cult film freak: daniel craig

Showing posts with label daniel craig. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/11/2022 / No comments / 007 , 2021 , action , christoph waltz , daniel craig , drama , espionage , franchise , james bond , léa seydoux , spy , thriller

DANIEL CRAIG AND LÉA SEYDOUX BOND IN 'NO TIME TO DIE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvAL0icl_xytgZsRH8_2_4piKo5lelpSQ1gpmVaD1cUibC2h24PeWrRVvzU45ubNhNDZTZe8kH3T2sLnPUS9-EIG7l8qCrfWogRmIQQULswCWf9yMo58ZdB68T_QCaVcCb1pt8lMhup-85tLz6m7WXRSDgBSrUmUhzibiN08Ele_u2QL0kiHVIxppOQ/s2311/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-10%20at%2011.28.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="2311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvAL0icl_xytgZsRH8_2_4piKo5lelpSQ1gpmVaD1cUibC2h24PeWrRVvzU45ubNhNDZTZe8kH3T2sLnPUS9-EIG7l8qCrfWogRmIQQULswCWf9yMo58ZdB68T_QCaVcCb1pt8lMhup-85tLz6m7WXRSDgBSrUmUhzibiN08Ele_u2QL0kiHVIxppOQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-10%20at%2011.28.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Daniel Craig drives Léa Seydoux in NO TIME TO DIE Year: 2021 Rating: *1/2<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Turns out, in a manner of speaking, after a failed attempt gave MGM the idea to remake CASINO ROYALE, Quentin Tarantino got his wish to make a James Bond flick since the pre-credit NO TIME TO DIE open has ingénue Léa Seydoux as a flashed-back little girl, witnessing a parent being murdered like the KILL BILL VOL.1 anime segment... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>By an assassin who dramatically chases her into the great wide-shot open INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS style (and later a young daughter's hidden away in a villa ala VOL. 2)... ironic since Christoph Waltz eventually returns as Blofeld, quickly... </p><p><span></span></p>

007, 2021, action, christoph waltz, daniel craig, drama, espionage, franchise, james bond, léa seydoux, spy, thriller

DANIEL CRAIG AND LÉA SEYDOUX BOND IN 'NO TIME TO DIE'

Daniel Craig drives Léa Seydoux in NO TIME TO DIE Year: 2021 Rating: *1/2 Turns out, in a manner of speaking, after a failed attempt gave MG...

RIAN JOHNSON DIRECTS THE ENSEMBLE MYSTERY 'KNIVES OUT'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lakeith Stanfield solo poster for KNIVES OUT Year: 2019</u></td></tr>
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Rian Johnson must be seething that he didn't make the singular Spanish "Help" a Black woman given that, a year after KNIVES OUT hit theaters, we'd have a pandemic (closing all theaters) followed by a political uprising of African Americans, making the whole "Undocumented Worker" issue — which owns 51% of the story-line here — as dated as the Sony Walkman, Legwarmers and Bellbottoms...<br>
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And Johnson <i>has</i> successfully resurrected the <i>Ensemble Cast Whodunnit</i>, featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson (no relation), Toni Collette and Michael Shannon. But in the past they'd be playing rich, white, crooked culprits who are also eclectic, darkly-humorous, interesting and intriguing enough to create an entire story around. But as noted in, ironically, another review involving Michael Shannon (THE SHAPE OF WATER): <i>Antagonists are no longer people who do bad things, but simply, bad people...</i><br>

2019, anna de armas, christopher plummer, daniel craig, don johnson, ensemble, jamie lee curtis, lakeith stanfield, michael shannon, mystery, new, politics, thriller

RIAN JOHNSON DIRECTS THE ENSEMBLE MYSTERY 'KNIVES OUT'

Lakeith Stanfield solo poster for KNIVES OUT Year: 2019 Rian Johnson must be seething that he didn't make the singular Spanish ...

CRAIG BOND FOUR: SPECTRE

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbS1myxhEjHX0ZE0K4y3p3b8Q2p8DfEXOuX_s54SB1dIKXLr13wQeIyFRB26lfcL2tHXz50tcs8q_xz1cDB6TY87ggZCbYPt71SuY3RH120VqNthU7hB3bgnoXCLgnJdgcTyhNSCvy-f7okfjgdk1ogGNZtK8kcCR6aimp9eDaApAAxLdOpyVUV4ZT4A/s2278/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-10%20at%2011.00.52%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="2278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbS1myxhEjHX0ZE0K4y3p3b8Q2p8DfEXOuX_s54SB1dIKXLr13wQeIyFRB26lfcL2tHXz50tcs8q_xz1cDB6TY87ggZCbYPt71SuY3RH120VqNthU7hB3bgnoXCLgnJdgcTyhNSCvy-f7okfjgdk1ogGNZtK8kcCR6aimp9eDaApAAxLdOpyVUV4ZT4A/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-10%20at%2011.00.52%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux director: Sam Mendes</u></td></tr></tbody></table>
The biggest promotion for SPECTRE, the fourth overall Daniel Craig James Bond film and the second collaboration with director Sam Mendes, was the casting of Quentin Tarantino stock exposition-spouting Christoph Waltz... Going back further, it was QT who wanted to remake Ian Fleming's first book, CASINO ROYALE, into a genuine, high-octane adaptation starring the last Bond actor now seeming long, long gone... For our "New Bond" Daniel Craig has really taken over at this point, and the older he gets, the smoother he glides from scene to scene, without having to continuously narrow his blue eyes, purse his lips, jut his muscular chest, and try making up for not being, you know, typical-pretty. By now he's an old, calloused leather shoe that really fits, and is still relatively young.<br>

daniel craig, franchise, léa seydoux, spy

CRAIG BOND FOUR: SPECTRE

year: 2015 cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux director: Sam Mendes The biggest promotion for SPECTRE, the fourth overall Dani...

CRAIG BOND THREE: SKYFALL

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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Never mind what the new Q says: a young hipster/hacker arming James Bond with only a gun and radio, telling the seasoned spy that the usual “exploding pens” are outdated. While this thinking person’s 007 has a lot of brooding substance and, directed by Sam Mendes, goes more for the brain than the jugular, there’s top-notch thrills liken to the good old days: Beginning with a high octane prologue which includes riding motorcycles on rooftops… and then facing an adversary on a train speeding through low tunnels... we lose Bond to a botched killshot not meant for him: His lifeless body plunges into the water and we’re left with Judi Dench’s M, about to be let go of her services.<br />
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When Bond returns from “death” (a vacation of drinking and sex) his boss isn’t surprised. But he has to get into shape quickly, which won’t be easy given his recent lifestyle. Daniel Craig, with the countenance of a determined badger and the usual pursed-lipped stone face, plays Bond more gently than usual, even showing his age on occasion: or else being reminded of it: Out to find a stolen list that could uncover the identities of fellow Secret Agents, he happens upon the main villain on a dilapidated island. Javier Bardem’s Silva is the kind of menace who loves hearing himself speak… Imagine a gossipy hairdresser mixed with a cold-blooded killer reciting Shakespeare… But being a disgruntled former agent, it’s M he’s really after.<br />
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The storyline fails to capture the nonstop espionage where every scene opens a new bag of tricks, leaving a very basic revenge plot stretched through an overlong two-and-a-half hours. Then again Bond himself – who, to protect M's life, returns to a rural childhood orphanage with a knife and gun – is back to the gritty basics: he alone makes SKYFALL work.

007, action, daniel craig, james bond

CRAIG BOND THREE: SKYFALL

year: 2012 cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench rating: ***1/2 Never mind what the new Q says: a young hipster/hacker arming Ja...

Written by James M. Tate / 12/30/2011 / 1 Comment / daniel craig , neo noir , remake , rooney mara , suspense , tens

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dAVjs8X7ECqi7jy-bToa1ubXwzoBksDudtMDZTLtVVgfYItF7ErXCOwkqOCEiZ8GQNLH8igXg3x1NMfy1f-bVvv09FISu2GmbTpeDkLfGeRQqC5H8wT5dwgzpU-8IPcMu_QAEoau9ZD3/s1600/rooney-mara-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-picture-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691990548356773730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dAVjs8X7ECqi7jy-bToa1ubXwzoBksDudtMDZTLtVVgfYItF7ErXCOwkqOCEiZ8GQNLH8igXg3x1NMfy1f-bVvv09FISu2GmbTpeDkLfGeRQqC5H8wT5dwgzpU-8IPcMu_QAEoau9ZD3/s320/rooney-mara-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-picture-1.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 231px; height: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2011<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating: </span>***<br /><br />The first half of this intense, cerebral thriller, based on a novel made into a popular foreign film, hands off between two stories: one has a maligned reporter investigating the death of a young girl forty years earlier on an island inhabited by a rich and powerful family; the other a punk rock hacker <span style="font-style: italic;">tough chick</span> dealing with a seedy government worker who doles out her allowance. The two leads, played by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, are in fact connected from the beginning: she was hired to get the digs on his prior investigation that landed him in hot water. Eventually the two join up to solve the murder, or rather, disappearance of the young girl... and the real work begins. Director David Fincher piles on the right amount of Neo-Noir intensity, and although a particular rape scene might be a bit much for mainstream viewers, it pays off later. And after the two leads join up to tackle Craig's case they make for a unique contradictory duo: the dapper reporter and the rogue punker with that particular tattoo yet her real importance is how she can hack into computers with ease. But when their partnership turns sexual it seems forced and tacked-on: Although Rooney makes a desirably subliminal ingenue and Craig has that quiet tough guy thing going, together they have the sexual chemistry of Tom and Jerry. Other downfalls include a predictable turnout – both the killer and the fate of the victim can be seen from a mile off. And the last twenty minutes involving Craig’s redemption as a journalist thanks to his wily partner… after the main story ends with a rather clichéd torture scene followed by a quickie road chase… feels like Fincher didn’t quite know how, or when, to end the film. But the tense, intriguing buildup is everything here: and with darkly foreboding scenery and soundtrack connected like an esthetically morbid Siamese twin, it’s a unique film that, whether you’re familiar with the story or not, <span style="font-style: italic;">will</span> mesmerize… if you let it.

daniel craig, neo noir, remake, rooney mara, suspense, tens

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

title: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO year: 2011 cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer rating: *** The first half of this in...

Written by James M. Tate / 12/11/2011 / No comments / action , adventure , andy serkis , computer animated , daniel craig , peter jackson , steven spielberg , tens

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>2011 <b>voices</b>: Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell <b>rating:</b> ***1/2</td></tr>
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Steven Spielberg’s computer animated adventure about a young boy Tintin, his little white dog Snowy, and an endearingly drunken Captain Haddock might be too much of a good thing – but it’s a good thing nonetheless.<br />
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The frantic action is non-stop: from the minute Tintin sees a model ship called THE UNICORN, he’s dead set on buying it. But a few seedy characters want it for themselves and the daring young investigative reporter needs to find out why – all having to do with the lineage of the underdog alcoholic Captain, held hostage at sea by the main antagonist: a greedy yet cunningly classy villain named Sakharine, much like Belloq from Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, which this movie tries hard to emulate by wielding a constant handing-off of perilous escapades.<br />
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The problem is we don’t get to know any of the characters enough (who'd be more interesting if they were actually human) to really care about them, or take part emotionally in their quest: which is too hackneyed to sustain genuine interest, although the dialog sets up each situation well enough and there are a few semi-witty moments by two keystone cops.<br />
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But the best scenes involve Haddock, voiced wonderfully by Andy Serkis, recalling his father’s pirate ship battles: the imagery of the tale surrounding the scene as he talks. And the rambunctious Snowy merely provides a peripheral mascot to the action, yet he’s a character worth loving for no other reason than being furry and cute.<br />
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As for Tintin, he’s got a heart for adventure but why exactly? Well perhaps it doesn’t matter… If you want two hours of nothing but thrills, this will do it for you. With the constantly moving camera gliding in, out, up and around like a ghost on pep pills, it feels more like producer Peter Jackson’s baby than Spielberg’s. But it’s the John Williams score, and the feeling of being young again, that gives the iconic director his signature throughout.

action, adventure, andy serkis, computer animated, daniel craig, peter jackson, steven spielberg, tens