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). 

The LEGO Batman Movie - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Ralph Fiennes, Rosario Dawson, Jenny Slate, Susan "Siri" Bennett, Hector Elizondo, Channing Tatum, Billy Dee Williams and Zoe Kravitz.
Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern & John Whittingham.
Directed by Chris McKay.

★★★

This is a tail-eating meta-feast of pop-culture jokes and superhero cliches. It's like the Naked Gun for kids.

Will Arnett is back as (deep-voice) Batman. He kicks butt and can beat all of his arch-enemies at once. (We even get Calendar Man!) He life gets turned upside-down when he absentmindedly adopts Dick Grayson. Meanwhile, the Joker decides he needs better villains around him, since he and Riddler and Two-Face and Bane and Poison Ivy and... Condiments Man... are too easy to defeat.

Plot doesn't really matter (though it is fun). It's all about deconstructing what makes Lego Batman tick. There are a ton of cameos (everyone from King Kong to the Wonder Twins), and if anything I'd say the movie is too overstuffed. I was amused at quite a few of the gags, which is the main point and therefore the most important point.