Skyfall - Review

Skyfall
(2012 - November 9)
Action | Adventure | Crime
143 min

Rated: PG-13 

Language, intense violent sequences, smoking and some sexuality. Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+. Read More 

Grade: A-

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan (written by)
Ian Fleming (characters) uncredited
Stars: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris | See full cast and crew

In Skyfall, Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. -- (C) Official Site 

Skyfall is going to be a big hit. It has already earned in excess of $321 million in overseas markets even before its USA opening. It will be the highest grossing film of the Daniel Craig Bond films. In my opinion it among the best of the Bond films and I think Daniel Craig is the best of the Bonds.

Daniel Craig does a great job as Agent 007. This film doesn't rely on the tired cliche of many previous Bond films. James Bond is feeling his age and mortality as is M (Judi Dench), Eve (Naomi Harris) is a nice addition to the cast. This film is more believable than the outlandish stunts and special effects that made previous Bond films ludicrous if not silly. Some of the action is a little incredible but nothing like the preposterous stunts like riding a motorcycle off a cliff and the safely skydiving into a moving airplane, at least there is an inkling of possibility in even the most outlandish scenes in Skyfall.  Silva (Javier Bardem) is a credible nemesis matching Bond skill for skill and for good reasons but I will not give away the reason for that at this juncture.

There is very little sex of nudity in this film nothing graphic, nor is the film riddled with profanity. The violence is not excessively bloody or gratuitous, yet there is plenty of it. There are crashes, explosions, shootings and hand to hand combat and I think die hard Bond fans as well as those new to the genre (Is that even possible 50 years of Bond movies--I guess maybe some of the younger viewers may never have seen a Bond film.) should enjoy this film. Skyfall does the 50th anniversary for James Bond proud.

Spoiler Alert

Plot

(Via Wikipedia)

MI6 agents James Bond and Eve assist on a mission in Turkey to recover a computer hard drive stolen from a murdered MI6 agent that contains details of almost all undercover NATO agents in terrorist organisations. Bond and Eve chase the killer, mercenary Patrice, and attempt to recover the disk. During the chase, Bond is shot in the shoulder. While fighting Patrice, Bond is accidentally shot by Eve and is later considered "missing, presumed killed".




The head of MI6, M, comes under political pressure to retire during a meeting with the Intelligence and Security Committee Chairman, Gareth Mallory. On her return from the meeting, MI6 is hacked and an explosion occurs in the offices, killing eight MI6 employees. Bond, having used his supposed death to retire, learns of the attack and returns to London. Shrapnel taken from his earlier shoulder wound helps identify Patrice, and Bond tracks the mercenary to Shanghai.

Meanwhile, three NATO agents are killed after their identities areexposed, and further releases are threatened. After Patrice assassinates a target, he and Bond fight. Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn of his employer. Searching Patrice's equipment, Bond finds a gambling chip which leads him to a casino in Macau.

Sévérine, whom Bond saw earlier during the assassination, warns him that he is about to be killed, but promises to help him if he will kill her employer. Bond beats his attackers and joins Sévérine on her boat. They travel to an island, where they are taken prisoner by the crew and delivered to Sévérine's employer, Raoul Silva. A former MI6 agent working under M, Silva holds her responsible for his torture and imprisonment by the Chinese. Silva kills Sévérine, but Bond overpowers his guards and captures Silva for extraction to the UK.

Back at MI6's underground headquarters Q attempts to decrypt Silva's laptop, but inadvertently enables it to hack the MI6 systems, allowing Silva to escape into the tunnel system under London, including part of the London Underground as part of his plan. Pursued by Bond, Silva disguises himself as a policeman and attacks M during a public inquiry into her handling of the stolen hard drive. Bond arrives to join Mallory and Eve in beating off Silva's attack, and M is hurried from the building by her aide, Bill Tanner. Bond drives M away from the scene and takes her to his empty and remote childhood home in Scotland: Skyfall Lodge. He instructs Q to leave an electronic trail for Silva to follow, a decision supported by Mallory.


At Skyfall, Bond and M are met by Kincade, the gamekeeper to the Bond family estate. The trio are only lightly armed, but they improvise a series of booby traps. When Silva's men arrive, Bond, M and Kincade fight off the first assault, although M is wounded. Silva arrives by helicopter with a second wave, and Bond sends M and Kincade off through a secret tunnel at the back of a priest hole to a chapel on the grounds. The second assault uses firepower from the helicopter, and Silva throws incendiary grenades into the building. Bond detonates two gas canisters with a stick of dynamite and retreats down the same tunnel as M and Kincade.

The resulting blast causes the helicopter to crash, killing a number of Silva's men. Silva sees Kincade's torch beam, follows and arrives at a frozen lake ahead of Bond. Bond fights Silva's sole remaining follower, and the two fall through the ice, where Bond kills him. Silva meanwhile makes his way to the chapel and forces his gun into M's hand where he begs her to kill them both. Bond arrives and kills Silva, but M collapses from her earlier wound and dies. Her position as head of MI6 is taken by Mallory, while Eve—introducing herself as Eve Moneypenny—decides not to return to the field as an agent, but to work as M's secretary.

Cast

Daniel Craig              Judi Dench

James Bond                                    M      

                Javier Bardem        Bérénice Marlohe              

   Silva                                    Sévérine

  Naomie Harris          Ben Whishaw  

Eve                                             Q  

 Ralph Fiennes             Albert Finney

Gareth Mallory                          Kincade      

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Review

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
For the Elderly and Beautiful
is Most Excellent, Yes Absolutely, Most Assuredly So!

 
The Best

Exotic Marigold Hotel

PG-13

Some sexual dialogue

Run time: 2 hr. 3 min.
Drama, Comedy
Rating: A-
Director:

John Madden
Writer:

Deborah Moggach

Stars:

Maggie Smith

Judi Dench

Tom Wilkinson

Bill Nighy

Penelope Wilton

Ronald Pickup

Celia Imrie

Dev Patel 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of seven British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you let go of the past.

Haven't seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel yet? Well somebody has been going to see it. I'm sorry it took me so long to see it. Since the film opened on May 4, it continues to do well at the box office, even in light of  slew of big-budget blockbusters Men in Black 3, Battleship, The Avengers that have come along since then. Marigold’s popularity might be credited to John Madden, who also directed Shakespeare in Love, and to its 24-karat gold cast, including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy, all of them over 60. Bbased on the  Deborah Moggach novel, These Foolish Things, about a group of English oldsters who move to a retirement hotel in India. The movie’s reception is proof that there’s a market for movies out there about people who aren’t young and beautiful, just interesting—as are the characters in Marigold. Just ordinary people coping the with end-of-life transitions in a drastically foreign place. The potency of the perennially ill-served older audience has once again been demonstrated.

Imagine in the distant (or not so distant) future, you retire to a warm climate, enjoy a colorful land and best of all, affordable living in a retirement resort. The concept is sold to several retirees from Britain. Little do they know the advertised Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly and Beautiful is a run-down establishment of faded glory. The place is Jaipur, India. 

 Outsourcing old age, that’s the idea of  Hotel owner Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire) who has inherited the property from his late father. His mother is insistence that he close the failing hotel down and return with her to  Delhi and marry the girl of her choice, but Sonny is determined to make it on his own. He has already picked out his girl, and is positive about his plan to outsource retirement, and why not India has already become the successful home of outsourcing of so many other services.

Featurettes

 

Evelyn 

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You Tried Jiggling It A Bit

Norman Nods Off

The previews don’t do justice to the movie. When I first saw them, I wondered…why would such a top-notch cast of veteran British actors sign on to what seems to be a shallow and silly farce? However, after seeing the movie, my guess would be: they envisioned what fun it would be to make this, film and sensed the thematic relevance as well. So, why would I go see this film if I was so underwhelmed by the trailer? I just couldn’t resist the combined star power and my confidence that their judgment saw something I wasn't seeing--plus, I'd go see almost anything with Maggie Smith--and where can you see this many high caliber actors together on one big screen?

The guests are Evelyn (Judi Dench), dependent upon her husband all of her married life is now recently widowed. She decides to take charge of her life; Muriel (Maggie Smith), an acerbic  xenophobic racist who won’t eat anything she can’t pronounce (brought back memories of her stellar performance in Death On The Nile as Bette Davis' domestic servant), needs a hip replacement and the socialized National Health will put her on a 9 month to a year wait list for the surgery, her Indian surgeon suggest she can get the surgery cheaper and almost immediately in India; Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), are an incompatible couple who have stayed together out of habit and loyalty; Graham (Tom Wilkinson),  a judge following his heart returns to his former home to look for a long-lost friend; Madge (Celia Imrie), still single and still after retirement, looking for Mr. Right; and Norman (Ronald Pickup), a horny old goat who seemingly knows exactly what he wants.

The humor comes naturally and unforced, the dialogue is witty and refreshing, something that is not easily found in comedies out of Hollywood. This charming cast of veteran actors exude a sense of seriousness in their performances, authenticating their characters which makes their simple storylines convincing.

Oscar nominated director John Madden (Shakespeare In Love,1998) has done a fine job knitting together the on-screen chemistry of his cast. Their camaraderie as fellow travellers from the UK and as guests in the Marigold Hotel make the characters appealing and interesting. Each and every  storyline is intriguing right from the onset of the film, They draw you into each of their lives while they are still in England and you expectantly join them on their journey to India, open and ready to experience the unfolding of events.

 

Typical of all ‘exotic’ movies, there are cultural features that can easily lead to stereotyping and patronizing. Unexpectedly, these ‘typical’ portrayals are few and mostly restrained. The film was shot right in Udaipur, India. I saw Marigold Hotel with a 96 year old, I didn't expect too much of this film and was therefore very pleasantly surprised. We both enjoyed this film, it is simply delightful, one that you might not mind watching again.

Cast:

Tom Wilkinson
Graham Dashwood


Maggie Smith
Muriel Donnelly


Judi Dench
Evelyn Greenslade


Bill Nighy
Douglas Ainslie


Dev Patel
Sonny Kapoor

John Madden gives direction to Judi Dench.
Below, scenes form behind the camera.