Posts

Showing posts from October, 2021

Reviewing "No Time To Die": A soaring swan song for Daniel Craig's James Bond

No Time To Die  is a 2021 spy film, the 25th movie in the James Bond series, and the 5th and final Bond film starring Daniel Craig as the famous spy. This film again stars Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Christoph Waltz from Spectre (the previous film), Jeffrey Wright returns from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, and also stars newcomers Lashana Lynch, Ana De Armas, and Rami Malek as the film's villain Safin. Daniel Craig's final Bond film is undeniably a great send off for his version of James Bond. Is it the best Bond film ever? No.  For me, that honor still belongs to Goldfinger , tied with Casino Royale and Skyfall. But this is still a very good Bond film, certainly better than Spectre , which started off promising but ultimately didn't come through. This is a very exciting film with excellent action and great performances from characters new and old. The film starts off with a very tense, almost horror film like cat-and-mouse sequence...

Reviewing "Blood Red Sky": A terrific action horror film offering great genre thrills

Blood Red Sky  is an action/horror film on Netflix. Starring Peri Baumeister as a desperate German widow suffering from a mysterious illness traveling to America with her son Elias to receive treatment in New York. Once they get on a plane, however, it quickly gets hijacked by a group of terrorists who seize control of the plane and use innocent academic Farid, who has befriended Elias, to frame the plane as having been hijacked by Islamic extremists. To say anything more about the plot would reveal a big twist that flips the entire story on its head. The story is essentially a mishmash of various action and horror genre tropes, bridging elements of Die Hard with those of From Dusk Till Dawn , set on a plane in flight to ramp up the tension and prevent anyone from leaving the primary setting of the film. The story isn't exactly fresh, but it is nonetheless a refreshing "X genre meets Y genre" movie. The performances are great too, with Baumeister getting across her despe...