Skyfall - Grading & Discussion

[JeffreyAbrams]

Samurai8472 wrote:

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"Skyfall crossed a billion dollars. Can it win an Oscar?

Best Cinematography I hope and guess.

[DevilEyes]

It probably has a strong chance of winning the best song.

[Alidar Jarok]

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

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Did he really fail the tests because he's actually bad at target practice, or was he trying to make it seem like he was bad at them?

No, it's the former. I thought it was pretty obvious. That's why he was surprised when he found out he didn't pass later on.

The movie itself was also an excuse.. for itself. He had to chase down and beat up a bad guy in Shanghai. Why? Because Shanghai looked kewl.

Couldn't the same be said for Jamaica, Istanbul, Japan (except to bring in Ninja Commandos), Hong Kong, Egypt, Uganda, Italy, etc. That's the whole point about James Bond that sets it apart. They seek out beautiful exotic locations.

[Samurai8472]

DevilEyes wrote:

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It probably has a strong chance of winning the best song.

That will probably go to "Les Miserables"

Everyone's been talking about Anne's rendition of "I dreamed a dream" for months

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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No, it's the former. I thought it was pretty obvious. That's why he was surprised when he found out he didn't pass later on.

Couldn't the same be said for Jamaica, Istanbul, Japan (except to bring in Ninja Commandos), Hong Kong, Egypt, Uganda, Italy, etc. That's the whole point about James Bond that sets it apart. They seek out beautiful exotic locations.

I've seen it twice and I didn't find it obvious. The character by nature is stoic, and always is supposed to have a plan within a plan, and, by that logic, intentionally gives off whatever external veneer will suit his purpose, so there's no way for me to know that he failed them by accident, and Craig's take on the character is rather wooden (which is I guess how Bond is supposed to be, which is a problem) that I found myself unsure. Maybe he wanted Ralph Fiennes to think he wasn't as good as he used to be at targets and all the other tests. I have no idea, and Craig doesn't have the charisma of an 80's or 90's era Harrison Ford to let me know with a mere glance if he meant to fail or not.

I'm not a big Alec Baldwin fan by any means, but watch his nuanced performance in Hunt for Red October. There, a mere expression will tell you that he thinks he's in over his head, and even if he doesn't betray these feelings to a character he's talking to, we still get it.

As for your second point, I agree. Just as I agree that Trek movies are not praised for their glory shots of the enterprise. But they have them anyway. Why is this film being praised beyond the usual accolades of other Bond films?

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Also, is it just me, (and this occurred to me within the first minutes of the film on my first viewing) but didn't this film have exactly the same plot as the first Mission: Impossible film?

Yes, he has to get some disk that has a list of agents on it. Yup, sounds familiar and altogether unoriginal to me.

I guess with the cold war over, they can't think of what kind of spy plots to make anymore, so instead of spies actually spying on countries or leaders or whatever, all the spy movies are about protecting the identities of other spies. Geesh!

[MacLeod]

Well in "For Your Eyes Only" Bond had to recover a decoder that would potentially allow a foreign government to read British Intel. Which is more or less the same recover somethingwhich could harm our intelligence operations if the wrong people got ahold of it.

Or shall we go back to a real world example. Were the Allies wanted to get their hands on the Nazi Lorenz and Engima machines.

[Alidar Jarok]

Samurai8472 wrote:

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That will probably go to "Les Miserables"

Everyone's been talking about Anne's rendition of "I dreamed a dream" for months

Isn't the category "Best Original Song"?

[Starkers]

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

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Also, is it just me, (and this occurred to me within the first minutes of the film on my first viewing) but didn't this film have exactly the same plot as the first Mission: Impossible film?

Yes, he has to get some disk that has a list of agents on it. Yup, sounds familiar and altogether unoriginal to me.

I guess with the cold war over, they can't think of what kind of spy plots to make anymore, so instead of spies actually spying on countries or leaders or whatever, all the spy movies are about protecting the identities of other spies. Geesh!

Yup it's exactly the same, even down to him having to go rogue and be hunted by his own side, breaking into MI6 headquarters to steal the other half of the list, having to recruit disavowed agents and work with criminals to try and expose the real traitor who, effectively, is M who was behind it all all along even though we thought she died at the start of the film and of course the was in league with Moneypenny who is shot and killed by M...

Yeah, exactly the same plot...

[DevilEyes]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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Isn't the category "Best Original Song"?

Exactly. It's for songs that were written specifically for a film released in the previous year. Songs that were released before, without having anything to do with the film, don't qualify. Songs from previously staged musicals adapted for the screen don't qualify.

[Skywalker]

DevilEyes wrote:

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Exactly. It's for songs that were written specifically for a film released in the previous year. Songs that were released before, without having anything to do with the film, don't qualify. Songs from previously staged musicals adapted for the screen don't qualify.

Yeah, I remember a song from Moulin Rouge! was disqualified because Baz Luhrmann actually wrote it for Romeo + Juliet.

[lennier1]

The movie has a lot of weaknesses, but Craig's acting finally gave life to the dangerous animal that's posing as a human. In other words, they showed what makes the novels so great.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Starkers wrote:

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Yup it's exactly the same, even down to him having to go rogue and be hunted by his own side, breaking into MI6 headquarters to steal the other half of the list, having to recruit disavowed agents and work with criminals to try and expose the real traitor who, effectively, is M who was behind it all all along even though we thought she died at the start of the film and of course the was in league with Moneypenny who is shot and killed by M...

Yeah, exactly the same plot...

Obviously, you spend more time being a wise-ass than reading all of my post or my previous post to actually engage my actual point.

[Anwar]

Some aspects of the villain reminded me of Alec Trevelyan from GoldenEye (one of my favorite Bond villains). Former Agent, went renegade, now has his own Evil Syndicate, etc. Except Trevelyan had a history with Bond and a personal vendetta on him, whereas Javier Bardem had one with M instead.

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, someone pointed out it's more or less a combination of Alec Trevelyan and Elekra King.