The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[katied]

last night our local PBS station showed Tess Of The Dubervilles(with Gemma Arterton as Tess). "Bad" doesn't even begin to cover it

[Felix Leiter]

QAUNTUM OF SOLACE was the fourth worst film of 2008 according to the publication below.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/104/story/444863.html

Ones that shouldn't have hit screens
By Lawrence Toppman
Movie Critic
Posted: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008


The five worst films of 2008 are probably buried somewhere in the rental bins of chain stores or, even likelier, sitting unseen in their directors' dens. So when I talk about bad movies, I mean the most disappointing of the major releases of the last year – and, to be disappointing, there had to be reasonable hope they'd have been good in the first place. Here are my five biggest letdowns:

1. “Speed Racer”: The Wachowski siblings made a movie about a driver that was less subtle than its cartoon source, then dragged it out to an unconscionable 135 minutes.

2. “The X-Files: I Want to Believe”: Liked the TV series. Liked the first film. Waited 10 years for glumly acted, silly sequel about dismemberment. Want money back.

3. “Changeling”: Clint Eastwood sees the world as simplistically as an elementary schooler. This overbearing, 141-minute evocation of 1920s L.A. is the plodding result.

4. “Quantum of Solace”: The “Casino Royale” sequel explained nothing, made little sense and had zero emotional component. Even the action sequences were incoherent.

5. “Australia”: “Pearl Harbor” with kangaroos and a phony hero called The Drover, as big as the mighty land he tamed! What happened to Baz Luhrmann's imagination?

[The Sweeney]

So far, CR and QoS has pulled in more money worldwide than Brozza's first 2 films. The way its looking, QoS will beat GE too, making Craig's 2 films bigger at the BO than any of Brozza's films.

Looks like Craig is more popular than Brozza. Who would have thought it.....

[Frank Castle]

http://blog.jamesbondfanbook.com/2008/1 ... gain-bond/

Bourne-Again Bond?

Casino Royale succeeded – despite the cheerless Daniel Craig – because it was a first-rate story from the pen of that master storyteller, Ian Fleming. Wisely, the screenwriters chose to adhere to the main thrust of Fleming’s original and thus kept the plot building inexorably towards its climax.

One of the biggest problems with Quantum of Solace, and to a much lesser extent Casino Royale, is entirely of EON’s own making. More than an entire generation of audiences has grown up with the cinematic Bond and their expectation is precisely what Messrs Broccoli and Saltzman very successfully created – a witty, tough, but above all entertaining, super-spy.

That is precisely what Daniel Craig and screenwriters Haggis, Wade and Purvis fail to create in Quantum of Solace.

If audiences want to experience the gritty, humourless, no frills hard-action of a Jason Bourne film, then they can watch a Jason Bourne film. To their shame, the producers, director and writers of Quantum of Solace have manifestly sought to emulate the Bourne filmic style. To their credit, they have produced an imitation of a Bourne film – but it isn’t a Bond film. Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have singularly failed to learn the lesson that Bourne isn’t Bond and Bond isn’t Bourne.

And with Quantum of Solace they fail to deliver what Bond aficionados want.

The gratuitous rape scene is wholly out of place in a film series that regularly attracts family audiences, in spite of its UK 12A rating (children may on watch if accompanied by an adult).

To be fair, Quantum of Solace promises much in its pre-title sequence – assuming, that is, you don’t (as some people) suffer nausea from the frenzied camera movements. Sadly, given the fact that the film lasts 106 minutes, the pre-title sequence is unequivocally the high-octane highlight of the entire film. What follows is a confused story, lacking any coherent direction and end goal, peopled by a host of characters who fail dismally to create feelings of empathy or enmity with the audience.

And, ultimately, Quantum of Solace fails.

Broccoli and Wilson would do well to abide by the old adage: “Cobbler, stick to your last!”

And listen to the public.

[katied]

Eh, the shaky cam wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be-and that sort of thing tends to really bother me.

[stockslivevan]

Great, another fool who thinks that Bond is supposed targeted for youngsters. The last time that happened we got DAD. NO THANKS.

[katied]

Great, another fool who thinks that Bond is supposed targeted for youngsters. The last time that happened we got DAD. NO THANKS.

The thought of Bond being tailored for the kiddie set is just...wrong

[John Drake]

http://blog.jamesbondfanbook.com/2008/1 ... gain-bond/

Bourne-Again Bond?

Casino Royale succeeded – despite the cheerless Daniel Craig – because it was a first-rate story from the pen of that master storyteller, Ian Fleming. Wisely, the screenwriters chose to adhere to the main thrust of Fleming’s original and thus kept the plot building inexorably towards its climax.

One of the biggest problems with Quantum of Solace, and to a much lesser extent Casino Royale, is entirely of EON’s own making. More than an entire generation of audiences has grown up with the cinematic Bond and their expectation is precisely what Messrs Broccoli and Saltzman very successfully created – a witty, tough, but above all entertaining, super-spy.

That is precisely what Daniel Craig and screenwriters Haggis, Wade and Purvis fail to create in Quantum of Solace.

If audiences want to experience the gritty, humourless, no frills hard-action of a Jason Bourne film, then they can watch a Jason Bourne film. To their shame, the producers, director and writers of Quantum of Solace have manifestly sought to emulate the Bourne filmic style. To their credit, they have produced an imitation of a Bourne film – but it isn’t a Bond film. Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have singularly failed to learn the lesson that Bourne isn’t Bond and Bond isn’t Bourne.

And with Quantum of Solace they fail to deliver what Bond aficionados want.

The gratuitous rape scene is wholly out of place in a film series that regularly attracts family audiences, in spite of its UK 12A rating (children may on watch if accompanied by an adult).

To be fair, Quantum of Solace promises much in its pre-title sequence – assuming, that is, you don’t (as some people) suffer nausea from the frenzied camera movements. Sadly, given the fact that the film lasts 106 minutes, the pre-title sequence is unequivocally the high-octane highlight of the entire film. What follows is a confused story, lacking any coherent direction and end goal, peopled by a host of characters who fail dismally to create feelings of empathy or enmity with the audience.

And, ultimately, Quantum of Solace fails.

Broccoli and Wilson would do well to abide by the old adage: “Cobbler, stick to your last!”

And listen to the public.

Some excellent points in my opinion.

[bjmdds]

So far, CR and QoS has pulled in more money worldwide than Brozza's first 2 films. The way its looking, QoS will beat GE too, making Craig's 2 films bigger at the BO than any of Brozza's films.

Looks like Craig is more popular than Brozza. Who would have thought it.....

The China market was not opened to Pierce's films, correct?

[stockslivevan]

So far, CR and QoS has pulled in more money worldwide than Brozza's first 2 films. The way its looking, QoS will beat GE too, making Craig's 2 films bigger at the BO than any of Brozza's films.

Looks like Craig is more popular than Brozza. Who would have thought it.....

The China market was not opened to Pierce's films, correct?

And yet even without the China market Craig's films seem to be working well consistently reaching up to Brosnan's overall average, something no one thought was possible. So you can doom and gloom all you like, but the two films have done enough to warrant him another film. With his two films making over a billion dollars combined, I seriously doubt we have seen the last of Craig in the Bond series.

Craig's films have received high praise with CR, and mixed reception with QOS. Hopefully EON will look into this and find some common ground to make the third film with the responses in mind to make it an effective entry for the series.

[stockslivevan]

Great, another fool who thinks that Bond is supposed targeted for youngsters. The last time that happened we got DAD. NO THANKS.

The thought of Bond being tailored for the kiddie set is just...wrong

[LilleOSC]

Great, another fool who thinks that Bond is supposed targeted for youngsters. The last time that happened we got DAD. NO THANKS.

The thought of Bond being tailored for the kiddie set is just...wrong

I think I am going to be sick.

[katied]

I'd forgotten about that...with good reason

[The Sweeney]

The China market was not opened to Pierce's films, correct?

And QoS has not opened in Japan yet either. But that's not the real argument anyway, is it. By your reckoning, Craig was such a bad choice as Bond, you claimed no one would want to go and see him in CR. It didn't matter which markets the films opened up in - no one would want to see Craig as Bond.

First time round, you put it down to curiosity factor. Second time round....there's no excuses anymore.

Craig is more popular than Brozza after 2 films. It's official.....

[Roger Devereau]

According to the media, Daniel Craig and the retcon saved the James Bond franchise from oblivion. I don't think this is the case as Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have done about the same business as the Brosnan outings. The latest Bond entries have had the benefit of a huge marketing campaign too, which should have given them a huge boost.

Eon are ashamed of James Bond and made radical changes to make something new and gain more respect. But they still have to slap this logo




on the posters to get the audiences in.

[The Sweeney]

According to the media, Daniel Craig and the retcon saved the James Bond franchise from oblivion. I don't think this is the case as Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have done about the same business as the Brosnan outings.

Correction. CR has made more money than any of Brozza's films, and Craig's 2nd film has already beaten Brozza's 2nd film, and could go on to top all of Brozza's films too.

Eon are ashamed of James Bond and made radical changes to make something new and gain more respect.

They were ashamed of the Bond they had created with Brosnan, and who can blame them? DAD was one of the worst films ever made. So yes, I understood totally the need for change to gain more respect. Brosnan's Bond belonged in Austin Powers world, not Fleming's.

But they still have to slap this logo

on the posters to get the audiences in.

Of course. Bond is Bond. Bond is 007. We finally have a Bond that I can truly say is the 007 that Fleming wrote about.

[John Drake]

http://attackthis.blogspot.com/2008/11/ ... e-eva.html

Quantum of Solace - Worst Bond Movie Ever

What a disappointing time it is to be a James Bond fanboy. I have been sincerely let down by both Quantum of Solace the video game and the movie. We’ll have a review of the game in the coming days but let us talk about the film for right now. I went and saw the movie opening night and came away feeling it was one of the worst Bond films of all time.

Some thought that the Bond franchise needed to be rebooted to apparently breathe new life into it even though the Pierce Brosnan films were wildly successful. While I wasn’t too happy with the idea of rebooting the franchise and telling the story of Bond at the beginning of his career, Casino Royale turned out to be a decent flick and Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to it. Basically it picks up where Royale left off with James Bond played by Daniel Craig trying to track down the men behind the secretive organization that were responsible for the death of his love interest Vesper in the previous film.

In Quantum of Solace that plotline is followed early in the film but quickly abandoned for the attention of this movie’s villain, Dominic Greene played by Mathieu Amalric a wimpy eco terrorist with equally wimpy henchmen bent on securing water rights in Bolivia by helping to reinstall a deposed dictator. Through Greene Bond meets up with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who is out to get revenge on this dictator for killing her family. Together they set out to stop Greene and the dictator with their plans and the predictable 007 mayhem ensues. The organization plotline is barely touched on later and after the film’s climatic final scenes takes place at a completely bizarre and out of place set piece the movie ends abruptly at a short hour and 40 minutes.

Characters are quickly introduced and abandoned and the short running time leaves little room to learn about those that are still around and their motives. It doesn’t even feel like a Bond film. They dropped the famous gun barrel opening to the end credits and the action sequences, which are mostly chase scenes are boring and unoriginal. Even the infamous title sequence was bland beyond belief. It is like this 007 movie was made by completely different producers. Shockingly bad.

Quantum of Solace features even less technology than the Q’less Casino Royale…about all we get for gadgets is Bond’s carefully product placed Sony Ericsson cell phone that has camera. Agent 007 has abandoned all forms of modern spy weaponry. As a Bond fan I left the theater shaking my head at how bad this film was. Throughout the franchise’s 40+ years there have been a few weak films and I’m hoping this is not the beginning of a trend but rather just a bad mistake.

For Bond fans the dismantling of the formula that made these films successful in the first place is really apparent and heartbreaking with Quantum of Solace. After this outing I could actually see for the first time this franchise having the chance of fading away, which is hard to believe. Reboot it is not.

[katied]

I agree with some of it(but Q can stay gone, as far as I'm concerned.)

[LilleOSC]

So far, CR and QoS has pulled in more money worldwide than Brozza's first 2 films. The way its looking, QoS will beat GE too, making Craig's 2 films bigger at the BO than any of Brozza's films.

Looks like Craig is more popular than Brozza. Who would have thought it.....

So you disagree with bjmdds' numbers that QOS is losing EON money?

Let's figure it out. The budget was $230 million to produce and $170 million to market and advertise worldwide(USA was $50 million supposedly;$120 million internationally). Eon received $75 million approximately for product placement. The NET cost for TBM was roughly $325 million, give or take a million. TO DATE, this Bourne rubbish has taken in $540 million totally, after a huge opening and a swift downward falloff. The studios keep about 50% of the total worldwide take, therefore, TBM, also known as Quantum Of Soul-less, has returned $270 million to Eon's bank account. Do the math, and so far, they are LOSING $55 million to date. Japan awaits, and probably another $15-20 million will be generated, so the total worldwide take will be around $560 million,with $280 million going to Eon, with a net $45 million LOSS. Who spends $325 million to only take back $280 million? Was it arrogance by Eon to presume public stupidity? DVDs will give it revenue, but not what CR did. Eon expected a nice increase to CR's $594 million take, wouldn't you say? That is NOT what they received, and this gives me more than a Quantum Of Solace!

[stockslivevan]

LilleOSC, you should know by now that BJ's hatred for Craig is almost legendary. He'll say anything to make Craig's films sound like the apocalypse, and I mean AN-Y-THING.

Two years ago Superman Returns, with a budget of 200 million, made only $391 million worldwide, yet it was labeled a success, although a very modest one. WB still expressed disappointment that it hadn't made something like over $500, which is what they were hoping for.

So since QOS has made over $500 million, surely, that should be considered a success. Should it not? It's no CR numbers, but it's adequate enough to ensure the series future. All EON has to do is be careful of not spending too much money next time.