Films

[FloorFiller]

I'm not sure Worthington at 38 is too old now. Craig is 47 now and making another.

 

he'd be too old by the time they made the first film he'd be in (in about six years time after Spectre + one other + gaps in between)

[Matt42]

Had zero hype for Spectre, then I saw that Christolph Waltz is the villain! Hyped now.

[FloorFiller]

Had zero hype for Spectre, then I saw that Christolph Waltz is the villain! Hyped now.

I'm sure he'll be fantastic, but I thought he was an incredibly uninspired choice - he's been the go-to villain for a couple of years now. It just seems so/too obvious. Hope he brings something a little new to the table rather than a repeat of his Inglorious/Green Hornet villain

[mjsell]

I'm sure he'll be fantastic, but I thought he was an incredibly uninspired choice - he's been the go-to villain for a couple of years now. It just seems so/too obvious. Hope he brings something a little new to the table rather than a repeat of his Inglorious/Green Hornet villain

Think that's a little harsh, his biggest role in his career was playing a good guy, more recently than both the films you have mentioned.

[viberunner]

Spy, Ted 2, and (cough) Insurgent currently available from your unusual vendors. 

[DomDom1984]

Insurgent isn't too bad tbh. Spy is a total joy.

[FloorFiller]

Think that's a little harsh, his biggest role in his career was playing a good guy, more recently than both the films you have mentioned.

He was great in Django, but he's definitely far more famed for the Inglorious role I feel. I'm sure he'll nail it, but when he was announced I didn't feel an ounce of surprise. All the stuff about him playing Blofeld is interesting - especially since Spectre was originally intended to be filmed back to back with the next film, meaning that even though that seemingly didn't happen, the two stories could intertwine carrying on his character for at least one more. He's denying it, but after the Cumberbatch-Khan debacle it's hard to believe him

[jump]

 What debacle was this?

 Pretending Khan wasn't in the last Star Trek flick when he really was. Not really a debacle imo as no one cares.

Edited July 25, 2015 by jump

[viberunner]

He was great in Django, but he's definitely far more famed for the Inglorious role I feel.

 

Django was considerably more popular in the cinemas than Inglorious ($420m vs $320m) but Inglorious came first.

 

So if you saw both at the cinema you'd be like "oh that's the Nazi guy" but if like me you'd skipped Inglorious during the cinema run you'd be like "who is this new guy QT is using?".

Edited July 25, 2015 by viberunner

[Amy Lawn]

Strudels.

I needed new glasses the other month, very nearly ended up buying an obscenely expensive pair, just because there was a picture right there of Christoph Waltz wearing them. He's a powerful man.

[Winslow Leach]

OHMSS and Casino Royale are the only Bond films I'd even tentatively suggest as being legitimately good films.

 

Also, they're pretty lengthy, but Film Critic Hulk (one of the best people writing about cinema in any media) has been doing a series of articles where he goes through his thoughts on each of the Bond films.

 

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/07/14/hulk-vs.-james-bond-staring-into-the-id-of-a-boner-incarnate

Edited July 26, 2015 by Winslow Leach

[Winslow Leach]

Dr No FFS!!

 

I didn't say there aren't other Bond films that I enjoy, just that I'm not sure how many of them I'd be able to honestly defend as being good films.

 

Dr. No is an interesting one though. I haven't watched it for a long while but if I remember rightly, large parts of it play out more like a hard boiled crime film. 

[zero000]

Watched Alien last night for the first time ever. Absolutely ace! Are the sequels worth much cop?

[Winslow Leach]

Another random Bond thought: Quantum of Solace is a brilliant idea for a Bond film, very poorly executed.

 

On paper it's pretty much exactly the sort of thing the series should have been doing after Casino Royale. But they ballsed it up and we got Skyfall instead.

[TheGayTent]

QoS was acknowledged as being a fuck up not helped by the writers strike.

[G-Stud]

Alien3 is unfairly treated too IMO. Love the original Alien trilogy!

[Winslow Leach]

I think skyfall is unfairly criticised. I really like it.

 

Skyfall is a well made film, but I dislike it more than is probably merited, because I was suckered in by it for a little while after seeing it. Really it's a totally conservative, retrograde move backwards, that pretends to be doing something new, interesting or deconstructive with the franchise while actually it's failing to address or question any of the weird, dated, dodgy or outright fucked up shit of the James Bond world.

 

Basically, it is for James Bond what Nolan's Batman films were for superhero movies.

 

Really, underneath all the 'my parents are deeeeeeeaaaaaad!' angst and 'this was the villain's plan all along!' plot fireworks, it's back to pre-Dalton business as usual. Mendes is throwing us a bone of faux-sophistication so that he can play with the James Bond toy set. It's A View to a Kill with a moody colour palette and some armchair Freud sprinkled on top. It completely reverses all the work the previous two films did in trying to figure out a way that the world of James Bond could actually continue to exist in the 2000s. I mean, they literally take it right back to the 60s films, with the new/old headquarters and the DB5 and the return of Moneypenny. Mendes has stuck the franchise in a jar of aspic and hoped nobody will notice.

[viberunner]

Alien3 is unfairly treated too IMO. Love the original Alien trilogy!

 

Alien 3 is a hideous piece of shit that even the "director", David Fincher, detests. I scare-quote "director" because the studio executives made so many last-minute/during-production changes (all of which were fucktarded and helped ruin the film) it's probably more accurate to say they directed it via him. The filming of Alien 3 and the resulting abortion scraps-bucket of a film it created almost saw Fincher leave Hollywood forever.

 

There are two eras of Alien films: on one side there is Alien and Aliens, on the other side is Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien vs Predator, Alien vs Predator Requiem, and Prometheus.

[Amy Lawn]

Saw Inside Out yesterday, it's OK, but I expected much more. Anybody watched Ant-Man? I was going to bypass it, but somebody's told me it's really good, need a second opinion.

[Winslow Leach]

A view to a kill??? That's very harsh. Very harsh indeed.

 

I stand by that. Right down to hiring a genuinely good actor to play the villain and then have them coast through on a series of their most recognisable and obvious tics.

 

Say what you like about Quantum of Solace (and it is a very poorly made, boring and confusing film) but at least it tries to do something different with the franchise. 

 

Skyfall just buries itself in nostalgic romanticization of the series' past, to the extent that it's deeply, deeply conservative movie. 

 

Damn, I'm starting to think Sam Mendes is really just Christopher Nolan in disguise...

[gary1979666]

Saw Inside Out yesterday, it's OK, but I expected much more. Anybody watched Ant-Man? I was going to bypass it, but somebody's told me it's really good, need a second opinion.

Really enjoyed Inside Out today. Some good laughs, eyes welling up and Cliff from Cheers- what more do you want?!

[philipsteak]

I stand by that. Right down to hiring a genuinely good actor to play the villain and then have them coast through on a series of their most recognisable and obvious tics.

 

Say what you like about Quantum of Solace (and it is a very poorly made, boring and confusing film) but at least it tries to do something different with the franchise. 

 

Skyfall just buries itself in nostalgic romanticization of the series' past, to the extent that it's deeply, deeply conservative movie. 

 

Damn, I'm starting to think Sam Mendes is really just Christopher Nolan in disguise...

 

My mate had to wake me up when we went to see Skyfall cos my snoring was disturbing the other cinema goers. Now that may not be as well thought out and eloquent as Winslow here's takedown, but I  think we essentially make a similar point

[Celery]

Aliens is good. Alien3 is terrible. Alien resurrection probably even worse.

 

 

Alien3 is unfairly treated too IMO. Love the original Alien trilogy!

Parts of Alien 3 are fantastic and there are some interesting ideas there. As an overall film though, it feels disjointed and dull in places. As someone else said, the studio destroyed it and we nearly lost Fincher from Hollywood. The original idea to set it in a monastery would have been cool. 

http://www.empireonline.com/features/alien-3-tale-of-the-wooden-planet/

[FloorFiller]

Saw Inside Out yesterday, it's OK, but I expected much more. Anybody watched Ant-Man? I was going to bypass it, but somebody's told me it's really good, need a second opinion.

I enjoyed Ant-Man, but don't expect anything fantastic. It's very much a lower budget Marvel film with a rather silly premise and the film makes light of this. I much preferred it to Age Of Ultron though - much simpler and better to my mind

[Winslow Leach]

Parts of Alien 3 are fantastic and there are some interesting ideas there. As an overall film though, it feels disjointed and dull in places. As someone else said, the studio destroyed it and we nearly lost Fincher from Hollywood. The original idea to set it in a monastery would have been cool. 

http://www.empireonline.com/features/alien-3-tale-of-the-wooden-planet/

 

 

Alien 3 is a total mess, but it's also such a bizarre film that I can't help but be fascinated by it. I think there's a lot in there that had the potential to be really great, odd and original, but I get the impression that it was a production torn between the originality of its ideas and the fear of straying too far from the franchise line.

 

The Assembly Cut is notably better, but it's still a far from perfect film. It does have a great cast though: Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover, Pete Postlethwaite (!), Ralph Brown. I just wish the film gave them more to work with. And then there's Charles S. Dutton, who is pretty much the best thing in Alien 3.

 

Edited July 26, 2015 by Winslow Leach