Skyfall* (2012) 9.5, 9.5, 9, 28

      So I saw Skyfall the day after it came out here in France, that is, Saturday. For my American audience, it is as if I got a special reviewer's preview. That is, as Riley Griffith's character in Super 8 said, "production value." So I have to take advantage.

      This film follows the trend in the last two Bond films, those starring Daniel Craig, of upping the ante as far as intelligence and substance goes in Bond. My mother loves Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan and I cannot deny their skill. It is not because Daniel Craig is a better actor, though he definitely is better than Pierce and maybe better than Sean, but it is based on someone who is obviously hiding. The two writers that all three share in common also wrote Die Another Day and that is, in my humble and, in this case, extremely accurate opinion, the lowest Bond has ever gone. Who is behind this? I cannot put my finger on it, but someone is keeping these men honest. 

      All this said about this Daniel Craig era of Bond, this movie really does do something more. Casino Royale blew my mind as it created a version of Bond that was two things I wanted. One is accurately violent, which in my mind is a great relief after decades of clean kills, polluting the essence of violence; the blood and guts hidden, violence became stylized, even pretty. (I should credit my brother, Steve, with that idea. I believe he said something similar to me when we went to see Die Another Day in theaters many moons ago.) The second was that it made Bond openly broken. If he was a sexual deviant, it was because he trusted no one and was a bit of a misogynist. This blew open Bond for me, intellectually.

      Quantum of Solace did what I didn't believe possible. It allowed a Bond girl to escape Bond's dirty clutches and go unsexed. Think about it. James Bond didn't have sex with a Bond girl. It also cleared the way with the Vesper story, which need resolving.

      Skyfall's brilliance is that it asks extremely large questions about Bond and the nature of action films. I attribute this, in part, to the direction of Sam Mendes. Sam and I have been at odds since his first film, American Beauty. To this day it is the only film that I have heard good things about, set down determined to watch, and simply pulled it out before it was finished and never came back. We've grown closer in mind, but it wasn't until Away We Go, still number 3 all time, that I began to like him, even trust him.

      All of that may be interesting, but now I'd like to get down to it. For wit, I went with a 9.5. This is up .5 from Quantum of Solace, though I should guess that was on the low end of 9, while Skyfall is definitely on the high end of 9.5. I cannot give it a 10 as it doesn't feel unquestionable. Occasionally the jokes go a bit low, reminding one that these writers wrote Die Another Day, but overall it is written beautifully. As before, it does things that are shocking, unheard of in the old Bond, or most other movies that aim for this Hollywood action film crowd. People die when you don't expect it, almost as it might happen if one were a real spy. 

     An absolutely brilliant performance by Javier Bardem. He again steps outside himself and finds another type of character. One might be tempted to compare this with his other famous psychopath from No Country for Old Men, but though he is clearly criminally insane, this character has more in common with Javier's character from Vicky Cristina Barcelona than with the silent, cold-blooded type in the aforementioned Cohen Brothers film. Daniel Craig keeps up the same level from the other two, with the intensity and the emotional intelligence intact. Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Albert Finney are quite good as well.

      If I could return to what this film does in particular, it asks the question about why we still need spies like Bond and therein confronts its own raison d'être. Why do we need stories about men who chase down bad guys? Aren't we beyond good and evil? Aren't we beyond such apparent categorization of good guys and bad guys? M confronts this question during an inquest into her work as head of her department. She answers that things are not simpler, but more complicated. We don't live in a world without shadows or secrets. Everything is now done in the shadows and secrets are everywhere. I like her answer to that question, but I think I like the film's answer to the questions about itself even more. The film argues that though many people who would once have been seen simply as "baddies" might be something more substantial, there are still very clear, very real and dangerous threats in the world today. These unquestionable evils are not less dangerous than the giant Soviet Union. They may be much more dangerous. I'm not sure that is very well said, but the movie, I think, says it better.

      I think that covers why it gets a 9.5 for wisdom. I gave it a 9 for wonder. I thought about a 9.5, but found that I gave Snatch a 9 for wonder. That makes me think that I have been over-estimating wonder for a while. Who knows? Overall, this movie does a great job with car chases, explosions, helicopters, etc., but it doesn't rely throughout on fancy, newfangled equipment, but allows itself to give two sides, high technology and low. Even the low technology half of the film has a good deal of shooting and a helicopter fight scene. (I don't think I'm ruining anything to mention that James Bond beats the helicopter.) The music adds little but a sense of nostalgia.

This film, in my mind, is a definite step up from Quantum of Solace and progress in a series is the highest compliment I can give. If you haven't, as I'm sure you poor, backward Americans haven't, see Skyfall.

The Escapist** (2008) 9, 9.5, 9.5, 28

       I took my time with this film, coming up with a rating and re-watching it with a bigger time lag between watches, not least because I've been busy. I do believe this movie is a bit of a "diamond in the rough." It really has a lot to say about the world and what's important in it.
       For wit I came down on a 9. My first indicator was comparison with The English Patient, which I watched for the first time last year. That movie had a certain perfection to its scenes and events that made them simultaneously fantastic and believable. I never thought, "That's a bit far-fetched " but I was often surprised by the turn of the action. These things earned it a 9.5 for wit and for this reason, The Escapist did not earn a 9.5. As I went further, I came upon Get Low. In terms of wit this one has a lot of positives and negatives. Its plot doesn't always do much for me, but it has some fantastic bits of dialogue and action. The Escapist earns its 9, by not dipping as low, maintaining a constancy, without managing the better moments of Get Low.
       Beyond this, I'd like to highlight the phenomenal central performance by Brian Cox. I absolutely think he's one of the finer actors produced by Ireland, which is saying something from my perspective. Joseph Fiennes is wonderful as always. It makes me rue even more the cancellation of FlashForward. Seu Jorge, who I haven't seen in a movie since The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou repeats his performance as the quiet type, but stuns you with the way he can keep you engaged just watching his movement. Dominic Cooper is as good here as he's ever been, even if he's not doing anything new.
       The two best performances are not really where they ought to be, but I appreciate them anyway. Damian Lewis and Steven Mackintosh play brothers in the prison and they both absolutely frightened me. Damian Lewis switches between the coldness of some of the better scenes I've seen on Homeland and the blank sincerity that made me love the show Life. Steven Mackintosh plays a level of slimy I would not have thought him capable of, except that he does the same thing later in Luther, though I saw that before I saw this. They both make your skin crawl, one for shriveling weakness and the other for terrifyingly quiet confidence.
       My biggest complaint is something like the one I have about Ocean's 12, which I'm sure I've shared around. The ending, in some ways, negates so much of the prior action that you wonder what good the action did in the first place. This film doesn't exactly go as far as that, but it is a little anti-climactic.
       Now when thinking about wisdom in films, I often like to establish a baseline and add and subtract for various moral points of the film. To begin with, this is a prison escape movie. No one here claims to be innocent; there are no extenuating circumstances. Everyone here is trying to get out, despite having committed a crime. This easily puts us in the 8-8.5 range. Not a positive place to start, but it gets better. I believe that this is not really about criminals, in a sense, but about freedom vs. slavery. No mention is made of crimes or justice. It is all about escaping captivity. This settles it more on the 8.5 side. A key point that Brian Cox's character makes is that the king among slaves is still less than the lowest among free men. He says it better, but he makes the point about imagination being all that keeps people alive in captivity. This further plays into the ending. This makes it on the high side of 9.
       The priority of intelligence over strength is one of my pet issues. Brian Cox's character really helps it by making some tough positive decisions in the end. All this says 9.5 to me. And that's where it lands, but there is an annoying bit that reminded me of Sucker Punch, a movie I did not really like at all. It's all about justifying who gets away, as if it were right, despite not having any reason to justify it. Only a minor detail.
       Wonder is an easy 9.5. The atmosphere of the prison and the whole escape sequence is perfect. The choice of music is brilliant, not least "The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen, which is used a couple times. It really sets the mood along with the composed score.
       Overall, this film is definitely worth a watch and for me was worth at least two. I'm sure I will need at least one more if I'm to totally understand it.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon** (1949) 9, 8.5, 9, 26.5

      Though it took me a long time and two watches to get this review started, I am happy with the time I put in. I think that this film is yet another example of the quality of John Ford and John Wayne's collaborations. The film making here strikes me as intelligent and well thought out. I'll begin with wit.
      For wit, I gave this film a 9. There are some ways in which this seems low to me. John Wayne clearly and expressively creates the character of Captain Nathan Brittles, a man's man who may only be able to live within the strictly regimented life of a member of the US Cavalry during this period. He is facing forced retirement, despite being apparently capable and without a home or family to go to, as his wife and two daughters were killed some time before. He is retiring in the wake of Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn and he mentions knowing Custer and various other officers killed with him. He is to go on one last patrol before retiring and is required by his commanding officer to take two woman to catch the last stage back East at the same time. Wayne does not play him as over hard or as sentimental and silly, though I'm sure the writing aided him, as it deftly measures out jokes and a real sense of the hardness and strictures of army life. His slight embarrassed expression as he pulls out his reading glasses to read the "sentiment" on the back of the watch he receives from his troop when he retires is marvelous as are the sniffles that accompany his return of the glasses into his uniform. His rapport with Victor McLaglen, his rival in The Quiet Man, one of my favorites, is especially pleasing to hear.
      Beyond this, Joanne Dru's coquettishness bordering on stamping her a floozy coalesces cleanly and pleasingly with her deeper moments and allows a fuller character to develop that can both mock and argue with the best of the men, while keeping the deeper coherence of her more admirable character well intact. Mildred Natwick plays a part that she is beyond good at, even if I can't remember her playing anything else, that hardened older woman who has wisdom and charm too spare.
      Ben Johnson as Sgt. Tyree, John Agar as Lt. Cohill, and Harry Carey Jr. as Lt. Pennell distinguish themselves as well. My favorite part of the movie may be the scene between Wayne and Chief John Big Tree as Chief Pony That Walks. Pony That Walks identifies himself as a Christian and repeatedly cries, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah!" They briefly discuss the possibility of preempting the coming war and they come to the conclusion that it is unavoidable and the Duke turns down his companion's offer to "go, hunt buffalo, get drunk together."
      The reason this rather remarkable film doesn't deserve a 9.5 is down to the voice-over intro and conclusion that wrap the movie up just a little too neatly. "Wherever they (the US Cavalry) rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States." This line is a perfect example. Though some ambiguity is left in the "whatever they fought for" there is no sense, except in that scene that I already mentioned that there is anything wrong with what happened in that time and that place. If it hadn't been for this frame of the story in patriotic glory, I might have been able to get behind the beauty of these selfless cavalry officers seeking to spread American ideals and ways of life, but putting it in context, it forgets the broken promises and the dishonesty of the American government in this period.
      This leads well into the question of wisdom. I cannot ignore these issues, but the presentation being one that avoids easy stereotyping of the Indian as violent and treacherous, I felt that I only needed to bring it down to a 8.5. I was just about to mention that I took an extra .5 off for the repeated phrase "Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness." But I have come to the conclusion that the ironic use of this truism, its constant breaking, and a different interpretation lend it a moral weight that I find convincing. One might interpret it, in the context of men at war, as the injunction not to lose sight of the worthiness of the goal nor to try to confess to appease one's conscience in the moment. Instead of simple apology, in this modern sense, we need taking responsibility and a changed course of action. It might be paraphrased, "Don't apologize. Admit the mistake and then work to fix it." This is, I think, a useful idea for the modern man.
      As far as wonder goes, I felt that comparison with Saving Private Ryan and Romulus, My Father bore out, in terms of the use of what was available. It is a spot on costume drama with able horse-work and play at the implements of war in the times.
      Overall, this impressed me as a great western and one of my favorite that Wayne and Ford made together. For those who can bear it and are interested, both in the genre and the ideological holes, I definitely suggest it. I expect to return next week with my review of Last Night, which plan to rewatch as I did this and prepare a decent and recent watch sense of its quality, or lack thereof.

Interlude IV: Paris Is a Great Place to Live for a Movie Lover if You Feel Completely at Ease Reading French Subtitles Throughout an Entire Movie

      Love and Other Drugs is an amazingly shallow catalogue of people with low self-esteem and the inability to see beyond their own pain. I watched it for Anne Hathaway, because of The Dark Knight Rises. This was a mistake. I like movies that have really unlikable characters to begin with, but they have to come around. And they do not. Do not watch this movie out of curiosity. My humble opinion.
      Beyond this, I'd like to plug Awake, which did get canceled, but its ending is fantastic. If Lost had ended that well, I would not have been disappointed. Actually, I wish Lost had ended nearly exactly like that.
      If you have never seen Regular Show, I would start with 4.1. It is really interesting and manages to insert a new character into a comedy type show without making him uninteresting.
      Comedy Bang! Bang! is totally worth watching, but the comedy is the strangest thing I've ever seen. I just finished the season finale, where they play with the idea that the whole show is done on green screen. They show that they have Jon Heder playing Weird Al Yankovic, who comments that he may actually be a bigger celebrity, but is convinced to put a green mask so that he will be back to being Weird Al on the green screen. I really regret trying to explain this show, but I will leave it. If it sounds silly, then you get it.
      I already watched She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne. I will try to get a review on soon and I'm watching more.

Clue* (1985) 9.5, 8, 9, 26.5

      So, I didn't know what to watch one evening and someone said to me, "Watch Clue." I said to myself, "A movie based on a board game? I can't watch this. It's no better than watching Battleship." I even mentioned this to the person who suggested it, but she assured me that this was nothing like that. My first hint that this movie might contain more than meets the eye is when, on the DVD menu I was asked, "Would you like an ending to be chosen for you at random, or would you like all three endings?" Say what you will about the choose-your-own-adventure format, but at least the random option makes it interesting. I chose to watch all three, which might seem a cop-out, but I wanted to see all of it. If only for my admiring public...in Russia.
      So I gave this movie a 9.5 for wit, which a judgmental type like myself will automatically seem too high. I can assure, for a comedy with absolutely nothing of substance to say, except perhaps a brow-beating of the 50's, it is well-conceived and masterfully acted. Tim Curry leads the cast as Wadsworth the butler. He is as physical and crazy eyed as he is in his best work and spares no physical expense to be funny. Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, the senator's wife; Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, the high society black widow; Christopher Lloyd as the loose-moralled former psychiatrist; Michael McKean as Mr. Green, the gay G-Man; Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, the unscrupulous army research commander; and Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet, the madame of a D.C. brothel. In case the names sound silly, they're intended to be aliases for a group of people being blackmailed by Mr. Body. The board game is followed to the letter and a game is played out before your eyes, but with brilliant actors and exceedingly interesting characters. And then the three endings. Three very plausible and simple endings with different culprits and different twists, but some of the same well-crafted jokes. In a very real way, I cannot recommend this movie more highly, but that is just wit.
      The reason this movie is not breaking into my top 25 any time soon is that a) it has nothing to say so much. I took it only down to 8 because of the nice portrayal of the 50's from a typical 80's perspective. Interesting if nothing else. The wonder is the straight 9. Nothing to add or detract, but a solidly made movie overall. I appreciate that it