Robert Ludlum is just really good at these spy tales. Intriguing, complex, coherent plots that hold together. With plenty of skill and some gadgets thrown in. A touch of combat, but not all that much, it's all about the hunt, and about finding the truth. About messing with their heads. :D

Dare I say Matt Damon is quite good in this role. I like him a lot better than in The Bourne Identity. He's not an awkward lost kid, that just didn't fit well for a spy. He's a resolute character who doesn't hesitate or "need to think". The trench coat may be a bit much, he never takes it off.

It's the classical agency-that-lost-the-agent plot. But he's found, and he has to find out who and what. It's a neat story, and in less than two hours they wrap it up. I do wonder if there isn't more to the story, though. If Ludlum didn't in fact craft a more complicated tale. As far as I can see, there's nothing missing from the movie, everything fits. What is a bit unsettling is just how many consecutive car crashes Bourne [and his car!] can survive without a scratch. :/

I must say that these intelligence operatives do sound more impressive in a book than they do in a movie like this. That scene in the Berlin square with the tram, they looked rather disoriented and helpless as he blends into the crowd and goes unnoticed. And with all that CIA surveillance not much help tssk.

John Powell did more than a good job on the score, it is very compelling. :thumbup:

You are...Nurse Laverne Roberts
A.K.A. "The Gossip"

Mmm! Honey, you've got it all together! Whatever you do, you do it well. You're helpful to a point, and those close to you feel they can count on you. But you're not a doormat! The only problem is, with all those good qualities, you tend to be a bit judgmental of others...and you tend to share that judgment way too easily.
>Take the test<

J.D.Honest, cheerful, hallucinating.

6166 other people got this result!
This quiz has been taken 23528 times.
34% of people had this result.
>Take the test<

Very disparate results. Almost as if these tests were complete hogwash. :/ And here I was dying to know :(

Let's be honest, there has never been a really amazing James Bond movie. It's an action packed sequence of short scenes, silly dialogue packed with puns, a cheer for old Britain, and gadgets. But, it stands for something. It's also a comment about high culture, Bond is both elegant and eloquent, but he's also a complete rebel. He's a guy that we as kids wanted to be, he knows how to get away with stuff, he thinks on his feet. He's the guy with the motorcycle and the leather jacket, only cool. At the end of the day it's exciting, it's unpredictable, it's just plain old fun.

The Bond production has had various ups and downs over the years, casting has been trying, the writing hasn't always been very good. But in one way or another every episode has still been Bond, for better or for worse (the Timothy Dalton episodes live on in infamy). Pierce Brosnan has been a breath of fresh air and truly made a strong comeback for Bond, even though in recent years they've been scratching their heads trying to find problems for him to solve, and the stories have been gradually more pathetic.

But then it was time to draw the line and start fresh. Casting for Bond must be incredibly difficult, because they looked high and low for years and came up with Daniel Craig. When I first saw him, I thought he looked like one of the bad guys from old Bond movies.

Casino Royale is not the worst Bond film ever made, it's not even a Bond at all. In the opening sequence, Bond drowns a guy in a men's room, literally drowns him in a sink. The real Bond would just knock him out, but this guy kills him with his bare hands. And for what? The scene is not explained at all, you have no idea what just happened. The opening sequence is very important in Bond, this one just completely blows. That's when I realized it's not Bond I'm watching. If that's not enough to tip you off, watch the opening credits. They've always had an artsy feel to them, with pretty abstract images. This time you actually see cartoon characters in violent hand combat, blood spilling.

Then we come to a long, long scene in Madagascar. A guy is being tailed, that turns into a pursuit on foot, and Bond is chasing him for minutes, again without the slightest idea what the hell for. Eventually he just shoots him in cold blood. The motive? His cell phone. This movie is obsessed with cell phones, Bond is calling people and checking his phone every five minutes, if you came in to see some cool gadgets, you'll be very disappointed.

This new Bond doesn't have any gadgets, he's not charming or witty, in fact he's slow. You know how Bond can always get out of a jam with some spur of the moment idea? Not this Bond, he's always behind, almost a little thick. I mean calling M because he can't figure out how to open a door? Are you kidding? Yes, they gave Pierce Brosnan really stupid lines to say, but this Bond doesn't have anything to offer in the vocal department. "I nicked the door", what kind of hillbilly are you?

Then we come to the focal point of the story. The big poker game. Not only is it the longest and most boring gambling sequence ever. Normally in Bond, gambling is just a way to antagonize the bad guy, but here his whole plan stakes on it. And he loses. Of all the things Bond can't pull off, he can't even gamble anymore. The game seems to last for days. Through all this MI6 is tracking his every move, up until we get a badly needed respite from poker when he gets poisoned. Again, he's completely helpless and outwitted, doesn't even know how to use a defibrilator. The Bond girl saves him.

What is perhaps the most painful about this movie is the many long scenes of chit chat. It's not supposed to be a soap opera. Bond falls for the girl, quits his job, she betrays him, she dies, he says "the bitch is dead", like he's a psychopath. Granted, Bond always had a relaxed relationship to his women, but he had class. Again, this shows what a halfwit this new Bond is, never occurred to him that things may not be what they seem, can't handle it either. He's a complete tool.

As if to top the whole thing off (not that it needed to be done), David Arnold, who scored the last three Bonds, and did so extremely well, seems to have lost his marbles and the score in this movie is not even worth playing once.

You would think that cults form around something truly exceptional. But sometimes they embrace something exceptionally unexceptional. I first heard about Office Space while reading some geek blog. It just mentioned the title, it didn't comment on it at all. But out of curiosity, I thought I would check out the movie and I liked it.

Office Space describes the plight of three software engineers working for A Big Faceless Corporation. While indeed there aren't a lot of movies about coders, it's curious how popular this one has become. Maybe it's just because it is so plain and simple that people love it. Office workers everywhere seem to identify themselves with it.

Of course, it's no surprise to see frequent references on thedailywtf.com, but now ThinkGeek is selling a Swingline stapler.

Heads up: Jennifer Aniston is her annoying self, but she has a small part and doesn't ruin the movie.

It's hard to keep track of these guys, they keep moving around a lot. Let's see, Superman has just Returned to Metropolis, Batman has Begun in Gotham and last we heard from Spiderman he's in college somewhere in New York.

Batman Begins is by far the best of those movies. Christian Bale is awesome because... he has no charm. So he doesn't have to try to not be himself when he's serious, he's perfect for these intense characters. Although the title is stupid... "begins".... begins what? Sounds like it could be called Batman's First Day In School. His gadgets are great though, the suit, the wheels, everything. One thing is very disturbing, however. There is no Robin. And they completely forgot about the Batman theme. The soundtrack is by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, and as such, excellent, but nowhere does the classic Batman theme come into the picture.

For those who didn't know, Batman trains as a ninja :/ before he finds his calling at the bottom of a well he fell into when he was a kid. He's the son of super wealthy industrialist parents, who were very charitable and built a free monorail for the city. His childhood friend Rachel becomes a D.A. at the tender age of ~25 and prosecutes the baddest baddies in town, but she only loves the pre-Batman Bruce Wayne, not the superhero he's become. Ooh, deep. :D

Superman Returns is sort of a mockery of everything Superman stands for. I mean Brandon Routh has to be the least charismatic superhero ever. Then there's Lois Lane, who's supposed to be a dazzling woman, but she's just a totally ordinary person. Lex Luthor is played by Kevin Spacey, so you'd expect him to be the best character, but it's a very pale performance by Spacey. Perry White, the charismatic editor of Daily Planet, the great chief, the one who inspires and leads by example, the visionary, is just an old man. Jimmy is supposed to be this street smart kid, but they made him a total geek. Do the people who made this movie even like Superman?

Spiderman, the timid high school geek no one even knows exists. He's in love with this chick who doesn't know about it, and he's too shy to tell her. One day he discovers he has special powers.. Please stop me when it gets so cliché you can't take it anymore. You'll have to excuse me for not knowing what happened in the sequel, it's a miracle I didn't walk out of the first one. What's there to say here? Well, it's really boring. The villain is a big yawn and the story as a whole is too.

Which superhero did you grow up with? I wasn't really that big on them, but I guess Batman was on tv the most, so I'm kinda glad they didn't totally botch that movie. :D In terms of comic books, I used to read The Phantom though.