DVD review: Skyfall
James Bond’s 50th anniversary film was a phenomenal hit in the cinema, even by 007 standards – and fair enough.
February 17, 2013
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James Bond’s 50th anniversary film was a phenomenal hit in the cinema, even by 007 standards – and fair enough.
After a first hour every bit as dreary as Quantum of Solace, this wildly successful slice of Bond (above) is rescued by Ben Whishaw’s amiable Q and by a bonkers turn (Brando in The Missouri Breaks springs to mind) from Javier Bardem as the vengeful former 00-agent hell-bent on offing M (Judi Dench).
“You’re an activist not a supplicant,†maintains Alessandro Nivola’s sleazy intellectual, Roland, to his idealistic teen daughter, Ginger (Elle Fanning, convincing), in Sally Potter’s disjointed but good-looking portrait of teenage hormones and family dysfunction in early 1960s London.
It’s bad enough that the lifts don’t work, but now an unknown sniper is picking off the occupants of a bleak tower block.
While the Ice Age series drifts on with ever-diminishing returns, the Madagascar films get better.
Liam Neeson slums it again as the tightly wound Bryan, a former CIA operative who ends up in another bone-crunching pickle.
“You should learn to participate,†maintains Paul Rudd’s English teacher to timid high-school freshman Charlie (Logan Lerman).
Quvenzhané Wallis is astonishing as six-year-old Hushpuppy, who lives with her often absent father (“Daddy could have changed into a tree or a bug, there wasn’t no way to knowâ€) in the poverty-stricken “Bathtub†area on the Louisiana Bayou.
Charlie Kaufman and Woody Allen are clear influences for this tale of an uptight, blocked novelist (Paul Dano), who after having vivid dreams about his ideal woman, Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), sees his fantasy creation become flesh in his opulent LA pad.
Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has released the official details on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Blu-ray/ DVD.