Recommendations: November 30

To be honest, there really isn't anything coming out this week that I'm all that interested in seeing, and thus recommending to you.  There's a lot already out, however, so if you haven't seen them yet, check out any one of this week's box office top ten: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Skyfall, Lincoln, Rise of the Guardians, Life of Pi, Wreck-It Ralph, Red Dawn, Flight, Silver Linings Playbook, or Argo.  Some of these I've already checked out, others I haven't seen yet, but I believe I have recommended them all.

Men in Black 3 - The latest installment in this alien movie franchise, MIB3 deals with time travel and really surprised me.  It's a lot better than I was expecting it to be, and if you haven't checked it out yet and want something easy to watch I'd say check it out now.

ParaNorman - I didn't recommend this the first time round, because the commercials annoyed me and I decided that I didn't want to see it.  Still a bit on the fence about it, but I've been told that it's really good.

Sparkle - There was one good thing about this movie, the music.  That was always the best part about a Whitney Houston movie, so I guess it's fitting that her last film should be no exception.  I just kind of wish that the rest of it had been better.

Lawless - This one actually made Sparkle look good, so there's that.  There's a few good action sequences too.  Check it out if you want a mindless action flick, although it's not too actiony.  I think the big problem here was an over use of Shia LaBeouf and an under use of Gary Oldman.  Never under use Gary Oldman.

Step Up Revolution - This movie was awesome! I loved it! Okay, so the plot is lame and ridiculous, but the dancing is great and why else would you go to a Step Up movie?

The Colour of Magic - This past week author Terry Pratchett won an Emmy for his documentary program "Choosing to Die," so I figured I'd celebrate by recommending Prachett's first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic.  This novel introduces us to the Discworld and the characters of Rincewind, Twoflower, and The Luggage - Luggage being my favourite of the Discworld characters.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Rachelle Lefèvre, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone

Director: Chris Weitz

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Rating: D

Remember how I didn't like Twilight?  Somehow, the followup to it, The Twilight Saga: New Moon (because evidently the viewing public is incapable of determining that something is a sequel to another movie unless there's words that are the same) succeeds in making Twilight look good.

The run down: Edward (Pattinson) and Bella (Stewart) are living happily ever after, minus the whole her whining about being human and him refusing to turn her into a vampire because, really, why would you take the advice of the guy who tried to kill you in the last movie? Bella is particularly whiney about the issue because she's turning eighteen, which is one year older than her eternal lover, except not really.  At a party for her at his family's house, however, her mortality becomes all too aparent when she gets a papercut, causing a blood frenzy, that is only made worse when Edward throws her into a wall.  So Edward decides to break up with her and leave, taking his entire family with him and putting Bella into a depression that lasts forever.  Then she reconnects with Jacob (Lautner) and begins to seek out danger and adventure - all in a way to get glimpses of the Edward inside her head.  Something's wrong with Jacob and his tribe however, and it's only a matter of time before Bella comes out of her depression long enough to figure it out.  Also featured are the Volturi, the rulers of the vampire world, each of whom has great power.  Their leader is Aro (Sheen), and he is joined by Marcus (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower).  Their guards include Jane (Fanning) and her brother Alec (Cameron Bright).  Oh, and Victoria (Lefèvre) is back for revenge.

I hate the premise of this movie.  I realize that instantly makes me biased, but I hate it.  I hate that Bella is all whiny about being made into a vampire - honestly, I think I prefer vampire/human romances where the human doesn't want to be a vampire, or at least thinks about the consequences of becoming one a bit more, and isn't just all "I don't want to look older than you".  I hate that no one seems to want to point out the fact that it was James (Cam Gigandet) who gave her this idea in the first place.  Since when is taking advice from the bad guy a good idea?  I actually kind of liked that Jasper (Rathbone) goes into a blood frenzy when Bella gets a papercut as it makes sense in this world - it's kind of lame overall, but I like it - although I do question Edward's protectiveness.  Seriously, throwing her into a bookshelf is not going to help the situation.  Don't want your human girlfriend to be eaten by your vampire family? Don't throw her into a bookshelf.

What I hate most of all, however, is Bella's reaction to the breakup.  She literally goes into a depression for months on end following Edward leaving her.  I get the whole post-relationship depression, but she takes it to an extreme.  Granted, she had already basically given up her life for Edward before hand, so she didn't really have one to cling on to after he was gone... Yeah. Did not like it.  I also don't like Edward's behaviour overall.  First of all, he really seems to encourage her in her complete abandonment of her friends - something that becomes more pronounced as the series continues and the issues with Jacob become more pronounced.   I'm not saying that I disagree with Edward's feelings towards Jacob, I'm saying I don't like Edward's treatment of Bella's other friends, or Bella's treatment of them either.  As for Jacob... fuck, Jacob needs to grow up.  I get that he's a kid, and the youngest of the characters too, but his feelings and what not get annoying really fast.  There is a point when your attempts to hit on your best friend turn from heavy flirting to sexual harassment.  Remember boys, if she says "no" she's not meaning "try harder."

Note: No Review

Just to let you know, there'll be no review today (and by extension, no new movie review this week).  Sorry, but homework has to come first.

Zardoz (1974)

Starring: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman

Director: John Boorman

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Rating: D

"The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth ... and kill!"

Thus begins the classic cult film Zardoz.  In the year 2293 the Earth is inhabited primarily by a people called the Brutals, who are ruled without realizing it by the Eternals.  As the names might suggest, the Brutals live a life of brutality while the Eternals lived a life of ease - a life that lasted forever.  The Brutals, however, don't actually know about the Eternals.  Instead, they are more directly ruled over by a class known as the Exterminators, who worship the god Zardoz.  Zardoz appears to them in the form of a giant flying, hollow stone head, where the Exterminators deposit grain in exchange for guns.Enter the Exterminator Zed (Connery) hides in the head of Zardoz, where he's brought to the Vortex - the community of the Eternals that is protected from the Brutals by an invisible force-field.  Here Zed meets two Eternals, Consuella (Rampling) and May (Kestelman), and begins to figure out this new world around him.

And the entire time, Sean Connery looks like this.  Except for when he's wearing a wedding dress.  I kid you not.  That bit is possibly the best moment of the entire film, Sean Connery running around the Vortex in a wedding dress.  The other costumes are rather quesitonable too... and when it comes down to it, all I can do is hope that I'm not alive to see the future inspired by 70s fashion.

The plot for this movie is laughable at best.   I spent most of it wondering just what the hell was going on, and even when I had it figured out I still wasn't sure.  The plot overall was a lot like the costume; it's weird, it's confusing, it's disturbing and distressing, and yet for some reason you can't seem to look away.  It's not really good... but I'm not too sure if it's really bad either.  Disturbing.  That's the word I'm going to go with.

Voyager

Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Historical, Romance, Sci-Fi
Rating: B-

The third novel in Diana Gabaldon's critically acclaimed Outlander series, I have to say that I think that Voyager is probably the weakest, at least in so far as her novels go.  While there is a story here a lot of it seems to be more about a justification of her desire to reunite protagonists Jamie and Claire and move them, once again, towards the action.  While I appreciate the sentiment and I do largely agree with the desire to reunite our time traveller with her soul mate, there is still a big part of me that can't help but feel as though more so than most of Gabaldon's books, Voyager really fails to stand out on its own and really serves instead as a bridge covering the cap between two separate parts of the series.

Voyager picks up where its predecessor, Dragonfly in Amber, left off, with Claire facing the revelation that Jamie is not dead, as she had long believed, but rather very much alive - or at least, would be, 200 years in the past.  Time travel inherently makes understanding things like that more complicated.  Claire sets out on a journey to reunited with her man, while the daughter that she is leaving behind, Brianna, comes to terms with the knowledge that the man she thought was her father wasn't, and that she's now about to lose the only parent that she has left.  Meanwhile, Roger Wakefield is faced with the very pressing desire to be a big part of Brianna's life.

I already said this, but I think it bares repeating.  This book is a bridge between two connected but rather separate stories; Outlander and Dragonfly are about Scotland and the Rising, while the later novels are about America and the revolution.  This book serves to connect the two and to establish the younger generation.  While Jamie and Claire continue to play important roles in these books, in a manner of speaking they also become more and more about Brianna, Roger, Young Ian, and other characters more their age.  I understand that, and I really respect that, although I do think that in later books the series becomes a bit bogged down by both the characters and the number of different plots going on.  Gabaldon is a great writer, but sometimes it becomes a bit much and at points it begins to lose the charm of Outlander.

The other problem with Voyager is that in being a bridge book the plot is somewhat lacking.  There's a lot of set up here for a major future plot device, and likewise there's a lot of conclusion here for some of the hanging threads of previous devices.  In as much as the characters might at times bog down later books, one of the things that I love about Gabaldon in general is the plethora of really deep and unique characters.  Voyager doesn't lack in them at all, but for much of the time it almost seems like they're there not so much to introduce or partake in any plot, but to simply exist.  In a way this works, but in a way it doesn't.  The way that it really doesn't work, at least for me, is the fact that there is almost no continuity in these characters - the bulk of them were never introduced before Voyager and do not appear again afterwards.  This is really hugely disappointing, just because I like to see the ways in which these characters appear to have developed off screen.  This idea continues as well; a lot of the characters introduced in Outlander and Dragonfly no longer appear to exist in Voyager.  While it's understandable that Claire has been gone (and presumed dead) for some twenty years, there's still a part of me that wants to see her seek out some of her old companions.  She might not wonder what happened to them, but I do.

Week in Review: November 19 - 24

Notes - No birthdays this week, however we did mark the death of actor Larry Hagman, best known for his roles in both editions of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie.

Movies - New movie of the week was Wreck-It Ralph, which I loved, while old movies were Twilight and Under the Tuscan Sun, both of which... okay, so I think Tuscan is a great chick flick even though it isn't all that great, and I have very mixed feelings about the Twilight series in general.

Books - Continuing the Harry Potter franchise, this week's book was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  The fourth in the series it's also one of the longest, and one of the best despite some major logical choices made by the characters.

TV - TV show of the week was the third season of Face Off, a review I meant to post a few weeks ago but didn't due to technical difficulties and the season finales of other shows.  I really liked this season and am looking forward to season four.

Recommendations - This week's recommendations include the remake of Red Dawn, new Christmas movie Rise of the Guardians, book-to-movie Life of Pi, and biography Hitchcock.  I want to see all of these.

Next Week - Up next week is the 1974 cult flick Zardoz, which I really think no one should ever watch.  Continuing that theme we also have The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as we're embarking on a bit of a Twilight marathon leading up to my review of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.  Are you looking forward to it? I'm not sure if I am.  New movie of the week will be Rise of the Guardians.

Requests -Any requests? Let me know!

Face Off (Season 3)

Starring: McKenzie Westmore, Ve Neill, Glenn Hetrick, Neville Page, Patrick Tatopoulos

Genre: Reality, Competition

Rating: B

Face Off is a Project Runway-esque show on the SyFy channel about special effects makeup artists.  Each week contestants are given a challenge to create something original - covering everything from a character that could belong in the universe of Star Wars to video game characters to zombies based on Alice's Wonderland.  Some of the things that they create are absolutely awesome, some of the things that they create are absolutely horrid.  At the end of each episode, one person is sent home, and at the end of the season one person wins it all.

Know what my favourite part about this season of Face Off was?  The almost complete lack of inter-contestant drama.  I really hate competition shows that are based on what a contestant can produce and yet still spend half the show focused on the contestants bickering with each other or badmouthing the creations of other contestants.  More so than in just about any other competition based reality show, this season of Face Off was just about the actual work being created.  Sure there was a little bit of drama in the first episode and a bit in the last two, and there was definitely some poor crafting, but for the most part the contestants at least pretended to get along.  Heck, they even helped each other out, which is something you almost never seem to see in these shows.

The second thing that I really liked about this season was the sheer skill of the competitors and the fact that almost everyone seemed to go home right when they deserved it.  There was one elimination where I didn't agree with who went home, not because I thought that they hadn't done poorly but because I thought that someone else had done worse.  Early on I picked a favourite, and by midway through I picked a second, then a third, and when my first favourite was eliminated I was actually happy - not because I didn't still love that person's work or because I wanted someone else to win more, but because based on that challenge I really thought that my favourite was the person who deserved to go home the most.

The only thing I didn't like about this season was the fact that the final winner was determined not by the judges but by an audience vote in.  I don't really agree with audience vote ins for a few reasons.  In Survivor-esque shows, I think there's a lot that goes into the editing of the final show that can manipulate the way the cast is portrayed and, as such, the way that the public is going to vote.  The same thing can happen in shows like Face Off or Project Runway where the editing portrays the contestants in a certain way.  Furthermore, in a show like Face Off or So You Think You Can Dance a huge part of the competition is based on some skill that the viewing audience isn't all that likely to be an expertise in.  I can vote for something I liked to see or watch, but when you look at things closer or from a more technical standpoint I have no clue.  The judges, however, do.  There are a lot of dancers in SYTCD who appear to progress simply because they're fan favourites, but it's people like the judges who will give them a job.  It's the same thing with Face Off - the fans aren't the ones who know the technical stuff, nor do we get to really see things close up, but the judges do.  I'd rather see them pick a winner than America pick one.

A Note: Larry Hagman

Actor Larry Hagman passed away yesterday from cancer related complications.  He was 81.

Hagman wasn't so much a predominant actor in my time, his hay day really was from the 1960s to 1980s, but he still managed to become a staple in my childhood.  Hagman's two most predominant roles were as Major Tony Nelson in I Dream of Jeannie and J.R. Ewing in both the original run of Dallas and the more recent continuation of it.  I've never watched either incarnation of Dallas but I absolutely loved Jeannie as a kid and grew up watching it.  As for Dallas.. well, I may not have watched it, but you'd be hard pressed to be as interested in pop culture as I am without having heard some of the details of the show.  The show, after all, was famous for its cliffhangers.

I'm not going to make any guarantees, but I will try to do a 2012 incarnation of Dallas as a tribute to Hagman at some point in the near future. I'm not too sure about the exact when, as I'm crazy busy with school, but sometime soon.

Recommendations: November 23

Red Dawn - An updated version of the 1984 film, this one is about the invasion of America by the North Koreans.  More importantly, it stars Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, which are two good reasons to go see it.

Rise of the Guardians - This year's cute Christmas movie for kids, I've been waiting anxiously to see it since I saw the first trailer for it months ago.  Rise of the Guardians is about what happens when an evil spirit launches an assault on Earth's children, the Immortal Guardians band together in response.  My favourite part of the trailers is the fact that Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), here called North, really resembles a Russian crime boss.

Life of Pi - Ang Lee's latest, this is based on the book of the same name and follows a young man and a Bengal tiger on one of those life changing journeys - presumably different to many life changing journeys that feature tigers in that the young man does not become food for the tiger.  I'm not sure, I haven't read the book, but IMDb is referring to the tiger as "an unexpected connection" which implies a lack of eating.  Based on the four Ang Lee movies I've seen, I'd say this could either be great or really bad.

Hitchcock - This one's getting a limited release for now, in order to be out in time to be considered for the Oscars - I can't find any word on when, or if, it will be given a further release.  This is based on the life of Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) around the time that he was filming psycho.  I love the fact that the man who played one of the creepiest villains ever, Dr. Hannibal Lector, is now playing one of the most influential horror film directors ever.

The Expendables 2 - Did everyone see this in theatres?  It really wasn't all that good.  Now, you have the chance to spend more money on it and buy it on DVD - or spend no money on it and download it (which I don't condone at all).

That is, in all honesty, the only new DVD release this week and none of the other releases are all that interesting to me.  So, in celebration of Hitchcock, I'm going to say go watch Psycho (the original, not the 1998 Gus Van Sant remake) or whatever Hitchcock film is your favourite.

The Apple Tree - My favourite Hitchcock is The Birds, which is based on a novellette by Daphne du Maurier.  Both "The Birds" and other stories can be found in du Maurier's collection The Apple Tree.  Check it out if you haven't already.  Just a note, this collection can also be found as The Birds and Other Stories.

Twilight (2008)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Cam Gigandet, Rachelle Lefèvre, Edi Gathegi

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Rating: C-

Where to begin... These are not good movies.  I'm not entirely sure how much of that is the fault of the movies themselves and how much is the fault of the source material upon which they're based, but it's many degrees of not good all around.  I will say this, though; they do kind of get better as the series goes on.  They never achieve a good state, but they get better - or at least, up until The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  I can't judge Part 2 as I haven't seen it yet.

For those lucky few who have somehow managed to avoid learning what Twilight is about, here's a quick recap.  Bella Swan (Stewart) moves to Forks, Washington, the wettest place in the continental United States, to live with her dad, Charlie (Burke).  There she meets Edward Cullen (Pattinson), a mind reading vampire who she falls in love with.  Edward and his family (patriarch Carlisle Cullen (Facinelli) and his wife Esme (Reaser), the psychic Alice Cullen (Greene) and her partner Jasper Hale (Rathbone), and Emmett Cullen (Lutz) and his partner Rosalie Hale (Reed)) are all what they call vegetarians, and do not heat human blood.  Most of the movie passes by with this being the only real plot point, but then the Cullens, Hales, and Bella meet nomadic, human blood drinking vampires Laurent (Gathegi), Victoria (Lefèvre), and James (Gigandet).  James is a tracker and after a confrontation with Edward becomes infatuated with the idea of killing Bella.

Once again, what to say... Okay, so there are three major problems with these movies.  One is the general script, the second the general acting and overall casting, and the third the general make-up.  The script... oh, the script.  I'm going to say this in defense of the movie overall; you can only do so much with a movie when the source material isn't that great.  For all of Twilight the movies' flaws, a lot of them are because of the flaws of the book.  This movie did a lot to stay true to the books, for which I respect.  A few things were omitted, and in such a way that while I don't think it really disabled Twilight, it does fail to set things up for The Twilight Saga: New Moon.  You see this a lot in movies and even in TV, and it really annoys me - if you're basing something on a series of books and planning on continuing the series think about how the cuts made affect later movies or seasons.  It's easy to harp on it in Twilight, but they also do it in Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games.

The second big thing here is the cast.  The acting isn't that great, and there are even points when it seems like some of the actors are breaking character, laughing at points that in-character they shouldn't be laughing at.  This isn't really a criticism of the actors themselves, because I don't think it's the flaw of the actors.  I've watched other works of most of the actors and really enjoyed them.  There are some really great actors in this movie, they're just not properly utilized here.  The other problem is the casting in general, which is rather horrible.  It's not enough to hire a good actor, you have to hire an actor that's right for a role.  There are some people who I thought were really perfectly cast - particularly in regards to the humans - but others not so much - particularly in regards to the vampires.  I think one of the biggest problems that Robert Pattinson has in this role is that his American accent definitely isn't a good one (it does get better), making you question why they hired someone to fill in the role of an American when he couldn't do the accent.  Accents are tricky and something that movies in general, not just Twilight, tend to get wrong.  Michael Collins is actually a really good movie, despite the fact that half the cast are Americans doing bad accents, and among the other half is Alan Rickman who doesn't even try to do an Irish accent. Accents are important, people.  The casting problems in Twilight, however, go beyond just accents. There's also the fact that the vampires are all supposed to be these pale creatures (the exception being Laurent, who is black), but for the most part they hired not-exactly pale actors.  The biggest example of this the case of Nikki Reed's Rosalie.  In the books, she's described as this gorgeous woman and Nikki Reed is gorgeous.  The problem is, naturally she's neither pale nor blonde - she's a brunette with a nice tanned complexion that comes from her Jewish, Cherokee, and Italian descent.  So, what do they do?  They slap what looks like pancake makeup and a horrible wig on her.  Nikki Reed isn't the only one that they got wrong here, although I do find it interesting that she's of Cherokee descent, while Taylor Lautner, who plays the Aboriginal Jacob Black, only has "distant" Native American ancestry.  Lautner's role immediately prior to Twilight was as Eugene Levy's son in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.  Don't hire a non-Aboriginal to play an Aboriginal, it's just an insult, especially as there are plenty of Aboriginal actors out there.

But, let's go back to the pancake makeup and bad wigs.  A huge part of what makes fantasy in general so great is the special effects.  The purpose is to take you out of the real world and into this fictional one, no matter how based-in-reality it is you need to have good special effects, especially when you're expecting to be a blockbuster.  The makeup here is horrible, absolutely horrible.  There are a slew of bad wigs, bad dye jobs, and bad attempts to make the not-pale actors look pale.  It's just bad all around.  I commend Twilight for attempting to stick to the source material a lot, but in regards to the makeup this really hinders the movie.  You want to have not-pale actors?  Then give up the pale aspect of the character.  Ditto with the blond.  Don't just give them a really bad dye job.  Yes, vampires are usually pale, but this is the 21st century.  We're allowed to update the myth - Stephenie Meyer does a lot to update this myth in general, and pale skin is not important to the plot.  The worst attempt at this is in the case of Edi Gathegi, who they attempt to make pale despite his being black.  It's just all kinds of bad.  But then, so is this movie.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

Director: Rich Moore

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Rating: A+

Okay, so I'm just going to stick this out there: I was looking up the movie's cast list for this review when I saw that Alan Tudyk is in this as King Candy.  Nothing bad comes from having Alan Tudyk in your movie or TV show - hell, he was even great in Dollhouse, and Dollhouse wasn't all that great despite being from the mind of Joss Whedon.  He's not starring, but he should be because his role is significant and he's awesome.  Adding to this awesomeness is Jane Lynch, who is equally as awesome!  She is by far the best part of Glee, and I have to say I love watching old shows from the late 90s and early 00s, and seeing her randomly appear.

Wreck-It Ralph is about an old arcade game villain, Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) who is tired of being the villain.  He is never appreciated for what he does and the essential role that he plays in the game, and wants to be appreciated in some way - to get the kind of recognition that his game's hero, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (McBrayer), gets. After an argument with one of the game's Nicelanders, Mayor Gene (Raymond S. Persi), Ralph decides to leave his game and go in search of one where he can win a medal, like the one that Felix gets daily.  He travels to the first-person shooter Hero's Duty, where he can win a medal for climbing a tower and killing bugs.  In between games, Ralph does just that - but in the process he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug, which clings to him as he stumbles into an escape pod.  The bug and Ralph fly into the kart-racing game Sugar Rush.  Here Ralph meets game glitch Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman), who dreams of becoming a racer, despite the hatred that the other citizens of Sugar Rush hold for her.  Meanwhile, Felix has also left Fix-It Felix, Jr, with the realization that if he doesn't find Ralph the game will be unplugged an everyone in it will be left homeless in Game Central Station.  Felix pairs up with Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (Lynch), the hardened lead character of Hero's Duty, who realizes just how bad the escape of the Cy-Bug is.  The bug doesn't realize it's a video game character, and will set out to destroy any game that it's in - before moving on to Game Central Station and infesting other games.

I love the many dimensions to this movie.  There's a lot going on with the plot, but it never feels like it's too much.  The one thing that I didn't like, at least at first, were the many references to "going Turbo", which I felt could have been explained earlier.  To me, "turbo" is the power charge that you get in race type games, and so I had no clue what it meant in the video game land - something that they realize in Wreck-It Ralph, because they do set out to explain it after awhile, but in my mind not soon enough.  I understood why Ralph's disappearance was a threat, but not why they called Ralph's actions "Turbo."  It worked out in the end, but there was that momentary annoyance whenever they mentioned it.

Beyond that, however, there's a lot going on in this movie.  Each of the main characters, really, has their own plot and has to come to different realizations.  I love that, especially given as it's a children's movie.  While I've come to expect depth in a children's movie, I don't expect this much.  I loved it.  Including this, there's also a lot of really little details to this film.  Stuff like the way that Felix and the Nicelanders moved, as if they actually were pixelated creatures - I think it would have been really nice had this continued on to Ralph as well.  There are other things too - early on in the film Vanellope tells Ralph that double striped candy canes disappear when you grab them, and throughout the film you see double striped candy canes.

There's also the humour to this film.  The thing that I love about Disney is that it really nicely balances the juvenile and adult humour.  The relationship between Ralph and Vanellope is so cute and childish that you can't help but love it.  At the same time there are so many little things that bring a smile to your face and are completely for the adult viewer. I love the fact that this is a video game movie that makes references to an entire history of video games.  I loved it.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Starring: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan

Director: Audrey Wells

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Rating: C+

"I'll hire the muscular descendants of Roman gods to do the heavy lifting." 

Writer Frances Mayes (Lane) has had her seemingly perfect life shattered; following the discovery that her husband is cheating on her she goes through a quick divorce and emerges depressed and unable to write.  Enter her newly pregnant lesbian best friend, Patti (Oh), and Patti's partner, Grace (Kate Walsh), who decide to sent Frances on a gay tour of Tuscany.  There her tour group stops in the small town of Cortona where, after a meeting with eccentric British actress Katherine (Duncan) Frances decides to buy a dilapidated villa.  The film then focuses on the restoration of the villa, with the help of a crew of Polish immigrants, and Frances' attempts to pull her life together and once again find love and happiness.

This is one of those movies that has a lot wrong with it, but is still fun and enjoyable.  I think it's the type of movie that critics like to be hard on because of all the cliches and simplicity behind it.  It is in its very essence a chick flick and thus to a degree that makes it bad.  At the same time, however, it's a well done chick flick and that in my mind makes it good.  There's a lot of comedy to it, and a fair bit of romance.  Lane does a lot of chick flicks and she does them pretty well.  They might not become classics or must-see-films, but they're definitely the ones that you go to when you want a good cry or that uplifting feeling that you can get from a romance.

What I really like about Under the Tuscan Sun, however, isn't the romance in itself.  It's the lack of romance that makes this movie so good.  Frances is not learning to love life again because she falls in love, she's not finding her muse and happiness in another man.  She's finding it in life around her as a whole, and really realizing that there's more to life than just love - there's more to happiness than being with someone.  There's a point early on in the film where Frances makes a wish about the things that she would like to see happen in the house, and the ways in which they come true without being what Frances had thought.  The movie is a bit of a rarity for a chick flick largely in that it isn't about the chick getting the guy.  Maybe not the best film, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A

New adventures are coming to Hogwarts, just in time for Harry Potter’s fourth year.  The school is playing host to the Triwizard’s Tournament, a competition between champions representing the three great European schools of magic, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, as determined by the Goblet of Fire.  Traditionally there are only three champions, one for each of the schools, and with the revival of the championship a new rule has been introduced stating that no one under the age of seventeen may enter their name as a champion.  This is all changed, however, when four names come out of the Goblet; Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum, and Harry Potter.  At first, only Hogwart’s new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher, ex-Auror and extremely paranoid Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, and Albus Dumbledore seem to believe that Harry did not put his name into the goblet and the school is divided between those few who support Harry, and are primarily Gryffindors, and those who think he is attempting to steal the glory from Hufflepuff Diggory.  As Harry begins to face his challenges one begins to wonder just who has a desire to hurt Harry.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the book where Rowling really succeeds in quickly introducing the main plot of the story and staying with it throughout the entire novel.  The first chapter sets things up really nicely and the events that happen to Harry during his summer each have an effect on things that happen once school starts up again.  The storytelling here is becoming a lot more concise, ironically while also becoming longer.  The fourth book is almost as long as the first three books combined, and by series end is the second longest book.  The way this works out in Goblet of Fire is that the first overt sign of the complexity of the world of Harry Potter.  There have been other smaller signs of it previously – the first example being the deluminator in the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the second being the casual reference to Sirius Black and the less casual reference to his flying motorcycle.  The story here is a lot more concise than the earlier books, but there’s also a lot more going on and we really get to see the world in a whole new light.  We’re introduced to the idea of a magical world beyond just Great Britain, meeting out first international wizards.  We also get to see Harry watch Quidditch for the first, and really the only, time.

In addition to the size of the book, the reader of the book also grows here.  While previous books all had their dark elements, it isn’t until Goblet of Fire that this begins to become really serious.  We see our first deaths of the series – not including the deaths of Harry’s parents, which we’ve been told about and sort of seen briefly before, but not in its entirety.  With the death of Frank Bryce in the first chapter of the book Rowling shows us that she’s not messing around, a fact that she really continues to emphasis throughout both this book and the later ones.  An idea that is introduced in the previous book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is really reinforced here, namely the idea of Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters, and the fact that they’re not all imprisoned.  We’ve known for awhile that the world is not just happy go lucky and there are bad people here, but somehow the presence of the Death Eaters really reinforces that idea.  We’re also really shown that the world is not divided into good people and Death Eaters.  While we’ve already met a number of people who might later be put into the category of “not good” without falling into the category of “Death Eater,” this is the first time that it’s made explicit.  Rita Skeeter is by no means a good person, but she’s also not a Death Eater.  In contrast, Barty Crouch Sr. is far from being a Death Eater, but one might also question if he’s exactly a good person, and that’s without going into the whole issue of Ludo Bagman, or some of the other characters introduced here.

One criticism about the book, however, lies within its complexity.  There is a lot that could have happened and would have made more logical sense to have happened.  I love the tournament in general, but Voldemort’s plan in this novel has far too many possibilities for failure and if you think about things too closely it makes you question just why he went with it in the first place.   Yes, there’s the whole idea of “I must kill Harry Potter” and what not, but there are a lot of ways that he could have taken Potter without the more elaborate plot, with a lot more fail safes built into it.  The book itself is based on something that really makes no sense, but… well, it’s still a good story.  Maybe not my favourite in the series, but I still love it.

Week in Review: November 12 - 17

Birthdays:  Only one birthday this week, Princes Charles, who is 64 this year.

Movies - We had a Daniel Craig theme this week, with a back-to-back of his James Bond movies, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall.  I loved them all, but my favourite of the bunch was Casino and my least favourite Quantum.  To celebrate the conclusion of our Bond marathon I also did up a note discussing all the movies.  I'm sure I'll do the non-Eon films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again, but I'm going to take a bit of a Bond break for now.

Books - This week we did the third Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My biggest critique of this one was about the title, so yeah.  Actually, if I think about it, I have a lot of critiques about Hermione in this one, but that's a whole other story.

TV - TV show of the week was the third season of the absolutely awesome Downton Abbey.  I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more.  I'm already anxiously waiting for the Christmas special and season 4.

Recommendations - Because we missed a bit, I tried to just quickly cover a bunch of movies that have been released, either to threatre or DVD lately.  The ones that I'm most looking forward to are Wreck-It Ralph, Lincoln, and Anna Karenina, but the previously mentioned Skyfall was also recommended.

Next Week - Up next week is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Wreck-it-Ralph, and the third season of Face Off.  I'm not sure about any other movies, we'll see.

Requests -Any requests? Let me know!

Downton Abbey (Season 3)

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Rob James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Penelope Wilton, Amy Nuttall, Allen Leech, Kevin Doyle, Matt Milne, Ed Speleers, Cara Theobold

Creator: Julian Fellowes

Genre: Period Drama

Rating: A

What to say about this season of Downton Abbey.... Going into the season, I knew that "Somebody will be born, and somebody will die" and that there would be a wedding - I hadn't read the full article where executive producer Rebecca Eaton had said as much, so I didn't know exactly who was getting married, but I had my guesses about that and about the birth, as well as a huge list of "I hope they don't kill X."

Downton opens with the preparations for the wedding of Matthew (Stevens) and Mary (Dockery), with Cora (McGovern)'s mother, Martha Livenson (Shirley MacLaine) sweeping in from America for it, to the great distaste of the Dowager Countess (Smith).  Just to interject, the scenes between MacLaine and Smith were possibly the funniest scenes this season and I really hope that they find some excuse to bring MacLaine back later.  Tragedy, however, strikes the family, and Robert (Bonneville) discovers that his attempts at investment have left almost entirely bankrupted the family.  At the same time, Matthew has discovered that he has possibly inherited a large amount of money from Lavinia (Zoe Boyle)'s father, although he is certain that it is not ethical to accept it. Sybil (Brown Findlay) is still pregnant, and Tom (Leech) still a revolutionary, which leads to problems for the two of them. Edith (Carmichael), meanwhile, is determined to change her status as an old maid and has set her sights on Sir Anthony Strallan (Robert Bathurst), despite the objections of both Sir Anthony and her family.  Downstairs, things are no less chaotic; O'Brien (Finneran) has arranged to have her nephew, Alfred (Milne) hired, and Alfred struggles to meet the standards of Carson (Carter) and avoid the vindiction of Thomas (James-Collier).  Daisy (McShera) develops a crush on Alfred, who in turn has feelings for new kitchen maid Ivy (Theobold), who likes fellow new footman Jimmy (Speleers), who isn't revealing who he likes but has also drawn the attention of Thomas.  Mrs. Hughes (Logan) has found a lump which she thinks might be cancer, although she insists on keeping it a secret, telling only Mrs. Patmore (Nicol) - a secret which Mrs. Patmore struggles to keep.  Anna (Froggatt) continues the struggle to find the evidence to prove that Bates (Coyle) isn't a murderer, while Bates struggles to survive in prison.  Combining the upstairs with the downstairs, Isobel (Wilton) discovers that Ethel (Nuttall) has become a prostitute and sets out to save her.  Oh, and while he doesn't get any big plot lines, Molesley (Doyle) has been upgraded to main cast.

I loved, loved, loved this season.  It brought up all the issues that remained at the end of the 2011 Christmas Special, while also introducing issues specific to this season.  The show seems to become more and more intricate as times passes, while still remembering to pay tribute to the little things that made this show great in the first place.  I love the way the Crawleys come together to fight for what they want, while also fighting within each other.  It seems like there is never really a point in this family where they're all getting along.  I also really love how Tom fits into it all as well.  It isn't simply a case of the Crawleys versus Tom, and right from the start he makes alliances and friends within the family.

Speaking of alliances, the alliance between Thomas and O'Brien is broken here.  I wasn't really a fan of either character in the first two seasons, but I really love the war that the two of them carry out this season.  When it was them against the world things just got boring after, but with it being them against each other I really got captivated.  There are points when you even feel sorry for Thomas just because he seems so much on his own this season - O'Brien had her share of allies, but Thomas was all alone.

Two things that I didn't really like about this season.  One is the story with Ethel.  While I understood where Isobel was coming from, I think she tends to not think through the consequences of her actions.  I did like the way the story was handled in the end, but getting to it was rather painful.  The other thing was Edith.  Poor Lady Edith.  The girl is so desperate to not be an old maid anymore that she seems willing to throw herself at anyone - and her family seems determined to keep her as one.   I love the character in general, but I'm anxious to see them do more with her.  The second half of the season seemed to be interested in opening up things a bit more with her, but I'm not holding my breath.

Recommendations: November 16

I've missed a couple of these so I'm going to just quickly let you know what's come out in the last few weeks that I was planning on recommending. Because I'm going to do more than usual, I'm not going to spend as much time letting you know about the films - check them out on IMDb if you haven't heard of them.

Wreck-It Ralph -The latest from Disney, Wreck-it-Ralph is about a video game villain who sets out to become the hero for once.

Flight - The latest from Denzel Washington, this one's about an airline pilot who saves a flight from crashing. or something.

The Man with the Iron Fists - Somehow, Quentin Tarantino's name is being dropped a lot with this film, even though he's not credited as director, writer, producer, or anything really.  With an interesting cast, however, it looks fun and the trailers kind of make me think of an Asian-themed version of Sin City.

Skyfall - The latest James Bond.  I loved this movie, naming it as one of my favourite in the series.  Check it out now, if you haven't already.

Lincoln - Presumably, this one will be better than this year's other Abraham Lincoln-themed movie, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  This one's actually based on history and features big names like Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field, as Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their son, Robert.

 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 - The thrilling conclusion to the Twilight Saga this one... yeah.  Okay, I'm going to admit two things here: one, I'm planning on seeing this in theatres and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, and two, I'm really glad that this is finally out because (hopefully) it means we can stop talking about Twilight soon.  Right?

Anna Karenina - This one's only getting a limited release, but it still looks great.  Based on the book of the same name by the legendary Leo Tolstoy, I can't wait to see it.  I really enjoy Keira Knightley films, even the bad ones, and think that she's at her best when in costume dramas.

Silver Linings Playbook - Okay, so I know, I know.  I don't really like Bradley Cooper movies, and yet somehow I keep on getting interested by the trailers for his movies this year.  This one features Cooper as a man just out of a mental institute and Jennifer Lawrence as the mysterious girl that he meets.  I'm going to go into this with an open mind; it looks good, it features Jennifer Lawrence, and it's directed by David O. Russell.

Safety Not Guaranteed - A new take on time travel, this one's about magazine employees who interview a guy who placed a classified add seeking a time travel companion.  I love time travel fiction, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one.

Ruby Sparks - Paul Dano's latest, this one is about a writer who writes his perfect girl into existence.  I'm pretty sure I've seen it done before, but Ruby Sparks still looked cute.

Brave - The latest Disney Pixar animated film, this one's set in the 10th century Scottish Highlands, and thus features Scottish accents, Scottish music, and an overall amount of cute.  Not the best from them, but I enjoyed it.

Savages -  Also new to DVD is the latest Oliver Stone flick.  Once again, not his best, but definitely not his worst.

The Amazing Spider-Man - Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can.  This was fun and great, and despite my disliking of origin stories I really loved it.

Your Sister's Sister - I still haven't seen this one, because it only got a limited release when in theatres, but I'm really looking forward to it - it's about a guy, a girl, and her sister, and the awkwardness that can happen there.

Arthur Christmas -This was actually released in theatres last year, and is only just now being put out on DVD - as is often the case with Christmas movies.  Arthur Christmas is about Santa Claus' oddball son on an attempt to save Christmas and is really cute.  A good way to start off your Christmas season.

John Dies at the End - I've recently started this one and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.  It's a fantasy and is definitely interesting, but I'm really not sure if I'm enjoying it or not.  I will definitely let you know how I feel about it, but until I do maybe you want to check it out yourself?

Bond: In Review

I'm just going to stick a note out there: while I usually try to be at least semi-spoiler free (the jury is still out on whether or not I'm successful there), I am not going to maintain that in this post. It is possible that there will be spoilers for all the movies, including Skyfall.

Bonds: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig

Ms: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes

Qs: Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, Ben Whishaw

Moneypennys: Lois Maxwell, Caroline Bliss, Samantha Bond, Naomie Harris

Directors: Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert, Peter R. Hunt, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Roger Spottiswoode, Michael Apted, Lee Tamahori, Marc Forster, Sam Mendes

Movies: In my opinion, the best Bond film was Casino Royale.  This surprised me largely because I'm not usually a fan of origin stories and reboots, but I like what they did here - it was kind of like the Bond-version of Christian Bale's Batman, minus the exposition explaining the back story.  I don't think I'm going to list off all the movies in order of how much I liked or did not like them, but I will say that my top 5, in order of release, would be Dr. No, From Russia with Love, GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and Skyfall.  My bottom five, also in order of release, would be On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.

Bonds: If you've been paying attention, my favourite Bond was by far Daniel Craig.  Despite the problems of his series, and I will admit that there were many - particularly with Quantum of Solace - I really like the character that he portrayed here most.  In a lot of ways, it's a more rounded and developed person than the previous Bonds.  My second favourite would be Sean Connery, and I would follow that up with Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby, in that order.

Ms: Oh, how I love Dame Judi Dench.  She really rocked the M.  My favourite line in the entire series is her characterization of Bond in GoldenEye, and I really love the relationship that she had with her two Bonds.  I did also like Bernard Lee, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Ralph Fiennes does with the character in the future - I hope they retain him in the as-of-yet titled Bond 24 and Bond 25.  Sorry Robert Brown, you didn't make much of an impact on me.  Thus, in order: Judi Dench, Bernard Lee, Ralph Fiennes, Robert Brown.

Qs:  While I was really happy that they reintroduced Q in Skyfall, I wasn't particularly wowed by Ben Wisham's Q.  He had some good lines and played a significant role, but he didn't wow me. I loved Desmond Llewelyn's Q, and while I really enjoyed John Cleese's role, I think I preferred him as "R" to Q. I kind of feel that Q needs to be a bit more of a straight man than Cleese allowed for.  I don't think Peter Burton left an impact either.  In order: Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, Ben Whishaw, Peter Burton.

Moneypennys: The best Moneypenny, by far, is Lois Maxwell's.  She played the roll in 16 films, against three Bonds.  I really love how she balanced the flirtation with Bond against the rejection of Bond.  My second favourite would be Samantha Bond, who really seemed to embrace the early Moneypenny while also going with a bit of a more modern upgrade.  This upgrade was initiated a lot by Caroline Bliss' Moneypenny, but it didn't have the earlier affection - I didn't like her.  As for Naomie Harris... I'm still really on the fence here.  I loved her as a Bond girl, but I hate the idea of Moneypenny being a Bond girl.  I'm really not sure if she crossed that line here, and that bothers me.  Thus, in order: Lois Maxwell, Samantha Bond, Caroline Bliss, and Naomie Harris sits out on the sidelines.

Bond Girls: I'm not going to go into the individual Bond girls, as there are so many of them - with the exception of Quantum of Solace, which only has two, there's always been at least three, and in A View to Kill there were six women identified as Bond girls.  I'm always a bit mixed on the Bond girls in general, they kind of seem to go back and forth between being useful, developed characters, and simply just sex objects.  I think in general I liked the earlier ones more than the later ones simply because they didn't try to force us to believe that they were more than just sex objects - the idea of the Bond girl having to be this strong, independent person really began to be forced on is in the Brosnan movies, but a lot of the girls before then were a lot stronger and really better characters.  One thing, I'm not a huge fan of the Daniel Craig Bond girls, with the exception of Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and, in a complicated way, Skyfall's Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris).  I thought that both were really strong characters. I really loved Vesper in general and the way that Bond develops feelings for her specifically - in a way it's very reminiscent of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, without the cheese.  I also really liked the relationship that Bond and Eve had, I just didn't like the reveal of her being Moneypenny in the end - Moneypenny is not a Bond girl.

Villains: I really fluctuate on my feelings towards different Bond villains.  Some of them I loved, some of them I hated.  Some of them I thought were great actors and were doing their best with what was given to them, but still fell short.  My favourite villains in general tended to be the ones who either operated as a part of some elaborate fictional organization - SPECTRE or Quantum - or were rogue agents themselves.  I actually kind of find it funny that these movies seem to pair up Bond dealing with a rogue agent with Bond going rogue himself.

Music: You know what might be my favourite part of this series overall?  The music.  I really love most of the themes for this series, and in particular the way that they make reference to the film's title - it doesn't happen in all the films, but definitely enough.  I can kind of divide the themes into two categories; songs that totally have a James Bond theme song sound to them, and ones that don't.  In my opinion, the former category is far better.  These include Adele's "Skyfall," Madonna's "Die Another Day," Tina Turner's "GoldenEye," Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only," and Paul McCartney and the Wings' "Live and Let Die," as well as the Shirley Bassey songs, "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever."  Even just in typing the names out, the songs have implanted themselves into my head, resulting in a strange mashup playing out.  Now, that's not to say that other Bond-songs aren't good, just that they don't sound as much like Bond songs  and thus are somehow less iconic.  What is the most iconic of all, of course, is the "Bond Theme Song," which I think perfectly captures the feel of a Bond film.

I'm just going to finish this off with a table listing off the movies and the actors in the major roles.  As usual, links are provided to my reviews of the actual movies themselves.

Movie	Director	Bond	M	Q	Moneypenny	Girl	Villain
Dr. No	Terence Young	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	N/A	Lois Maxwell	Ursula Andress	Joseph Wiseman
From Russia with Love	Terence Young	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	N/A	Lois Maxwell	Daniela Bianchi	Lotte Lenya
Goldfinger	Guy Hamilton	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Honor Blackman	Gert Fröbe
Thunderball	Terence Young	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Claudine Auger	Adolfo Celi
You Only Live Twice	Lewis Gilbert	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Akiko Wakabayashi	Donald Pleasence
On Her Majesty's Secret Service	Peter R. Hunter	George Lazenby	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Diana Rigg	Telly Savalas
Diamonds Are Forever	Guy Hamilton	Sean Connery	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Lana Wood	Charles Gray
Live and Let Die	Guy Hamilton	Roger Moore	Bernard Lee	N/A	Lois Maxwell	Jane Seymour	Yaphet Kotto
The Man with the Golden Gun	Guy Hamilton	Roger Moore	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Maud Adams	Christopher Lee
The Spy Who Loved Me	Lewis Gilbert	Roger Moore	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Barbara Bach	Curd Jürgens
Moonraker	Lewis Gilbert	Roger Moore	Bernard Lee	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Lois Chiles	Michael Lonsdale
For Your Eyes Only	John Glen	Roger Moore	N/A	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Carole Bouquet	Julian Glover
Octopussy	John Glen	Roger Moore	Robert Brown	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Maud Adams	Steven Berkoff, Louis Jourdan
A View to Kill	John Glen	Roger Moore	Robert Brown	Desmond Llewelyn	Lois Maxwell	Tanya Roberts	Christopher Walken
The Living Daylights	John Glen	Timothy Dalton	Robert Brown	Desmond Llewelyn	Caroline Bliss	Maryam d'Abo	Jeroen Krabbé
Licence to Kill	John Glen	Timothy Dalton	Robert Brown	Desmond Llewelyn	Caroline Bliss	Carey Lowell	Robert Davi
GoldenEye	Martin Campbell	Pierce Brosnan	Judi Dench	Desmond Llewelyn	Samantha Bond	Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen	Sean Bean
Tomorrow Never Dies	Roger Spottiswoode	Pierce Brosnan	Judi Dench	Desmond Llewelyn	Samantha Bond	Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher	Jonathan Pryce
The World is Not Enough	Michael Apted	Pierce Brosnan	Judi Dench	Desmond Llewelyn	Samantha Bond	Denise Richards, Sophie Marceau	Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle
Die Another Day	Lee Tamahori	Pierce Brosnan	Judi Dench	John Cleese	Samantha Bond	Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike	Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike
Casino Royale	Martin Campbell	Daniel Craig	Judi Dench	N/A	N/A	Eva Green	Mads Mikkelsen
Quantum of Solace	Marc Foster	Daniel Craig	Judi Dench	N/A	N/A	Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton	Mathieu Amalric
Skyfall	Sam Mendes	Daniel Craig	Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes	Ben Whishaw	Naomie Harris	Naomie Harris	Javier Bardem