The latest James Bond movie - 'No Time To Die'

Boring.

I got half way through and had to stop.

I haven't seen a Bond film for years, and now I can see why.

That franchise hasn't aged well.

It's very rare that I give up on a film, but I just couldn't waste another hour of my life watching 'No Time To Die'.

Bloody awful film.

Having spent $100 for the boxset of 24 Bond movies, I will likely had "No time to die" to the collection. That, despite only having watched the first 20 minutes of the movie. Let us not be too hasty to condemn the movie.

Having just gone out to buy a three pack of Halloween movies for $12.98, I am not really fussed if the recent James Bond movie is not all that great. It will complete my collection, just as the Halloween DVD purchase did for me.

greggerypeccary wrote on May 22^nd, 2022 at 2:57pm:


I believe you but will have a look myself anyway.

Sean Connery was James Bond the rest were actors playing him.

I didn't hate Roger Moore but I was that age at the time.

I had not watched James Bond movies for about 2 years. But I recall that I was pleasantly surprised how good the 1960 to the 1980s movies were. Perhaps one of the 1980s movies was not that good. And the 1990s James Bond movies were a good update to the character. Other than Casino Royale (which was rather bland), Daniel Craig has played a good James Bond. Nothing bad was shown in the recent James Bond movie, of the first 20 minutes that I have watched.

The northmen.

First 45 minutes was ok but after that it turned from a cinema experience to a series on tv.

3 out of 10.

Never watching it again.

The Commitments

I watched this first, when it came out in 1991.  It was a great movie then and it has stood the test of time very well.  It makes rather explicit the poverty of Ireland back in the 1970s which has, I understand because of massive injection of funds from the EU been fixed.  The band are made up of poor, misfits who don't fit into Irish society.  You have a great singer who likes to get pissed.  You have a great trumpet player who appears to have jammed with all the greats.  You have three pretty backup singers and a couple of wastrel guitar players and a medical student piano player who plays the church organ in his spare time.  The drum player isn't bad but he doesn't like the singer, the three girls are all jealous of one another and all at various stages bed the trumpet player.  They all play well together when they can be bothered and on the verge of success breakup because of petty jealousies.

Overall, I'd give it a 9 out of ten.  Well worth watching if only for the great music.  Get the sound track, it's a great listen.

Top Gun: Maverick

Three years waiting for its release, Top Gun: Maverick finally gets its Australian release in May of 2022. And it was worth the wait. This high energy fighter jet movie stays true to the original. And the sequel surpasses it in many ways.

We find Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) arriving at an airbase ready to test pilot "Dark Star", a high tech, hypersonic scramjet. Rear Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) decides to shut down the program in favour of drone funding. However, Captain Mitchell decides to do a Mach 10 test flight, in order to save the program (and the career of his comrades in the program). The test flight is both a success and a failure.

Cain decides to, under the instruction of Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), reassign Mitchell to Top Gun to train the next generation of fighter pilots. Upon arrival at his old North Island training base, he finds that the son of his former co-pilot and best friend is training as a pilot. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw is still bitter not only at the loss of his father Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, but that Mitchell wanted to pull "Rooster" from the flight training.

After handing the students' arses to them in flight training, the focus comes to an actual training for a mission in (some place that is not really explained) to destroy a uranium enrichment plant. The training program includes how to fly low through valleys to avoid radar, and to get to the target within 3 minutes. Each of the students fail the simulation. Only Rooster reaches the target, but well after the deadline elapses. It takes Pete "Maverick" Mitchell to show them how it is done.

After that, the students begin to believe in their ability to do the mission. With near casualties during the remainder of the training, Maverick is asked to lead the mission. Rooster is asked to strike the target at the uranium facility. From there, the action really takes off -- pun intended.

A very good movie. True to the original. But, updated in a way 30 years after the original movie pulled off an action drama to thrill audiences. You will be impressed by how Cruise has matured the character to be both more respectable, yet still the same rebel he was in the first movie. I did feel that some of the younger cast members seemed a little out of place as pilots. But, they managed to keep the story rolling along and were not a bunch of misfits you might expect in a modern action movie. Jennifer Connelly plays "Penny", the love interest of Maverick. She keeps Maverick 'grounded' in reality with sound advice.

I would recommend this movie not only to those who are Top Gun fans, but to people in general. There is enough drama and feel-good moments to keep people engaged in the storyline. And the action will have you moving in your movie chair and on the edge of your seat. And whilst you might criticise the reality and plausibility of the action, there is no denying the entertaining nature of the movie is there to be enjoyed.

Rating: A-