"Do I Look Like I Care?"
Casino Royale
I don't like reviewing movies too extentensively anymore, unless they really piss me off or something, but this one is a "biggie" and deserves a little better than a brief mention.
Bond's a little different this time. Gone are the cheesy one-liners and superfluous innuendo, replaced by smart dialogue, grit, surprises and *shock* *horror* characterisation. The first two thirds of this movie flow incredibly smoothly from one scene to the next with the plotting and action set-pieces intertwining in a natural progression in stark contrast to the contrived explosion-time Michael Bay mentality of the previous few Brosnan entries. Then something happens: it stops being a Bond movie for a while, seemingly losing focus in an instant and spending a good ten to fifteen minutes trying to force a not-buying-it love story out of nowhere in a period of sheer momentum-scuttling stupidity one can only assume was spawned from the clueless pen of Paul Haggis. The third act is largely wasted as a means of setting up for the rest of the series with a finale that feels out of place given what had come before (turning now to events that are forced, lazy and stupid) but not really far from what you'd expect of other recent Bond movies. A sign of things to come? Was Casino Royale's brilliance fleeting? Never to be seen again in this series? Does Bond demand dumbing down? I hope not. Overall, Simon said it best out in the foyer: "a very good movie that could have been a great movie" or something. If I got that wrong, assume I'm quoting some other Simon.
Lemontree
Forgot to mention: finished this script while away on holiday. May actually clock in around or under the seven minute mark, being the first decent script of mine to do so, thus I shall shoot it shortly. Planning to go through a warm-up session or two first to determine who'd be suited for the lead male role and get some practice in for all involved, possibly using an excerpt from my Creative Writing script.
Oh And
Yesterday I was watching TV when I came across an idea for my next project. I won't say what show or what segment I saw or anything in case someone steals it, but I will say that what I saw is "loose inspiration" only really serving to form a framework around a deeper character study, and that the film will probably be a suspenseful (but not suspense heavy) drama. Ooooooh.
I don't like reviewing movies too extentensively anymore, unless they really piss me off or something, but this one is a "biggie" and deserves a little better than a brief mention.
Bond's a little different this time. Gone are the cheesy one-liners and superfluous innuendo, replaced by smart dialogue, grit, surprises and *shock* *horror* characterisation. The first two thirds of this movie flow incredibly smoothly from one scene to the next with the plotting and action set-pieces intertwining in a natural progression in stark contrast to the contrived explosion-time Michael Bay mentality of the previous few Brosnan entries. Then something happens: it stops being a Bond movie for a while, seemingly losing focus in an instant and spending a good ten to fifteen minutes trying to force a not-buying-it love story out of nowhere in a period of sheer momentum-scuttling stupidity one can only assume was spawned from the clueless pen of Paul Haggis. The third act is largely wasted as a means of setting up for the rest of the series with a finale that feels out of place given what had come before (turning now to events that are forced, lazy and stupid) but not really far from what you'd expect of other recent Bond movies. A sign of things to come? Was Casino Royale's brilliance fleeting? Never to be seen again in this series? Does Bond demand dumbing down? I hope not. Overall, Simon said it best out in the foyer: "a very good movie that could have been a great movie" or something. If I got that wrong, assume I'm quoting some other Simon.
Lemontree
Forgot to mention: finished this script while away on holiday. May actually clock in around or under the seven minute mark, being the first decent script of mine to do so, thus I shall shoot it shortly. Planning to go through a warm-up session or two first to determine who'd be suited for the lead male role and get some practice in for all involved, possibly using an excerpt from my Creative Writing script.
Oh And
Yesterday I was watching TV when I came across an idea for my next project. I won't say what show or what segment I saw or anything in case someone steals it, but I will say that what I saw is "loose inspiration" only really serving to form a framework around a deeper character study, and that the film will probably be a suspenseful (but not suspense heavy) drama. Ooooooh.
posted by Steve @ 10:53 AM
2 Comments:
At 12:40 AM,
Reel Fanatic said…
I think you got it dead right ... A very good movie that could have been great if they trimmed some fat from the end .. that said, it certainly primed me for another Craig Bond flick, and that was of course their primary goal with the ending
At 10:14 AM,
Steve said…
Oh yeah definitely. Thing is that if they can come up with a plotline as good as Casino Royale then, given that the same writing team's still there and given there won't be any need to accomodate the "big picture" as extensively as a Bond-origin story requires it, the next film could easily fulfil the promise that this movie had.
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