Category: film

Quantum of Solace

Daniel Craig as James BondSo the title of the new Bond film has been announced and, inevitably, criticised immediately for being impossible to understand.

OK, so the Quantum of Solace isn’t as immediately understandable as You Only Live Twice or The Man With The Golden Gun, for example, but it does have a certain mystery about it.

In fact it has echoes of a Philip Pullmann novel, an adaptation of which Daniel Craig has recently starred in.

The title actually comes from an Ian Fleming short story, published as part of the For Your Eyes Only collection back in 1960, so it’s genuine enough.

And for all the doom-mongerers out there who think it’s too esoteric, just be thankful the producers didn’t go for one of the other titles from the same collection

Can you imagine hearing about James Bond’s latest adventures in The Hildebrand Rarity?

PS I don’t love or hate you

PS I Love YouHurrah for Andrew Collins and his recent appearance on Simon Mayo’s Five Live film Reviews.

Why am I giving Mr Collins a pat on the back? It was all because of his review of PS I Love You.

Andrew was standing in for regular reviewer Mark Kermode and was lumbered with the unenviable task of reviewing the current release starring (double Oscar winner) Hilary Swank.

Now I haven’t seen the film and don’t really have much intention of paying my ill-gotten cash to watch it in the cinema, so I can’t pass comment on it.

However, I’m always intrigued to hear what critics who I respect have to say – after all, some rom-coms do occasionally achieve some sort of artistic merit that makes them worth seeing.

What would Andrew think of it? Well, he did leave the listeners in no doubt as to how sub-standard he thought it was, but (and it’s a big BUT) he admitted that, at the screening he went to, the film broke down after two-thirds of the movie, so he hasn’t seen the ending.

So what, I hear your cry. It’s usually pretty obvious if something’s a poor film, isn’t it? What does it matter, if you missed a bit?

Well, apart from being honest, Andrew was only echoing what all respectable critics would say. In other words, you can’t totally diss a movie, because the final 20 minutes of film may well prove to be a critical masterpiece, even if the first 100 minutes were as limp and lifeless as a dead haddock.

And, in these times of honesty and probity, on the BBC especially, it’s so refreshing to hear a critic admit that he can’t totally rubbish a film for reasons beyond his control.

I remember former BBC film critic Barry Norman explaining many years ago the downside of his job.

To paraphrase, he pointed out how much dross he had to sit through and that he was never able to leave the cinema early, no matter how execrable the film was.

Barry Norman’s point was, if someone spotted him doing so and then he dissed the movie in question, they could quite rightly say that the last 30 minutes were up there with Citizen Kane and make a big difference to the overall film.

So the next time you’re watching something awful in the cinema, remember that at least you have the choice to leave, however bad it is.

First album/movie/novel syndrome

I listened to Terence Trent D’Arby’s first album on the way to work the other morning and two things struck me.

First, that it’s hardly dated at all – his voice still sounds so fresh and the music is, let’s face it, pretty darned good.

Second, though, and that’s the pressure that people such as Mr D’Arby must feel, once they produce a ‘hit’ with their first release.

I know Terence was a bit of an egomaniac, but nothing he did afterwards ever quite hit the same heights – Neither Fish Nor Flesh got totally panned and he never quite recovered.

He’s not the first and doubtless won’t be the last in the ‘entertainment’ profession.

Take Donna Tartt, for example. The Secret History was such a huge success and widely acclaimed and it took her more than a decade to follow it up with the Little Friend, which didn’t quite get the same reviews.

Movie-makers are no different. Many acclaimed directors have shown early promise, but come to nothing. Guy Ritchie is a classic example – someone who was thought to be capable of great things, but soon became exposed as a one-trick pony.

All power to these people for making their name in the first place, but it must suck not to be able to reach those peaks again.

On that note, though, enjoy this live recording of the venerable Mr D’Arby, who now goes under the name Sananda Maitreya, from way back when.