Very short movie review

[sabotabby]

Finally saw Casino Royale last night. It was fun but I really had to suspend my disbelief. I am pretty sure that James Bond would never drive a Ford.

Comments

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

Y'know everyone is saying that about the Ford.

[sabotabby]

Every time I make some sort of quip about pop culture, it turns out that everyone is saying it.

*SIGH*

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

That's because it's pop culture? If it were unpopular culture, you'd stand a greater chance at originality.

[purveyorofchaos.livejournal.com]

Dude, I totally didn't realize the guy was Bond in the beginning, and was all like; "Why's the white guy killing the black guys? Isn't there supposed to be a social stigma about that nowadays?" But then I remembered I was watching a Bond flick, and hence I should set back my idea of what was okay to about the 50's.

[sabotabby]

Seriously. And then there was the black-people-as-scenery problem. And the patriarchy problem. And then I remembered that of course I'm going to find these things politically abhorrent. But it had shit blowing up.

Indeed!

[purveyorofchaos.livejournal.com]

Also, blowing shit up is the best. :D

[chailash.livejournal.com]

Easily the worst Bond movie ever. For shit's sake, it got beat by the animated penguin movie. I haven't seen it because I've heard so many bad things about it. I hadn't heard about the Ford, but that pretty much ensures that I will stay far, far away from this film.

[sabotabby]

I thought it was fun, in the way that dumb action movies are fun. I chalk this up to utter shallowness on my part. It's by no means a good film, but I don't think anyone was expecting it to be.

[chailash.livejournal.com]

well, you certainly have a point there - about no one expecting it to be a good film!

[seanmonster.livejournal.com]

How can you say it's the worst if you haven't even seen it?

This is the first time I've heard anything bad about it at all. I've heard that of all the Bond films it's one of the most faithful to the original book it was based on. It's also gotten 95% at Rotten Tomatoes.


(I haven't seen it yet either, but I'd like to.)

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

james bond would rather push a chevy then drive a ford

[sabotabby]

You know it's true.

[jhfurnish.livejournal.com]

If you like movies, you should see the Korean horror flick 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'. There's some serious Anarchist vengeance by the end of THAT movie, at the expense of a Capitalist Boss, no less! I really dig the anarchist girl who plays opposite the protagonist, too.

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

Awesome and dark. I love the entire trilogy. Second movie (Oldboy) is the most fun, but the design on the third movie(Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) is exquisite, and the film has some great commentary on the idea of communal justice/vengeance.

[sabotabby]

Oh, I saw Oldboy in the video store and keep meaning to rent it. My major problem has to do with reading subtitles on my computer screen.

[jhfurnish.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's all true: I've got all three. :)

The Asians have more interesting filmmaking, the majority of the time, than western filmmakers, even when they use the same ideas - which increasingly are flowing from east to west.

[jvmatucha.livejournal.com]

That's product placement for ya'... :P

[sabotabby]

It really stood out. There were a couple other places where they made product placement obvious ("Is that a Rolex?" "No, it's [some other brand]") but that one was particularly clunky.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

The best commentary on Casino Royale I've seen comes from the excellent andrewhickey, who describes it as being a Bond film as made by someone who's never seen a Bond film before.

You're quite right about the Ford, when I think of (American) Fords on film or television I always think back to Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in The FBI in which he would hop into a different model of whatever was coming out of Dearborn at the time by way of the product placement deal that Ford had with Quinn Martin. Definitely cop cars - and all the more so in Britain when I think of John Thaw's Granada in The Sweeney and of course the Cortina in Life On Mars. James Bond just isn't a Mondeo Man.

Be that as it may, Roger Moore almost made Volvos cool with the 1600S he drove in The Saint. Though as you may know, Roger wanted an Aston just like Sean Connery, only problem was Lew Grade's motor vehicle budget didn't stretch that far. See this entry for more on Uncle Lew's infamous white Jaguar footage :)

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

I was about to comment on the Saint's Volvo. Heck, the 1800 is the only car I've ever lusted after. There are still a surprising number of them still around. And there is something to be said for a car that can go for over 4,000,000 km.

[sabotabby]

Except that I think the repairs will bankrupt you if you're in North America, just like with any other European car. (Ladas aside, since you fix them yourself. Frequently.)

[sabotabby]

I only saw the Val Kilmer remake of The Saint. It was terrible.

[sabotabby]

Also, I'm amused that andrewhickey's description was meant as a compliment. Hee!

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

If you want that ironic Bond feel, I recommend both The Incredibles and The Venture Brothers. The first is a Pixar / Disney superhero movie and the second is an animated series that parodies Johnny Quest (which arguably had even more imperialistic elements than Bond).

[sabotabby]

CGI makes sabotabby cry. I trust your recommendation, however, so I'll check them out (although I'm not sure how I'd see the second one unless it's out on DVD).

Of course, I like non-ironic, intelligent spy movies as well—my favourite being The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, which is about as far from Bond as you can get. I rented The Constant Gardener last night sorta hoping that it'd have a similar feel. It didn't.

And while we're on the subject of movies, have you seen Pan's Labyrinth? The reviews I've seen make it sound a bit meh, but it's a Spanish Civil War movie by the guy who did Hellboy, so I think I need to see it anyway.