The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[English Agent]

Lawrence Meyers: " I’ve never been bored in a Bond film until this one. Because Silva is merely seeking revenge, is uninteresting as a character, and plows his way through ridiculous plot holes, we simply have stopped caring. The writers concentrated too much on character and not enough on Bond set-pieces. Bond films have big climaxes. This was low-tech and low-rent. Mendes also proves, once again, that his talent begins and ends with his ability to put great images on film. But his storytelling and pacing are awful. They always have been. “American Beauty” was a vastly overrated film, and “Road to Perdition” took a great concept and delivered the most plodding chase film I’ve seen. I think the filmmakers were too intent on making a “thinking man’s Bond film,” and that’s just not something one should attempt. Conclusion: Believe me, it kills me to have to write this review. After watching every Bond film over the past three years and reviewing them in great detail, after seeing the great trailers, and after the last two outings, I wanted to love this film. Again, there are many strong points here, but my advice is to ditch Mendes next time. Get back with Martin Campbell. Put QUANTUM back in play. Hire back writer Bruce Feirstein, who elevated the first two Brosnan pictures. And get back to Bond. I give “Skyfall” TWO STARS."

I would love to see Martin Campbell back in the Bond directors chair....but i dont think he can be tempted back!

[English Agent]

'Deadline'.....give SF a second weekend gross of around $41.5 mil, which is pretty good considering the monumental opposition it had from the Twilight film, which was massively front loaded, and its Friday take did dent Bond a bit...but SF came back very well Saturday.

Incidently...have any of our North American members here seen the new Lincoln film?........and if so is it any good?

[bjmdds]

Before “reboot” entered the pop culture lexicon, there was “GoldenEye.” The movie is one of the absolute best of the entire James Bond series, due in no small part to a terrific character-heavy script from Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein. Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/ ... -GoldenEye FBF, this review is for you

[bjmdds]

Hollywood.com: "Sorry James Bond. Vampires and werewolves are the declared winners of this weekend's box office race. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 has come out on top, scoring $141.3 million its first weekend at the box office. This may not come as a shocker, though, as the final Twilight film brought in an impressive $162.2 million at the global box office on its opening day. And in the United States, it earned $71.2 million (that includes $30.4 million for all Thursday shows starting at 10 PM and midnight shows).

Second in the race, we find Daniel Craig's James Bond flick Skyfall, raking in $41.5 million in its second week. That's a total of $161.337 million to date. Skyfall has also earned about $39 million in IMAX theaters globally. This weekend, Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond adventure, also become the best-performing film of all time in the longest-running film franchise in motion picture history, with a global cume of $669.2 million and passing the $599.2 million worldwide total taken in by Casino Royale in 2006.

Lincoln comes in third in its first wide expansion into theaters and second week in theaters with $21 million."

Here is the official breakdown of the top five grossing films of the weekend.

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2: $141.3 million

2. Skyfall: $41.5 million; $161.337 million total

3. Lincoln: $21 million; $21.42 million total

4. Wreck-It Ralph: $18.31 million; $121.48 million total

5. Flight: $8.6 million; $61.34 million

[English Agent]

I go to the cinema regularly....but i admit ive never seen a 'Twilight' film..................what are they like???

[bjmdds]

Vampires and werewolves redefined in the 21st century where a troubled emotionally awkward teenager feels more alive with dead vampires and werewolves as her friends. Go figure EA. Cr-egg as Bond and this too. What a world we live in.

[Napoleon Solo]

Skyfall now top-grossing Bond film at $669 million:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bond23.htm

[FormerBondFan]

Skyfall now top-grossing Bond film at $669 million:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bond23.htm

Those who root for Henry Cavill, Michael Fassbender, Ben Barnes, James D'Arcy, or any other tall, dark and handsome actors for Bond after DC leaves are just kidding themselves. For us rebels, James Bond is our worst enemy out there along with the bad economy.

[FormerBondFan]

And of course, the bad economy is the enemy to both rebels and minions.

[BrosnanIsBond007]

Before “reboot” entered the pop culture lexicon, there was “GoldenEye.” The movie is one of the absolute best of the entire James Bond series, due in no small part to a terrific character-heavy script from Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein. Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/ ... -GoldenEye FBF, this review is for you

Great review! Goldeneye was great because it REVIVED the Bond franchise without rebooting it. They didn't feel the need to reinvent everything, they kept most of the same elements and brought us some kick-@$$ action with good ol' Bond heroics. Not to mention a slew of great characters, both good and evil. Thanks for posting.

[bjmdds]

OK B.I.B. Glad you liked it.

[Omega]

'Deadline'.....give SF a second weekend gross of around $41.5 mil, which is pretty good considering the monumental opposition it had from the Twilight film, which was massively front loaded, and its Friday take did dent Bond a bit...but SF came back very well Saturday.

Incidently...have any of our North American members here seen the new Lincoln film?........and if so is it any good?

Lincoln is playing in a small (old) theater here, which says something because they get to more serious films and the other theater gets the big draw names. I'd not bother to pay to see a movie there, it not a bad place but it not worth the price, it has its own audience who don't mind paying higher prices a non stat of the art experience.
The next place to have Lincoln is 70 miles away in a much bigger town, a nice theater too.

This is left over Bond fan for Skyfall, those who do not go the first weekend, or had to see it again. I don't think Twilight hurt much unless we are to believe it was going to be $60 million instead of $40.
I think where it is going to get hurt is the next weekday and next weekend, but maybe thanksgiving will save them. To me Lincoln might do better over thanksgiving but Life of Pi, Red Dawn (2012), Rise of the Guardians are coming out on Wednesday. If skyfall can be the top three over Thanksgiving I think it proves a strong interest better legs as they say.

Skyfall now top-grossing Bond film at $669 million:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bond23.htm

By the letter of how they describe it, it was always going to be. QOS was described as that before they knew where it was going to stop, I think they must of been surprised it couldn't drag out enough to beat CR.

I think these is where the brakes hit and it starts to drag the way MIB3 and Spiderman did.

I was looking at the other twilights, Breaking Bad 2 opening weekend will have $340 million in the bank (pay for the movie the first weekend the rest is money in the bank. well 50% of it.)

But if you look at their other movies they all finish up at $700 million, incredibly front loaded in a way Bond isn't, but I think the school break is going to feed Twilight $10 $12 million dollar days all week long, by this time next week they'll be $240 million in the US and god knows round the world.

This is where IMO they hurt Bond, more or less the Bond audience has seen the movie now, if Bond can draw in repeats or new blood over next week with a half a dozen interesting movies I will be impressed.

[FormerBondFan]

Before “reboot” entered the pop culture lexicon, there was “GoldenEye.” The movie is one of the absolute best of the entire James Bond series, due in no small part to a terrific character-heavy script from Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein. Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/ ... -GoldenEye FBF, this review is for you

Great review! Goldeneye was great because it REVIVED the Bond franchise without rebooting it. They didn't feel the need to reinvent everything, they kept most of the same elements and brought us some kick-@$$ action with good ol' Bond heroics. Not to mention a slew of great characters, both good and evil. Thanks for posting.

GE was a semi-reboot, considering that Bond is younger again. The same can be said with TLD.

[English Agent]

Yes, the Bond takings will obviously be dwindling now....both the US and domestic figures were roughly half of what they were last week, and next week i'd imagine they be halved again. Mind you SF does open in Australia next week, and they are Bond nuts, and two weeks from then film opens in Japan, and Bond does reasonably well there.
Anyway, SF will be irking out takings all the way upto the xmas period.
We wont know the final BO tally, until film plays in China, which is not until next year.

Incidently, the estimated UK tally for SF is now $133.4 mil, as of this moment. SF dropped some 47% to earn around $8.9 mil this weekend......nevertheless, film looks set to be on track to pip Avatar $149 mil, as alltime champ, hopefully!
SF's tickets may cost a tad more than Avatar's did for 2D, but most people saw it obviously in 3D, where the ticket prices are quite a bit higher than for a 2D showing.

[English Agent]

Before “reboot” entered the pop culture lexicon, there was “GoldenEye.” The movie is one of the absolute best of the entire James Bond series, due in no small part to a terrific character-heavy script from Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein. Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/ ... -GoldenEye FBF, this review is for you

Great review! Goldeneye was great because it REVIVED the Bond franchise without rebooting it. They didn't feel the need to reinvent everything, they kept most of the same elements and brought us some kick-@$$ action with good ol' Bond heroics. Not to mention a slew of great characters, both good and evil. Thanks for posting.

GE was a semi-reboot, considering that Bond is younger again. The same can be said with TLD.

Despite a low key soundtrack from Eric Serra, and a plot with the usaul suspects (ie Russians).... i really liked GE a lot, the girls were lovely , and i thought Sean Bean was an excellent villian.....i particularly liked the climatic battle between 007 & 006 on that radar dish.
As ive said before, Martin Campbell, knows better than most directors on how to make a good Bond film.

[carl stromberg]

I sat through Bond 23 again just to make sure I missed nothing..........it was more boring the second time around and the plot is nothing more than an origin story for a male M, MP, and Q. The problem remains we already know these characters since 1962 so how can we be meeting them for the first time? Deadline's estimate for Bond 23 seems off but I hope they are close to being correct.

BJ........were there any parts of SF that you did like apart from the opening which you have alrady mentioned?

My favourite part of Skyfall was the end of the end credits.

Blimey..'Carl..' that was a long wait to sit thru' all thoase adverts, and then the film, just to see that....hope it was worth it....haha!

Bet you cant wait for Bond 24!

Watching the end credits of Skyfall is like being released from prison. What a boring film. imagine watching that boring old rubbish on Christmas Day.

[bjmdds]

Yes, the Bond takings will obviously be dwindling now....both the US and domestic figures were roughly half of what they were last week, and next week i'd imagine they be halved again. Mind you SF does open in Australia next week, and they are Bond nuts, and two weeks from then film opens in Japan, and Bond does reasonably well there.
Anyway, SF will be irking out takings all the way upto the xmas period.
We wont know the final BO tally, until film plays in China, which is not until next year.

Incidently, the estimated UK tally for SF is now $133.4 mil, as of this moment. SF dropped some 47% to earn around $8.9 mil this weekend......nevertheless, film looks set to be on track to pip Avatar $149 mil, as alltime champ, hopefully!
SF's tickets may cost a tad more than Avatar's did for 2D, but most people saw it obviously in 3D, where the ticket prices are quite a bit higher than for a 2D showing.

The Hobbit premieres in Australia in 2 weeks EA so forget about Bond 23 running wild there for long. The rise of the Hobbit ends the run of this morose and dull Bond film thrown out to the public by EON.

[bjmdds]

Before “reboot” entered the pop culture lexicon, there was “GoldenEye.” The movie is one of the absolute best of the entire James Bond series, due in no small part to a terrific character-heavy script from Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein. Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/ ... -GoldenEye FBF, this review is for you

Great review! Goldeneye was great because it REVIVED the Bond franchise without rebooting it. They didn't feel the need to reinvent everything, they kept most of the same elements and brought us some kick-@$$ action with good ol' Bond heroics. Not to mention a slew of great characters, both good and evil. Thanks for posting.

GE was a semi-reboot, considering that Bond is younger again. The same can be said with TLD.

Despite a low key soundtrack from Eric Serra, and a plot with the usaul suspects (ie Russians).... i really liked GE a lot, the girls were lovely , and i thought Sean Bean was an excellent villian.....i particularly liked the climatic battle between 007 & 006 on that radar dish.
As ive said before, Martin Campbell, knows better than most directors on how to make a good Bond film.

Can anyone here truthfully say that Javier BOREDOM's villain was better than Sean Bean's 006 in GE? I do not think it is close. Bean nailed the role. BOREDOM failed in the role.

[Omega]

Yes, the Bond takings will obviously be dwindling now....both the US and domestic figures were roughly half of what they were last week, and next week i'd imagine they be halved again. Mind you SF does open in Australia next week, and they are Bond nuts, and two weeks from then film opens in Japan, and Bond does reasonably well there.
Anyway, SF will be irking out takings all the way upto the xmas period.
We wont know the final BO tally, until film plays in China, which is not until next year.

Incidently, the estimated UK tally for SF is now $133.4 mil, as of this moment. SF dropped some 47% to earn around $8.9 mil this weekend......nevertheless, film looks set to be on track to pip Avatar $149 mil, as alltime champ, hopefully!
SF's tickets may cost a tad more than Avatar's did for 2D, but most people saw it obviously in 3D, where the ticket prices are quite a bit higher than for a 2D showing.

Last thing I saw was China was going to be a 3 way opening (Hobbit, Cloud atlas, SF) , but Dark knight and Spiderman both were in the $50 million range and they were in face off. The avengers Disney partnered with a Chinese company avoiding the new restrictions and they made $84 million.

I see the Hobbit as a bigger monster class film, I know every where is it will be king will it be big china? will it be big enough to keep Bond down. I'd say SF should do at least $30 million maybe $50.

[BrosnanIsBond007]

Despite a low key soundtrack from Eric Serra, and a plot with the usaul suspects (ie Russians).... i really liked GE a lot, the girls were lovely , and i thought Sean Bean was an excellent villian.....i particularly liked the climatic battle between 007 & 006 on that radar dish.
As ive said before, Martin Campbell, knows better than most directors on how to make a good Bond film.

Can anyone here truthfully say that Javier BOREDOM's villain was better than Sean Bean's 006 in GE? I do not think it is close. Bean nailed the role. BOREDOM failed in the role.

Though I like Bardem and thought he was great in Skyfall (creepy but funny), Sean Bean was brilliant, and you didn't have to wait an hour and a half for him to appear. The personal connection to Bond also made things more interesting, and the 006/007 fight at the end was epic! 006 definitely had the cooler death. Forced to pick who's the better villain though, I'd say Bardem's character - he was more interesting to watch, and more menacing. 006 had way, way better supporting villains though.

As far as Goldeneye's soundtrack - I love the echoing-pipe sounds and other electronic sounds that were used, but there were key scenes where the music was lacking - the tank scene comes to mind. The boat chase in TWINE had much better music. The gunbarrel in Goldeneye is one of my favorites though - you immediately feel like you've entered a new era of Bond after the 6 year hiatus.