Film Review: Spectre (2015)

There are few franchises as reactive as the James Bond series. Over twenty-four films and fifty-three years, it has had to adapt and change in order to survive, often taking on the qualities of the trend du jour in order to remain relevant. When blaxploitation cinema was at its height, Bond went to Harlem and fought against Voodoo gangsters. After Star Wars became one of the most popular movies of all time, Bond went to space. As Hollywood became obsessed with hard-nosed crime dramas focused on the drug trade, Bond dismantled a cartel and fed Benicio del Toro through a shredder.

Film Review: Skyfall (2012)

One of the key images in Skyfall, the twenty-third James Bond film and the third to star Daniel Craig as the super-spy, is of Bond standing on a London rooftop. As he gazes out over the city, he is framed alongside such indelible symbols of Britishness as The Houses of Parliament and the Union Jack. It's a quiet and contemplative moment, particularly in comparison to the percussive, rollicking juggernaut that surrounds it, but it's one that underscores one of the underlying ideas behind the film. Seeing as its release coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the series, Skyfall has to pay due diligence as a celebration of the legacy of EON and Cubby Broccoli, who helped to make James Bond as much an icon of British culture as the aforementioned building and flag.

Shot/Reverse Shot: Episode 11 - Bonus Olympics Minisode

Following the (semi-) phenomenal (by our meagre standards) success of the Dark Knight Rises episode, Joe and I decided to do another bonus episode so that we can discuss some of the big news stories in a surprisingly packed week or so for film. To that end, we discuss the astonishing spectacle of the Olympics opening ceremony (as well as spread malicious falsehoods about Danny Boyle's directing career), discuss the newly-debuted trailers for Skyfall and Cloud Atlas, then round things off by talking about how increasingly unenthused we are about The Hobbit.

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