007 SPECTRE |OT| It's me, Austin. It was me all along, Austin.

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MovieBob's review (gets spoilery around 4:05).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSHbaA4ep8

And while we're on the subject of critics...have any of the English ones taken a second look after the US reviewers gave the movie a good thrashing? Because I feel with the way they're reacting, the Brit crits feel so embarrassed with how much they gave the movie a pass.
 
Nerdkiller said:
MovieBob's review (gets spoilery around 4:05).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSHbaA4ep8

And while we're on the subject of critics...have any of the English ones taken a second look after the US reviewers gave the movie a good thrashing? Because I feel with the way they're reacting, the Brit crits feel so embarrassed with how much they gave the movie a pass.
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I am actually surprised by some of our (Brits) critics' reactions.

Five stars from Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, I mean come on.

Five stars again from Robbie Collin in the Telegraph.

Mark Kermode in the Observer saying the snow scenes are some amazing homage to Inception. Somehow not realising that the Inception snow scenes were closer to a poorly put together rip off of a 70s Bond film.

Their opinions are legitimate, and they're entitled to them, but after seeing the film myself I can't really understand how they reached these conclusions.
 
samn said:
I am actually surprised by some of our (Brits) critics' reactions.

Five stars from Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, I mean come on.

Five stars again from Robbie Collin in the Telegraph.

Mark Kermode in the Observer saying the snow scenes are some amazing homage to Inception. Somehow not realising that the Inception snow scenes were closer to a poorly put together rip off of a 70s Bond film.

Their opinions are legitimate, and they're entitled to them, but after seeing the film myself I can't really understand how they reached these conclusions.
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Yeah, the movie isn't as great as the british critics said, nor as bad as the US critics said.

It is a very enjoyable film though.


By the way, I don't like the Sam Smith's song, though it did at least match the tone of the movie. Other than that, is a boring song. The Title Sequence is fucking great too, that helped swallowing that boring song.

It's been a while since last time
we had a title sequence taking scenes from past movies
.
 
Yeah it was definitely in the middle for me. The action sequences were fun, especially the opening.

I'm just sad they haven't yet hit the highs of Casino Royale. That movie was just solid. It wasn't silly or over ambitious, it knew what it wanted to do and it did it really well.
 
Bobby Roberts said:
Thought this dude was at BirthMoviesDeath now.
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I think they were just freelance articles.

That auteur one should have been given a different title, though. Much of the discussion seemed to be more in response to the title than discussing the merits and relevance of auteur in this day and age. Still, I cannot wait for his Really That Good on Spiderman 1+2.

Getting back to Skyfall...yeah...I'm gonna give it a rental once it's on video. After spoiling myself on how far the twist actually went (I already knew what was going to be...I just didn't expect that much more than that), I've no reason to get angry at it once I do finally see it.

Bobby Roberts said:
Huh.

Does MovieBob read GAF? The title of this thread pops up in that review.

(It's not that uncommon a joke, I know)
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He mentioned it in one of his latest Game Overthinker's, so I'm guessing yes.
 
Nerdkiller said:
MovieBob's review (gets spoilery around 4:05).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSHbaA4ep8

And while we're on the subject of critics...have any of the English ones taken a second look after the US reviewers gave the movie a good thrashing? Because I feel with the way they're reacting, the Brit crits feel so embarrassed with how much they gave the movie a pass.
Click to expand...

Moviebob is the kind of critic that makes creative people hate critics. Doesn't really matter how valid his points are, but being that loud and condescending only discourages people from being creative.
 
Fudgepuppy said:
Moviebob is the kind of critic that makes creative people hate critics. Doesn't really matter how valid his points are, but being that loud and condescending only discourages people from being creative.
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Oh no, will someone please look out for the feelings of the mediocre blockbuster on lock to get like a billion dollars worldwide?
 
Bobby Roberts said:
He should get at me if he wants to do some Star Wars shit.

Movie Bobs.
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Well, Bob's Your Uncle, then.

Fudgepuppy said:
Moviebob is the kind of critic that makes creative people hate critics. Doesn't really matter how valid his points are, but being that loud and condescending only discourages people from being creative.
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You should at least check out some of his Really That Good videos, as they are insightful as all hell. Here. Have a little taster (my personal favourite of his thus far).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPoILjs6BYI
 
Just seen it, it's a very average Bond movie, nothing special but sorta enjoyable, deserves the ~60% and change it has on rotten tomatoes atm.
 
This was the worst of the Craig Bonds.

Some really really dumb scenes, has nothing new to say re: privacy/surveillance debate, bad theme song, no Roger Deakins (so obvious), boring villian.
 
Just saw it. Quite liked it. The finale is kind of an anticlimax (actually it's about three anticlimaxes :lol), but I enjoyed it overall. Might post more detailed impressions later, but on first viewing I think it's my second favorite of the Craig films.

I think it was a mistake (and a really unnecessary one) for
Mendes, Waltz, et al. to play coy about Blofeld. casting. It sets up a preconceived expectation of there being a twist involved when the movie never even treats Blofeld as some big mystery -- Bond always knows who Oberhauser is, and "Blofeld" is just a new name he adopted, something he says rather offhand; there's nothing important about the "reveal" (unlike Khan in STID which makes that name reveal into a dramatic moment that doesn't really make sense as one) so there was no reason for Mendes and co. to hide it as if it was a major spoiler. Not that this will matter in the long run though, but it does kind of impact the first viewing.

Star Wars trailer got gasps and clapping from my crowd. :lol
 
Just came back from watching the movie. Overall, I enjoyed the film. There were some moments that made me lose a bit of internet in the events going on but most of the film kept me entertained.
 
Specter you were no Skyfall but was OK. One guy started snoring 1/2 into the movie, about 3 were asleep when my wife and I left.
 
Considering the rolling hills in quality the Craig films have been (or deep canal if you're one of those Skyfall haters), which Bond had the most consistently good films for you people?
 
The three dumbest fucking moments


1) max's dumb falling death - what a waste of moriarty
2) bond's escape from the bomb jumping into a giant handy net
3) lets separate from the girl only to have her kidnapped 2 mins later
 
Honestly, this is probably the worst Bond in a while. Not because it's bad, but because of how boring it is. I think a fair comparison would be Tomorrow Never Dies minus the strong finale it had. Strong start, then just flatlines for the rest of the film where you are watching your watch... thinking, Is it over yet?


Some strong complaints and a bit of praise

One thing they need to ditch is Bond's on and off relationship with MI6. It's 4 fucking movies in a row now they've done something like that. It's tiring and boring. Stop pretending he is quitting too. Unless your setting up for a Your Majesty Secret Service style.... but even then, why do we need it? We had Vesper already. Which is the other point. Drop that too. We wrapped up that angle in QoS. We don't need to feel sentiment for Bond every time for that reason. As he said, The bitch is dead.

Other than that.

The film starts off strong. The intro is the weakest for Craig, but that's not saying something bad since all 3 films had fantastic ones. But it gets you right into it with style and lets Craig be a badass. I like how they drop you in to it without much background either. The mystery is strong with it and Craig's charm carry the first 1/3. Basically till he's done meeting Bonfeld for the first time. Then it drops off. The villain disappears completely and they focus more on the home front with MI6 being dissolved... again. Once they get on the train, it picked up again. Bond and the girl had a lot of charm and that was the best fight Craig has been in since Casino Royale. And it continues to pick up all the way through the Torture scene.

That is where the movie ends. Sadly, though, there was another 20-25 minutes after that. The one imposing threat was dealt with and no one else can challenge them. On top on Bonfeld just being a salty bitch.
 
Thought it was good, not great. Mixed bag of good and bad moments.

Script was obviously the biggest issue; needed to be tightened up a bit. Thought Waltz's character was a bit messy in particular. I did like Seydoux's character, though she needed a tad more development.

It's enjoyable. Probably about on par with Skyfall (which I thought was fine). Casino Royale is still far and away the best Craig movie.
 
ViewtifulJC said:
Lazenby

and the fuck you mean, "you people"
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DevelopmentArrested said:
The three dumbest fucking moments


1) max's dumb falling death - what a waste of moriarty
2) bond's escape from the bomb jumping into a giant handy net
3) lets separate from the girl only to have her kidnapped 2 mins later
Click to expand...

Not that any of your chosen moments are poor choices, but surely a list of the movie's worst choices can't be complete without the single worst decision in not only the entire series, but any movie I can remember:
Blofeld being James Bond's half-brother and setting up a global criminal empire to screw with Bond, who just happened to grow up to be a superspy, to get revenge for feeling second favourite as a child.

(And I didn't mind the movie too much, enjoying the first half at least, even if it completely falls apart post-train)
 
MMarston said:
Considering the rolling hills in quality the Craig films have been (or deep canal if you're one of those Skyfall haters), which Bond had the most consistently good films for you people?
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Daniel Craig. QoS was only a very mediocre movie, can't compare with the worst of Moore, Connery and Brosnan to me. Dalton almost won because License to Kill but LD is just terrible. imho.
 
xandaca said:
Not that any of your chosen moments are poor choices, but surely a list of the movie's worst choices can't be complete without the single worst decision in not only the entire series, but any movie I can remember:
Blofeld being James Bond's half-brother and sertting up a global criminal empire to screw with Bond, who just happened to grow up to be a superspy, to get revenge for feeling second favourite as a child.

(And I didn't mind the movie too much, enjoying the first half at least, even if it all fell apart post-train)
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I'm not sure why people are reading it that way,
he never says he creates SPECTRE to fuck with Bond, he only thanks him for driving him to kill his father, which then gives him the opportunity to free his inner power-hungry, amoral psychopath.
 
Solid "meh" of a movie with less than a handful of great scenes and more than a handful of awful/cringey ones.

Christ, I don't know if I'm getting old, but I am 110% done with the whole "Bond can get ANY woman" shit.
Monica Bellucci is criminally wasted--she's literally a piece of information that Bond can fuck. She serves no other purpose. She could have been a slip of paper inside the main bad guy's jacket and the movie wouldn't have lost anything--pacing might have been improved actually. Her entire seduction scene was embarrassing to watch. They try to go for the whole Severine in Skyfall "I'm in danger" thing (I know it's basically a Bond trope, of course) but even Severine (who was pretty much a wasted death and had an awkward "I'm in your shower now" sex scene) had more purpose in the story.

Lea Seydoux was great with her material (she's charming and a fairly believable hardass at the same time), but her character...again, I'm done with Bond's machismo/sex appeal being a series staple, at least when it's executed like this.
"What do we do now?" Oh, of course, let's fuck. That was almost as groan-worthy as Pratt and BDH kissing after shooting a bunch of dinos in JW.

"I love you"? Gimme a fucking break. This isn't Casino Royale.

Bobby Roberts said:
Because I'll make a quick dash to concessions/bathroom THEN, if that's the case. I need to plan these things, you see, because the movie's apparently 13 hours long.
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It wasn't in front of ours. Song and video were completely uninteresting, kinda like the movie itself.

DevelopmentArrested said:
This was the worst of the Craig Bonds.

Some really really dumb scenes, has nothing new to say re: privacy/surveillance debate, bad theme song, no Roger Deakins (so obvious), boring villian.
Click to expand...

I would not have been able to tell you that Hoytema shot this. It didn't look ugly, at all--just felt like a step down compared to Deakins. And I like Hoytema!

I think it might be the worst, but I should rewatch QoS before I say that. I feel like QoS has grown on me.

DevelopmentArrested said:
The three dumbest fucking moments


1) max's dumb falling death - what a waste of moriarty
2) bond's escape from the bomb jumping into a giant handy net
3) lets separate from the girl only to have her kidnapped 2 mins later
Click to expand...

Moriarty's death--seriously, wtf? Loses his balance after struggling with M.

WHAT WAS WITH THE NET?! And the boat that was apparently waiting to be ridden out for an escape?

This movie was like TDKRx10 in its "wait, how did he get that/there" moments.

Blader said:
I'm not sure why people are reading it that way,
he never says he creates SPECTRE to fuck with Bond, he only thanks him for driving him to kill his father, which then gives him the opportunity to free his inner power-hungry, amoral psychopath.
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I don't really know any other way to read the whole
FINALLY WE FINALLY MEET I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO COME TO THIS. Like, Bond could have grown up to be a ski salesmen or something.
 
I haven't seen the movie yet but I totally know what that Bellucci spoiler in Anton's post will be based on the past films.
 
Just saw it, disappointing. The action was ok, the nods to past glory days of Bond was cool but it was all messy. The plot had no depth to it, it meanders around until it hits the next action sequence. This should be a momentous moment in Bond history and it just fell flat.
 
Best part of the movie was when the Austrian security guard got a Falcon Punch to the gut and his face contorted as much as Gary Oldman in The Professional.

idIqICo.gif


DevelopmentArrested said:
watching skyfall again - deakins work in the shanghai scenes alone blows this shit away
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Agreed. I was halfway through the movie, thinking Deakins had shot it and being perplexed why it felt like a step down, then I remembered he was replaced by Hoytema.

MMarston said:
I haven't seen the movie yet but I totally know what that Bellucci spoiler in Anton's post will be based on the past films.
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Sorry, edited to be a little safer :-\
 
Enjoyed it, wasn't blown away by it.

Nothing stood out either way as being super memorable or awesome, but nothing was glaringly awful with it either.

And the title credits still didn't help the song. Though some cool moments in it
 
Enjoyed it for what it was. Felt very rushed in the end. Kind of disappointed because I was so hyped up for it but eh. Not a bad way to spend two and a half hours, I think.
 
I lol'd @ Bond's "DON'T. STAY."

This movie was funny in a way that none of the reviews seem to get right. Some complain about it and Craig being too dour/serious; others complain (or praise) the return of 60s/70s style Bond humor. I didn't think either of these things were true (not to mention they're so diametrically opposed to each other too). Thought there was just the right amount of levity, and not really a hint of any camp that some reviewers have mentioned.
 
Just saw it tonight in fake IMAX. Eh, It was alright but still a bit disappointing. Better than Quantum of Solace but not the others. Some really dumb stuff in this one but some cool stuff to balance it out.
Waltz turned out to be a pretty lame villain and Dr. Shaw was not a great character. "I love you, Bond" after like 3 days...
goddammit... Probably had the best opening scene in Craig's run as Bond.
 
Jesus, you guys weren't kidding about the song being terrible. The credits sequence was blah too.

It's clear that in the time in between Skyfall and Spectre, Mendes studied action filmmaking. The action in this is way better than Skyfall's, since Skyfall depends on cinematography more than actual choreography and a pulse. Craig is good as always, and Dave Batista is astounding in a small part. If he had been the main villain, this would've been up there with Craig's best. As it is, it makes a fatal mistake to add a ridiculous overcontinuity to the Craig Bond films in a way that significantly worsens itself while making me realize how good Skyfall and Casino Royale are. Pro-tip: When building up a villain to be better than Javier Bardem and Mads Mikkelsen, ACTUALLY MAKE HIM BETTER.
Every fucking time they mentioned Silva, I was like "damn, Skyfall was a lot more interesting than this" and I'm not even a big fan of Skyfall.
The beginning is slow and dull, full of the worst Nolan-position since The Dark Knight Rises. The ending is disappointing, becoming a confusing mishmash character motivations. Only the middle,
when Dave Batista is the main bad guy
is entertaining, with creative action scenes and fun but not overly witty one-liners. Unfortunately that does not save this horribly misguided Bond film.

Although I did have a super cool experience tonight. The electricity went out at the theater a half hour before the movie, so the movie started 20 minutes late. As soon as I sit down in the theater, there's me and one other guy there (everyone else was redeeming their free popcorn) and suddenly the Bond theme starts blaring and the logos start without any warning. It was fucking sweet. They stopped it after the logos to wait for the other people to come, but damn, what a great moment. Wonder what would happen if the power went out December 17 though.

But yeah. Dave Batista is great, everything else eh.
 
Vampirolol said:
I liked it a lot, but Daniel Craig looked tired through all the movie.
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Jason's Ultimatum said:
Some of the reviews seem to reflect some Gaffer's thoughts on Craig lackluster energy in Spectre.
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What the heck am I even reading here??
Daniel Craig looked old and tired in Skyfall. In Spectre he looked younger, refreshing and with a real energy kick.

And those American reviews are piss poor. But I don't care.
 
Saw it in IMAX. Some good visuals, but Deakins is sorely missed. There were so many good opportunities to impress with all the locations they picked, but it just didn't take advantage and opted instead for your normal/almost generic flyover of each location.

The movie wasn't bad at all. Very entertaining, and plot was straightforward enough for me.

Utilizes Dave Bautista in the supporting villain role well. His introduction was badass. I'm rooting for the guy to get more prominent roles in movies.

Christoph Waltz is always on point as the calm presence, either as a villain or good guy. No change here. It works perfectly well for his role.

The theme song really grew on me, it really dimmed the mood after the exciting opening. Orchestral bits were great, especially. Thomas Newman was on point perfectly using Writing's On The Wall's motif into the score. I assume he wrote the composition and Sam Smith's team used it for the song. The title sequence was also pretty good - spoiler on it?
Having Craig in front of the flames makes it look like he's about to go Super Saiyan.

I'll probably post more thoughts later, but overall, it's really not bad. Casino Royale remains the best of Craig's run.

My ranking: Casino Royale > Skyfall > Spectre > Quantum of Solace
 
Tickets booked for tomorrow. Have a test Monday but thought I would take a break from studying and watch this. Can't wait.
 
Good news: They didn't play the video! Hunger Games, Force Awakens, Hateful Eight, Hail Caesar. Then straight into the movie.

Bad news: As Quantum was to Casino Royale, Spectre is to Skyfall. In almost every way possible. Except for the length, where it's the opposite. WAY, WAY the opposite.

That said, it's still enjoyable. More enjoyable than Quantum, at least. But basically, all the negative aspects of Skyfall are exacerbated, and the highs aren't nearly the equal (that said, there ARE some highs, at least). Spectre feels like the movie people are describing when they take the bat to Skyfall. But even then, it still has more than a few really fun moments.

To dig into it would mean to get into some spoilage, and I'll save that for a Spoiler Thread should that pop up.

1) Casino Royale
2) Skyfall
3) Spectre
4) Quantum of Solace.
 
Honestly it seems like a number of the problems stem from the writing. They need a new writing team but they obviously don't want one.
 
Bobby Roberts said:
Good news: They didn't play the video! Hunger Games, Force Awakens, Hateful Eight, Hail Caesar. Then straight into the movie.

Bad news: As Quantum was to Casino Royale, Spectre is to Skyfall. In almost every way possible. Except for the length, where it's the opposite. WAY, WAY the opposite.

That said, it's still enjoyable. More enjoyable than Quantum, at least. But basically, all the negative aspects of Skyfall are exacerbated, and the highs aren't nearly the equal (that said, there ARE some highs, at least). Spectre feels like the movie people are describing when they take the bat to Skyfall. But even then, it still has more than a few really fun moments.

To dig into it would mean to get into some spoilage, and I'll save that for a Spoiler Thread should that pop up.

1) Casino Royale
2) Skyfall
3) Spectre
4) Quantum of Solace.
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*brofist*

My feelings exactly.

So logically, Craig Bond #5 should be god tier. Then Craig Bond #6 is just average? Right?
 
Just got out of the theater. Overall, I enjoyed it!

Spoilers below kinda

Cons:

- the intro and song were both bad. The song itself is okay, he sings great, but it doesn't really fit the video or a bond theme

- the threat. Ok, I get that worldwide surveillance is topical and all but it never really felt like there was anything tangible at stake.

- big dude just offing the table dude. It certainly sets him up as a tough guy but I kinda felt like everyone in the room shoulda cared more or have some protocol against that shit?

- main bad dudes motives. Um ok bro.

Pros:
- good action
- hottest bond woman in a while holy shit
- felt like a bond movie, lots of good sequences, evil lair, and even a totally sweet scar later on

7/10
 
samn said:
Their opinions are legitimate, and they're entitled to them, but after seeing the film myself I can't really understand how they reached these conclusions.
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Must just be a taste thing because, apart from a quibble here and there, I side with them completely. I'm a bit flabbergasted by the mixed reception.

For my money, this is the most satisfying Bond flick since Casino Royale. For one, Spectre feels more like Casino than either Quantum or Skyfall did. They're the closest in tone and pacing. It's not as tight nor as brooding and psychological as Skyfall, nor is it as intense and violent as Quantum, but that hardly makes it a happy-go-lucky time at the movies. More romantic, maybe... but that's something it has in common with Casino. People saying it's like a formulaic Roger Moore installment -- Did we see the same movie?

I do think they go a bit overboard
trying to connect Blofeld to Bond
, but I still appreciate the attempt at continuity between the films. I'm fine with what they do in theory -- but the execution needed some fine tuning and maybe a rewrite. Still, Craig's tenure feels like something of a whole now, and I actually found Spectre's through line to be rather resonant for Bond's character. I do get a strong sense of an arc from Casino Royale to where we leave him here.

Brief thoughts on the ending:
If Spectre really is the finale, which it very well could be, we leave Bond in a fairly good place. A bittersweet crossroads, and a chance to run away again like he almost did with Vesper. If they make one final Craig film, which they very well could, I could see it taking the form of a more modernized version of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. That would be a fucking brutal place to leave the character... but part of me would love to see them go there.

Anyways, I enjoyed the film overall.
 
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