Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
The end of EON's reign.
Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
No Craig no black bond no gay Bond Just Estonian Upper crust patriotic killer for Queen and Country
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
My wife and I took the grandkids to see The Peanuts movie early today. But I snuck in to see Spectre. Not surprisingly, the theater was crowded, mostly for the new releases this week. My wife said the auditorium for The Peanuts movie was packed. I did see a lot of kids with their parents and guardians flocking into that auditorium. Spectre, though, was thin. I'd say about 15 people for a 12 noon showing. I happen to know the theater manager and he said the film is certainly dropping with viewers.
As for the film, I've decided it's not the worst in the series, as a number of critics have said. That honor still belongs to QOS--worst as in just a sheer horrendous spectacle. Skyfall, on the other hand, is bad, as in completely derogatory for the series, considering that, 50 years after Connery and Terrence Young established the machismo hero, Mendes/Craig/Eon degraded Bond into a character with gay leanings. For Spectre, I'd say it's the gayest (and I'm borrowing an expression from a gay relative who now kids me about the series since he knows I'm a Bond fan). What I mean is, gay as in extremely corny. You'd think Mendes was trying to get into the spirit of The Brady Bunch or something. Ralph Fiennes' M is like the daddy now, and Bond's siblings are Q and Moneypenny. Of course, there's the bad brother, Ernst or Franz or whatever he's called.
Yes, the allusions to old Bond moments/scenes are plentiful. But you get this feeling that the allusions are an excuse for lack of ideas and a lack of a solid script. The entire film has a slapdash feel. The plot is straight from the last Mission Impossible film, and there are so many illogical events. One that comes to mind is that C argues to M that field agents like Bond are obsolete dinosaurs in the computer age, but M defends his agents. Ironically, C's argument is the same one that M (Ralph Fiennes) said to the old M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall.
Craig looks really old. Mendes and Broccoli must have struggled with him to deliver the Moore-esque quips because he certainly doesn't look like he's enjoying those moments. There are only a few, really. Craig simply can't deliver that style. He's too awkward. But all these negative things I noticed are nothing compared to the worst crime of this film. I'm talking about the Blofeld/foster brother angle. First of all, Waltz doesn't really have a lot of screen time. By the time we get to the revelation, the whole thing feels forced. And when he does explain he's the old foster brother, the people seated in front of me actually complained, saying something like, "Oh yeah, right. That's stupid." The Bond films of the past had at least an alarming sense in their stories; that there is something terribly horrible about to happen to the world. They also delved into the current events of the time: the Cold War, Afghan insurgency against the Soviets, post-Soviet Russia, etc. In Spectre, Bond's world basically shrinks to the point where the British government is devoted to capturing a villain whose only motivation is to seek revenge on foster bro Bond out of pure jealousy because he (Bond) got more affection from daddy Oberhauser. For this cry baby, he sets up a crime syndicate, builds desert lairs, and blows up MI6 headquarters. It's corny.
One other thing I noticed in terms of audience reaction: when the credits rolled and people were leaving the auditorium, I heard the lady in front of me say to her husband, "Why does he [Craig's Bond] drive away with the girl? I thought they set him up to be gay in that last one?"
All in all, Spectre puts the series in a dire mess. It's a confused, garbled film that reeks of desperation. I can understand why the word of mouth hasn't been stellar.
As for the film, I've decided it's not the worst in the series, as a number of critics have said. That honor still belongs to QOS--worst as in just a sheer horrendous spectacle. Skyfall, on the other hand, is bad, as in completely derogatory for the series, considering that, 50 years after Connery and Terrence Young established the machismo hero, Mendes/Craig/Eon degraded Bond into a character with gay leanings. For Spectre, I'd say it's the gayest (and I'm borrowing an expression from a gay relative who now kids me about the series since he knows I'm a Bond fan). What I mean is, gay as in extremely corny. You'd think Mendes was trying to get into the spirit of The Brady Bunch or something. Ralph Fiennes' M is like the daddy now, and Bond's siblings are Q and Moneypenny. Of course, there's the bad brother, Ernst or Franz or whatever he's called.
Yes, the allusions to old Bond moments/scenes are plentiful. But you get this feeling that the allusions are an excuse for lack of ideas and a lack of a solid script. The entire film has a slapdash feel. The plot is straight from the last Mission Impossible film, and there are so many illogical events. One that comes to mind is that C argues to M that field agents like Bond are obsolete dinosaurs in the computer age, but M defends his agents. Ironically, C's argument is the same one that M (Ralph Fiennes) said to the old M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall.
Craig looks really old. Mendes and Broccoli must have struggled with him to deliver the Moore-esque quips because he certainly doesn't look like he's enjoying those moments. There are only a few, really. Craig simply can't deliver that style. He's too awkward. But all these negative things I noticed are nothing compared to the worst crime of this film. I'm talking about the Blofeld/foster brother angle. First of all, Waltz doesn't really have a lot of screen time. By the time we get to the revelation, the whole thing feels forced. And when he does explain he's the old foster brother, the people seated in front of me actually complained, saying something like, "Oh yeah, right. That's stupid." The Bond films of the past had at least an alarming sense in their stories; that there is something terribly horrible about to happen to the world. They also delved into the current events of the time: the Cold War, Afghan insurgency against the Soviets, post-Soviet Russia, etc. In Spectre, Bond's world basically shrinks to the point where the British government is devoted to capturing a villain whose only motivation is to seek revenge on foster bro Bond out of pure jealousy because he (Bond) got more affection from daddy Oberhauser. For this cry baby, he sets up a crime syndicate, builds desert lairs, and blows up MI6 headquarters. It's corny.
One other thing I noticed in terms of audience reaction: when the credits rolled and people were leaving the auditorium, I heard the lady in front of me say to her husband, "Why does he [Craig's Bond] drive away with the girl? I thought they set him up to be gay in that last one?"
All in all, Spectre puts the series in a dire mess. It's a confused, garbled film that reeks of desperation. I can understand why the word of mouth hasn't been stellar.
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Craig does look really old. The q meeting where he ask him to find out about the ring or whatever he look like crap and very old despite all the facial treatments, cgi and filters . There is Avery good reason the cgi the hell out of his face in the posters if they'd use a clip from the movie it be like who is this old guy
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
The other thing I noticed in the film was the product placement for The Guardian newspaper. There's a scene near the beginning where M is chastising Craig's Bond for running off to Mexico City, and the ensuing chaos (as M points out) has hit the news wires. Right on his desk was a copy of The Guardian and its front page had a headline about the Mexico City incident. This explains why this paper gave Spectre such a glowing review.Omega wrote:Craig does look really old. The q meeting where he ask him to find out about the ring or whatever he look like crap and very old despite all the facial treatments, cgi and filters . There is Avery good reason the cgi the hell out of his face in the posters if they'd use a clip from the movie it be like who is this old guy
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
I think they simply cashed a check to all prestigious newspapers to ensure their reviews will be full of praise for the crappy movie.
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
I think Danny will be playing Bond in his 60s. A sad thought.Omega wrote:Craig does look really old. The q meeting where he ask him to find out about the ring or whatever he look like crap and very old despite all the facial treatments, cgi and filters . There is Avery good reason the cgi the hell out of his face in the posters if they'd use a clip from the movie it be like who is this old guy
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
New poster here, signed up because obviously I am not a Craig as Bond fan but still a Bond fan. Some good reviews on here, I saw Spectre last night, and the one thing I came away thinking was that I hadn't seen a Bond film, I had seen a film trying to be a James Bond film. It tried it's best, they had used as many Bond cliche ingredients as they could but it like an amateur chef trying to cook a top meal, sometimes you can use all the ingredients but it just doesn't make a great meal, it's the chefs skills that do that.
It was entertaining in parts, but I felt like I was watching a drama on BBC1 than a Bond film, and what's with this obsession of mind games and psychology with the Bond villain?, it was so repetitive and went on far too long, in the end I actually didn't care whether Bond died or not and I can't say I've felt that about any previous Bond.
Craig just doesn't have whats needed to play Bond, never has done and never will have, all the previous Bonds brought something of themselves to the role and even the more reserved Timothy Dalton had more character than Craig. There is a coldness to Craig, and yes he got some credit for being a more believable cold killer but for me James Bond is not about being 100% believable, because that becomes boring. I can and have watched the Bond films of the 60', 70, 80, even Brosnan's countless times because they are enjoyable and memorable (most of them). I don't think I will ever sit down and watch Skyfall or Spectre numerous times.
I do think that the Bond films are really at an end, I can't see where they go from here, the last few films have squeezed every last cliche into them in a desperation to keep Bond going but for me it's tiresome.
The last scene in Spectre where the DB5 was once again brought out just was tediously predictable, and again it's like using it just to reaffirm that this is a Bond film. The DB5 was missing from loads of films from the Moore - Dalton era and it didn't matter but all those films didn't need to rely on previous Bond cliches to make them good films. They did that on their own merit.
The last hour of the film last night I was looking at my watch, in pre Craig era I have never done that with the exception of Die Another day, which lost it for me.
To sum up the Craig as Bond , all the previous actors who played Bond were Bond, Craig is just playing the part of Bond.
It was entertaining in parts, but I felt like I was watching a drama on BBC1 than a Bond film, and what's with this obsession of mind games and psychology with the Bond villain?, it was so repetitive and went on far too long, in the end I actually didn't care whether Bond died or not and I can't say I've felt that about any previous Bond.
Craig just doesn't have whats needed to play Bond, never has done and never will have, all the previous Bonds brought something of themselves to the role and even the more reserved Timothy Dalton had more character than Craig. There is a coldness to Craig, and yes he got some credit for being a more believable cold killer but for me James Bond is not about being 100% believable, because that becomes boring. I can and have watched the Bond films of the 60', 70, 80, even Brosnan's countless times because they are enjoyable and memorable (most of them). I don't think I will ever sit down and watch Skyfall or Spectre numerous times.
I do think that the Bond films are really at an end, I can't see where they go from here, the last few films have squeezed every last cliche into them in a desperation to keep Bond going but for me it's tiresome.
The last scene in Spectre where the DB5 was once again brought out just was tediously predictable, and again it's like using it just to reaffirm that this is a Bond film. The DB5 was missing from loads of films from the Moore - Dalton era and it didn't matter but all those films didn't need to rely on previous Bond cliches to make them good films. They did that on their own merit.
The last hour of the film last night I was looking at my watch, in pre Craig era I have never done that with the exception of Die Another day, which lost it for me.
To sum up the Craig as Bond , all the previous actors who played Bond were Bond, Craig is just playing the part of Bond.
Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Welcome, ClassicBondfan
"He's the one that doesn't smile" - Queen Elizabeth II on Daniel Craig
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Welcome ClassicBondfan!
"Those were the days when we still associated Bond with suave, old school actors such as Sean Connery and Roger Moore,"
"Daniel didn't have a hint of suave about him," - Patsy Palmer
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Welcome ClassicBondfan!
- bjmdds
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Hello CBF. You have found a home
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
Saw this on a Q&A forum and just had to share:
Christoph Waltz plays Blofeld is actually James Bond's real brother?
Well, foster brother. Although even that's really pushing the limits of silliness. When your protagonist/antagonist's relationship is the same as Austin Powers 3 you know something has gone horribly wrong.
"Dalton makes an effective Bond - lacking Sean Connery's grace and humor, and Roger Moore's suave self-mockery, but with a lean tension and a toughness that is possibly more contemporary" - Roger Ebert
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Re: Your SPECTRE reviews (spoilers)
They borrowed elemnt from parody movie for this "dark","serious","realistic" film. Is EON aware of that?Kiwichris wrote:Saw this on a Q&A forum and just had to share:
Christoph Waltz plays Blofeld is actually James Bond's real brother?Well, foster brother. Although even that's really pushing the limits of silliness. When your protagonist/antagonist's relationship is the same as Austin Powers 3 you know something has gone horribly wrong.