What was the last film you watched?

[Feanor]

Went to see this last night with the kids.

I thought it was good.
A bit of a return to the older Bond formula, with lots of nods to the older films.

Witty, humerous, sexy, gritty in the right mix.

I'd not heard the theme before, but it did seem to have the classy sound of classic Bond themes.
A bit of an echo of Shirley Bassey.

The title iconography was rather retro, which foreshaddowed some of what was to come.

Aye, it worked well, I thought.

[Deano]

Hancock. 

Not a bad idea for a movie (alcoholic, misanthropic superhero), and Will Smith was good, but it was shite. Actually, there were a couple of funny moments. 

The plot didn't really exist, the backstory was appalling, and whoever thought having the PR guy as the hero of the story was probably a PR guy who wishes he was a superhero. 

[Hillbilly]

Skyfall.  Good.

Didn't realise Bond was Scottish.  But now it makes sense.  Rough around the edges. Hard as nails.  Fanny magnet. Just like the rest of us 

[Bledlow]

Bond became half-Scottish after Sean Connery played him. Fleming liked Connery as Bond so much he put a Scottish background into the last two books.

[mattc]

Skyfall. But I did wonder if I'd wandered into a Batman film by mistake, complete with a Wayne Manor staffed by a faithful servant, early orphaning of our hero turning him into a emotionally depleted crime fighter and a baddie whose oral disfiguration turned him into a psychopathic Joker.

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i found the same. And the glass prison cell scene was all too Hannibal Lecter.

It was a good movie, but it didn't really feel much like a Bond movie. Have there been any others where the plot was all about a vendetta against one of the good guys? i can only remember plots where Bond was foiling some bigger plan. And of course the bad guy would have an HQ/lair for the finale, as opposed to the bad guys coming to the good guy's lair.

in fact the villain seemed like a great character, but lifted from another movie (most likely a Batman).

I liked the Moneypenny character ... until she 'became' Moneypenny, which was an anticlimax! T'other 'girl' seemed underused - the casino scene seemed to be setting her up as a major plot feature, and then she just turned into another pretty victim. Maybe some heavy editing there?

Fiennes was good.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Several of the books have revolved around a vendetta against bond. One ends, tragically, just after his wedding.

[tiermat]

In the past week or so I have watched:

Skyfall
Die Another Day
Quantum of Script Solace
The Rum Diary

My favourites out of them? Skyfall and The Rum Diary (During which I thought to myself "this has a touch of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas about it", then I saw the bit at the end...)

[geraldc]

From my inside knowledge of a week as a Bond extra,

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Severine wasn't used that much, the only scene that got cut was one in Shanghai airport (actually Ascot racetrack) where she swopped/exchanged suitcases with the assassin, that Bond later killed. However there were a lot of Virgin stewardesses who featured in that part, so some parts may have been used in the airline cut

[mrcharly-YHT]

Gerald, was that you in the bottom left corner of the pic as they entered the casino?

[bobb]

Several of the books have revolved around a vendetta against bond. One ends, tragically, just after his wedding.

That book did not revolve around a vendetta against Bond, rather a vendetta by MI6 against Ernst Stavro Blofeld!

Come to think of it  - Skyfall didn't revolve around a vendetta against Bond either!

[rogerzilla]

AFAIK hydrogen cyanide doesn't make your jaw collapse or burn your insides.

[Bledlow]

Once in the bloodstream, cyanide forms a stable complex with a form of cytochrome oxidase, an enzyme that promotes the transfer of electrons in the mitochondria of cells during the synthesis of ATP. Without proper cytochrome oxidase function, cells cannot utilize the oxygen present in the bloodstream, resulting in cytotoxic hypoxia or cellular asphyxiation. The lack of available oxygen causes a shift from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism, leading to the accumulation of lactate in the blood. The combined effect of the hypoxia and lactate acidosis is depression of the central nervous system that can result in respiratory arrest and death. At higher lethal concentrations, cyanide poisoning also affects other organs and systems in the body, including the heart.

Initial symptoms of cyanide poisoning can occur from exposure to 20 to 40 ppm of gaseous hydrogen cyanide, and may include headache, drowsiness, vertigo, weak and rapid pulse, deep and rapid breathing, a bright-red color in the face, nausea and vomiting. Convulsions, dilated pupils, clammy skin, a weaker and more rapid pulse and slower, shallower breathing can follow these symptoms. Finally, the heartbeat becomes slow and irregular, body temperature falls, the lips, face and extremities take on a blue color, the individual falls into a coma, and death occurs. These symptoms can occur from sublethal exposure to cyanide, but will diminish as the body detoxifies the poison and excretes it primarily as thiocyanate and 2 amino thiazoline 4 carboxilic acid, with other minor metabolites.

Yeah. It ain't caustic.

[Basil]

Sky fail.

It really annoyed me that they think that we would believe that a guy who had spent all his life living in the Scoddidge countryside would try to escape into the darkness of a Scoddidge moor flashing a torch all over the place. 
That was just so badly written. 

[Valiant]

Total Recall. The new one.

I really liked it.

[Hillbilly]

Daybreakers.  Vampire apocalypse, which makes a change from zombies.  Decent premise, with a decent cast, but doesn't really get going in its 90 odd minute length.

[LindaG]

Argo.  A dramatisation of the attempt to rescue six American hostages from their hiding place in Iran during the unrest of 1979-81, after the invasion of the American embassy in Teheran.  Ben Affleck films a fake movie as a cover to get the hostages out.

It's excellent.  Go and see it.

[andyoxon]

Skyfall. Awful. The end is weak and an odd character is introduced for no apparent reason. The action scenes are lame, his suit's too tight, Fiennes has an appalling script, he does nothing really. I agreed with this:

http://reciperifle.blogspot.co.uk/

Not all facts correct in that review...

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3) The pretty girl who manages to remain chaste despite Bond’s ‘charms’ is rewarded at the end with a job as his secretary.

AFAIA Moneypenny is secretary to M - head of MI6, not Bond.

[L CC]

Daybreakers.  Vampire apocalypse, which makes a change from zombies.  Decent premise, with a decent cast, but doesn't really get going in its 90 odd minute length.

That's so much more generous a review than I'd give it.

[andygates]

Skyflaps. Fun. I'll allow the facepalm moments for the coherent action direction and deliciously OTT camp menace of old cyanide-chops.

[geraldc]

Caught up on a few films on a long haul flight.

Ted, I really liked it, even teared up a bit.

Total recall, total pants. If it was made as a mini series by the beeb, like Blakes 7 or Dr Who it would have been good. Big budget, wasted.

Dark Knight Rises, doesn't hold up for a second viewing on a little LCD screen.

[LindaG]

the Holiday.  An awful, awful film only slightly redeemed by three good cast members.  No not you Diaz.
I don't know what we were thinking. What a waste of an evening.

[alexb]

Letters from Iwo Jima which I bought second hand for 80p from CeX!

Excellent film, I'd seen it before, but wanted to see it again after Tora Tora Tora was on the telly yesterday afternoon.

[mattc]

[Skyfall] : http://reciperifle.blogspot.co.uk/

Not all facts correct in that review...

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3) The pretty girl who manages to remain chaste despite Bond’s ‘charms’ is rewarded at the end with a job as his secretary.

AFAIA Moneypenny is secretary to M - head of MI6, not Bond.

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Well I have to say I was in no doubt at the time about whether she remained "chaste" at the end of that scene. There was unbuttoning, and a very unsubtle fireworks display thrown-in by the director. But google suggests opinion is divided!

[mrcharly-YHT]

[Skyfall] : http://reciperifle.blogspot.co.uk/

Not all facts correct in that review...

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3) The pretty girl who manages to remain chaste despite Bond’s ‘charms’ is rewarded at the end with a job as his secretary.

AFAIA Moneypenny is secretary to M - head of MI6, not Bond.

(click to show/hide)

Well I have to say I was in no doubt at the time about whether she remained "chaste" at the end of that scene. There was unbuttoning, and a very unsubtle fireworks display thrown-in by the director. But google suggests opinion is divided!

The razor scene?
I am in no doubt about it.
pedant wibble That's not how you shave with a straight razor. It's more like buttering bread, but moving edge forward. And the difficult bit is actually the point of the chin - there is a reason why goatees and suchlike were in fashion before safety razors were invented.

[Woofage]

Kill List.

Weird. Just weird.