There are certain characters in the history of cinema that transcend time and are so iconic they carry their weight for years. James Bond is definitely one of those characters no matter who plays him and that is why I chose Spectre for today’s film. Daniel Craig (Skyfall) once again reprises the role of James Bond in this film as he investigates a new, but familiar threat. The 00 program’s existence is being threatened by the potential merger of all the world’s security/spy programs coming together thanks to MI6, but M (Ralph Fiennes) will try his best to stop it. Something about it just doesn’t add up thanks to a message from someone familiar to James and he is on the case. The closer he gets to the truth the more deceit their is to all of it and this organization known as Spectre. The film also stars Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) as Blofeld, Léa Seydoux (The Grand Budapest Hotel) as Madeleine, Monica Bellucci (Passion Of The Christ) as Lucia, Benjamin Whishaw (Cloud Atlas) as Q, Naomie Harris (28 Days Later…) as Moneypenny, Dave Bautista (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Hinx, Andrew Scott (Saving Private Ryan) as C, Rory Kinnear (The Imitation Game) as Tanner, and the film was directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty).
First, I wanted to take the time to list all the things that I didn’t like about the film and one big one is the theme song. While I don’t think Writing’s On The Wall by Sam Smith is complete crap, I don’t think that it was a great follow up to Adele’s Skyfall theme. There are so many Bond themes that are better than this one even though it was the only element of the film that won an Oscar. There are three elements that are important to every James Bond film and those are theme song, Villain, and Bond girls and I have already discussed one. Some people may have been pissed that Dave Bautista had literally one line in the whole film, but I think that added to his benefit. You knew he was a bad ass thug with weird thumbs, but he didn’t have to speak to be the henchman. Christoph Waltz is a brilliant actor, but I struggled to find the brilliance in this film. I don’t blame him for that, but rather the writing. The Bond Girls were OK in my opinion, but strange how an almost life/death experience would drive one to want to make love. This wasn’t the best Bond film, but it wasn’t the worst either. I struggled to write what the plot of the film was in the above paragraph because there wasn’t really a plot. There was just action with a lot of nothingness in between all of it. If this was Daniel Craig’s last film then so be it. I think it’s time for some new blood in the role of James Bond anyways. I definitely appreciate all that Daniel Craig did for the Bond series, he was definitely a breath of fresh air at one point for the series. I am going to give Spectre an B- for a final grade.
Back in the 1990’s, it seemed that a lot of films were coming out that explored the darkness of the drug scene with some of them being very hard to watch. Trainspotting is one of those films that gained a lot of critical acclaim and that is why I chose to watch it for today. The film stars Ewan McGregor (Velvet Goldmine) as Renton, a guy who has a little bit of a problem in good ole Edinburgh, Scotland. You see Renton is mixed up in the heroin scene of Edinburgh and no matter how hard he tries to get out of it, it seems that either his friends or the allure of the drugs sucks him right back in. He’ll have to clean up quick before the scene eats him up alive. The film also stars Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers) as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd (Dog Soldiers) as Tommy, Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later) as Begbie, Peter Mullan (Braveheart) as Swanney, Ewen Bremner (Snatch) as Spud, Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) as Diane, James Cosmo (Braveheart) as Mr. Renton, Eileen Nicholas (The Quiet Ones) as Mrs. Renton, and the film was directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later).
This is a very hard film to watch at times and so I am going to warn you that if you can’t stomach this kind of stuff then turn away. Every single person that I have talked to about this film has said the same exact thing to me and that is the dead baby scene is just way too messed up and I don’t get the point of it. I can take most things in life like zombie babies, but that was just way too much for me to handle. The film may have bee prevalent at that time, but I think it is still prevalent to today. There was a big issue back then with heroin and HIV and so I feel the film was raising awareness to the issue and how tough of a habit is to quit. Now you look at today’s generation and it’s a problem again. I love British cinema because it so over the top and I love the language. Ewan McGregor is absolutely fantastic in the film and I love what they did with make up as well. They make him look very sick during the film to sort of normal which was fantastic as they emphasized the drug habit. You can see Danny Boyle’s style of filmmaking shine through as there is similarities in this film with other works as far as cinematography is concerned. Like I said before, there is a lot of imagery in this film that you may not agree with or want to watch so I tell you to proceed with caution when watching it. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 