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Quantum of Solace, a review by Rich

Quantum of Solace



On a nonstop quest for justice that crisscrosses the globe, Bond meets the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who leads him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious Quantum organisation. When Bond uncovers a conspiracy to take control of one of the world's most important natural resources, he must navigate a minefield of treachery, deception and murder to neutralise Quantum before it's too late!

Less memorable than Casino Royale, a little less polished than the best Bonds, villains not having such a great impact, Bond girls are great - but could be better.
In other words, this could have been improved with slight tweaks, to transform it from a good movie to a great movie.
The dark rough and ready Daniel Craig is more terminator than the saint, continuing to bring a hard edge to the familiar Bond character, as he goes renegade in an attempt to investigate the organisation that killed Vesper. Very few one-liners, gadgets a rarity, but a mature breakneck speed storyline that fully satisfies.
The action scenes are carbon copies from Bourne, and need to develop in the next Bond film to their own individuality. M has a bigger part than usual, and needless to say Dench pulls off a great performance.
This is the new Bond, grittier and current, and QOS will rank as one of the better films for me.
 

(From Riches Random Reviews on March 26th, 2009)

Frenzy, a review by Danae Cassandra

Frenzy
Year of Release: 1972
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey
Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Overview:FrenzyMy Thoughts:
Hitchcock lays out all the mystery in the beginning, as the viewer is lead to suspect different people as being the serial killer.  He wraps that up pretty early in the film though, at least for the viewer.  We know long before our protagonist who the killer is.  After that it stays a good thriller, though the deaths in the film were easy for me to predict early on.  Great direction, great camera work, and I really appreciated that the protagonist was an actually unlikeable person.  Yes, he was an innocent man and I sympathized with him, but he wasn't a hero and I didn't like him.  That's not something I see very often in film so I found it very refreshing. 

I do think the first rape/murder scene was quite nasty and it seemed drawn out and fetishized to me.  This is likely intentional, getting into the mind of the killer and all that, but I'm not sure that the film needed it.  The second rape/murder, that takes place mostly off screen, is just as effective in eliciting horror from the viewer.  That's really my only quarrel here, this was otherwise a really good film.  Recommended.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on December 5th, 2015)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

2.08 One Good Man (1996-02-08)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Frank Siracusa (Story By), Kathy Slevin (Screenwriter), Jeff King (Screenwriter)
Director: Malcolm Cross
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Maria Bello (Mackenzie King), Robert Clothier (Mr. Potter), Karl Pruner (John Taylor), Katayoun Amini (Angela Vecchio), Johnie Chase (Mr. Klein), Ann Medina (Alderman Farrell), Marvin Karon (Warren Knoop), Domenic Cuzzocrea (Dennis), John Jarvis (Suburban Man), Sam Moses (Mr. Mustafi), Robbie Rox (Al Grosso), Kevin Rushton (Thug Rushton), Helen Richmond (Ms. Krezjapalov)

Another humorless episode. And that in a series, where the humor is the best thing in it. I had forgotten that the second season was this serious. But when I remember correctly, all the fun episodes are still to come.

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on August 14th, 2009)