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Reviews
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Absence of Solace
I believe this is (a) one of the smartest Bond films, (b) one of the most stylistically original Bond films, and most significantly (and this relates to both previous points), (c) possibly the most Flemingesque Bond film.
Points (a) and (b): Prior to seeing the film this evening, reading the criticisms on this website terrified me. I was fully prepared to sit painfully through an incoherent, meandering-yet-abbreviated Bourne-clone. Fortunately, this was not the case. This is a tightly plotted, visually arresting, well acted concussion missile of a film. Things happen at break-neck speed, but nonetheless are executed with a magisterial style and singular wit the remarkable pre-credits sequence and the Tosca shootout in particular come to mind.
The dialogue minimally used though it is also sparkles, and one walks out of the film with a bevy of marvelous thirty-second exchanges still lingering in the mind. While the audience waits for the heroes to begin the inevitable final battle at the desert compound, we're treated to an invaluable piece of Bondian wisdom regarding revenge killings. Certainly a step up from the stern, lecturing voice of Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only: "Before setting out for revenge, first dig two graves." Not bad, but Bond is no longer didactic or moralizing in the least. And I like him that way.
It certainly is true that the film moves at a good clip. Its brief running time does suggest that director Forster could have spent more time luxuriating in the exotic locales or examining the milky curves of Ms. Fields' body for that matter but the snappy transitions (locations stylishly established with appropriately ornate fonts, to boot) and hyper-efficient story-telling (it most certainly does assume you've seen Casino Royale) are part of the film's charm. If you don't hold on, you might not make it. It might just as well be called "Surplus of Chaos".
As for point (c), I'm extremely fond of Casino Royale, and I don't think Quantum of Solace is superior per se, but watching the latter does a better job of replicating the experience of *reading* a classic Bond adventure which is strange, being an original script. Speaking of which, the friendship with Mathis ranks along side that with Draco in OHMSS, Columbo in For Your Eyes Only, and Leiter in Licence to Kill as one of the most authentic and moving examples of Fleming-style male bonding. It's also nice to see Bond indulge in a bit of troubled binge drinking, possibly for the first time on film. And maybe it's just me, but I think the epilogue screams Fleming, despite the somewhat bizarre presence of M (does she have nothing better to do than follow him around?).
And, indeed, it is the relationship between Craig's Bond and Dench's M that ultimately elevates the film. Don't get me wrong everything else is marvelous. But the pairing of these two actors is Quantum of Solace's greatest asset. And, to their credit, Forster, Haggis, et al, seem to know it.
In time, I'm sure affection for Quantum of Solace will grow, as it has for all of the Bond films with true longevity, such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia With Love, and those from the Dalton era. See it twice.
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Call off the Valentine's Dance, you hosers!
In Southwestern Ontario, we've long had a saying: A well-topped hot dog is better than a naked hamburger. "My Bloody Valentine" would seem to disprove the cinematic equivalent of this statement.
Even in its truncated form, "My Bloody Valentine" is a marvelous slasher film. It is moody without being slow-paced, authentic without being pretentious, and above all, Canadian without resorting to a lot of ham-fisted clichés (note the antiquated crates of Moosehead Lager). Think of it as "Goin' Down the Road" with extricated human hearts.
It's curious that such a film could be cut by a full nine minutes (!) and maintain its coherence, let alone its effectiveness. While there's no denying that I'm keen to see an uncensored version of this semi-festive semi-classic, it doesn't feel like it's missing much in its present form. Frankly, the inclusion of nine minutes' worth of gore might just undermine the folksy, naïve qualities that make the film so endearing. Granted, opening a clothes dryer and finding the scalded corpse of a local spinster might not strike everyone as "folksy and naïve", but we slasher fans are cut from a rarefied cloth.
Is this endeavour as effective as the other Canadian trail-blazing slasher film "Black Christmas", or as efficient as Carpenter's follow-up "Halloween"? No. It isn't nearly atmospheric or frightening enough to be included in such distinguished company. Nonetheless, there are enough jolts and spooks in "My Bloody Valentine" to put it far ahead of contemporary pretenders like the "Insert 1980s Slasher Title Here" Reboot.
Paramount, please release an uncut version of this little film, and while you're at it, "Friday the 13th" parts 1 through 8. I'll be your best friend.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
"The Deadly Dinosaur" of the Nightmare Series?
There's no question, "A Nightmare on Elm Street part 2" is the red-headed stepchild of the series. In a time when every other slasher film from the 1980s is being remade and/or revered as a seminal genre work, this atmospheric little sequel has been all but dismissed, even by the Fredheads themselves. The overtly homosexual subtext is often cited as the reason, with the writer and director, both of whom are reportedly gay, crafting a film about a troubled young man who can't perform with his would-be girlfriend and running off to see his chum Grady at home in bed this after tying up and slaughtering (with Fred's help, of course) his S&M-inclined gym teacher (Marshall Bell). Yet, they maintain, a homosexual undercurrent was not intended.
Ahem.
In any case, this is a solid indeed, far better than average entry in the Freddy canon specifically, and slasher oeuvre more generally. It is certainly the most deliberately and effectively paced sequel in the entire series. In the broad strokes, it seems more concerned with ratcheting up the tension, rather than the body count.
But let's not forget the humour. ANOES2 has more than its share of laughs, most of them courtesy of the "Happy Family" sequences, featuring an exploding pet bird, an impromptu drug intervention, and the best clean-up-dance-sequence in cinema history ("How do you like that, Dad?"), not to mention the deliriously funny sequence in science class, when our dozing young protagonist is nearly done away with by the local python ("NOOOOOOOO!!!").
But unlikely chum Grady also draws a chuckle or two, with his coarse talk about the film's supremely hot Meryl Streep lookalike ("that rich babe you've been cruising to school with everyday
are you mounting her nightly or what?"), Kim Myers, whom Seinfeld fans may recognize as the ga-ga girl with the velvet scrunchy.
Christopher Young's score also merits recognition. Foregoing the frequently frantic synth of part 1, Young utilizes reverberating, dissonant piano chords and eerie strings, building atmosphere in a manner that is very far removed from current examples of the genre.
But a word about Part 2's Freddy. Without a doubt, this is the scariest Freddy to be seen post-part 1's initial dream sequence ("THIS is God."). Try as he might, Englund (thanks largely to the writers and directors) was unable to recapture the raw terror or parts 1 and 2 in the subsequent twenty or so years. It's just been announced that there will be a remake of the first film and that Englund won't be involved. I love the guy, but I can't help but feel that it's the right decision; he's too tied to the gimmicky humour of parts 3 through 6 to be effective in a new context, I think.
The conclusion rather reminds me of Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers", with its utter lack of satisfying resolution. Fear not: Part 3 was on the horizon, and the fan-base was destined to swell still further, but even "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (part 7) wouldn't be able to compete with little old part 2 for sheer terror.