There was a time in the world when I looked forward to seeing a film that starred Renée Zellweger, but that was a long time ago. It has been six years since we had seen anything with Renée and she returns with today’s film Bridget Jones’s Baby which is the third film in the series. In this film, Bridget (Zellweger) is all alone on her 43RD birthday because one of her former loves is dead and the other (Colin Firth) is marrried. After the advice of a friend, she goes away to a music festival where she has a one night stand with a internet dating sight mogul (Patrick Dempsey). Once she is home from that, she ends up having an affair with one of her former loves (Firth). The next thing you know she is pregnant and she doesn’t know who the father is. Will she find out and what does she tell the both of them? The film also stars Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary) as Mum, Jim Broadbent (Cloud Atlas) as Dad, Sarah Solemani (Hector) as Miranda, Sally Phillips (Mean Machine) as Shazzer, Julian Rhind-Tutt (Rush) as Fergus, Joanna Scanlan (Stardust) as Cathy, Kate O’Flynn (The Palace) as Alice, Emma Thompson (Love Actually) as Dr. Rawlings, and the film was directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary).
I thought I had promised myself that I was never going to see a film that was a sequel without seeing the films before it. Apparently that doesn’t matter with the people you care about, but it definitely would have helped so that I could understand the dynamics. I couldn’t help, but notice how bad I thought Renée Zellweger looked in the film because she used to be super cute until she had the work done. One of the reasons I became attracted to wanting to see this film was simply for the fact that Patrick Dempsey who was one of my favorite actors from the 80’s was starring in the film. I am being totally honest in making that statement because it’s absolutely true. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have cared about that. The film had some really funny moments to it that even had me laughing despite the fact that this is a total chick flick. Patrick Dempsey was well Patrick Dempsey in where he was charming on screen while Colin Firth’s character was robotic, but that is actually how his character is apparently. Seeing Renée in this film reminded me of exactly what it was we loved from her, but I have noticed that she always looks ready to cry. If you are a fan of the previous films, then I suggest that you check it out. If you are not a fan of chick flicks then do not check this out. I kind of enjoyed it, but the film didn’t really end the way I wanted it to. Nonetheless, I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.
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.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 