Skyfall

Last week before leaving town I decided to kick my vacation off by seeing Skyfall. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for some time and I thought it was better than the the prior Quantum of Solace installment. Skyfall begins as a computer drive containing a list of secret agent's identities is stolen and the names and identities of those spies are made public. We later learn that the person responsible is an ex MI6 operative who has a grudge against M.

Daniel Craig gives a good performance in this film. One thing that I have liked about his character is that he is not perfect. The prior Bonds never seemed to make mistakes and relied too heavily on gadgetry. I have enjoyed seeing Craig as an agent with a human side. This is only the second Bond movie where he cries. The first was On Her Majesty's Secret Service after his wife was killed. I particularly liked the scenes that showed his difficulty in coming back to the service after sustaining an injury in the opening sequence.

The majority of this movie takes place in the United Kingdom. There is not the usual amount of exotic locations and globe trotting, but there are also some scenes in Turkey and China. Javier Bardem plays a flamboyant and creepy villain in this movie. Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney have minor roles, but are a nice addition to the cast. It was also interesting to see the introduction of a new Money Penny and Q. I think Judi Dench has done a great job as M over the years.

One complaint I had was how the movie took on a "Home Alone" turn at the end as they booby trap Bond's childhood home as they prepare to defend themselves against their pursuers. This may not have been the best plot or the best Bond film, but I was still glad to see it and enjoyed it more than several others (The World is Not Enough, Licensed to Kill, Diamonds are Forever, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, Never Say Never Again, etc.)

I was shocked when I read so many reviews of haters who didn't care for this movie. There have been 50 years of 007 films and some are definitely better than others, but I like what Sam Mendes did as the director of this installment and I give Skyfall 8.0 stars.

Taken 2

I really enjoyed the First Taken movie so I was glad to hear a sequel was coming out. I recently saw Taken 2 and overall I enjoyed it but I had a few serious concerns with this movie.

I never realized how pronounced some of the actors facial features were. Liam has a distinctive nose and Famke Janssen has some interesting eyebrows that kept distracting me. It's good to know that distinctive facial features are not a hindrance in Hollywood. I say that because my forehead is the same size as a regulation checker board.

Anyway, back to the movie... I enjoyed the performances of all of the actors, but I felt like his buddy friends were insignificant and were almost comic relief. They reminded me of the three Disney cartoon ducks during the scene when he calls them at the golf course.

I liked this movie but I had a little problem with him instructing his daughter to throw grenades off the roof tops so he could hear how far away she was from them. I found it convenient that he just happened to have them in his luggage- I know he is a security specialists, but most body guard's weapons of choice are not grenades.

The scene that really bothered me was when they stole a taxi with a shiny yellow paint job and had a chase through busy streets and experienced 5 or 6 serious crashes, yet there was not a single scratch on it! COME ON!!!

This movie obviously cost millions of dollars to make so why would they choose to ignore the fact that cars get damaged when they collide into other objects? I would rather see boom microphones hanging down in the picture or have visible crew members in a scene than have such blatant disregard for physics.

Despite my complaining, I still liked this movie. Liam Neeson may have a particular set of skills, but apparently so do I, picking the details of a movie apart. I give Taken 2  6.9 stars.

Total Recall

I saw Total Recall a couple weeks ago and have been so busy lazy that I never did a write up.

I always like futuristic/post apocalyptic scenarios where the masses are oppressed and have to fight against "the man", but this movie was missing something and I'm not really sure what. I thought Colin Farrell was decent in the lead role and can't put any blame on him.

Kate Beckinsale plays Farrell's wife who is actually a cop who is trying to kill him after he realizes who he really is. She was kind of like a Victoria's Secret version of the Terminator in this movie as she relentlessly pursues him. Jessica Biel's plays an ally to Farell who helps him evade the manhunt for him, but her role wasn't very developed and I had a hard time caring that much about her.

If you like science fiction, action, pretty women, and special effects, then you will probably like this movie, but it is more of a wait for it on DVD type of movie. I was hoping it would have been better. I give it 6.2 stars.

007 Montage

I am really looking forward to seeing Skyfall in November. I recently came across this picture on the Internet. It made me wonder which Bond would end up walking away from the table with all the chips. Which actor is your favorite James Bond?

Premium Rush

Premium Rush is about bike messengers in New York City. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays a risk taking cyclist who is given a package to deliver across town. He soon finds out that someone is after the contents of his package and is trying to get it from him before he can make the delivery.

I've liked Gordon-Leavitt in every movie I've seen him in so far. I just wish he would loose the hyphenated long name. Maybe he just likes sounding like John Cougar Mellancamp or Jakie Joyner Kersey. Michael Shannon does a good job of playing an annoying bad guy who is easy to dislike.

I got a kick out of how this movie tried to make bikers look so dang hip and cool. Many of them had extreme hair styles and clothes and they all had major attitude. I'm sure most bike messengers don't fit the general stereotypes of cocky, traffic law breaking, risk taking athletes that were portrayed in this film, but it was still fun to watch. This movie may have had some cool characters in it, but none are were cool as the original "Speedy Delivery" Mr. McFeely.

Premium Rush does have some detractions. I liked the flashbacks which explained the story line better as the movie progressed, but I didn't care for how they showed the main character's super human ability to make split second driving decisions. After they showed his ability to redirect his driving course and work out multiple angles and options in the blink of an eye, it got kind of old. The escape scene where he steals a BMX bike and escapes from the police was also pushing it, but I'm sure they were just looking for an excuse to let a stunt double to show off his X games skills. There is also quite a bit of swearing in this movie.

Overall, I give Premium Rush 7.0 stars. It made me want to get a bike.