You never quite know what you are in for when you go to a Coen Brothers movie. No Country for Old Men was an intense and serious story. However, with Burn After Reading we are back in Fargo territory, an offbeat thriller played for laughs. Fargo worked but this didn't. It was fairly entertaining and humorous, but the plot was stupid and the characters pathetic. The starry cast do their best, but their self obsession is pretty tiresome. Disappointing.
Ghost Town is an enjoyable "romantic" comedy. Ricky Gervais does really well in the leading role given that the dialogue is not always perfect. The location photography of New York is well done, and I have always liked Tea Leoni ever since Deep Impact. Not quite the Hollywood classic they hoped for, but a good try.
Some of the reviews for Quantum of Solace had not been kind, so I went with some apprehension that it would not be in the same league as Casino Royale. Not only was it a poor imitation of a Bond movie, but everything seemed to be wrong. Where do I start. Why a car chase to start? Just compare it with the chase in the previous film. Then the opening song, sorry - not my cup of tea. There were many references to previous Bond movies, all distressingly bad. The story was useless, the villains were wet and there was hardly any dialogue. What was left was a lot of action, mainly chases. You just can't plant Bourne type sequences into a Bond film and think that is sufficient. And the big set piece ending? What a let down. OK, the pace was fast and furious, Daniel Craig did his best and the locations were fine, especially the sequence at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. Just compare that with the horse race in Sienna. Were they really there? Lighten up Mr Bond.
No comments:
Post a Comment