I liked it but I didn't enjoy the wholly ambiguous plot for ambiguous sake. I thought There Will Be Blood was the best film of the past decade, even with it's non traditional plot it moved along more coherently than this movie. I had high hopes I'd enjoy this as much. It didn't live up on all levels. The top three things it had going for it were Phoenix's performance, cinematography, and Hoffman's performance, in that order. Amy Adams was pretty one note. Most of the ancillary characters are almost entirely pointless. Coming out at early as it has I think it'll have a tough time winning best picture with the rest of the field yet to be released and its overly ambiguous plot. It didn't help that I had two fat black ladies sitting next to me commenting like it was a Tyler Perry fucking movie.
MGM aired this last night and I recorded it, so I planned on giving it a watch, but your 8/10 has given me pause. Was it you who touted "Suspiria" as one of the greatest horror films of all time?
Suspiria is my very favourite horror film of all time, but it's an Italian film so it's an aquired taste not to mention dated. The 8/10 rating is a horror film rating, not how I would rate say an epic drama. It has plenty of holes and "huh?"'s but it doesn't beat around the bush-- it is fast, gruesome and in-your-face. However, people didn't like it. I did. It's the first "found footage" movie I truly liked. It scared the living shit out of people in the audience.
I just finished V.H.S. I have to agree with Crown Royal as far a the whole "found footage" go's it was probably my favourite of that genre, that I've seen so far. For reference i hated paranormal activity. I'm not particularly a huge fan of this movie. The last part of it was my favourite by far. I guess I'd give it a 5/10. It's not a complete waste of time, but I'd be upset if I spent money on it. There is a good torrent out there right now. For reference this is my first movie review and I am kinda drunk.
That's the kind of movie you wish you had the experience Kubla noted above. Seeing "The Exorcist" in a theater mostly populated with black viewers was one of the funniest movie going experiences I've ever had. The way they talk to the characters, loudly, was priceless. Max Von Sydow: "IT IS THE ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF WHO COMPELS YOU!!!" Black woman in theater: "Yeah, so you best not fuck with him, jack!!"
The Perks of Being A Wallflower was fantastic and thankfully didn't ruin my adolescence by destroying a beloved book. Chbosky stayed true to the book's plot for the most part, and only one of the original story's important themes/subplots was left out (that of Charlie's sister and her boyfriend, and their whole mess). Emma Watson was adorable, though it was odd to hear her speak with an American accent. Ezra Miller was the perfect choice for Patrick, as was Logan Lerman for Charlie. It was one of the few movies I've cried over in recent memory, and I can't recommend it enough. 9/10
Skyfall. In terms of the Bond stuff, this was kind of disappointing. Craig's Bond hit the high note with Casino Royale, which so far, has remained the best he's done. The song by Adele is fantastic, and THE Bond song as far as I'm concerned. The car is there, as are some of the nifty gadgets. Javier Bardem is a spectacular villain, pulling off creepy/crazy in a way few can. The action was much more realistic than one might expect, in fact the whole movie was intended to be more like "Bourne" than some of the others. I can't say it was poorly done, because it wasn't, but it was unexpected. The good: the actors were great, the action scenes were (somewhat) more realistic than in previous movies, and it had some visual stunners that were just beautiful scenes (the Shanghai boat right, a trip to Scotland). The Kincaid character was damned near priceless and the villain was truly creepy. Spoiler The gay villain/Bond scene was also pretty well done. "What's the regulation for this one?" and "What makes you think it's my first time?" were both hilarious. The music was excellent, as well. The bad: Spoiler The Goddamned Komodo dragon scene was retarded. The "super-terrorist with a laptop" has been done so many times, it was almost as ridiculous as Die Hard 4. Also, I kind of disliked this "Bond is getting old" and "history of Bond" shit. The Bond girl was completely unremarkable, especially compared to Eva Green and Olga Kurylenko. Finally, this movie deserved to have been chopped down a little bit. Two and half hours and a full 20 minutes of it was Daniel Craig sprinting in a suit or swimming was kind of pointless. Verdict: Worth seeing, if you're a Bond fan. If you think Quantum of Solace has no redeeming features, don't bother. They took a lot of the Mission Impossible and Bourne cliche's and applied them to Bond, forgetting that it was originally the other way around. This was a darker version of Bond, and it was good, but not one of the memorable Bond movies.
Skyfall: This is my least favorite Bond film. Nothing about it is movie makes me think of what Bond is too me. I would consider Quantum of Solace a way better Bond then this movie. I agree with downndirty that it wasn't poorly down, decent movie, just not Bond to me in anyway. The music was great, as much as i dont really like Adelle, the song was perfect. Couple of great visual scenes the Shanghai boat right, a trip to Scotland. Great acting. I didn't think Bérénice Marlohe was that bad, she pretty, better then Eva Green. The bad: Spoiler Stupid fucking hacking bs, reminded to much of Swordfish. Turning on gas to make and explosion by leaking gas by hacking? Fuck off. No gadgets at all, no real bond car(see spoiler below), you see Bond shoot some hidden gun in the car for a few seconds. No chase with the Bond car. Bond is gadgets, car and girl. If you take anyway of them you really dont have a Bond, let alone 2. Spoiler OMG DB5, and it dies badly. So mad that I went to the late show on opening night(for me anyways, last night). tired going in, and a really shitty Bond. Not a bad movie if you aren't a Bond fan, if you are, be expected to be highly disappointed. Spoiler And M dies, i really liked Judi Dench
It seems like you had a couple of Martinis to drown your sorrow. Anyway, I saw this a week ago (because once or twice a year, us Europeans can feel nice about ourselves for getting something before the U.S.A.) and I liked it. I can't really articulate why I thought this way, but I can say I'm getting tired of the same criticism I constantly see; that it's not Bond-formulaïc enough. Really? It doesn't have enough clichés? That's what bothers some of you? Do you guys go in with some sort of checklist where you need to check all the boxes, before considering it a good Bond movie? I don't think a Bond movie fundamentally needs to have a cool car, said car has to have a chase scene, crazy gadgets (something which spawns crazy technology, like that stupid gas-hacking thing) and of course the whole 'Bond, James Bond' and Martini stuff. All that so we can say 'yay, I recognize that trope, they did it in the preceding movies, how nice of the makers of this movie to retain that.' Holding on to that stupid fucking formula of 'Bond is an unbeatable, sauve sexmachine, he comes across a threat, gets some gadgets which only come in handy during the most dangerous moments, he nails some broad, kills some people, makes a couple of one-liners, meets the big bad guy, bangs another girl, car chase, explosions, zippy remark, bad guy dies, bad joke, done' is what drove the franchise to the ground. I believe you can tell a lot of other decent stories with the Bond character, because you don't have to introduce the character anymore so you can get straight to the plot. And after a while you can put the character we know and love, and put him in new situations. That's something that can make Bond films interesting. Not constantly rehashing things we already know. I'm not saying Skyfall was perfect or antyhing, but it didn't rely on every Bond-trope and tried hard to get Bond out of his comfort zone. That's what made the movie exciting at least.
Skyfall I agree with most of the other sentiments expressed so far. A good movie, but an odd Bond movie. You can sort of tell that Craig doesn't want to do this character anymore, it looks like he almost had disdain for it. I was definitely expecting more action. The 3rd act was definitely the best and things really didn't pick up until an hour in. And yeah, the hacking thing. It's 2012. Does Hollywood still assume that computers are newfangled, mystery devices that people don't understand? It was insulting to the audience: "Point, click, blow up a gas pipeline." Same exact bullshit from Die Hard 4. The chicks were hot and Javier Bardem was good with his creepy weirdo villain, and an odd choice to go with a hipster Q. Overall, the movie was mediocre at best. Also, what happened to the shadowy Quantum organization from the first two movies? 5.5 / 10
Skyfall Add me as another one who was disappointed by it. I don't generally think that James Bond is an "action star," but I don't mind that interpretation of the character. But if you are going to do that kind of movie, you need to go all out and really pour the action on. If you don't then it's just going to be boring, and that's what this movie was. Tomorrow Never Dies is still the only film in the series where James Bond being an action star was pulled off effectively. I also agree that Craig didn't look comfortable in the role (isn't he supposed to do 5 more films after this one? Or was that just speculation?) The action scenes that were in the movie were decent enough, I thought. And Javier Bardem played a good villain. Bérénice Marlohe looked good, but I didn't think that she or Naomie Harris made very good Bond girls. This wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a great Bond film, either. 65/100
Skyfall Disagree with the above....if you're a fan of classic Bond, you'll enjoy it. Also: Spoiler We don't know who she is at the time but he bangs Moneypenny in Macau, right??
Skyfall I'm just spoilering everything in case, but I agree with those who have said this wasn't that fantastic of a movie. My problems: Spoiler My qualm with the movie is that we've already had the 'Bond is broken' movie. It was called Quantum of Solace, and it was just okay. Why do the writers insist on dragging out the theme that Bond is not operating at 100%? Bond getting shot in the chest in the first five minutes was, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. He already has enough reason to think that M would sell him up the river at the drop of a hat. If anything, they should have waited until the middle of the movie somewhere to have her give that order, since it would have actually had some impact on the audience's emotions. I don't know what it was, but Bond and M didn't connect at all in this movie, not the way they did in Casino Royale. Perhaps, like others have said, they're both just tired of the roles they're playing. Additionally, I think this film was lacking the humor and banter that makes Bond films enjoyable. The few jokes Bond did get off were so sparsely peppered in that they barely registered as humor, and I don't think the writers even remember that Bond is intelligent as well as good at hitting things. The good stuff: Spoiler Motherfucking Ralph Fiennes as M. That man is so incredibly attractive, they could choose Steve Buscemi to be the next Bond and I would continue to watch as long as he's the boss.
Skyfall The worst Bond movie I've seen, which is a shame because I was excited about the idea of Bardem being the villain. It had nothing to do with it not being a traditional Bond movie. All that stuff is nice, but they did need to start mixing it up; I just don't like the way they're going about it. Casino Royale wasn't among my favorite Bond movies, but it was good, and so far the best for Craig by a mile. While I don't mind changing Bond somewhat my issue with Craig is he just never really fit. Good actor? Yep. Can pull off a total badass? Definitely. Suave/charming/witty? Not so much. The first hour of the movie was boring enough to almost put me to sleep. The plot crawled, and I think it could have been crammed in half that time. Spoiler Bardem's masterminded escape and practically everything involving computers in the movie was way too out of touch with reality. It's as if the writers are going for a more realistic Bond now, but don't know what that actually entails. I honestly can't think of a single high point for this movie. The acting was good, not that it mattered. I have completely lost faith in the critics of Rotten Tomatoes. 3.5/10
I can appreciate both arguments for and against Skyfall. The purists want the intelligent, witty Bond who has gadgets and never bleeds, while the other crowd appreciates a more realistic Bond who isn't Batman in an expensive suit all the time. Personally, I liked this movie. I think Craig's read on Bond, while different, is an interesting departure from what we're used to seeing (which is to say, Pierce Brosnan driving his car with his cell phone and activating grenades with his watch while making "I thought Christmas only comes once a year" quips as he tags Denise Richards). While I wouldn't say that Craig is above all of that, he doesn't seem as interested in the gadgets or pageantry and wants to portray Bond as someone who has the ability to kick ass, but has a constant struggle with his duties and their affect on his life. Not to mention that we've seen more of Bond's history and how he came to be the way he is than with any other actor. Perhaps a little too introspective of a Bond character for some, but it's certainly a different and interesting take. Keep in mind, too, that in Casino Royal, Bond had just been made a 00 agent (after completing his required two kills). Quantum was a clean-up, of sorts, from the end of Casino Royale when they introduced Mr. White and the organization he represented. Again, the Bolivain (or whatever country) water crisis wasn't exactly the world-ending catastrophe that Bond is normally thwarting, but it tied up a loose end for him and brought closure to the matter that had been driving him since Vespa's death. Skyfall, for me, wraps up his "coming of age" tale. He's gone through monumental loss and struggle, learned to deal with the encumbrances of his position and role, and is ready to accept new assignments "with privilege." Frankly, I'm looking forward to seeing where they take it from here.
You know what I would love to see? A retired James Bond (i.e., Connery) based movie, whether it's some old foe seeking revenge and tracking him down in his Swiss chalet or Scottish manor estate, or Bond stumbling upon some kind of terrorist plot while on a shagging tour of southeast Asia. Or he finds out Moneypenny was an innocent victim of some nefarious doings and seeks justice 007 style.
Or an old Bond that has come back to take down MI6. Turns out that MI6 has been killing the old Bonds (hence the changing main actor) in order to hide evidence or what ever. Connery has already stated somewhere that he wants to be a Bond villain at some point.
Wasn't Never Say Never Again sort of that way? I mean, Moore had already shot several Bond movies so that had Connery (52 years old) playing an "aged" James Bond, but the film was (for some reason) a remake of Thunderball which I thought was the weakest Connery Bond film. Then again, Moore is three years OLDER than Connery, so where's the fun in that? I say have them ALL fight bad guys in one movie. "Bond" could just be an agency name like Bourne, and since Brosnan is Irish, Dalton is Welsh, Connery is Scottish and the others English you could get the entire U.K horned up over it. Call it The Golden Spyfall is Never in Service.
I thought the last third of the film (Skyfall) was good but was underwhelemed by the rest. Also. Spoiler How the fuck does the villain in the film pass for a former MI5 agent? Aren't they supposed to be British? Also, the whole "control the world via computers" thing is getting really fucking old. I was also dissapointed that we didn't get to see the Bond girls titts. The final word should go to Redlettermedia. http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag-skyfall/
Skyfall I guess because eagle-eyed director Sam Mendes is such a huge Bond fanatic that we get to see all those great homages to vintage 007 in the film's final reel. That fabulous car. The final office scene. Brilliant. Aside from the obvious winks, this is the best-directed Bond film of the entire series with a gorgeously soft-focus look far removed from the tremor-laden last film. The film itself doesn't bare such close scrutiny. The script is thin, but the performances are anything but: Craig has never been better, and Bardiem makes for an admirably flamboyant and REALLY flawed villain. However, the script again: I'm no tech-savvy, but computers JUST DON'T WORK THAT WAY. You cannot hack the entire planet simply on the basis your hard drive has a lot of wires running into it. And somebody please explain to me how Bardiem's character evaded and killled all of the armed guards in his escape? In the end, the film IS worth seeing. It's a much more personal Bond movie that the others (I like how they finally use England for the main backdrop) and the action and suspense is top-notch. If the story wasn't so disconnected from itself it would probably be one of the best of the series. 7/10