Skyfall: Bond #23

thought this was pretty good. it's no Casino Royale but it's a respectable bond flick. if nothing else this is possibly the crowning achievement of roger deakins' career, its just an incredible looking movie. it's really overtly influenced by The Dark Knight, which, okay, I don't mind for one bond movie but I hope it doesn't become the default approach for future installments. or if it does just get Nolan to do it.

The film felt really flat, tonally, as well. Some nice looking sequences, but so dreary.

― DavidM, Friday, November 2, 2012 6:09 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark

yeah otm. i was just thinking that mendes seems to have no tonal control - no idea what suspense is. the good scotch scene, the way it just glibly ends with cgi copters and the bond theme blaring, i was thinking "that's really how you wanted this scene to play?"

i actually liked the climax best, because i anticipated basically every beat of the movie except for that part, and it looked so amazing. i almost wonder the movie looking so good works against itself - at times the movie feels embalmed, it's not muscular and sweaty and hotblooded like a martin campbell bond film. but i think that's more on mendes who has one of my least favorite directorial styles on the planet, burdening every scene in everything he does with meaning and importance, which is just deadly for a playful genre picture

the title song's been in my head since i left the theater. it's a grower!

it is

copter gunning the house was viscerally horrific, it was like suddenly black hawk down for a second or two

sam mendes' greatest talent is in hiring cinematographers

Shanghai scenes were amazing. Liked this, didn't love it.

Damn you, Casino Royale! Everything else is just second or third rate in comparison.

In other news, new trailer for new Tarantino flick is encouraging.

i'd go far enough as to say that the acting and the cinematography totally eclipse the flaws that people have correctly identified, thing is so beautiful and so beautifully played that even my "fuck Sam Mendes with a big stick" was forgotten for 2 and a half hours. the set pieces were nearly all fucking great, i only got sniffy about the Komodo dragons not behaving like proper Komodo dragons, the sound design on the subway bomb/train bit was terrific. i've loved all the Daniel Craig Bonds but i'm pretty sure i've enjoyed this one the most.

loved the komodos. very much in the classic bond tradition of bad guys keeping dangerous exotic animals as pets.

i enjoyed them but they don't feed that way!

pretty sure the python from moonraker didn't feed that way either

Don't get we wrong, Craig still rules. And there was a lot to like

meh, i've forgotten everything that happens in the Moore flicks.

pretty sure the python from moonraker didn't feed that way either

― let's keep this board about feet, please. (latebloomer), Saturday, November 10, 2012 6:00 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha

Shanghai scenes were amazing. Liked this, didn't love it.

― Raymond Cummings, Saturday, November 10, 2012 4:38 PM (3 hours ago)

This, pretty much. Jesus, the lame patter!

And when you say "this was your father's favorite hunting rifle," Albert Finney, don't be waving a GOTT-DAMN SHOTGUN!

meh, i've forgotten everything that happens in the Moore flicks.

Never forget this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjQZIiORGY

the title song's been in my head since i left the theater

same here except in my head it goes

When the sky faaaaallls
Apple crumblllle

how was the Dame?

fine at the beginning, but she kind of flat-lined by the end.

In my head it's not only CRUMBBBLE but TRIFLLLLE as well

I thought Dench was good in this. I think all of M's alternating swagger and doubt were there in the performance leading up to the "I've fucked this all up, haven't I?" line.

My new alternative ending: Silva is somehow rehabilitated, not allowed field duty and becomes new secretary instead of Moneypenny. Suggestive banter continues, and he indulges in a lot of suggestive eyebrow waggling.

i like that better

Yah that'd be great. I wish they'd had Silva take out his retainer and done another gayfear scene

also I hope the next Bond is set in space

My bro on Skyfall: "it was all like pow pow pow vroom sex pow!"

My favorite Bond movie idiosyncrasy is how whenever he has sex it is for basically no reason.

Whereas Harry Palmer was trying to father "one from every continent"

as opposed to the rest of us, who have sex for very specific reasons

thought this started off incredibly then really, really crawled to the finish

the shanghai setpiece was incredible... the set up reminded me of the similar scene in "collateral" which blew my mind at the time iirc

were there some overt homages in this or am i just imaging things? opening scene = indiana jones, obv a pretty explicit 'silence of the lambs' thing happening w/ they first imprison bardem... even HOME ALONE

anyway i really disliked how this focused just on a personal vendetta on the part of the villain's instead of something more... overarching. not enough international intrigue! and i def thought that bardem just shooting everything up at the end was a snooze.

oh well. i still think craig is an awesome bond but this really squandered what was a really good initial idea (hacking + secret agent identities)

also was i the only one that got weird/creepy anders breivik vibes when bardem is dressed as a cop? kinda freaked me out tbh

My favorite Bond movie idiosyncrasy is how whenever he has sex it is for basically no reason.

it's a lot like life

bardem is an amazing actor and i think he pulled this off decently but it was all a bit "HEATH LEDGER as THE JOKER" for me

"Funeral services and interment will be held privately. In lieu of flowers and in his honor, go see the new James Bond movie."

bardem is an amazing actor and i think he pulled this off decently but it was all a bit "HEATH LEDGER as THE JOKER" for me

This movie is gonna play very differently in Mexico and Latin America, because Bardem was basically playing Juan Gabriel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8DX4mVhxM

also do you think the movie is aware that the bad guy basically succeeded at his plan and bond in the end did nothing to stop it in any way?

I mostly enjoyed this movie but this point bothered me.

I like stories in which the hero's efforts are ultimately futile.

Skyfall, Epic of Gilgamesh, etc

still can't quite articulate it, but it felt kind of like a deconstruction of the bond franchise

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/nolan-says-hed-love-to-do-bond/

this would be better than mendes

clive owen and nolan 2012 imo

― D, dilly, dillies, dill, d-bombs (history mayne), Friday, July 9, 2010 3:04 AM (2 years ago)

Had stayed away from all the spoilers and by the end tonight was seriously thinking "So Christopher Nolan does Bond here" and I see we'd already made plenty of jokes/references. But that it is what it feels like!

Liked it as a weird tense riff on Bond but I was honestly surprised at the ending being so...well, small scale, to allow the characters to pump up the melodrama. Not a complaint, I just didn't figure it would conclude in such a fashion and setting, though I do like this idea of finally going home for him at least once. And yeah, Bardem's plan actually succeeding makes it all a bit 'well wait a minute.'

Whishaw was fun, was wondering when Finney would finally show up, Naomie Harris should end up out in the field again anyway, Ralph Fiennes clearly needed a new franchise now that Harry Potter's done so hey (also figures he'd be a new Tory M). Bardem was worth it just for that opening monologue in which I expected him to start talking about how he invented Tron and sexbots while he was at it.

And so they actually did ice M. Odd arc for Judi Dench's character if you think about it -- starts with GoldenEye (which this reminded me a LOT of as the greyer/grimmer flipside, former agent goes rogue and all), ends here, seven movies ranging from hypergoofy to blunt instrument.

Bardem was worth it just for that opening monologue in which I expected him to start talking about how he invented Tron and sexbots while he was at it.

loool

it was fun but as been said by many others, so many incoherent/wtf moments.
like the flashlight used while they try to escape secretly (the guy has been living there for decades, he should know the place like his pocket !).
also bardem having planned everything (the bomb so that the metro would come right to the spot where bond was standing !)... and ends up shooting around stupidly and failing to kill M at the ministry meeting...
and yeah, by the end, his goal is achieved as he succeeds in killing M... so I was like "all that for that ??".

also, the bond girl (french !) was completely useless. why did she bring him back to the island knowing they were trapped ?
and why bond didn't do all his tricks and kill all the guys and have the helicopters coming 1 minute BEFORE so that the girl doesn't get shot ??

well, quite

why did she bring him back to the island knowing they were trapped ?

this whole transition was strange, i didn't quite understand her plan or his. in macau he's like "who do you work for" and she's basically like if you can make it out of here alive and get to my boat before i leave i'll show you. so he sneaks aboard, immediately STRIPS and bonks her in the shower, which she loves obviously, then.. they're woken with juice, toast, and a few submachine guns pointed at their noses? bond tries to take out the baddies offscreen but fails? or they just stroll up to the deck and wait to be cuffed? in which case she has basically sacrificed herself?

exactly ! I wonder if even the director could explain !
the komodos were fun (although bond left his special gadget gun... which he didn't even use once !)

well the only gadget was that the other guy cdn't shoot him with it tbf, so he did "use" it

i like the fact that Bond essentially exploits Bardem's girlfriend to get to him, another version of the "strictly business" riffs that run thru the movie. she has no way of knowing what his business is with Bardem at that point, and he presumably "regrets" the fact that she dies getting him to the target.

but perhaps those of you looking for a clearer explanation of why the bad guy's girl decides to hook up with JB are unfamiliar with the previous 22 movies.

I do wish every action movie had komodo dragons now.

ahah. I second that !

but why limit it to action movies ?
ALL movies should have komodo dragons in them !