Rewatched Skyfall last night in advance of seeing NTTD today.
Must admit I wasn't a massive fan of the film on the first viewing, and maybe I've now seen it 2-3 times, but having seen it again I think it's a lot better than I thought. Image
Above all else what stands out is the sheer quality of Roger Deakins's cinematography.
Not sure I really appreciated how extensively the shot composition, framing and centring shaped what we see on screen

filmword.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-ci…
Quite simply there's not 1 sloppy or duff shot in the entire film.
Really struggling to think of another Bond that comes close to that.
Not to suggest they're poorly made, although I can think of 1 film which is at best shot like a TV show
Sam Mendes's direction is also good, although I do have lingering questions about the plot development and what seems to me to be a weird subtext about time travel...
Mendes directly and repeatedly centres the plot around the core of Bond's work; assassination. As well as 'M's' crimes for which we ultimately pays for with her life Image
*she
Couldn't also help but notice Craig's Bond repeatedly references himself and SIS as working for 'England', not Britain -- possibly a slip but probably not.
And took me a while to figure out why London plays sure a core role in this and SPECTRE... Image
Simply because the market is NOT Britain, but the rest of the world and es[cially the Far Eastern market. Which must have worked given it passed the magical $1 Billion mark in sales Image
But 2 aspects I still don't get: 1) Sévérine's role and death, which seems unnecessarily exploitative and cruel.

Not quite sure what this was meant to prove... Javier Bardem/Silva cruelty? So why did she did to be a victim of sexual exploitation and trafficking ? ImageImage
2) What's Mendes trying to do with the architecture in the film, and why does the chronology roll backwards to the 'English Reformation? Image
Clearly, he's trying to say something with the interior design/use of buildings throughout the film...but I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be Image
My best guess is it's something related to English/Britishness and industrial heritage -- but not quite sure what the punchline is supposed to be... Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Bondian Cold War

The Bondian Cold War Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BondianCW

3 Oct
The whole 'licence to kill' issue is up and running again...but misses the point by a country mile, which is Bond was never a traditional intelligence office, nor meant to be
And also takes a very narrowly British view of espionage and assassination, which is not followed by all, and no, not just the Soviets/Russians
And misses the legacy of Bond's military, para-military roots Image
Read 14 tweets
2 Oct
Alexander Haig was a board member of MGM/UA Entertainment Company in the early 1980s, which released Red Dawn (1984).
'He called it “one of the most realistic and provocative films that I have ever seen,” adding that it offered “a clear lesson to all viewers, and that is the importance of American strength to protect the peace we have enjoyed throughout history.” '
He arranged a private screening in Washington for prominent figures in the defence and intelligence establishments
Mark Weinberg, Movie Nights with the Reagans, pp. 167-8
Read 4 tweets
2 Oct
*Cough*

Yet to hear any serious discussion of how the end of the era Bond films tend to be self-referential, as was Pierce Brosnan's DAD.
But where #NTTD goes further, without giving anything away, is to the literary Bond.

Nothing new in being self-referential in the films, OHMSS started the trend with GL's the scenes in Bond's office
Read 6 tweets
1 Oct
*Rolls eyes*
And that's just at the headline Image
Here we go...paragraph 1... Image
More or less every plot since Dr No... Image
Read 7 tweets
1 Oct
‘I eat greasy fried eggs at least once a week’: Daniel Craig on Bond, being buff and crying at British Gas ads

buff.ly/39SmEov Image
Image
Image
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(