Spectre Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Spectre is Daniel Craig’s fourth James Bond film, and for the fourth time, he’s carrying the franchise through an origin story. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace combined to share with us the beginnings of Bond as 007. Skyfall represented the start of M, Q, and Moneypenny as we know them. Now […]
Skyfall Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Sumptuous and splendid, Skyfall takes James Bond in a whole new direction for his 23rd official big-screen adventure. Looking exclusively at the way the film concludes, one might think we’d gone back in time to the Bond of the 1960s, but what precedes it is very much a Sam Mendes character piece. […]
Ranking the James Bond Movies
I’ve gone through all 22 James Bond films pretty thoroughly over the past month, and with the release of Skyfall, it’s time to see where they stack up against one another. There might not be many surprises found here, but I hope you enjoy and appreciate my rankings. Feel free to comment and share yours! […]
The Adventures of Tintin Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Though The Adventures of Tintin is breezy fun, one can’t help but think the pairing of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson should have turned out something more exciting than this. Much has been made of the meeting of the minds of Indiana Jones and The Lord of the Rings, but not a […]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Review
RATING: (3 STARS) David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about as good as its nauseatingly dense source material would allow. I’m no fan of Stieg Larsson’s novel, nor the original Swedish film version. Fincher, however, is able to milk this puppy for all its worth. It’s pulp for mass consumption. It hides […]
Dream House Review
RATING: (1 STAR) Dream House is a B-movie with A-list talent and a story that’s an F-minus, maybe worse. It’s not just that we’ve seen elements of this film a thousand times before. Rather, it’s the nonsensical composition of them that boggles my mind. Where’s the sense of dread, the slow-burn pacing that’s so integral […]
Casino Royale Review
RATING: (4 STARS) I’ve written around these parts before that I’m a big James Bond fan. I grew up watching the movies, and they turned out to be like a gateway drug for me—after watching them so many times, I began to experiment with other types of movies until I became a full-on film addict. […]
Munich Review
RATING: (4 STARS) The buzz around the opening of Steven Spielberg’s Munich back in 2005 was deafening. After a shift into more commercial projects (A.I., Catch Me if You Can, Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds), the director finally transitioned back to the kind of film that won him an Oscar. But many […]
Quantum of Solace Review
RATING: (3 STARS) When James Bond returned in 2006’s “Casino Royale,†the franchise was given new life. The film was a smashing success both critically and financially. Daniel Craig had made everyone forget about Pierce Brosnan. So production began almost immediately on a sequel. And in 2008, with the highest of expectations, “Quantum of Solace†[…]
License to Direct
I love James Bond. I’ve seen every film in the series at least three or four times. I own all the DVDs and most of them on VHS. This was the series that really got me into film. So whenever there is news from the world of 007, I’m all ears. After the disaster that […]
