TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies brings only one new wide release: Skyfall, the latest James Bond adventure, starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem. What do the critics have to say?
Director Sam Mendes is best known for his portrayals of suburban malaise (his credits include American Beauty and Revolutionary Road), so at first blush he’d seem to be an odd choice to direct a James Bond movie. However, critics say Skyfall is a nearly perfect balance of drama and action that winks at 007’s storied cinematic past while delving deeper into the psyche of the most iconic of movie characters. Once again, Daniel Craig stars as 007, and this time the whole of MI6 is under attack. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Skyfall delivers what viewers have come to love and expect from a Bond film: terrific chases, tense fights, breathtaking scenery, and witty dialogue. But it’s also an intriguing character study, one that fleshes out the inner life of fiction’s greatest spy. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we run down Daniel Craig’s best-reviewed movies, as well as our gallery of Bond girls.)
Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis in a biopic of the great president during the Civil War years, is Certified Fresh at 93 percent.
Chasing Ice, a documentary that captures time-lapse footage of rapidly melting polar ice caps, is at 100 percent.
A Royal Affair, starring Mads Mikkelsen in a period drama about a doctor who seduces the soon-to-be queen of Denmark, is at 87 percent.
The Comedy, starring Tim and Eric in a drama about a thirtysomething misanthrope who tries to get a rise out of the people he meets, is at 82 percent.
Starlet, a dramedy about the unlikely friendship between an aspiring actress and a widowed octogenarian, is at 82 percent.
Citadel, a horror film about an agoraphobic man who battles a band of feral children in an apartment building, is at 54 percent.
Dangerous Liaisons, starring Zhang Ziyi in an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’ novel set in 1930s Shanghai, is at 50 percent.
In Their Skin, starring Selma Blair and James D’Arcy in a thriller about a family whose remote home is threatened by sinister neighbors, is at 50 percent.
Nature Calls, starring Patton Oswalt and Johnny Knoxville in a comedy about an obsessive scoutmaster who kidnaps his apathetic troop for a camping trip, is at nine percent.
