No Time To Die (4½ Stars)

Amazon Friday #31

I've finally got round to seeing the latest James Bond film after missing it in the cinema last year. I like the film a lot, and I felt tempted to give it a five star rating, but I changed my mind at the last moment because of one thing: it's not a James Bond film.

I refuse to get into arguments about whether Daniel Craig is a good Bond or not. For me it's all about how the script has been written. Daniel Craig doesn't play the brash, sexist Bond that we've grown to love over the last 60 years. He stands mourning for his lost love, Vesper Lynd. She was a character in Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale", a book that was never filmed in the classic James Bond series, 1962 to 2002. It was finally filmed in the rebooted series in 2006.

There's no bad Bond girl. That's not right. James Bond always needs a sexy woman trying to kill him, whether or not she eventually succumbs to his charms. The only real good Bond girl is Ana de Armas as Paloma, but this is spoilt by her not falling into bed with him. Madeleine Swann is a character from a previous film, which is a no-no, as far as James Bond is concerned. His lovers never last from one film to the next, so I wouldn't count her as a Bond girl.

And James Bond as a father? Really? He's always careful that things like that don't happen.

Let's see what happens in the next film. Will it be another reboot? Or will it be a James Bond film without James Bond? It would be interesting to have Nomi return as the new 007, as long as the tables are turned. Lashana Lynch could play a sexist Jane Bond, and each new film would feature Bond Boys that she beds at a whim. I'd like that.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

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Knives Out (4 Stars)

Murder mystery write Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead with his throat slit the morning after his 85th birthday party. The police rule it a suicide, but someone claims it was a murder and anonymously hires the detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to investigate the case. The whole family, including his children, his grandchildren and his mother (!!!) were at the party, so they're all invited to be interviewed by the police and Benoit. As it turns out in the investigations, many of them had a motive for killing Harlan, but there still aren't any clues that it wasn't a suicide.

"Knives Out" was advertised as return to the old days of whodunnits and a homage to Agatha Christie. It's neither. It has the form of detective mysteries, but not the essence. In a classic whodunnit clues are strewn through the film, so that the viewer is challenged to solve the murder before the detective. Putting it another way, the viewer and the detective have to solve the case together. Not in "Knives Out". Early on, less than 30 minutes into the film, the viewer is shown in a flashback how Harlan died. The viewer knows more than the detective, so he has to watch the detective running round in circles, unable to solve the case.

The family themselves are cut out of murder mystery novels. Maybe Agatha Christie fans can identify who each of them is based on.

Benoit Blanc is obviously based on Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. What annoyed me is Daniel Craig's ridiculous fake accent. He sounds like he's trying to imitate a Texan accent. He should have used his normal voice.

Nevertheless, the film is good fun. I've heard it called one of the best films of the year, but I wouldn't go that far.

Tomb Raider (2001) (4 Stars)

I picked up this film today partly because I'm on a super-heroine kick at the moment, partly because I said I would re-watch the old Lara Croft films after I watched the new film. That was in March 2018. Was it really so long?

I vaguely remembered that the two films with Angelina Jolie weren't much good. After watching "Tomb Raider", sometimes called "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider" today, I wonder why I thought that. The film has its weaknesses, but it also has a lot of things in its favour. It's an exciting action film featuring a beautiful actress with two big guns. That's reason enough for me to take it seriously.

The plot is that the Illuminati are looking for two halves of an ancient mystic triangle which can only be combined once every 5000 years when all nine planets are in alignment. (That's the first plot weakness; more than three planets never align). The two halves can only be found using a key that only works at the beginning of the alignment. Whoever holds the triangle can control time. With one week to go the Illuminati don't even know where the key is.

That's where Lara Croft comes in. She finds a strange clock among the items left to her by her late father. She shows it to her fellow archaeologist Alex West, and he immediately recognises it as the key. He passes on the information to the Illuminati. They steal the key from Lara's mansion, so she follows them around the world to get it back, getting involved with the search for the triangle.

This rather tenuous plot is all the excuse that's needed for scene after scene of Angelina Jolie punching, shooting or stabbing the bad guys. She qualifies as a super-hero, even if her origin is in computer games, not in comics.

Angelina Jolie looks the part, even though she needed slight enhancing. She had to pad her bra to look big enough for the role. The end result looks spectacular. Most people who think of Lara Croft today imagine her as looking like Angelina Jolie's portrayal. She's the one that cosplayers model their outfits on.

Here are a few photos of the Canadian cosplay model Bianca Beauchamp. She doesn't need any bra padding.

Bianca is always alert.

Her two guns are ready to take out any danger.

Bianca has her eyes on you. Are you man enough to challenge her?

Even when she's undressed you shouldn't be over-confident.

You think she hasn't noticed you, but her fingers are already on the trigger.

Success Rate:  + 0.4

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Spectre (4 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the New Bond series. Like the previous film, "Skyfall", it's directed by Sam Mendes, but it has a completely different feel to it. It's a darker, more depressing film. This is intensified by the cinematography, which uses dull colours, even in daytime scenes. I'm glad that I've watched the Daniel Craig Bond films (almost) back to back, four films in six days. That's the only way to notice subtle changes in style.

Why is "Spectre" darker than the previous films? It's the arrival of Bond's nemesis Blofeld, whose full name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He introduces himself as the man who has been making Bond suffer for years; at least for the last four films. We can expect him to continue making Bond suffer for years to come. Does this mean we can expect more dark, depressing Bond films? I hope so. We had 40 years of camp James Bond films, especially in the Roger Moore years, so it's time to try something new.

Blofeld is played by Christoph Waltz. In an interview after the film's release he said that he wasn't satisfied with his performance. It's the mark of a great actor -- or a great anything else -- that he's the biggest critic of his own work. I felt that he played the part admirably, but he must see minor faults that aren't apparent to me. It depends on what he's trying to achieve. Is he attempting to model himself on any one of the past incarnations of Blofeld? In the Classic Bond films he was played by five different actors. For me Donald Pleasance is the version of Blofeld that I most fondly remember. Telly Savalas was so different that he seemed like a different person.

Donald Pleasance was a superbly evil version of Blofeld. Telly Savalas ran around too much, which made him seem comical. Christoph Waltz is somehow creepy as every bad guy that he plays, and that fits the role of Blofeld. I assume that he'll try to be closer to his vision of the role in the next Bond film. When I see him again I'll better understand what he's trying to achieve.

"Spectre" adds something to the character of Blofeld that wasn't in the Classic Bond films or the Ian Fleming novels. Bond and Blofeld are brothers! By adoption, at least. After the death of Bond's family he was adopted by Blofeld's father. At the time Blofeld used his birth name, Franz Oberhauser. He despised his adopted brother so much, feeling jealous of the attention his father gave him, so he killed his father, faked his own death and changed his name. Blofeld is his mother's maiden name, but his new Christian names are random.

There's a subtle irony that my friends missed when I went to watch "Spectre" with them in the cinema two years ago. In the Austin Powers films Dr. Evil, pictured above, is a parody of Blofeld. In the third film, "Goldmember", he reveals that he's really Austin Powers' lost brother. Now "Spectre" has copied this idea from "Goldmember". James Bond influenced Austin Powers, and now Austin Powers is influencing James Bond. I wonder if this crossed the minds of the screenwriters when they were writing the script.

Could Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz be brothers? Even though the relationship is only by adoption there are certain similarities. Judge for yourself.

Where did the film take me on my virtual holiday today? London, as always, followed by Mexico, Morocco, Italy and Austria. Who needs to fly to other countries when he has a Blu-ray player?

You can skip the rest of this post if you don't speak German. Here's a newspaper report about the death of Blofeld's father. It contains a few errors and examples of poor style that could have been avoided by letting Christoph Waltz, a native Austrian, take a quick look at it. "Tal" and "gebracht" are two separate words that shouldn't have been combined. The word separation is faulty throughout. Probably the text was typed using an English version of MS Word, and the English language word separation algorithm was used. A German would never separate "Obduktionsbericht" as "Obduktionsberi-cht". Also, it's not usual to call the body of a dead person a "Körper". The word "Leiche" would be used. That's sloppy.

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Skyfall (5 Stars)

Until today this was the only James Bond film that I had never seen. My friends already told me before I went to see "Spectre" in 2015 that "Skyfall" was the best Bond film ever. Then I read that "Skyfall" was the biggest box office success of all the Bond films, the seventh most successful film of all time, but even that didn't tempt me to catch up with it.

Now I've finally seen it for myself. It's an amazing film, especially in contrast to the relatively weak "Quantum of Solace". Maybe it's because of the arrival of a new director, Sam Mendes? I don't know. Whatever the reason is, "Skyfall" stands out as a classic. At the moment of writing this I'm still trying to think if there's any justification for giving it less than five stars.

Q and Moneypenny are back, after I complained about their absence in the last two films. However, they're completely different characters, even if they share the same names. In the Classic Bond films Q was an inventor who supplied James Bond with the most adventurous and infeasible gadgets. The new Q only gives Bond a gun and a radio. When Bond looks disappointed, Q's reply is "Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that any more".

James Bond makes remarks about Q's youth. The actor Ben Whishaw was actually 31 when the film was made, but it's true, he hardly looks a day over 20. Rather than being a seasoned old man like Desmond Llewelyn he's MI6's whizz kid.

In the Classic Bond films Miss Moneypenny's first name was never stated. She worked as M's secretary. It was an often repeated joke that she had a crush on Bond, and he flirted with her on every visit, but whatever promises Bond might have made to take her on a date never came to fruition. Miss Moneypenny always looked plain, in comparison to the sexy girls that he bedded in each film. Please don't accuse me of judging women by their looks, I'm just telling you how Bond judged women. If Miss Moneypenny had worn a short skirt and thigh high boots Bond would have wanted her.

In "Skyfall" we're told that her first name is Eve, which isn't much of a deviation from Classic Bond, but just look at her! When I first heard that Naomie Harris had been cast as Miss Moneypenny I shook my head and said "No, no, no. She's much too beautiful to be Miss Moneypenny". James Bond wouldn't have ignored her for 50 years if she'd looked so hot, even without the thigh high boots. That's what I thought in 2012, and it was one of the many reasons I didn't go to the cinema to watch "Skyfall". I think differently now. She's not the same Moneypenny, she's a new character with the same name. She can't just type, she's a field agent who is an expert sniper. She says in the film that she's applied for a desk job as M's secretary, though I find that a bit difficult to believe. Field agent to secretary seems too big a descent.

There's one small detail in the film which I consider significant. James Bond's Aston Martin is fetched out of storage, only to be destroyed a few scenes later. Sam Mendes wanted to emphasise that the old Bond is gone and a new Bond has stepped into his shoes.

In my review of "Tracks" last month I explained that I don't need to go on holiday, because films take me around the world. The best way to enjoy an instant cinematic holiday is to watch a James Bond film. All of his films jump from one country to another. "Casino Royale" took me to London, Italy, the Bahamas and Montenegro. "Quantum of Solace" took me to London, Italy, Austria and Bolivia (although the Bolivian scenes were actually shot in Chile). Today I used "Skyfall" to visit London yet again, followed by Istanbul, Shanghai and finally the most beautiful country on Earth: Scotland! Skyfall is the name of the Bond family estate in the Western Highlands. This estate is fictional, but the location is Glen Etive, a few miles south of Glencoe. The area between Fort William and Glencoe is the most attractive part of Scotland. Some people prefer Skye, and I admit that Skye is beautiful, but I contend that the people who prefer Skye have never spent time walking through the mountains and valleys of Glencoe. I have visited the area many times.

Here are a few screenshots from the film to show what I mean.

I could have posted 50 screenshots from the film, but these pictures should be enough to show what the Scottish scenery is like. Glen Etive is a wonderful place to visit, but a difficult place to live. It's a long walk to the next supermarket.

But now I've finally decided. Five stars is the rating the film deserves.

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Quantum of Solace (3½ Stars)

This is the second film in the New Bond series. It starts off with a plot device never used in Classic Bond: the story continues directly from the previous film. At the end of "Casino Royale" James Bond captured Mr. White. At the beginning of "Quantum of Solace" James Bond still has Mr. White tied up in the boot of his car. We don't see that straight away. The film begins with Bond in a car chase. It's not explained who the people are that are chasing him, but it's possible that they're associates of Mr. White trying to free him. I say "possible", because they're attacking Bond so aggressively that they could easily have killed Mr. White.

I enjoy car chases. They're part of the James Bond culture. Almost all of the Classic Bond films had a car chase. In the Roger Moore years the car chases became increasingly exaggerated. However, I don't like the car chase in "Quantum of Solace". It's the cinematography that bothers me. The camera is too close to the cars, so it's difficult to see what's happening. The cameraman would only have to back up three or four feet to show the car in the context of the road.

The "continuation" aspect is constant throughout this film. There are repeated references to Vesper Lynd, Bond's girlfriend who was killed in the last film. That never happened in Classic Bond. However close Bond was to a woman, emotionally or sexually, after the final credits she disappeared and was never mentioned again. Bond might not have done one-night stands, but he certainly did one-film stands.

While not necessarily a bad film, I find that "Quantum of Solace" lacks the freshness of "Casino Royale". It's also been two films in a row with no Moneypenny and no Q. That has to be put right in the third film!

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Casino Royale [2006 version] (4 Stars)

This is a remake of the 1967 film which was also called "Casino Royale". I strongly disagree with people who say that remakes are always inferior to the original versions of films. In this case the remake is better, because it keeps closer to Ian Fleming's novel. The novel portrays James Bond as a young agent who has only recently been promoted to Double-O status. The 1967 version shows Bond as an elderly man who has retired from active service, but returns to go on a mission that nobody else can do.

From 1962 to 2002 22 films were made about James Bond, starring six different actors as Bond. It's often claimed that only 20 films were made, because two of the films are considered unofficial and non-canon. One of the unofficial films was "Never say never again" (1983), while the other was "Casino Royale" (1967). "Never say never again" was a remake of "Thunderball" (1965), while the original version of "Casino Royale" was intended as a prequel to the official films, taking place long before "Dr. No" (1962). It's suggested that the elderly James Bond is the father of the new James Bond, which would mean that Sean Connery played James Bond Jr!

For the sake of simplicity, let's stick to the 20 official James Bond, all made by Eon Productions in London, in which five different actors play James Bond. Despite the different ages and appearances, it's always the same character. That's easy to accept, with just a little suspension of disbelief. What's more difficult to believe is the timescale. Each James Bond film is set "in the present", so, for instance, "Dr. No" takes place in 1962 and "Die another day" takes place in 2006. Each film takes place using the current technology, so things like mobile phones appear in the later films. This stretches out the timeline of the man called James Bond. It would have been easier to set all the films in the 1960's, but I can understand that Eon Productions wants to sell more cinema tickets by keeping the films up to date.

Now things have changed. In 2006 "Casino Royale" was made, followed by another three James Bond films so far. Daniel Craig has become the new actor to portray Bond. This isn't just a remake of the 1967 film, it's a reboot of the James Bond franchise. The story of James Bond is being told again from the beginning, which wasn't clear to me immediately. I didn't realise the franchise had been rebooted until I saw the fourth film, "Spectre", in 2015. I was so used to Bond regenerating every ten years that I didn't realise it was a new franchise until I saw the re-appearance of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Now everything is clear. The old stories will be retold, rewritten and repackaged for the 21st Century.

I call the first 20 films "Classic Bond" and the films since 2006 "New Bond". I haven't heard anyone else making this distinction, but I believe it's appropriate.

The link between Classic Bond and New Bond is Judi Dench in the role of M, the head of MI6. When she first appeared in "GoldenEye" (1995) it was a critical change for James Bond. He had always been a misogynist, treating women as playthings, so it was a shock for him to have a woman appointed as his boss. In the New Bond films it isn't an issue. He might still be a callous playboy, but he's modern enough to accept that women can be in charge.

James Bond always had a rebellious attitude, but in "Casino Royale" it's pushed to the extreme; too far, in my opinion. A secret agent should do what his boss tells him. Instead of that we see that M is only aware of what he's doing when she reads about it in the newspaper. He means well, he wants to save the world, but he's incapable of following orders. When MI6 puts a tracer in his arm it's not just to track him while he's on a mission, it's so that they know what he's doing when he disappears on his own initiative.

"Casino Royale" might have been made with a budget of $150 million, but evidently the producer didn't have enough money left to write a good newspaper article. The last paragraph is a repeat of the second paragraph. That's sloppy. I would have written the extra paragraph for $100. Please get in contact with me when the next James Bond film is made.

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Spectre (4 Stars)

James Bond films are a British tradition. They're as British as tea and scones and Doctor Who. The comparison with Doctor Who is the closest. Both have been running for the same length of time, James Bond first appearing on the screen in 1962, Doctor Who in 1963. The Doctor has his companions, James Bond has his Bond girls. The excitement over who will be the next Bond is just as rousing as who will be the next Doctor. The difference is that the Doctor has a regeneration to explain why he always stays young; with James Bond it just happens. Ah, the magic of cinema!

While the Doctor Who series always builds on what has gone before, all the previous episodes being considered canon, the James Bond film series has slipped a reboot on us that we hardly noticed. The first 20 films (or 21, if we include "Never say never again") progress steadily from film to film, the main connecting factor gluing the films together being Desmond Llewelyn as Q.

When Daniel Craig became the 6th James Bond in 2006 he wasn't just a new actor, he was a new Bond in a new era. "Casino Royale" (2006) shows him at the beginning of his career. The following films, leading up to "Spectre" itself, have slowly built up to the existence of a secret organisation and its mysterious leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, mirroring the development in the first seven films from 1962 to 1971.

I shan't say anything else about the plot today's film. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas that I'll share in private with my friends who have seen it already, but I don't want to give away spoilers. As far as the character himself goes, it's a return to vintage Bond. He's the suave, debonair lady's man. Lea Seydoux, who plays the latest Bond girl, Dr. Madeleine Swan, recognises who she's dealing with. "There are two James Bonds", she aptly tells him. One is the perfect gentleman who treats a woman like a queen. The other is the misogynist who casts his lover off as soon as he finds someone better. No Bond girl has ever been kept from one film to the next, he always needs new flesh to keep him happy.

Cowboys & Aliens [Guest Writer] (5 Stars)

This is the movie that I have been waiting for all of my life! I've always wondered how those from the past would react to things of the future and this movie brings it all including some great ass-kicking with a hint of macho male bonding.

So the story: The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

So why did I love this movie besides the initial premise of the story? The acting was well done and it had some of my favorite actors in it including Ford, Wilde, and Craig. I liked Craig ever since he was cast as the new "Bond", Wilde since I saw her act in the hit series "House" and of course Ford for his iconic character Indiana Jones. With this wonderful cast I was hard pressed not to take a peek at this movie and I wasn't disappointed. I love movies that go back to the past but I also love movies that give a different perspective of what could've happened if something unexpected was introduced. I'm kind of surprised that the characters took the idea of such an advanced civilization and strange culture so well - well after the shooting, screaming and praying. Haha. All in all, this is a movie that I would recommend to everyone. The pace in the beginning was a little slow for my taste but if things were left up to me they would've started right in the middle of a battle so I guess every story needs it's introduction. Great movie!