Sam Mendes is THE MAN...and he's directing James Bond

I just read that Sam Mendes is slated to direct the next James Bond movie with Daniel Craig returning in the titular role. This is EXACTLY what this franchise needed. I have long been a proponent of making solid franchises, like James Bond, into vehicles for directors.

Years ago Steven Spielberg wanted to do a Bond movie but the Broccoli family denied his request. So he turned his attention to some move about a professor that searches for old artifacts.

Imagine what Mr. Spielberg would have done with James Bond. I'm not sure if it would've been any good but it would've involved James Bonds parents getting divorced. I would've liked to have seen that movie.

Just as I would've liked to have seen Quentin Tarantino's version of the suave spy. He wanted to do a reboot of James Bond and gives himself credit for coming up with what ended up being Casino Royale. Of course he also gives himself credit for being the best screenwriter in the world...I guess it was just his acting that screwed up Dusk 'Til Dawn. Having said all that his James Bond would've been very interesting.

Bringing in the Auteur du Jour to an established franchise will always keep it fresh. It won't always be good, but you will always interesting. Especially if the Broccoli's give over full creative control.

Sam Mendes is a brilliant director. American Beauty was a deserving Best Picture Oscar winner, which is rare, and I think that his best work is Road to Perdition. Jarhead showed significant range (although I didn't like it). Revolutionary Road was brave (because it called for allowing Leo DiCaprio to have his way with his wife) and Away We Go has inexplicably been forgotten in many of this years Ten Best. He is exactly the kind of filmmaker that will give James Bond a fresh look.

Martin Campbell was also a great choice at the two times he was brought in to revive the franchise. He has swashbuckling down to a science. Marc Forster was an interesting choice for Quantum...but it didn't work. And that's the beauty of the franchise. Just kick him to the curb and bring in some new blood.

Other directors that would put an interesting spin on James: James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Zack Snyder, Michael Mann, Chris Nolan. And what would you pay to see what the Cohens would do, or Matthew Vaughan?

All other franchises should follow suit. Hopefully the latest setback with Spider-Man will get Sam Raimi to reassess the need to make another superhero movie with the Jockey and the Hack. Give the franchise some new blood. Hire Joe Gordon Levitt, before he explodes, or someone younger and find an up and coming director, like the guy from District 9 (Neal Blumpkin is his name I think, which is REALLY unfortunate), Marc Webb, Joss Whedon or even Jason Reitman. Reitman would bring his whole teen angst-y-ness thing that is perfect for the teenage Peter Parker.

Holy Tangents, Batman! Batman, I almost forgot. Chris Nolan is the poster boy for rebooting franchises or keeping them fresh. Everything started with Batman Begins. Halloween, Terminator, Freddy Kruger, Superman, Star Trek, all of 'em tried to jump on the "reboot" bandwagon. Nolan was brave enough to hire a comic book geek to write a script that didn't have any of the '60s TV show baddies in it and not only breathed life into that franchise, that was on life support thanks to the nipple cladded Joel Schumacher days, but it also revolutionized the industry. Tarantino may have actually had the idea first, but Begins showed everyone that it could work.

Anyway, I applaud MGM and the Broccoli's for trying to keep it fresh. I just hope that George Lucas can learn something from this.