Spectre

My name is Bond, James Bond. Meow…

Ok, so I’m a bit late to the game but such is life with kids – you just can’t see all the movies you want to see when you want to see them, but I was finally able to see Spectre now, and it was much better than expected! I’m a huge Bond fan and I don’t know how many times I’ve seen all the movies, but we’re talking quite a few here!

The opening was grand but we all expected an action-filled scene from Mexico since it was all to known so nothing major here…

…well, except for the theme song that is. “Writing’s on the Wall” by Sam Smith (whoever that is?) is probably one of the worst Bond themes ever to be recorded, and this is a disappointment since all Daniel Craig movies has had great themes! “Skyfall” with Adele is one of the best ever, and so is “You know my name” performed by Chris Cornell. “Another Way to Die” by Jack White is also high on the list so why we got a crappy one here I don’t know… A shame though since Bond films are (almost) always connected to a strong theme song.

The first part of the movie is retro Bond with all the italian styling and environment – straight out of the early 60’s with regards to clothes and style. This was a tad too obvious I thought, but well done. What also was apparent was that this was going to be a rather serious film and not so much humor – which was fitting with the story. I honestly never liked the comedy-Bond portrayed by Roger Moore because Bond was a serious chap – but with wits and tongue, as Sean Connery “created” him, and Daniel Craig is the only Bond who’s been true to this character.

By linking all the previous villains with Spectre I felt it was a cheap post-construction in order to tie everything together – and especially with the fate of the current Bond, but more on that towards the end of this review…

I must admit I was curious how they were going to portrait “Spectre” in this movie. Would they dare to include Blofeld – and how would it pan out? When the white cat was seen for just a split second all was confirmed and after that it was no longer any guesswork 😉
The final chapter was also made to feel like 60’s retro Bond, but very well made.

Spectre is a good Bond movie, no doubt. Not on par with Casino Royale, but it was more exciting than usual and with unusually good acting!

As soon as the movie started I got the feeling that this was going to be the last instalment with Daniel Craig as James Bond, and the longer the movie progressed, the stronger that feeling grew, and during the final scene it was so obvious that I’d find it hard to see him return. I hope I’m wrong here because I have really enjoyed Daniel Craig as James Bond for these four movies, but everything points towards the end. (unless he returns with a whole new story that has nothing to do with this one?)

Almost all Bond movies ends with “James Bond will return…” but this one didn’t – which is further proof that this was the last one with Daniel Craig.

Casting Christoph Waltz as Ernesto Blofeld was a great move, and it didn’t bother me that he had hair. Who knows? He might shave it for next time 😉

Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann worked fine and Ralph Fiennes was given a bigger part this time, which he did well. Also Ben Whishaw as Q was given more screen-time here and he proved yet again that he’s a great actor.

How to rate it then? Well, it was a bloody good movie! I can’t reduce the score by the crappy theme song, but the “hastily put together Spectre affiliate” didn’t feel credible and was certainly never planned, nor even an idea, when Casino Royale was penned down hence why it can’t be a full whammy…

So I give it 4 out of 5, but one really well made Bond film with regards to acting, actors, scenery and footage, and let’s not forget the well coordinated action scenes!!!

Whoever will put on the suit after Daniel Craig’s had enough has some shoes to fill – that’s for sure!

I hope I’m wrong and that he’ll do a couple more, but if not then these movies has been the best Bond films!

p.s Yes, I know Daniel Craig is still contracted to do another, or two, Bond movies, but my gut feeling is still that this concludes here.

Tomorrowland: A World Beyond

A “save the world” drama from Disney that’s actually better than it should be.

Most of the movies we watch have to be compatible with my boys age group so movies from Pixar (Disney), Marvel Studios, Illumination Entertainment etc are a majority. Luckily many of them are good even for us adults and this one actually stood out, which Disney productions seldom do – apart from the Pixar ones, but let’s be honest, they are only “Disney” ones because Disney bought them. This movie put Disney in a slightly higher notch in our ranking for sure.

Anyhow, Tomorrowland: A World Beyond is a story about boy genius Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) who is a tinkerer of extraordinary level, who as a child is drafted to help form a new “perfect” world. This is a dream come true for Frank but things are not going to plan…

Fast forward 40-ish years in the future and teen Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is desperately trying to save her fathers job at NASA – even if it takes criminal actions. Casey is equally intelligent as Frank was when he was a boy and suddenly Casey discovers tomorrowland when she is contacted by the same young girl who once drafted Frank. This young girls name is Athena (Raffey Cassidy) and is partly why this movie is so great!

Older Frank is played by George Clooney and although he only delivers what’s needed for the role, the others are well picked and they perform greatly! Raffey Cassidy is an impressive little actor who will go far in this industry by the measurement from this performance. (Ok, it’s not an Oscar-type performance but somehow she caught my attention.)

The evil counterpart in the movie – Nix – is played by Hugh Laurie, and his acting is perhaps on par with George Clooney, but the heroes of this movie are the younger actors for sure and although the young Frank Walker only gets limited screen time, the performance is exactly what the movie needed to get going.

No more spoilers but it’s a well made movie (in its category) with both funny and serious references, and way better than I thought Disney could churn out these days.

IMDB has the movie categorised as action, adventure and family. I would rather put it in the drama category – together with a bit of comedy – but since it’s a Disney production, expect some sadness during the ending.

The movie didn’t score too well on IMDB. In fact it only got 6.5 – which I think is a tad low because it’s well made, has some sort of message but let’s not forget that it’s a movie about a child’s fantasy come true! – and this must be worth something?

My boys loved the funnier parts of the movie and so did I. It didn’t feel like a Disney movie at all, and that’s perhaps why we liked it?

I give it 3 out of 5 as a “feelgood” family movie and a hope that we see Raffey Cassidy in other movies in the future. Is she a new Chloë Grace Moretz? Who knows…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance.

After a very long hiatus the Star Wars saga is rebooted, and somewhat surprisingly the job was handed to J.J Abrams (Lost, Star Trek and a bunch of video games) which did surprise me when it was announced. I was actually worried a bit with this choice but I doubt even Disney would piss away one of the biggest cash-cows in the movie industry so I quickly decided that it would probably work whoever they put in charge…

It is hard to write a review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens without any spoilers but I’ll try to keep it at a minimum, and to be fair – if you don’t want any spoilers then stop reading reviews for movies you haven’t seen!!!

I’m a big fan of the Star Wars saga – which most of us are – but I differ from most because I actually think Jar-Jar Binks was the character who made Episode 1 possible (or worked) and not at all the most hated Star Wars character that he has become, but such is life. Episode 1-3 are questionable compared to the original 3 episodes and that’s perhaps why I thought Jar-Jar brought something to the otherwise uneven films…? But enough about that. This is not a review about Jar-Jar Binks – it’s a review for the latest instalment of Star Wars!

It was known prior to the release that Han Solo, Leia and Luke would return, albeit the details were a bit shady and many of us had already guessed how much (or little) one of the characters would appear…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens kicks off 30-ish years in the future from Episode 6 and that’s all we will find out. Whatever happened between then and now with the empire, rebels, planets and relations is apparently not important because this is a special effects-fest and that’s pretty much it!

Don’t get me wrong – it is to date the best film ever made with regards to special effects, but at the cost of a non-existing script… We’re talking about 95% vs. 5% spent in time between creating special effects and writing a script. Some might say that Star Wars was always about pushing the limits for what was possible with special effects, but there was also a really great story there and that was apparently deemed unimportant for this one…

The new kids (Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren) were given plenty of space to evolve their characters and – apart from Kylo Ren – this was a success. I personally thought Kylo Ren was poorly scripted and acted and I’m surprised if I’m alone thinking this, but Rey and Finn were well acted and we all are looking forward to see them again in the future!

The old “kids” (Han, Leia and Luke) is a different story all together… One of them was given way too much screen-time and one of them way too little, and that’s a fact, and the rendition of Leia as a princess with a stiff face due to a bodged cosmetic surgery was pretty bad to be honest!

Han Solo was spot on and it looked like Harrison Ford enjoyed his comeback together with Chewbacca – but I didn’t like one part of the script that was given to Harrison Ford and you who have seen it know what I mean, the rest of you will have to find out for yourselves… (it’s damn hard to explain without any spoilers but I was pretty miffed about this when I saw the movie…)

For me Star Wars isn’t Star Wars without C-3PO and R2-D2 but they were only given minute screen-time here… Luckily BB-8 was a funny droid but he is not the same as two constantly arguing droids, but the show must go on I guess?

The poor implementation of a script left my two boys in the dark because they had no clue whatsoever what the movie was all about – but the first class footage and special effects made them enjoy the film anyway, but that’s all they remember from the film sadly.

Obviously I will buy Star Wars: The Force Awakens as soon as it’s released on BluRay but was it a great film? No. Not even close. The footage and special effects will generate a much higher score than I’d want to but the script was crap and the only thing it generated was questions regarding what the heck had happened the last 30-ish years and who the heck are these First Order anyway and where did they come from???

There are also a few “hidden” famous actors in the movie like Daniel Craig (Stormtrooper), Simon Pegg (Unkar Plutt), Andy Serkis (Snoke) and Warwick Davis (Woolivan).

Scriptwise I give it ZERO points out of five! The rescue is the footage and special effects – and the fact that it was shot with real film! 🙂

If I add this up, subtract the crap script, add some here for this and that… The final verdict is still only 2 out of 5 – but if you want great footage and special effects and care little about background and script – this is a winner!

p.s Where the heck is Landon Calrissian??? Call him because they’ll need more crew members on the Millennium Falcon… *hint hint* 😉