You know?? It's interesting you make this point after myself and others made this point back before the movie even came out based on the fact that it was going back to the beginning before BOND received his 00 status and wouldn't have all the stuff in it that we've come to know for the longest time and it was met with very harsh criticism in that we were prejudging the movie before seeing it.. All of a sudden, you make mention of this now and we don't hear a peep out of anyone over it, even 9 pages later.. Why is that??

The tide is turning...

Levy, between your loving Casino and your ranking V for Vendetta your second favorite movie of the year...you are dead to me.

The action was a bunch of camera cuts, that's it. It wasn't great magnificent stunts, or, like I mentioned before, fun gadgets and gizmos. The camerawork was lazy furthermore. There were no sweeping screen images (maybe two in the whole movie) which kills the whole bit about Bond traveling around the world and going to fantastic places (and into fantastic buildings) that we can only dream to. I believe that's what Loyal calls "Joyless." It was shot pretty much between middle-range and close-ups, which made for an uninspired space, even in fight scenes. I'll take car-chases through the magnificent coast of some tropical island...thank-you.

pfffff.....your just envy that the women still are only decoration

Nah, the women here were actually worse than in the last few. Just weepy and observers, not much else. At least in other Bond Films they actually did something. I really challenge anyone to say Maud Adams (in Octopussy) and Grace Jones were just decoration.

Their charcterization of Vesper was the worst. No good one-liners, no grit, no quirks. She was boring, soap-operatice, and managed to drop her old boyfriend (whom is the reason she began double dealing a short while earlier) for Bond while said boyfriend was still a captive...which makes her also quite shallow.

Bleh. Maybe I'll downgrade to a D?

tsc...




oh well, you can't please everyone...

****/****

Screw this talk about whether or not this is a "real" Bond film or not. I haven't seen a Bond film since DAD four years ago, so all I know this that I was completely enthralled for the 144 minutes, the Madagascar chase scene and airport action sequence were the best action scenes of the year, Eva Green and Craig actually had chemistry (And I was actually kinda pissed at the end), this movie somehow made poker scenes thrilling, the final scene/line got me super-hyped for the next Bond flick and that after United 93 this is the best movie I've seen all year.



"I've got an itch down there. . .could you take care of it?"

*THWAP*

". . .A little to the right. . ."

I think Dolce got into the wine supply. No magnificant stunts! What about the opening sequence? It was District B13 good. Althou since you seem to like the gadget/glamourous Bond I guess its understandable why you didn't enjoy this one.

Yeah, but what's the difference between Bond good and District B13 good? What *should* seperate the two. If I wanted to see DB13, I would have gone and seen DB13, but I wanted to see Bond.



Nah, but I did start hitting the bottle hard afterwards, in order to try and salvage the evening.

You were in the bathroom when she completely tore his persona apart on the train, I take it?

Nope. I just didn't find it particularly fascinating. And I consider it the equivalency of a conservative Bollywood moment. When you first meet the girl and she says she's a careerist and into computers, but then spends the rest of the song 'n dance talking about marriage and just putting upa facade of being hard to get. That one moment was supposed to show Vesper as tough and cunning, and then she proceeded to pretty much just be an emotional trainwreck the entire time, under a facade of being hard to get. Their entire relationship felt Bollywoodish actually. All facade and no substance. She did nothing, she created nothing, man she didn't even have her own flying school that ultimately saves the day. No sudden computer hacking skills that help solve clues (I too liked GoldenEye). No skills, no strength, no real career, but at least in the old days when a woman like that came along we understood she was just there for fun. Now apparently everyone takes someone like that seriously!

I know, right!?!?! But to be fair, I thought Lagaan was pretty good.

I'm actually thinking of this one I watched last year for the International Film Festival that JB and bABA recommended to me. It was interesting because it showed all the details of weddings, but on the other hand, it really was all about weddings, despite the initial 'I am getting a college degree in computers' bit which is standard fare in some of the less creative Bollywoods I've seen. Its a commonly used trope. Vesper's first 'tough girl' line was just standard fare, and it didn't extend into her personality or her motivations/actions at all. She was ill-conceived and poorly developed, period.

And where the hell was Moneypenny? I love Moneypenny. They stripped Bond of anything Bond related this time around. Even if its where he is starting, Q and MoneyPenny could have been around, afterall they were part of the Secret Service before he joined.

Anywho, I'm done bashing this movie. I'm off to see Painted Veil tonight, in the hopes of rectifying my past week's viewing.

Great points, dolce.



Nice!!!!!!

This time I have to side with Levy.

Levy, time to include Volver to your worst of 2006 list. Yes...yes...even worse than World Trade Center.

Bitch please. :-P The joke's on you for even bothering to go watch World Trade Center in the first place...

Actually I haven't seen it. I just mentioned it because it's Levy's number 1 choice for worst movie this year.

Actually although looks wise im not into Eva Green - the chemistry Vesper had with Bond was remarkable. She's the whole reason he became what he became.

First time I 'loved' a Bond film!

I got paid for doing it and I had the pleasure of being able to rip it totally apart in my published review. So it wasn't all bad

If double crossing equals "chemistry" in some people's view, then I think I'm beginning to understand the 50% divorce rate...

That was seriously ALOT of fun. Daniel Craig did an excellent job and Eva Green was just .... The movie was a bit to long but it was action packed, so no big problem.

Best Bond film in a while

A-

I highly recommend a second viewing to anyone who was disappointed the first time around. I honestly think I'm bumping this up to an A.

Just because I broke my left arm, doesn't mean I want to break the right...

I didn't need a second viewing to know this was A material. Still in my Top 10 from last year with few other movies to see (The Eastwood war movies, Last King of Scotland, Little Children, and little else).

A


I didn't realize up until now that I actually never got around reviewing this. Well, what shall I say? It was simply excellent. Best Bond flick I have ever seen (and I actually liked Brosnan a whole lot and loved TWINE and Goldeneye).

There is almost nothing about this film I can complain over. It delivered one of the best action movies I have seen in years, seriously. While the film is not packed with action, every single action scene is intense and simply great. The airport scene and the Madagascar chace come to my mind. What I loved was that once the action kicked in, it wasn't over too soon. The Madagascar chase was quite long and so was the whole airport stuff. Despite its running time of around 140 minutes, the film never drags.

If anything disappointed me, it was the early demise of Le Chiffre and the somewhat low-scale final showdown of the movie. I have to say, though, that it all really reminded me of Batman Begins. I know that I felt exactly the same thing when I finished CR as I did when I saw Batman Begins. It reinvented the franchise, made it more serious, yet never forgot to entertain the audiences with splendid bits of action.

Daniel Craig...I've always been suspicious about this pick. I'm not anymore. Now he is not the Bond we are all used to, but he is the best actor among Bond since Connery. His delivery is excellent and he really has some acting moments here. Eva Green was fine, but didn't do much to me to be honest. Mads Mikkelsen who I liked a lot before CR already was good, but his role was cut too short. The torture scene between him and Craig is great (and oh so funny!). As far as technical details go, it was all top-notch. The effects were excellent and barely noticable. The editing was pitch-perfect. Same goes for sound/cinematograpgy/design. The ending was classic.

It still resides in my Top 3 of last year and is unlikely to leave the spot.