Posted on 11/11/2012 7:02:59 PM PST by EinNYC
I promised myself that if I was able to find gasoline today in the fuel-starved NYC area, I would reward myself by seeing "Skyfall", the new James Bond movie. After getting in one gas line and being told immediately by an employee that they were out of gas, then sitting 50 minutes on another gas line only to be told they were now out of gas when I was getting close to the pumps, and then finally paying an exorbitant price for gas after a 10 minute wait on line, I had just enough time to make it to the bargain matinee at my local theater.
I, and other members of the audience found this to be the BEST James Bond film for a long while. It was very exciting, really. Javier Bardem seems to make malevolent weirdos his specialty. Seeing the film was rather an antidote for all the wasted time of the morning chasing gasoline, even WITH using the www.gasbuddy.com special Sandy gas-finding links.
Has anyone else seen the film, whether or not they had to wait in a gasoline line? What did YOU think?
I rarely go to the movies but my son and I saw Skyfall yesterday. It was a matinee, so it only cost six bucks each. I am not a good critic, but I will impart some thoughts without spoiling any climactic scenes. It is a good, solid Bond movie -- not as good as Casino Royale but a significant improvement from Quantum of Solace. The special effects and fight scenes and chase scenes are good. The plot? Well, it's a Bond film. As for characters, if you liked Daniel Craig in the last two Bond films, you will not be disappointed with his performance. Ralph Fiennes (sp?) is very good, too. The villain, Mr. Silver, is very gay and very creepy. I am not too fond of the new nerdy Q (there were a couple of times when an exploding pen really would have come in handy) or the way they introduced Moneypenny.
I also thought the film was too relentlessly dark and at times I yearned for Roger Moore in a khaki safari suits or a good ski chase. Finally, there is much practical knowledge to be gained from watching this film, e.g., don't use a flashlight when you are trying to escape undetected over an open field at night from an evil maniac and a dozen or so heavily armed henchmen -- and don't take refuge in the nearest building, either.
If, after a very trying day, I seek a bit of escape in the movie theater, that's my business. By no means do I advocate any immoral lifestyles being followed, by Hollywood inhabitants or anyone else. By your logic, no one would read novels to seek a temporary escape from the mundane any more either.
MYOB. Are we clear on that? Good.
>>I havent been to movies for 20+ years, or even watched then when they appear on televison. So I do find myself pretty clueless about a lot of pop cultural references by friends / co-workers.
But you’re enough of a NASCAR fan to make it your screen name??
Hahaha...some of the comments here remind me of that old saying by Mencken about Puritanism being the haunting fear that someone, somewhere is happy.
I saw the movie, it was fun. Not rocket science, but hey, who goes to see a Bond movie expecting it to adhere to the laws of nature and physics?
And the evil guy was sufficiently creepy to merit laughter from both my wife and I.
True to the basic Bond formula. After seeing the first 22 installments, I still get excited. Daniel Craig is good, Sean Connery was the best. Wow, having I been watching Bond movies for 50 years?
I saw it on IMAX- you get spoiled with IMAX and it is hard to watch movies in regular theaters. The humongous screen really reveals that Daniel Craig’s face has a lot of potmarks in closeups and let’s not even talk about M’s wrinkles!
That said, the movie was excellent- just suspend your beliefs in parts and tell yourself it is Hollywood- and enjoy the escapism, which after the storm (I’m in coastal Jersey) and the election can only benefit your mental health for a couple of hours.
Come to CT for gas. It takes us an hour to get to NYC and there is plenty of gas.
Saw it in Europe on a Monday - (small) theater was full. Good film - yes! Bond film - no! 20 minutes too long - probably.
I would be spending money better useful in another direction, like another case or two of drinking water. Or more camping fuel, or propane for the trailer should I have a disater and I need to live in it.
Didn’t see it yet... but saw Argo today... and loved it.
Wow, Unk. Happens that I have several cases of drinking water stashed away and a case of Sterno canisters. Great minds think alike, eh? The $5 spent on the stress-relieving pleasure the movie gave me: priceless.
We saw a matinee in our local family owned non-chain theater that was opened in 1949. Matinee price was $5.50 per person. You can get a screw-cap bottle of soda for $1.75 and a bag of popcorn for $2.50.
They don’t gouge you. I don’t mind giving them my business at all. I definitely feel differently about chain movie theaters, though. Ironically, my last really nasty movie going experience was seeing Casino Royale at a Regal Cinema chain. I had to threaten to sic the management on a row of 12 year old girls sitting in front of me, and also speak to a teenager and his girlfriend sitting behind us.
Made me madder than hell that I had to be put in a position to even say anything. Both my wife and I had no desire to go to a movie theater after that, but we understand the difference between the local one and the chain.
Hubby and I saw it in The Texas Theater last night.....and thought it was the best Bond ever.....really liked the references to old school Bond...so it was neat to see it in an old theater.....red velvet chairs and no cup holders or Lee Harvey Oswald either.....
Great Reply.....
Now, that is history.
Skyfall was ok. It is only worth a rental. The theme song is horrible. The movie isn’t worth full admission price.
Casino Royale was very good.
I enjoyed Quantum of Solace.
The movie was really good. Nice to see Bond's original sporty car make a cameo appearance.
Costs a lot more than $5 to see a new movie where I am in Wasilla, Alaska. I’ll wait for the Bluray to come out, I have maybe another week or two of my job before I get laid off.
Yes its cheaper to go to the theater than buying the disc, and I can see it with captioning and of course as much as I want.
Bottom line is everything is getting a priority lately, and I’m not even a victim of Sandy.
Your comment immediately brought this photo to mind.
Since reading the Ian Fleming James Bond novels, I find that the movie plots and characters are unrecognizable from the novels going back to Dr No. The books were real spy thrillers but the movies have become thrill-a-minute gadgetfests.
For instance, Q wasn’t in the books, neither was Jaws; Moonraker had nothing to do with outer space; there was no laser in Goldfinger (it was a circular saw), etc.
Fleming’s Bond used few gadgets, and he wouldn’t recognize most of his plots or characters as shown on the movie screen.
James Bond has devolved into a comic book superhero in order to capture the attention span of today’s movie audience.
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