The Amateur

We got movie sign!!

I'm back, new release new review. Pretty much what you see is what you get from the trailer of this movie, with a decryptor working for the CIA who's wife is killed in a hostage situation leading him to start developing new talents to hunt down her killers while evading every nation's governmental forces. I had no clue whatsoever this is in fact a remake of a 1981 film bearing the same name but I'm happy the direction this film goes probably does differentiate it from the original. 40 odd years of cinema upgrades notwithstanding the sheer crux of this being a revenge flick where the hero doesn't have the nerve to actually pull a trigger is fascinating and Rami Malek is very believable in the role, using his meticulous mind and scientific know-how to eliminate his targets is neat to watch even if it might lean a notch towards Jigsaw type deaths. But the motivation is strong, it does have drama to it when it comes to the relationship between this guy and his wife who was taken far too soon, and while it doesn't dwell on it long it dwells on it just long enough. In fact the entire pacing of the film is quick, clean, and direct like a bullet where we get the pertinent information and not much time is wasted on even side stories, this is a very streamlined film clocking in just at 2 hours with credits and does exactly what it sets out to do. I like the country hopping aspects which keeps it fresh and varied, the action is very limited but has weight to it and consequences, the score is quite nice, the acting is just right across the board, and it does make for an interesting sit. Even after the main conflict was over I was still a fair bit uneasy about the actual ending right before credits, cause well...I don't trust american government offices that much especially leaning towards the military/espionage branch. It's a good movie that's worth seeing either at the cinemas or at home, I give it 2.5 stars, 7.5/10! And if my calculations are correct, next week we reach one of my most anticipated films of the year.

Black Bag

Been itching for some espionage.

Will fully admit though the story looked interesting it was the combination of Michael and Cate in the story that got me to go see it. And also big time props for the movie not really doing a lot of hand holding as you're pushed into this plot of a married couple in an intelligence agency have to find a leak within their own organization who has intent to sell an albeit original doomsday weapon, which I actually greatly appreciate! The movie is told well enough and is concise enough (with a 90 minute runtime to boot) to where you can grasp the character dynamics and the stance each character has in the agency, and it's a mystery first and foremost which again I appreciate. We don't need extensive gunplay and explosions to make it interesting! Michael Fassbender is a pretty solid lead, I buy he's this vastly intelligent agent who has a knack for reading people with ease and while the movie is juggling six "main" characters he is the primary focus. Hell the relationship between him and Cate Blanchett is fascinating in and of itself, we rarely get stories with agents who know their spouse is an agent as well and Cate easily holds the edge and you know she's done legitimate field work and has little qualms ending a life. Then we have our suspect list of characters each unique and noteworthy. Naomie Harris as the office shrink with dirt on everybody lends a wild card element to her and plus it's Naomie, she's grand! Tom Burke as this loose and fast agent with a penchant for swearing and banging is certainly a new type for this genre of film and no doubt is more for the sparse comedic relief. Reģe-Jean Page who I don't think I've seen since our Paladin companion in Dungeons & Dragons, is your more typical suave agent but still gets to put his own spin on it. And last but not least Marisa Abela who is the more tech based agent who has a fascinating attraction to our man Michael, which I don't know why but it gave her a lot of personality and humor. Also shout out to Pierce Brosnan, though in a minor part I'm still happy to always see him, and to get him in a spy movie even if he takes on a more overarching leader role is great stuff to a certain generation of Bond fans. Production wise it's standard but good nevertheless with really nice lighting, good set design, and frankly the soundtrack was working for me for reasons I can't even explain myself! I kinda figured it would be decent but I walked out happier than I thought and I don't mind saying it's worth a shot seeing in theaters. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10!

In Retrospect: No Time To Die

Here we go.

We get to have a chat now folks. I'll try to be concise but this is most likely gonna be one of those long reviews, covering almost everything from opening shot to end credits, so shall we begin. Excellent gunbarrel sequence despite the lack of blood, second only to Casino Royale in my opinion for the Craig era. Opening sequence dips it's toes in some horror and really that whole scene is directed so wonderfully and easily ramps the tension high with Safin quite brutally and yet mostly unseen killing Madeleine's mom, it's just muy bien. I will level with you, after that scene and we meet up with James and Madeleine when he says "We have all the time in the world." and those opening chords of that song started playing all I could think was, f*** she's gonna die. She's gonna die! She's gonna get shot in the head or poisoned or some shit, oh God! I know Bond films don't really rip each other off, even in the case of Moonraker being a more space orientated, science fact, remake of The Spy Who Loved Me it doesn't tread the same waters. But that genuinely was my first impression. Bond visiting Vesper's grave really hit for me, when he tries to find the words and says I miss you, I was friggin' getting teary eyed man. I mean who knew least of all Eva Green, how big and impactful this character would be 4 movies after Casino Royale. The car action with the DB5 is awesome, best car action since Die Another Day. Yes, I said that. Also best use of the DB5 since Goldfinger, well done writers. Now for the opening titles. I don't follow modern music, I have never heard a Billie Eilish song in my life before this and it is definitely one of the more moody, downbeat, kinda depressing Bond songs. But not really in a bad way, it works real good for this movie and the animations presented are maybe my favorite of the Criag era. We're gonna come back to the story but I wanted to give the cast some love real quick. Daniel, best performance of his movies in this series hands down. All our returning MI6 personnel, good as always and it's nice to see Tanner again. I still don't fully buy the whole big love story of Bond and Madeleine but Lea Seydoux has a lot more to do in this movie and therefore gives a much better performance. Rami Malek is such a great villain in the more, quiet, soft spoken, yet still utterly insane and threatning way. As a man who loves Javier Bardem a good fair bit, and still says Rami is more my favorite goes to show how well he did this role. Lashana Lynch as Nomi, I didn't necessarily hate though I did love that total f*** you jab to all the people who were like, let's make James Bond a woman. Well there you go, a lady 007 and it's canon, so toddle along and play with your crusades elsewhere. Fine actor, really felt the character however was not so much in a playful workplace banter sort of relationship and honestly hand over my heart, felt kinda man hating. I really don't like even thinking that, it's such a stupid pile of motherf***ing bullf*** to hate or discredit people based on gender period, but man it just seemed she despised everything about James and constantly wanted to be the best. I did not get the Ana de Armas love, I saw her in Blade Runner 2049 and really really liked her in that and her character Joi was super lovely, I saw her in Knives Out and was behind her character all the way and thought she was a total wee sweetie pie, but citizens of the world I do declare....I get it now after seeing her in No Time To Die. I love everything about her, her skills, her humor, her personality, the dress, mother of God have mercy on me I was crushing quick and hard folks. Christoph Waltz comes back one last time and while not having much to do, did good work and on second rewatch I like his final scene more. Plus I'm just a sucker for when the producers take bits of Fleming's works and injects them into the story, so the whole 'die Blofeld die' thing I liked. Back to the story with my man, my loved and appreciated man, Jeffrey Wright back as Felix and it hurt to see him die. It really should have occured to me sooner how this all was gonna end with just how many people, big characters bite the dust in this movie. First Felix that hit like a sack of bricks, then Blofeld which really floored me that they had the balls to do that. So the whole Cuba sequence is super well done and I love it, onwards to the Swann household. I did actually catch Madeliene placing her hand on her stomach during the pre-titles sequence, and I was thinking are we really doing this? Yes, yes we are. James Bond has a daughter in this movie, I don't truly hate that and again it's showing the producers and writers really pushing the envelope for this series. The shootout in the foggy woods is beautifully shot with such good cinematography and delivers another super cold kill by Bond reminding me of Dalton and even Moore in For Your Eyes Only. Now for the finale, 10/10 best villain base since like Moonraker for me personally, I know it owes so so much to Dr. No and the work Ken Adam had in the concepts of all those big villain lairs, but this is a whole other level and is designed to perfection. Both encounters Bond has with Safin are very well written and do such a good job showing how out there he really is, and once again a pretty brutal cold kill for Bond. Okay. This I'm sure is what everyone wants to know what I think. James Bond dies. That's a pretty big deal, and when it happened in the cinema my reaction was exactly, "Are you kidding me? R-really??" because all I felt was shock and disbelief. Obviously I knew this was Daniel's last hurrah and considering how tightly knit the story and continuity was I really had no idea how the movie could have ended. I also know Ian Fleming basically for a time did kill James Bond in the books, he was posioned and was dying on the last page of From Russia With Love and like Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes brought the character back for more stories. So I know technically this has happened before, kinda sorta, but to see James be obliterated by missiles and have some down time to see the emotional fallout of that has impact. And I have no idea who said this but it is so undoubtfully true but they said, people are going to remember this is the film that killed James Bond and not the film where he was given a family, and that hits hard man. I mean hearing the whole song of We Have All The Time In The World in particular the orchestral score right before end credits really made the tears fall, it hinges a bit on viewers who have seen On Her Majesty's Secret Service which is like top 5 Bond films for me for that song to mean something. But obviously it worked on me effortlessly, and yes both those movies share a very depressing ending which I will let the readers decide which is sadder. James cradling his dead wife from a drive by shooting remarking we have all the time in the world, or James telling Madeliene you have all the time in the world and knows his daughter has his eyes before being incinerated. I can't truly fathom the audience reaction seeing Majesty's in the cinema, and I could tell a lot of people in my theater didn't really know how to take it. I've heard stories of audience members hearing people say well I guess there aren't going to be more Bond movies, but I bring good news. At the very very very end of the credits we still have it, James Bond will return, thank Christ. But where do we go now? I hate to see our MI6 cast be dropped but...I mean, what can you do? If I was speaking my mind, and I always do, I'd give it 5 years before the next James Bond movie even starts production. I do appreciate, enjoy, and understand the movie better than the first time so I do bump my grade up to 4 stars, 8.5/10. I know this is a tricky movie for folks to get their definite views on and rightfully so but the stuff I genuinely love is in abundance and even with something that would never ever be so casually thrown into a script, people take a lot of consideration when doing stuff like that. You don't kill James Bond, or Luke Skywalker, or Superman on a whim unless you damn well have good reason for it. I don't like seeing it, but that doesn't mean I hate it from a storytelling aspect. There is a difference and people need to make that distinction. If you're still with me thank you so much for joining me, and tomorrow we dig into another possible lengthy discussion with Halloween Kills.

The 355

Alright, I'm back and I wish it was on grander circumstances.

Sort of breaking the rules this year reviewing a movie not on opening day but I think the game is changing this year for reviews. I really thought nothing of The 355 before seeing it, it looked like harmless action movie fluff and I can appreciate that, but it just was a bunch of average. Credit where credit is due the cast commits to this, all our leading ladies do decent work with the action and bits of espionage, even the big moments of emotion work well! It's a bit of a no brainer plot that essentially boils down to, this device could start World War 3, agents from all around the world join to retrieve it, bang bang you're dead, we won, okay bye. However. The movie has moments, it has little glimmers and shinies, that make it a bit better than average. I like how all our agents aren't besties off the bat, they fight each other and get in the way of the other's mission before they all join in, which I am also pleased to say happens early on so you don't have to wait until the end or even the halfway point it seemed. Each operative has little touches of backstory, some stated and some not, and while they are not full three dimensional characters it all works. I like how the movie actually took me for a twist or two and did stuff I fully was not thinking it would do, I will give props to it for that. The action is....average without bashing it too hard, I blame more the editing than the actual choreography why it didn't work so good for me, you get a decent amount and each is different from the last. The location shoots are nice, again adding variety here and there and it does give some nice visuals. Nothing really popped out at me though besides the cast who even still, kinda deserved a better written story to work with. Action movies are very difficult to do and to add some variety and spice to a very tired, very easily halfassed genre. You're gonna forget this movie in about 3 days and I repeat, I did not expect anything from it if anything I was hoping in the back of my head it would throw me for a loop and have a kind of cult action hit vibe to it. I really didn't want to hate it and I suppose I don't, it's just so middle of the road nothing. A lot of people gave shit to The Protege and said it was very much in the same vein of action movie as this, I strongly disagree, you should go rent that movie it is better than you think, you can easily skip this one. 2 stars, 5.5/10, and because I have nothing else to do The King's Man is coming up next time.

In Retrospect: Atomic Blonde

You know it takes a lot for a spy thriller to keep holding your attention once you know how it all ends, but thankfully this movie does it well.

Yes, Atomic Blonde is still a fantastic movie that I would gladly buy and own for the rest of my life. Charlize Theron carries the whole movie, and she does a phenomenal job. Honestly if they announced her as the next 007, I really wouldn't mind that much! She gets the ever living hell beat out of her and she still comes into combat with all piss and vinegar, nobody and I will stand by this, has ever been beat down as much as her and yet she still fights back and wins. Pick any movie. Any protagonist. They don't even get a scratch on them compared to her. Jesus God almighty Charlize is the queen! The action is done so incredibly well utilizing slick and quick editing, while still giving the audience a wide view of the action so you can appreciate the choreography and brutal fighting displayed. The espionage element is still very good, with alliances, betrayal, and twists to keep it interesting. And of course, Sofia Boutella. Ohhhh my yes. Movie's perfect! It's perfect! Buy it, that is all. But in all seriousness, she is the cherry on top of this awesome movie. Just every aspect of it is so well executed. Story is very good, characters are interesting, action is exhilarating, the mystery is intriguing, the soundtrack is kick ass, it's just a really good movie! I was so happy to see it again, because I knew I was in for a blast and I highly enjoyed it as I did the first time. Although mind you, it wasn't an easy movie to watch with my mom. Cause she wanted to see the movie, and when it got a little...ahem, steamy, oh dear. Cause you remember how I described those scenes, and it really has not changed in terms of uncomfortableness, like I still feel like I am watching full on hardcore adult movie. Just....God. Beyond that though, very good movie! I might die tomorrow from massive consumption of food, but at least I will die happy and fed. So I'm okay with that. And if I live, I get to run around and breathe in the chaos of Black Friday, so it's win-win. And next week we will have lots to talk about...

Kingsman: The Secret Service

This was a blast! You want a different sort of spy movie? Look no further.

Kingsman is a great, fun, and very entertaining spy movie that revels in the absurdity and all things awesome that we have come to know and love in the spy genre from the 60s and 70s. Our main hero Eggsy had a father who worked with a completely top secret institute known as Kingsman, he dies on a mission and about 10 years later Eggsy comes in contact with his father's partner Galahad who takes him under his wing and trains him to fight Samuel L. Jackson from killing the world with Suicide Squad bombs implanted in people's heads. Sounds ridiculous? Well, there's a reason. I love the fact that this movie totally says it's a spy movie, unashamedly having fun with the classic James Bond archetypes of megalomaniacal villains, bizzare assassins, ridiculously awesome gadgets, and always cool looking secret agents. I expected a decent movie and I got a really good one! There's many good things to say about it and very little bad things, so I'll keep it short and sweet. First off, bitching cast right off the bat. In one instance we have Mark Hamill, Sam Jackson, and Sofia Boutella in a scene together. Need I say more? All actors are outstanding across the board, the action is absolutely insane in terms of choreography and really creates a spectacle that I haven't felt in a movie in ages. And that's a great word to describe this movie, a spectacle! A spectacle of action, humor, and espionage blended perfectly and poured in a martini glass. This is a movie that deserves the praise and the viewings from people all over the world, and more than worthy enough to buy. So now, I'm stoked for the sequel like mad! I expect it to be a good sequel, with a lot of fun in it, so I will see you there and remember that manners maketh man.