Winters Tale and Casino Royale
Nov. 20th, 2006 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueWell, went to see two things 'review worthy' over the weekend.
Saturday I went to see a matinee of Winters Tale at the Swan Theatre in Stratford. I'm glad that those spare tickets came up, because it was really quite an experience.
The tickets were 'standing' ones - the only real dampener on the whole affair was that standing for 3 hours is a challenge. However this mean we were 'in the action - the show was amongst and around us. Occasionally getting shooed out the way to have the stage moved around, or for the actors to get by.
The play was at all angles too, which added a new dimension to it. In particular I was quite impressed that they managed to make it rain, and how they handled that. (Only some of the audience got a little drizzled on).
Saturday evening we managed to get a 'late' show of Casino Royale. Despite it being the 10:10 show, it was a good thing we got there plenty early - the place was packed, and there was a massive queue.
I have to say, I think that it's possibly one of the best Bond films yet. The storyline was nicely put together. It was somewhat dark, and ... well in some of the numerous fight scenes you got the impression that Bond really was taking a beating. (Which is why it's a 12A). They've got away from the very forumlaic angle that previous films have taken and realised that actually, if you base it on Ian Fleming's actual book, you end up with a good story line. (Shock!).
Daniel Craig is a really solid 'Bond', and I think the fact that they specifically didn't try and make a PG has helped - it's made it a very good film.
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd was also very good. Again, the traditional 'bond girl' role has been put aside. She's a three dimensional character, rather than the traditional cardboard cut out, who you can really empathise with. It adds a very impressive dimension to the film.
Oh, and the chase scene is really something very impressive. I won't say too much, but ... well, I never really expected a chase on foot could be quite _that_ spectacular.
It's slighty incongruous having the 'prequel' set chronoligically 'about now' but that's all fine. I was more worried that they'd stop Judi Dench doing M, but thankfully not.
About the only thing that _may_ disappoint is the (almost) complete lack of gadgets. Personally I feel the 'must have gadget' was somewhat shoehorned into the last few films, and this one does very nicely without Q handing over the Deus Ex Machina.
Although to be honest, there are signs that his car _is_ a 'Bond special' they don't ham that up very much (which is good).
It's really really good. Go see it. Go see it on the big screen. There's not many films I'd like to watch again in the Cinema, but that's definitely on the list.
Saturday I went to see a matinee of Winters Tale at the Swan Theatre in Stratford. I'm glad that those spare tickets came up, because it was really quite an experience.
The tickets were 'standing' ones - the only real dampener on the whole affair was that standing for 3 hours is a challenge. However this mean we were 'in the action - the show was amongst and around us. Occasionally getting shooed out the way to have the stage moved around, or for the actors to get by.
The play was at all angles too, which added a new dimension to it. In particular I was quite impressed that they managed to make it rain, and how they handled that. (Only some of the audience got a little drizzled on).
Saturday evening we managed to get a 'late' show of Casino Royale. Despite it being the 10:10 show, it was a good thing we got there plenty early - the place was packed, and there was a massive queue.
I have to say, I think that it's possibly one of the best Bond films yet. The storyline was nicely put together. It was somewhat dark, and ... well in some of the numerous fight scenes you got the impression that Bond really was taking a beating. (Which is why it's a 12A). They've got away from the very forumlaic angle that previous films have taken and realised that actually, if you base it on Ian Fleming's actual book, you end up with a good story line. (Shock!).
Daniel Craig is a really solid 'Bond', and I think the fact that they specifically didn't try and make a PG has helped - it's made it a very good film.
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd was also very good. Again, the traditional 'bond girl' role has been put aside. She's a three dimensional character, rather than the traditional cardboard cut out, who you can really empathise with. It adds a very impressive dimension to the film.
Oh, and the chase scene is really something very impressive. I won't say too much, but ... well, I never really expected a chase on foot could be quite _that_ spectacular.
It's slighty incongruous having the 'prequel' set chronoligically 'about now' but that's all fine. I was more worried that they'd stop Judi Dench doing M, but thankfully not.
About the only thing that _may_ disappoint is the (almost) complete lack of gadgets. Personally I feel the 'must have gadget' was somewhat shoehorned into the last few films, and this one does very nicely without Q handing over the Deus Ex Machina.
Although to be honest, there are signs that his car _is_ a 'Bond special' they don't ham that up very much (which is good).
It's really really good. Go see it. Go see it on the big screen. There's not many films I'd like to watch again in the Cinema, but that's definitely on the list.
