Movie Roundup 11-23-08

I've decided that making single posts for all movie reviews, previews and such is too much of a hassle these days. So i've decided on quick weekly roundups that have several small aspects. Movie of the Week where I make a quick review of a film. Movie Preview of the Week, where I preview a movie to watch out for and its trailer (HD and youtube link). We'll then have poster of the week where I show the best looking poster released this week. Finally we have some occasional big stuff for the end of the months like Movie of the Year, Star of the Year etc... So let's get started shall we?

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Quantum of Solace

Directed by Marc Forster

Starring Daniel Craig

Quantum of Solace is disappointing, considering Casi

no Royale was a brilliant piece that reinvented the series as a serious film where heart-stopping action was merely means to a plot and not the other way around. It also happened to feature the arguably one of the best bonds ever cast since Connery. 

Quantum is not so bad as the awful last films of Brosnan, in 

fact it is quite good. It lies in one of the upper batch of Bond films and is in fact very well made. The action is superb, but it does go a bit overboard by putting confusing Bourne-like scene after another. It borrows heavily from Bourne which is fine if I wanted a Bourne action film. I don't, however, prefer it for my Bond films and still like the cleaner actio

n sequences of Casino Royale.

While the films is not nearly as good as its predecessor, Craig is st

ill just as excellent as Bond, if only he had been given more material this time around. Still, it drowns Bond in a slew of emotional self-finding, with revenge in mind Craig is by far the most ruthless Bond yet. 

This movie is good, and while indeed disappointing, it still makes for an excellent film experience. Casino Royale was a huge leap in the right direction for the franchise, think of Quantum as a followup jog in the same direction.

8/10

PREVIEW OF THE WEEK

Wrestler

This trailer made me tear up. Now a movie has to have a lot in it to make me tear up, much less cry. This single trailer did what few movies could do. It is brilliant and Mickey Rourke seems poised to make the performance of his career. Watch the trailer because it is definitely going to be one of the highlights of the year.

 

HD-> CLICK HERE

YouTube-> CLICK HERE

POSTER OF THE WEEK 

Benjamin Button is about a man born old and grows younger as he ages. Some my find the backward poster gimmicky, but I find it kind of smart. Plus Pitt's eyes just keep staring at you like that, it's unnerving in a way. Good poster, not great though. Still, nice idea.