MOVIE REVIEW: Spectre (2015)

Spectre (2015)

Action, Adventure, Thriller

Directed By: Sam Mendes 

This modern era of Bond has done something rather interesting that hasn't been done in the franchise until the inclusion of Daniel Craig. They have given his Bond an arch, he has been growing and changing through each and every one of his films with the events of each affecting the happenings of the next. After Skyfall broke all the molds and gave us an actual backstory on Bond in a movie that some of us see as one of the all-time best 007 movies we had no idea what to expect from the next installment. For the twenty fourth chapter in the James Bond franchise Sam Mendes (Skyfall) has returned to direct and Craig is back as the charismatic spy and they have brought a few new friends along for the ride. 

After the events of Skyfall the 007 sector of MI6 is under pressure from the government to prove their necessity going forward. The film opens on Bond in the middle of a mission in Mexico City, unexpected factors arise and his job goes south in a series of events that level an entire city block. After an insane fight in a helicopter over a large crowd of people the government finally decides to crack down on the MI6. With the 007 sector potentially seeing its final days Bond decides to operate outside the bounds of his governors and finally uncover the truth behind the global terrorist group SPECTRE. A mysterious message from an important member of his past sets him on the trail to finally discover the secrets behind this massive organization that has plagued them for too long. 

Spectre is a slow burn as far as Bond films goes, after Skyfall was two hours of almost non-stop action many audience members were expecting this next movie to be a lot of the same. This time around Mendes wasn't trying to dazzle us with huge action set pieces and life or death scenarios (though there are a few that are absolutely gorgeous) but rather give us a great story told within the boundaries of Ian Fleming's world. The most problematic aspect of this film is that the in depth story is almost relying on one last installment in the Daniel Craig era to fulfill what had been started here. The events that unfold in Spectre are left seemingly unfinished and if this is the end of Craig's Bond (as we have heard is a possibility) much of this movie will be for nothing. That being said, I found the story to be totally engaging and much of what is brought to the screen is catered to the fans of the franchise. 

A large factor in what makes these movies either great or not so great is the quality of the villain. From the beginning of the franchise the bad guy has always been a center of the 007 story lines and can always make or break a film. Last time around we were all dazzled by Javier Bardem's performance as one of the best Bond villains we have ever seen, so how do you top that? or at least try to? Well you go and get Academy Award winning actor Christoph Waltz, that's how. Playing the mysterious leader of SPECTRE Waltz turns in another fantastic performance, although he could have had a bit more screen time. The same could be said for his "Jaws"-esque henchmen Mr. Hinx played by Dave Bautista, a great callback to classic henchmen like Odd Job and Jaws he simply just wasn't used enough throughout the film. 

This may not be the most action packed movie in the franchise but it very well may be the best looking. Sam Mendes and company have created a gorgeous film to look at with amazing set pieces and location shooting. From the opening tracking shot all the way to the finale of the film the cinematography is incredibly beautiful.  Daniel Craig owns the part once again and further makes an argument that he is one of, if not the best Bond that there has ever been and after seeing this one I can only hope he gets one more turn to finish out this story. For the first time we are seeing a continuing story throughout multiple Bond films and it looks like it has all been leading to one crazy ending I can only hope we are fortunate enough to see.

If you are going into this film looking for a repeat of Skyfall then you will most likely be let down. Mendes didn't even try to make the same film over again and I respect him for doing so. Spectre is a great bridge between what we saw occur in the last film and what we will hopefully see in the next one a few years from now. There is often a lot of time between action sequences but if you can get into the story you will have no problem staying engaged for the entire two and a half hours. Despite a few minor flaws in the story and the lack of action Spectre is another great installment in the ever growing franchise with plenty of easter eggs for long time fans to have fun with. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

Looking Back on 007: The Craig Years - Skyfall (2012)

After Quantum of Solace was met with lackluster critic and audience response it would be another four years before Craig and company would have a chance to redeem themselves. This proved to be the right choice when Skyfall came out and was met with huge success. The film went back to basics and told a Bond story the way it was always meant to be. The shortcomings of Quantum were not ignored and they made all the right moves to make sure it didn't happen again. The biggest of those was bringing in masterful director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) who used his talents to bring Bond into the modern age without sacrificing the things we all love about the series.  Four years was apparently the perfect amount of time for audiences to forget the stink that the previous film had left behind as Skyfall grossed over $300 million in the U.S. alone.

Skyfall (2012)

Directed By: Sam Mendes

As mentioned before, this film goes back to the basics opening up on Bond in the middle of his last mission. In a daring chase that takes them from the roof of the Grand Bazaar to a fist fight on top of a train we watch our hero "die" in the first ten minutes of the movie. From there we immediately cut to the opening credits and Adele's amazing opening theme and from this moment forward, you know this is a true 007 film. In just fifteen minutes Sam Mendes managed to make his film feel more "Bond" than anything included in Quantum of Solace. What's even more crazy is that there is another two hours of film to follow this amazing opening sequence. 

After Bond is declared KIA a list including the identities of all the active MI6 agents falls into the hands of a cyber terrorist (Javier Bardem). The threats become real when he stages an attack on the MI6 headquarters, alerting our "deceased" hero and thus bringing him out of retirement. Now he must track down and stop the unknown threat before he releases the names of their agents. Things become even more complicated when it becomes clear that whoever it is that is attacking them has a past with the MI6 and more specifically, a history with M (Judi Dench). 

Bringing in Sam Mendes was the saving grace of this franchise, adding a talent as massive as him behind the camera is something we haven't seen done enough in this ongoing series. His knowledge and skill as an Academy award winning director elevates this film higher than most any other 007 film to come before it. He managed to make Bond a serious action star without sacrificing and losing all the great espionage elements that made him so popular to begin with. He took away the stigma that Bond is a campy, golden era spy who in no way translates into reality. With Skyfall he makes the argument that Bond is not only a badass superhero, but that he is a true necessity in our reality. 

The 23rd installment in the franchise brings back Daniel Craig as Bond and he is as good as he has ever been in the series. This was the first movie where I finally felt like he was truly James Bond, he has the charisma, he has the style, and above all else he has the ego. Judi Dench also returns as M for the seventh time in her career in probably her biggest role yet with the central story revolving around her past. It's the newcomers to the franchise however that really lift this film up, adding great talent with people like Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris. As is the case with most of the best Bond films however, the villain is what makes the film and Skyfall features one of the best of all-time. Javier Bardem plays our maniacal villain who has a plan to get revenge on the organization who betrayed him over a decade ago. Much like in No Country for Old Men he turns in a truly terrifying performance and totally owns his role. 

This movie continues what the other two films had started, bringing Bond into the modern age. It has been no secret that the franchise needed some retooling to be taken as a serious action franchise nowadays. Cheesy gadgets, a cool car, and sexy women aren't enough to hold your film together anymore. What this film does better than the two to come before it is that it manages to keep the silly side of the franchise by making it work within this new world. Mendes finally brought back Q (Ben Whishaw) and in an amazing way. He is going to be feeding Bond cool gadgets again but this time around it will all be plausible. Q has no problem poking fun at the "exploding pen" tricks that this franchise was built on while still dealing out the new age of espionage technology.

When this movie was released back in 2012 it was met with mostly great critic response. Roger Ebert was a fan saying "This is a full-blooded, joyous, intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon, with Daniel Craig taking full possession of a role he previously played unconvincingly." Richard Roeper wrote "This is perhaps the most visually stunning Bond movie ever made." One of my personal favorite critics Scott Weinberg was also a fan calling the film "An espionage thriller mixed with a revenge story wrapped in a character study about the world's favorite secret agent." The film is also currently sporting a 93% on the Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.8/10 IMDB score and grossed over $300 million dollars domestically, making this film a massive hit. 

Skyfall is the reason we are all as excited as we are for Spectre this weekend. Sam Mendes has returned to direct and they added even more talent with the likes of Christoph Waltz and Dave Bautista. Mended brought the franchise back to what we love following the classic Bond film structure to create a movie that is both a love letter to the past and a preview of what the future holds for cinema's longest running action franchise. If you have plans to see the new film this weekend I can't recommend going back to revisit this one more, it is an incredible Bond movie and one of my favorite action films of the past five years. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

Looking back on 007: The Craig Years - Quantum of Solace (2008)

The end of Casino Royale did something different than most Bond films, it left us with his story unfinished. Typically these movies tell one story contained to the limits of its runtime and end with our heroes journey being resolved. At the end of Casino Royale however we see his story left unresolved in a way that it had to be mentioned in the next film. Quantum of Solace not only mentions the happenings of the first movie, it uses them as the basis for what happens throughout the entirety of this one. Rather than see Bond go after a new villain with new girls and leave the past unmentioned we see him go out on a mission with intentions of avenging his fallen lover. Everything that drives Bond to succeed in this film can be directly drawn from the one that came before, and i'm not sure that is such a good thing. 

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Directed By: Marc Forster

If I'm being honest, I had never seen this film before last night. As I mentioned last post I wasn't a big fan of Casino Royale when it was released so my excitement for a sequel was not present. Not to mention when the film was received with not so amazing critic response my desire to see this became dismal. The film picks up basically where the last one left off, Bond is back to work after experiencing personal tragedy and he is doing what he can to find out who set up his former lover. His anger sets him on the trail of a mysterious organization that is plotting to take control of Bolivia's natural resources. His duty as a spy and his personal rage blend together to make one truly discombobulated movie that is hard to follow and at times completely incohesive. 

After revisiting Craig's first outing as Bond and enjoying it more than I had a decade ago I had a small glimmer of hope that it may transfer over to this movie as well. I've come to enjoy Craig's Bond as much as any other, but this movie is hard to get into. Every time I thought I had the tone or plot of this movie figured out it would take a complete 180 and go the other way. There are random jokes spliced randomly throughout that just feel like they belong in another movie and at times they can take you out of it entirely. 

This seemed to be a small part of a bigger problem that was the editing, the cuts in this movie are all over the place. In this sense the whole movie feels like an incomplete picture that was sloppily thrown together to make the release date. There is a story in this movie somewhere but I think it was left on the cutting room floor. Certain scenes are clearly cut short or chopped up into barely cohesive moments that should have been played out in their entirety making it difficult to ever truly get engaged by the film. 

The decision to have this be a direct sequel to Casino Royale I think was a mistake. The film was tied down from the restraints of what happened in the film before it and was never really able to stand on its own. It feels like more of a clean up of its predecessor than it's own Bond story. 007 movies should be able to be watched out of order in any way you want without having to understand a through line, Quantum of Solace breaks that mold and is hurt because of it. You can't really watch this without seeing the film that came first and even if you've done that, it still isn't a satisfying payoff to the story that began in 2006.  

Don't take my word for it though, Quantum currently rocks a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, not horrible but easily the lowest of any Craig Bond film. A. O. Scott of the N.Y. Times said of the film "Quantum of Solace prompts the question: is revenge the only possible motive for large-scale movie heroism these days?" Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald said "Quantum of Solace never really engages you in the mechanical but transporting way the best Bond movies do." 

The 22nd chapter in the ongoing Bond franchise was unfortunately a dud, trying to carry a story through multiple films just isn't what this series was built for. Craig gives his all as Bond as usual but it isn't nearly enough to make this film enjoyable. From the moment you hit the opening credits with a subpar song, you know this isn't going to be 007 at his best. If you are looking to revisit the Craig years before Spectre this weekend I'd say you can feel safe skipping this one if you don't have the time. 

Check back tomorrow for my look back at Skyfall and as always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

Netflix Fix: 11/3/15

After a great Halloween season some of you may be looking to slow down your roll with horror films. Many of us spent the entirety of last month watching anything scary we could get our hands on so I'm sure plenty of you are looking for a change of pace now that we've reached November. Well I've got you covered with another Netflix Fix and this time around I have picked five movies that are sure to wash the blood off your clothes from the Halloween season. I kept a small central theme with this weeks films and that is 'quirky', each film on this list is an oddball movie that tells a truly human story within a world that would seem totally weird to most of us. From Wes Anderson to Tim Burton the movies on this list give us something strange in the best of ways.

1. Frank (2014) Directed By: Lenny Abrahamson 

If you have yet to see 2014's weird drama comedy Frank then you are missing out on some wonderful weirdness. When a young and aspiring musician (Domhnall Gleeson) joins a budding pop band with an eccentric lead singer he quickly realizes he has taken on more than he can handle. Not only does his new lead singer where giant paper mache mask that he never takes off but he has an all controlling girlfriend who is really only holding the band back. The more our lead character gets to know Frank the more problems he causes within the band and he ultimately learns more about himself than the people around him. The movie is quite funny, totally weird, and a great examination of the frailty of the human psyche. 

Looking Back on 007: The Craig Years - Casino Royale (2006)

With Spectre dropping into theaters this weekend, this could very well be the last time we see Daniel Craig suit up as the iconic spy. The actor has already displayed a desire to step away from the part and with Sony's rights to the property expiring after this film who knows where 007 will end up. Rather than look ahead to the future though and listen to a bunch of he said/she said about who will be our next Bond I figured this time is better spent going back and looking at what Craig has already done with the franchise. Over the course of three films he has managed to become plenty of fans favorite Bond and with his fourth film tracking to be a huge success I wanted to revisit what his 007 legacy will be leaving behind, starting with 2006's Casino Royale.

Casino Royale (2006)

Directed By: Martin Campbell

Technically the third time this particular Ian Fleming book had been turned into a feature, Casino Royale effectively rebooted the James Bond franchise back in '06. Pierce Brosnan had officially stepped down as Bond at the age of 50 and gave the opportunity to someone new to keep the series going. That someone was Daniel Craig and he was set to play a brand new Bond, one that hadn't yet been given a license to kill and that lacked the experience we had come to know from our 007's. Early in the film we see an inexperienced Bond get awarded a license to kill for the first time as he is sent out on a mission to bankrupt a known terrorist financier (Mads Mikkelsen). Things are made more difficult when he falls in love with the beautiful treasury employee (Eva Green) sent to oversee his mission. Now his seemingly simple task is made all the more difficult when he begins mixing business with pleasure. 

When I first saw this film almost a decade ago I wasn't a fan. I grew up with Brosnan as my Bond and I loved him, even in the bad films so when I first saw Craig on film it took me a while to accept him as my new 007. Craig wasn't what kept me from loving this film however, it was the lack of style which I now know was intentional. At the time I didn't care to see a rebooted and young Bond, I knew who the character was and didn't need to know what he did to get there. All I wanted then was another cool and stylish Bond who was driving a kickass spy car and whose personal belongings consisted of a bag full of gadgetry, I didn't need the gritty Bond. I watched the movie with my father who is another big fan of the franchise and the two of us felt let down at the end. It wasn't that we thought it was a bad movie, we just didn't feel it was a true "Bond" film. To us it was a great action movie but it lacked what made us love 007, the cool spy gear, the stylish set design, and a truly unstoppable spy.

Over the years I began to understand what this movie truly was and why it was so different, they wanted to show us all how Bond became the perfect spy he is and why he has no room for trust in his life. Watching the movie last night I found myself dialed into the story of the film far more than a decade ago. I enjoyed seeing a flawed 007, one who makes mistakes that almost cost him or the people around him their lives. He doesn't always know what's coming next and he isn't always a step ahead of his enemy here. Still, I couldn't bring myself to love this movie as much as I wanted to. In the end I found the stakes to be severely underwhelming and uncompelling, I never once during the film felt his enemy was really any danger to him. Unlike other films where we see our hero save the world from true disaster, here we are watching him save a lot of money from going into the wrong hands. Yes, a worthy cause but not one that ever made me feel that our heroes job was all that important. 

I am clearly in the minority thinking this film is just good, not great. The movie currently rocks a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8/10 IMDB score and I regularly see people call it the best Bond film of all-time. Roger Ebert said of the film "Casino Royale has the answers to all my complaints about the 45-year-old James Bond series, and some I hadn't even thought of." Tom McCarthy of Variety said "Casino Royale sees Bond himself recharged with fresh toughness and arrogance, along with balancing hints of sadism and humanity, just as the fabled series is reinvigorated by going back to basics." The film was a huge box office success as well making over $160 million in the U.S. alone and paved the way for three more Craig lead films. 

Seeing where Daniel Craig's Bond has gone over the past few films I appreciate this one much more. They laid the groundwork for what he would become in the future all with this story and it has paid off big down the line. With Spectre tracking to be a huge hit, the success of this modern run of 007 can be directly attributed to movie that kicked it all off. Despite feeling it's a bit long winded Casino Royale is the rare reboot that succeeds in resetting the timeline and now allows this franchise to grow into something far bigger than we all thought it could be. Casino Royale is definitely worth revisiting before heading to see Spectre this weekend.  

Check back tomorrow for my look back at Quantum of Solace and as always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

Horror, Comedy

Directed By: Christopher Landon 

It's no secret that we have been over saturated with zombie movies and TV shows ever since The Walking Dead first aired. The insane popularity of the show led to a massive resurgence in the horror sub-genre and for better or worse we are still in the wake of that explosion. This undead renaissance has definitely birthed its share of flop movies and cheap cash grabs but peppered throughout them are a handful of quality, inventive zombie flicks that offer up something different. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse may not be something entirely new but it offers some clever twists to the fun kind of zombie flick we all love to see. In the vein of something like Zombieland this film blends slapstick horror and comedy to create a ninety minute romp that is worth the price of admission. 

The end of their sophomore year of high school is approaching and these three best friends are beginning to question their commitment to the scouts. Despite all the good times they have had they are starting to realize that the uniform and way of life aren't the easiest way to grow in popularity. On the night of their last campout, where they plan on ending their days in a neckerchief, two of them sneak away from camp to attend a secret party but along the way they come to realize their town is in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Now they must set aside their petty high school problems to try and save the ones they love from certain death. The knowledge they have gained from years in the scouts now pays off as these young kids effectively fight off hordes of zombies, proving to them that maybe all of these years weren't as wasted as they thought.  

Scouts Guide doesn't do much to change the genre or even offer up something new, instead it takes something that has worked before and slightly builds off of it to make an entertaining and fun zombie flick. The film takes advantage of the massive popularity of zombies to create a self aware horror comedy where our characters are aware of exactly what their enemy is and how to kill it. I think we have reached a point where movies in which the characters don't know what zombies are have become tired, they are so ingrained in our collective conscious that it's hard to convince audiences of this. This is a large part of what worked for me in this film, they aren't afraid of the "Z" word (Like some popular shows...) and this allows the film to move into the action of the story much quicker.

They key to the success of any movie about the undead is the creatures themselves, lackluster zombies can kill a film with the best of casts quicker than anything else. This is where Scouts Guide succeeds the most, they managed to make their flesh eaters differ from the usual style. The zombies in this movie have personality, they allowed them to keep a sliver of their former self even after they have "died". This makes the encounters the characters have with them much more entertaining and original and is shown best in the strip club scene where an undead dancer gives a nice pole performance before attempting to eat the flesh of our young would be heroes. 

Maybe the filmmakers were scared of being labeled as a rip off but I think they missed an opportunity to enhance this film my incorporating the "scouts guide" in a similar way to the "rules" in Zombieland. They do a good job of making it clear that their training had prepared them for this disaster but I thought with the name of the movie the actual guide would play a small part. This is hardly noticeable though as the comedy of the film keeps you laughing out loud throughout. Its slapstick, and at times a little low brow but it's more than enough to keep you entertained for an hour and a half. 

I enjoyed seeing Tye Sheridan in another leading role, I have been impressed with what he has done so far in his short career with films like Joe and Mud and this is further proof that he will be a popular face in the future. Bit parts from David Koechner and Blake Anderson are a welcomed sight and only add more credibility to the humor of this film. Though it offers up nothing that will change the future of zombie filmmaking, Scouts Guide is ninety minutes of horror comedy fun and since we aren't getting Zombieland 2 anytime soon this will curb that craving for a little while longer.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!