Month: October 2021

Released: October 2021

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 163 Minutes

Distributor: Universal/MGM Studios

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Daniel Craig: James Bond
Rami Malik: Lyutsifer Safin
Lea Seydoux: Dr. Madeleine Swann
Ana de Armas: Paloma
Jeffrey Wright: Felix Leiter
Ralph Fiennes: M
Lashana Lynch: Nomi
Christoph Waltz: Blofeld

15 years.  It’s really hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since actor Daniel Craig took on the role of the legendary James Bond.  That makes Daniel Craig the longest-running James Bond in the franchise, which is amazing because the James Bond franchise is the longest-running franchise in cinema history.  We’re coming up on 60 years worth of James Bond.  I don’t know about you, but it’s incredible that a single character has survived this long in pop culture.  Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and now Daniel Craig have all had the distinct honor of playing the infamous 007.  With the release of No Time To Die, we have 25 official movies in the enduring franchise.  25 movies.  That’s quite a number to wrap your head around considering every movie is centered around a specific character.  I’m not counting the original Casino Royale film from 1967 or Sean Connery’s Never Say Never Again from 1983, as those are not considered part of EON’s franchise.  While the quality of the James Bond movies have been hit-and-miss over the years, Daniel Craig’s represented a significant change in direction for the character.  I’ll go into the reasons for that in a little bit.  But now, it’s time to focus on Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond.  Is it a proper send-off, or does 007 go out with a whimper?

James Bond has retired from active service with his code-name of 007 passing on to someone else.  He’s seemed to have found some happiness in the arms of Madeleine Swann, the woman he saved from Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his evil organization, SPECTRE.  While visiting the grave of his long-dead love Vesper Lynd, he’s attacked by a group of SPECTRE assassins.  Realizing that he may have been betrayed by Madeleine, he sends her off on a train.  5 years later, he gets a call from CIA agent Felix Leiter urging Bond to take on one last mission.  Initially refusing, he’s visited by the newest 007, Nomi, and is warned to stay out of her way.  Learning that a mysterious new enemy by the name of Safin has gotten his hands on a new biological weapon, James Bond is forced out of retirement.  Never before in the history of James Bond have we seen a story and character arc cover 5 movies.  Every other Bond movie has been stand-alone, which means that you didn’t need to see any of the previous ones to understand what was going on.  Daniel Craig’s version of the character changes that, covering his induction into MI:6 as a double-O agent to his retirement.  While I can’t say that No Time To Die is perfect when it comes to the narrative, it feels far more personal for Bond than any movie that came before.  While the previous movies were about James Bond fighting for Queen and Country, this latest film has him fighting for something far more personal than anything, and that makes for a more emotional and impactful film.  I’m not going to spoil it for people, but I really like the payoff here.  Not everybody’s going to see it that way though.

When Daniel Craig was initially cast as James Bond, people around the world were up in arms about having a blonde and blue-eyed James Bond.  Yet, when Casino Royale was released, most of those naysayers shut up pretty quickly, because Mr. Craig not only had the physicality required for the role, but he also the character a more striking appearance and emotional depth.  We got to learn what made Bond tick, but Craig also made the character human.  This version of James Bond made mistakes, he got hurt, betrayed, and thrown around at every possible opportunity.  The character has evolved over the course of 5 movies to what he is now, and Daniel Craig knocks it out of the park, as usual.  We’ve got some pretty interesting characters this time around. Ana de Armas plays Paloma, a plucky new CIA agent who kicks some serious ass.  I would love to see more of this character in other movies.  Lashana Lynch was brought in to play the new 007, and this is where a lot of people got pissed.  They assumed that she was going to be the new James Bond, when it is clearly not the case.  What this showed was that while the agent retires, their code-name doesn’t necessarily have to, and that’s what happened in this movie, so I think fans should relax.  Honestly, I love the way James Bond and Nomi jab each other throughout the entire movie.  Those two are a lot of fun together.  Rami Malik plays Lyutsifer Safin, the film’s main villain, and this is one of the film’s weakest points.  Don’t get me wrong, Rami is a fantastic actor, but his character isn’t really given a whole lot to other than posturing and giving speeches.  In the pantheon of Bond villains, Safin is going to be forgotten pretty quickly.  Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw return for their roles of M, Moneypenny, and Q, respectively.  They’re still as good as they were in the previous films.  Lea Seydoux’s character is improved quite a bit as Bond’s love interest.

If there’s one thing that the James Bond movies has delivered, it’s the action.  Most of the movies in this franchise have outstanding action sequences, although, there are a couple of movies here and there that aren’t that hot(I’m looking at YOU, Quantum of Solace).  For the most part, the action in No Time To Die is pretty good.  The real big issue I have with the action is that there really isn’t anything here that could be considered as iconic as say the construction chase sequence from Casino Royale or the opening dam sequence from Goldeneye.  That being said, the film-makers did a good job shooting the action as we can clearly see what’s taking place, which is a far cry from Quantum of Solace, which took its hyper-editing and shaky-cam crap from the Bourne movies.  The cinematography in this film is second-to-none.  There are shots around the world that are incredibly stunning, whether it’s wide aerial shots or in the gritty streets.  It’s one of the most beautiful movies to watch.

These Daniel Craig movies have taken a lot of risks over the last 15 years, but No Time To Die takes the most risks.  I won’t mention some of them because of spoilers, but these were some really bold decisions.  Did all of them work?  Not all of them, but I think enough risks did payoff enough to make this a satisfying entry into the franchise.  Giving Bond something personal to fight for was definitely unexpected, but I think it really gave the film a much-needed sense of urgency and pathos.  That’s not to say that everything about the movie worked, because there are some issues.  For one, and this is one that’s been brought up by critics all across the board:  The movie is too long.  At 2 hours and 43 minutes, there’s definitely some filler material in here.  You could’ve excised the sequences with the imprisoned Blofeld entirely, and the movie wouldn’t have lost a step.  And again, some characters are not as fleshed out as well as they could be, especially the villains.  They’re pretty standard and not overly memorable.  At least, not in the same way that Le Chifre was from Casino Royale or Silva from Skyfall.  Ultimately, though, these issues don’t overly detract from the movie.

While I think the overall film is excellent, not everybody’s going to feel that way, especially with the way film ended.  I’m not going to spoil it, but it IS going to divide audiences around the globe.  You’ve got people like me that feel that it’s a logical and honest conclusion to a character that we’ve known for 5 movies, but others are going to be pissed that the film didn’t end the way they hoped it would.  I understand the sense of ownership with the character.  People have invested a lot of time in this character for decades, so the conclusion to Daniel Craig’s tenure is going to rub some people the wrong way.  That also begs the question:  Where do we go from here?  Who is the next actor to take up the role and what kind of movies will they be.  Understand this: There WILL be another James Bond film.  The franchise is too popular and too stubborn to disappear.  While opinions on No Time To Die will vary, one thing is clear:  James Bond needs to really shake things up if he’s going to remain relevant in today’s world.  With all the Mission Impossibles and Bournes out there, the new James Bond needs to do something really radical and different to stand out from the pack, and it’s getting harder for the franchise to do that.  So, do I think that No Time To Die is a solid send-off for Daniel Craig’s Bond?  Yes.  I do.  Honestly, I think it’s the best send-off the character has ever gotten, and yes, I do recommend it.  Get out there and see it in theaters.  This one is meant to be seen on the big screen…and have a vodka martini.  Shaken, not stirred.

Since this weekend is the US domestic opening of the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, I’ve decided to give some of my thoughts on Daniel Craig’s tenure as the superspy known as 007.  I will have my actual review of the film itself up by tomorrow night, so stay tuned for that, but in the meantime, enjoy the latest episode of my podcast:

Ladies and gentlement, it is now October 2021.  That means one thing: Horror movies!  There are a couple of non-horror movies being released this month including No Time To Die and Dune, but my focus for October is going to be horror movies and thrillers, because this is the time of year when people like being scared.  It’s Trick Or Treat Month.  People obviously dress up as ghouls and goblins and try to scare each other silly.  So, yesterday on October 1st, I did an audio review of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.  To sum up, it was an alright movie that could’ve benefitted from a longer run time and much better writing.  But it was still a lot of fun.  To kick off the festivities of All Hallow’s Eve Month, I’m going to start with a Best/Worst list, and what better way to do that than to a do a list of the best and worst adaptations of Stephen King’s stories?  Stephen King is an author that really needs no introduction.  He’s one of the most celebrated horror novelists of the 20th century.  Like all successful novelists, Mr. King has had a lot of success, but he’s had a few bumps in the road here and there.  The film adaptations of his stories are just as varied.  So, let’s take a deep dive into some of the best AND worst adaptations of the works of Stephen King.

The Best/Worst: Maximum Overdrive

What can I say?  This one’s a total guilty pleasure.  It’s not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I get the feeling that Stephen King was going for something a bit more campy than his original short story.  This is the first and ONLY movie that was directed by Stephen King, and it shows.  Some of the shots are too long and some of the editing is a little wonky, but the dialogue is all sorts of cheesy.  I will say this though, while Stephen King may be a master of horror in his novels, he absolutely has no problems blowing shit up.  There’s a lot of destruction in this movie, but that’s kind of to be expected when your movie is about a bunch of machines that come to life and try to destroy the human race because of a comet.  It’s silly as hell, but it’s awesome at the same time.  What can I say?  I love it.

The Best: The Mist

At it’s core, the story of The Mist is about monsters.  But it asks the question: Who are the real monsters?  Is it the otherworldly creatures that show up out of the mysterious mist that envelopes the town, or is it the people inside the store?  What would you do if the terrified people inside your store were influenced by a rabid religious fanatic?  People have a tendency to cling to things and ideas that would keep them alive, and The Mist shows that.  I’ve read the novella and the movie does a fantastic job of translating it to the big screen.  While most audiences and critics tend to agree that The Mist is one of the best Stephen King adaptations, the one aspect of the movie that has split them down the middle is the ending.  While the novella had a more ambiguous ending, Frank Darabont opted for more of a gut-punch ending for the film, and it’s brutal.  It didn’t make my list of Best Endings because it was so divisive.  People either love it, or they flat-out hate it.  But there’s no doubt that the ending to The Mist got people talking.

The Worst: Dreamcatcher

While most of us would agree that movie adaptations of books are usually not as good as the source material, it’s even more startling when you see a movie that is as bad as the source material.  Dreamcatcher, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the worst books that Stephen King has ever written.  It’s an alien invasion thriller, and not a very good one.  Two words: Shit weasel.  I’m not kidding.  It’s feels like a bad rip-off of the Alien films.  Even Stephen King himself has come out said that Dreamcatcher wasn’t that good.  The movie was just as bad.  Despite having an all-star cast that includes Thomas Jane, Morgan Freeman, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and Donnie Wahlburg, there is very little about this movie that one could consider to be good.  While Damian Lewis was great with a dual personality, Morgan Freeman’s character was completely over-the-top.  The movie was bad enough that I never even bothered to upgrade it to DVD or Blu-Ray.  Yep, it’s stuck in VHS, because I’m not going to spend the money to upgrade a movie that I hate.

The Best: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining is one of the most celebrated horror movies of all time.  It had a great cast with Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duval, and Scatman Crothers.  The movie also features some of the most iconic moments in cinema history, including when young Danny encounters twin girls when he’s riding around the Overlook Hotel.  It’s a haunted house story that just happens to be a gigantic hotel.  Jack Nicholson puts in one of his most iconic performances that he’s ever done as Jack Torrance.  Yet all the praise from the audience and critics hasn’t stopped Stephen King from tearing it to shreds, saying that it doesn’t live up to the spirit of his book, so to speak.  I’ve never seen a novelist hate an adaptation the way Stephen King did with The Shining.  This is one of those cases where I think Stephen King is 100 percent wrong, as some of the events, creatures and ideas in his book couldn’t translate well to the big screen, so Mr. Kubrick opted to stream-line the story down to its bare essentials, and the movie actually works because of that.  Which leads us to the next entry:

The Worst: Stephen King’s The Shining

It was no secret that Stephen King HATED Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, so when the opportunity came to do a mini-series of the book,  King jumped into the producer’s chair to ensure that it was done right.  Well, the mini-series was more faithful to the book in terms of its structure, but it was a terrible mini-series.  Half-baked acting, weak special effects, and terrible pacing.  Like I said earlier, The Shining is one of those rare cases in which the author of the source material is 100 percent wrong.  The 1997 min-series was just too cheesy to be taken seriously and the cinematography was awful.  Just because a mini-series or movie is accurate to the source material, doesn’t make it faithful or as good, and The Shining is a perfect example of that.  Both the movie and the min-series are the same story, but they two very different experiences, and quite frankly, Kubrick’s movie is the better version.

The Best: The Shawshank Redemption

Not everything that Stephen King wrote was horror.  He wrote some pretty dramatic and powerful stuff as well, but the one thing that really connects most of his stories, is that they’re about people.  That is the single common thread throughout his works: People.  While The Shawshank Redemption told the story of a man who was falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, the movie is about hope.  That’s not exactly something that I would ever read or see from somebody like Stephen King, but The Shawshank Redemption is not only one of the best adaptations, it’s one of the best movies period.  It’s got an outstanding cast with Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Clancy Brown, and James Whitmore.

The Worst: The Stand (1994)

Now, for some people this is going to seem blasphemous, but I never liked The Stand.  The book was huge at nearly 1,100 pages and it took me six months to read it.  I found the pacing in the book to be plodding and slow.  The TV mini-series from 1994 wasn’t much better.  The problem wasn’t necessarily the source material, it was the way it was adapted.  The production values for those kinds of mini-series weren’t that great, and you could tell because some of the visual effects and stunt-work were pretty lousy.  The story is good, but it just ended up being too long for my taste, and the mini-series is ALL sorts of cheesy.  It doesn’t hold up at all.

The Best: Carrie

If you couldn’t tell by some entries in this list, Stephen King has real issues with out-of-control religious zealotry.  Carrie is the story of a young woman who has been abused by an overbearing religious mother, and that abuse has led to Carrie developing telekinetic abilities.  Between an overbearing mother and school bullies, it all culminates in one of the most shocking and brutal sequences in a horror movies, particularly in 1976.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but it’s a pretty good movie from what I remember.

The Worst: The Lawnmower Man

When you take a short story from Stephen King and change it up so much that the author ends up suing you, you fucked up.  That’s exactly what happened with The Lawnmower Man.  The adaptation was so far removed from what Stephen King had written, that the only thing that remained the same was the name.  The short story didn’t have a mentally challenged lawnmower man play virtual reality games to get smarter.  Because the film had no resemblance whatsoever to King’s short story, he sued not only the film-makers, but New Line Cinema as well to have his name removed from the film.  The courts sided with King, of course, but in defiance of the courts, New Line would continue to market the film using Stephen King’s name.  They would eventually be found in contempt of court, and all the profits made by the movie would go to King.  This is one of those cases where the story surrounding the film is more interesting than the movie itself, which was pretty awful.

The Best: It(2017,2019)

While I believe that the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s It was pretty solid in its own right with a spectacular performance from Tim Curry, it pales in comparison to what director Andy Muschietti cooked up in 2017 and 2019.  While the new movies are not free from some of the cheesy aspects of the book, it’s taken a lot more seriously, and it’s more violent.  As much as I love Tim Curry as Pennywise, Bill Skarsgaard is even creepier.  Unlike the mini-series, the first movie focuses specifically on our heroes when they were kids.  The second movie takes place when they’re adults, and it works better that way.  It’s more consistent in its story-telling and character development.  Oh, and by the way: I fucking hate clowns.

The Best/Worst: Children of the Corn

Another film based on one of Stephen King’s short stories, Children of the Corn is both amazing and awful at the same time.  Because this was 1984, it ended up being one of the cheesiest movies of the year.  To be fair, there’s a lot about the film that does work, namely the performances by Linda Hamilton and John Franklin.  Franklin plays the psychotic child priest Isaac, who is a prophet for “He Who Walks Behind The Rows.”  For the most part, it’s a pretty good movie, but it’s almost undone by a ridiculous ending.  For anybody who says that kids aren’t creepy, show them Children of the Corn.  Yes.  Yes, they are creepy.

There are definitely more adaptations out there, and I know some people are going to lambaste me for leaving out movies like Misery.  The truth is, that one never really interested me.  As you can see, adaptations of Stephen King’s work can be hit or miss, much like his stories, and I would say the average would be about 50/50.  Half of them are outstanding and the other half are pretty bad, even if I do enjoy them on a certain level.  What is certain is that film-makers will continue to try and adapt Stephen King’s work from now until long after he’s gone.  Stephen King as far as I’m concerned, will be mentioned in the same breath as Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.  I genuinely believe that.  So whatever comes next, I’m looking to seeing how it’s done.  Good or bad, Stephen King’s stories will continue to inspire authors and film-makers for decades to come.

Released: October 2021

Director: Andy Serkis

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 97 Minutes

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Genre: Action

Cast:
Tom Hardy: Eddie Brock/Venom
Woody Harrelson: Cletus Kassidy/Carnage
Naomie Harris: Francis Barrison/Shriek
Michelle Williams: Anne Weying
Reid Scott: Dr. Dan Lewis
Stephen Graham: Detective Mulligan
Peggy Lu: Ms. Chen

Plot Synopsis: Eddie Brock attempts to reignite his career by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady, who becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution.