Worlds collide in this near-brilliant, meticulously refined 21st-century
redefinition of James Bond. In a rapidly changing world where enemies
are no longer large, loud targets that are easy to spot, Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Judi Dench) confront the big, brutal post-9/11 reality
that the biggest threat to national security is as likely to come from
within as anywhere else. The impressive MI6 edifice, once the
impregnable centre of control, sent Bond out on missions to bring order
to a chaotic world. Now it is as rich and juicy a target as any bank
vault or nuclear arsenal was in the Bond films of yore. Under the
sure-footed direction of Sam Mendes (American Beauty; Jarhead; Road to
Perdition), this dramatic table turning effectively keeps everything on
edge as M's competence comes under fire. As Bond, Craig is at his
furrowed best, playing 007 as an old-school spy facing down the
unavoidable realities of new-school rules, omnipresent digital
technology and a new Q (Ben Whishaw), a bespectacled know-all who
resembles a refugee from a Revenge of the Nerds movie. The focus on
character and story is as strong here as it was in Craig's first Bond
outing Casino Royale (2006), the finely engineered tensions between
vintage Bond and the need for a newly minted Bond making this one of the
five best of the 23 Bond films thus far. The stunt work and chases are
as proficiently mounted as ever, and Javier Bardem gives us a truly
memorable Bond villain, something we frankly haven't had since Sean Bean
in GoldenEye. But it's when the frippery - the gadgets, gags and
gaudiness that have too often stuck to Bond like cinematic barnacles -
is stripped away that the film really comes into its own. In Skyfall we
see something that has been too often denied us, which is Bond at his
essence. In one of the best examples of having your cake and eating it,
Skyfall is cleverly designed to keep everyone happy. It really delivers
to traditionalists and long-time fans who will relish the respectful
steps the film takes in the evolution to a better Bond, while those just
wanting escapism have plenty of story to chew on in between the action
sequences. In terms of quality, there is an erratic hit-miss pattern
across the Bond catalogue, so it's heartening that Skyfall makes it
three hits in a row.
It's crazy family comedy time as French-flavoured New Yorker Marion (Julie Delpy, who wrote and directed) has the wackier members of her family crashing in the cramped apartment she shares with her new squeeze Mingus (Chris Rock) and their son. A vast improvement on Delpy's unlikeable 2007 rom-com 2 Days in Paris (starring Adam Goldberg), this amiable, adult-oriented scribble of a film has fun with the pressure cooker environment and the inevitable problems it produces. Rock tries playing it straight, but can't help himself; Delpy is lovably daffy; the film has a breezy, honest air, especially when the hard decisions have to be made about who should stay and who must go.
An otherwise fine profile of American fashion magazine doyen Diana Vreeland is let down by pedestrian production. A vivacious personality who clearly loved being interviewed (she died in 1989), her friends and associates paint a colorful portrait of her relentless working life as she sculpted careers at Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hardcore cineastes will enjoy the brief glimpses from the wonderful 1964 satire Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, in which Vreeland was affectionately parodied.
It's crazy family comedy time as French-flavoured New Yorker Marion (Julie Delpy, who wrote and directed) has the wackier members of her family crashing in the cramped apartment she shares with her new squeeze Mingus (Chris Rock) and their son. A vast improvement on Delpy's unlikeable 2007 rom-com 2 Days in Paris (starring Adam Goldberg), this amiable, adult-oriented scribble of a film has fun with the pressure cooker environment and the inevitable problems it produces. Rock tries playing it straight, but can't help himself; Delpy is lovably daffy; the film has a breezy, honest air, especially when the hard decisions have to be made about who should stay and who must go.
An otherwise fine profile of American fashion magazine doyen Diana Vreeland is let down by pedestrian production. A vivacious personality who clearly loved being interviewed (she died in 1989), her friends and associates paint a colorful portrait of her relentless working life as she sculpted careers at Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hardcore cineastes will enjoy the brief glimpses from the wonderful 1964 satire Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, in which Vreeland was affectionately parodied.
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