the script is the worst thing about this, and that's including Sam Mendes existing
sans news and credits, you would not have known this was Mendes.
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:14 (eleven years ago) link
I loved this till about halfway through, when I popped into the lobby to buy a couple of Cornettos, fell down some stairs and did my back in.
When I came back, Bardem was in some blonde wig spouting bollocks doing Homosexual Panic 101, then he shot the sex slave in the head, and it all sort of fell apart. And my back hurt.
Deakins was great but he can't shoot a gunfight for toffee.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
xp
well i don't know that Mendes has a "style", but he makes incoherent story-telling choices and likes to throw some big empty "makes you think" moments into everything so that ties in with Skyfall
― tochter tochter, please (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
xxp Needed a scene of Bond sitting on a London street watching a plastic bag blow around an alley.
― this is called money bags (Phil D.), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:25 (eleven years ago) link
(if there are different Britishes words for "plastic bag," "alley" and "Bond," I don't know them, sorry)
he makes incoherent story-telling choices
visually? othwise you should blame the writers, yes?
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
i think ade is right, i remember a LOT of stuff about like, "why do we need agents when we can HACK people" or whatever
― max, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:15 (eleven years ago) link
which is SO dumb because like a) they never actually sell this in the movie itself, in fact they specifically UNDERMINE it at the start with the whole hard drive chase and b) within the 'bond universe' he has literally been dealing with 'hackers' for 20 years, basically every single brosnan bond involved hacking of some kind
― max, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:16 (eleven years ago) link
yeah exactly
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
eh I remember explosions and ppl getting shot a lot
― This beat is TWEENCHRONIC (DJP), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:34 (eleven years ago) link
which is basically what I go to a Bond movie for
in the bond universe it should be received wisdom that british agents like bond are not only needed but the most skilled purveyors of the jobs no one else can do, even those colonist savages in the u.s.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
i feel like half this movie was spent trying to elide the true identities of certain characters so we could have catch-your-breath moments like when you realize, holy shit, it's fucking Q.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
the moneypenny thing infuriated me too
― max, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 21:16 (eleven years ago) link
so infuriating
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 21:38 (eleven years ago) link
assassins choosing desk jobs after a few years seems reasonable
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
Tbf she started the movie killing our hero, perhaps 00 status wasnt exactly nailed on at that stage
― lance armstrong will have been delighted (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 22:23 (eleven years ago) link
the moneypenny thing was horrible
― zero dark (s1ocki), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:53 (eleven years ago) link
who was it that pointed out that they never actually recovered that special hard drive of all agents everywhere... oops
― zero dark (s1ocki), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:54 (eleven years ago) link
If they decrypted the list the hard drive would be completely useless?
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:56 (eleven years ago) link
YOUR hard drive would be useless
― zero dark (s1ocki), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:56 (eleven years ago) link
ultimately though nobody besides bardem actually succeeds at doing what they're trying to do in this movie rite?
― zero dark (s1ocki), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:57 (eleven years ago) link
wow let's get back this decrypted hard drive they could have made a zillion unencrypted copies of
yeah silva is the winner
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:58 (eleven years ago) link
moneypenny's character arc was so depressingly retrograde
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:58 (eleven years ago) link
my thought when they were making all the shaving jokes at the end:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/A-close-shave.jpg/220px-A-close-shave.jpg
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 23:59 (eleven years ago) link
did it seem to anyone else that this was largely stitched together from familiar action-movie tropes? almost literally, in a shot to shot way? some obv (apocalypse now), some less so (i actually can't think of one now, shit), and some overbearing (bond IS the dark knight...like, with a stately home he blows up and an old guy he owns)
bardem earned his keep but his character was a uh-oh-danger-GAY (vs bond teaching us to be MEN) dude that was maybe two-face (on the inside...of his face), maybe jaws, also btw he was locked in a crystal and at one point laughed maniacally I AM JUST SAYING HERE
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:25 (eleven years ago) link
the reptilian part of my brain kinda loved this, and thought it well-made or w/e, but if i think about it even for a second it's just crappy
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
i basically agree with that last sentiment, like walking out of the theater i was "bond returns in style in this delightful new--" and then i started to think about it and it fell apart, as if i'd removed the mandible from the movie's jaw and it revealed its horrible true guise.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:29 (eleven years ago) link
it's kinda weird that my two biggest complaints are that it was too referential and "young" (hackers! Q has a floppy haircut and a sweatervest! moneypenny isn't just a secretary, she's an agent!) and that it reveled in bond's piggish chauvinism, and excused it maybe? it's like it was written for archer to parody
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:30 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah it was really trying to have it all with the self-referential shit and the above-being-a-bond-movie shit and idk at least two other layers of overthinking, it rested heavily and shapelessly over some very good action scenes.
― lance armstrong will have been delighted (darraghmac), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
an old guy he owns
i thought this was hilarious btw, bond's been gone for years and returns to his family's abandoned estate and ah this old painting, look at the dusty furniture, and why there's that old fella still in the same corner, hasn't moved has he?
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:38 (eleven years ago) link
Ah, mr bond. I've been expecting you.
― lance armstrong will have been delighted (darraghmac), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:40 (eleven years ago) link
an acquaintance of mine used to call it 'james bonding' a film when you were too intent on plot/continuity/reason to enjoy the spectacle of a blockbuster action movie.
and i get that, which is why i don't care that bond survived a fatal shooting/fall in the opening scene or magically picked out the password for q. (was there a 'zoom in! enhance!'? i don't even remember.) or that dude was 'one of six ppl in the world to use these radioactive bullets'.
but the whole plot made no sense. there was ridiculous shit like albert finney and his flashlight as the burning estate lit up the night. craig's bond is humorless; he can get away with shit like 'a waste of good scotch' even less than his predecessors. i liked the bourne movies -- if they wanna go that route it's cool with me, but if so they need to go all the way. as it was, it's a mishmash of bullshit trying to have it every which way.
― железобетонное очко (mookieproof), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:46 (eleven years ago) link
i mean srsly fucking give slock1 the bond franchise
― железобетонное очко (mookieproof), Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:47 (eleven years ago) link
now i'm just wondering what ronin would have been called if it had been a bond movie
if bond is going to be a tough old relic of the cold war he may was well chase some ice skates wanted by the ira
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 21 February 2013 03:08 (eleven years ago) link
would have been called bonin obv
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 21 February 2013 04:18 (eleven years ago) link
bonin'
anagrams amirite
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/the-secret-james-bond-missed-in-skyfall-.html
― mookieproof, Monday, 11 November 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
back to yr point about Craig being humorless, I think he was really funny and charming in casino royale, he was A++. But they're fucking up his initial take on the role.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 11 November 2013 19:02 (ten years ago) link
anagrams
too clever by half
― Hoogste Punt van Nederland (Aimless), Monday, 11 November 2013 19:06 (ten years ago) link
I don't mind attempts to humanize bond but bruce wayning him wasn't really the way to go.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), 17 February 2013 21:56 (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I mind the fuck out of attempts to humanise bond, go make yr own stupid movie if you don't want to make a bond one you pretentious fuckin hack
― birmingham six, guildford four, mumford & sons (darraghmac), 17 February 2013 22:00 (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this was directed at mendes, not al leong :(
― golfdinger (darraghmac), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 17:40 (ten years ago) link
on rewatching this, it's really much worse than I was originally lead to believe
and Quantum = much better on rewatching than I first thought
thunderball is still pretty dumb, fyi
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:16 (ten years ago) link
this movie sucks.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:17 (ten years ago) link
quantum is the best of the craig bonds, as 'bond' movies anyway
― golfdinger (darraghmac), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:27 (ten years ago) link
Skyfall? More Like DumbAmericanBeautyguysucksatactionfall!
― scott seward, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:34 (ten years ago) link
quantum of solace has some really enjoyable set pieces revolving around buildings so it's great in my book
― mh, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:37 (ten years ago) link
wtf are you people on
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:38 (ten years ago) link
QS wasn't that good but it was better than this one
― goole, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:41 (ten years ago) link
smokin' dat rob ford
― mh, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:41 (ten years ago) link
s1ocki otm
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 18:42 (ten years ago) link