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.

Random Movie Stuff - 7/13/13

- Chloe Moretz will next star in If I Stay, about a teenage girl who has an out-of-body experience after falling into a coma.  She then debates whether to stay and live a difficult life or give up.  Moretz will next be seen in Kick-Ass 2 in August and Carrie in October.

- Morgan Freeman's joined the cast of Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall as husband-and-wife scientists working on artificial intelligence.  It also stars Paul Bettany, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy.  It's set to open April 18, 2014.  It's the directing debut for Wally Pfister, cinematographer on such films as Moneyball, Inception, and the Dark Knight trilogy.

- Lawless co-stars Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke are reuniting in Child 44, starring Hardy as a member of Stalin's Secret Force investigating a serial killer loose in the Soviet Union.  It co-stars Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), Joel Kinnaman (AMC's The Killing) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master).  It's directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House).

- Sam Mendes (Skyfall) has agreed to return to direct the next James Bond movie, now set to open November 6, 2015.

- Aubrey Plaza (The To-Do List) and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) will star in Life After Beth, about a young couple dealing with the issues that come with her being resurrected from the dead.  Paul Reiser co-stars as her father.

Some New Trailers:

Christian Bale stars in the gritty revenge drama OUT OF THE FURNACE:



Jeff Bridges stars in the fantasy adventure SEVENTH SON:



Keri Russell stars in the light-hearted rom-com AUSTENLAND:

Breaking Dawn's still #1

For the weekend of Nov. 30 - Dec. 2.

1.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $17.41 million ($254.59) - 3 wks (Sum) -60%
 . . . 4008 screens / $4344 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $17 ($246.03) - 4 wks (Sony) -52.1%
 . . . 3463 / $4909
3.  Lincoln - $13.51 ($83.7) - 4 wks (BV) -47.4%
 . . . 2018 / $6694
4.  Rise of the Guardians - $13.5 ($48.95) - 2 wks (DW) -43.2%
 . . . 3672 / $3676
5.  Life of Pi - $12 ($48.36) - 2 wks (Fox) -46.6%
 . . . 2928 / $4098
6.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $7.02 ($158.26) - 5 wks (BV) -57.6%
 . . . 3087 / $2274
7.  Killing Them Softly - $7 - 1 wk (Wein)
 . . . 2424 / $2888
8.  Red Dawn - $6.55 ($31.32) - 2 wks (FD) -54.1%
 . . . 2781 / $2355
9.  Flight - $4.54 ($81.53) - 5 wks (Par) -46.3%
 . . . 2603 / $1744
10. The Collection - $3.41 - 1 wk (LD)
 . . . 1403 / $2430
11. Silver Linings Playbook - $3.34 ($10.99) - 3 wks (Wein) -23.8%
 . . . 371 / $9005
12. Anna Karenina - $2.23 ($4.08) - 3 wks (Foc) +148.8%
 . . . 384 / $5807
13. Argo - $2.03 ($101) - 8 wks (WB) -47.6%
 . . . 1043 / $1942

The new releases were dead on arrival, while the holiday holdovers kept raking in the dough.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 is on track to be the most profitable in the Twilight series. It's passed the $700 million mark in worldwide gross.  Skyfall has passed $869 million worldwide and is now the highest-grossing Bond movie in franchise history (unless you adjust for inflation).

Lincoln should have been a tougher sell, but the Spielberg name combined with Oscar buzz for the movie and for Daniel Day-Lewis has kept it strong.

I don't know how you screw up marketing a Brad Pitt gangster movie but the Weinsteins found a way.  Killing Them Softly's a bad title opening on a bad weekend for new movies.

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!

Skyfall has best Bond opening ever

1.  Skyfall - $87.8 million - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3505 screens / $25,050 per screen
2.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $33.06 ($93.69) - 2 wks (BV) -32.6%
 . . . 3752 / $8810
3.  Flight - $15.1 ($47.77) - 2 wks (Par) -39.4%
 . . . 2047 / $7377
4.  Argo - $6.75 ($85.71) - 5 wks (WB) -33.9%
 . . . 2763 / $2441
5.  Taken 2 - $4 ($131.29) - 6 wks (Fox) -32.4%
 . . . 2487 / $1608
6.  Here Comes the Boom - $2.55 ($39.06) - 5 wks (Sony) -27.7%
 . . . 2044 / $1248
7.  Cloud Atlas - $2.53 ($22.71) - 3 wks (WB) -53.1%
 . . . 2023 / $1248
8.  Pitch Perfect - $2.5 ($59.03) - 7 wks (U) -18.3%
 . . . 1391 / $1800
9.  The Man with the Iron Fists - $2.49 ($12.72) - 2 wks (U) -68.5%
 . . . 1872 / $1330
10. Hotel Transylvania - $2.35 ($140.9) - 7 wks (Sony) -46.7%
 . . . 2566 / $916

Skyfall was the highest opener yet for a James Bond film, and it's already grossed over $400 million overseas.

Wreck-It-Ralph had a strong holdover for its second week, and it should be able to keep going strong until its next competition arrives on November 21 in Rise of the Guardians.

Random Movie Stuff - 9/1/11

- Albert Finney has joined the cast of the latest James Bond movie. Sam Mendes (American Beauty) will direct, and it stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes.

- Steve Buscemi's in talks to join Jim Carrey and Steve Carell in Burt Wonderstone. Buscemi would play Anton, partner to magician Burt Wonderstone (Carell) who decides to quit. This spins Burt into a crisis, and he must also deal with a rival magician (Carrey) out to dethrone him.

- Octavia Spencer (The Help) has joined the cast of (formerly titled) Lamb of God. It's the directorial debut for screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno), starring Julianne Hough (Footloose) as a conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash. She decides to move to las Vegas and live a life of sin, but in so doing, regains her faith. Russell Brand (arthur) co-stars.

- Ryan Gosling will star in Lawless, the next film from director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life). It'll reunite Golsing with his Notebook co-star Rachel McAdams, as well as Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, Rooney Mara and Ben Affleck.