New Matrix - has a good amount of fan service, has an interesting central idea that goes some way to justifying doing a new one, but overall executed poorly with not enough substance to really drive a coherent plot. Far more akin to the 2 other sequels than the first one, with loads of exposition attempting to explain motivations and explanations, but that ultimately don’t really mean anything.
I watched the new Spiderman on Xmas eve,I won’t give any spoilers but I really enjoyed it,it’s opened up Marvels next phase of multiverse films really well,I guess it gives all the new films license to turn everything on its head even more.
Watched “Don’t look up” yesterday on Netflix. Its actually good, Di Caprio is excellent and Streep overacting as the American President is brilliant.
The story is a bit silly but its very well executed and engages.
This. I tried watching the old Bonds. They’re rapey as hell. And Connery had this weird perverted smile on his face as he began this assault. Disappointed at my 13 yrs old self who loved bond that much.
In my usual fashion of being at least 3 months late I’ve now seen the latest Bond. I actually enjoyed it and I do like Craig’s version of the character. One thing that stood out to me on this one more than the others was the colour palette in the film which is something that I’m noticing more and more in films these days.
Of all the Craig Bond films I actually rate this one quite highly. I really enjoyed Casino Royale, Quantum was ok, Spectre didn’t really work for me and being the oddball that I am I struggle to connect with Skyfall. This one worked, for me anyway.
It will be interesting to see if they start afresh with a new Bond or try and work something off the back of this one. Interesting to see how they do that.
As a final note I see that Bond has now been fully vaccinated in line with the Bill Gates foundation. We were warned.
I grew tired of MCU, to be honest, but there are some characters that I still want to invest my time in and Tom Holland’s Spiderman is one of them. So, I bit the bullet and went to the film theatre for the first time since the outbreak of coronavirus. I really, really liked it. I had some suspicions that the movie might be in part a money-grabbing gateway to the next phase but I found it anything but.
Hope you included On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Great Bond film.
I’m with you. The first two Craig’s were the best. Young, physical Bond. Loved it. Skyfall was perhaps third, but you organize a film around replacing Judi Dench with Ralph Fiennes, and I just can’t get on board. Haven’t seen the recent one.
I need to see that one.
Another one that for the modern day fan of the Craig Bond probably stands up better than the Connery era films.
But no I didnt. I got a bit conned by the promotion on my streaming service advertising the free “Bond Zone”, as the first three I tried to access, including this one, all required a rental fee so I went with Rogue One instead.
Any film with Donnie Yen is wise decision, almost Jedi like.
He’s different in this one but that’s one area where this wins. He has a clear character arc across the film’s.
I’ll want to watch it again soon with a particular mind on those colour palettes I mentioned above to see if they link to a particular mood or something in the scene.
Did you ever see that show ‘Chuck’. It was a huge geek out moment when Dalton turned up, and he’s probably only my 3rd favourite Bond.
No, I think I only ever caught one episode. Its one of those shows I’ve been meaning to watch on Netflix but never got round to and have since forgotten about. You’ve caught my interest now so I may try and watch some this week.
Okay. I watched it. I think I saw parts of it before. But, yes, it certainly is good considering many things and very curious.
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Peter Hunt gets to direct after being a film editor on I think all the earlier films. He does a bang up job and never works on the series again. Strange?
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No highly paid artist singing a theme song. Strange?
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They pick a guy who has never acted before. He does quite a credible job, it seems to me. It almost seems like they were trying to make the film on the cheap, at least as far as salaries and soft expenses go. Strange?
In spite of those oddities, as you say, it is one of the better Bond films, one of the few in which the character commits to a woman, and for me those are all the better ones. Part of why I like Casino Royale. But, wow, George, just stay on the gravy train, baby. What might have been? A sophomore effort with both Lazenby and Hunt still in their places. Hard to figure.
And obviously, the casting of Telly Savalas and Diana Rigg, also excellent.
Lazenby announced he wouldn’t do it again, but I think you have to wonder how much of that was due to the negative response to his casting. The contemporary response to the film was not good, a lot of which was focused on Lazenby himself, and it seems like a lot of this was baked in prior to release and so was probably something that was felt during production.
I think it’s often forgotten by many who think of it as a linear progression, but the response to this was bad enough that United Artists felt the only way to salvage the series was to go back cap in hand to Connery and give him a then world record contract to do the next film. Despite it being one of the worst in the series it was really well received at the time, essentially reinforcing the idea that it was a mugs game to try to replace Connery.
I think what is interesting is the similarity between the Lazenby and Dalton situation. There were two main attitudes at the time - 1) fight to keep the current guy for one more film, 2) fight to get the well suited TV guy out of his contract (for the Professionals, see Remington Steele). In both cases the studio went with option 3. In both cases they produced a good film, far better than its predecessor and saw it and the casting slated.
‘Don’t look up’ has to be the worst film with such a ensemble cast ever.
The reaction to this movie is interesting. I’m seeing a lot of people say it isn’t very good, but an equally large number of people say it is good.
I read the premise of Don’t look up, saw the cast list and thought it it would be right up my street. Then I saw the trailer and did not like what I saw, so have not see that one yet. But did go to see Spiderman today. The beginning was a bit all over the place, but once it hit it’s stride I was really impressed. Even shed a rare tear at one point.
Robert Pattison - Batman
Zoë Kravitz - Catwoman
Paul Dano - Riddler
Colin Ferrell - Penguin
Andy Serkis - Alfred
Jeffrey Wright - Commissioner Gordon
John Turturro - Carmine Falcone
Peter Saragaard - Gil Colson
I just cant get my head around how they can 1) keep coming back to the same IP over and over again, and 2) have people show up to watch it.