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Reviews
Casino Royale (2006)
Bond figures out "who he is"
It was a good Bond movie. This is indeed the very first days of Bond's "double oh" days. He hasn't yet established who he is: attitude, motivations, preferences, etc. It's very intriguing to hear how bond orders his drinks in this movie. And his choice of cars. And how he deals with danger.
There was some really good action in this flick, with the typical running, leaping, crashing, hard driving, things blowing up, etc. If you were afraid this would be a more sensitive film, rest your fears. It is, but it doesn't sacrifice action to do it.
Not giving anything away, but when Bond is captured and the bad guy begins his torture, there are no empty threats. Bond takes some abuse... enough to make the audience groan audibly. This was the grittiest part of the film.
There are some lines and events in this film that brought out satisfying laughter in the audience.
There were also a couple of unexpected events that caused me to jump a bit, primarily because the sound punctuated the action very effectively.
I'm a tough critic, and I give this 8/10 stars.
As Time Goes By: The Wedding (2002)
Judy and Alistair's big day finally arrives
Jean is getting out of sorts the day before Judy and Alistair's wedding. She shoves Lionel at the telephone. When the best man, Gaston, breaks his leg, they decide to get Rocky to be best man.
Jean shouts upstairs to Judy, who is with Sandy packing for the trip to the country for the wedding. The shouting causes Sandy to say, "You know, for a small woman your mother's got a very loud voice." Meanwhile, Alistair and Lionel's secret about Alistair's swooning and crying (hidden behind the deception that his Harley street man is checking his toe) can't be hidden any longer, and Lionel breaks the news to Jean and Judy.
Interesting side note about the parrot joke... Rocky and Lionel both seem to plan to use the same joke when they give their toast, using phrases like, "a funny story about a parrot with no feet", and "I didn't see a thing, I got so excited I fell off my perch".
When Jean suggests they should leave by 6:00 to get there by 8:00 and Lionel reminds everyone that the ceremony is at 3:00, Jean insists that it's necessary because Judy and Sandy will have to change, prompting Sandy to sarcastically utter, "Yes, we shall need seven hours." Jean's seating plan, which is now a standing plan, reveals that she is wishfully representing Sandy and Harry as two interlocking red hearts.
As another side note on appearances, Lionel (Palmer), as always, is dressed smartly with a tie. Jean (Dench) still looks graceful. Sandy (Funnell) is looking as girl-next-door cute as ever in her pink sweater and jeans. Judy (Brooker) has put on a little weight, but still has her pretty dimples and looks very nice in her wedding dress. Lol (Wylton) is popping out of his old Army uniform and even his Sunday suit's waistcoat (vest). Rocky (Middlemass) gets spiffy in his bright red uniform.
Lol greets them to the country house with a single bottle rocket and give Judy her gloves from Mother Ferris.
Mrs. Twillet sits watching the flowers and performs a strange ritual with Mrs. Bale and touches Alistair's forehead, then leaves. When Alistair can't move his legs, Jean explodes, "Oh shut up, do! Side effects from side effects from side effects! I'm sick of hearing about them! It's nothing but the blue funk! And if you think I'm going to let you spoil Judy's day, you've got a another thing coming! Now get out and get to that church and marry my daughter!" Alistair's legs are magically cured.
With a few comical moments, the wedding is finally done and they are married. Then Jean keeps trying to get Harry and Sandy together at the reception.
One funny moment comes when Steven decides to look enigmatic (after turning down the OBE), making sorting of a James Bond face, and Penny says he doesn't look enigmatic, but vacant.
The Other Side of Midnight (1977)
Worth watching once
The scenery in Marseilles, Paris, Washington and Greece was nice, but the movie had some problems.
First of all, the movie was just too long. There are long montages of love scenes that just keep going and going. Yes, we get the idea. They are falling in love.
Second, having all the dialog in English is just not real enough. Maybe that style was fine, for 1977, but it would have been more enjoyable if two people from France would speak French to each other. Maybe subtitles were not in vogue in the late-70's... although George Lucas used them in Star Wars for various aliens.
Third, the ending was more of an international film ending that a Hollywood ending and, since this was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, I expected a Hollywood ending, but was denied. And why does Constantin care about Catherine anyway? I was scratching my head on that one.
Fourth, Larry is schizophrenic. I like him, I hate him, he's romantic, he's a cad, he settles down, he fools around. I got whiplash trying to keep up.
While Marie-France and Susan were technically great, the best actor in the film was Clu Gulager, playing his minor character role with perfect subtlety. It's too bad he wasn't part of the courtroom scene towards the end of the film. I almost laughed when I saw Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) with a French accent.
The plot of the story was compelling though. Two stories, seemingly separate, yet you start to piece together how these stories will come together. This was very enjoyable.
But can anyone tell me what title has to do with the film? This is a pet peeve of mine. Marketing titles that mean nothing in the story.
This movie split it right down the middle for me, 5/10. Worth watching once, but probably never again.
Office Space (1999)
Didn't buy the ending
Some of the funny scenes often nail the oddities in a corporate software company, much like Dilbert comics. Classic stereotypes are: the annoying voices over the cube walls, other people's music, the guy with the name no one can pronounce, the guy with the same name as someone famous (I never thought about it before, that does seem to happen a lot), and the executive who has no idea how to run the division.
As a movie, though, it could have been better. The ending should have been rewritten. The fire came out of nowhere, conveniently solving Peter's problem, and Milton (Stephen Root was excellent), the big time wimp and whiner, ends up on a nice vacation? Peter was supposed to end up on that beach with Joanna. Instead he finds happiness shoveling out the burned construction site? I didn't buy it.
Joe Kidd (1972)
Clint is great, but the writing is lame
Clint's character is ridiculous at the beginning and the jail scene does not really do anything to set up the rest of the movie. He's a drunk that hit the sheriff but he turns down $500 to hunt down Chama? So he's a drunk with honor? I don't buy it. After 20 minutes of agony watching him waddle about in a goofy tie, collar and gentleman's hat, he suddenly changed in to classic Clint garb, with no explanation. Suddenly he feels compelled to go get Chama. The later changes his mind again. My head was spinning. His character got better as the movie went on, but the writing was substandard. Characters changed motivation for very little reason and the ending was too predictable, with the exception of the train going through the drug store. Why would there be a set of tracks that heads right into a building? This is a forgettable movie that I will not watch again.