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Halloween Ends (2022)
Expect The Unexpected.
Spoliers everywhere, only read if you've seen the film.
Halloween Ends is a brave and thoughtful finale to the Blumhouse era. It feels like a film where a lot of soul searching went on by its creatives - whether to follow the slasher formula and take the cash or to try something different (like H3 back in the day) and be prepared for the fans backlash. The creatives went for the latter and I applaud them for that.
It opens in a clever creepy way and it was nice to see The Thing used. Also making a comeback was the chopping board from H2, they should market a range of Blumhouse chopping boards and make a fortune.
The titles are lovely, with blue H3 inspired graphics and a better theme than H Kills. Its a shame they went for copy/ paste music rather than introduce a new theme altogether to signify this change in direction. There are also silly revolving pumpkins which are a bit embarrassing. Electric blue titles and orange pumpkins is a colour clash too far.
The first hour feels really restrained as Corey and Allyson begin their courtship. It also plays like a drama rather than an horror film. The dynamic between two people who are essentially survivors is well written and performed. It also could have done with some editing as it feels padded in places and will definitely put off the horror fanatics. In a way, the whole film plays like a comic book version of a Halloween film
The second half descends into the stereotypical Blumhouse carnage with little to enjoy. There is a Christine moment in the junk yard but even this doesn't wholly feel convincing. For me the film completely loses sight of itself and the blood and brutality are just draining to watch.
The town pitch fork style ending is just embarassing and seems ridiculously convoluted.
It is,however, restrained on the series in-jokes which is good as the previous films pretty much exhausted them. There are a few jump scares straight out if the first film. There is also the Carpenter Laurie's Theme motif played briefly on piano by Alysson but I'm sure Halloween fans will argue on exactly what she played for years.
Rohan Campbell does a great job as the repressed bullied teenager with a Carrie style mother. Corey Cunningham is a nice nod to Friday 13th. Its interesting how Friday 1 imitated H1 and H2 imitated Friday 1.
Campbell has a touch of the Christopher Walken about him, an enigmatic smile followed by an explosion of temper. Corey is actually a tragic character who is a victim of his own circumstances as much as Laurie and Allyson, but since this is the Blumhouse/JLC era, happy endings do not apply to guys like Corey.
Andi Matichak finally comes into her own as Allyson and if she could be bothered, could be the next JLC horror queen. It's ironic she now works at hospital blown up in H2. In a way, she should have been the main lead from the start of the 2018 re-boot, imagine it all starting with her sitting on the same gatepost in Pasadena as a care free teenager and then is caught up in the same terror as Laurie was.
Supporting characters are limited. Kyle Richards returns but unfortunately is given nothing to do. Will Patton gets a chance to show off his new botox but again has nothing to do. The DJ character is tedious and pointless.
JLC feels like she is honouring a contractual commitment to make a 3rd film. She still hams it up with a lot of Yoda style Hollywood self help babble.
The most difficult thing to get your head around in this film is the notion that Myers and Corey have some sort of a Batman and Robin type relationship. It just does not make any sense that Myers spares him in their first encounter. In fact It goes against the whole 45 year franchise history that this evil killing machine needs a side kick. Its like Jaws teaming up with Flipper and turning him bad.
Overall, for those of us that remember the beautiful diversion from the franchise cash cow that H3 was, its admirable that the Halloween franchise will at least try something different now and again amongst the usual slasher fare. Michael Myers will always be with us but occasionally he needs a side profession to keep it all interesting.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Welcome Back Freddy
NOES 3 sees the Freddy franchise return to its former glory. Learning the lessons from NOES 2, New Line then made up with Wes Craven and brought him back to the fold. Craven then led the writing process and invited first film favourite Heather Lankenkamp back in the lead role. The overall result is a superior level horror film.
NOES 3 works on so many levels. The cast characterisation is really well written with all the teenagers in the psychiatric hospital setting given enough time for the viewer to feel sympathy for them, especially when they meet their demise. Chief amongst these is Patricia Arquette who is the best thing about this film and really should have had the star billing. When you contrast Tuesday Knight's performance as Kristen in NOES 4 you realise just how good Arquette is in this film. Langenkamp is a sweet lead but is quite lightweight compared to Arquette and should have been pushed into adding more emotion when delivering her lines. Her best scene is with her estranged Father which showed how she could really act when she put her mind to it.
For a low budget horror the supporting cast is excellent. Craig Wasson as the lead Doctor, Patricia Pointer as the Director and Laurence Fishburne as the Nurse all add authority to the drama. The only shame is that Fishburne was not involved in the finale as he would have been an excellent opponent for Kreuger. Also present again is cult movie legend John Saxon who delivers his usual brooding presence with great authority.
The story has real depth and the Nun back story is sensitively handled with the viewer left to just imagine the horrors Kreuger's mother faced. Contrast this with NOES 5 which stupidly decided to graphically show all of this and left the viewer cold as a result.
Kreuger himself is still just about in his scary phase but you can start to see some of the silly one liners and gross out moments that plagued the rest of the series begin to creep in. The finale is genuinely touching and the closing moments with Arquette and Langenkamp perfectly played. There is the odd stupid scene to please the mostly male teenage fan base but that was part and parcel of 80s horror unfortunately.
Overall a great film and a credit to New Line films creative process.
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)
Back so soon ?
The 5th instalment in the NOES is a fascinating film in that it manages to combine the horribly gross with emotional depth in equal portions. Made without the series guru Rachel Talalay who escaped to another project, it was left to director Hopkins and his fellow creative boys trust to come up with the Freddy back story crux of the film and to throw in macabre death scenes as well as a horribly grim birth scene which is best fast forwarded through. In fact if you just used scene selection to watch this film, it becomes a much more rewarding experience.
The titles start things off in a clever ominous way with the gothic theme and imagery a thousand miles away from the pop culture feeling of NOES 4. It was also great to see Lisa Wilcox get top co-starring billing since this is ultimately her film. It was then horrible to see the morons in the credits team omit her name from the end credits. The focus then on the connection to the asylum is classic boys club writing and its funny how it wasn't Dan being shown explicitly in the opening shower scene and asylum montage.
Wilcox just grows and grows in this film and is clearly better suited to acting as kick ass girl rather than meek shy girl. The emotional scenes with best friend Kelly Jo Minter and father Nicholas Mele elevate this film far above the usual slasher fare and its bizarre how the creative boys club write these scenes using their brain cells rather than their frat party genes. The aftermath of the death of Dan demonstrates this and the writing and acting add realism to the film. The teenage fodder around them are there just as set up for slaughter. Check out the unbelievably bad acting of Mark who must have been related to the casting director to get this gig.
The whole plot around the asylum, Nun
and emotionally troubled boy isnt fun to watch but at least Hopkins tried to make a film based on his own original vision than a NOES 4 clone which I suspect New Line would have loved this film to be. Freddy himself no longer is interesting to watch, just a gross out version better suited to the Re-Animator franchise.
Overall this film is classic money grabbing by New Line who, fresh from the success of NOES 4, rushed out 5 in the same way as the Halloween franchise did in the exact same year. I just wish Talalay had told the money men to back off and wait another year for her to properly develop and make this film.
18½ (2021)
Watered down gate.
As an American politics lover, I saw the synopsis for this film and gave it a try. The start was good, a clandestine meeting in an out of the way restaurant. There was a good build of tension as the stenographer and journalist realised the scale of what they were taking on.
The movie then proceeded to jump off a cliff the moment the couple arrived at a hotel. Spoiler alert, the whole film is then based in an out of the way hotel filled with awful dreary supporting characters delivering toe curlingly bad improvised dialogue. After a while you will end up pleading with the film to get back to the central point of the plot, ie. The most important political event of the American 20th century. If that wasn't enough, when the big reveal of the tape contents is made, the film makers bizarrely add some sex and violence just in case us viewers find the politically dynamite contents a bit boring to listen to.
Overall, this film is a self indulgent mess.
Midway to Love (2019)
Midway to Greatness
The constant production line of Hallmark's mostly formulaic movies means that it is often the presence of established actors like Danica McKellar, Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliot or Cameron Mathison which make the difference between fun and watchable or a bland marshmallow experience. Selecting a film with unknown leads almost then becomes a game of chance as to whether the film will be engaging or will require a hasty exit after 30 minutes.
Midway To Love is such a film, with unknown leads and a micro sized cast to carry it along. The result though is an unexpected triumph mainly due to the gigantic sized heart at its centre.
Rachel Hendrix (as Rachel) and Daniel Stine (as Mitchell) are both small town characters who escaped to the big time with differing results. Rachel made it big in New York and never returned, Mitchell didn't and returned home empty handed to teach instead. Their subsequent reuniting is handled very sensitively and you are drawn into their world as they try to reclaim some of the magic that carried their friendship through school. In particular, Stine does a great job portraying the pain of someone who has gone from being the high school hero to a real life zero but has then re-built his life as a popular teacher in town.
The interplay between Hendrix and Stine is authentically performed and you actually feel these are real people with real lives who once loved each other. There is also some solid support from Joe Gatton as Rachel's doctor Dad who as the town doctor somehow manages to live in a palatial mansion with a sweeping driveway.
The film has standout moments - the restaurant scene with the two leads lost in a dance to a lovely tune from Beth Dean called, aptly enough, The One That Got Away. The dialogue scenes next to the river bed are filled with reminiscences and an underlying sadness for something long gone
Overall the micro cast and limited locations give it a feeling of being a play rather than a film. Even the obligatory cute kid adds depth to the plot.
The ending of course is pure Hallmark but it doesn't matter since the proceeding 90 minutes contain the important bits about finding and losing love and then finding it again.
Halloween Kills (2021)
Halloween Does Video Nasty
The following is full of spoilers and only meant for the fan base in order to get another opinion on the film.
Having sat through 2018's dreary self-satisfied re-invented sequel to the original Halloween, my expectations for Halloween Kills were set to low.
The pre-credits sequence did offer though a glimmer of hope for a better film, with the switching between 2018 and 1978 effectively played out. It also features a great homage to the unmasking of the boy in 1978 version. However, the blood pouring out of a now living Office Hawkins neck should have been a warning as to the type of film that would eventually unfold.
The titles were sadly quite bland both visually and musically, quite a feat given they had one of the most iconic scores in history to reference. A much better home made title sequence featuring a great electric guitar is currently available to enjoy on You Tube.
The plot is predictable, Michael Myers runs amok through Haddonfield randomly
visiting locations before arriving back to his home which he didn't think to visit in 2018 version. That's it essentially. You could describe this film as a placeholder to draw out the third film and overall showdown (as well as making more money in the process).
The sub-plot involves surviving characters Tommy, Lindsay, Lonnie, Marion the Nurse and ex-Sheriff Brackett which gives some depth to the film but even then the writers and David Gordon Green manage to completely screw up how they navigate through the film by mainly having them as hopeless vigilantes ready to be slaughtered. What is even more galling is that JLC and DGG waffled on in 2018 about how important it was for victims of trauma to be given their own voice and story arc. Well Halloween Kills takes its trauma victim survivors and proceeds to mercilessly slaughter them as if to say you survived before but you won't this time. Shame on everyone concerned for landing this message.
In between its brutal violence, the film manages to also be nonsensical as well. The entire Haddonfield police spend the film in the hospital rather than out on the streets looking for Myers. No-one thinks to call the National Guard for back up. The vigilantes are so shambolic and simply are there as set up for the slaughter scenes. The hospital lynch mob scene has everyone chasing an obviously different man and has got to be the most ridiculous scene in the history of the franchise, even Doctors and Nurses join in. Its woeful stuff. The Johns house break in scene is ridiculous, rather than call the police they take on the crazed serial killer themselves.
In terms of characters, JLC hams it up with the usual exploration of evil theme. Hawkins keeps her company and provides depth to her character as he should have done in 2018 film. Alison doesn't progress any further, just makes the dumb decision to join the vigilantes. Karen is slightly better but for some unknown reason spends the entire film in a Christmas jumper. The cop in the stetson once again does absolutely nothing.
Good moments are rare. Kyle Richards as Lindsay does a very good job in the film and actually gives the film its most genuinely chilling scene as she hides under a tree as Myers prowls around. Note to DGG, not a single drop of blood was needed to create this tension. For nostalgic reasons it was nice to see Marion and Brackett again but their story lines did not match their advanced ages. The film very cleverly brings back Dr Loomis in a brief but involving way, I wish he could have been in the whole film.
Overall this is a nasty film and the writers and DGG seem to revel in the protracted brutality on show almost as if the kills were written first and then a wafer thin plot written around them. This film is not Halloween, this is Driller Killer with pumpkins. As far as I'm concerned, the spirit and fun of the franchise died with this film. All that is left is Halloween Ends. And thank God for that.
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween Goes All Jason
Of all the Halloween Michael Myers sequels, Halloween II is definitely the most enigmatic and most debated about. Everything about it, from how it was conceived to how it was then written, filmed and delivered all make it an enduring legend of a film.
JC and Debra returned, mainly to get the correct cheque amount they felt was due to them from the first film. JC gave the directing to fellow ex-film student Rosenthal then hated the result and re-filmed and re-edited it (note 2 editors in the credits)
What about the film itself ? Its best to judge as 2 separate films. 1st film is Dr Loomis running from Myers house to morgue to school to hospital establishing motive and back story and how best to catch and stop Myers. This part is involving and gripping and Halloween II becomes Dr Loomis film as first Halloween was Laurie's film. He is ably helped by Deputy Sheriff Hunt who then stupidly disappears at the point of the final showdown.
The 2nd part is essentially an incomprehensible hospital based slasher where JLC spends the whole film either comatose or being stalked/chased. This is where the film goes to pieces as so many stupid plot points happen - lights suddenly dim (no-one notices) medical staff disappear (no-one notices) tyres get slashed (no-one runs for help) plus many other plot holes. The worst by far is the reprehensible killings of Nurse Karen and Mrs Alves who are dispatched in horrible unnecessary ways, shame on the writers/director for this.
Halloween II is such a mixed bag of a film. The pre-titles and title sequence are the best of the series as is the gripping finale as Laurie is chased in the basement, with the elevator bit being really tense. Its just the 80 mins in between start and finish which veers so much between quality and stupidity.
The one saving grace of this film is that it has become a cult classic and its actors are dear to the hearts of their fans. All of them now enjoy nice attention at fan conventions and probably still to this day get recognised for being in this film when they're out and about.
Halloween II is a classic example of a studio wanting to cash in on a brilliant original but not then thinking through the story and character development properly. Yes it made loads of money but it it also left a bitter taste of a legacy instead of the tasty treat it should have been.
No Time to Die (2021)
It's quite all right really. He's having a rest.
The following review contains lots of spoilers and is only for those who've watched the film and are looking for another opinion on it.
Daniel Craig returns for a 5th time looking weather-beaten and ready for retirement bliss. However the events of a a long pre-credit sequence including an explosive visit to Vesper's grave (nice homage to For Your Eyes Only plus music motif from Quantum of Solace) result in him waving goodbye to Madeleine on the train. Nice title song which is interspersed with a sequence that knows model girl silhouettes have had their day but doesn't have the guts to stray too far from the formula.
Five years later and Bond is headhunted back by both CIA and MI6. There is not much to say about the plot or villian, its tedious, formulaic and becomes almost secondary to the film's exploration of the overall meaning of 007 itself.
Shortly after beginning his new mission we are introduced to Nomi who turns out not only to be a fellow 00 but is actually now the 007 since Bond's retirement. Seismic stuff. So how do the writing team help her settle in ? Well, by immediately then introducing a competing agent called Paloma who is 3 weeks qualified, given an assignment where she kicks ass and immediately wins Bond's approval. Things then get worse as Nomi then feels compelled to surrender the 007 title back to Bond (MI6 super-fast HR process gets him back in) and then, as a final insult, ultimately doesn't join Bond in the final showdown. Note to writers, the point of 00s is not to ferry people in dinghies to safety. Given the fundamental importance of establishing a new 007 (backstory, motive, character, flaws etc) the writers dropped the ball badly. Nomi now needs a proper introduction in the next one to give her a proper chance to win over the Bond fans.
Other characters generally work well. Madeleine is a much more rounded character and actually manages a smile or two this time. Her surprise package is a genuine twist and works well in the story. M is his dependable screen stealing self, Moneypenny has a bit more to do this time and Q gets better with every film. Tanner character is absolutely pointless, just stands next to M looking at the same screens with a concerned look. Nice work if you can get it. The London scenes are where the writing shines most brightly, intelligent dialogue and great interplay between the leads.
Being Broccoli & Wilson led writers we do get some nice subtle moments. Bond wearing his visitors badge inside MI6 is hilarious. The portrait of Judi Dench as M and the one of Bernard Lee are both touching and demonstrate how making Bond has always been a family thing. The resurrection of Timothy Dalton's Aston Martin V8 from Living Daylights was also nicely done and great to see it in action again.
And so to the ending. Oh boy, the biggest decision probably ever made in a Bond film. Being a middle-aged man, I did almost shed a tear for the Bond character I had spent my whole life enjoying, especially as it seemed such a pointless way to go. Lets also remember that Bond after surviving countless missions decides to commit suicide (unthinkable) and chooses this route out rather than live with the condition and do the right thing by his new found child. For 5 films we have seen Daniel Craig's Bond become more of a rounded character each time so why does he act like the Bond of Casino Royale with this decision. That child will also have flashbacks her whole life with no fatherly support and no amount of driving into the sunset in an Aston Martin will compensate for this. The whole ending just feels wrong - yes retire the actor but to retire a global icon who brought joy to millions of people and earned billions for the film studios is a step too far for me. Daniel Craig was not THE Bond, he was A Bond. It was not his character to burn. My only consolation is that he will now finally be reunited with Tracy.
Maybe it will ultimately turn out to be a hoax ending and Bond survives. Either its this or B&W had better had a brilliant plan B in mind for the next one. Ultimately EON are a one trick pony compared to Marvel. And what a show pony he was.
Kristin's Christmas Past (2013)
A Future Christmas Classic
There are Christmas films that will rightfully forever be considered as classics and then at the opposite extreme there are those movies which forever exist under the radar, known only to a handful of fans. Kristin's Christmas Past falls into this category, an absolute gem of a film almost completely unknown outside of its fan base.
Its central premise is the heroine's emotional return home, a plot repeated a thousand times in a thousand different Hallmark movies. The difference this time is the quality of the script and the brilliant touching interplay between the leads. Kristin's waking up on Christmas Eve 1996, the year she left her family home never to return, gives us comedy moments, teenage angst and some genuinely heartfelt moments involving Kristin, her father, mother and aunt. One moving scene in particular situated under the Christmas tree is an acting masterclass in itself.
Shiri Appleby does a brilliant job as Kristin, a perfectly pitched and nuanced portrayal of someone trying to atone for past mistakes and to compensate for lost time. Elizabeth Mitchell as her Mother and AJ Langer as her Aunt Debbie both provide strong support and the interplay between the three is very touching. In addition, the scenes involving Kristin and her younger teenage self, played by Hannah Marks, are also well written and performed. There is also a bell chiming scene which is perfectly played by the leads.
Kristin's Christmas Past will forever stay under the radar but do yourself a favour and check it out. You'll soon find yourself adding it to your own classic Christmas movies list.
Lastly, for reasons known only to the film's marketing idiots, the film name was changed to Last Chance Christmas and Debbie Ryan was listed as the star on the poster at Appleby's expense. Ignore this re-writing of history and appreciate the skill and care which was put into this film by Appleby and her co-stars.
The Meg (2018)
Just when you thought it was safe to watch another shark movie
After about five minutes of watching The Meg, you will start to wonder if you are watching a spoof shark Jaws pastiche of the kind that Airplane once did for disaster movies. The dialogue contains more ham than a can of spam and is decidedly less tasty. I actually felt sorry for the unnecessarily large cast who had to deliver this corny and career limiting script. In particular, a special shout out to Jason Statham who manages to chew up the scenery much more effectively than the meg chews up the cast.
The CGI is also dire and anything remotely approaching tension is lost to actors pretending to fight an empty green screen. At least Robert Shaw had a real rubber shark to eat him. way back when.
The only moments of actual drama come when it rips off scenes from Jaws such as the beach scene and the Alex Kintner moment. It just shows how Jaws set the bar so high on shark movies which even its sequels couldn't come close to matching, let alone a big budget mess like this.
Megalodon (2018)
Megladumb
To enjoy Megalodon, certain watching conditions need to be met. One, you have never been in the Navy so know nothing about uniforms, haircuts and saluting. Two, you have never seen a film with a special effects budget which cost more than your car. Three, that you enjoy watching films about a scary shark that don't actually show a shark which is scary. Leave all that aside and its quite enjoyable really, with solid acting and a finale involving a reservoir dog who against all odds made it to the top of the Navy.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
The Halloween III - Nigel, John & Tommy
Halloween III is a great example of Hollywood simultaneously at its finest and at its worst. Finest in the sense of the creative desire John Carpenter and Debra Hill had to stop xeroxing over and over the Michael Myers cash cow and introduce stand alone films covering all aspects of the spooky period. To also bring in the acclaimed Nigel Kneale to write a brilliant original chilling story. Then the worst in the sense of the ridiculous egos that saw Kneale ultimately remove his writing credit (60% of the filmed screenplay was his) and Tommy Lee Wallace then introducing power drills and ripped off heads to satisfy the prevailing horror themes of that era.
Leaving aside all of this, everyone concerned, especially Wallace, still turned in one heck of a film. Its makes for chilling viewing based on its flawed but compelling characters on both sides of the good vs evil spectrum. There are not many movies where a drunk divorced middle aged doctor takes on a charming but fanatical narcissist !
Other elements are also present as you would expect from this golden era of the Carpenter cannon. The music score written with Alan Haworth is top notch and clearly inspired Tangerine Dream soundtracks for many years after. We also get the usual in jokes which Carpenter always gave as a present to his fans.
Spooky stories do not get much better than this iconic film. Ignore the Halloween III title baggage and just enjoy it for the fun enjoyable ride it is.
For further pleasure, ensure you get the DVD with the Kim Newman and Stephen Jones commentary. A real delight from the commentary B team, its like having two nerdy mates watching it with you
Inside Out (2015)
Wearing The Inside Out
Inside Out is a film clearly made with honourable intentions to portray the complexities of the human personality. The fundamental problem is that the film simply tries to pack in too many aspects; memory balls, memory islands, core memories, abstract thoughts, reality distortion filter, imaginary friends and characters representing different emotions. The overall effect is like an orchestra without a conductor all playing at the same time and between them drowning out all the good bits.
Its a real shame as the family dynamic is cleverly constructed and the Riley character is a sweet engaging girl. Her struggles are the emotional core of the film but she is almost a supporting character in her own movie. The middle part of the films simply drags and overall the film really needed more of her and less of the cacophony of her noisy thought elements. The ending redeems the film and is a brilliant piece of film making, combining human fragility with the power of healing.
Overall a classic example of Hollywood creative talents over thinking and over compensating an idea which needed a much simpler delivery.
The Mule (2018)
The Mule doesn't make my day
Clint Eastwood perfectly casts himself in the role of a down on his luck pensioner mule delivering suspect packages for some shady local gangsters. He is very convincing in the role and for someone in their nineties to be delivering on this type of material is worthy of stars in itself.
The problem with this film is that once the initial mule runs that pay for family and friends needs, the film never explains why he keeps going with it. There's no sense that it has become a thrill rush or a feeling of doing something tangible. The film just spends the second half concentrating on the cop vs mule game of cat and mouse.
Family dynamics are handled very well with a good supporting cast of characters constantly reminding him of where he has failed during his life. Eastwood handles this impeccably.
The baddies are handled less well and I was not sure whether I was supposed to fee some empathy for them. Eastwood is almost treated like an elderly uncle by them until a takeover of real baddies takes place.
The low point of the film is the party girls scene. Whilst it is classic Eastwood to include these types of scene in his films, a quick glance at the calendar should be enough to remind him that ninety year olds and party girls should never share such a scene.
A good film but flawed in places just like the main character himself.
Stranger Things (2016)
The Duffer Brothers vs The Monster - a review of Stranger Things 2
The following is a reflection of Stranger Things 2 from a fan's perspective. It is full of spoilers so only read if you are a fan looking for another opinion on the show.
For fans like myself of Stranger Things Series 1 (ST1), it represented more than just a TV show. ST1 celebrated those that prefer chess club/D&D to rugby/baseball or Phoenix Arcade Game to Drama club. In the world of ST1, it was the nerds who saved the day, not the cool kids. The Duffer Brothers (TDB) including references in the series to Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter films, Jaws and Arcade games was just heaven for me. Tangerine Dream then returning the favour by remixing the ST theme for their Particles album made it even more special.
Given all this, it's really disappointing to have to write a negative review for Stranger Things 2 (ST2). The fundamental issue for TDB is that with the runaway success of ST1 is that they have inadvertently created their own monster in the basement. ST2 suffers the same problems as other sequels of successful films/series; bigger budgets delivering lesser outcomes, new characters adding nothing, current characters not developing any further and hitherto unknown actors now performing in their current guise as established TV stars.
Examples? In ST2, the creepy top secret scientific military research establishment is now essentially a tourist attraction where anyone can visit to know what is going on and even take a tour of the labyrinth. The sinister main scientist brilliantly played by Matthew Modine in ST1 is now replaced by a cuddly local doctor figure whose point of being in the show I am still not sure of. It's like Jaws 2 replacing the original giant shark with Flipper the Dolphin.
Other new ideas simply do not work. The new characters half brother/sister bring nothing and in the case of Max is a big disappointment as it could have been a great opportunity to have another kid with some kind of extra sensory powers. Instead she is a love interest and a weak one at that. Bob is also introduced and we enjoy watching his character develop until he is then deemed expendable. The breakaway episode with Eleven just looks like an extended Duran Duran Wild Boys video with really poor acting.
The dynamic between the kids is also less convincing this time and the decision to only have Mike and Eleven come together in the last episode was a big mistake as their interplay was one of the central success features of ST1. The kids are now stars and this seems to show in their performances (except Finn Wolfhard). Strangely the actor playing Will, Noah Schnapp, who never seems to be on the celebrity circuit with the others, actually delivers the strongest performance of all the kids. The adult performances are not much better and Winona Ryder in full distressed mode now just comes across as hammy and over the top.
The Snow Ball ending felt self-indulgent, almost as if TDB were trying to re-write their own Snow Balls but this time they get the girl. I don't blame them as there are 1980s 6th Form Discos I would happily re-write the ending to.
I sincerely hope that as I write this that TDB are revisiting all the successful elements of ST1 as they develop Stranger Things 3 (ST3). The monster they have created is growing larger and larger and if changes are not made in ST3, taking on board the lessons of ST2, then my biggest fear is that the season finale of ST3 could well be TDB getting eaten by the monster.
The Shallows (2016)
Shallow Film Making
Warning: spoilers ahead.
The Shallows is a dreary girl in peril film with one dimensional human characters and a non-scary CGI shark. The director ensures that the male teen viewers are kept happy with lingering shots of heroine Blake Lively and gives the required amount of gore moments to satisfy that market too.
The usual bucket load of character dumb actions are required to move the film forward. Not equating a dead whale in blood drenched waters with a high likelihood of excited feeding sharks close by. Packing everything to visit an isolated beach except a GPS watch. Having a friend back at the hotel who doesn't think to raise the alarm when the heroine doesn't return. Surfers in tropical waters arrogantly oblivious to threat of sharks.
The worst aspect by far is the arrogance of the film makers that the shark has to die. That shark had every right to be swimming in those waters and did nothing to threaten the surfers until one got too close to their feeding zone. Great Whites have also vulnerable species protection and it was the dumb actions that led to the human peril, not those of an indigenous creature going about its business. Dumb peril films about killer sharks is Hollywood at its laziest and sharks will be forever hunted as trophies as long as these films carry on.
Gilmore Girls (2000)
The Gilmore Girls - A Life Without Consequences
Warning: spoilers follow. Please only read if watched all seasons and only looking for another perspective on the show.
The Gilmore Girls is a good old fashioned family drama centred around the different generations of the Gilmore family. The Mother Daughter relationship forms the emotional core and how they interact with family members and the local community around them. The supporting characters, like Kirk, will grow on you as the series develops whilst others, like Michel, you will find irritating for the entire seven series.
Compared to much of the other dross you find on TV there is a lot of quality in this show with solid acting, funny and sad moments and good storylines. Sadly if you binge watch via Netflix, you will find yourself start to feel more and more irritated by the lead characters as the series unfolds.
The greatest source of irritation is the obsessive way the series creators/driving force The Palladinos protect the main characters Lorelai and Rory from any consequences for their actions.
The examples of this are many; both are able to eat copious amounts of junk food with no impact to their stick like figures. The Palladinos are essentially saying that if you are attractive, intelligent and sassy that you are immune from obesity. It is inverted snobbery of the highest order. Interestingly Sookie the non-threatening simple larger friend is never filmed eating loads but clearly in Palladinos eyes doesn't possess the intellectual capacity to be spared weight gain.
Other examples: Lorelai leaves fiance Max just before the wedding and goes on a road trip instead. Once back, she is spared the expected showdown with Max and instead moves to the next guy. Its only about Lorelai with no consequences for her selfishness. She then ultimately bounces between Luke and Chris, dropping one for the other depending on who meets her demands best.
Rory is no different; she breaks up an ex-boyfriend's marriage and then is rewarded with a new millionaire Yale boyfriend. She leaves her mother's home with no warning and is rewarded with a place at her millionaire grandparents place. She leaves the grandparents with no warning and is rewarded with an emotional homecoming to mother with no requirement for a clear the air discussion most of us would have. The one concession to consequences which is a clear the air dinner at the grandparents which provides the type of depth and accountability which the series often lacks.
All the way through the show we are continually told what a golden child Rory is because of her supposed intelligence. Her every whim is indulged by Stars Hollow. However, her friend Lane has twice the amount of emotional intelligence and overcomes a stifled childhood and a strict mother but this is never appreciated by the town in the same way.
At the centre of the family dynamic are the grand parents Richard and Emily who are both brilliantly written and the characters casting is perfect. The Friday night family dinners provide the best dialogue moments of the whole series as rifts are exposed and worked through. The interplay between the four leads is impeccably written and performed.
Another interesting aspect is that whilst Lorelai mocks her parents and their lifestyle, when it comes to being part of their dinners, parties and get togethers, she fits in effortlessly; she dresses the part, acts the part and generally feels completely at ease. Lorelai may have escaped a life of privilege but she is essentially still a product of that privileged world.
Talking of the grandparents, how Kelly Bishop who plays Emily did not win an Emmy over the seven series is a total mystery. She steals every scene and her portrayal of a life of privilege is an acting masterclass in itself.
The reunion series A Year in The Life clearly was conceived with good intentions but very badly executed. The four extended epsoodes contain weak storylines, scenes that drag on forever and have awful self-indulgent moments like the Stars Hollow musical. Old cast members return but with storylines of no substance. They almost look embarrassed to be returning to their old characters looking so much older. Rory's behaviour throughout the follow up is dreadful on both job and relationship fronts but of course the Palladinos ensure there are no consequences for her as ever. The one storyline of any depth is the therapy sessions between Lorelai and Emily which are abruptly halted and never followed up. The final moment is ill conceived and turns the series into soap opera cliffhanger mode.
Overall, the Gilmore Girls is well worth watching and maybe if I had watched one episode per week over seven years then the series irritations would not have been so noticeable. In short, I blame Netflix !
Halloween (2018)
Let's Do The Time Warp Again
Warning - spoilers ahead.
I'm a huge Halloween fan including all the sequels through to Resurrection. I never bothered with the Zombie re-makes as i don't need to lift the lid of a trash can to know what it's contents are.
When i heard about Halloween 2018 I thought here we go again with another xerox MM copy to boost the Akked family's bank balance. Finding out also that we should consider it a direct sequel and should ignore every other sequel annoyed me as i saw it as an insult to every fan who supported the sequels at the box office, DVD buying and who visited conventions. I'll happily forget the sequels if JC/JLC return the proceeds they made from them.
But once a Halloween fan always a Halloween fan so I bought my ticket and prepared for another instalment.
The pre-titles sequence is pretty dull with typical Hollywood style English actors of no fixed regional dialects who play journalists taunting a mental health patient under the watchful eyes of his doctor. A whimper rather than a bang to start things off. However it gets really going with the titles, they are a triumph and almost brought a tear to my eye.
Sad to say that this is where the movie for me peaked as the rest of it was a tired disappointment. I can forgive cardboard 1D teenagers (Allyson made it to 2D but more could have been made of her character and contribution), improvised bland dialogue and unnecessary humour to break the non-existent tension. What I cannot forgive is the main thing JC didn't forgive Rosenthal for in making H2 in 1981, it just was not scary at all. Not one bit of it. Not even a single eerie or suspenseful moment was to be had.
The first half plods along and then the second half ramps up the slayings. Its at this point Myers becomes Jason Vorhees and selects victims based on proximity rather than for purpose. Its bloody, its ferocious in places but most of all its yawn inducing.
JLCs character becomes the grand dame of the piece, sort of a mouthy Charles Bronson. She bumbles about with guns forgetting the fact that 6 bullets in him didn't stop Myers the first time around. Her interplay with Judy Greer was flat and unconvincing as mother and daughter and I thought Greer just did not suit the role as daughter of a survivor. There was also a perfect opportunity to pair Laurie on the chase with the one 3D character in Sheriff Hawkins to flesh out her character and give her structure to her revenge motive but this was lost to a ludicrous sub plot involving Hawkins and a dodgy shrink.
Being Halloween fans, we ask our questions. Why did no one spot Myers donning his mask at a busy petrol station in the middle of the day ? What was the point of the cop in the stetson apart to say corny lines delivered woodenly ? Why did Laurie build her compound just outside of the town which gave her nightmares ? How did Laurie afford the high tech security measures if her life was such a mess ? What made Myers go back to Haddonfield given his family ties were removed for this film ?
The one aspect that kept me interested was the nods and homages to Halloween and its sequels gone by, even though the sequels are not supposed to exist ! Thanks guys for that, it was special for us fans. The classroom scene in particular was an exercise in nostalgia delivered with poetic restraint.
So enjoy counting the money JC JLC and Malek. See you all again for Halloween H60. If at that point you need me to forget this sequel was made then I'm happy to oblige.
Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016)
I am in fact your Guru
Having been aware of the mystique surrounding Tony Robbins as the king of motivational speakers but having never seen him in action, I was very curious to watch I am not your Guru to understand more about the man and his methods. Having now watched it a few times, I am still not fully sure what to make of the film or Tony himself.
On the one hand, the $5,000 cost and week-long commitment to his Date With Destiny event means that it ensures that only those who are serious about making changes to their lives attend. You can see from the audience reactions to his teachings that they buy into the programme 100% but the problem for me is that although he claims not to be their Guru, that is exactly how they respond to him in their physical and emotional reactions. They hang on his every word and there is no sense of anyone ever challenging aspects such as his excessive language, provocative methods and "make your life a masterpiece" fortune cookie type sentiments. An example of this is the German teenager who has clearly been let down by everyone around him in his life (his parents, educators and peers) that he felt compelled to travel half way round the world to have Tony spend 5 minutes telling him it was all going to be ok with no substance behind it. The teenager just looked into Tony's eyes and received the reassurance he needed. Tony was his Guru and if that helped him then fine.
I am not saying that the participants are just compliant sheep; there is clearly a lot of people with promise and talent in the audience who just needed that push or reassurance. The section devoted to the brave Dawn underlines this; her opening up to Tony and just having faith in knowing that whatever happens next can only bring a better life for her and others around her is definitely the highlight of the film.
Other participants featured have less inspirational outcomes. A woman breaks up with her partner in front of 2500 people only to reunite after the event finishes. A married couple re-connect but you are left feeling that a decent marriage counsellor could have done the same thing for them at a fraction of the cost. The lack of inspirational outcomes just makes you feel the event serves as a placebo for many participants until returning to real life.
The film has a documentary feel but the lack of challenging of Tony's methods by the Director Joe Berlinger reduce it instead to a free advertisement for Robbins Incorporated. This needed a Louis Theroux style approach as he would have got under the skin of participants and Tony. The event is very professional and the army of support teams (warm up guys, counsellors, event managers etc) Tony uses does ensure that participants are looked after during the week. You can also see why its $5000 a person as these people also need to be paid.
I have always found with motivational speaking or training in general that you only take from each event small elements which over the years build into an overall library of learnings. I will definitely take away some elements of Tony's philosophies learnt from I am not your Guru. Would I fly half way round the world and pay $5000 to experience it for myself ? No I wouldn't but I can see why some people would.
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
A Pitch Perfect Mess of a Film
I am a huge fan of Pitch Perfect; it is that rare film where you can watch countless times and always be entertained by the brilliant cast, writing, songs and general feel good that surrounds a movie where all involved know they are creating something special.
Pitch Perfect 2 pretty much drained all the good will I had for the series; a real let down.
When I saw there was a Pitch Perfect 3 I was really suspicious but we movie fans are sentimental at heart; we want to see the good in a franchise that provided such a great first film. So I bought my ticket and then proceeded to watch what I confidently predict to be the worst film I will watch this year.
Pitch Perfect 3 is a great example of how franchise owners foolishly believe that a returning cast can re-create magic time after time, even when given a lame plot, script and new weak supporting characters. This film only shows how wrong this approach is. The brilliant Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins are recycled, only this time with truly awful lines. Rebel Wilson was clearly considered by the producers to be a comic genius in the first film but clearly gave us her best lines (about 2 of them) back in the first film. Even Anna Kendrick cannot save this film. The basic problem is that in trying to go out on a high, the discipline of the first film is lost to self-indulgent terrible ad libbing and a weak plot centred around Wilson as an action hero.
Ok so what would I have done differently? The re-uniting for the USO tour could have focused much more on cheering up battle scarred troops which would have added some much needed depth to the film. There could have been a great opening to the film starting with Beca visiting each character in their new ordinary lives to persuade them to return to the group. The DJ competition should have been ditched completely. They should also have paid any money to have Adam Devine and Skylar Astin to reprise their roles as their relationships with the girls provided so much to the first film's success. Aubrey's relationship with her father could also have been explored in much more depth and Fat Amy with a half decent script and solid soldier character support could have been the love interest this time.
Despite all of the above, I will always be thankful to the cast and crew for bringing the original Pitch Perfect to the screen. It will always be a go to movie for when I need cheering up. I really hope that all concerned know that its time for the series to say goodbye.
Detectorists (2014)
Watching The Detectorists
The Detectorists is a gem of a television series featuring beautifully observed and well written characters. The interplay between mates Andy and Lance keeps each episode filled with wit and charm, helped along by well written supporting characters who all contribute to the unfolding events. The strength of the writing of the supports means that they can have their own stand alone segments such as when Russell and Hugh search for the mayor's gold chain in the dodgy car park.
The series is a homage to metal detectoring and is careful to be respectful to a pastime almost universally considered naff by the outside observer. It still manages to poke gentle fun but never crosses the line into simply just being disrespectful. There is numerous swearing but spoken by characters you have come to appreciate so it becomes the type of swearing you hear your real- life friends say and do not take offence to. There is also pathos amongst the humour; witness Sheila's lament to Lance for the child she never knew. The series is beautifully photographed and the choice of medieval style music is inspired.
There are also moments where characters just use facial expressions or glances to purvey how they are feeling which is a wonderfully observed feature of how English culture operates. Toby Jones in particular plays this aspect so well. The casting of Rachael Stirling and Diana Rigg as mother/daughter is inspired and is never played as though a series in-joke.
By series 3 the proceedings start to stretch a bit and repetition does creep in, for example references to Varde's "chattiness". The decision to have Sophie's character air brushed from series 3 is also a shame given that she was a good foil for Andy & Lance in the first two series.
Mackenzie Crook deserves all the plaudits available for the work he has put into this series. He has put his stamp over every aspect – acting, writing, direction, music, photography – and he clearly has a passion for history and for the preservation of artefacts left behind by those who came before us.
We now live in an age where it is possible to be a TV star whilst possessing no talent for anything at all. So in a way we as viewers have now become detectorists in our own right; we search through the pages of our channel guide trying to find something which is neither utter dross or something repeated for the endless time. The moment anyone discovers The Detectorists in their TV guide is the moment when they know they have found their own gold.
Battle of the Sexes (2017)
God bless Billie Jean King
Being too young in 1973 to understand the social and political significance of the tennis match played between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, I watched this film to understand more of the context in which the match was played. Both Emma Stone and Steve Carell play their roles very well and you really feel you are watching the embodiment of the characters of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
The film's pacing does drag in the love scenes especially as the viewer was enticed originally to buy their ticket for the tennis match than the love story. Billie Jean's sexuality is important to understanding her character progression but the long lingering dreamy shots of Stone and Andrea Riseborough just go on a bit too long.
The film comes alive with the match build up and the grainy film and hand-held camera technique for the tennis scenes give the film a nice sense of sports documentary realism. The match itself was filmed brilliantly well and is thrilling to watch.
The supporting cast do a good job but this is ultimately Stone/Billie Jean's film. Just imagine what it must have been like for an independently minded sports woman in 1973 battling sexism from all quarters including her own fellow players like Margaret Court and Chris Evert who predicted Riggs would win. The fact that Billie Jean conducted herself during the build up to the match (Riggs playing every sexist card he had during it) with grace, warmth and charm is a feat in itself.
The Battle of the Sexes is a really important film. Billie Jean King changed forever women's tennis by challenging the sexist status quo of women being paid a fraction of the amount paid to the male players. She did this by sheer force of will and had to overcome the tennis authorities and the sporting elite of the time.
The only criticism I have of the film is why did it take 44 years for this important historical event to be captured on film?
Modern female tennis players owe everything to this tenacious feisty warm woman.
The Night Manager (2016)
Bond by Committee
Beware spoilers please.
In an age of repeat showing, catch up and on-demand TV, somehow I managed to miss The Night Manager series. The main anecdotal feedback was Hugh Laurie's masterful performance as the main villain and the quality of the drama itself. I finally bought the DVD and sat down to watch what I expected to be a masterpiece.
The Night Manager can be considered a masterpiece if you compare it to most of the dross played daily in multi-channel TV land. But judged alone, it certainly is not a masterpiece, instead it is average at best mainly due to those who managed the creative process.
There are some decent moments; the weaponry display, the Egypt crowd opening and the interplay between Tom Hiddleston and Aure Atika. It is a shame that Atika's character is not developed as she has great screen presence and was a worthy foil for Pine.
The problems essentially stem from the presence of 10 executive producers who have proceeded to produce the inevitable camel instead of the thoroughbred horse. The plot whilst proceeding at a fair enough pace, is full of holes and many times you will need to forget you have an IQ to find watch you are watching believable.
Examples ? Pine returning to the Egyptian hotel where he spent 5 years working at and be recognised by no-one. A heavily pregnant character managing to evade pregnancy flying regulations whilst simultaneously putting her unborn child in mortal danger while carrying a gun she managed to get past Egypt airport security. My particular highlight is that in the digital age, Roper still prefers having print outs of highly sensitive information which would be ruinous for him if discovered, which he then keeps in in a desk drawer in his office.
Hugh Laurie's supposed famed performance provides instead the most frustrating aspect of the series. The mistake made was to not have him do anything bad at the show beginning to establish his villain credentials. Instead, we witness a bumbling fool who will trust a complete stranger over his closest ally. His lines also completely remove any air of menace; the more he witters on, the less chilling he becomes. If the Director had wanted him to purvey menace, she should have watched Michael Corleone in Godfather Part II. Corleone says only the minimum amount required and is all the more chilling for it. Laurie instead waffles on and on. Laurie was not also helped by the script giving him henchman called "Frisky" "Corky" and "Tabby"; names which do not strike fear in the heart.
Tom Hiddleston is not much better; this is the only role I have seen him in and from the look of it, it feels he spent his whole time at drama school perfecting his icy stare. His character also suffers from a lack of a decent back story and which means his motivation to become a Night Manager and to then remember he has Bond like qualities are not explained and therefore not appreciated by the viewer.
Supporting characters do not compensate; Tom Hollander's character delivers lines as though playing a bitchy celebrity hairdresser. He is also supposedly a fearsome operator who then proceeds to lose badly the only fight he enters into. Olivia Colman delivers her lines as if she is playing a West Country School Dinner Lady whose kitchen has run out of carrots. There simply is not any trace of top civil servant in her portrayal. I would have much preferred someone like Anna Maxwell Martin or Vicky McClure in the role.
Given the sheer scale, cost and complexity of the whole series, this really needed a strict Director. Instead we got direction based on long lingering shots of Elizabeth Debecki in various states of undress (odd for a female Director to do) and Hiddleston's supposedly smoldering eyes. Action shots were generally handled well but the party scenes just had that hideous feel of British thespians having a jolly good time rather than receiving tight direction.
The BBC is now under serious competition in the quality drama stakes. The Crown is a great example of what the BBC used to produce but now the independents have stolen their thunder. If the BBC wants to do more Bond style drama then it needs its creatives to be tougher with each other on what is needed to deliver quality output.
Stranger Things (2016)
The Duffer Brothers vs The Monster - a review of Stranger Things 2
The following is a reflection of Stranger Things 2 from a fan's perspective. It is full of spoilers so only read if you are a fan looking for another opinion on the show.
For fans like myself of Stranger Things Series 1 (ST1), it represented more than just a TV show. ST1 celebrated those that prefer chess club/D&D to rugby/baseball or Phoenix Arcade Game to Drama club. In the world of ST1, it was the nerds who saved the day, not the cool kids. The Duffer Brothers (TDB) including references in the series to Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter films, Jaws and Arcade games was just heaven for me. Tangerine Dream then returning the favour by remixing the ST theme for their Particles album made it even more special.
Given all this, it's really disappointing to have to write a negative review for Stranger Things 2 (ST2). The fundamental issue for TDB is that with the runaway success of ST1 is that they have inadvertently created their own monster in the basement. ST2 suffers the same problems as other sequels of successful films/series; bigger budgets delivering lesser outcomes, new characters adding nothing, current characters not developing any further and hitherto unknown actors now performing in their current guise as established TV stars.
Examples? In ST2, the creepy top secret scientific military research establishment is now essentially a tourist attraction where anyone can visit to know what is going on and even take a tour of the labyrinth. The sinister main scientist brilliantly played by Matthew Modine in ST1 is now replaced by a cuddly local doctor figure whose point of being in the show I am still not sure of. It's like Jaws 2 replacing the original giant shark with Flipper the Dolphin.
Other new ideas simply do not work. The new characters half brother/sister bring nothing and in the case of Max is a big disappointment as it could have been a great opportunity to have another kid with some kind of extra sensory powers. Instead she is a love interest and a weak one at that. Bob is also introduced and we enjoy watching his character develop until he is then deemed expendable. The breakaway episode with Eleven just looks like an extended Duran Duran Wild Boys video with really poor acting.
The dynamic between the kids is also less convincing this time and the decision to only have Mike and Eleven come together in the last episode was a big mistake as their interplay was one of the central success features of ST1. The kids are now stars and this seems to show in their performances (except Finn Wolfhard). Strangely the actor playing Will, Noah Schnapp, who never seems to be on the celebrity circuit with the others, actually delivers the strongest performance of all the kids. The adult performances are not much better and Winona Ryder in full distressed mode now just comes across as hammy and over the top.
The Snow Ball ending felt self-indulgent, almost as if TDB were trying to re-write their own Snow Balls but this time they get the girl. I don't blame them as there are 1980s 6th Form Discos I would happily re-write the ending to.
I sincerely hope that as I write this that TDB are revisiting all the successful elements of ST1 as they develop Stranger Things 3 (ST3). The monster they have created is growing larger and larger and if changes are not made in ST3, taking on board the lessons of ST2, then my biggest fear is that the season finale of ST3 could well be TDB getting eaten by the monster.
Spectre (2015)
Goodbye Mr Bond
Please do not read this review if you have not seen the film already
Spectre continues the Bond tradition of a beautifully made film awash with glamorous locations, luxury cars, London & Rome at their finest and Monica Bellucci. As a spectacle it gives the casual viewer the basics needed from a Bond film.
But what to make of Spectre from the Bond fan's perspective ? A likely last outing for Daniel Craig who demonstrates a Bond weary from previous events. Mr Craig in Spectre is a more considered Bond who now listens to reason, thinks before charging in and prefers to save the world wearing Tom Ford. There is also a wink from him to the audience of just how ludicrous the whole Bond as world saver is; witness the handy sofa in the pre-titles sequence, finding time to call the office during the Rome car chase and a finale almost copied from Grease.
The Plot Spectre has a plot which on paper looked a fine piece of work by writers Logan Purvis Wade & Butterworth (LPWB). Bringing in a shadowy empire ruled by a despot, whilst a giant cliché in the Bond franchise, at least reflected our current global world which in reality is controlled by a handful of giant corporations (who supply our phone, coffee, shopping and internet browsing). The problem unfortunately for LPWB is that the plot unravels before our very eyes as we watch Spectre portrayed in the film pretty much as a team of bumbling incompetents led by a man dressed in posh carpet slippers. Christophe Waltz whilst starting out well, gradually goes downhill as an evil mastermind and by the end we are almost laughing at his ineptitude. It also did not help that Waltz decided to make adverts in the UK at the same time resulting in the supposed head of an evil empire also convincing us to buy broadband.
The Girl Spectre also brings Bond a new love interest. Bond has essentially fallen in love in 3 of his 26 missions. The first was with Tracy (OHMSS) who represented the finest ever Bond girl to the point that it is almost an insult to describe her as one. Any self- respecting Bond fan knows just how influential she has been to the series which has reflected in both direct or indirect references to her in at least 5 Bond films up to TWINE ("have you ever lost a loved one Mr Bond?"). The second was with Vesper Lynd who whilst not as rounded a character as Tracy was at least involving enough to the viewer in that we mourned her passing with Bond. The big problem with Spectre is that Bond falls in love for the third time, this time with Madeline, but LPWB do not spend any time developing her character so we essentially do not care about either her or the love affair. Madeline is maudlin, aloof and we do not understand what Bond sees in her.
The Car Note to the Bond team; the reason why the DB5 has remained the ultimate Bond car is that it was not unceremoniously dumped in a river 10 minutes after its first car chase. This film's Aston Martin never had a real chance to prove itself a classic.
Other forgettable moments The casting of the wrestler Bautista who smirks in every scene as though he cannot believe his good fortune at landing the role. He simply has no presence and this is really evident during the Q scene on the cable car when a similar henchman sits opposite him and fixes him an expressionless look of an assassin. The actor playing the role brings a real sense of menace in these 2 minutes versus Bautista's silly grin but sadly the scene ends before real drama can be played out.
Blowfeld's evil lair is also something out of Austin Powers and is so hopelessly under fortified that Bond destroys it within 2 minutes. The finale is a Die Hard rip off without any suspense. Torture scene was inappropriate and parents who consider to let their children watch Bond films (let's face it, we all watched Bond as kids) will definitely need to fast forward through the dentist chair scene.
The Theme Great song by Sam Smith but sadly Sam let slip that he wrote it in 20 minutes. At least an hour would have suggested you needed a second go at it.
The Heritage One truly admirable aspect of the Broccoli & Wilson (B&W) stewardship of the Bond canon is their dedication to preserving the Fleming heritage. Witness the small but highly involving scene filmed in Rules restaurant with M and the supporting players. Only in a Bond film would there be such a pause for reflection, amongst the explosions, in the heart of Fleming/Bond's Mayfair London.
If Daniel Craig does walk away, he can be very proud of his contribution to the series. The problem for B&W is how on earth does Bond remain relevant in a world where the real villains are nothing that Fleming wrote about. James Bond will return but whether he the man needed to take on today's problems is anyones guess.