Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Belinda

The highly anticipated finale of the Twilight Saga is upon us. After the thrilling cliffhanger ending of Part One we finally see, oh nup I can't keep that up.

It really doesn't help that My year 7 Harry Potter bluray just arrived and I've been watching extra features on that. I think that series is a perfect example of how to stick the landing.

Once again this series has the problem of having characters that just don't seem to emote or make me care about them in any way. It also doesn't help that none of the characters change or develop throughout this film, any conflict is external. They introduce a whole bunch of new characters, some of them are fun but there's not enough time to get to know them all much. They also tried to keep the same actresses face for the character that grows from baby to kid over the first half of the film, resulting in freaky uncanny valley CG child.

Thank god for Michael Sheen, who seems to be the only person here that seems to get how ridiculous this is and plays appropriately. Hilarious.

They pull a Savages with their ending too. A disturbing trend. You really do feel cheated by a cheap trick. Again, it makes sense enough but there's no real price to pay and once again everything is left weightless and dull.

And these vampires have a real design flaw if their heads are that easy to just pop off. (NO blood of course, gotta keep this PG.) Apparently they are more like X-men than vampires, all these powers you can just introduce right at the end that ended up not serving any purpose at all. Bad writing. Such a frustrating series. So inept.

Well it's over now. 

How to Train Your Dragon

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First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

Write Up.

Such joy. Sometimes you just need to watch Dragons.

Argo

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Write Up.

I feel bad watching a repeat at the cinema when there's so much I have to catch up on, but I had vouchers about to expire. And this film is great.

Skyfall

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Ok I've now seen all 25 theatrically released James Bond movies.

Well I was gonna leave it at that because I'm all Bonded out but I'll write some more.

I wrote before about how I didn't like them getting personal with Judi Dench's M. Well this get very personal, not just for her character but for Bond as well. I'm hoping with this film we are well and truly done with the re-booting phase now all the elements are back in place and they can get back into the action adventure side of things, going after Quantum or whoever else.

I miss Bond films that end with a bang. All the Craig ones have been kinda downers. Or at least certainly not action oriented.

Not to say it wasn't good, because it was really great but it's a very different Bond movie. So personal. Filled with backstory. It's strange because I know I saw huge action set pieces but because none of these end that way it feels like I missed out. Judi Dench gets to say the f-word so I guess that makes up for anything. And it definitely leaves you wanting to see what's next. They've got to deliver on the promise of their 3 film prequel set-up now.

Javier Bardem is all kinds of glorious. I think this is the first time they've played up sexual tension between the two male leads to this degree. A lot of fun, even if it's all just for show. We can still dream. 

He has an island secret lair. He's that kind of big villian. And yet it still somehow plays out more plausibly than any of the latter Brosnan films could manage. Even with the Home Alone style ending. That's a big harsh, Straw Dogs is closer, plays less comical...

I love Ben Whishaw.

You know what, I was so intrigued by what a Thomas Newman scored Bond would sound like and perhaps not surprisingly enough, it sounds just like you'd expect a Thomas Newman scored Bond film to sound. I actually don't think it fit it a couple of places, to quirky comedic for the tone of the rest of the film. 

I was surprised to find myself liking the title song much more now that I've seen it in context. Bonds decent into the underworld is beautifully realised in the title sequence and all the imagery from here keeps recurring throughout. Some striking images.

Which brings me to Roger Deakins and his awesome work, shooting digitally again on the Alexa. It should be noted that I saw the film at IMAX digital so I saw the 1.90:1 ratio version. There's a few times you notice the space in the framing but for the most part the compositions still work wonderfully on the big format, but I'll be interested to see it again cropped for scope.

This has got to be one of the most colourfully lit films of the series. And a lot of low light and practical looking sources. It's beautiful. Probably my favourite thing about the film. 

There's quite a lot of nods for fans of the series. some not-so-subtle. The reveal of the car got applause at our screening. "Carplause"we have coined it. Blatant fan-service. And why not? 50 years is cause for celebration.

I think fans might have a tough time with this one. It will entirely depend on what you are expecting from it. Watching it after the frantic last week of catching up on the films has left me in a bit of a Bond blur. I'll wait a while and try and catch it again later when the memories of the previous films aren't foremost in my mind and my knowledge of what the film is rather than what expectations of it informed by said films actually are won't hinder the experience. 

Geez, reading this back it looks like I'm on the fence, but I really really did like it. I want to make that clear. It's awesome. Still it's going to promote a lot of discussion from fans. 

Quantum of Solace

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

Well I like that it's a direct follow on to the last film. That's a first. But I don't like how it then proceeds as much. It feels like treading water in a 2nd act.

They went too Borne here and have gone shaky cam on their combat fights. No! There's some good sequences though, I like the fight at the start hanging from the ropes. That's pretty brutal.

And then there's some talking and an opera and something about water in the desert. Eh.

Casino Royale

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

The Daniel Craig one.

Martin Campbell's second Bond reboot. You know it's extra classy because the start is black and white.

I never understood why they kept Judi Dench as M when they rebooted everything else. She's great and all, but that was just confusing, especially since this plays like a prequel. And Bond is Blond! Scandalous.  

After the funky titles (no nude females for a change) we get one of the best chases in the whole series. The way that parkour sequence is shot and edited is so damn enthralling. And it says much about character as well as being awesome action. 

This film has the action packed up front. The finale, whilst being a big set piece isn't as big on the energy and it ends on a rather melancholy note with many plot points left unresolved. 

Still the style has changed much for the better I feel. Q is done away with. Super villains taking over the world is done away with. There is a handful of one liners but I love that they hang a light on it. This feels more like the Borne series. A more grounded, gritty version with a very physical star and lots of hand to hand combat. 

And Eva Green is great too.