So… the film we went to see on Saturday night was the new Bond film, “Casino Royale“. I didn’t quite know what to expect, as it had received mixed reviews from the critics – most of them seemed to love or slate the film because of the reason that it was a bit different from traditional Bond films!
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. “Die Another Day” was dreadful, so to say that this film was better than the previous one doesn’t really say much, but … this film was better than the previous one! Daniel Craig does make a good Bond, and he carried it off very well! The plot isn’t all fast-paced and based around gadgets — in fact, a large chunk of the plot is centred around a poker game which Bond is playing in against the villain of the film. I can understand why some might not like it for a Bond movie, but I really liked it – it had drama and tension, two things which have been a little bit lacking in the world of Bond recently. Also, the villain didn’t want to take over the world – in fact, as far as Bond baddies’ ambitions go he was a bit lacklustre – but I think it added to the film.
There were a few things which I wasn’t too sure about though. The film was long. Very long. Too long for a Bond film, I think. It wasn’t so much the length, it was more that it had several “Ah, this is the end” moments – and then continued on! King Kong did that. Return of the King did that (hmm, both Peter Jackson movies – there may be a trend here!)… I don’t think Bond films should do that! Although it did make the story line more interesting I think they could have done it better.
The other thing I didn’t like was — they didn’t exactly make it clear where the film sat in the Bond chronology. I mean, it was fairly clear that the film was set in the present day, and that Bond was new, ergo ‘James Bond’ is just the name an agent (or group of similar agents) take up as part of the job… but I think in some of the other films they’ve hinted that ‘James Bond’ is the same character all the way through. Anyway, I don’t think it’s worth analysing in too much detail – it is James Bond after all 😉
The other thing I wanted to review was “Eyes Open” by Snow Patrol. I think it’s relatively new, although I’m not sure exactly when it was released! Anyway. I’ve been listening a bit to Virgin Radio at home, and they play “You’re All I have” and “Chasing Cars” quite a bit — for good reason, they’re great tunes! — so I decided to buy the album. I was actually really impressed. I really enjoyed listening through it – there seems to be quite a diversity of style there (from quite mellow stuff to more driving), and it’s all nice and melodic.
I know, I know – I’m terrible at reviewing music! But the point is, if you like their stuff which has been played on the radio, you’ll like the album 🙂
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