unintentional laughs), the people who clap after the opening credits and continue to clap and laugh at moments in the film that we all get. Also, except for perhaps the midnight showing of Sex and the City: The Movie, the midnight audiences are mostly made up of guys and just might be a good place to meet one.


The Zeigfeld is an amazing theater on 54th street between Broadway and 7th avenue. It's totally old school and classy feeling, with chandeliers and gold trimmed moldings. And did I mention that the screening area is HUGE! This is why there was no line outside, and also why they hold big movie premiers in there. The maximum occupancy was 2000 (or 1200, I have a bad memory)! Either way, it's a large number.


So the movie was fabulous, even if I do like Casino Roayle more; after the great Vesper Lynd none of these leading ladies could do much but try to look pretty and not lose their cool. The fight scenes were pretty amazing, such as the knife fight in the apartment, the chase across Italian rooftops and the subsequent scaffold fight. And I love it when Bond cleans himself up after a fight so he can enter the world looking like he hasn't just been in a fight.

And then Maria and I felt the need to express our love for Daniel Craig as Bond (we saw someone else do this so we decided to, too).