So… You want to be on TV?
So… You want to be on TV? In the 1960s Warhol prophesied that in the future we would all be famous for 15 minutes. Well, the future is now
Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017)
Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) Run Time: 2hrs 13mins Directed by: Jon Watts Produced by: Kevin Feige Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Jacob Batalon Marisa Tomei and Zendaya Release Date: July 7th 2017 Production company: Marvel Studios Full Spoilers Retrospective Review Tone Tom Holland was the first truly teen Spider-man at 19 when he showed up in Captain America: Civil War. Much to the joy of Kevin Smith, the first onscreen wall crawler with a comic accurate, Queens accent. Spider-man: Homecoming wall crawls on similar paths to it’s predecessors. Homecoming isn’t an origin story like the previous franchise starters, but it’s not much further down the line. It’s easy to forget that this Peter lost his uncle and father figure in the last year. All of his scenes with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May are light and sweet but don’t have much substance. None come near the one with Aunt May after Uncle Ben’s funeral in the first Rami film. He has a closer friendship with Ned than the ones seen with both Harry Osborns in past films. The two spend all their time together and seem well liked by their classmates. Flash is still there to pick on Peter but he’s more of a frenemy than a physical bully. It’s an interesting take on their rivalry. Peter pines over Liz Allan while a thinly veiled Mary Jane hangs in the wings played by Zendaya. Genre Spider-man: Homecoming applies the half-another-genre style of MCU films and that other half is teen comedy, specifically the ones made by John Huges. A homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off damn near beats us to death at one point. It does work quite well, there’s plenty of fun interactions and most scenes are spun in a entertaining fashion, only getting serious when needed. Like most MCU films, humour can feel forced. Peter as Spider-man commandeers (really steals) Flash’s car and ends up wrecking it which. I get that they’re showing Peter as an inexperienced web slinger. Or maybe just the logistics of web swinging across Queens which they did earlier in the film to great effect, buuuut this just felt wrong. Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) continues below Pete’s feelings for Liz and his pursuit of her seem equally light and superficial but that does track as puppy teenager love. They only have dramatic weight when It’s revealed who Liz’s father is. Young Spider-man’s main concern is a fear of missing out on Avengers action, since Tony Stark hasn’t made him a regular team member after Civil War. Peter’s either being left on read by Happy or he’s dealing with the douchiest version of Tony brought to life by Robert Downey Jr. Who makes an inappropriate joke about Aunt May that left a bad taste in my mouth. He just comes across as mean to the young Spidey, as he mishandles the new superhero’s concerns about the Vulture’s crew. A shame because I still think he gave one of his best and most relatable performances as the character in Civil War. Ironlad Spider-man being Ironman junior is the biggest complaint held against the MCU’s wall crawler. Which I get, Tony has been shown as having a bigger impact on this Peter’s life than Uncle Ben had in the MCU. Maybe this web head, is a little too focused on Ironman but that’s just this version of Spider-man. We can still celebrate how he’s similar to a more classical interpretation and be excited about where he’s going to go that’s different. This universe started with Ironman and if the Sony/Disney relationship continues to work, it will be passed on to Holland’s Spider-man, these choices make sense. Review – Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) continues below The gadget equipped Stark suit drew a sizeable amount of criticism which I also get. I do however respect that Peter taking to his AI, Karen, was an attempt to translate the streams of thought and oddly speech bubbles that would come out of the neurotic Spidey in the comics. The translation of his emotive eyes from the page being dampeners for his heightened senses as well as fancy goggles is a smoother transition but Karen and Peter’s chats weren’t all bad to be fair. The Birdman The Vulture had always been a dorky Spider-man villain, most of the earlier ones were but this old man in a bird costume never got an edgy revamp that removed him from the goofy section of Spidey’s rogues’ gallery. That is until this film. Adrian Toomes is grounded by Keaton’s gruff performance. His repositioning from engineer to hard-ass boss man of a salvage crew who gets hard done by Stark’s business deals, gives him a believability and ties to the greater MCU. The Tinkerer who is on his crew (as well as two different Shockers) repurposes Chitauri tech from the battle of New York to make Toomes the Vulture. With heftier wings than Falcon and Keaton playing the part like an angry Dad, this Vulture is very menacing. After he has been to revealed as Liz’s father to Peter, we are filled with tension as he deciphers the budding superhero’s dual identity on the car ride to the Homecoming dance. Giving us one of the best scenes of the MCU as well as one of the best onscreen examples of a date with a scary father. Visuals The composition of the cinematography is mostly MCU standard, some highlights but a lot of unimaginative shots. It’s aided by fantastic photorealistic digital effects that blend with the gifted acrobat Tom Holland and his stunt team. The action is on point, and is well worth a rewatching scenes to pick up the specifics of what happens so quickly before your eyes. The great suit design reminiscent of the Steve Ditko Spider-man and just being able to see Spider-man do whatever a Spider-man can is a treat, but it’s clear that isn’t a film with
Casting Call – Glasgow Extras for Indiana Jones
Casting Call – Glasgow Extras for Indiana Jones, are you brave enough to take the call and become a background actor in the filming in Glasgow?
Review- Black Widow: Is It Too Little Too Late?
Review – Black Widow (2021) Run Time: 2hrs 14mins Directed by: Cate Shortland Produced by: Kevin Feige Written by: Eric Pearson, Jac Schaeffer & Ned Benson Starring: Scarlet Johansen, Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Wei Release Date: July 8th 2021 Prduction company: Marvel Studios Introduction So, after countless delays from a certain world-changing event in 2020, (No not the Snap the other one) ‘Black Widow’ was finally released to a fairly positive public reception reportedly making $158 million at the global box office and earning $60 million on Disney Plus worldwide. However, although it has made bank at the box office and broke records, critical success does not always indicate fan praise. So, the real question is, ‘Is this a Good Film?’ Or is it too little too late for everyone’s favourite Russian Super-Spy? In this review, I am going to break down what I believe to be some of the key points of the film, which means and say it with me now, Spoilers ahead! Black Widow: Opening Well, I’ll be completely honest, yes this is a great film. Is it perfect, Well no, very few films are in the eyes of the ravenous Marvel fandom. Now before you go clicking off this review to go back to scrolling through social media, let me tell you why this is one of the best Solo MCU outings in recent years, despite some of its flaws. ‘Black Widow’ starts in 1995 where we see a happy family in a suburban neighbourhood in Ohio. All is not as it seems however as it turns out that the family are a Soviet sleeper cell comprised of The Red Guardian, Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), and their surrogate daughters Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson/Ever Gabo Anderson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh/Violet McGraw). When their mission to steal S.H.I.E.L.D. intel is complete, the family escapes to Cuba and rendezvous with their boss, General Dreykov (Ray Winston), who has Romanoff and Belova taken to the Red Room for training. This is where we get a phenomenal opening sequence set to a haunting cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ that splices through the events of Natasha life after being taken to the Red Room, showing her involvement in several recent Political events and how prominent Ray Winstons, General Dreykov has been in recent history, being pictured with a bunch of world leaders through the years. This opening sequence allows the viewer to understand how Natasha was manipulated into, committing several war crimes and how many of the other ‘Widows’ were also by extension trafficked and controlled showing a very poignant look at the idea of modern slavery. This is also a great touch by Marvel to acknowledge that Black Widow was a cold-blooded Killer with plenty of Red in her ledger before redeeming herself into a hero, which is one of the key themes in the film. From this point, we fast forward to 2016, just after the events of Civil War where Natasha finds herself on the run from the US government going into hiding from General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt). Meanwhile, Yelena is currently still a Black Widow, being controlled by Nanites and being forced to hunt down those who are attempting to, Spoiler, Break all the ‘Widows’ free from their programming. This is one of the first flaws the film has in my opinion as although Yelena has red in her ledger as a ‘Widow’ due to her being controlled with nanites against her will it feels slightly less impactful than Natasha’s ‘earned’ red, that came because of her consciously making the choice to commit murder as a Black Widow. Yelena is then broken out of her programming by her target being sprayed in the face by an antidote to her mind control, leading to a heartbreakingly amazingly acted scene by Florence Pugh shown through her facial expressions and physical acting. Black Widow: Family Matters The characters in this film are all honestly endearing and charming, with the idea of them being one big family unit, emphasising a lot of the humorous moments to great effect. The dynamic of Scarlet Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz as a dysfunctional family is fantastic as Pugh and Harbour especially show off their comedic chops to cut through some of the darker subjects in the film. Pugh especially uses her humour to darkly poke fun at how as a ‘Widow’ she cannot have children due to having a forced hysterectomy which is surprisingly dark for an MCU film. In terms of acting ability, each individual shines through with some convincing Russian accents from Harbour and Weisz with Pugh especially knocking it out of the park with her accent. The only person who fails to nail the voice is Ray Winston who due to his native cockney accent does sound like a cartoonish bond villain, which although not great does actually serve to emphasise his innate cheesiness as this looming figure with over-amplified Russian Traits. Black Widow: The Villains As the film progresses, we are slowly introduced to more characters in Natasha’s life as well as events in her past including the infamous Budapest event mentioned by Nathasha and Hawkeye all the way back in the first Avengers film. This event plays a key part in this film as well, as it turns out to defect to S.H.I.E.L.D Natasha had to assassinate General Dreykov, however, she caught Dreykov’s Daughter as Collateral Damage in the crossfire, an act that haunts her through the film. It turns out however neither Dreykov nor his daughter were killed and in turn are the main antagonists for the film with Dreykov planning on releasing thousands of Nanite brainwashed ‘Widows’ onto the planet tapping into what he describes as “A natural resource the world has too much of.” Girls. Although this feels like a slightly heavy-handed metaphor for ‘Girl Power’ and female empowerment, this illustrates a juxtaposition of the ideas of Women being treated like garbage for
Review – Marvel’s Black Widow (2021)
Review – Marvel’s Black Widow (2021). Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy arises.
Review – Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One
SUMMARY Gotham’s annual festivities turn to fearful nights of fright as a mysterious murderer known only as Holiday picks of the Falcone and Roman families one by one on each consecutive holiday. It’s up to Batman, Harvey Dent & Jim Gordon to put the pieces together and save Gotham from a year-long seasonal serial killing spree. VISUALS Firstly, character designs have been sucked clean of Tim Sale’s gorgeously noirish comic style for more generic and oddly unfinished looking appearances. As well as this, characters seem to be suffering from rigor mortis with a slow and jagged stiffness to their animation atop a gloriously smooth looking art deco backdrop. Not unlike the pop art style of the spy comedy series, Archer, but with more visual phrasing. Joker says it best in this film, “Navy, navy, charcoal, black. Euk! Really Carm, is a splash of colour too much to ask?”. Despite the original comic’s dark and monochromatic appearance, the comic popped with a minimalistic festive colour palette; Halloween oranges, Valentine’s Day reds, New Year yellows, etc. Arguably, this was a large part of the comic’s charm and style. For a story gift wrapped in holiday spirit, the wide spectrum of bright holiday colours amongst the bleak backdrop of Gotham is sorely missing from this film adaptation. It’s very hard to tell what holiday we’re supposed to be celebrating. VOICEWORK & WRITING Let’s talk about the good in this adaptation. The voicecast, while nowhere near as iconic as the longstanding original voices, do a phenomenal job in recreating the beloved characters. Every voice is unique but unmistakably perfect for the variety of personalities throughout. Stand-out performances being Troy Baker’s return as the Joker with darker Hamillisms and David Dastmalchian as Calender Man with an uncomfortable monotone performance. Unfortunately, stellar impressions don’t make for a great performance as the dialogue and acting itself is both tonally inconsistent and awkward throughout, as if the actors had no frame of reference to work off of. Why the brilliant dialogue of the comic couldn’t be brought to life or at least replicated here is baffling to me. Remember in Batman: Mask of Phantasm when you got goosebumps from Shirley Walker’s tremendously grandiose choir filling the Gotham night air on top of an earthshattering orchestral ambience? Listen to it again if you can’t remember it…yeah. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One is virtually devoid of music aside from a minimalistic pinch of ambience every now and again. There’s an entire chase scene with no music whatsoever and it is SO AWKWARD! Batman has some of the best pieces of music in cinema history and this here is an embarrassing disappointment. Annoyingly, events and details, bar the actual holidays themselves, are all out of place, altered or in some cases just omitted from the script with pointless padding in it’s place. This totally ruins the flow, suspense and drama of the original comic that makes it such a beloved entry in the mythos of Batman, as well as makes the twists painfully obvious. While I can’t say I like that Palmer is writing his own calendar for the monthly mayhem, it is intriguing enough to see where he goes with it and if he opts for an alternative ending to the comic. If the end result is the same however, what was the point in changing key details? OVERALL In conclusion, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One honestly feels like a bootleg adaptation of the classic comic in every way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that Palmer couldn’t secure the rights to the story so he had to make his own that loosely follows the original. Either that or he hasn’t read the comic! Everything from it’s cardboard cutout look and monotonous animation to it’s first take dialogue and story inconsistencies makes the film feel wholly unfinished. I hate that I have to write this review as it hurts me to my core. I was so excited to see my favourite Batman comic get the feature length animated treatment. There are sparks of the Batman spirit in the cracks of this film but the sheer amount of problems it has eclipse any semblance of hope for the adaptation. The only way I could see redemption for the film is if it leans into it’s askew recollection of the comic in order to produce a whole new take on the Holiday storyline, perhaps giving the adaptation a unique alternate reality edge with different results i.e. cementing it as it’s own story. However, if Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two continues to stumble it’s way to the original finish line, this will be cemented in my mind as a colossal failure for DC. [yasr_multiset setid=4] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=4] Let us know in the comments your thoughts on Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, your thoughts on the original Jeph Loeb comic & be sure to check out Dan’s review of Batman: The Long Halloween comic and my recent comic reviews for Batman: The Detective! Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE
Review – A Quiet Place 2
Review – A Quiet Place 2 Directed by: John Krasinski Written by: John Krasinski Produced by: John Krasinski & Michael Bay Starring: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy & John Krasinski Release Date: June 3rd 2021 (UK) Initially, when I saw A Quiet Place 2 for review, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did because of how disappointing I found the first movie. However, sometimes I am very glad to be proven wrong and this is one of those times. A Quiet Place 2 does what all good sequels should do, in that it builds upon the foundation laid down by the first movie, whilst upping the stakes and increasing the intensity felt by the audience when watching the film. A parallel that I can’t help but draw a comparison to is the change in tone between Alien and its more action-based sequel Aliens. If the first Quiet Place movie strives to capture the suspense and slow burn slasher-inspired horror of Ridley Scott’s Alien, then A Quiet Place 2 nails the faster, more ferocious tone of James Cameron’s Alien’s. Whether this was intentional or not, I do not know, but the difference in tone is evident from very early on in John Krasinski’s sequel. While the film does star John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as their characters from the first film, Cillian Murphy’s Emmett and Millicent Simmonds’ Regan are arguably the main characters of the sequel. Whilst Krasinski appears as Lee via flashback, (SPOILER, because he died pretty unceremoniously in the first movie,) and Blunt features as Evelyn in what is pretty much a glorified side-quest, they definitely aren’t the main characters in part 2. The choice to focus on two different characters in the sequel is a welcome one as it help the film feel more fresh and when you have stellar performances from Murphy and Simmonds to wrap your movie around, that also helps. I really felt that Millicent Simmonds upped her game greatly from the first movie and although CIllian Murphy’s character was added for the sequel, he is a good enough actor to fit naturally into the plot without feeling shoehorned in. The writing also helps with this and whilst Krasinski’s script is obviously light on dialogue, (since the movie is called A QUIET Place,) it is fairly well-written and contains fewer leaps logic than part 1. The dialogue that is present in the script is decent and the movie also had a good flow that was able to build tension whilst still keeping things moving along at a good pace. Krasinski also returns as director for the sequel and does a good job in terms of getting the best possible performance out of the film’s limited cast members. I am curious to see what he tackles next, as I would imagine he would like to move beyond the horror genre and try something fresh. I would also like to see something different from him as a filmmaker. Polly Morgan’s cinematography was also enjoyable throughout the movie and really added to the intense tone that the film is striving to capture. Along with some slick editing techniques, a good use of lighting, a great instrumental score and brilliant sound design the technical aspects of the movie are solid and I can’t fault any of it. As someone with a background in 3D animation, sloppy CGI is always a major concern when I see any movie. Thankfully, the visual effects in A Quiet Place 2 are stellar and were sparse enough that I was never distracted by them or taken out of the movie at any point. Overall, I came away from A Quiet Place 2 very happy that it managed to surpass its predecessor in every discernible way. I really enjoyed this sequel and would recommend it to anyone regardless of whether you are a fan of the first Quiet Place movie or not. [yasr_multiset setid=2] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=2] If you enjoyed Dan’s review of A Quiet Place 2, you can check out what he thought of Bad Times At The El Royale here. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord and join our official Facebook Group. Check out our new Podcast and subscribe to the channel on Youtube, Spotify, Apple and Google. Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews and News from Glasgow, Scotland, UK and the US, HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE
Review – Heavy Metal (1981)
Review – Heavy Metal (1981) Directed by – Gerald Potterton, John Bruno & Others Produced by – Ivan Reitman Written by – Dan Goldberg, Len Blum, Dan O’Bannon & Others Starring (voice talents) – John Candy, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis & Others Release Date – 7th August 1981 Intro A glowing green orb – which embodies ultimate evil, terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror. So let’s take a trip back to 1981 and revisit the first animated movie from Heavy Metal. I wasn’t born at the time but I remember discovering this in the late 90’s and being overwhelmed by how utterly insane it is. And it had a kick-ass soundtrack! Re-watching it again many years later, how would I feel about it now? Story/Writing Based on the American Comic magazine of the same name, Heavy Metal (1981) the animated Sci-Fi film has a somewhat cult following. In no small part to the graphic violence, gratuitous sex/nudity and out of this world Sci-Fi stories. The Movie itself has several writers and they combine for six tales, each revolving around the mysterious green orb. A cabbie saves a girl from mobsters, a nerd transformed into a stud, a space captain on Trial, a WW2 bomber crew turned into zombies, the pentagon secretary abducted by aliens and the final tale in which the orb transforms a docile tribe into killers. The stories themselves are entertaining and certainly they might be served better with modern day animation. Art/Animation/Visuals Whilst the animation may have been fresh back in the 80’s, it has not aged well. With the advancements in digital technology, the artwork in this movie is somewhat obsolete. It doesn’t mean that it is unwatchable. People still like a bit of nostalgia. I’m sure some fans of Heavy Metal will still enjoy this. And people under the influence may enjoy the visuals even more! Overall Heavy Metal (1981) – The animation has not stood the test of time unfortunately. And as a result, if you are watching this for the first time, you may be disappointed. But it’s still entertaining from a Science Fiction point of view. And if you like a bit of nostalgia and gratuitous violence and graphic sex/nudity, this is right up your street! Not forgetting the assembly of amazing bands for the soundtrack! If you can handle the severely outdated animation, then I’m sure you will enjoy what is regarded as a cult classic. If you enjoyed our review of Heavy Metal (1981) then leave a comment or rating below. [yasr_multiset setid=1] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1] Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE www.bigglasgowcomicpage.com
Review – Bad Times At The El Royale
Review – Bad Times At The El Royale Directed by: Drew Goddard Written by: Drew Goddard Produced by: Drew Goddard & Jeremy Latcham Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges & Cynthia Erivo Release Date: October 12th 2018 (UK) I re-watched Bad Times At The El Royale for review last night and it was a blast to revisit. I would even go as far as to say that this film is a often forgotten about modern classic. I am not sure why the movie never received the widespread praise and success that it deserved, but at the very least, Bad Times is undoubtedly a future cult classic. In this day and age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to go into a movie without already knowing a bunch of information about it beforehand. Somehow Bad Times At The El Royale managed that back when it released back in 2018. I can still remember the luxury of going into this film with very little knowledge about what was going to unfold. I have a great time with this movie. I love the entire cast in this film, Jeff Bridges and Jon Hamm are among my favourite actors working in Hollywood and I love to see Chris Hemsworth doing a fantastic job playing the villain for a change. The rest of the cast are fantastic too. As an aside, Cynthia Erivo’s voice still completely blows me away every time I watch the movie, even though I have seen it before. I know that she has done some Broadway shows in the past, but she sounds utterly incredible in this film and I love the way that her singing is organically tied in with the plot. Bad Times is written and directed by Drew Goddard, who was also behind Cabin In The Woods and there are some similarities here, if you were to swap the horror elements out for mystery. I have also seen multiple reviews over the years comparing Bad Times to a Tarantino movie. There are obviously similarities in the structure that this film uses and the out-of-chronological-order structure that a Tarantino movie tends to follow, but I’d argue that Bad Times has its own distinct and unique style. I also think that the cinematography is very effective throughout the film. The opening scene is particularly well shot, as is the scene when Hemsworth’s character is introduced. The score also works well with the plot and the dialogue in the script is well written too. The main negative that slightly hinders my enjoyment of the movie, are the decisions made regarding the pacing. The movie is split up so that we see things happen out of sequence or they are seen more than once from a different perspective. We are introduced to each new character and then we are given their backstory via a flashback. The main issue with this structure is that the flashbacks break the momentum of the events happening in the current story. Without spoiling too much, towards the end of the movie, everything comes to a head and an intense fight/shootout breaks out. Then, for some unknown reason, the filmmakers decide to slam on the brakes and give us another arbitrary flashback. It slightly breaks your immersion as a viewer and tarnishes the intensity of the shootout sequence for me. Overall, I had a good time re-watching Bad Times for review. If you are looking for an exciting, suspenseful thriller, then you could definitely do worse than spending a night at The El Royale. [yasr_multiset setid=2] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=2] If you enjoyed Dan’s review for Bad Times At The El Royale, you can check out what he thought of a much worse 2018 film here in our review for Shane Black’s Predator. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord and join our official Facebook Group. Check out our new Podcast and subscribe to the channel on Youtube, Spotify, Apple and Google. Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews and News from Glasgow, Scotland, UK and the US, HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE
Review – SPECTRE (2015)
Review – SPECTRE (2015) Directed by: Sam Mendes Written by: John Logan & Neal Purvis Produced by: Daniel Craig & Barbara Broccoli Starring: Daniel Craig, Cristoph Waltz & Dave Bautista Release Date: October 26th 2015 In anticipation for No Time To Die finally getting released later this year, I recently decided to revisit SPECTRE for review. I actually had more fun re-watching this movie than I expected to and enjoyed it far more than when I first saw it back in 2015. When Casino Royale released back in 2006, it was intended to be a soft reboot of the franchise that showed viewers the events of Bond’s first mission and it strived to rectify some of the silly gadgets etc that were being over-used with Brosnan’s Bond. In my opinion, Casino Royale was a great film, it just wasn’t a Bond film. It did away with all of the silly gimmicks and cheesy one liners and was an introduction to a more grounded version of the iconic character, which made for a great spy thriller but not a great Bond movie. Then Quantum of Solace came out and literally nobody cared, not many people went to see it, it didn’t make much money at the box office and to this day I’ve still not watched the entire movie from start to finish and to be honest, I’m perfectly okay with that. Skyfall was the third Craig Bond movie to be released and it was a triumph. Finally Craig felt like he was actually playing Bond and not just some random hard ass military spy. It even flirted with the idea of gadgets, had a flamboyant supervillain and introduced a young, fresh faced Q, which was a nice touch. The movie ended with Silva killing Judi Dench’s M and Bond killing Silva, Ralph Fiennes was then appointed with the title of M and Naomi Harris was revealed to be the new Moneypenny. So with the last movie pleasing both long time Bond fans and newcomers alike, SPECTRE had a lot to live up to. SPECTRE opens with Bond in Mexico City, during the Day Of The Dead festival. Bond listens in on a meeting of two Mafioso and learns about a mysterious organisation hoping to achieve world domination and their illusive leader known as ‘The Pale King.’ He then blows up the building they are in and ends up in a chopper fight with one of the gangsters, whom he eventually kills. This leads into a stunning opening credits sequence, that really is one of the best I’ve seen, (even though the song is still crap.) This is an awesome intro and probably tops Skyfall’s intro which was also very cool. The rest of the movie is a joy to a long time Bond fan like me. It checks off all of the boxes that make up a classic Bond movie. An awesome Aston Martin car chase – check. A big bad henchman who doesn’t say much but is very hard to kill – check. An effective use of gadgets and cheesy one liners – check. A super-villain that has an epic secret layer that he invites Bond to – check. Bond being strapped to an elaborate device in that secret layer and tortured – check. Now all of this is fairly well executed, but the problem with it is that it throws any of the gritty realism shown in the last three movies right out of the window, which causes this movie to feel as if it is taking place in a separate universe from the last three. This is something that bothered me at the time, but in hindsight I didn’t mind it. Revisiting the film, I was than happy to have a good old fashioned Bond movie back on our screens that isn’t afraid to shy away from the use of gadgets and witty quips. Also, SPECTRE is a movie that actually handles it well, unlike some of the naff late Brosnan movies. On the other hand though, I can totally see why people had issues with this movie at the time of its release, especially if you aren’t a long time Bond fan and prefer Craig’s more realistic turn as Bond. If that is the case then SPECTRE probably isn’t ever going to be enjoyable for you. Now, let’s forget for a minute that this is a 007 movie and just analyse it as a traditional piece of cinema. First off, I’m really glad that they brought Sam Mendes back to direct this one, he is very obviously a passionate Bond fan and I think he has done a great job with both Bond movies that he has made in the past. The script in SPECTRE is also well written, providing the film’s dialogue with a witty and fast paced feel. The tone that the script creates ensures that the audience is kept intrigued, but are never lost as to what is going on. The cinematography in this movie is also great, besides a shaky cam chase sequence during the opening of the movie, I’d actually say that this is a masterfully shot movie. Hoyte Van Hoytema was the principle of photography for this movie and that guy really likes his eye pleasing shots and his use of the rule of thirds, which is especially evident in the funeral scene where Monica Belluci is introduced. There are two Bond girls in this movie, Belluci only really being there for exposition, but Lea Seadoux did a great job with her more fleshed out role. Now, I want to talk about the main villain in the movie, played by the incredible Christoph Waltz. During his screen-time in the movie, he steals every scene he appears in, however that leads me on to a problem I have with the movie. He is introduced near the beginning of the film, – within the first half hour, – then a good hour passes before he is reintroduced. Although what is going