My history with the James Bond franchise is a weird one. I am a 90s child, so “my” Bond was Pierce Brosnan. To this day, GoldenEye (1995) is my favourite Bond film because that also happens to be the very first Bond movie I have ever seen. When I realised I love movies and started my journey to watch as many movies as possible, naturally, I went back and watched most of Sean Connery’s Bond films. And for some reason, I never finished that journey, meaning I had many unwatched Bond movies left until recently. Fast forward to mid-2023, I finally started my physical movie collection, so when the 50th anniversary BluRay box set of all the Bond films until Spectre (2015) was on sale, I grabbed it and started my proper Bond rewatch from the first movie.

I won’t be writing any reviews for any other ones (unless this one does super well, I guess… after all, Never Say Never Again, right?), but I thought I would include my brief history with this unique franchise that spawns six decades now and counting. Because today, I have finally watched the last Bond movie I had yet to watch, Skyfall. Yes, I didn’t watch it when it came out back in 2012 because even then, I knew I had to “fix” my Bond history and get all of them watched before that. The fact I have seen Spectre and No Time to Die (2021, my review here) despite not having seen Skyfall (nor Quantum of Solace (2008) for that matter, but the less said about that one, the better), I will contribute to social pressure as each time I went to see it with someone who wanted to watch that movie. 😉 Anyway, my feelings about Skyfall are as complex as they are about this entire franchise, and that is why I decided to write about this Bond film that has been escaping me since 2012.

The thing about coming “late to the party” regarding such a big franchise as this one is that you are about to hear many opinions about all the films from hardcore fans. You know how each of these movies is generally received, so even though I never looked up any reviews for Skyfall, I knew this movie is considered by many to be the peak of the 007 franchise. Where the old meets the new, some bold choices are made, and yes, I can’t disagree with any of it.

This film might be the most stunning James Bond film ever. However, having Roger Deakins behind the camera should be considered cheating. This guy is one of (if not THE) best there is, and if he decided to shoot a porn one day, it would probably still get a nomination for Best Cinematography. On a serious note, Deakins understands everything, mainly shadows and darkness. If you aren’t new around here, you know I “like” to complain about how dark movies have gotten and how hard it is to enjoy/follow some action sequences in many newer movies. Skyfall has one sequence like that, set in Shanghai, but how that entire scene was shot and lit, where we see silhouettes fighting, not only did it look gorgeous, but I could still tell who was Bond and who was the bad guy… That is what many movies fail to “copy”. You can have an action scene (or any scene) set in the dark, but you must think of the audience and let us see, play with the composition, and give us something we can latch onto.

One thing I can now appreciate about Bond films is how there isn’t any “pure” Bond film, maybe for the first one or two. For the most part, Bond movies simply mirror what was popular at that time of release. That is why we’ve had Bond everywhere, from exotic locations to space. But it goes beyond the locations and trends the filmmaking obviously changes too, and Skyfall can’t deny the Nolan effect. I didn’t even have to read any trivia on IMDb to know with absolute certainty that mainly The Dark Knight (2008) was a huge influence on this movie. Everything from the more realistic action, the villain, and the way, especially the Shanghai/London scenes were shot, were very reminiscing of The Dark Knight. There is nothing wrong about that; I will definitely not be holding that against Skyfall because it only adds to the enjoyment and brings James Bond to the 21st-century world of more grounded action, where it doesn’t have to be cut up like a certain Bond film before this one (again, looking at you, Quantum of Solace).

I also appreciated how this movie blends the old with the new. On top of the technical things I have mentioned already, we have a new Moneypenny (Naomie Harris is great in this role, especially in the later movies), and a new Q (Paddington himself, Ben Whishaw) whilst delving into Bond’s history. The film shows and acknowledges Bond’s Scottish roots; we have a few cheeky lines about gadgets, exploding pens and how that’s no longer a thing, and there might even be a classic Bond car full of gadgets making its re-appearance. But neither of these things felt out of place; everything that happens in this movie makes sense, and unlike some other Bond films that tried this very thing, Skyfall succeeded.

I can see some of you getting confused. I mentioned above that my thoughts about this film are complex, but I am showering Skyfall with compliments only. Well, here’s the thing. If I rate this movie with my brain alone, it’s a simple 5/5. But if I let my gut/heart into it, there was something that never let me be fully in the movie. That is what I meant by the complexity of this franchise, as I can often forgive many things as long as the “adventure” is great. And this adventure, this story was superb, along with the performances, the song, the credits… But I never felt like this movie ever let me in fully. I can’t put it into words what that “it” was, but I feel like every cinephile must know this feeling. You watch a movie that’s technically brilliant, and you enjoy yourself, but you are never 100% immersed in the film for some reason. That’s what happened to me with Skyfall.

If I were nitpicky, I could blame it on the convoluted nature of Javier Bardem‘s (Silva) plan. But even that didn’t bother me at that moment, same as his performance, although it was so obviously Joker from The Dark Knight, he might as well be wearing a name tag saying “Not Joker”. Maybe I have to rewatch it at least once more to fully appreciate it because there is a sliver of something that won’t let me rate this movie with 5/5. It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, I will always go with my gut. So I will do that in this instance too, however, it bears repeating that Skyfall is an excellent addition to the Bond franchise. It will be fascinating to see when I do another rewatch of all the Bond films in some years and whether my view of this movie changes.

Overall, Skyfall is a near-excellent movie that I can’t fault from the technical side. From the beautiful cinematography to great sound design and awesome Bond song to all the performances, it is as good in adapting to the 2010s way of shooting and telling stories like this one while honouring the history of this unique franchise. It is only my gut feeling stopping me from giving it the “ultimate” rating; however, I will strongly recommend Skyfall to any Bond fan. I can actually see even people who aren’t into Bond loving this movie, as, in a way, the James Bond element doesn’t matter here as much.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

As with many films, I had little to no knowledge about it going in. I’ve just seen Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones on the poster, and I was sold immediately. And after the first ten minutes or so, I thought to myself: “Oh, it’s one of those ‘old people not having sex anymore’ movies, isn’t it?” I won’t lie, it is that, 100%. But it’s also so much more.

Hope Springs (is there a more generic title, by the way?) is a delightful movie that handles its topic extremely well. I could see this going too quirky or trying to be too funny, but no. The film takes a more serious approach and explores a relationship that’s way too comfortable. They both are stuck in their routines; they know precisely what they can expect from each other, and it seems to be working fine. Until Meryl’s character wants her husband back in their bed (yep, they sleep in separate rooms), and he’s objecting. So they go and see a therapist (played by the always amazing Steve Carell) trying to save the relationship.

What I appreciated about the movie is how it took its time. The sessions were sometimes taking a bit longer, but there was always a purpose behind it. This movie might seem too “dull”, but I would say it’s the exact opposite of it. And let’s face it, that’s because when you have such a powerhouse of actors, you can’t go wrong. Both Meryl and Tommy played their characters in such an understated, calm way you get where both are coming from once they start opening up. Especially Tommy Lee’s breakthrough and his reasoning behind his behaviour rang true.

Also, what I loved was the therapy, and them looking for a way back to each other again was just a part of the movie, not the entirety of it. We get to spend some time with them after their sessions are finished and see whether they have made some progress. And even if they did, that doesn’t mean everything is fixed now, and all is peachy. I liked the more realistic approach this movie took and showed us how with therapy, as with anything else, it’s never a sprint but a marathon. We need to brace ourselves to work on ourselves for a long time; it’s not “I will do a few weeks of this, and hooray, I am cured.”

And that is pretty much it. Your enjoyment of this movie heavily depends on how much you like Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep, how much you like dramedies about relationships that have been going on for a long time when people often forget what brought them together in the first place. The spark, if you wish. That is this film’s greatest strength, in my view – its simplicity allows you to relax, sit down on a rainy Sunday afternoon and enjoy yourself while potentially thinking about your relationship and whether it needs sprucing up.

Overall, Hope Springs biggest flaw is that generic title. Everything else seemed honest and raw. Plus, the casting is superb; there is some drama but not too much, some comedy elements, but again, neither skew either way. That is what makes this movie, which otherwise could have been a snooze fest about “two old people not having sex anymore”, not only watchable but straight-up delightful.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Stuck in Love. (why is there a dot in the title?) could be subtitled “or how to shoot a Hollywood romance, that tries to touch on difficult topics, but doesn’t have the balls to commit”. But I understand, that wouldn’t fit on the posters, and these long sub-titles aka Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) are almost thing of the past. But I think it would fit this movie to the T. Everything here is quirky, wannabe deep, that you just know where the story goes and the only relationship that I wanted to explore (daughter hating her mom) flips half way through into “oh, she just didn’t know this vital piece of information”…

Yes, this movie made me slightly mad. The problem here is this is how people in Hollywood think “normal” people live, talk and act. Except they/we (at least people I know) don’t. These movies want to be so “approachable” and “show you how it is” but what you are seeing is just something most people can’t relate to. And the one part of this story plenty of people could relate to (the mother daughter relationship) is going someplace, but the movie didn’t either have balls to explore it properly, or didn’t know how to make it into a “feel-good story” that they have cheated in a massive way. And, with bit of a brain, they could have had more complicated, more down-to-earth story, that could still have happy ending.

It’s really hard reviewing this movie without going into the spoilers, so let me just say, that overall, there isn’t anything memorable about this movie. The actors are great, but wasted, every character feels as real as Pamela Anderson’s boobs and everything is so predictable… With that said…

Beware, SPOILERS are coming!

The only storyline that felt real and intriguing to me was the relationship between Lily Collins and Jennifer Connelly (both stunning and great actresses in their own right, but again, had not much to do here). As the movie goes along, you discover the reason Lily hates Jennifer is because of Jennifer’s character cheating on her husband. And Lily saw them. So naturally, she blames her mum for the divorce and doesn’t want to have anything to do with her. And where a smarter movie could have had a great scene between those two characters, where we could get both of their points of view, maybe some shouting match, this one “resolves” it by cheating. What I mean is, about 75% into the movie, we learn that her father was the first one to cheat some time ago and Jennifer forgave him. Which is so lazy. Because not only this makes the husband (played by Greg Kinnear) pretty lousy, but on top of that, that makes him an awful dad! What monster would leave his daughter hating her mom KNOWING very well the reason she hates her mom (for OVER 3 YEARS !!!) without at least telling her “Look, hate her all you want, but I am no saint, and here’s why.” Done, movie’s sorted, credits roll. But also, this felt really cheap for another reason, as that makes the daughter a villain, as she needs to acknowledge she was wrong, even though she wasn’t given the whole truth to truly decide for herself! So of course, the movie finishes with them reconciling, as “It’s fine you hated me for 3+ years, you didn’t know your dad was a bit of cheater too, hey, it’s fine, come have some Thanksgiving dinner with us. And on top of that, of course, I will go back together with your dad, because I can’t just exist without that whiny guy. I am so sick and tired of that muscly guy! Your cheating dad, who was lying to you about his affair for 3+ years allowing you to hate me, he’s the guy I need!”

What infuriates me the most is that the movie could have been so much better, if they tried to avoid these bullshit shortcuts. Just imagine this – we get mother daughter scene about how sometimes, as you get older, you change, you evolve, but some people stop evolving. So in order for her mum (Jennifer’s character) to be truly happy, she had to leave her dad, as he wasn’t doing his part. That could have setup some big emotional scene with Lily’s character, where they could have maybe hinted at the very end of the movie, that they might reconcile. Maybe the next day, maybe the next month, maybe next year. Or maybe they never will, but guess what…? That is also fine. It could still play as “happy-ish end”. And as far as the ex-husband and ex-wife coming back together… just no. Please, can we try to normalise people who divorce, BUT move on and still stay friends? This is what I mean when I say nothing feels real in this movie, as this is typical Hollywood nonsense – either the divorced couple ends up back together at the end of the movie, or they hate each other and never talk. There seems to be hardly anything in between.

My rating would have been much, much better if this movie didn’t follow every single cliché this genre had given us over the years. Because the actors are all great, the story is also there, but because of lazy shortcuts, or unwillingness of trying to do something we haven’t seen as much before, this movie just feels lazy, boring, predictable and… did I say boring?

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Let me be clear, did I have massive expectations that this movie, based on a board game, will actually be great? No. Did I expect to be this average? Also no. And that is the main issue with Battleship. This could have been a dumb, fun movie. Instead, it’s a long movie, that is just plain dumb, with no fun.

I think the main thing (I really don’t want to say problem) here is Peter Berg – he’s a great action director. Some of those sequences actually still looked pretty great (the very first time we see the alien ships, and when they jump over their ship was quite neat) but I don’t think he’s a great “actors director”. Let me explain – you have a few decent people here, like Taylor Kitsch who I would argue is not a dramatic, soon to be Oscar winner by any means. But I do believe he’s capable of much more (if I remember correctly, he was one of the brighter points of the poor second season of True Detective) and it’s no secret, that 2012 wasn’t his year. Nevertheless, I still think he’s better than some people give him credit for. Then you have Liam Neeson a really seasoned actor, who has done a lot of great things, but in this film, he seams not fully there, overacting. And then you have Ri-Ri (you might know her as Rihanna, but I call her Ri-Ri because that’s how I roll) who was totally wasted in this movie. Not even talking about any acting, because she’s literally had no space to have any character, she was always kind of in the background, with most of her dialogues comprising of “Yes, sir”… why even hire her for that role? Such a waste.

The other thing about Battleship, it is way too long and it overstays its welcome. If you were to develop your characters better, than you could justify going over 2 hours (this movie is 2 hours 11 minutes) but this film is not really interested in doing that and instead, indulges itself in plenty of unnecessary scenes. I swear I have seen certain scenes that I had no idea why were they necessary to film, let alone put them in the finished film. This whole movie could have been at least 20 minutes shorter, and honestly, it could have been a fun, slightly dumb B movie we could all enjoy. Because occasionally, you do need to switch off, just relax, watching ships go boom. But this film takes itself way too seriously, so I was not sure what to think about it.

Which is a shame, as I love cheesy, dumb, B movies (after all I grew up on action movies from 80’s/90’s) where you shouldn’t take the movie seriously and let’s face it, what would be the better candidate for that, than a movie based on Battleship board game, where you could literally come up with 50 different stories…? As long as you give us some boats (pardon, ships!) destroying each other, you are golden. But this movie doesn’t feel fun. It just feels like a mix of action, with plenty of “meh” in between. Which is a shame, as with solid cast, pretty solid action scenes and Ri-Ri on top of that all, this should have been my guilty pleasure. Instead, I would feel guilty recommending this film to somebody with a good conscience.

Overall, you can definitely do worse than watching Battleship, that’s for sure. And I do still believe that on technical level, it’s pretty good movie. Too bad the story and characters have had a minimum work put into them. It’s also a shame somebody didn’t suggest to Peter Berg editing this film, before releasing it, as that would’ve sorted some issues. I will still continue playing Battleship, as it’s a game a do enjoy. But I don’t think I will be in a hurry to re-visit this Battleship.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke