Search found 6 matches: Javier Bardem

ShogunRua wrote:I wouldn't even say there is a "Bond girl" in Skyfall.

Yeah I actually debated Moneypenny. I always think that if someone has less screen time then they should've then that means that everyone on set hated him/her. Ever since hearing that's why Michelle Rodriguez was killed so soon in Lost that has always stuck in my head.

ShogunRua wrote: As for Javier Bardem, he did his best to turn chicken shit into chicken salad. He mostly succeeded. The character of Silva, as written in the script, is one of the dumbest, lamest, and most nonsensical villains in any Bond movie, Gustav Graves and Renard included.

The difference between a great Bond villain and a bad one can simply be just the performance or how threatening the guy is. My top 3 villains are all accomplished actors and all added another dimension to their characters. If you look at Elliot Carver how much better would that villain have been if you were just slightly intimidated by him? Bardem's character was ridiculous, but I expect Bond villains to be ridiculous and his performance really elevated it.

I wouldn't even say there is a "Bond girl" in Skyfall. As for Javier Bardem, he did his best to turn chicken shit into chicken salad. He mostly succeeded. The character of Silva, as written in the script, is one of the dumbest, lamest, and most nonsensical villains in any Bond movie, Gustav Graves and Renard included. Bardem's performance largely masked that, in much the same way the movie's gorgeous cinemaphotography masked a shit story, horrible choreography, lack of ideas, etc.

Back on the subject of Bond, I'd like to bring my thoughts on Skyfall here.

my review:
"Am I the only one seeing Dark Knight parallels? Terrorist / 9/11 angle, a psychotic villain disfigured through chemical mishap, identity crisis of protagonist on which he has to question his value and evokes past trauma of childhood (not done nearly as well, though). An unusual direction for the Bond series to go but not bad. Javier Bardem was very good."

Am I looking too much into this cause I couldn't get the link out of my head. Probably cause it was such an oddly personal take on a Bond story. Seemed so weird to lose the mysterious organization questing for world dominance in favor of a singular villain on a vengeance kick.

td888 wrote:Yes, it was the International

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/b ... op-chases/

Thanks, interesting.

ShogunRua wrote:I need to "get out more" by seeing more movies? And I HAVE seen "The Expendables", so try again, failure. Not sure what it's supposed to show either, since it was a pretty damn mediocre action flick, despite having so many of my favorite actors.

You were holding up Statham as an example, yet there he is in two Expendables. And for someone so into action, you haven't seen any this year, much less the movies in question. At least I don't see where you've rated them.

I've forgotten more about the action film genre than you will ever know about it. In fact, I have watched 629 films on my account with the "action" tag to your 315, almost exactly twice as much.

Any in the last 10 years? And I dare say I'm probably a lot more discriminating. I still haven't forgotten about Rowan Atkinson who makes Jerry Lewis look like Sir Lawrence Olivier.

Charles Bronson, actually.

Not bad for his day. Now try watching Shia Lebouf in Lawless where he transformes the wimp you're describing into a bad ass. Or BL where Renner does most of his stunts including the bike stuff with Weisz on the back seat, or the ice river opening in Calgary in the winter. Reality is always more impressive. Like I said, you need to get out more or at least watch the video.

xacviant wrote:Javier Bardem rocked the house in Skyfall. Easily my favorite part of the film.

That's why we score films by the individual, to account for taste.....or the lack thereof. Otherwise we'd only need one person to rate a movie. Javier, following his star turn in NCFOM, showed that an actor playing a villain needs to rely on something more than an ugly face and a really bad blond rug. Of course he has every excuse to not be motivated what with the lack of character development and the pathetic plot circumstances he was required to ......walk through.

Javier Bardem rocked the house in Skyfall. Easily my favorite part of the film.

I consider 007 to be action movies and little else. Of the ones I've seen, the older ones have not held up well in the action and F/X department, but overall I'd put Skyfall at the bottom. It has an excellent opening sequence (with a non-credible resolution--what did he fall, 500' ? ), that descent leading to my favorite opening credits of all the Bond films, Adel's bland theme song notwithstanding. Goldfinger is still the best in that category IMNTBHO. From there on it continued it's gradual descent into the absurd until it landed on the moors of the Skyfall estate with a thud--er, splat. Javier Bardem didn't show up until halfway through the film, and then he was as flat as hell, making me wonder if I've been overrating his talent.

BTW, anyone notice the identical locations used for the rooftops of Istanbul scenes in this and Taken 2. I wonder if the two companies had to coordinate their shoots. No. A little research reveals that T-2 went first there last November, with Skyfall filming in April this year.

I think Skyfall did so well at the box because of the Bond brand in a year of pretty lame action movies including super-heroes et al. The one exception, and damn near my favorite movie of the year, was The Bourne Legacy which is everything Skyfall isn't, in all areas, especially in the reality department. Javier should have watched Ed Norton in Legacy to see competent evil at work. (Yes, I know, Bond villains are different, but he wasn't that either. I don't know, he just comes across as something of a dolt.)