I watched Pacific Rim last night. Huge, huge disappointment. Normally I love Guillermo del Toro films, both for his incredible visual designs and for his ability to make us care about the weirdest, freakiest characters. PR only suggests that del Toro harbors a deep-seeded desire to be Michael Bay.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Daniel Craig version, directed by David Fincher.
I didn't see it when it came out; the trailer made it look visually dark and gloomy, unlike the book it seemed, and it seemed another one of Craig's 'Hey, I'm a movie star honest' projects that don't quite pay off, like Cowboys and Aliens and anything with Nicole Kidman.
But I saw it last night at the Prince Charles cinema. Wow.... this is really a Bond movie, it's the missing Bond film between QoS and SF. Craig, when you see him, is Bond in this. He moves like him, sounds like him. He doesn't wear those specs too often, his voice is the same (wisely he doesn't attempt a Swedish accent, though the other actors do, somehow this works). In fact, he is more Bond than in the films, seeming self assured and comfortable in his own skin. He looks better, unlike his Bond who seems all pouty and boneheaded and something not quite right a lot of the time. He also comes across as unabashedly hetero, which he doesn't as Bond. I mean, in Dragon he has sex with two women (not at the same time) and neither are generic Hollywood starlets in looks, but it all seems perfectly natural. But in the films, his liaisons all seem a bit morally compromised or angsty, and, as Bond points out in another context 'someone usually dies'.
The film also feels like a proper Bond film, it's a grown-up movie rather than an extended bigbudget trailor for a movie franchise or national icon. Watching it felt like watching those 1970s conspiracy thrillers late at night on telly, before Hollywood A list actors like Richard Gere and Harrison Ford had to be stars in the film for it to get funding. I found it quite gripping, it looks great, and has some real Bondian touches that aren't in your face but are there to pick up if you look. Like, one scene has a Rosa Klebb lookalike as a bossy librarian type - but maybe that's just me noticing. Steven Berkoff appears in it, the credits are all Bondian (but way more arresting than the recent Bond films) and it stays in one 'foreign' location enough for us to get to grips with it. There are nods to Dr No, Casino Royale, QoS... LALD at a pinch.
Rooney Mara helps as the protagnoist, she's great casting and it does help when Craig has someone to bounce off. I felt quite uneasy about some of her naked scenes, as the whole film is about exposing the degredation women experience at the hands of men, and we don't see Craig's bum let alone anything else. There are gripes about the way the plot is wrapped up; even having read the book it is a bit confusing and I'm not sure they didn't change the ending a bit.
Some of the film, using flashbacks and old photographs, put me in mind of BlowUp, Blow Out and JFK.
Anyway, highly recommended and Craig's most assured performance to date imo.
Not 'unabashedly' no, the subtext is that he is being a bad boy, and that it will all end in tears, usually the woman's death, and that it is a sign of his damaged upbringing.
Not 'unabashedly' no, the subtext is that he is being a bad boy, and that it will all end in tears, usually the woman's death, and that it is a sign of his damaged upbringing.
I'm probably just a little dense, but I don't get it. Where is there any suggestion that Craig's Bond is anything but heterosexual? (Not counting his cynical retort to Silva in SF).
Their collaborations are being called short films, but they also serve as several music videos. Anyway, they're beautifully shot films directed by Anthony Mandler starring and developed by Lana Del Rey, featuring her original music. The newest one:
Not 'unabashedly' no, the subtext is that he is being a bad boy, and that it will all end in tears, usually the woman's death, and that it is a sign of his damaged upbringing.
I'm probably just a little dense, but I don't get it. Where is there any suggestion that Craig's Bond is anything but heterosexual? (Not counting his cynical retort to Silva in SF).
I'm kind of pulling my punches here really, but what I do mean is that in Craig's Bond films, hetero sex seems linked with some kind of punishment for the situation, oft meted out to the girl, in a way that seems reminiscent of Victorian novels from a more repressed era, or alternatively the kind of thing devised as anti-gay propoganda if it were a gay liaison (in past Hollywood films, it's like gays have to be punished in some way, it must have a tragic outcome as if comment on their 'sins').
In Dragon Tattoo, Bond I mean Craig has sex and it's all fairly sweet and there is not sense of some kind of disapproval from on high, which I get from his Bond films.
Watched Pearl Harbor again tonight and still have the same opinion, It's like Titanic.
The first half all love story, and Boring as watching paint dry. Then the second half
which is a brilliant War film. the attack itself is stunning.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
For the first time today I watched the bluray of NSNA, listening to the commentaries. I learnt
a lot of little facts, which might be known by many but it was new to Me. ) fascinating stuff.
Well worth adding to your collection. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I watched 2 highly critically acclaimed films - The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. Shawshank was pretty decent and I can see why it's so liked by the masses. I honestly didn't like Pulp Fiction though - just not my sort of thing.
For the first time today I watched the bluray of NSNA, listening to the commentaries. I learnt
a lot of little facts, which might be known by many but it was new to Me. ) fascinating stuff.
Well worth adding to your collection. -{
Yeah, what new facts? The Battle for Bond book has lots on that, it's good stuff. Do Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais contribute? They are very good on the making of the film in that book. they wrote the intro scene so it would have a stopwatch ticking over the intro, but when the song was added they said all the suspense went out of it.
Much touted Italian art house movie in which a 65-year-old journalist, who published a single, classic novel some decades ago, catches up with his life which consists of attending various hedonistic rooftop parties in which all manner of frenzied, co-ordinated dancing and coke snorting goes on. I suppose it's a kind of Really Wild Strawberries in which he has flashbacks to his youthful promise.
The visuals are terrific and you think, wow, if only a Bond film could have a flash of this. It might be a more shallow film than you'd like ultimately, but just for something different, I'd give it high marks. The lead actor has a wonderfully doleful, craggy face as he meets life's disappointment head on. Great classical sounding soundtrack too and marvellous shots of Rome.
Comments
"What's in the box?"
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
She thought so too
I didn't see it when it came out; the trailer made it look visually dark and gloomy, unlike the book it seemed, and it seemed another one of Craig's 'Hey, I'm a movie star honest' projects that don't quite pay off, like Cowboys and Aliens and anything with Nicole Kidman.
But I saw it last night at the Prince Charles cinema. Wow.... this is really a Bond movie, it's the missing Bond film between QoS and SF. Craig, when you see him, is Bond in this. He moves like him, sounds like him. He doesn't wear those specs too often, his voice is the same (wisely he doesn't attempt a Swedish accent, though the other actors do, somehow this works). In fact, he is more Bond than in the films, seeming self assured and comfortable in his own skin. He looks better, unlike his Bond who seems all pouty and boneheaded and something not quite right a lot of the time. He also comes across as unabashedly hetero, which he doesn't as Bond. I mean, in Dragon he has sex with two women (not at the same time) and neither are generic Hollywood starlets in looks, but it all seems perfectly natural. But in the films, his liaisons all seem a bit morally compromised or angsty, and, as Bond points out in another context 'someone usually dies'.
The film also feels like a proper Bond film, it's a grown-up movie rather than an extended bigbudget trailor for a movie franchise or national icon. Watching it felt like watching those 1970s conspiracy thrillers late at night on telly, before Hollywood A list actors like Richard Gere and Harrison Ford had to be stars in the film for it to get funding. I found it quite gripping, it looks great, and has some real Bondian touches that aren't in your face but are there to pick up if you look. Like, one scene has a Rosa Klebb lookalike as a bossy librarian type - but maybe that's just me noticing. Steven Berkoff appears in it, the credits are all Bondian (but way more arresting than the recent Bond films) and it stays in one 'foreign' location enough for us to get to grips with it. There are nods to Dr No, Casino Royale, QoS... LALD at a pinch.
Rooney Mara helps as the protagnoist, she's great casting and it does help when Craig has someone to bounce off. I felt quite uneasy about some of her naked scenes, as the whole film is about exposing the degredation women experience at the hands of men, and we don't see Craig's bum let alone anything else. There are gripes about the way the plot is wrapped up; even having read the book it is a bit confusing and I'm not sure they didn't change the ending a bit.
Some of the film, using flashbacks and old photographs, put me in mind of BlowUp, Blow Out and JFK.
Anyway, highly recommended and Craig's most assured performance to date imo.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Wait, what??????????? 8-)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I'm probably just a little dense, but I don't get it. Where is there any suggestion that Craig's Bond is anything but heterosexual? (Not counting his cynical retort to Silva in SF).
TROPICO - 27 min
Featuring "Gods & Monsters" "Bel Air" "Body Electric"
I'm kind of pulling my punches here really, but what I do mean is that in Craig's Bond films, hetero sex seems linked with some kind of punishment for the situation, oft meted out to the girl, in a way that seems reminiscent of Victorian novels from a more repressed era, or alternatively the kind of thing devised as anti-gay propoganda if it were a gay liaison (in past Hollywood films, it's like gays have to be punished in some way, it must have a tragic outcome as if comment on their 'sins').
In Dragon Tattoo, Bond I mean Craig has sex and it's all fairly sweet and there is not sense of some kind of disapproval from on high, which I get from his Bond films.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
The first half all love story, and Boring as watching paint dry. Then the second half
which is a brilliant War film. the attack itself is stunning.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
that is a good film ,Kenneth Moore was such a great actor , I wish the English language was still spoken like wot he said it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHCZrgHwa50&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Yeah...that is like well good, blood -{
Man, you Brits sure talk funny, youknowwhatImsayin'?
a lot of little facts, which might be known by many but it was new to Me.
Well worth adding to your collection. -{
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
Yeah, what new facts? The Battle for Bond book has lots on that, it's good stuff. Do Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais contribute? They are very good on the making of the film in that book. they wrote the intro scene so it would have a stopwatch ticking over the intro, but when the song was added they said all the suspense went out of it.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Much touted Italian art house movie in which a 65-year-old journalist, who published a single, classic novel some decades ago, catches up with his life which consists of attending various hedonistic rooftop parties in which all manner of frenzied, co-ordinated dancing and coke snorting goes on. I suppose it's a kind of Really Wild Strawberries in which he has flashbacks to his youthful promise.
The visuals are terrific and you think, wow, if only a Bond film could have a flash of this. It might be a more shallow film than you'd like ultimately, but just for something different, I'd give it high marks. The lead actor has a wonderfully doleful, craggy face as he meets life's disappointment head on. Great classical sounding soundtrack too and marvellous shots of Rome.
Roger Moore 1927-2017