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Amph 007 Skyfall

Discussion in 'Community' started by DarthLowBudget, Apr 19, 2010.

  1. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    You don't like the best Bond it seems.
     
  2. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Okay, I figured it out. Everyone else is pivoting on his back foot, thus swinging toward the camera to bring the gun up and shoot, dynamically. Brosnan is pivoting awkwardly on his lead foot, like he's turning to present to the audience in a Broadway chorus line or something. It makes him look less Bond and more Chippendale.
     
  3. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    I was also happy to see Hashima thanks to Cracked.

    I really loved the 50th tag at the end of Skyfall. I'm a sucker for retro.
     
  4. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    what are you on, seldon? i think i want some.

    seriously tho i could be persuaded to switch brosnan and connery but that little arm out to the side connery is doing really throws me off. it looks like a dance move
     
  5. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Plus, Connery gave us YTMND
     
  6. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    well im speaking solely in terms of who wins that gif. honestly i havent seen enough of the movies to rank all the bonds overall. though my favorite from the films i have seen is deffo dalton (and as i said, the living daylights is my fave of the films ive seen)
     
  7. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    I'm far from the biggest Bond fan in the world, but this is the first Bond I've enjoyed in quite some time... since Casino Royale, I guess. Only two films ago, but still.

    I know some are complaining that this "isn't a Bond movie" or whatever, but I've personally become bored with the insistence that Bond embody all of his old tropes... hell, I've seen people who hate the movie because the opening song doesn't have any dancing women. Come on.

    Anyway, though, I really enjoyed this one, above all, because it had a point. Why is Bond relevant to the 21st century; that's obviously the question they set out to answer, and I think they got it pretty well. Plus, it was great to see a Bond movie co-star M. As Roger Ebert put it, it was great to see a role worthy of Judy Dench.
     
  8. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    That's a great gif. Moore is easily the worst of the bunch.

    Finally got to Skyfall last night. I don't think it's the best of the franchise, but it's obvious why people are saying it and it's definitely a contender. The whole final half hour is really incredibly masterful. The photography is quite stunning, particularly once Bond and M get to Scotland. Bardem was really quite good and Berenice Marlohe was fantastic as a darker, more damaged kind of Bond girl. I found her performance to be incredibly compelling, even if, in the final analysis, she might have oversold Silva just a bit (he wasn't really the pure evil she implies that he is; he's a guy with a personal vendetta, not a force of chaos or anarchy; that's why Bond is able to manipulate him so perfectly at the end - he has a goal).

    I kind of loved the slower pace. The opening is really the only big action scene in the film; everything else is much smaller and more realistic, though occasionally very intense (the gunfight when Silva goes after M as she's testifying before the committee was incredibly thrilling). But the dramatic scenes just feel different and even the way Craig moves seems different. This is a Bond back in the tone of those first two Connery Bonds, when the films were as much "drama" as "action." But, like the movie keeps telling us, the old ways are the best. Bond's "back in time" line was a great moment and the way the film really dug into the relationship between Bond and M was great. I was disappointed at how underused Fiennes was. Back when he got cast, I recall someone saying that his character would have his own "tragic journey" or something, but obviously that ended up on the cutting room floor, if it ever existed at all. As it stood, well, that was about all he did: stood around.

    In some sense I think Casino Royale is the better film. It benefits from a lot of the things that Skyfall benefits from: having a more vulnerable Bond, having a more suspense orientation as opposed to a big action spectacle focus and having a genuine story, but Casino Royale also pulled out some great action sequences. There's nothing in this movie to equal the collapsing house finale or even the stairwell fight for pure intensity. Did Skyfall really need Imax? There were, what, two explosions in the whole movie? Well, I'm not going to snipe at getting a Bond where story counts and action is secondary. The nerve that must have taken at this late date is immense. In some masterful way, taking things back to the slower pace and the more adult tone of Dr. No and From Russia With Love makes Skyfall maybe the better film after all. Casino Royale was never less than a thriller; at times, Skyfall decides to throw "thriller" away just like it threw "action" away and become something even slower and more methodical.

    At the end of the day, it's another for the pantheon of films to show to people who don't think Bond can be artistically satisfying. It's nearly perfect, even if it is more solidly competent than overtly brilliant. Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Goldeneye, Casino Royale . . . and Skyfall. We finally have a truly great top ten out of the franchise. And then Albert Finney still kicks ass too. That's worth something.

    Best moment in the whole movie: that trembling gun down at the shooting range; paid off well later, but the moment you first see it was a jaw dropper for me.
     
    Darth-Seldon likes this.
  9. LloydChristmas

    LloydChristmas Baseball and Three-Time Jedi Draft Champion star 5 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    So...did anyone else pick up a total Home Alone vibe? I half-expected him to bust out "Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" at some point.
     
    halibut and Darth-Seldon like this.
  10. AAAAAH

    AAAAAH Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2012
    yeah that whole end sequence was just weird.
     
  11. DarthLowBudget

    DarthLowBudget Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2004
    If by weird you mean awesome and left-field.
     
  12. AAAAAH

    AAAAAH Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2012
    no by weird i mean weird.
     
  13. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    For the life of me I do not recall the first Bond film I saw. It would have been on tv during what used to be a weekly Sunday Night Showcase I think on ABC. The first Bond film I saw in theatres was Casino Royale.

    I saw Skyfall today and I have to say this is the best looking Bond film by ten miles. I don't have anything agaisnt 3d but this film showed you can make a non-3d film and make it look incredible. They made a Shanghai traffic headache look sexy for Christ's sake. Beautiful film.

    I thought McCaid was a little too last minute and would have preferred Bond and M take down the baddies but oh well. He was funny enough for it at least.

    I thought, "Oh, komodo dragon. I hope it gets to eat something." Fulfilled.

    I was thinking for a minute the villain was going to broguht in too late. I was wrong. Excellent bad guy and surprising.

    I was 50/50 on Finnes being evil. I am happy how he turned out.

    I love love love Judi Dench.
     
  14. The_Four_Dot_Elipsis

    The_Four_Dot_Elipsis Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2005
    I haven't seen Skyfall yet, but...



    FWIW, I'd have FYEO in there as a substitute for the unseen Skyfall.
     
  15. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    [face_laugh] I literally laughed out loud here in the breakroom at work.
     
  16. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    So, I saw this movie. I don't know that there is any point in reviewing it. It was a James Bond movie, with all the weaknesses and awful conventions that implies. With all the mildly amusing popcorn moments, too. Accordingly, this was okay, but decidedly not good. For your money, just go see Abraham Lincoln.

    In any rate, some questions:

    1. What did M die from? Her wound was very lateral, almost on her thigh/flank. Nor was she bleeding for a long period of time. It was literally only a few minutes, perhaps twenty to one half hour at absolute most. More likely it was about 5-10. She went from walking and talking to cold and dead on the floor in such a short space of time? How? Does she have some crazy anatomic variant where her heart sits inside her hip?

    2. Just like in "No Country For Old Men" that Javier Bardem fellow made me start to fall asleep almost as soon as he came onscreen. It was a huge struggle, and I don't think I entirely succeeded. But what was he so mad at M about? I remember the vague thing about "remember your sins" and how he kept saying she betrayed him. But was this ever fleshed out with a specific incident or something? Or did they just leave it as a vaguely sketched vengeance thing? I'm honestly asking because it's quite possible I was asleep for this part. Also, does this make a good half the Bond villains from the last two decades just disgruntled operatives and allies from earlier MI6 operations?

    3. What was the point of seeing Bond's childhood home? It's not like it had much meaning or resonance with the rest of the story. It just became another locale to blow up. Nor did it really shed much light on Bond as a person. And who names their estate "Skyfall?" Really? Did I miss the significance of this?

    Also, for what it's worth, there was more Bond/M tension about washing out in Die Another Day.
     
  17. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    I know, Wocky. Heineken, what were they thinking?
     
  18. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    VLM, were you able to open that spoiler tag? I can't, and I will be mightily disappointed if the meat of my whole post is gone.

    Also, regardless, what does Heineken have to do with anything?
     
  19. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    If you click "reply" you can read your post, Wocky.
     
  20. DarthLowBudget

    DarthLowBudget Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2004
    Oh, Wocky, how do you do movies so wrong?
     
  21. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    I want to clarify, again, many of those questions are real questions. I increasingly suspect I was asleep for part of the time, and therefore legitimately do not know what happened. Can someone at least explain those parts?
     
  22. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    i refused to recommend you see this film over The Master, did i not? and you disobeyed me. so see what you get.
     
  23. gezvader28

    gezvader28 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2003

    .... what ?
     
  24. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    Fixed, which is why you didn't get the movie.

    Javier Bardem being boring. Tch. Madness.
     
  25. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    I didn't say he was boring. He's a nice enough fellow, and can play some interesting characters. He just makes me fall asleep.