Skyfall movie review – Shaken, not stirred

After the mediocre and rather dull Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig is back as James Bond in his third Agent 007 movie called Skyfall.

But don’t think for a moment that 007 has lost his touch. In Skyfall you’re brought to a blood-fizzing action scene from the get-go, reminding you what Bond is capable of. Luckily, this isn’t the only brilliant Casino Royale-like action sequence, the director Sam Mendes (Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, American Beauty) treats us to in Skyfall.

And that’s exactly what Bond needs in his 23rd movie, celebrating the half-century anniversary of Agent 007.

Before we go on with the review, check out the official Skyfall trailer (if you have, rewatch it – it’s still awesome).

So, the lives of all NATO secret agents are at stake and MI-6 has been put to its knees by what looks to be a job of someone familiar with the system.

Meet Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) – the main villain in Skyfall, the mastermind behind all the horror and destruction brought to London. And all he is after is the woman in charge of MI-6 – M (played, as usual, by Judi Dench).

From the very first words coming out of his mouth, you and the standing hair on the back of your neck are convinced that this guy is both mental and is going to play the villain in Skyfall well. And he does – he is unstoppable, insane and ruthless in his pursuit of vengeance.

There’s a big but here though – it seemed to us that he tries a bit too hard to be a Joker (yes, the one created by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight). A mental character who would prefer total destruction of his enemy over personal gains and driven by the dark moments in his past. Of course former agent Silva isn’t as chaotic as the Joker, but we still feel the similarities are just too many. And for all the effort Javier Bardem puts, he simply cannot come anywhere near the Heath Ledger standards.

As we said – it’s a good overall performance, but just pales in comparison (and we already explained why comparisons are inevitable). It’s just that at the end we were left feeling sorry that Bond didn’t get the villain he deserved.

Now is the time to say that the acting of just about everyone else in Skyfall was absolutely flawless. Daniel Craig does his job of a sophisticated bad ass agent as brilliantly as Judi Dench plays the role of an iron lady, who puts the national interests first. By the way M has far more screen time than usual this time and she really makes it count.

Even the bad taste that Olga Kurylenko’s acting left in Qunatum of Solace is washed away, thanks to the superb acting of both ladies that caught Bond’s attention in Skyfall – Bérénice Marlohe (Sévérine) and Naomie Harris (Eve).

Decent plot, mostly great acting and jaw-dropping action sequences – Skyfall seems to tick all the right boxes. Well, there’s actually one left – the soundtrack. For a movie of such caliber, the sound was just not up to scratch. In Skyfall, the classic Bond tunes are there to support the cool explosions and action scenes, but the villain introduction could’ve been further enhanced with a better music.

And don’t even get me started on the Adele’s song used in the Skyfall’s intro. Depending on your taste you might find it to be a decent song (we mostly agree it’s horrible) but it sounds out of place. It tries to be what Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name did for Casino Royale, but fails miserably. And to make matters worse it lasts for ages – the only good thing is that it’s at the start and once you are past that there are two hours of high-quality cinematic waiting for you.

Skyfall is a great movie that doesn’t have anything remotely common with the boring train wreck that was Quantum of Solace. It takes the viewer on a joyride of explosive action, drama and clever British humor with the expert guidance of Agent 007.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

James Cameron: Avatar 4 will be a prequel

According to director James Cameron, Avatar 4 will be a prequel that sets up the second arc of the franchise's story line.

There have been some conflicting reports of late on what exactly director James Cameron has in mind for the future of his Avatar movie franchise. In June, comments made by Avatar star Sigourney Weaver led us to believe that Cameron was planning to shoot three Avatar sequels back to back to back. Then, last week, Cameron’s long-time collaborator and Avatar co-producer Jon Landau told the Courier Post Online that while Cameron was planning to shoot both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 in short order, Avatar 4 was not yet on the man’s short term schedule.

While that leaves us wondering when/if Avatar 4 might hit theaters, we can confirm that James Cameron wants to make a fourth Avatar film. At a recent press event to promote the September 10 release of a new Blu-ray Collector’s Edition of Cameron’s massive hit movie Titanic, MTV asked the director what plans he has for the future of the Avatar series. Though Cameron is a bit vague on the specifics of Avatar 4, he makes it plain that the inevitable movie would be a prequel and that it would kick off the second arc of Cameron’s overarching Avatar storyline.

“I have an idea for a fourth,” Cameron said. “I haven’t really put pen to paper on it, but basically it goes back to the early expeditions of Pandora, and kind of what went wrong with the humans and the Na’vi and what that was like to be an explorer and living in that world.”

“Because when we drop in, even in the first film in Avatar 1, as it will be known in the future, we’re dropping into a process that’s 35 years in to a whole colonization. That will complete an arc and if that leads into more, we’ll start, not imitating Star Wars, but it’s a logical thing to do because we’ll have completed the thematic arc by the end of three. The only thing left to do is go back to see what it was like on those first expeditions and create some new characters that then become legacy characters in later films.”

That’s an ambitious plan, especially given that Cameron is talking about a film that is still hypothetical and won’t even enter pre-production for at least four years. Then again, Cameron goes on to tell MTV that making Avatar sequels should be far, far easier now that the first movie has laid the technological and canonical ground work for Cameron’s Avatar universe. “It was a hideously complex process to make [Avatar] and a lot has been said about that, but we don’t want [the sequels] to be done in the same prototypical way as the first one, we want it to be a much smoother workflow just for creativity reasons,” Cameron added.

That’s great news for Avatar fans, but we have to wonder if perhaps this far-reaching scheme isn’t a bit overly ambitious. What happens to this franchise if Avatar 2 is a flop? Will Cameron drop his planned third and fourth Avatar films, or will the director be forced to make them regardless of fiscal gain simply because he’s already put so much effort into mapping out the tale he wants to tell? We have faith in James Cameron — even his early work under Roger Corman is surprisingly watchable — but we worry that the man may be biting off more than even his massively popular, intensely wealthy jaws can chew. 

Then again, like we said, Avatar 4 is a long, long ways off. It seems a bit premature to worry about a film that won’t materialize until the end of the decade, so instead let’s all start grilling Cameron about the far more imminent Avatar 2. Isn’t it odd how little we know about that film compared to the hypothetical fourth Avatar movie?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Daniel Craig signs on for two more James Bond movies

Hopefully you're a fan of the latest iteration of super spy James Bond, because Daniel Craig is going to be occupying the role for a while.

Come October 26, James Bond hits the silver screen for the 23rd (official) time in Skyfall. Daniel Craig, who has been portraying the character since 2006, has proven a very competent James Bond, and many fans rank him just below Sean Connery as the best Bond of all time. Hopefully that contingent of Craig fans includes you, otherwise today’s news that Craig has signed on to star in the 24th and 25th James Bond films will probably not come as a positive.

Though Bond fansite MI6 offers no substantial information on the next two Bond movies, it does assure us that Craig has made some sort of official agreement with EON Productions to reprise his role two more times. Additionally, the MI6 piece claims that EON, Sony and MGM (who currently have a very circuitous agreement over the distribution and promotion of the James Bond films) have been hinting at a return to the days when new James Bond movies would enter production on a tight schedule and appear in theaters every two years or so. There’s no official confirmation that the studios will go in this route, but if true that would mean that Daniel Craig is our James Bond until at least 2016.

That said, MI6 also worries that this rapid production schedule might infringe on EON’s ability to create genuinely good Bond films. Skyfall, for instance, is reportedly excellent due specifically to the extended break the production company was given between this film and its last Bond flick. Likewise, Daniel Craig has made public his desire to take a bit of a break from the Bond character following the debut of Skyfall. Not a huge break, mind you — Craig’s stated many, many times that he absolutely loves the James Bond mythos and will play the lead role until EON opts to replace him — but enough to recharge himself mentally in preparation for whatever James Bond 24 might require of him as an actor.

Given Craig’s success with the character we fully support both his new agreement to continue working with EON and his desire to take some time off. Anyone who has seen any of Craig’s Bond films will recognize how physically and mentally demanding the role must be, and yet we don’t want to see Craig abandon his iteration of the super spy. Though we all had doubts as to how he’d turn out prior to his work in 2006′s Casino Royale, Craig has done an admirable job of silencing detractors. He’s not the suave, ladykilling, international man of mystery that Sean Connery portrayed, nor the bizarrely silly spy of the Roger Moore era; instead, Craig depicts a brutish, conflicted version of James Bond that is simultaneously more “realistic” and offers a more visceral, thrilling viewing experience. If it were up to us Craig would be James Bond until he’s physically incapable of lifting a Walther PPK.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

That hypothetical fourth Avatar movie is now in doubt

Despite previous reports, it seems that James Cameron won't be filming Avatar 4 any time soon.

In June we brought you word that following the massive $2.5+ billion success of Avatar, director James Cameron would be filming Avatar 2, 3 and 4 back to back. This news emerged from an interview conducted with Avatar actress and celebrated extraterrestrial killer Sigourney Weaver which stated that “she films Avatar 2, 3, and 4 with James Cameron” immediately following a theatrical run in a Christopher Durang play at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

At the time we had no reason to doubt Weaver’s claims. Avatar made huge amounts of cash, and since Cameron had already put so much work into the special technology used to film the movie, it seemed perfectly likely that the man would want to get a jump on as many Avatar sequels as possible. Thanks to a new interview with Avatar co-producer Jon Landau however, that plan is now in doubt.

Landau was recently asked to comment on Weaver’s claims by New Jersey’s Courier Post newspaper, and according to him that earlier interview wasn’t entirely correct. “We doing two [Avatar sequels] back-to-back, but not a third,” Landau stated simply. Though this does contradict Weaver’s claims that a fourth Avatar movie is already in pre-production, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the fourth movie will never materialize. Landau would certainly know what he’s talking about in this instance, but knowing how devoted James Cameron is to this Avatar universe we’d be genuinely surprised if that first Avatar flick only spawned a trilogy. 

Unfortunately, it seems that Landau had nothing else to say about the future of Avatar. That’s understandable as the Courier Post interview was mostly focused on the relatively recently re-released 3D version of Cameron’s Titanic (Landau also co-produced Titanic), but leaves Avatar fans wondering what direction this series will take. Normally we’d be pushing for rampant speculation on this fourth Avatar flick, but honestly that would be getting way, way ahead of ourselves.

Assuming Landau is correct (and, again, we have no reason to doubt him), we’ve still got Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 coming in the next few years. Given that neither has entered full production, and James Cameron’s lengthy, perfectionist filming process, we probably won’t see Avatar 2 until at least the summer of 2014. The third movie could possibly see theaters the very next year, but we’re more inclined to believe that it will debut in 2016. So that’s what? The next four years of James Cameron’s life mapped out? Add another Avatar sequel and Mr. Cameron would have to devote six years to this single property. Given Cameron’s love of ocean exploration, and his eternally-in-production live-action adaptation of the Battle Angel Alita manga we’d have to assume that the man would want to take some time over the next half-decade to explore his non-Avatar interests. Cameron is devoted to his creations, but he’s not psychotically obsessed with them.

In the end, Landau’s claims generate more questions than answers. From here on out can we all agree to just ignore any bit of Avatar news that doesn’t come directly from James Cameron? Otherwise we’re going to waste at least the next two years offering up meaningless predictions for the future, and frankly we’d rather spend our days keeping our readers pleasantly entertained with bizarre pop culture ephemera.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Human Immortality in 33 Years Claims Dmitry Itskov’s 2045 Initiative

Twentieth Century Fox/AP Photo

Although James Cameron’s “Avatar” took place more than 140 years into the future, a Russian billionaire has teamed with  dozens of scientists to lay out a plan that would use avatars to transfer human consciousness into an artificial form. The goal:  human immortality by 2045.

The 2045 Initiative, a life-extension project founded by 31-year-old Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov in February 2011, offers a timeline for immortality over the next 33 years. Beginning with remotely controlled robotic avatars and re-creating the human brain through computer models, the end result would be human immortality in the form of holographic avatars.

The 2045 Initiative, which has  had a major social media blitz, brought together 30 top Russian scientists to develop the “imortal” technology, laying out  the plan for human immortality on its website.

“The first phase  is to create a humanoid robot dubbed ‘avatar,’ and a state-of-the-art brain-computer interface system. The next phase consists of creating a life-support system for the human brain and connect it to the ‘avatar.’ The final phase … is to create an artificial brain in which to transfer the original individual consciousness into,” reads the plan.

Got that?

Here’s the 2045 Initiative’s timeline for this feat:  

2015 – 2020: A robotic copy of a human body remotely controlled by a brain-computer interface

2020 – 2025: An avatar is created in which a human brain can be transplanted at the end of  life

2030 – 2035: An avatar that  can now contain an artificial brain in which a human personality can be transferred at the end of  life

 2040 – 2045:  A holographic avatar emerges

In addition to taking the Internet by storm, the 2045 Initiative has  also launched its own political party, called Evolution 2045, pushing a  new strategy for human development. The Russia-based party takes a global approach, encouraging other countries to follow in its footsteps “not in the arms race, but in the race for building a bright future for mankind.”

Last  month Itskov appealed to members of the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, urging  them  to take heed of  the “vital importance of funding scientific development in the field of cybernetic immortality and the artificial body.

“Contributing to cutting-edge innovations in the fields of neuroscience, nanotechnology and android robotics is more than building a brighter future for human civilization. [It's also] a wise and profitable business strategy that will create a new and vibrant industry of immortality — limitless in its importance and scale. This kind of investment will change every aspect of business as we know it,”  read Itskov’s open letter.

Itskov plans to host a Global Future Congress meeting next year in New York. A previous event was held last February in Moscow.

This  massive hypothetical technology would give the “new” mankind amazing survival abilities, according to the Initiative.

“The new human being will receive a huge range of abilities and will be capable of withstanding extreme external conditions easily: high temperatures, pressure, radiation, lack of oxygen,” claims the Initiative on its website.

And according to a slick video produced by the 2045 Initiative, once the hologram-like avatar reinvents mankind’s scientific and social structure, war and violence will go by the wayside as “spiritual self-improvement” becomes mankind’s primary goal.

But what about the average Joe who  just wants to live forever?

The cost of these avatars should be on par with that of an automobile, the Initiative’s website assures, as soon as mass production begins.

So start saving up.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

James Franco gets awesome with the Galaxy Note 10.1

James Franco does more than act – apparently his resume includes being a writer, producer, director and…Galaxy Note 10.1 multitasker?

A cool new promo video shows off James Franco’s skills at multitasking with the latest and greatest slate from Samsung.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com