FormerBondFan
00 Agent
Posts: 5,455
Favourite James Bond Films: The Dark Knight Trilogy, Mission: Impossible and any upcoming action films starring Pierce Brosnan (no, it's not James Bond which is good because he'll need it to expand his reputation as an actor, especially in the action realm)
Favourite Films: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Harry Potter, Middle-Earth, The Matrix, Mission: Impossible
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Post by FormerBondFan on Aug 2, 2008 12:42:48 GMT -5
I know he's a fan himself and said he grew up with 007 but can anyone see him working for Eon under Babs and Mickey? NO WAY!!!!!!!
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Post by poirot on Aug 2, 2008 13:46:04 GMT -5
Nolan has raised the bar now. I find it amusing that Bond fans are speculating on him doing a Bond film. I know he's a fan himself and said he grew up with 007 but can anyone see him working for Eon under Babs and Mickey? No, I can't see Nolan putting up with EON. He had a vision for the Batman films, and stuck with it. It wouldn't surprise me if plans for Dark Knight were already being made during the production of Batman Begins. Compare this to Babs and Mickey, who were frantically trying to rip-off The Bourne Ultimatum just weeks before Bond 22 started filming!
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Post by skywalker on Aug 5, 2008 15:37:48 GMT -5
Went to see TDK over the weekend and it was truly superb. I will write a review on the film shortly.
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Post by Greg Haugen on Aug 6, 2008 7:08:17 GMT -5
I still haven't got around to seeing it yet but I haven't seen a bad review so can't wait.
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FormerBondFan
00 Agent
Posts: 5,455
Favourite James Bond Films: The Dark Knight Trilogy, Mission: Impossible and any upcoming action films starring Pierce Brosnan (no, it's not James Bond which is good because he'll need it to expand his reputation as an actor, especially in the action realm)
Favourite Films: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Harry Potter, Middle-Earth, The Matrix, Mission: Impossible
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Post by FormerBondFan on Aug 6, 2008 12:05:36 GMT -5
Went to see TDK over the weekend and it was truly superb. I hope QOS isn't compared to TDK when it comes out this November.
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Post by Jake on Aug 12, 2008 13:30:32 GMT -5
War Of The Worlds (2005)
HG Wells' The War Of The Worlds was the first book I ever read. The story of Martian invaders in huge mechanical tripods laying waste to Victorian London fascinated me from a young age. I have always wanted to see a faithful version of the novel, set in Britain in the 1890s. Sadly, the money men in the film industry don't share this ambition. The War Of The Worlds it seems is never going to return to its roots and will instead be updated periodically for the popcorn crowd with a modern setting. For this reason I avoided the Steven Spielberg twist on the famous story for a long time. Spielberg had the talent to make a good version of the story but when I read that the film was set in contemporary New Jersey and starred Tom Cruise as a docker called Ray Ferrier I wondered why they even bothered to use Wells' title if they didn't want to film the book and gave it a miss.
Curiosity (and some good reviews at the time of release) eventually got the better of me in the end and I finally relented and gave the latest The War Of The Worlds a go.
Spielberg starts War Of The Worlds in the best way possible. Morgan Freeman narrates the famous opening lines from the book ("No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us...") and we get shots of the Earth from space and people bustling about unware that the world as they knew it is about to end.
We then meet Ray Ferrier (Cruise). Ferrier is a dockworker who loads lorries in a crane. He goes back to his modest house and finds that his ex-wife has dropped his children off for him to look after for a few days. We see that Ferrier isn't hugely close to his children. His ex-wife's new husband seems to be more important in their lives than him and represents an ordered stability that Ferrier isn't capable of. Ferrier is set up as a bit of a jack the lad, immature and disorganised and struggling to build a relationship with his teenage son and young daughter. This is the core story of the film, even as the alien invasion rages. Ferrier, through extreme circumstances, learns about responsibilty and bonds with his children.
I have to give credit to Spielberg for the introduction of the aliens (no mention of them being martians is made in this version). A storm begins and lightning pierces the grey skies above. Ferrier and his daughter go outside and watch for a while. These scenes are very atmospheric and creepy and reminded me of Close Encounters. The War Of The Worlds also reminded me of a film called Signs with Mel Gibson; the focus is kept on the main characters and tension is developed.
I don't think any Wells fan could complain about the depiction of the alien tripods in this film. The sound efects are just amazing. A huge whirring noise surrounds their entance and a huge foghorn/alarm sounds just before they unleash the heat-ray. The tripods are fantastically realised with the best special-efects money can buy and you find yourself gripped whenever they appear. They added the black smoke too I'm happy to say.
Ferrier goes on the run with his children and we see that order is starting to collapse. This version is very heavy with 911 undertones; Ferrier finds the debris of a crashed plane and we see missing persons photographs pinned to walls.
Cruise is effectively 'De-Cruised' in this film. He isn't a wisecracking action hero. He underplays it and is just a normal person trying to look after his children. He tends to divide people but I think Cruise is a reliable actor. Dakota Fanning is fine as his young daughter although she screams a bit too much for my liking. Tim Robbins has a cameo as a nutty survivor Ferrier holds up with for a few days. His character is like a mix of the soldier and the curate from the novel and is used to make some heavy-handed political points.
Once Ferrier is on the move the film is tense, well made and one long chase with an alien invasion backdrop. The film is all the better for the simple plot. Ferrier and family move from one scene of destruction to the next, survival the only thing that motivates them. The film reminds you of Independance Day in places but is overall a smaller and less campy film.
Some of the set-pieces are amazing. The tripods lay waste to a docks and one rises from the sea to sink a Ferry. We see soldiers fighting them now and again but they don't seem to be having any luck. Although I'm still waiting for a faithful version, I did enjoy the elements that reminded one of the book. There is a sequence where Ferrier ends up in a tripod cage with other humans. The use the aliens have for these captives is very grisly and captured the spirit of the book. The red weed is also present and correct.
I prefer the Spielberg that gave us Jaws and Raiders Of The Lost Ark to the 'serious' Speilberg. He is a great popcorn director and War Of The Worlds gives him a chance to do what he does best: entertain and give the audience a fun ride.
Despite my initial reservations I thought The War Of The Worlds was a taut and gripping film with incredible special-effects and is certainly worth a look.
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Kadov
Commander
Posts: 171
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Post by Kadov on Aug 22, 2008 21:52:34 GMT -5
Alright, I'm almost embarrassed to admit this...but I went and saw Mamma Mia. My wife and I and two other couples went last Saturday night. Admittedly, I was curious to see Brosnan's performance, and I did grow up hearing ABBA during the seventies so there was some nostalgia in my motivation to see the film. From a filmmaking standpoint, I thought they got carried away with the close-ups (it's a bit much for my taste), and there are abrupt shifts in editing, and some of the lighting, especially with Meryl Streep, was a bit glowing in a golden tint. You can almost guess the major set pieces from the outset: the sequences for the songs Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, and The Winner Takes It All. The dancing and choreography are all in the vain of skipping along narrow cliff paths and people waving their arms. But there are some good comical scenarios in the Mamma Mia sequence. Somehow, despite all the silliness, the movie works. Once I got accustomed to the giggles and squeals of the female characters, it became a light, breezy, fun film. The cast maintains the joyous energy level, and the music works in the context of the Greek location. Alright, I'll admit it: I had a goofy smile on my face (fortunately, it was dark in the theater). Now for Brosnan...once you get past the shock that he is suddenly singing SOS (his first song in the film), he turns in a great performance. Whatever negative comments you've heard about his singing, I think it all has to do with that initial "shock." I think it's the shock, or at least a startling effect, that people have because, by god, this is the man who has played James Bond, Remington Steele, Thomas Crown; the man we've come to know as a dashing urbane kind-of-guy who touts a gun and dallies with gorgeous women; but here he is suddenly breaking into a song. As for his singing, it's been unfairly mocked by some. By nature, he has a thin, airy voice, and not something truly suitable for peppy synthetic ABBA songs. I'd say his voice is much more suited to rock or even folk (maybe something along the lines of a Dylan, Tom Petty, or even a Pete Townshend song--breathy, raspy type of singing). But Brosnan pulls it off, there's even a twinkle in his eye when he sings "I Do, I Do, I Do"--almost a wink, as if he acknowledges that, "Yes, I'm not a singer, but it's all in good spirit." He's certainly one of the most daring actors today: after Bond, he's tackled an assortment of roles, working against his stereotyped image of a dashing hero: he's tackled black comedy ( The Matador), a Western (in Seraphim Falls), just to name a few, and now here is in a musical. I particularly like his scene with Meryl Streep in the ballad "The Winner Takes It All." She does all the singing; he just reacts to her. And they stand on a clifftop overlooking the sea. The cinematography is quite good. Brosnan conveys deep emotions in his reaction to the story she sings in the song. At one point, it was touching to see him just bow his head in regret for what had happened between them. In one sense, Brosnan's performance reminds me of the one he had in GoldenEye, when he encounters Janus in the eerie scrapyard with all the old Soviet statues. Janus does most of the talking, while Bond (Brosnan) simply reacts and you sense his emotions of betrayal and disillusionment with what Trevelyan had done. But back to the musical: I thought maybe I was overreacting to this scene in Mamma Mia and to Brosnan's performance. But I ran into Richard von Busack's review (a critic who typically favors arty films and not these maintream Hollywood films) and he makes an interesting comment about Brosnan: ------------------------------- source: www.metroactive.com/metro/07.16.08/film-mammamia-0829.htmlBrosnan is the most unlikely singer ever to emerge from Ireland, yet his rapport with Streep proves again what an underrated actor he is. When he gives his old flame Donna a look and tells her simply that he's back on the island "because you know what it meant to me," the film suddenly got a little of the romantic mist it's conjuring.----------------------------------- Brosnan had good chemistry with Streep. It's a bit underused; the filmmakers should've taken advantage of the talents of these two actors. Yet when the movie ended, the audience cheered and applauded.
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Kadov
Commander
Posts: 171
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Post by Kadov on Aug 22, 2008 21:56:03 GMT -5
Well, Mamma Mia is a major hit. The latest numbers are all good. But even more interesting, it's been doing fantastic business in the UK. Here's a report from screen daily: ---------------------------------- www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=40305&Category=52317 Aug 2008 22:10 Mamma Mia! became the first Universal release this year to cross $200m as $16.8m from 2,750 venues in 24 territories raised the tally to $204.6m. It currently ranks as the ninth biggest overseas release of 2008 and, ominously for its rivals, there are still 35 territories to go. The sole new launch was Spain, where the musical opened in second place on $2.7m from 404 sites. The running total in Spain including previews is $4.9m. Mamma Mia! held firm at number one in its sixth weekend in the UK and dropped 25% for $4.1m from 536 to raise the tally to $89.2m, making it the biggest film of the year in the UK and 16th on the all-time roster. --------------------------------------- The biggest film of the year in the UK? That's quite a bold statement, considering that we haven't even reached year's end. Does this mean that QOS won't reach the box office heights of Mamma Mia? How could this be, when Daniel Craig is The Second Coming? The best dressed man for the next several centuries, the savior of the 007 franchise?
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Post by Greg Haugen on Aug 23, 2008 10:27:32 GMT -5
I think Mamma Mia! has already become a camp cult classic like Rocky Horror or something.
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alvin
Commander
Posts: 430
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Post by alvin on Jan 5, 2009 13:19:30 GMT -5
For me, one of the best movies of the year is Flashbacks of a Fool. This is truly an incredible film. I had a chance to watch it on Christmas day. It's like a modern version of a Charles Dickens story like Great Expectations because it's a drama about a person's trials in life, a coming of age drama. Daniel Craig plays Joe Scott, an aging Hollywood star and he goes home to attend his friend's funeral. This is his friend from childhood. So you can tell right away that this movie is about an emotional journey. Then there are flashbacks, so that ties everything to the title and makes this movie incredibly artistic. The flasbacks show Joe's teenage years in a little English town and we see him go through different life experiences. I'll admit that the movie kind of slowed down, especially when Daniel Craig is not on the screen. The movie concentrates more on the young Joe Scott played by a younger actor. That's probably why the movie didn't do well because people realized Daniel is not on screen enough. I didn't even know that Daniel co-produced this movie. He is truly amazing, he's not only an actor, he's also a producer! He's like a new Orson Wells. Then there is the director Baillie Walsh that comes from a commercial video background. It goes to show that Daniel Craig is willing to take risks by going for a director that never really made a feature film before. It's a great thing that movies can take on a new life on video. The word of mouth is spreading for this film. Just look at amazon because it has a sales rank at #14,787. Those who thought that this movie has no popularity can't deny that Flashbacks has a solid position on amazon and the sales rank is rising. It won't even surprise me if it gets some Oscar nominations.
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Post by Gambit on Jan 6, 2009 14:02:23 GMT -5
I'm not sure Daniel Craig would be convincing as a 'Hollywood star'. ;D
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alvin
Commander
Posts: 430
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Post by alvin on Jan 18, 2009 17:25:55 GMT -5
I saw Defiance last night and it was an incredible experience. I just have to share my thoughts on this unbelievable life experience. This is a movie about liberation, it has four Polish brothers that escaped from the Nazi occupation and fought to rescue fellow Jews. Daniel Craig has proved to me again he is a superstar, you really believe he is fighting for freedom. You know I had tears of joy just walking into the theater. There I was going to see another movie starring daniel Craig. It's unbelievable. Flashbacks of a Fool is now out on video and QOS is playing in theaters, I can't even think of any other actor that has a bunch of movies out at the same time. Daniel is a true superstar. Then my buddy Ron said that the release of Defiance was full of poetry because it came out just a couple of days before the inauguration. That just blew us away because Obama represents liberation and unification of all people so we felt that daniel Craig probably planned the release of his film to underscore all these things. I can tell you that my buddy and I just sat in the theater completely speechless. We're heading off to Washington D.C. tomorrow for the inaugural event and I'm at a point now where I don't think I can handle the deep emotions. And then I heard this morning that the Jonas Brothers is one of many celebrities attending and I wondered if Daniel Craig will be attending too. Ron and I were just in complete tears. My hands haven't stopped trembling in days in all this excitement. This is a truly historic time when you have great stars like Daniel Craig and the Jonas Brothers coinciding with President Obama.
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alex
Commander
Posts: 344
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Post by alex on Jan 19, 2009 13:38:21 GMT -5
Somehow I feel like I know Ron now.
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Kadov
Commander
Posts: 171
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Post by Kadov on Jan 23, 2009 18:56:26 GMT -5
Pierce Brosnan has a good film coming out soon. It's called The Greatest, and it's generating some good buzz at the Sundance Film Festival. ------------------------------------------------ defamer.com/5134316/is-the-greatest-destined-for-greatnessSusan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan's The Greatest screened twice over the weekend at Sundance, and however overcooked the dead-son weepie feels, we can't argue with multiple standing ovations.Brosnan in particular, who plays the patriarch of a family devastated by the death of their teenage son in an automobile accident, was singled out for demonstration of audience affection, prompting those at Saturday morning's screening from their seats for an ovation that lasted maybe 15 seconds but felt like forever in the usually subdued early-morning setting. Sarandon and director Shana Feste felt the love as well, along with young co-stars Carey Mulligan, Johnny Simmons and Zoe Kravitz. We've been to a lot of public screenings over the years and seen and heard a lot of pushover audiences go nuts for film. This was one of those once- or twice-a-fest scenes where you could almost smell 600 people at the Racquet Club losing their shit. People love this movie.------------------------------------------------- Variety has also given the film a good review. Here are excerpts: www.variety.com/review/VE1117939408.html?categoryid=2471&cs=1A Barbarian Film Group presentation of a Silverwood Films/Irish Dreamtime production. Produced by Lynette Howell, Beau St. Clair. Executive producers, Pierce Brosnan, Aaron Kaufman, Doug Dey, Ron Hartenbaum, Douglas Kuber, Myles Nestel, Anthony Callie. Co-producers, Amanda J. Scarano, Katie Mustard. Directed, written by Shana Feste.Allen Brewer - Pierce Brosnan Grace Brewer - Susan Sarandon Rose - Carey Mulligan Ryan - Johnny Simmons Bennett - Aaron Johnson Ashley - Zoe Kravitz Joan - Jennifer Ehle Lydia - Amy Morton Jordan Walker - Michel ShannonFar from a remake of the Muhammad Ali biopic, "The Greatest" is a well-observed study of an affluent family's grief and rebirth after a tragic accident. Writer-director Shana Feste displays impressive control over all aspects of her feature debut, which deals in a nuanced manner with the different ways those affected by the loss deal with it.
Thesps do admirable, potent work, with Brosnan coping well with the sort of heavy dramatic lifting he only occasionally undertakes; Sarandon channeling a mother's distressed obsession with complete conviction; and Mulligan, a British newcomer who proves a revelation in another Sundance entry, "An Education," bringing a bracing resilience to a teenager for whom one night changed the rest of her life. Simmons comes into his own impressively when given the opportunity in the latter going.
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FormerBondFan
00 Agent
Posts: 5,455
Favourite James Bond Films: The Dark Knight Trilogy, Mission: Impossible and any upcoming action films starring Pierce Brosnan (no, it's not James Bond which is good because he'll need it to expand his reputation as an actor, especially in the action realm)
Favourite Films: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Harry Potter, Middle-Earth, The Matrix, Mission: Impossible
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Post by FormerBondFan on Jan 23, 2009 19:05:38 GMT -5
Is it possible that Pierce would get another Golden Globe nomination anytime soon?
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