Also this weekend, I saw Die Another Day the last installment of the Bond series. It had a really promising beginning but left me a bit lukewarm at the end - I think it was the first Bond movie I’d ever seen which used “bullet time” the stop and go visual effect made popular by the Matrix - while it’s an interesting visual style, I don’t know if it’s something which should be used in a Bond film.

None of those old Connery films had anything like it and they’re still the standard by which I judge Bond films.

The villains were okay, the locales were good too but, maybe Bond has seen it’s day. The world’s a much smaller place nowadays and these movies somehow don’t have the exotic feel of those aforementioned Connery films.

Halle Berry was talked up a lot when the movie came out. She’s very easy on the eyes but, I don’t know if her character would “have legs” and be able to support her own series. Michael Madsen is a good addition to the supporting cast and John Cleese fits right in (and actually knows just how to play it in these films).

Madonna was in the film too - looking very long in the tooth. I was never a big Madonna fan - watching her on screen is a reminder of how badly she acts (or doesn’t depending on how you want to look at it).

I found the plot a little too predictable though, they telegraphed things early in the second reel and it was pretty much downhill from there. Too many blue screen shots as well - maybe that plays big with the Gen Z’ers out there.

Also rented the Pianist but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.