I'm looking forward to talking these movies over with people after they've seen them. There's much to spoil in each and I tiptoed around that. But maybe signal you've got a spoiler in your comment when you post.
Hmm... Interesting. We hadn't planned on it and we're a bit worried about spamming subscribers' inboxes with too much stuff so we'll likely keep that in the comments for now.
Fair enough. It was always kind of fun to have "secret" page where those of us who had seen movie could talk about it, but no reason we not can do that here in comments!
Okay, me saw movie last night! Let's talk spoilers, everybody!
[JUST TO SAY ME GAVE FAIR WARNING, THIS IS SPOILER THREAD FULL OF SPOILERS]
So, overall me really enjoyed it. Action sequences were all top-notch, everything looked gorgeous, Ana de Armas was delightful and me wish we would have gotten more of her, and me found ending to be satisfying (although Mrs. Cookie strongly disagreed, feeling that James riding off into sunset with arm around girl is essential part of series).
But me still had some issues. Rami Malek's plan made basic sense — not always given in these things — but what was his motivation behind plan? He mumble something at one point about wanting to make better world, but then seem to just want to mass-murder indiscriminately without much rhyme or reason.
(Side note, just as we lived through Computers Are Magic era in '80s, me will be relieved when Nanobots Are Magic era is over)
Me also wish they had given Lashana Lynch more to do as new 007. She competent enough and have few nice bits of banter, but me wanted moment where she show up and save him, or do something impressive that show us why she earned 007 mantle, or even do something that contribute much to plot apart from just being human reminder that Mi6 has moved on from James.
But back to James. Craig terrific as always, and unlike previous outing, movie give him so many terrific acting moments. As me said in other article, Craig not was Bond me grew up with, but he was favorite because he brought most to role. (and even taking Spectre into account, these were best-written movies any actor has had to work with)
Even though me thought ending worked, me still wanted to hear he had pulled off one last trick and swam away from island, to point where me stayed in theater to see if we get post credit scene, but we got "James Bond will return," and that enough.
Lynch does pretty well with a part that has been given a lot of profile with little to do (imagine having to deliver "It's time to die!" without a cigar hanging out of your mouth). Malek does less with a similarly hollow role - his back-and-forth with Craig is the only totally dead spot in the movie for me. Craig, as you say, is the solid performance that holds it all together.
As a movie moment, I liked the ending. I'm all for blowing up a bit of the Bond pattern. As a signature for this Bond series, it's a tad unsettling. All Bonds seem to be of their time without really speaking to it, and if this Bond's finale is watching and waiting for the end to come... hopefully not seen as the exemplary strategy of our era.
Lamb look fascinating, and me would like to see it at some point, but at risk of losing indie cred, me more excited to finally see Bond than anything else coming out this year. So me relieved to see good review here. Craig has been so good in role, but even apart from that, writing (Spectre excepted) and direction really took step up from previous Bonds. And me appreciate approach series this long-in-tooth take, of deconstructing Bond mythos and then reconstructing Bond into more complex character.
How upsetting/horrific is Lamb? I’ve seen several reviewers mention that it edges horror, but without specifics for fear of spoiling the plot. Is it doable for those with weak stomachs?
I think the roughest parts are the (no spoilers) animals giving birth scenes at the beginning though there's some gnarly-ness later but if you're worried about a full-on descent into gore and body horror you'll be OK.
Great reviews, both. Recently sat down to watch Spectre finally and actually thought it was slightly better than the initial reviews had suggested, though it still lacked the magic of Skyfall and Casino Royale. Hope that No Time To Die is at least as enjoyable as Spectre was. Having seen so many Bond films with my dad as a kid, it’ll be nice to go see another one with him; we have tickets to see it early next week.
Given that so many Disney movies are based on old dark fairy tales such as the ones Lamb clearly takes inspiration from, let's hypothesize what a Disneyfied "Maria and the Little Lamb" would look like. The cat and dog would obviously be the wisecracking Greek chorus/sidekicks, right? Played by the comedy duo du jour, getting into all kind of hijinks. Who would be the big bad? Petúr? The giant Ram Man thing?
I think it's only right that Bjork writes the songs.
Though I largely enjoyed it in the moment – even the worse Bond films have a base level of enjoyment; and it passed the hot beverage test, which is to say I was sufficiently engrossed that my hot chocolate went cold before I finished it – that’s probably more frustrating than if it was just disposably crappy, as there is a decent B+ standalone Bond film in there somewhere. Ultimately, my overriding response is annoyance that the last 9 years since Skyfall have just been wasted. (Make it 7 years to account for the Covid delay, that’s still the same length of time Brosnan did all his films in.)
Skyfall capped a solid and self-contained trilogy but Spectre was pointless and awful, and I resent it more because No Time To Die feels it had to pay all that nonsense off, and does so in such an ungainly manner. (Especially, if memory serves, as Skyfall had ignored the whole Quantum plotline altogether to the disappointment of no one, so already proving that this MCU-type world-building was wholly unnecessary.) It also maybe tips The Dark Knight's influence on cinema into the net negative - it feels like because they couldn't get their fantasy pick of Nolan to do one of these, the producers got a talented but cheaper filmmaker to do a decent enough impression, topped it off with a Hans Zimmer score, and figured that’s close enough. Even its best moments were largely derivative or superfluous – the sequence in the forest has heavy Insomnia vibes (which I suppose is at least a bit more imaginative than ripping TDK or Inception), the seemingly-one-take action scene is inferior to those in, say, Atomic Blonde or True Detective, and, delightful as she was, the Ana de Armas section added an easily-excisable 20 minutes to a film that needed 20 less even without her.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
.
.
.
.
Thankfully, I’d avoided specific spoilers for the ending but, given what we already know, it wasn’t hard to see coming. It just didn’t work for me, largely because Craig and Seydoux have absolutely no chemistry, compounded by their all-too-visible 20-year age difference, and thus their tragedy was utterly weightless. But the greatest sin was to bring back Jeffrey Wright just to kill him off ten minutes later - get stuffed, movie. (Actually, the greatest sin is to cast Jeffrey Wright in the first place when you’re only going to give him something like 15 minutes of screentime in the entire series - get stuffed, movies.)
Bond fans talk about their formative experiences, that the one you see at aged 12 sticks with you, and likely to be the one you remember most fondly. The kids in the row in front of me were around 12 (they surely weren't born when Jeffrey Wright was last in a Bond film) so, regardless of what they’ve previously watched at home, this was almost certainly their first in-cinema Bond experience – a mostly grim, humourless 3 hour dirge, that requires knowledge of other, often grim and humourless, films… and Bond dies at the end. Sucks to be them.
Finally caught up with No Time To Die. Liked it quite a bit, but probably ranks fourth in my Craig rankings (I am a huge Quantum defender). I think it sort of got worse as it went on, because I was fully involved at the beginning.
Am I crazy to think that this was the worst-looking Craig movie though? I found it too dark in quite a few action scenes to make out what was happening, very little in the way of interesting blocking, and the second half to be very disappointing in locations between the vague foggy forest that looks like it’s from a new X-Men movie and the bland concrete hallways of Rami Malek’s lair. Even Malek’s character gets a big downgrade visually - he really should have kept that Noh mask on because THAT was a striking image.
But maybe there are aspects of the cinematography I’m overlooking, I can’t really speak to any technical analysis
I'm looking forward to talking these movies over with people after they've seen them. There's much to spoil in each and I tiptoed around that. But maybe signal you've got a spoiler in your comment when you post.
Will we be getting separate spoiler article like you used to do on Dissolve?
Hmm... Interesting. We hadn't planned on it and we're a bit worried about spamming subscribers' inboxes with too much stuff so we'll likely keep that in the comments for now.
Fair enough. It was always kind of fun to have "secret" page where those of us who had seen movie could talk about it, but no reason we not can do that here in comments!
And, of course, you remember the name of that "secret" spoiler page on The Dissolve, right?
Okay, me saw movie last night! Let's talk spoilers, everybody!
[JUST TO SAY ME GAVE FAIR WARNING, THIS IS SPOILER THREAD FULL OF SPOILERS]
So, overall me really enjoyed it. Action sequences were all top-notch, everything looked gorgeous, Ana de Armas was delightful and me wish we would have gotten more of her, and me found ending to be satisfying (although Mrs. Cookie strongly disagreed, feeling that James riding off into sunset with arm around girl is essential part of series).
But me still had some issues. Rami Malek's plan made basic sense — not always given in these things — but what was his motivation behind plan? He mumble something at one point about wanting to make better world, but then seem to just want to mass-murder indiscriminately without much rhyme or reason.
(Side note, just as we lived through Computers Are Magic era in '80s, me will be relieved when Nanobots Are Magic era is over)
Me also wish they had given Lashana Lynch more to do as new 007. She competent enough and have few nice bits of banter, but me wanted moment where she show up and save him, or do something impressive that show us why she earned 007 mantle, or even do something that contribute much to plot apart from just being human reminder that Mi6 has moved on from James.
But back to James. Craig terrific as always, and unlike previous outing, movie give him so many terrific acting moments. As me said in other article, Craig not was Bond me grew up with, but he was favorite because he brought most to role. (and even taking Spectre into account, these were best-written movies any actor has had to work with)
Even though me thought ending worked, me still wanted to hear he had pulled off one last trick and swam away from island, to point where me stayed in theater to see if we get post credit scene, but we got "James Bond will return," and that enough.
[REITERATING SPOILER WARNING]
Lynch does pretty well with a part that has been given a lot of profile with little to do (imagine having to deliver "It's time to die!" without a cigar hanging out of your mouth). Malek does less with a similarly hollow role - his back-and-forth with Craig is the only totally dead spot in the movie for me. Craig, as you say, is the solid performance that holds it all together.
As a movie moment, I liked the ending. I'm all for blowing up a bit of the Bond pattern. As a signature for this Bond series, it's a tad unsettling. All Bonds seem to be of their time without really speaking to it, and if this Bond's finale is watching and waiting for the end to come... hopefully not seen as the exemplary strategy of our era.
Lamb look fascinating, and me would like to see it at some point, but at risk of losing indie cred, me more excited to finally see Bond than anything else coming out this year. So me relieved to see good review here. Craig has been so good in role, but even apart from that, writing (Spectre excepted) and direction really took step up from previous Bonds. And me appreciate approach series this long-in-tooth take, of deconstructing Bond mythos and then reconstructing Bond into more complex character.
How upsetting/horrific is Lamb? I’ve seen several reviewers mention that it edges horror, but without specifics for fear of spoiling the plot. Is it doable for those with weak stomachs?
I think it's pretty mild, really, never rising above a little unsettling. I'd be surprised if the weak-stomached were turned off by it.
I think the roughest parts are the (no spoilers) animals giving birth scenes at the beginning though there's some gnarly-ness later but if you're worried about a full-on descent into gore and body horror you'll be OK.
Great reviews, both. Recently sat down to watch Spectre finally and actually thought it was slightly better than the initial reviews had suggested, though it still lacked the magic of Skyfall and Casino Royale. Hope that No Time To Die is at least as enjoyable as Spectre was. Having seen so many Bond films with my dad as a kid, it’ll be nice to go see another one with him; we have tickets to see it early next week.
*SPOILERS FOR LAMB*
Given that so many Disney movies are based on old dark fairy tales such as the ones Lamb clearly takes inspiration from, let's hypothesize what a Disneyfied "Maria and the Little Lamb" would look like. The cat and dog would obviously be the wisecracking Greek chorus/sidekicks, right? Played by the comedy duo du jour, getting into all kind of hijinks. Who would be the big bad? Petúr? The giant Ram Man thing?
I think it's only right that Bjork writes the songs.
The goat mother would be depicted as unfit. The Ram Man would get tossed off a cliff.
No Time To Die:
Non-spoiler thoughts:
Though I largely enjoyed it in the moment – even the worse Bond films have a base level of enjoyment; and it passed the hot beverage test, which is to say I was sufficiently engrossed that my hot chocolate went cold before I finished it – that’s probably more frustrating than if it was just disposably crappy, as there is a decent B+ standalone Bond film in there somewhere. Ultimately, my overriding response is annoyance that the last 9 years since Skyfall have just been wasted. (Make it 7 years to account for the Covid delay, that’s still the same length of time Brosnan did all his films in.)
Skyfall capped a solid and self-contained trilogy but Spectre was pointless and awful, and I resent it more because No Time To Die feels it had to pay all that nonsense off, and does so in such an ungainly manner. (Especially, if memory serves, as Skyfall had ignored the whole Quantum plotline altogether to the disappointment of no one, so already proving that this MCU-type world-building was wholly unnecessary.) It also maybe tips The Dark Knight's influence on cinema into the net negative - it feels like because they couldn't get their fantasy pick of Nolan to do one of these, the producers got a talented but cheaper filmmaker to do a decent enough impression, topped it off with a Hans Zimmer score, and figured that’s close enough. Even its best moments were largely derivative or superfluous – the sequence in the forest has heavy Insomnia vibes (which I suppose is at least a bit more imaginative than ripping TDK or Inception), the seemingly-one-take action scene is inferior to those in, say, Atomic Blonde or True Detective, and, delightful as she was, the Ana de Armas section added an easily-excisable 20 minutes to a film that needed 20 less even without her.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
.
.
.
.
Thankfully, I’d avoided specific spoilers for the ending but, given what we already know, it wasn’t hard to see coming. It just didn’t work for me, largely because Craig and Seydoux have absolutely no chemistry, compounded by their all-too-visible 20-year age difference, and thus their tragedy was utterly weightless. But the greatest sin was to bring back Jeffrey Wright just to kill him off ten minutes later - get stuffed, movie. (Actually, the greatest sin is to cast Jeffrey Wright in the first place when you’re only going to give him something like 15 minutes of screentime in the entire series - get stuffed, movies.)
Bond fans talk about their formative experiences, that the one you see at aged 12 sticks with you, and likely to be the one you remember most fondly. The kids in the row in front of me were around 12 (they surely weren't born when Jeffrey Wright was last in a Bond film) so, regardless of what they’ve previously watched at home, this was almost certainly their first in-cinema Bond experience – a mostly grim, humourless 3 hour dirge, that requires knowledge of other, often grim and humourless, films… and Bond dies at the end. Sucks to be them.
Finally caught up with No Time To Die. Liked it quite a bit, but probably ranks fourth in my Craig rankings (I am a huge Quantum defender). I think it sort of got worse as it went on, because I was fully involved at the beginning.
Am I crazy to think that this was the worst-looking Craig movie though? I found it too dark in quite a few action scenes to make out what was happening, very little in the way of interesting blocking, and the second half to be very disappointing in locations between the vague foggy forest that looks like it’s from a new X-Men movie and the bland concrete hallways of Rami Malek’s lair. Even Malek’s character gets a big downgrade visually - he really should have kept that Noh mask on because THAT was a striking image.
But maybe there are aspects of the cinematography I’m overlooking, I can’t really speak to any technical analysis