TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got a brand new dose of Bond… James Bond. Quantum of Solace, directed by Marc Forster and starring Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko, is the only wide release hitting theaters; will it leave critics shaken and stirred?
First, the bad news: critics say Quantum of Solace doesn’t match the previous Bond outing, Casino Royale, in terms of visceral thrills of emotional depth. The good news? It’s still a pretty excellent action picture. Daniel Craig is back as 007, still devastated by the death of Vesper Lynd, the love of his life. But there’s work to be done: namely, the sinister Quantum organization has hatched a plot to destabilize governments in South America. Along his globetrotting mission, Bond comes across Camilla Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who’s looking for a little revenge of her own. The pundits say that anyone expecting the focused brilliance of Casino Royale will be disappointed; Quantum of Solace is more of a standard action film, with less of the dark psychology and sharp plotting of its predecessor. However, they also note it still delivers some pretty remarkable stunts and set pieces, and Craig fully embodies the role, creating a new kind of Bond in the process. At 69 percent, Quantum of Solace is Certified Fresh. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we rank every Bond film by Tomatometer. For all of Rotten Tomatoes’s 007 coverage, go to Quantum of Solace Headquarters here.)
“Oh no… What’s Honey Ryder doing here?”
Also opening this week in limited release:
Danny Boyle‘s latest, Slumdog Millionaire, about an orphan who earns praise and distrust after a remarkable performance on an Indian game show, is at 92 percent
A Christmas Tale, a black comedy about a family’s deeply strained yuletide celebration starring Catherine Deneuve and Quantum of Solace villain Mathieu Amalric, is at 92 percent.
The Dukes, a caper comedy starring Chazz Palminteri and Robert Davi as a pair of doo-wop singers who attempt to steal gold from a dental lab, is at 89 percent.
How About You, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Imelda Staunton in a dramedy about a young woman who’s put in charge of a senior home over the holiday season, is at 73 percent.
Eden, a drama about a married couple’s strained relationship and its effect on their social circle, is at 56 percent.
The German import House of the Sleeping Beauties, about an elderly man who learns about an establishment full of beautiful, slumbering young women, is at 50 percent.
Beautiful Truth, a docu-drama about a man’s search for alternatives in cancer treatment, is at 50 percent.
We are Wizards, a documentary about the creative endeavors of Harry Potter fans, is at 33 percent.
Recent Daniel Craig Movies:
