padiyark

Casino Royale was definitely the Bond film that made Bond interesting again. Great plot, some awesome action scenes, and actors who chew up the scenery, and a back to the basics Bond. Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace went south, but I thought that there was room for recovery. Unfortunately, did not see Skyfall, but got an idea of what happened.

That leads us to Spectre. I will cut to the chase: this is reminiscent of the loony Roger Moore Bond films, but with more crazy action scenes, and a plot akin to Moonraker. While there are some great performances from the supporting cast like Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Ben Whishaw, and even Andrew Scott, the main cast is half-baked at best. Daniel Craig looks tired of playing Bond, while Lea Seydoux is more eye candy, and doesn't add any substance to the film. Waltz as Blofeld basically is a different version of Hans Landa from "Inglorious Basterds". Plotwise, it basically is Bond infiltrating Spectre. The relationship between Bond and Blofeld starts out interestingly enough, but instead of fleshing it out, it is left to languish. Coupled with continued appearances from the mean looking David Bautista (who is a mix of Odd Job and Jaws), this Bond film basically languishes into obscurity. Beautiful scenery, and lots of action, but very silly at points. You can check it out if you want to waste some time, but I will leave my good memories with Casino Royale.

If you have seen a Bollywood film, you know most are all flash with very little substance. Unfortunately, I would have taken one of those over this rubbish.

I picked it up on the great reviews I had heard, and watched it in Blu-Ray. When the beginning credits start rolling, when I saw that China TV and Alibaba were financing this, I had a hunch this was going to be bad.

Without giving too much away, this is a Tom Cruise love fest, with a rehash of old stories. Once again, IMF is in trouble, but this time from the Feds for funding and incorporation into the CIA. All because one agent (Ethan Hunt) believes in the "Syndicate" and there is collateral damage. Hey, this is like the first movie when he gets "NOC"'ed off and has to prove himself innocent. Action is always with a suit that somehow can weather the worst of conditions (off an airplane, bombing, fights, desert, etc.). The bad guy somehow has the unique insight to be indefeasible until Hunt is able to use some plot that appears to be hatched out of a Shamylan picture. Plot is pretty much a skeleton of the last few MI films, with some "twists" (which are pretty lame) in between. The supporting cast is basically there to give either humor (Pegg), crazy technical assistance (Rhames), glam (Ferguson), or just a warm body (Renner). Man, I could have used a few musical numbers with Cruise and Ferguson in some outlandish outfits with backup dancers to spice this movie up!

That being said, the action scenes are kind of cool if you watch them in a vacuum. In context to the plot, they become tiresome; either they drag too long, or they fail in the sense of "Everyone else is deaf, dumb and blind". I would rather watch Jackie Chan fight scenes from his worst movies; at least I know he is taking a beating for real, they work in context of the film, and he can make it look good.

While I understand that the MI films are what Tom Cruise can bank on for a check, it gets pretty stale when comparing the MI show of the 60s. The TV show at least had everyone participating in a pivotal role to carry out their mission. It never was about Phelps, Collier, Hand, or Armitage; they all worked together to make the mission work. Tom's MI film are him doing the dirty job so he gets the glory.

Old Tom is getting up there in age, and it really shows in this film. He needs to let some more talented actors (not just one, but 3-4) take the reigns of the franchise and just produce it. Grow up Tom. Even Burt Lancaster knew when to hang up the action movies.

Don't waste your $1.50 rental on this film ($1 on DVD)

Being a non-Brit, I had seen this on Netflix as a recommendation, and as Tom Hardy was in it and directed by Nicholas Refn, I had to check it out.

I was definitely not disappointed. First, this is Tom Hardy's vehicle, and he chews up every scene to the max, while relishing the subtleties of the role. He plays Bronson as a violent simpleton; a relatively nice bloke, but always raring for a fight for petty reasons; along the way, his portrayal of Bronson is one where the character is expresses himself as a (literal) fighter, despite trying other outlets. Some of the scenes are hilarious and thoroughly off the wall.

I highly recommend the film for anyone who wants a film that is totally off the wall, while maintaining a sense of humor. While it would be easy to compare to "Fight Club", this tends to stick with a more realistic scenario, while still managing to entertain.