Spectre (2015)

[Ohwell]

Also wasted was Moneypenny.  I wanted to at least see her in the field again.  With all the talk of "Bond women" getting to do more than stereotypically be a damsel in distress, we see her as a secretary almost the entire time, walking two steps behind M.  She was able to give Bond information, but I want to see her in the field, with a gun, being his trusted sidekick.

 

 

I thought Moneypenny said in Skyfall at the end when she was talking to Bond, that she didn't want to be in the field anymore and wanted to stay in the office.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Ohwell

[Joimiaroxeu]

As long as it's not David Beckham.

OMG. I think the only way that would work is if Bond never spoke again.

[NoWillToResist]

Also wasted was Moneypenny.  I wanted to at least see her in the field again.  With all the talk of "Bond women" getting to do more than stereotypically be a damsel in distress, we see her as a secretary almost the entire time, walking two steps behind M.  She was able to give Bond information, but I want to see her in the field, with a gun, being his trusted sidekick.

 

Well, to be fair, the last time Moneypenny and Bond were in the field together, she shot him...so maybe it's a good thing for the franchise that she stays indoors... ;)

 

I really missed Judi Dench as M. My understanding is that she's having to give up acting because of her eyesight, but I think I'd rather her be a disembodied voice through a speaker or ear piece (like Charlie's friggin' Angels) rather than have Ralph Fiennes as M. (no offense to RF...he's not just filling her shoes, IMO)

Edited December 3, 2015 by NoWillToResist

[BetterButter]

Radiohead Share Unreleased Bond Theme "Spectre"

[Dancingjaneway]

So I finally saw this and was very disappointed. It's slow moving and I didn't really care about what was going on in the film. The bond girl(Swaan?) was dull as hell and I hate that she didn't get to really do anything. They wasted Monica Belucci and that's a big no, no. I'm going to be the odd man out and say that I disliked Christoph Waltz in this. I didn't find him to be troubling or scary. He just didn't give anything to the role. Javier Bardem was MUCH better at crazy. I can't stand Ralph Finnes as M. I want Judy Dench back. Q and Moneypenny are wonderful though. Bond not shooting Bloefeld at the end was stupid. Bond movies aren't about making a point or being a PSA for certain world issues. I think Daniel Craig needs to hang it up because his heart just isn't in it anymore. Also he's looking too old to play Bond(granted not as ridiculous as Sean Connery) but still it's just not working. I'm not sure who I would want to play Bond. Idris Elba seems like a good replacement but I also think they need someone who isn't over 40 because by the 3rd movie they look too old. They need to find an actor in his mid 30's to play the part. 

[spaulding]

Finally got around to seeing this movie.

 

It was OK but underwhelming.  The helicopter intro was boring compared to the epic train scene in SkyFall.

 

I miss Judi Dench.

 

Blofeld was underwhelming.  He was supposed to be the Big Bad.  I did like the call backs to Goldfinger.

 

The blond doctor was the worst part.  She didn't do anything.  Her father had more charisma, and he was dying. 

 

I can't believe that Bond "changed" for her.  Or wanted to end up with her.  I wasn't a fan of Vesper Lynd, but Vesper was a far better character. 

 

Bond has a license to kill; Blofeld needed to die in the end.  If Blofeld escapes--and he will, I want him to eliminate the annoying blond doctor.

[Traveller519]

Sony seems to be trying to drag the dying corpse of this film above the $200 M mark domestically. It's still showing in theaters despite generating painfully little revenue, except for last weekend (the 19th-20th) they pumped it through a bunch more theaters those weeks and managed to get people into them? I wonder if Sony bought tickets for a bunch of people. At any rate, it now sits at $199,844,000. Maybe one last push of their, "Oscar-winning" movie will get them there.

 

And I think that was both a below average Sam Smith song and below average Bond song.

[NoWillToResist]

The blond doctor was the worst part.  She didn't do anything.  Her father had more charisma, and he was dying. 

 

 

 

BWA HA HA HA! What a burn! :)

[ketchuplover]

I nominate Quentin Tarantino for director of the next film

[Traveller519]

Officially over $200M domestically. Congrats, Sony!

 

Ha, a Tarantino directed Bond would be incredible, though I'm not sure how they'd handle him being killed in the scene's final shootout.

[kokapetl]

This was just terrible. Who knew Rome, including Vatican City, had basically no traffic?! And wasn't it fortunate there were no other passengers on the train. And Bond spent two winters with some Dr Evil's family 45 years ago, that alone motivated Dr Evil to build a huge business empire which was both legitimate and criminal, just to jerk Bond around? And what was that weird robo-drill thing, was it supposed to be doing what Dr Evil said it was doing?

[paramitch]

Wow, I was really surprised at how disappointing this was. I'm a fan of Craig and Mendes both, and adored Skyfall, but this was... not good.

My main problem was that neither the romance nor the villain were remotely well-written or believable.

This was compounded by what I felt was the absolutely awful casting of Seydoux as the love interest:

1. She looked like a kid (and it seemed like a deliberate choice by the film -- she looked older and more sophisticated in her minor role in Mission: Impossible several years earlier);
2. She had, if possible, negative chemistry with Craig (and I've never seen that before, honestly);
3. And her performance was terrible. I've liked Seydoux in the past, at least in small roles, but here she was painfully unable to rise to the occasion, and was honestly so bad that for me she tanked the whole movie. 

Craig's Bond has had many really believable and complex relationships (romantic and platonic) until this film, so this was a huge step back for me. I didn't need Bond to fall in love here (and in fact found it ludicrous), but I did need to believe his investment for whatever reason in her, and I just didn't. Never. Not remotely.

On 11/6/2015 at 9:43 PM, SeanC said:

But the reason that I thought Skyfall was a great Bond movie and this isn't is all in the character.  To me, the improbability of the villain's plan isn't a big deal, so long as the character dynamics compel, which in that movie they did; Silva was a strong villain, and the movie worked, because I bought his vendetta against M, and the way that this affected M and Bond.

I loved Skyfall, and the complexity of the emotions and relationships -- for me -- were what made it a great film. The writing gave us the beautiful relationship between Bond and M -- and then raised the stakes by giving us Silva/M as a dark parallel -- and Bond and Silva as brothers of a sort. The first meeting of Silva and Bond is one of my favorite moments on film -- it's brutal, playful, scary, weirdly sexy, and yet -- there's a genuine connection there, what I believe is a real feeling (however warped) in Silva for both Bond and, of course, M. Silva was a fantastic villain precisely because even though I hated his villainy, I understood him.

On 11/8/2015 at 9:14 PM, NoWillToResist said:

I had to laugh retroactively at all the whining that was going on online about how Monica Belluci was too old to be a love interest for Bond and blah blah ageist-cakes. Wonder if there'd have been such a kerfuffle if they'd known she was going to take up all of 5 minutes of screentime?

I liked Belluci a lot, and thought her character was genuinely interesting, and that she had pretty scorching chemistry with Craig. Given that she patently loathed her husband, it was believable to me that she'd hatefuck Bond.

On 11/10/2015 at 3:59 PM, Danny Franks said:

As I understand it, that would be a trifecta of 'woman dies to give Bond manpain and motivation' for Daniel Craig's run? Perhaps there are more, but I'm thinking of Eva Green and Judi Dench's characters as the first two.

I guess that would sum up how the women really do only exist for Bond's convenience.

I would agree that from a big-picture standpoint, this is -- and always has been -- a real problem with the Bond films.

However, I would argue that overall, the Craig era has tried to give us female characters who go beyond the historic, rather shallowly characterized "Bond girls" -- going all the way back to Casino Royale. Aside from Eva Green's fantastic Vesper Lynde, the early villain's wife, the first Bond girl of the film, is actually presented fairly poignantly as a character with real thoughts and feelings, and her death has real impact and sadness. And while I didn't love Quantum of Solace, I liked the women in it, and I loved that the entire film was basically about Bond attempting to process his grief. It's a very strange Bond film for that reason.

And then with Skyfall, what I love is that it is emotional, complex, devastating and earned -- the culmination of the real and palpable emotion between Bond and M that began in Casino Royale. Between Bond and a seventy-something year-old woman. And I do think that's pretty amazing.

On 11/12/2015 at 6:03 AM, NoWillToResist said:

I loved the interview with Daniel Craig where he just totally rips into the hero-worship Bond gets. He flat out calls him a misogynist and seems happy that recently Bond has been surrounded by strong women who don't take his shit. :)

He also rather beautifully addressed the online complaints about Monica Belluci being too old to be a Bond girl: "I think you mean the charms of a woman his own age. We're talking about Monica Bellucci, for heaven's sake. When someone like that wants to be a Bond girl, you just count yourself lucky!"

I do find it interesting that, for a man who has such callous disregard for so many women in his life (at least as far as his sexual partners go), Craig's Bond was very much influenced by Vesper and M...so much so that he grieves them very heavily. I found it quite touching and a nice contrast to the usual way he treats women.

I love that Craig has never felt the need to sugarcoat Bond. He's always been really blunt about the character's shortcomings, and I also appreciated his respect for Monica Bellucci as well as his calling out the real sexism involved in the press about her role. 

I think Vesper and M are incredibly vital characters in the Craig Bond years -- in fact, I think they're easily the two most important people, aside from Bond himself. So I do think that's another check in the plus column. I think Craig's Bond has actually tried to do something about the way women are portrayed.

On 11/12/2015 at 9:52 AM, revbfc said:

Normal, well-adjusted people don't become spies, assassins or international criminals. These are people who are trained to be cruel and inhuman, so I don't find that particular argument valid. Having said that, Bellucci should have had more screen time (and considering the run time, that could have been arranged).

I agree. I find the compartmentalization of Bond and many of the characters in the Craig Bond films to be believable and deliberate. It's even what makes the first conversation between Bond and Vesper so effective, for me. They're both fully aware of who the other is and how they operate, manipulate, and dissociate.

On 11/12/2015 at 0:06 PM, nicepebbles said:

Now I’m sometimes a sucker for people “falling in love under extreme circumstances” (Speed anyone?). This was not one of those times. One, I was not feeling Lea S as an actress. Two, those 2 were just not selling it. (Granted, I felt the same way about Casino Royale. The common denominator there? DC. So maybe it’s him?) I said to Mr. Nice after she said I love you. “I’m just going to pretend that didn’t happen.”

Q had more to do so that was nice. Moneypenny was wasted. M had some stuff to do. That was nice. I feel like the global surveillance SL was just tacked on. It was telegraphed from the word go that C would be a bad guy.

I can’t decide if like the song.

I'm totally with you on Speed. There was a way to make this story and romance-under-pressure work, but I think the writing maimed it and the casting killed it.

I like Fiennes as M -- there's a casual grace to him, this odd relaxed quality to the way he chooses to play it. And I adore Moneypenny in the Craig films -- she's wonderful.

I weirdly like the song. I've grown to like it the more I heard it. I do think it's slightly underrated -- it's a really really difficult piece vocally, so while I don't always like Sam Smith all that much, I think he did a good job on it (and I got a kick out of Smith's honesty about the song on "Graham Norton" -- he basically turns slightly green with fear every time he has to sing it just because it's so incredibly high).

On 11/12/2015 at 1:03 PM, NoWillToResist said:

Fuck, I loved him and Judi Dench's M. They sassed the everloving SHIT out of each other, but deep down, there was loyalty, trust and faith. I loved them. I really, really, REALLY miss(ed) their dynamic... :(

Like I said earlier, him keeping her fugly ceramic dog figurine made me smile. I was not expecting James Bond to demonstrate such sentimentality. :D

Has everyone seen this yet? It's weird to see "James Bond" laugh (though I suppose it's more DC not able to keep a straight face, but whatever...)

I loved them too! And seeing the dog here was a really lovely callback (I did like all the little mementos of the previous characters in this film). I agree that originally, Bond loathed that dog. But I think he loves it now, because of what it means to him and reminds him of.

Thanks for sharing that Colbert piece! That was adorable. I especially loved the little near-peck on the cheek Bond gives Stephen. (What is it with Colbert? It's like everyone wants to kiss him, it's the cutest thing ever.)

On 11/12/2015 at 3:00 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:

I hadn't seen it - thanks for sharing.  Craig losing it in the middle of that skit while Colbert kept it together is priceless. Also, the skit was uncomfortably similar to experiences I've had while renting a car.  Watching that reminded me of this, another example of Craig's sense of humor. 

They were adorably affectionate.  I don't see that too often with celebrity couples on the red carpet. 

I really like Craig and Weisz together (and she was so funny and real when talking about her marriage to him on Graham Norton, too). And that skit was the best thing -- loved watching Craig lose it (it was somehow really endearing).

 

On 11/15/2015 at 11:04 AM, Ohwell said:

What I've wondered all along is how does Bond buy stuff, like clothes?  And all over the world?  I mean, with all his escapades, he can't possible carry a wallet.  He's either fighting or being stripped naked as a prisoner.  Does he have a credit card chip under his skin?

He did famously have one of the fabled Amex black credit cards in "Casino Royale." I actually liked the way that movie directly addressed how his funding was handled -- we saw his credit card, we saw Vesper handle the financials, and M as well.

On 11/16/2015 at 3:31 AM, Ariah said:

Was it ever explain why the device Blofeld used on Bond didn't work and James didn't lose his face-recognition skills?

I wasn't thrilled with the movie, but to be fair, Blofeld did monologue about how it would probably take several [agonizing] tries for him to hit just the right spot in his torture session, which was evidently part of the fun -- waiting after each try to see if Bond had lost himself yet.

[VCRTracking]

I just watched it. Not as good as Skyfall or the best Daniel Craig Bond movie but still enjoyable.  It's definitely too long but there's stuff to like. The opening shot in Mexico City, the Q scenes, Monica Bellucci(even though her appearance was brief) the car chase in Rome, the fight with Dave Bautista on the train. Yeah, I get how having Blofeld grow up as a Bond's foster brother and behind everything that went on the past three movies might rankle people and I'm not a fan of it either but it doesn't ruin Craig's movies for me.   I think these movies are different from the ones pre-Casino Royale which were always centered on plot. They tried to really be about Bond the character and tried to be more emotional.  Ley Seydoux may not be the best Bond girl but damned if she didn't have the best wardrobe. Enough for me to notice it!

Edited August 12, 2016 by VCRTracking

[catrox14]

On 11/6/2015 at 7:52 AM, vavera4ka said:

Also can't un-see Moriarti in Andrew Scott. Even if he were one of the good guys I wouldn't have believed it for one second

Same. I just kept calling him Moriarty.

[Kel Varnsen]

Watched it a couple of nights ago. It was decent, I liked that there wasn't a lot of ridiculous tech that Bond had access too. It was pretty much just an exploding watch. 

The ending was a bit dumb though, starting with the world's most conveniently placed net. Also the whole thing about Bond trying to decide if he wanted to kill Blofeld was really pointless, since I am pretty sure that executing  an injured and unarmed person on Westminster Bridge would be a pretty good way to not only blow any cover Bond had left, but it would also shut down the 00 program pretty quickly. Although the boat chasing the helicopter was cool.

I also found it funny that the only car with airbags is a Fiat.