POMO

GoldenEye is a colorful, spectacular Bond movie packed with great action and sexy women. And an excellent cast. There’s no trace of the traditional Bond atmosphere of the classics starring Sean Connery, but I don’t have a single complaint in terms of its entertainment value.

This time the Broccoli party played nicely on emotions. And in the role of Bond, Craig tried out the broadest range of inner developments and facial expressions not only of his five appearances in the franchise, but all of the Bond films. As an emotional viewer, I was thoroughly moved. The relationship with Léa Seydoux was nicely deepened. But what about the faulty logic in the main villain’s (Malek) motivation and behavior and the other ill-conceived things? Is it so difficult to polish the screenplay of a much-anticipated, worldwide mega-film also in this respect? A repeat viewing of Spectre the day before was helpful, and No Time to Die follows directly from it. Zimmer is excellent in the suspenseful scenes, particularly in the encounter with Blofeld (Waltz).

What is apparent from its screenplay and its exposition of 007 is that this 22nd Bond movie was supposed to be a revenge-driven, ferocious and almost furious culmination of Casino Royale. And the producers entrusted it to the artsy director who amputated all of Casino Royale’s powerful limbs and arranged flowers in their place. All the great action, the Bond car and all the stylish opening credits and interesting locations are absent and the bad guys look like they stepped out of a Pasolini movie. The only thing that makes Quantum of Solace a Bond movie, what keeps it kicking and earns it a third star in my rating, is the still great Daniel Craig (Olga Kurylenko is nice, but she’s still just a female background character in Bond’s world). This is the first Bond movie after a very long time that didn’t make me feel that heroic excitement I used to feel after watching action movies as a little boy.

The first half of Skyfall, the only highlight of which is the Shanghai skyscraper, is well crafted but lengthy. Following the obligatory Bond traditions, the pace of the story is slowed down by unnecessary characters (the Bond girl) and brings few surprises (Bond being equipped with technological toys). However, from the scene with a sailboat approaching the island – and the villain’s entrance – it is the best Bond movie until today. Paradoxically, it doesn’t really look like a Bond movie at all. Too bad that the directors of subsequent instalments won’t be able to follow in Mendes’s footsteps. The editing art in the scene involving the imminent court attack and the visual aesthetics in Scotland elevate the Bond brand to the level of a delicate film drama. It is also the first Bond movie in which I enjoyed the relationships between the characters. Javier Bardem, whose performance is somewhere between the Joker and Hannibal, should get an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

An orgasmic opening and pleasantly lavish set designs, supported by bold footage, which did not bother me – on the contrary, it gave the film a large-scale, sweeping reach (Hoytema and Mendes turned out to be a good team). I was pleased with the connection with Craig’s other Bond films, action scenes and little things like the brutal surprise on the train and waiting at a desert station (a reference to Hitchcock’s North by Northwest). Thanks to these things, I forgive the film even the use of a likeable comedian in the role of a wannabe alpha villain (WTF?!), the climax lazily borrowed from The Dark Knight (as if there wasn’t enough inspiration from Nolan), and Bond’s fling with a wrinkled MILF (while he left the only really beautiful woman of the movie in the opening, lying fully dressed on the bed).

With the exception of the mammoth hunt at the beginning, this naïve CGI fairy-tale has absolutely nothing to offer and is not entertaining, not even with Emmerich’s expected trademark silliness. It’s been a long time since I felt that I completely wasted two hours in a theater. From the script to the actors, 10,000 BC is an utterly empty movie. Ugh.

Solid craftsmanship, but the content is so feeble and predictable that you will die of boredom. There have been hundreds of such films and this one does not stand out among them in any way. It’s good entertainment only for viewers who go to the cinema once in ten years. And for small children who are satisfied with the sight of a cute dog and a series of naïve jokes.

A decent series pilot that has no business on the big screen. Logical holes in the narrative vs. powerful moments of surprise and an intense climax, which, however, is only as long as the climax of a TV series episode. A small movie to accompany Super 8, which also didn’t warrant much attention. Not as good as the larger and original Cloverfield (if we’re talking about J.J. Abrams’s projects for the same target audience).

Unlike Virgin Mountain, which also follows the story of a shy, asocial grouch, Teddy Bear is blunt, without feeling or psychological detail. It’s as if the filmmakers wanted to show the intellectual simplicity of the protagonist with the emotional shallowness of narration. On the other hand, its script is pure and leads to a liberating destination without unnecessary twists.

François Cluzet practically doesn’t leave the screen, successfully carrying the entire film on his shoulders – with his unreadable, stony expressions, he keeps the audience curious as to what he wants to do and how he’s going to do it. Not that much happens in the end, however, and the film remains just a well-rendered take on a real event, which for foreign viewers is not as interesting as for the French. For them, this was the media event of the year. I was happy to hear M83’s “Midnight City” in the end credits.