Casino Royale (2006)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen

Director: Martin Campbell

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: A

I loved this movie.  That's something I haven't said about any of the Bonds so far, but I did.  There was a lot going on, but at the same time it was so simplistic that I was able to really get into it and completely follow what was going on.  Plus, there's the whole Bond (Craig) in the blue swim trunks thing - this is something that they've done a couple times with Bond girls, but never really with a Bond, and really never before has a Bond looked so good.

The plot here is pretty simple: Casino Royale is an origins story for our Bond and serves to really reboot the series - all of the stupid shit that Bond got up to in the previous films no longer counts.  I like that, he got up to a lot of stupid shit and the idea that each movie was related to the previous ones was getting to be a bit much.  On one of his first missions Bond prevent a terrorist attack at Miami International Airport, during which time Bond foils the plans of banker and terrorist financer Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen).  This leaves Le Chiffre under pressure to recoup his clients money, which leads to him setting up a high stakes Texas hold'em poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.  Reenter Bond, who is sent to enter the tournament by MI6.  He's put into touch with Vesper Lynd (Green), who is a Treasury agent and provides the $10 million buy-in, and René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), Bond's contact in Montenegro.  Also introduced to us here is regular Bond acquaintance, CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), who is also playing in the tournament.

I loved this movie.  Have I said that yet?  The lead in was a bit much, but that's pretty typical of a Bond film.  Once it got into things, with the Casino and what not, it really got rather solid.  The way it juxtaposed the seemingly intense poker scenes (which, I suppose would have been more intense had I known absolutely anything about poker) with the intense action scenes was great.  There really was no moment in this that I found myself staring at the screen going "are you fucking serious" - which is not something that can be said for, really, any previous Bond film.  It's not hokey or lame, or ridiculous and over the top.  There are a couple moments that kind of push it, but the film always reeled things in before crossing the line.

The other thing that I really liked about this movie was how much it alluded to previous ones, while still being original.  There's a lot of moments that remind you of earlier Bond films, including Bond walking out of the water in the blue bathing suit, but none that make you want to roll your eyes and go "I've seen this before."  This is something that really continues on throughout the Daniel Craig films and is, in my opinion, really well done.  Also, have I mentioned that I love Judi Dench's M?  She's just absolutely awesome, and continues to be awesome in Casino Royale.  Which, really, goes without saying, it's Dame Judi Dench.

Dark Shadows (2012)

Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Johnny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloë Grace Moretz, Gulliver McGrath
Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Drama
Rating: B+

At some point in the last decade or so people began to think of Tim Burton as a director of blockbuster movies, which is about the same time that people really started to say that Burton’s movies suck.  I suspect that a huge part of this has to do with Johnny Depp; once Depp did Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl people began to see him as a blockbuster actor and assumed due to their frequent collaborations that meant that Burton was a blockbuster director.  The problem is that Tim Burton are not blockbusters and should not be treated as such.  The man who made a movie about Ed Wood is not trying to be a blockbuster director.  Let’s stop trying to treat him as such.

Dark Shadows is a movie upgrade of a campy 1960s gothic soap opera.  That is the type of movie that this is, and that is how it should be taken, nothing more, nothing less.  The film follows the life of Barnabas Collins (Depp).  Born in the mid-eighteenth century, Barnabas is the son of a wealthy entrepreneur living in the fishing port of Collinsport, Maine.  Barnabas is somewhat of a playboy who breaks the heart of servant and witch Angelique Bouchard (Green).  She, in turn, kills his parents and his lover, Josette du Pres (Heathcote), before casting a spell that turns him into a vampire.  Turning the town against him, she has him chained in a coffin which is then buried in the woods.  In 1972 later the coffin is accidentally dug up by a work crew, releasing Barnabas.  He finds that his family, or the descendants of his family, are living in the shadows of the greatness that they once had, having been cursed by Angelique.  After promising matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Pfeiffer) to keep his true identity secret from the rest of the family and to not feed on them, Barnabas sets out to restore his family’s to their former glory.

This film is campy, but intentionally so.  It’s dark, over the top, and ridiculous, but that’s what makes it fun.  The jokes are a bit corny at times, but for the most part they’re funny.  Watching Depp play an out of time vampire, in the 70s, is pretty much comic genius.  One of my favourite scenes was of him trying to figure out just what a lava lamp is.  At times he’s a bit too over the top, especially in his language (I never want to hear the term ‘birthing hips’ again), but it works within the parameters of the film.  I also really enjoyed the more deadpan humour of Willie Loomis (Haley).  There’s something about Haley that makes him both so creepy and so entertaining at the same time.  The overall plot of the movie made sense and was easy to follow, although I would have enjoyed a bit more character development. You really get to know Barnabas and Angelique, but a lot of the other characters were a bit sidelined.  I would have liked to have seen more of the Collins children, and I think because of the lack of development with them some of the plot twists at the end came out of nowhere.  I’m almost interested in seeing this again, just to see how much foreshadowing there is.  I do have to say, my favourite part of this movie was the music.  The score was done by Danny Elfman which is always a good thing, and the soundtrack is comprised of music from the 70s.  It’s hard to go wrong there.