A Review of "Spectre"

An epic clash between good and evil as with all other James Bond films seems to be characteristic of "Spectre" as well. That might seem the obvious but everything about this film has an already seen impact on any film goer, particularly if you've been following this genre since childhood as I've been.

This is despite a striking opening in Mexico even if amidst a grotesque festival commemorating the dead. This opening scene itself starts with an attempt at getting a prime villain by the name of Sciara who indeed does get killed in a helicopter fight with Bond. There's no real introduction or background to this scene and it's quite akin to writing an article without an intro, which as we all know will just not do.

Varying terrains

The film goes on then towards the bleak landscapes of Austria and north Africa though in the latter context we get a good idea of a rail journey across north Africa and I must say the train was distinctly superior to what's available here at home in India. Apart from that there's a certain absurdity of the whole train sequence as its punctuated by a villain barging in and giving Bond a good fight for his life whilst he's about to settle for dinner with his lady friend. In this context it might be mentioned that Bond cavorting with the heroine, whom he met only a while back in Austria too has a touch of abruptness, particularly when we note the meeting was by no means cordial. Though of course this is explained away by the bad guys kidnapping her and Bond of course successfully rescuing her. This about sums up the whole problem with "Spectre" in that there's no development of theme, it's all action from beginning to end as if somebody were anxious to get it over and done with.

Nor are the concepts very unique. There's a political touch as we are battling a terrorist organization and there's a move to have a globally unified intelligence sharing system together with a shake-up of British intelligence which doesn't however get very far, thanks to there being a wolf in sheep's clothing in the intelligence fraternity. Similarly there's nothing very unique about the "Spectre" organization being akin to an octopus. Indeed there's a vintage Bond film named "Octopusy."

Entertainment without logic

Thus "Spectre" is simply entertainment for the sake of entertainment and when all's said and done we might remember it for Monica Bellucci not showing her age at 51 and for Daniel Craig who's seems to be getting a bit old for this kind of role. As Daniel Craig himself admitted in a recent interview he's had about enough of performing the Bond role and it clearly shows in "Spectre" where we are led through a peremptory opening to an equally sudden end, albeit after two and a half hours. Therefore while the concept of retiring Bond didn't take off in "Spectre" and in some other Bond films, it's time might have about come as far as real life goes. After all if British intelligence can be screened why not try out for a change other comparable countries like Brazil, Egypt or Israel, for after all isn't variety the spice of life?

Definitely everything that has a beginning has an end and it's about time we applied that to the Bond series because the world has changed a lot since the first Bond film came out and making a film glorifying MI5 exploits doesn't make much sense today.

Fantastic Four Review

Fantastic Four is finally out and was met with very harsh reviews. It was universally panned by critics and fans alike. It's such a shame with all the talent surrounding this film that they couldn't make a half decent film. Even knowing the film was going to be some kind of bad, I decided I needed to see it for myself. I went to the theatre with very low expectations and came out astounded by how bad the film truly is.

Before I completely bash the film, let's talk about what I liked about Fantastic Four. The cast, while severely underused and given horrible dialogue, I think they delivered the best performance under the circumstances. They don't make the film any better, but I believe they make the movie watchable. I just wished they were given the opportunity to be interesting. Jamie Bell's the Thing was also something I enjoyed. I liked his overall design, look, and voice. I thought the his CGI was the only great thing about the movie, but even it looked mediocre is some scenes. I think having detailed performance capture for him would have been an amazing thing to watch in the final film. Another thing I appreciated was the new origin story. I like the way they built up the movie. It was very based in reality and science and I though they did a decent job at building up to their super powers. I think they could have added some more character moments to build an emotional bond between the audience and characters, but for the most part it was passable. And that's about all the film did well.

My biggest problem with Fantastic Four is that the film is all build up. We get an hour of decent movie building up to their powers, when they finally do though, the film takes a nose dive. We get twenty minutes of horribleness which involves finding Reed Richards and the rest of the group being trained by the government after the movie skips a year. This was the cheapest and worst move the film made. Then the next fifteen minutes involves Doctor Doom infiltrating the army base and escaping back to the other dimension. Then we are given the shortest, most half-assed, cheesiest, and worst super hero film climax I've ever seen. You get a five minute fight scene with horrible action and no suspense. This fight scene is also the only one in the entire film. What a waste. I just don't understand what they were trying to do with this film and instead of using any cliche to help the film they decided to just give up on the film. It's a complete disaster of a final act, in terms of what the movie could have been.

Besides the way the film played out, you have no relationship building between any of the characters. You don't buy any of them as friends. Doctor Doom looks horrendous, good thing he's in the movie for only ten minutes. There's no action in the film at all except for the lousy end fight. We don't get to see the main characters learning their powers, let alone see them use them.

Overall Fantastic Four is the worst superhero film I've seen in the past ten years. Audiences have been given quality films with more mediocre source material than the Fantastic Four that have delivered Oscar worthy things. It's a shame director Josh Trank couldn't build on his success from Chronicle. Instead he most likely ruined his career, previously attached to a Star Wars film, he no longer is and all you heard about the film before release was trouble behind the scenes. It's just a shame considering what could have been.

Fantastic Four deserves a lousy 1 1/2 out of 5.

2016 Nerve Movie For All Ages

I rarely go to the cinema and when I do, I'm very choosey because I want to see something especially action-packed or moving when I go to the big screen. There are movies that make great outtings to the cinema and others that are only worth watching at home after they've been released to DVD. Nerve was an excellent choice to revisit the theater after having not been in over a year! Here are my thoughts on the movie in further detail.

Many people love movies based on books and true stories. Nerve was based on a book I hadn't seen already, but assume contributed to its success. I personally loved the subject matter and cast most. Main character, Vee played by Emma Roberts lives in her social butterfly and adrenaline junkie best friend's shadow. Grieving her brother's death last summer and turning down her choice college to stay with her otherwise empty nesting mother makes for an unfulfilling existence, until Nerve. Nerve is a secret online video game made up of anonymous watchers who've paid for their membership and 'players' who earn money by completing the dares initiated by their following. The relevance of this movie theme rings too true with the recent Pokemon Go app obsession. The movie creatively sheds light on a few growing problems with 21st century youth, the heavy influence technology has on its users and the lengths that bullying can reach. I know what you're thinking, pre-circa 1990 viewers. Producers made sure their vision wasn't clouded by an overly sexual, uncomfortable or disgusting approach. Tastefully done through out, with a moral message you'd approve, I won't spoil its ending.

I felt that the characters had great chemistry and that there was time spent with casting, attention to detail, and joint collaboration, a real and current piece of art, unlike the common tripe that comes out of Hollywood these days. Like me, you might've been unaware of the brilliant artists behind the piece of work. Ariel Schulman, a co-director of Nerve, is Nev Schulman's older brother and was largely responsible for creating another of my favorites, Catfish The Documentary. Another favorite brother and familiar looking face joined the cast as well; Dave Franco, James Franco's younger brother. I didn't recognize that Machine Gun Kelly played the character of Ty, another pleasant surprise. You could almost create an entire Nerve themed Trivial Pursuit with the abundance of fun facts in this thriller.

As a 26 year old adult, I found it checked off all my boxes; romance, action, a clean ending and a good message. After telling Facebook I learned my niece loved the movie too, no surprise. And for those concerned it's too 21st century teeny boppy for them, it actually might make you reminiscent of older computer/technology sci-fi movies such as Not Quite Human and War Games. For parents and teachers it's a good refresher on the current slang and mentality of teens (individually and in groups) and a good conversation starter between them and their kids.