Kicking The Tires On The Old 007 Franchise... "Spectre"

Spectre (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Dave Bautista, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Belluci, Naomie Harris,

Directed by Sam Mendes

The Story:

Bond (Craig) discovers that there is a secret organization named SPECTRE that has been behind much of the assignments that he's had over the years. He works to infiltrate their headquarters and meets the mastermind, Blofeld (Waltz). However, if he can't prove anything, it is quite possible that this will not only be his last mission as 007, that all of MI6 will be taken offline thanks to technology that shows spies to be horribly outdated.

The sweeping epic reboot of the Bond franchise comes full circle as Blofeld and SPECTRE finally arrive.

Thankfully, not a moment too soon.

For me, this is the best of the Craig Bond films since the stellar Casino Royale. I was underwhelmed with both Quantum of Solace and Skyfall was an improvement, but this felt more like it.

Apparently Craig is getting bored or tired of the role of James Bond, and it's been showing onscreen for some time as his Bond is beginning to not have the ruthless edge of a killer spy, but that of a bored actor who seemingly can't believe he's making another one of these films.

I don't know, the Bond Actors club is a pretty exclusive set, and I would think most actors would love to be known for playing the role.

We'll see what happens going forward with the franchise.

Waltz said he'll come back if Craig does.

Craig seems to no longer prefer suicide to another outing as James Bond, so I guess we'll find out in about 2 more years.

Otherwise, they've cobbled together a great support team for Bond, whoever is sporting the tux, going forward.

Final Grade: B

Blockbuster Weekend Continues: "World War Z"

Mother Nature's a Serial Killer!

The Story:

Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is a former United Nations...MacGyver... who has left the U.N. and is enjoying life with his wife and daughters.  Unfortunately, some virus is spreading around the world, and once infected, 12 seconds later, the infected have become a raging... zombie!  Gerry must attempt to save his family, and once he manages to pull that trick off, his next assignment:

Save the world!

If he doesn't, then he and his family will be kicked out of the safe haven.

So much for choices?!

Wow.  I was not expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did.

Perhaps I set the bar low going in, but I was impressed.

First, yes, the zombies are fast.  And I've gone on record as saying I hate, hate, hate, fast zombies. 

But for this film, it works.  In fact, it's the only way this film would work.  Slow and lumbering, the virus would never have spread.

Directed by Marc Forster, who helmed the "disappointing" Bond film Quantum of Solace and the highly underrated Stranger Than Fiction, he is very competent at what he does.  In fact, the gore is kept to a very minimum making World War Z one of those "family zombie flicks" that can be shared with the older kids... if they dare!  It's scary and suspenseful without worrying about the buckets of blood being tossed around the screen.

The movie made great use of the Navy for isolation from the plague.  That was very clever and well thought out.

Then of course, there's Brad Pitt.  One step below superhuman, but really, at the end of the day, this is a tale of a husband and father who will do anything to save his family.

That he's also going to attempt to save the world comes in a distant second.

I've seen and heard negative comments that this film had a lousy ending, but I'm not buying that for a second.  Something that spread globally as fast as the epidemic did cannot possibly be resolved by the end of the movie.

There's more work to be done, and that may mean sequels, with or without Pitt.

I'm fine with that.

Enjoyed the movie, and it's an action film that just happens to have zombies in it.  Worth a viewing!

Final Grade: B+/A- range

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I actually would not be opposed to watching it again, or owning it.