"I love that word 'relationship'. Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that." - Hugh Grant, as Prime Minister, in Love Actually ...

So what movies are opening this weekend, the last weekend before the holidays start up? The big one seems to be the new Bond flick, Casino Royale. It's getting good reviews and getting a lot of attention because of it's desire to "restart" the Bond franchise by changing the tone and introducing the "origin myth" as it were in telling how Bond became the Bond, James Bond we all know and love. Frankly, from what we're hearing, the new Bond is all broody and angsty and apparently gets roughed up. Even worse, there's only one femme fatale. In all seriousness, we don't want our Bonds angsty and broody and dark. We want our Bonds making bad jokes and sleeping with tons of hot women and having no problem with violence. What made Sean Connery so badass was because he was the only Bond really to actually look like he was enjoying himself. And if you were James Bond, how could you not be enjoying yourself? ...

Our mistake was thinking any movie shown during the Hole in the Head Horror Festival would be at least a little scary. Watching a monster that looks like a slightly more sinister version of the Cal mascot, Oskie the Bear pawing a naked lady is kinda horrific but scary? Not so much. The Beast is good old-fashioned B grade camp and the audience for the almost-midnight showing of this soft-porn "monster" movie came with the......

SFist contributor and virtual TV pundit Rain Jokinen offers her Bay-area-centric TV picks of the week It looks like Indian summer may be over for good what with the wind and the rain and the whining about the wind and the rain. So SFist recommends that you stay indoors and enjoy some of San Francisco's local landmarks on the small screen. The creative partnership of Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel is probably best remembered......

Just to let everyone who's dropped by EssEffist that we'll be eating, drinking and answering questions for prizes at Edinburgh Castle tonight. Bad teeth not required, although you can always order one of the Castle's deep-fried Snickers if you feel you're not already paying your dentist enough....