What was the last film you watched?

[T42]

The Martian.  My inner physicist screamed a couple of times but I knocked him on the head.

[Andrew]

Hail, Ceasar
I go see some utter crap. This really wasn't. Surprising, funny, great characters, great actors. Great.

Interesting to hear because I'm really not sure about this one. As a rule, I like the Coen brothers but I'm not sure I need to see another 'silly' Coen film with Clooney's gurning and supposed comic abilities.  As much as I liked OBWAT, once was enough.

[Ashaman42]

We rewatched Burn After Reading the night before Hail, Caesar. Much much better. H,C seemed to waste a lot of the cast and whilst most of the individual bits were funny they just didn't hang together.

Seemed more like a sketch show than a film.

[caerau]

Terminator Genisys  yesterday - we quite enjoyed it - a nice silly romp - the hard edge has long long gone from this franchise though.


Tonight we're currently watching the Age of Adeline - this is turning out to be a really nice film though it's not finished. 

[Mr Larrington]

Spectre

Usual mish-mash of Bond James Bond nonsense, but better than previous episodes featuring D. Craig.  Some top helichopter activity, Moneypenny is a dashed pretty gel and I like it that all the gadgets in the Aston were labelled with Dymo and had bare wires sticking out.  Very BRITISH.  The CIA would have had it integrated into the car's computer via touchscreen; Felix "Not Appearing In This Film" Leiter would have got a BSOD at the crucial moment.  But did it really have a manual 'box?

However... I'm sure there hasn't been a train like that in "North Africa" in my lifetime, there was no tank of Dangerous Fish, BJB wrecked yet another Aston and D. Craig was as wooden as ever.  Dougray Scott for Bond James Bond this time, Ms. Cauliflower Broccoli.

[T42]

Copenhagen w. Stephen Rea, the aforesaid Mr. Craig and Francesca Annis (whereat wife exclaims "my god, is it that old?" Charitable lass she is.)

Excellent Beeb prod of Michael Frayn's play about the 1941 meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg, with three versions of what might have been said. Fascinating.

Googled Heisenberg afterwards to find out a bit more about his life.  Apparently he was a meth cook and wore glasses and a beard.  D. Craig a very bad choice in that case, looks nothing like him.

[Mr Larrington]

Excellent Beeb prod of Michael Frayn's play about the 1941 meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg, with three versions of what might have been said.

No-one was quite certain what happened?

[Pickled Onion]

A Walk In The Woods

Bill Bryson (played by Robert Redford) decides to walk the Appalachian trail.

Underwhelming.

[T42]

Excellent Beeb prod of Michael Frayn's play about the 1941 meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg, with three versions of what might have been said.

No-one was quite certain what happened?

Nah, they moved around too much.

[Andrew]

Spectre

I pretty much agree with Mr L's take on it. The film was an honest Bond movie that covered the bases. Perhaps a little too reverential tbh with numerous nods to the past. In short, a decent enough place holder in the franchise, not the best but above average... but a pretty pants movie by any broader definition.

[Pickled Onion]

Swordfish

Perfectly summed up by

Deeply silly but loads of killin's an' splosions

[citoyen]

We rewatched Burn After Reading the night before Hail, Caesar. Much much better. H,C seemed to waste a lot of the cast and whilst most of the individual bits were funny they just didn't hang together.

Seemed more like a sketch show than a film.

I know what you mean - there was something a little disjointed about it, and overall it was perhaps a tad insubstantial (especially compared to, say, Fargo or Miller's Crossing) but I loved it anyway. Josh Brolin was excellent and so was the chap playing Hobie Doyle. And I don't mind a bit of George Clooney gurning - he is very good at it. Thoroughly entertaining, made me laugh lots - in particular, the religious focus group and the tap-dancing sailors. And Tilda Swinton's bits. And Frances McDormand's scene.

[Mr Larrington]

Emboldened by my recent viewing of "Spectre" I decided to revisit the previous offerings featuring D. Craig as Bond James Bond.  First up:

Casino Royale

Billed as the reboot of the the Bond James Bond franchise with fewer gadgets and more gritty realism.  Oh.

J Random Moviegoer	So, Cosmo, is "Casino Royale" any good, then?
Cosmo Larringsman	No.  No, it is not.
JRM:	Pray elucidate!
CL:	It.  Is.  Glacially.  Slow.  And Bond James Bond spends more time changing his shirt than he does killing baddies utterly to DETH.  And he has a lovely shiny new Aston which he wrecks the first time he drives it and, moreover, does so somewhere which is recognisably Millbrook rather than Montenegro.  And the helichopter content is low indeed.  And D. Craig was plucked from his ancestral home in the heart of the New Forest to play the lead.  You can take the boy out of the woods but, at least in his case, you can't subsequently turn him into anything other than a Chippendale wardrobe.  And he's got funny ears.
JRM:	There must be some good bits, surely?
CL:	That Vesper Lynd is a dashed pretty gel though the scenes with her slinking around Venice in a red dress were possibly too clever for their own good. (click to show/hide) A bendy-bus gets killed utterly to DETH.  And Dame Judi is a wonderful 'M', though Dame Judi would be a wonderful statue, even with no lines.  Or head.
JRM:	So, not recommended then?
CL:	All Bond James Bond films must be watched at least once, even the dire ones from the latter end of R. Moore's tenure1.  D. Craig is a better Bond James Bond than R. Moore and probably T. Dalton ["Who he?" - Ed.] but this is one to be rewatched only at Christmas, with a bellyful of turkey, a large glass of Posh Drink and a lap filled with walnut shells.
JRM:	Gee, thanks, Cosmo!
CL:	You're welcome!

Here endeth the first lesson.  Now part two the second, with guest reviewers Doctor N. Bohr and Professor B. Cox:

Quantum Of Solace

Bond is Back!  More git grit!  More realism!  More, er, well, let's just watch the movie, eh?  Car chase. Good start.  Oh, he's bent the Aston!  [...]  Up grams theme song.  J. White & A. Keys.

Professor B. Cox:	Ooh, Jack White!  I was in a band once!
	(Action cuts to Siena)
BC:	Ooh, France!  I been there!
	(Action cuts to London)
BC:	Ooh, London!  It's rubbish.  Manchester's loads better!
	(Action cuts to Haiti)
BC:	Haiti's rubbish.  Puerto Rico's loads better!  They've got a brilliant telescope!
	(Bond James Bond rocks up in a boat)
BC:	Ha ha!  Look at his hair!  He looks like a hedgehog!
	(Action cuts to a production of Tosca in Austria)
BC:	Opera's rubbish, isn't it?  I was in a band once!
Dr N. Bohr:	Was that the speed of light2 on that neon sign?
	(Action cuts to Bolivia)
BC:	Ooh, Bolivia!  I went there once.  I had a big helichopter, and sat on top of a mountain!  Chile's loads better, though.  It's got telescopes!
NB:	Taxi drivers, eh!
BC:	Did he say "Damaged Goods"?  Wasn't that the Gang Of Four?  I was in a band once!
	(Action cuts to London again.  'M' is getting grief from a The FOREIGN Secretary.)
NB:	Ah, policy-based evidence making!
	(Action cuts back to Bolivia)
NB:	More bloody Fords!  Can you say "product placement"?
	(Action cuts to Russia)
BC:	Ooh, Russia!  I been there!  But they threw me out coz I wouldn't wear a furry hat.  It hid my hair.
	(End credits roll)
BC:	They asked me to play Bond James Bond.  But they said I'd have to have a haircut.
NB:	Quantum Of Solace?  Quantum Of Bollocks, more like!  Not a single mention of superposition!
BC:	Buy one of my DVDs instead.  Loads more helichopters!

Summary:  Better than "Casino Royale" - much more biff an' 'splosions an' killin's.  That Camille is a dashed pretty gel.  And Dame Judi is teh aces, but then you knew that.

Have I got time to watch "Skyfall" before the rugby starts?  Yes.  Yes, I have:

Skyfall

Soft!  What is that whining noise oozing from the speakers?  Oh, it's Adele.

The late Bond James Bond shows up in M's gaff disguised as a coal-heaving pikey and things go steadily downhill from there.  'Q' is Nathan Barley's idiot sidekick Pingu.  Suddenly!  Nothing happens!  And it keeps on not happening.  Mostly.  And the DB5 has been changed to RHD since "Casino Royale".

There were some helichopters.  And some top fire-extinguisher work by 007.  Did I mention that E. Moneypenny is a dashed pretty gel?  Dame Judi ect. ect.  Shame she gets killed utterly to DETH at the end, after A. Finney has stolen what's left of the film.

D. Craig's facial expressions were by Grinling Gibbons.

Conclusion

The D. Craig Bond James Bond films make a lot more sense when viewed as a story arc rather than standalone items, and are arguably a good deal less rubbish³ when treated thus.  Cosmo Larringsman: watching bad movies so you don't have to.

1: "For Your Eyes Only", ITV1, 16:15 today.  Don't do it, kids!
2: Yes.  Yes, it was.
3: Except "Skyfall", which is a Rubbish.

[Ruthie]

I'm sorry Mr.L, but the bits where DC takes his shirt off are the bits that get rewound repeatedly in this house, and are the best bits of any Bond James Bond fillum ever.  They're lovely lovely bits.

[Mr Larrington]

I'm sorry Mr.L, but the bits where DC takes his shirt off are the bits that get rewound repeatedly in this house, and are the best bits of any Bond James Bond fillum ever.  They're lovely lovely bits.

Bond James Bond is for Thwarting the Enemies of the Queen.  He does not do any Thwarting while he's changing his shirt.  He does not kill any baddies utterly to DETH by contemplating his wardrobe.  And he cannot bring down enemy helichopters armed only with a fire extinguisher if he's busy worrying about whether there's a grease spot on his collar.  If you want No-Shirts Activities then the Die Hard franchise is over there ==>

 

[Ruthie]

 

[Torslanda]

Mad Max Fury Road

2 hours watching a truck being driven across sand.

Ah I'm not alone, thank god for that.

 welcome to the club, now 2 strong

Make that 4.

The original MM introduced the wider werld to one M. Gibson Esq. who subsequently signed on to do MMII and III with no mention of plot sex & violence when he read the original cheque.

MM was poor, II was worse & III was worserer. I don't need to sit thru' 'Mildly Annoyed Motorway' to know it's a waste of space. 10 Oscar noms, you say? How many wins . . . ?

[Kim]

10 Oscar noms, you say? How many wins . . . ?

Most of those were for things like editing and set molishment (which are I reckon fair enough), rather than actually being a good film.

[caerau]

10 Oscar noms, you say? How many wins . . . ?

Six believe it or not - but yeah, best film, best director eluded them

[red marley]

Hail Caesar!

I kind of agree with the comments above about it having some great comic moments (my favourites - Feinnes 'Would that it were' coaching and dancing sailors [surely it can't get any gayer? Oh yes, it can!]), but it didn't really hang well together. It didn't seem that clever to me either, relying rather too much on slapstick and obvious parody (which Blazing Saddles did better). That was until I read the Guardian Review, and in particular the background on Eddie Mannix who I had been unaware of. I sort of got the cabal of Communist screen writers joke as the imagined un-Americans that McCarthy feared, but hadn't really appreciated that the whole film was essentially filtered though unreliable narration of a Hollywood fixer.

[citoyen]

the whole film was essentially filtered though unreliable narration of a Hollywood fixer.

That makes a lot of sense, now you mention it. The submarine in particular should have been a bit of a giveaway.

[Kim]

Jobs (2013)

What a wanker.  Not sure who those other guys are supposed to be...

[Jaded]

Taken

The boss winced at some of the gratuitous violence, so I'll not get her to watch Taken 3 or John Wick. Or the broken finger and eye gouge in England vs Wales (2016)

It's quite a good film.

[T42]

^^^When I see "retired government operative" or "ex-CIA agent" or similar in a film blurb I usually look elsewhere.

We finished watching Restless last night. Good because it needed a deal of reading between the lines.  The missus kept carping on about how the heroine's eye colour managed to change between 1939 and 1970-odd, but I found Rufus Sewell morphing into Michael Gambon at the same time a little less credible.

[Torslanda]

^^^When I see "retired government operative" or "ex-CIA agent" or similar in a film blurb I usually look elsewhere.

RED is a notable exception to the rule, having both a stellar cast and being very funny...