Skyfall

Allow me to state, for the record, that I have never seen a James Bond movie that didn't star Daniel Craig. So, right off the bat you know I'm not the biggest Bond fan in the world. I'd sort of like to go back and watch every one in order but also part of me thinks they are basically all the same. Hot women, fast cars, suits, exotic locations. They just change basic plot points so if you've seen one then you've seen them all.

That being said, Skyfall was pretty damn good. The plot follows Bond (Craig) as he tries to track down a bad guy (Javier Bardem, with his bad guy ridiculous hair) who attacked the MI6 building and hijacked a list of undercover agents. Said bad guy, Silva, also has a special interest in M (Judi Dench) and so this time it's all a little personal. And, so, Bond treks from England to Shanghai to deserted islands to Scotland in hopes of bringing down Silva before it's too late. Enter the car chases, train derailments, women in backless gowns, yachts, Tom Ford suits and whatever else stylishness director Sam Mendes can throw at you.

I know I sound blase about the whole thing (and I guess I kind of am) but, for me, Bond is way more style over substance. According to reviews I've read, Skyfall is supposed to be the best of the best as far as Bond movies go, and it was really fun and very good, but I feel like it holds up well against super blockbuster movies like Spider-Man but not necessarily against brilliant fall thinkpieces like Looper. Skyfall is a fun ride, but a ride is really all it is. It's exciting and it gets your adrenaline pumping, but it's not really the kind of movie that is going to stay with you for a long time.

The performances are great, though. Craig makes for a rebellious bad ass Bond was swag. Dench is joyfully great as M. Ralph Fiennes shows up as a sort beaurocratic bad ass named Gareth Mallory. Ben Whishaw is adorable as ever as Q. But, the real stand out here is Javier Bardem. Anyone who has seen No Country for Old Men knows how good he is at playing a chilling villain. Here, with equally awful hair (seriously, is it in his contract that when he plays a villain they have to give him the worst hair of all time??? or is it just producers way of trying to make him less attractive??), Bardem is having a blast playing a Bond baddie. He's easily the best thing about the movie although I didn't entirely buy his motivations. Without giving anything away, it just seemed completely out of character for him to be doing what he was doing in this movie.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Skyfall. It makes me a believer in the pure fun you can have at a Bond movie. However, as far as substance goes, I think I'll probably forget all about this movie by the end of the year. And for the solid performances and great action sequences, that's a shame.

Grade: B

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. I read the book, by Steig Larson, and loved it. I saw the original Swedish version starring the incendiary Noomi Rapace, and loved it. Now, here comes the American version, directed by my very favorite director (David Fincher), starring a total badass as Lisbeth (Rooney Mara), and what? I was slightly disappointed but I can't exactly put my finger on why. The movie was absolutely great. The directing was great, the adaptation was great, the performances were great, the music was great. The movie will most likely make my Top Ten List of the year (it's currently in there, but there are still a few more movies to see). Again, I don't know what I was expecting, but somehow I was expecting more.
In case you have been living under a rock, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about Mikael Bloomqvist (Daniel Craig), a disgraced Swedish journalist who gets hired by an aging billionaire (Christopher Plummer) to officially write his memoirs but unofficially investigate the mysterious disappearance of his favorite niece, Harriet, forty years earlier. You see, the entire deranged, crazy, awful, detestable Vanger family was together on their island for a yearly meeting. The only bridge onto the island was shut down due to an accident. Then Harriet disappeared and the only explanation was that someone on the island must have killed her and buried her body. So, Mikael must try to find something new within the forty year mystery that will help him finally catch the killer. Eventually he asks for a research assistant and they give him the bad ass, punk rock, leather wearing computer hacker who, unbeknownst to him, did his background check - Lisbeth Salander (Mara), who is arguably the greatest character in modern day literature (definitely the greatest female character, but character in general is debatable, I guess... though, not for me). The disgraced journalist and the anti-social ward of the state team up and delve into a mystery so much more complex than originally thought by anyone. And so you have one of the best murder mystery, female empowerment films of the last ten years or so.
So, then, why was I disappointed?
I still can't put my finger on it. Maybe my expectations were just way too high. Fincher is a film god and I guess I was expecting him to make some radical changes that I, as a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo purist, would still love. He did keep the ending from the book (which the Swedish version did not), which I loved. He did change a major plot point in the third act which I think made more sense anyway. Other than that, it was just another version of something that was already amazing. Fincher's film was much darker, maybe. The music was eerie and creepy and wonderful. The performances were top notch. Daniel Craig, who I was on the fence about, was a great complicated leading man. Christopher Plummer was perfect as the sweet old Henrik. Robin Wright, who seriously has never looked hotter, was great in a small role. Stellan Skarsgaard was fantastic - elegant and creepy - as Martin Vanger. But, Mara, of course, steals the show as Lisbeth. With her tattoos, piercings, bleached eye brows, and sometime Mohawk, she doesn't even have to say a word. She invokes so much with a mere look. She is perfect, almost as good as Rapace was. The movie suffers from the same things that the book and the Swedish version suffers from which is to say, that it's part of a trilogy so after the mystery wraps up, there is still a good twenty minutes to go and so it sort of feels anti-climactic in a way.
So, I guess I was expecting too much. I guess I built it up too much in my mind. I have been anticipating this movie for over a year. Still, it was great in just about every way. Maybe, with time, I will appreciate it a little bit more.
Grade: B+