Posted on 02/25/2013 10:55:27 AM PST by Perdogg
On Saturday evening I sat down to watch Skyfall, which has just been released on DVD. And I did so with a little bit of patriotic pride in my heart. Here was a British film, with a true British hero, to give those swaggering Yank blockbusters a run for their money. OK, it may have been snubbed by "The Academy", I thought, but we all know why.
• WARNING: if you haven't seen Skyfall, this piece contains some spoilers
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
ping
This guy misses the point - the movie was intended to reprise a bunch of scenes from other Bond movies on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the franchise.
But the song won and while Adelle gives it a good go I don’t think the song amounts to much. Imho.
The theme song was the most forgettable Bond music ever! I can’t believe it won an Academy award.
Of all the films in the Oscars this year the only two I’ve seen were Brave and Skyfall.
Liked them both - not interested in the rest.
But for free, "Skyfall" is worth it.
Wow, I keep reading about the "plot". After I watched this thing, my reaction was: "It was okay; but, I actually like a little plot in my movies." Lots of action, little purpose.
Subtract the matter of choice (a) mentioned in the article, the Bourne Identity rip-off (and is it not worthwhile to know how a nearly-dead guy who falls 200 feet into a raging river survives?), and the half-hour ending ripped off from 2007’s “Shooter”, and there’s not enough of a movie left to nominate for anything.
IMO, it doesn’t seem to matter whether a film is produced in Hollyweird or Britain or just about anywhere else (the sole possible exception being Hong Kong for a Jackie Chan flick!), they’re all pretty much crapola.
In addition, there is little imagination left in filmland. Where actual storytelling and acting used to occur, we now get either CG or gratuitous explosions, nudity and F-bombs. Re-makes of some of Hollyweird’s most notable and successful initial releases typically end up as massive flops because they are so badly done (and include too much of the aforementioned CG, gratuitous explosions, nudity and F-bombs).
I haven’t been to an over-priced movie multiplex in decades because of all of this and it appears that I am not missing anything. Movie night at my house generally involves running something from the 30s through the early 70s when movie makers knew how to tell a story and keep the audience involved.
So, I take great comfort in knowing that I am saving the $10 - $12 ticket price plus the overpriced concessions to be surrounded by rude people talking on their phones, receiving and sending texts, children playing throughout the movie multiplex so that I can walk out on a dreadful, dreck filled snorefest!
“We enjoyed the action but agreed that the plot was too far-fetched”
As compared to all of the other Bond movies that were scrupulously realistic? Forgive me, which ones were they?
The movie was a different look into the result of a Double-O always being on the edge. Worn out, discredited and struggling to get back to something normal life wouldn’t allow. Age is getting old and with it diminuation of former physical abilities.
Bond showed that determination and will can still overcome, but there is a price. M was one of them.
Overall, I was let down by the movie, but could readily sympathize about getting older and less capable in some respects.
The end was a little heartening where he meets the new Moneypenny and his new boss, but it wasn’t as good as many have said.
It seemed to be a setup for the new Bond era...one more Connery-like, with a more traditional “M”, and the return of Moneypenny.
I guess we’ll have to see if they follow through on the next one. The one thing I liked is him getting shortchanged by the new Q (a dork, if you aks me) on gadgets, then Bond having to go back and pull out an Astin Martin where I presume he’d squirreled it away(looked like the one I saw in 64 in Goldfinger)...cool...
Wrong! The worst Bond music was Madonna’s whatever-it-was.
Exactly. Point well made.
Thought Skyfall was AWFUL!
The next one will have Fiennes as M, a nerdy milk toast for Q and a sluty, skinny ho-hum actress as Moneypenny...
If there’s a next one, I’ll pass.....
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the song was great.
You should RUN to see Zero Dark Thirty and Argo! Also while you are at it, see Identity Theft...won’t win an Oscar but dang it is funny.
Skyfall was spectacular. . .it killed off Dame Lady Dench.
In my opinion, ever since she entered the franchise the movies have been about her more than Bond. Someone trying to get revenge, someone trying to bump her off, Dench mad at Bond and disavowing him, Dench mad at Bond ordering him arrested, Dench mad at Bond for womanizing, Dench mad at Bond for being too public, Dench the woman in what has traditionally been a man’s role, wash, rinse, repeat. Oh yeah, Bond also was in the films but primarily as that sexist foil to Dench.
The plots have been absent and the movies have been more like a set up for a PlayStation or XBox game. Give me some story and get Bond a damn sense of humor. As much as Roger Moore’s Bond was too “stand up comedian” at least those movies had a story to them and at least Bond was more than just a cylon.
With one caveat, don’t think Argo is a representation of what really happened. Enjoy it for the entertainment value.
Entertainment only for sure. I never take movies seriously. I think some FREEPERS do but I never do. Hollywood is make believe and if people would recognize that, I think they would feel better.
I learned to drive in a Defender pick-up (the vehicle driven by the black girl in the start of the movie) many years ago.
So it was a bit of memory lane for me.
Also, the most unbelievable thing about the movie was said Defender chasing anything in traffic. I think 0-60 is like a minute.
That said, a drunk arab hit me in a Datsun pickup going 70 when I was 17 or so. He died. It didn’t dent my steel tube bumper.
Prissy Boy is a Poosy Galore.
The film is escapism and a managerie of Bond over the last 50 years.
Kewel Super Spy with a an English Accent that every man wants to be? Check. It’s Bond Baby!(No one wants to be Hugh Grant or Pierce Morgan)
Great watch? Want!
Hot Chick? We wish.
Getting it on with Hot Chick? We day dream about it.
fight scenes! Check!
Kewel Car! Yay, Crazy Kewel!
A bit contrived? Sure but, I’d still love to live the Bond life.
Great cars, hot women, Martini’s; What’s not to love?
Oh!
And for those men interested in Bond history you should rent:
Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007
Everything Or Nothing focuses on three men with a shared dream Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman and author Ian Fleming. Its the thrilling and inspiring narrative behind the longest running film franchise in cinema history which began in 1962. With unprecedented access both to the key players involved and to Eon Productions extensive archive, this is the first time the inside story of the franchise has ever been told on screen in this way. Director Stevan Riley follows a story that begins with a ground-breaking spy thriller and continues six Bonds and five decades later. While Bond was saving the world from chaos and catastrophe on screen, this compelling documentary draws back the curtain to reveal the battles, threats and real stakes unfolding behind the camera.
You will learn a lot about Bond and Ian Fleming you never knew.
Netflix and it’s free!
With that said, I didn't actually find Skyfall all that entertaining. I don't know why, but nothing was really compelling about the story or his nemesis. I mean an egotistical hacker, please!
And best of all, she conveniently dies later in the movie.
Yep.
Talked too much.
Girls! Girls! It’s a joke!
maybe....not really...
Marriage wasn’t going to work anyway.
his nemesis
I loved Skyfall, but I never really considered it to be Oscar material. Its a great action flick, but its just not in the same league artistically as a serious piece of Cinema like ‘Lincoln’, for which Daniel Day Lewis won a very well deserved Oscar.
**Please add me to your Bond Ping List** Thanks!
I loved Skyfall.
So happy for Adele and the two sound editing persons who won Oscars.
She’s Gorgeous...
No, he has not.
Rubbish.
There are many excellent films made across the world. And we British still make fine films, thank you. Maybe America dosent (actually it does, despite the usual blockbuster rubbish), but we do.
The best films I have seen in recent years have been French, Swedish, Finnish, German, Brazilian, Japanese, Chinese, S African and Korean, as well as British, American and Irish.
A-ha's "The Living Daylights" was much worse. It was embarrassing.
I read in John Taylor's book (Duran Duran's bassist whose autobio just came out) about the hurdles that DD had to go through to work with John Barry in order to make the theme song for "A View to a Kill" a reality -- Barry HATED the band and it was only after an intervention by Barb Broccoli that Barry and Cubby Broccoli were able to agree and work with them.
This one was far more about the characters in question than any overarching plot. You have Bond and M’s former pet agent, both of whom have been screwed over by her. How they deal with it is central to the film. This theme was briefly explored in “Casino Royale,” but here it WAS the film.
The song was OK, I suppose. I thought “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” had much better songs, but I know they were going for an old school sound with this being the 50th anniversary and all.
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