No Time to Die - Movie Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Arnas, Billy Magnussen, David Dencik, and Rory Kinnear.

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga & Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

DIrected by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

The 25th Eon production of Ian Fleming's 007 is a worthy final chapter in the Daniel Craig era. It's been six years since we last saw Bond, tying the longest gap since six-year break between Timothy Dalton's last Bond and Pierce Brosnan's first. Were it not for Covid, we would have seen this 18 months ago, but at least it's finally here!

Of all 25 films, it's in the upper half. I'd put it in the middle of the Craig movies. Better than Spectre and Quantum of Solace, but not quite on the level of Casino Royale and Skyfall.

We pick up five years after the events of Spectre. James is living the retired life with Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), and an MI6 agent named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) now has the 007 moniker. Ah, but old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) shows up with a big favor to ask, and Bond is pulled back into the world of international espionage. A nanobot program that can design poison to affect people with certain DNA but not others has fallen into the wrong hands. Those hands belong to Safin (Rami Malek), a man linked to Madeleine's past.

I loved the links to the past/bridges to the future here. Christoph Waltz is great in his Hannibal Lecter-esque cameo as Blofeld. Lashana Lynch is an interesting rival/reluctant teammate as the new 007. Craig's Knives Out co-star Ana de Arnas has a too-brief role as fellow spy Paloma, and this is in the longest Bond movie ever. (Her scenes were where I could hear Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge's contributions to the script the clearest, or at least I like to think so.)

The nice thing about Craig's Bond is we've seen him age 15 years. His Bond was a recently-promoted scrapper in Casino Royale, and here he goes out as the world-weary middle-aged man he naturally would be. Looking forward to see how they treat the new one, circa 2024. I also hope they keep the MI6 staff intact (Fiennes' M, Whishaw's Q, Harris' Moneypenny, Lynch's Nomi). 

Golden Globe Nominations 2019

==MOVIES==

BEST PICTURE - DRAMA

1917

The Irishman

Joker

Marriage Story

The Two Popes

BEST PICTURE - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Dolemite Is My Name

Jojo Rabbit

Knives Out

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Rocketman

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Christian Bale - Ford v Ferrari

Antonio Banderas - Pain & Glory

Adam Driver - Marriage Story

Joaquin Phoenix - Joker

Jonathan Pryce - The Two Popes

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA

Cynthia Erivo - Harriet

Scarlett Johansson - Marriage Story

Saorise Ronan - Little Women

Charlize Theron - Bombshell

Renee Zellweger - Judy

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Daniel Craig - Knives Out

Roman Griffin Davis - Jojo Rabbit

Leonardo DiCaprio - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Taron Egerton - Rocketman

Eddie Murphy - Dolemite Is My Name

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Awkwafina - The Farewell

Ana de Armas - Knives Out

Cate Blanchett - Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Beanie Feldstein - Booksmart

Emma Thompson - Late Night

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Anthony Hopkins - The Two Popes

Al Pacino - The Irishman

Joe Pesci - The Irishman

Brad Pitt - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kathy Bates - Richard Jewell

Annette Being - The Report

Laura Dern - Marriage Story

Jennifer Lopez - Hustlers

Margot Robbie - Bombshell

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Frozen II

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The Lion King

Missing Link

Toy Story 4

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Farewell

Les Miserables

Pain & Glory

Parasite

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

BEST DIRECTOR

Bong Joon Ho - Parasite

Martin Scorsese - The Irishman

Quentin Tarantino - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Sam Mendes - 1917

Todd Phillips - Joker

BEST SCREENPLAY

The Irishman

Marriage Story

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Parasite

The Two Popes

BEST SCORE

1917

Joker

Little Women

Marriage Story

Motherless Brooklyn

BEST SONG

“Beautiful Ghosts” - Cats

“Love Me Again” - Rocketman

“Spirit” - The Lion King

“Stand Up” - Harriet

“Into the Unknown” - Frozen II

==TELEVISION==

BEST DRAMA

Big Little Lies (HBO)

The Crown (Netflix)

Killing Eve (BBC America)

The Morning Show (Apple)

Succession (HBO)

BEST COMEDY

Barry (HBO)

Fleabag (Amazon Prime)

The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime)

The Politician (Netflix)

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Brian Cox - Succession

Kit Harrington - Game of Thrones

Rami Malek - Mr. Robot

Tobias Menzies - The Crown

Billy Porter - Pose

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA

Jennifer Aniston - The Morning Show

Olivia Colman - The Crown

Jodie Comer - Killing Eve

Nicole Kidman - Big Little Lies

Reese Witherspoon - Big Little Lies

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY

Michael Douglas - The Kominsky Method

Bill Hader - Barry

Ben Platt - The Politician

Paul Rudd - Living with Yourself

Ramy Youssef - Ramy

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY

Christina Applegate - Dead to Me

Rachel Brosnahan - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Kirsten Dunst - On Becoming a God in Central Florida

Natasha Lyonne - Russian Doll

Phoebe Waller-Bridge - Fleabag

BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES

Catch-22 (Hulu)

Chernobyl (HBO)

Fosse/Verdon (FX)

The Loudest Voice (Showtime)

Unbelievable (Netflix)

BEST ACTOR MOVIE/MINISERIES

Chris Abbott - Catch-22

Sacha Baron Cohen - Spy

Russell Crowe - The Loudest Voice

Jared Harris - Chernobyl

Sam Rockwell - Fosse/Verdon

BEST ACTRESS MOVIE/MINISERIES

Kaitlyn Dever - Unbelievable

Joey King - The Act

Helen Mirren - Catherine the Great

Michelle Williams - Fosse/Verdon

Merritt Wever - Unbelievable

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin - The Kominsky Method

Kieran Culkin - Succession

Andrew Scott - Fleabag

Stellan Skarsgard - Chernobyl

Henry Winkler - Barry

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette - The Act

Helena Bonham Carter - The Crown

Toni Collette - Unbelievable

Meryl Streep - Big Little Lies

Emily Watson - Chernobyl

Logan Lucky - Movie Review

Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Hilary Swank, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Dwight Yoakum, Jon Eyez, Macon Blair, Farrah Mackenzie and David Denman.
Written by Rebecca Blunt.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

★★★½

This isn't as glitzy as Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 movies, but it's definitely better than the Ocean's sequels. By setting it in West Virginia instead of Vegas, it feels like the stakes are more real. These people actually need the money.

Channing Tatum plays Jimmy Logan, a blue-collar worker who can't seem to get ahead. "Logan lucky" refers to how unlucky his family is. He and his one-armed brother Clyde (Adam Driver) decide to rob a NASCAR event. They enlist their sister (Riley Keough) for help, and the plan grows from there.

There is such an ease to the flow of a Soderbergh movie. Throwaway scenes in any other film feel new here. he plays with timelines in a way that doesn't feel like cheating. There's also something about watching Daniel Craig let loose as a Southern safecracker. I can't remember the last time he looked like he was having this much fun onscreen.

Spectre - Movie Review

SPECTRE (PG-13) Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott and Rory Kinnear.
Written by John Logan & Neal Purvis & Robert Wade & Jez Butterworth.

Directed by Sam Mendes.

★★½

It’s not quite Quantum of Solace bad, but it’s not Skyfallgood either. Here’s where I first thought we might be in trouble. The movie opens with an impression opening scene in Mexico City during the Day of the Dead. A giant parade of thousands going down the street. James Bond (Daniel Craig) sees his target and shoots. Somehow the building blows up. I couldn’t tell if Bond had some sort of mini-rocket or if some villains blew up the building. Anyway, after the explosion, he sees his main target still alive and he chases him.

About two blocks later, the parade is still going as if no one heard that building explode. The celebration continues. The movie seems to forget that it just blew up a building. When Bond catches his guy trying to escape by helicopter, the shots of the city somehow don’t include a burning pile of rubble. “You just blew up a building two blocks away. How comes no one’s noticed?”

Spectre feels like an assembly of cool set pieces and stunts, but they never really strung them together with a compelling plot. I think that’s why it feels empty when we get to our showdown between Bond and Franz (Christoph Waltz). What is Franz’s ultimate goal? Why is he doing what he’s doing? Why doesn’t he just kill Bond?

Don’t get me wrong. The set pieces, the stunt-work, the locations, etc., are all top-notch. I also liked how Bond’s supporting characters are given more to do than be in the office and the beginning and end of the story. M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw), and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) all actually go on the road to help Bond with his latest, off-the-books mission.

Really, a few of the Bond films have suffered over the years from not having villains with clear motives. So this seems to follow in that tradition.

Skyfall - Movie Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw and Albert Finney.
Directed by Sam Mendes.

★★★½

I've seen every Bond film, and I can say this one makes my top five.  While there have been decent directors of the franchise, Sam Mendes adds that extra artistry that makes this more than a mindless action movie.  It also has more emotional depth than most, as well as a restored sense of humor now that 007 has been grounded in a more "realistic" fashion.

I use realistic in the loosest sense of the word, since there are no invisible cars.

The traditional tropes are there.  A secret mission, exotic locations, beautiful women, a colorful villain, nods to Bond past, and I'm thrilled they finally brought back Q.  This time he's young Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas), so I imagine he can try to break Desmond Llewelyn's record if he so desired.

M (Judi Dench) is more entangled in the plot this time, as someone has hacked into MI6's system and stolen vital information, then releasing it a little at a time to specifically embarrass her.  The villain is eventually revealed to be a Mr. Silva (Javier Bardem), and it helps to have an Academy-Award winner as the villain.  Bardem's Silva is one of the creepier entries into Bond's rogue gallery, with a strong, personal motive.

Bring on the next one!

Dream House - DVD Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Elias Koteas and Marton Csokas.  Directed by Jim Sheridan.

★½

Yeesh, what a mess.

This movie rolls through several haunted-house cliches, with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz as a mom and dad who move into a house where the previous occupant murdered his family. And just when it feels like it's getting too bogged down in contrived jump-scares, it throws in a twist at the 45-minute mark that a few movies have used as their final reveal.

So after that game-changer, it becomes more mournful and ponderous. It's as if the makers realized they only had 45 minutes, so they stall for another 40 minutes before the credits mercifully arrive.

Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Review

★★½

Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Paul Dano and Walton Goggins.
Directed by Jon Favreau.

The first fifteen minutes or so work really well. It's a real Western. Daniel Craig is a cowboy who wakes up with amnesia. He goes to the nearest town where he gets recognized as a thief. He fights back, but he gets jailed. The townsfolk gather when the chief cattle baron of the region (Harrison Ford) shows up to spring his own wayward son out of prison.

And then the aliens show up, kidnapping about half of the people we meet. Somewhere in there the fun factor should kick in, but the movie plays it straight the entire time.

So as an alien movie, the aliens don't seem that threatening, which is to say, despite their technology, the aliens are poor tacticians and shockingly easy to kill. Their design isn't that creative, straight out of the gray-skinned, many-limbed playbook. They actually reminded me a lot of the creature from Super 8.

Now I've read the source material. It was a comic-book written with the intent of being made into a movie. Its story wasn't great either. In fact Favreau's really fleshed it out. I just don't see a reason why no one seemed to realize they were making a summer movie called Cowboys & Aliens. Let's have a blast, why don't we.

Random Movie Stuff - 1/3/12

- Demi Moore will cameo as Gloria Steinem in Lovelace, the Linda Lovelace biopic starring Amanda Seyfried.

- Julianne Moore will star in The English Teacher, about a small-town teacher with no personal life who decides to help a former student put on his unproduced play at their high school.  Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Michael Angarano and Nathan Lane co-star.

- Sony is moving forward with plans to film The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second book in Steig Larsson's trilogy.  Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara will reprise their roles as Mikhael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is currently in theaters.

- Ben Lyons, who single-handedly destroyed all credibility for any film critic on TV anywhere again ever when he took over one of the seats on At the Movies, has been let go as a correspondent on E! channel.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Movie Review

★★★½

Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Steven Berkoff, Joely Richardson, Geraldine James and Goran Visnjic.  Directed by David Fincher.

I've read the book and seen the Swedish movie, and yet I was still enthralled by this version. David Fincher is a slick director, one of the most reliable working today, and he knows how to piece together a procedural. The dense story of Steig Larsson's murder mystery would need over three hours to not feel rushed, but Fincher managed to do it in two and a half.

Daniel Craig is Mikhael Blomkvist, disgraced editor of Millenium magazine, who resigns after losing a libel case. He gets a call from an eccentric millionaire Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, who's always great). Henrik's niece was murdered forty years ago, and he wants Blomkvist's help to solve it once and for all.

Blomkvist needs a research assistant and he gets one in Lisbeth Salander, one of the great recent female characters. Here she's embodied by Rooney Mara (The Social Network), and she makes the role her own.

I love the fact Fincher kept this in Swden and didn't try to Americanize it by putting in in New England. It's faithful to the source material and yet makes the right adjustments to streamline the storytelling aspects.  It was as satisfying to me as Fincher's Zodiac.

I'm saddened this isn't doing better at the box-office. It means we won't be able to see Fincher do the other two books.