Lol.

It was perfectly good, brainless, fun. It's a James Bond movie.

Anyone who claims to love it more than anything or hate it vehemently isn't really worth listening to. It is what it is. Just as the previous 23 flicks, for the most part, were.

Is it an outlier as good as Casino Royale or Goldfinger? No. However, it also isn't anywhere near as bad as Die Another Day or A View To Kill. Anything hyperbolic about this is just nonsense. It's an average entry to a series that has a shit ton of average popcornjerk entires. Nothing more.

 

Well I just got back from SPECTRE and I liked it. It's decent. Not mind-blowing, not bad, decent.

I feel its a proper sendoff to Craig and a good final part of his entry in the Bond series.

 

Yeah I was definitely entertained by Spectre. Good fun all around. Should it have been less Bond-formula as Craig's potentially final movie? Maybe. Did it need to be? No.

 

My biggest criticism was the length, but the seats weren't that comfortable in the theater I was in so maybe that exacerbated it. Other than that I thought it was a pretty solid Bond movie, though Casino Royale and maybe Skyfall edge out amongst the more recent ones.

EDIT: I don't know when I got this title under my name, but I like it.

 

Saw SPECTRE at the weekend. I didn't know it was Craig's last film, but it certainly wasn't a bad send off. It wasn't an incredible film or anything, but it was enjoyable, and a decent enough amusement.

Two weeks back, I went to see The Lobster. The Lobster is set in a slightly dystopian future, wherein we see today's "obsession" with relationships taken to an absurd end - If you are a single adult, you have 45 days to find a partner, or you are turned into an animal, and released into the wild.

The story follows David, a middle-aged man, who has just been left by his wife. He checks into the hotel along with his brother (Well... pet dog...), and makes some friends. Then loses some friends. Has a bit of an adventure.

Now, it's not a horror film. It's also not really a social commentary. I laughed out loud several times through the film, and had a quiet, sensible, chuckle at other points.

But it is one of the most disquieting films I have seen. The music is ever so slightly discordant, reminscent of the razor on piano wire sound made common in slasher films. All camera work is static - no panning, no zooming, nothing. If someone moves slightly out of shot, then they are out of shot. Speech is stilted, with oddly long pauses between pieces of dialogue, and some word choices just don't fit well. Everything is just to five you this sense of unease, which works.

I'd definitely recommend going to see it, but it has the feel of an arty film. So your mileage may vary.

 

Ip Man 3 teaser is out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jckXscMwIOI

 

Oh fuck yeah.

 

I felt Spectre fell short compared to Skyfall because it's setting up a new trilogy. Had to introduce and reaffirm new characters (M, Q, Moneypenny, the awful Lea Seydoux) whereas Judi Dench's M has been in the Bond franchise for over 10 years, all the way back to Goldeneye. And it's Judi Dench. She's phenomenal.

It works as more of a set up to the sequel which I believe will be a lot better. Craig is apparently contracted for one more film then he's gone. Christopher Waltz's baddie was great. Wish we saw more of Monica Belluci and less of Lea. I just didn't believe

Spoiler

Her and Bond's relationship. It was ridiculous. I also thought she was mince. She was supposed to have been trained by her father in some self defence then was pushed aside and reduced to saving Bond at the last second against Bautista. Though that's more of a writing issue than acting..

 

It was tremendously odd how they handled Belluci's character. Waltz was great, Fiennes wasn't awful (nowhere near as good as he was as Voldemort, but still). I think Moneypenny and Q are rather refreshing in these Bond movies. Seydoux is very pretty, very European but really not that believable as Bond's girl. But then, there are very few females that match Bond -- the only two I really like off hand character-wise are Vesper Lynd (Casino Royale is the best Bond of all time, in my opinion) and the girl from Goldeneye, Natalya Simonova.

 

The problem is that no Bond girl is ever really an equal. A few off the top of my head are nearly there: The Chinese operative from Tomorrow Never Dies, definitely Eva Green's Lynd and Natalya kind of annoyed me. Meh.

Fiennes is a phenomenal actor but he can only do so much with the script. I enjoyed him. Andrew Scott was good too. There were definitely scripting issues for Seydoux's character but I just couldn't not be irritated by her.

 

Bond

Spoiler

Not nearly enough Monica Bellucci, who always felt like the perfect bond girl before she was a bond girl. She was basically there for 3 seconds and had sex with Bond out of nowhere. Totally underutilized. Instead we got the younger European chick. Meh. Still a good movie, like every bond film. Not quite as good as Skyfall but definitely better than Quantum. Christopher Waltz was excellent as usual. I really love bad guys that radiate menace while being totally affable and soft spoken.

 

I liked it. A lot. It could have done without the Seydoux romance and could have had the length trimmed during the desert sequence.

Spoiler

I'm glad they didn't kill off Waltz. I hope he comes back, even if he's just a Hannibal Lector figure in prison that Bond pumps for info.

 

Went and saw Bond and felt it was one big meh, definitely not on my favorite Bond films list. Overall a slightly disjointed experience, a lot of the fight scenes were basic,

Spoiler

the fight scene with the plane and cars was the most boring scene to date, they spent more time looking at each other then actually doing anything.

The fight scene on the train was somewhat interesting until the cheesy one liner when the big guy got pulled off by the kegs and rope, would of been better if he was just pulled straight off without saying anything.

Don't even get me started on shooting the pistol at the helicopter as a final fight scene. What a drag.

In saying that overall I enjoyed it, there were some good character scenes in there, not the worst movie, but definitely not up to a normal Bond films standards. It wasn't gritty like the last couple installments, and it wasn't classical bond, it was somewhere in the middle where they didn't really commit to gritty or classical, instead it came off a bit flat with some annoying cheesy parts in there that just didn't need to be.

Decent film to see but it could of been way better, I can see why Daniel Craig wouldn't be interested in continuing after that experience.

 

Now you see me 2 trailer is out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InqU8CLwbPg

 

I don't know. Personally, I didn't enjoy the first movie that much, so I'm not too excited for this one. Probably won't go watch it in the cinema either

 

Anyone here seen Mockingjay part 2 yet? Was thinking of going to see it.

 

If you are a big fan, you'll enjoy it. If you are more so of a casual goer, it may feel slow paced and even dragged out at points. Some people are overhypeing it but, still, there is some nice acting.


When will we stop dividing movies that do not need to be divided into parts? The only ones I remember working were Deathly Hallows

 

Mockingjay Part 2 was decent. Not bad, but not great either.

The action scenes were actually pretty good. The acting was well-done too, especially for Peeta (surprisingly). The conclusion, however, was weak and unsatisfying, especially for an ending of a series.

The pacing was horrible, of course. There was way too much filler. But you should have expected that already

Overall, it was enjoyable, and I had some fun watching it, but definitely not worth the hype. Probably won't watch it again either. My advice is to not go in with high expectations, or it’ll likely be a disappointment.


As for dividing up movies: IMO, even the Deathly Hallows didn't do it well. I mean, I get that it had to be done (due to the amount of plot and all), but still, Part 1 suffered badly because of it.

 

There is really no difference between any of those movies in the young adult franchises that are split into two and earlier installments that aren't split. It has jack shit to do with plot, it's all about the money baby. Milk it for all you can.

Not saying they don't need to be split, but plot isn't the motivator here.

 

I got dragged to Creed last night by some family that are still in town from Thanksgiving. I didn't expect it to be good, but it's still going through my mind the next day. It's kinda a sequel to the Rocky series, and definitely related to it, but it stands alone perfectly well; no Rocky knowledge necessary. If you do count it as a Rocky movie, it might be the best since Rocky II or even Rocky. It's really compelling, and well acted by all the major parts.