The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[Goldeneye]

This review is a bit critical of Skyfall. The reviewer says Craig looks like a garden gnome!!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a1a00f38-1e8d ... z2ALxk4WSc

First reviewer to say Craig looks like a garden gnome.

Oh, that's not right.Those poor garden gnomes, what did they ever do to us? Totally It's unfair too, Gnomes are taller and more youthful

Skyfall reviews/discussion with spoilers is open in a global thread, sort of a place for those who do see it to discuss it in detail with out worrying about spoilers.

Not that we would stop any of you from spoiling it wherever and whenever you find the chance.

[shaken not stirred]

When I did My driving lesson yesterday My driving instructor (who's a big fan of adele) said her skyfall song was rubbish, awful, depressing and only a good song to fall asleep to (so sums up the whole dc bond era so far then ).

If you're struggling to sleep, if night nurse doesn't work, hypnotherapy then your doctor suggests listen to skyfall, watch cr, qos and you'll forget what you were doing and have a good nights sleep.

Skyfall: now more effective than counting sheep, watch now and recieve your own james gnome (sorry james bond) and get a free garden gnome.

Considering craig looks like a garden gnome going from one review shouldn't the film been called gnomefall instead, unless dc remakes the first bond film and renames it doctor gnome , causing the rest of the series to be renamed, from russia with gnome, gnomefinger, you only gnome twice, on her gnomes secret service, gnomes are forever, never say gnome again, thundergnome, live and let gnome, the gnome who loved me, gnomopussy, gnomeraker, the gnome with the golden gun, gnome to a kill, the living gnomelights, licensed to gnome and the later classics such as goldengnome, tomorrow never gnomes, the gnome is not enough, gnome another day to casino gnomal and gnome of solace.

The name's gnome (screen zooms in).....garden gnome: licensed to sit near a pond and ...

[bjmdds]

Skyfall falls prey to a common failing of many 50th birthday bashes: it allows sentimentality to cloud its judgment and loosen its tongue. In so doing, it risks blowing James Bond's cover for good... By this point, the makers of Skyfall have taken the bold decision to open Bond up – to probe at the character's back-story and raise a toast to his relationship with M. Yet this touchy-feely indulgence proves to be a mistake, in that it paves the path to soft-headedness, nostalgia and (worst of all) jokey banter with Bond's bearded old retainer. Don't they realise that 007 has always been at his most convincing when he's at his crudest and least adorned; when he's serving as a blank canvas for macho fantasy; the dark angel of our disreputable natures? At one stage, fighting to keep her job before a parliamentary select committee, M refers to Bond as a necessary evil: a creature in the shadows fighting creatures in the shadows. Far better to leave him there, with all guns blazing and the lights turned low.
(Xan Brooks, Guardian)
Shame it's all just a little bit dull and derivative… a piecemeal admixture of wincing plot-contrivances, dull locations, undernourished motivations and a soporific, cripplingly over-extended finale.
(Adam Lee Davies, Little White Lies)

[bjmdds]

"It's all set up for a big finale, with Bond playing Galahad to his old boss and reuniting with an aged retainer somewhere on a moor in Scotland. Unfortunately, it turns out to be the least successful part of the movie, not merely because it's overlong but because it tries to situate Bond as a man in touch with his feelings, as son and heir, almost "one of us". Next thing you know he'll be stopping his glottals and claiming he's a straight kinda guy. The film-makers should beware of this. I don't want Bond with a back story, I want him to be a man alone, dark, self-possessed, egregious – literally, "outside the flock". Craig may not be able to offer much in the way of charm or humour, but he knows how to hang tough."ANTHONY QUINN FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 2012 (This sounds like the battle for Hogwarts ending.)

[bjmdds]

"However, one element of Skyfall that has received mixed reviews is the theme song, a track that was billed for months as being so great it would go to number one quicker than a dapperly-clad man in an Aston Martin DB-5 chasing after an international terrorist. Sadly however some fans have been underwhelmed by the song, similar to how they might feel if in the new movie Bond acted like he was going to sleep with the attractive Russian spy-lady but instead decided to stay in and read a chapter of Fifty Shades of Grey.

So what is wrong with the song? Not a lot to be honest. It’s just that after months of hype and people talking about the “best Bond soundtrack ever” being sung by “our national treasure” Adele, we’ve now been given a song that’s lyrics sound like they were written by school kid. Not only does Adele sing the word “skyfall” fourteen billion times, which is an exact figure because I counted them all, she also rhymes the words “falls” and “crumbles”, which is only possible to do if you are singing in the accent of an Italian-American gangster."

[Goldeneye]

New RT rotten review!

http://www.danielcraigisnotbond.com/for ... =74&t=3365

[Omega]

My OHMSS blu-ray arrived today, it has a free skyfall movie ticket sticker. Spider-man is coming out November 9th what are the chances it'll have free tickets to skyfall? if it does it could get tickets in millions of hands that could make a difference in the opening BO but then it is late in the game to flood the market with tickets. Spider-man is out the same day as skyfall I don't think it is a coincidence.

[Kristatos]

Daniel Craig is John Wilkes Booth in....

[bjmdds]

My OHMSS blu-ray arrived today, it has a free skyfall movie ticket sticker. Spider-man is coming out November 9th what are the chances it'll have free tickets to skyfall? if it does it could get tickets in millions of hands that could make a difference in the opening BO but then it is late in the game to flood the market with tickets. Spider-man is out the same day as skyfall I don't think it is a coincidence.

Then the box office take is bogus and falsely inflated. People won't rush back to spend money on a depressing plot.

[James]

The first Ain't It Cool Review and it's pretty negative.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59316

By the way, check out what this poster said in the thread below it:

Just saw it and really, critics need to calm down. I think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations hadn't been raised by so many hyperbolic reviews. SKYFALL is, IMHO, just ok. Best Bond ever? Whoever wrote that needs to go back and watch the series again. CASINO ROYALE remains, for me, quite easily the best Craig outing. I'd give SKYFALL 6 out of 10 - it's bloated and an uneasy mixture of new-style dark, angsty Bond, and old-style explosions, corny quips and cartoony villains. For me Bardem is too over-the-top here, his villain comes over as a joke despite his reputation. His cartoonishness detracts from his menace. He was scarier by far in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I enjoyed the film but feel it could have been better. Action sequences were nothing we hadn't seen before (though to be fair, to do anything new and keep any semblance of realism at this point in cinema history must be exceedingly difficult) and I never experienced the rush of adrenalin I did watching, say, the pre-credit sequence from CASINO ROYALE. The prologue in SKYFALL is probably the best action sequence in the film but it didn't leave me gasping. At times I missed the BOURNE/QUANTUM OF SOLACE shakey cam! Say what you will about that technique but when handled right it can be very effective. Craig is good, though I wonder how many more outings he can pull off - he's looking increasingly worn out. Anyway, next time I will avoid critics - and trailers, this movie was heavily spoilt by the trailers they made for it - and go in blind. I predict a bit of a backlash on this one, when the dust settles. It's fun - just don't believe the hype!

[The Saint 007]

As I've said before, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. There's no such thing as a perfect Bond film. To say that Skyfall is the best film in the entire Bond series is a pretty bold statement, which is why no one should take all this early critical hype seriously. Every new Bond film that comes along is usually claimed to be the biggest and best one ever, and it's pretty much been like that since the beginning. I think Skyfall is being overly hyped up because of the 50th anniversary, and to try to win back all the skeptical people who were greatly disappointed by Quantum Of Solace. Expect to see more negative reviews come in from people who fell for the hype.

[bjmdds]

Sweeney just left the theatre. He had a 5:00pm ticket. I would bet he said he LIKED it, but it was NOT as good as CR to him as well. IF IF IF Sweeney feels that way, oh baby.

[bjmdds]

The first Ain't It Cool Review and it's pretty negative.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59316

By the way, check out what this poster said in the thread below it:

Just saw it and really, critics need to calm down. I think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations hadn't been raised by so many hyperbolic reviews. SKYFALL is, IMHO, just ok. Best Bond ever? Whoever wrote that needs to go back and watch the series again. CASINO ROYALE remains, for me, quite easily the best Craig outing. I'd give SKYFALL 6 out of 10 - it's bloated and an uneasy mixture of new-style dark, angsty Bond, and old-style explosions, corny quips and cartoony villains. For me Bardem is too over-the-top here, his villain comes over as a joke despite his reputation. His cartoonishness detracts from his menace. He was scarier by far in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I enjoyed the film but feel it could have been better. Action sequences were nothing we hadn't seen before (though to be fair, to do anything new and keep any semblance of realism at this point in cinema history must be exceedingly difficult) and I never experienced the rush of adrenalin I did watching, say, the pre-credit sequence from CASINO ROYALE. The prologue in SKYFALL is probably the best action sequence in the film but it didn't leave me gasping. At times I missed the BOURNE/QUANTUM OF SOLACE shakey cam! Say what you will about that technique but when handled right it can be very effective. Craig is good, though I wonder how many more outings he can pull off - he's looking increasingly worn out. Anyway, next time I will avoid critics - and trailers, this movie was heavily spoilt by the trailers they made for it - and go in blind. I predict a bit of a backlash on this one, when the dust settles. It's fun - just don't believe the hype!

The best line in the review was "there were points where the film felt like a low budget BBC spy drama." FBF, the avatars might have to return to normalcy after all. What say yee?

[FormerBondFan]

The first Ain't It Cool Review and it's pretty negative.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59316

By the way, check out what this poster said in the thread below it:

Just saw it and really, critics need to calm down. I think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations hadn't been raised by so many hyperbolic reviews. SKYFALL is, IMHO, just ok. Best Bond ever? Whoever wrote that needs to go back and watch the series again. CASINO ROYALE remains, for me, quite easily the best Craig outing. I'd give SKYFALL 6 out of 10 - it's bloated and an uneasy mixture of new-style dark, angsty Bond, and old-style explosions, corny quips and cartoony villains. For me Bardem is too over-the-top here, his villain comes over as a joke despite his reputation. His cartoonishness detracts from his menace. He was scarier by far in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I enjoyed the film but feel it could have been better. Action sequences were nothing we hadn't seen before (though to be fair, to do anything new and keep any semblance of realism at this point in cinema history must be exceedingly difficult) and I never experienced the rush of adrenalin I did watching, say, the pre-credit sequence from CASINO ROYALE. The prologue in SKYFALL is probably the best action sequence in the film but it didn't leave me gasping. At times I missed the BOURNE/QUANTUM OF SOLACE shakey cam! Say what you will about that technique but when handled right it can be very effective. Craig is good, though I wonder how many more outings he can pull off - he's looking increasingly worn out. Anyway, next time I will avoid critics - and trailers, this movie was heavily spoilt by the trailers they made for it - and go in blind. I predict a bit of a backlash on this one, when the dust settles. It's fun - just don't believe the hype!

The best line in the review was "there were points where the film felt like a low budget BBC spy drama." FBF, the avatars might have to return to normalcy after all. What say yee?

As long as Bond 23 falls short of CR's worldwide numbers and QOS's US numbers as well as receiving no nomination(s) from big American movie awards, we will return to normal avatars.

[Dr. No]

The first Ain't It Cool Review and it's pretty negative.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59316

By the way, check out what this poster said in the thread below it:

Just saw it and really, critics need to calm down. I think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations hadn't been raised by so many hyperbolic reviews. SKYFALL is, IMHO, just ok. Best Bond ever? Whoever wrote that needs to go back and watch the series again. CASINO ROYALE remains, for me, quite easily the best Craig outing. I'd give SKYFALL 6 out of 10 - it's bloated and an uneasy mixture of new-style dark, angsty Bond, and old-style explosions, corny quips and cartoony villains. For me Bardem is too over-the-top here, his villain comes over as a joke despite his reputation. His cartoonishness detracts from his menace. He was scarier by far in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I enjoyed the film but feel it could have been better. Action sequences were nothing we hadn't seen before (though to be fair, to do anything new and keep any semblance of realism at this point in cinema history must be exceedingly difficult) and I never experienced the rush of adrenalin I did watching, say, the pre-credit sequence from CASINO ROYALE. The prologue in SKYFALL is probably the best action sequence in the film but it didn't leave me gasping. At times I missed the BOURNE/QUANTUM OF SOLACE shakey cam! Say what you will about that technique but when handled right it can be very effective. Craig is good, though I wonder how many more outings he can pull off - he's looking increasingly worn out. Anyway, next time I will avoid critics - and trailers, this movie was heavily spoilt by the trailers they made for it - and go in blind. I predict a bit of a backlash on this one, when the dust settles. It's fun - just don't believe the hype!

Poor Sweeny is probably just setting down after getting took at the concessions stand for a bucket of popcorn and two sodas is now about to get took by EON Kidding sween

[Dr. No]

Why didn't any one tell me we have so many cool Dr no avatars!?!?

[Dr. No]

A proud moment!!

For those of you with a SKY Movies subscription it’s a pretty good time to be a Bond fan especially if you have HD. A couple of days ago, I was sat on the sofa finishing off some work whilst casually watching Moonraker. My oldest girl (2 and a half) came in, sat down beside me and started watching it. Normally she would just ask for ‘Toy Story’ or ‘Finding Nemo’ but instead she was transfixed to the screen. I informed her that that the character on screen was James Bond. Later on that evening (following bath time) she openly asked for Bond again in preference to anything else.

Now that's something. Handy Manny lost out to Bond what a day .

[Alessandra]

A proud moment!!

For those of you with a SKY Movies subscription it’s a pretty good time to be a Bond fan especially if you have HD. A couple of days ago, I was sat on the sofa finishing off some work whilst casually watching Moonraker. My oldest girl (2 and a half) came in, sat down beside me and started watching it. Normally she would just ask for ‘Toy Story’ or ‘Finding Nemo’ but instead she was transfixed to the screen. I informed her that that the character on screen was James Bond. Later on that evening (following bath time) she openly asked for Bond again in preference to anything else.

Sorry to have missed you and your post, Skywalker, I never seem to be able to have conversation with you

I was two when I first saw James Bond (Goldfinger) as my parents were both fans... and I declared him one of my Prince Charmings immediately. Your daughter clearly inherited good genes and taste (unless she goes off the Craig tangent, that is? )

I said not to worry too much about reviews seen as the first ones are from those who go to the premiere, so that means they're big fans... and already there are those who say the hype is way too much? Nothing to be surprised about though, they do it every time with this type of movie, and particularly with Bond. Anyone remember what the reviews of QoS were like BEFORE week 2? People raving. We all know how that ended. So I think we'll have to wait at LEAST a couple of weeks before having even a rough idea of what the movie is actually like, and a month at least to have a big enough sample of viewers' reviews. Meantime, I will for sure carefully listen to what Sweeney and those who see it in advance in the UK have to say.

Goldeneye, a question: are you watching Person of Interest? (SUPERB show, by the way). I ask because a picture with Michael Emerson as avatar and Site Admin underneath REEKS of Person of Interest

[bjmdds]

Do it GE. She knows her cipollas http://www.expedienteseries.com/wp-cont ... terest.jpg Ale, this guy would be a great Q at age 58 Put this guy as Q(perfect choice bar none now) with either Cavill or Jackman as Bond, and let Ale cast the new MP and M and we get Bird to direct it and THAT is what I am talking about my friends Right FBF?

[Alessandra]

Do it GE. She knows her cipollas http://www.expedienteseries.com/wp-cont ... terest.jpg Ale, this guy would be a great Q at age 58 Put this guy as Q(perfect choice bar none now) with either Cavill or Jackman as Bond, and let Ale cast the new MP and M and we get Bird to direct it and THAT is what I am talking about my friends Right FBF?

You know what, BJ, I NEVER thought about it, but especially after his experience on Person of Interest, Michael Emerson could be a great Q! I'm unsure he can do a British accent, but he's a very good actor so I confide it wouldn't be too much of a problem.

I really want to see and judge for myself before saying anything final on Skyfall. I confide my friend who owns theaters will be helpful (he already was when I asked to see CR in advance... and got treated to a premiere all by ourselves!) so I'll let you all know as soon as that happens. Meantime, I'll take every review with a HUGE grain of salt... people who rave are just as bad as people who demolish everything. Usually the truth is in between. So what I'm taking from the reviews so far is that Bardem could have been great but his villain is so over the top it's not "believable". Which, to me, is a good thing actually. The villain in CR and in QoS was so underwhelming that I'd MUCH rather have over the top and Jaws than the pathetic display that was Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre. So i take this as a POSITIVE thing for Skyfall. Also taking from reviews that, while it can be interesting to see a "human" side to Bond, Craig isn't delivering that part so well even for those who liked him in previous movies. (which I'm afraid speaks volumes about how much I'll dislike that specific part, but we'll see). Bond girls are very forgettable (duh. Given who they picked to play them... Berenice at least is beautiful, but Naomi Harris? Really?). They gave up all the best parts of the movie in the trailer, and the prologue is far more exciting than the rest of the movie. And I'm also now thinking that the Guardian critic was right saying the second half of the movie risks tanking James Bond for good, because of how it is conceived and because it lacks the necessary amount of adrenaline. In short, not a horrible movie, but not nearly as good as it was advertised to be. (which frankly isn't surprising at all, again I recall people RAVING about the piece of crap that was QoS, and it took a good year before many admitted how much it actually sucked.)