Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

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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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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

Write Up.

Such joy. Sometimes you just need to watch Dragons.

Argo

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Die Another Day

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Watched With: Tyler

So what I was saying about Bond turning into peoples memories of the idea of what Bond was rather than what it actually was? Well, that goes double for this one.

This is comic book big. It's probably more ridiculous than Moonraker. You can't have a Bond grounded in reality and then pull shit like this. It doesn't work. That's what I've struggled with most with this series, I never know how serious to take it. I guess it comes down to personal opinion and me, while I like the fantastical premises I think I prefer something more grounded for Bond.

And this one starts out so promising too. Bond being captured and tortured over the (absolutely terrible) opening song for the credit sequence. Something very different for the franchise. But it get progressively bigger and fantastic as it progresses. The Villain swaps bodies, builds a giant ice palace and then destroys it with a big sunlight ray satellite thingy. And Bond surfs to safety. I don't think the technology was quite there to pull that off when they did this.

Invisible car?!? Ehh.

I'll admit I love the design of the bad dude with diamonds embedded in his face, even though it's impractical and seems like an easy fix. And the contact lenses don't exactly work.

Rosamund Pike amuses me to a degree. But Halle Berry? No. They even give her a "yo mamma" joke. Uh. American Bond girls are the worst. 

Time for a reboot!

The World Is Not Enough

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Watched With: Tyler

Replacing Q with R just emphasises how much that relationship has degraded. I find all through the Brosnan era Bond films that, now we are getting a generation of filmmakers who grew up with Bond and their films tend to be more like an idealised memory of what Bond was rather than what they actually were. There's increasingly more Bond cliches and iconography in each of his films. The famous introduction "Bond, James Bond," the comedic banter with Q and his gadgets, the bad one liners, shaken not stirred, M chewing out Bond, bad one liners, Bond girls with ridiculous names. Sure they are all parts of Bond but not every film had all these things. But now they've become lore.

Speaking of bad Bond girl names, Christmas Jones has to be one of the more head scratching. Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist. I guess that's balanced with the first Bond girl to be the main antagonist.  Elektra King is definitely one of the more interesting female characters in the series.

I think M is a bit of a hypocrite in this one, always chastising Bond for making things personal. Then goes and gets herself kidnapped trying to help out an old friend using MI6 resources.

The important thing is the action is there I guess.

Tomorrow Never Dies

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Watched With: Tyler

The one with Rupert Murdoch as the villain. This one ain't that hot. Sounds like a trouble production too.

I love Michelle Yeoh and she handles the action great of course but there's no chemistry between her and Bond. Nor is there with Teri Hatcher really and that relationship really needed it.

Gadgets, so much gadgets. Q has become a comedy relief instead of someone who gets genuinely angry with Bond like he used to. I miss that.

But we DO get David Arnold scoring for the first time. This is how I think of Bond films sounding in my head. And we do get Götz Otto and he is dreamy.

Overall the whole thing is loud, silly and not that involving. There are nice bits of action but this isn't one I'd prioritise revisiting.

GoldenEye

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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

Now we move into all the bond films I've seen before. The Pierce Brosnan era. And the first one is definitely the best in my opinion. It also marks the first time Martin Campbell is asked to helm a Bond reboot.

That trailer gives away a pretty big spoiler. A small quip from the outset had us watching the film reading sexual tension into the relationship between Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean. It made the film even better.

Daniel Kleinman is now in charge of titles. I do like his work from here on. And this is one of the better title songs too.

Judi Dench as M is a wonderful addition. Before they overuse her in later episodes. 

And Famke Janssen. Gloriously crazy Famke Janssen. Delightful.

This one has great action, good characters a compelling story. Great escapist fun and everything I think you'd want or expect from a Bond film. So many miniatures too. I miss miniatures. 

Eric Serra's score is interesting. The series has had almost every kind of score imaginable now but I'm still just itching to get to David Arnold's more classic big orchestral approach. Those electronic anvil hits are so mid 90's. Although rather appropriate considering the content of the film.

The thing that stood out to me most was the lighting. Especially apparent after just watching the previous films but suddenly this looks like a modern film. Light is actually sculpted and composed rather than just being exposed correctly. It's a beautiful looking action film.

Licence to Kill

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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

I think this might have been the first Bond I ever saw. The guy exploding in the pressure chamber scarred me for life. Looks kinda stupid now though. But Perhaps that explains my reluctance to getting into the series. This film is just so out of place with the franchise. It's just an American style late 80's action film, complete with the revenge plot, drug dealing mexican bad guys and excessive violence. What it lacks is the wit and playfulness that someone like Shane Black might inject into the proceedings, that make the violence easier to swallow.

This doesn't have anything to do with spying or British Intelligence. It does have a very young Benicio Del Toro though.

They took that slightly angrier version of the character Timothy Dalton played and exaggerated that out to the point where he's almost unlikable. Perhaps they pushed too far in a lot of these new directions, trying to keep up with the evolving landscape of action cinema. It's a tough call though. Bond couldn't remain the same forever or he'd become a dated joke but they've started changing him to the point where he doesn't resemble the same character anymore.

Here he's got two girl's affections and they actually meet up and get jealous of each other. That's something new, a little love triangle. I shouldn't say love because there's no emotion behind any of it..

Anyways, 6 years later and we'll get back on track. Onwards and upwards.

The Living Daylights

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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

This is a breath of fresh air. Timothy Dalton this time and he changes things up a bit. I can imagine the same lines as performed by Roger Moore's Bond and it would be a very different film. Dalton seems more serious, short tempered and overall just a better spy.

Speaking of which, it's nice to see some actual spying going on in a Bond film for a change! Less emphasis on a ridiculously cartoonish evil villain plot and more on espionage. It still has all those elements and some big actions pieces but it just feels better for some reason. Odd, considering it's pretty much all the same team behind the camera that did the last few.

Even just the look of it feels more modern. And the characters are ever so slightly more dimensional. Liked this one.

A View to a Kill

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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

WOW this is 80's. That Duran Duran soundtracked title sequence... wow.

And snowboarding to Beach Boys. OK....

Christopher Walken just cracks me up. He totally mows guys down with a machine gun. Feels very 80's action film but a little gratuitous for a Bond movie. Grace Jones never fails to horrify me. 

We have a whole first section that seems like just an excuse to set up a horse chase. And then the all important plan to flood silicon valley. MICROCHIPS!

Roger Moore's really getting on in years. He's the same old dude while the action around him becomes more violent and loud. A fire truck is not the most inconspicuous get-away vehicle.

Octopussy

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Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

To INDIA!

This one has action. It feels like one prolonged action chase sequence. I had fatigue at the end. Also jet lag was a factor, but I had to rewatch the end the next day to make sure I picked up everything. We got car, train and plane sequences. Shoot outs, bombs, circus performers turned assassins.

And an Island populated only by women.

This one does have a definite Indiana Jones vibe to it. Although it most resembles Temple of Doom to me, and that didn't come out till the year after. But it was up against the Connery Bond film Never Say Never Again which were released mere months apart. Crazy.

Roger Moore as a sad clown is horrifying.

Never Say Never Again

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Watched With: Tyler

Ok so this is not an Eon Bond film, so it's not official cannon. But it is Sean Connery returning to the role in what is basically a remake of Thunderball. It's just as long as that one too.

Rowan Atkinson's first film, before he parodied Bond himself.

And Irvin Kershner directs. 

Fatima Blush is kind of glorious. And I liked Maximilian Largo too I guess. We should see more villains making their own holographic computer games.