No wonder people thought Domenic West could play *that* Bond. Because he sounds like McNulty in better clothes.

I'm all about the cheesy Bond. It's a guilty pleasure. Staying up late to watch TBS's Bond marathon with my dad the one summer we had cable.

But movie Bond is cheesy antiheroes, archaic womanizing (that my inner feminist horks a hairball at,) smooth and FABULOUS, fantasmic explosions and above all, GADGETS.

I'm the opposite of this. I want Connery/Fleming Bond, basically. For me, the Roger Moore cheese-o-rama (and it wasn't all cheese, but mostly) was a long, dark teatime. Bond set the template for a lot of the dark spy vs spy stuff that other films use (the Jason Bourne films, for example). Bond is a stone killer, and should be ruthless, tough and vicious. In totally beautiful settings and he should have his mind messed with by stunning women.

The daffy, gadgetty Bond has been way overdone, and if the films have any life left in them at all, they need to get back to the anti-hero roots.

Who's seen Dave Chappelle's Block Party? Here's the thing, I'm torn about taking the boys to it with my friend and her son.

Reasons for include the fact the Dave is one of the funniest men on the planet. Also the boys have the big rap music love.

Reason against is my fuddy duddy nature that makes me cringe at language, particularly around the boys.

My Brooklyn bred bestest GF doesn't have the language fear as she tells her son to do his fuckin' homework. I get that we have different takes on this issue.

The rating is R for language. Is it overwhelming? Yes, I know they hear it all day at school, but not so much with me.

Ugh, I know it's good stuff. Thoughts?

My thinking on James Bond is that he can be anything you want -- but only one thing at a time. I remember the first Pierce Brosnan Bond, and it was like, here are the hoops you have to jump through, one two three: "shaken not stirred," Aston-Martin, inappropriate kissing, okay now you can have a plot. Have fun!

Lame.

Reinventing Bond is a matter of picking a vision -- any vision -- and sticking with it. Jason Bourne is basically one spinoff aspect of Bond (smooth killer with a complex); the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan is another (revenger and patriot). If they've picked Casino Royale to work from, then at least it implies they've chosen a vision. Probably not the same as Ian Fleming's vision, because, hello to the OTT self-flagellation, but something to put their backs up against.

And they did, with 15 minutes of the second half gone, stand-off Tyrone Dalton weaved his way over the try line for what was to be the only try of the game. ...

Let's not forget the Extreme Bond of Triple-X Vin Diesel, or the M:I franchise.

I think seeing a movie with liberal use of the F word is fine, so long as your boys know the limits. I remember my parents taking me to see the play "Hair" when I was 12. There is swearing and nudity in the play and I know they were nervous, but I felt sophisticated and mature that they trusted me to know where to draw the line. Make it about their maturity, and imply strongly that maturity means knowing the difference between what's onscreen and what they use in conversation and I think you'll be fine.

I saw "Splash" when I was about seven, and that's got full-frontal nudity in it. My parents rented it, and it was understood without having to say so that, yes, this has some Objectionable Content, but it's okay, because we're watching it with you. Having your parents there keeps things in perspective a bit, I think, particularly if you know they're not going to join you in a chorus of F-bombs later in the night just because you've seen a swearin' picture (as opposed to seeing it with your friends, which would guarantee that sort of thing).

Thanks guys. I probably could go with the 14yo, but the 11yo I think is too young. After reading a zillion reviews I'm scared off now. I think I'll watch it with Brendon and see what we think about letting the boys see it. He was very much opposed when I suggested it earlier.

It sounds like it is way more than a sprinkling of language. I'd be uncomfortable, B.Jr. would love it, Bobby would be reporting back word for word the raunchiest parts to his little friends (and then I'd hear from their parents), and Dad would never let me hear the end of it for taking them.

I'm still conflicted because I personally find Chappelle's humor brilliant even with my language discomfort. I know that my older son would understand and appreciate the humor in the racial bits, he'd probably roll his eyes at the sex content, but I think Bobby is still too young to understand. The humor would go over his head and it would just be Woo Hoo dirty words!

Wimping out for now.

I remember my parents taking me to see the play "Hair" when I was 12.

Hmmm. I went to see that with my mother. I'm 52 now, so I was probably a little bit older than that at the time. I have to try and remember just how much I comprehended in my youth.

I saw the movie Hair when I was 13, and didn't get the song "Sodomy" at all, but loved the music (and repeated the dirty-words lyrics with glee, I'll admit it--hey, I was 13!) and dancing.

Laura, DH says he doesn't remember there being an overwhelming amount of profanity in the film, but it's not something he's sensitive to, so take it with a grain of salt.

Also, I just noticed that iTunes has all 5 Academy-nominated live action shorts for $1.99 each (which makes it cheaper to download all 5 than to go see them at Cinema Village). But if you don't want to spend money seeing all of them, I was rooting for The Last Farm to win -- it's got the tightest storytelling and biggest emotional punch of the lot.