darth_sidious

Re-watching Gremlins after many years, I found myself a little bored with the opening of the picture. The first 30 minutes range from good to bad, I found the characters boring. But once the Gremlins come into play, things get much better, infact, I couldn't stop laughing at the juvenile jokes and stupidity. The Gremlins are the stars of the show, I didn't particulary care for main human characters...they seemed so poorly written, or lacked good direction.

The photography is servicable, but the directing seemed a little uninspired to me.

The Gremlins are excellent puppets, you do believe that they exist. Technically, the film is fine, but I wish more thought was put into the characters, and the first 20 minutes were condensed into something more interesting than the usual introductions.

A total disgrace, James Bond has been murdered, and unfortunately, I witnessed it on the big screen. I simply cannot believe what I watched unfold before me. To say I'm disgusted is an understatement; I'm livid that the producers, Barbara and Michael, let this offensive film ever be shot. As a Bond fan, I was expecting Michael's experience to bring Bond back to earth and give Pierce a spy adventure, instead we get a boring Triple X-esque movie, which panders to the lowest common denominator AKA MTV crowd. Bond has always been a unique franchise, you can always distinguish a Bond picture from the rest, but today, that's not true - Bond has become generic, an action hero, lacking a style.

There are 8 fundamental problems with Die Another Day: 1. Invisible car - Bond has had some outrageous gadgets, but this one is FAR OUT and does not belong in the film. 2. Christian Wagner's MTV pretentious editing calling attention to its self - "hey look at me, I'm MTV" AWFUL. 3. Some terrible blue screen work - Bond surfing on ice water? pleeeeasssseeeee! 4. Plot is boring once we reach the ice palace. 5. Villains are boring. 6. Jinx has little to do unlike Wai Lin from Tomorrow Never Dies 7. Bad writing, scenes lack cohesive binding 8. David Arnold's score (please bring back John Barry) is totally drowned out by foley work. 9. Madonna's song is awful, the worst of the 20. Why did the producers let her? Because she sells records? The marriage of the song and score are no longer part of the Bond tradition since Goldeneye. 10. M doing the same thing again!!! YAWN!!!!! Give her a bigger part

There are some bits in the film, some okay, some brilliant:

The pre-credit sequence is exciting. Bond getting captured - finally they made it happened, but spoilt by getting it out of the way too early. Bond looks healthy, I mean 14 months didn't take much out of him? John Cleese as Q, he makes the role his own. Difficult act to follow, but he manages it. Thank the lord that he doesn't act like a buffoon! Brosnan is comfortable. Pike is a terrific catch, beautiful Bond girl. A lot of the minature work is perfect. David Tattersall's photography is good, as you would expect from a BSC member!!! Moneypenny gets a funny sequence...but out of place, totally detatched from the film. Nice homages to previous films, it's unfortunate that those scenes were some of the best in the entire picture.

As I said, Bond has lost the identity, arguably Britain's favourite son has been sold out to the teen audience. Where's the class? Bond should appeal to all ages, it's that reason why the franchise has been so successful. I'm all for Bond going into new directions, but certain elements can't change, but there is plenty of scope to explore. Licence to Kill is the perfect example of exploring Bond and keeping it in line with the series. Goldeneye was the last decent Bond film. Pierce Brosnan deserves a better script. I believe it's time to bring in new writers and ask John Glen to return, he made 4 decent Bond films, lets bring back experience!!! Oh, bring back the character down to earth as well. Bond is human, not a Superman!!!

I'm really disappointed in Tamahori, I still think he's a good director, but maybe he has been found out on the biggest stage?

So, Die Another Day is a colossal disappointment, can it get any worse? Yes, it can, if the producers decide the fate of Bond is now in the hands of MTV!!!

One never gets tired of a social satire on the media, which affects our lives, weather we like it or not. The media manipulates to make you believe things, it pays through the nose to get ratings, even if it means hurting their best friend.

15 minutes is about fame, it shows that evil crimes = money for film studios, book publishers etcetc

15 minutes may not be a perfect picture, nor is it focused, but damn, it really is reflective of today's world.

The film is part thriller and part satire, sometimes the film gets lost but it does work well. Can't believe how underrated this picture is.

De Niro and Burns are excellent as are the villains, who you really hate them!

Overall, excellent direction, but the writing could have been more polished in certain scenes.