I Saw A Film Today… Skyfall

Fifty years of Bond. Fifty years of the suave MI6 agent saving Queen and country from global anarchy. Bond has always, thankfully, been a fixture in my household. Through my youth to my adulthood (if you can call me an adult. Still a child at heart.), the name Bond has been a mainstay. Whether driving cars underwater or babes painted gold, I’ve grown with the many incarnations of the man. He truly is a cinematic treasure.

Bond is back and dutifully sacrificing for Queen and country in Skyfall.
The film starts with Bond in Turkey, trying to track down a man who stole the complete list of MI6 agents and their secret identities. His assisting agent is Eve (Naomie Harris) who is very inexperienced in the field. After a breathtaking sequence of action that ends up atop a train, Eve accidentally shoots Bond, sending him tumbling to his death.

Things turn ugly for England after the Turkey incident as a mystery man begins posting the identities of the agents on the internet and attacking MI6 headquarters. Bond decides that his leisurely stint of death is over and returns to serve once more. But inactivity and an injury has been unkind to Bond, who struggles to get back to active status strength.

M (Dame Judi Dench) approves him for the field anyways and very quickly Bond comes in contact with the mystery man named Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), who is a former MI6 agent with a grudge.

Skyfall is easily one of the best Bond films to date, starting with a ten minute action sequence that ends atop a chaotic and crowded train. It is true heart pounding excitement that leaves you feeling drained of adrenaline once the customary Bond credit sequence beings, narrated beautifully by Adele.

The rest of Skyfall doesn’t have the same pace as this opening sequence, which is good and bad in their own ways.  The bad is you are left spent and expecting the same in-your-face action, yet that never is fully delivered. The good thing is that the whole film isn’t like that opening sequence, which means there is an entertaining story here and some time to breath.

I hope you don’t think I’m saying that the rest of the film is void of entertaining action and story, because there is quite the opposite. There are exciting hand-to-hand combat, gun fights, and a run away train chasing after 007 to round out a well-crafted film, all under the tutelage of director Sam Mendes.

Daniel Craig has only appeared as Bond in three films, but he has already given this character more depth than any of his predecessors, especially here. Here we learn aspects of his past. We learn aspects of his parents and birth place. We learn aspects of how deep his relationship with M is. Hell, the man even cries here. Frankly, no one could pull off this level of Bond quite like him. He is a stone, unwavering in physical appearance, yet a wave of emotion is always just under the surface. His steely eyes give little away, but there is a sad twinkle that informs of his dark past.

Javier Bardem does pretty well in his role. He is menacing, smart, and silky smooth when speaking. Yet, there is something missing from his character. That something that would have made him truly memorable. Although I’m pretty sure this is the first time a villain has taken the opportunity to try to come on to Bond while he is tied to a chair. Well, a male villain at least. Dame Judi Dench gets a proper send off from the series she has been in for seven films with a heavier presence than any of the previous films.

Her replacement for the next film couldn’t be a wiser choice with Ralph Fiennes. Ben Whishaw, much to the delight of young girls the world over, is a brilliant and refreshing take on Q, who is more brains and less gadgety. As for the Bond girls, Naomie Harris and French actress Bérénice Lim Marlohe, are both quite well. Even though I feel Marlohe’s troubled character could have contributed more to the story in some way.

Skyfall is one of the best additions to the chronicles of James Bond’s heroic exploits in a very long time, even with moments when things seems to lumber along slowly.

Verdict: SEE IT!

*Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking. 143 minutes.

** Poster by unknown.

I Saw A Film Today… The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

People, generally, seem to always find new ways of surprising me. As I work at a theater, it amazed me that parents are willing to buy little Jimmy and his friends tickets to an R-rated film and then just leave them, then come and complain to workers about the content of the film in question. I can go on all day with examples but I’ll leave it alone for now. But this time people surprised me by mistaking The Adventures of Tintin for a film about Rin Tin Tin. There is no telling how many people pointed at this poster and asked me if it is a movie about the famous dog.

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While walking around an outdoor market in Belgium (presumably), journalist Tintin (Jaime Bell) and his dog Snowy come upon a rare find: an interesting model ship called the Unicorn. Within minutes of purchasing it, he is approached by two men to purchase it from him. After his home is tossed, Tintin smells mystery and adventure.

Eventually Tintin discovers that the ship holds a clue to a long-lost treasure of the Sir Francis Haddock, the captain of The Unicorn. The man who is also searching for it is the dastardly Ivan Sakharine (Daniel Craig), who has a connection to the treasure. He Shanghais Tintin, snowy, and the great-grandson of Sir Francis, the drunkard Captain Haddock (Motion caption king Andy Serkis).

After escaping the hold of Sakharine, Tintin and Haddock team up together to find the final clue hidden in a model ship. This leads the trio through deserts, palaces, and Moroccan towns. Who will be the one to find 400 weight of gold?

The Adventures of Tintin was a very fun and entertaining adventure. It was everything that Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should have been. Instead of  having Shia Labeouf swinging on vines like a monkey you get an energized sprint through a town streets, which involves everything from jumping in and out of building to getting chased by a tank. Is it past the edge of belief? Sure, but I’d rather watching it than Labeouf swinging branch to branch.

I just don’t see why this film had to be in 3-D. Then again I feel this way about all films (especially ones that have been released more than ten years ago) but this one especially.It was utilized in no way whatsoever. The only time I even got a hit of the 3-D is when Sakharine raised his cane at one of his goons. The film is a thrill ride without having to put on plastic glasses.

Initially when I heard that Jaime Bell was cast as the title role of Tintin. I wasn’t worried about his acting skills but I was worried if he was the best chose for the character. But with what has become a happy trend lately I was proven wrong. He holds the role greatly, transforming himself into Tintin.

Andy Serkis is the real show-stealer here. He truly is a master of motion capture. His Captain Haddock is Chaplin-esque at times, yet still done with the unique brand of  intensity that is his. The supporting cast is great as well. Daniel Craig is menacing as Rakharine. Nice to know he can be a baddie every once in a while. And Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was a great as the bumbling inspectors Thompson and Thompson.

Tintin was just a fun and action-packed film. It’s classic Spielberg at its best.

Verdict: SEE IT!

*Rated PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness, and brief smoking.

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I Saw A Film Today… Cowboys & Aliens

I think that Daniel Craig is my generations Steve Mcqueen or Paul Newman. I mean, the guy has style. He’s tough and rugged. He is cool. And the most important part is he can act. This time around he teams up with Harrison Ford in the Western frontier to take the fight to the final frontier.

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Jake Lonergan (Craig) wakes up in the middle of a Arizona desert with no recollection of who he is or why he has an odd bracelet attached to his wrist and can’t remove it. He also has no idea how he got here.

Eventually he stumbles into the town of Absolution where he receives care from a preacher (Clancy Brown), meets a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde), and neutralizes the town bully Percy (Paul Dano). After this the town sheriff recognizes him as an elusive outlaw and arrest him to later be handed over to authorities in Santa Fe.

But before he can be shipped off, Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford) rides into to retrieve his son Percy and to also take Jake into his possession, as he is accused of being one of the men who robbed his stage couch of gold. But before anything can happen, a bright light appears in the sky and an alien invasion commences. Some of the town people are taken by the “flying demons” before Jake’s mysterious bracelet turns into a weapon and shoots down one of the ships.

Now the Colonel recruits a group of people (including Jake and Ella) to track and go after the mysterious creatures. Along the way they are subject to further attacks and meet Native Americans and outlaws. Jake also begins remembering things from his past that are essential to the defeat of the aliens.

For most of the film, Cowboys & Aliens was actually quite good. It carries itself out as a typical entry in the western genre. And a good western at that. And when the aliens finally make their loud appearance, it does not feel out-of-place. The notion that aliens would be fighting 19th century townsfolk isn’t that odd of a concept to me. The film, for the most part, was heading down the right path at this point.

But at about the hour, twenty-minute mark is when things turned sour. If you have a difficult time believing the concept of aliens fighting cowboys, then you stand no chance of lasting the final thirty or so minutes. It feels almost like the script, which was already nothing special to begin with, was written up to this point and then director Jon Favreau got ahold of it and turned it into a long incoherent action sequence. Everything turns to chaos and at some point in this mayhem you are just watching everything unfold with a dull expression.

As far as casting goes, you really could not do better than this one. So why was their talents squandered? Daniel Craig is a fantastic action star and is pretty great in this as well. But there is nothing memorable about him. He has a few witty one-liners, a few comical moments and… that is about it. The same could be said about Harrison Ford as well. He is cranky and old. Not really a stretch for him. Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano,Keith Carradine, Clancy Brown, they are all just bit players.

I was hoping so much more from this film. There was a lot of potential and room for growth. Unfortunately it just ended up being bland. Almost like going to a restaurant and expecting great cuisine but instead get a microwave meal.

Verdict: RENT IT!

*Poster by Dan Norris

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