'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' REVIEWS - EARLY BUZZ NOT ALL THAT POSITIVE

Hmmm, we're sorta bummed about this. It seems that many of the London papers and tabs are exactly thrilled by the new James Bond flick. And while most of them agree that Daniel Craig is pretty damn awesome as 007, the film doesn't hit the mark in the manner that "Casino Royale" did.

Times Online: “It’s James Bond, licence to bore. Quantum of Solace may be a sequel to Casino Royale but it lacks that movie’s panache and brio.” … “Bond is a boorish oaf who simply rushes from country to country with the manic speed of Jason Bourne, including sequences shot in Panama, Chile, Italy, Mexico and Austria, in a plot about holding a country to ransom over its water supply. Quantum of Solace lacks any wit, ironic or otherwise, which has been a strength of so many 007 films.” … “At around one hour 40 minutes, this Bond is shorter than most. Somehow it felt longer.”

The Guardian: “This didn’t excite me as much as Casino Royale and the villain is especially underpowered.” … “This is a crash-bang Bond, high on action, low on quips, long on location glamour, short on product placement.” … “I was disappointed there was so little dialogue, flirtation and characterization in this Bond: Forster and his writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade clearly thought this sort of sissy nonsense has to be cut out in favor of explosions. Well, perhaps that is what Bond fans want (not this Bond fan, though). But I was also baffled that relatively little was made of the deliciously villainous Amalric”.

The Telegraph: “…owes much to the quick-fire editing of the Bourne thrillers.” … “In this much darker film” … ” For half an hour or so after the pre-credits ‘teaser’, the film barely lets up.” … “And then, the pacing becomes more fractured. One wonders if director Marc Forster and screenwriters Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis haven’t tried a little too hard to distance the film from traditional Bond plots. The expository dialogue scenes can be dull, and cram in so many machinations and double-crossings that it’s easy to lose track of who’s duping whom. And yet, several times - just when you’re tempted to consult your watch - the movie suddenly surprises.”

The Daily Mirror: “Quantum of Solace is a leaner, meaner animal, rammed with shoot-outs, a boat chase and even an aerial dogfight. And our hero is an angry, embittered man out for blood. Mostly it doesn’t feel like a Bond film at all. Not once does Craig say: “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” There’s no Q or his gadgets. Heck, we even see Bond in a cardigan. There are no risque quips or arched eyebrows.” … “It doesn’t disappoint - just don’t expect the brilliance of Casino Royale.”

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DARK HORIZONS 'DARK KNIGHT' REVIEW

Online film journalist Garth Franklin and his Dark Horizons is one of the best film sites on the 'Net. No ifs, ands, or buts... He just published his review for "The Dark Knight," and much like the Slashfilm review, it's a rave. Check it out...

Doing exactly what a sequel should do, "The Dark Knight" takes the already superbly crafted world created in 2005's "Batman Begins" and corrects its few flaws while expanding on both its potential and premise. The result is a decidedly darker, richer, more ambitious and more mature follow-up.

Great comic book films of late like "Iron Man" and "Spider-Man 2" may be more polished and crowd-pleasing, yet "Batman Begins" remains the most intriguing and influential effort of the superhero film genre to date. Artfully constructed, unflinchingly committed to its style, crisply shot, gorgeously designed and superbly acted - it's a film that works beautifully for what it is and remains just as strong after multiple viewings.

Yet Katie Holmes' performance, awkwardly filmed action, stilted humor, and a distinct tonal shift can admittedly detract from director Chris Nolan's otherwise excellent creation. The same goes for the grand-sweeping location-heavy gritty human drama of the first half being awkwardly fused with increasingly sound stage-enclosed comic book villainy in the second. The flaws are very minor, most seemingly driven by commercial needs rather than a lack of artistic ability, but they are enough to not so much diffuse but certainly dilute the edge off the enjoyment for a decent sized portion of the audience.

"The Dark Knight" has no such schizophrenic mood swings. Right from the start the film establishes itself as a sprawling epic.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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SLASHFILM PUBLISHES ITS 'DARK KNIGHT' REVIEW

Peter Sciretta at Slashfilm is one of the best film journalists online. Bar none. He's been given the go-ahead to publish his review for "The Dark Knight" and it's an out-and-out rave. Not a fanboy fave. A fave for serious film critics. He calls it the "Empire Strikes Back" of comic films...

Here's an excerpt:

I have been given the go ahead to review The Dark Knight, but this is the type of film that I need to see at least two or three times before attempting such a task. The film is so very expansive, so incredibly epic. I decided that instead of a full review, I will just share my first impressions. But lets first talk expectations. Going into 2008, I was looking forward to only a few films, The Dark Knight being one of them. As you probably already know, WALL-E was at the top of my list, and Pixar’s latest didn’t disappoint. I was very sure that WALL-E would end up being my favorite film of the year, and it is… errr WAS. That is until I saw The Dark Knight. I screened the film on Saturday night in Los Angeles, and now that I’ve had a few days to think about the film, I thought I would share my ten spoiler-free reasons why I believe that The Dark Knight is a masterpiece - an almost flawless comic book movie adaptation.

1. The Movie is Epic - The Dark Knight is not just a superhero movie. It is the first comic book adaptation to transcend the genre. Imagine one of the greatest crime thrillers of all time which just happens to have a guy who dresses in a bat costume and fights crime. Think Godfather 2 or Heat, with a insane terrorist who paints his face like a clown and goes around killing random people. It’s expansive in feel and tone. It’s the type of film which you make a point to refer to as a “film” instead of a “movie”.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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PETER TRAVERS' ROLLING STONE REVIEW FOR 'THE DARK KNIGHT'

***1/2 out of ****

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.

Click HERE to read the rest of the story.

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HERE IT IS... FIRST 'DARK KNIGHT' REVIEW

Comes courtesy of Ain't it Cool News...

Scooper Tim Bisley compares the flick to "The Godfather, Part 2" and hints that the Joker's performance (via Heath Ledger) might be worthy of the best supporting Oscar. Perhaps... But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Says Bisley:

“The film feels more like a crime drama in a grand city scape than a typical comic book movie. It feels like Heat except Batman is Al Pacino and The Joker is Robert De Niro and just like in that film we have a great scene between Heath Ledger and Christian Bale across a table. There is also an element of a Greek Tragedy.. There is a vast sense of morality at play within the film.”

“The Joker is almost more of a terrorist than criminal. He is not motivated by money. He wants to see people suffer.”

“The run time is two and a half hours. It doesn’t feel that long as there is so much going on within the film.”

You can read the full review HERE.

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WILL 'HULK' BE INCREDIBLE?

Dark Horizons has long been a maverick film news and buzz web site and its webmaster Garth Franklin is often on the money with his reviews. Here is a brief excerpt of his take on this Friday's "The Incredible Hulk."

Not the home run that they hit the first time around with "Iron Man", this second effort of the new Marvel Studios is good enough that it fixes some of the key problems brought up by Ang Lee's generally dismissed first attempt at adapting Hulk for the big screen.

Despite a lot of outright hostility towards it these days, the 2003 "Hulk" remains a textbook example of a noble failure. Superhero movies are like the James Bond franchise - variations on the same formula. Those that truly succeed push the boundaries, but also stick to and make best use of certain pre-set structural rules. Lee's "Hulk" abandoned them altogether, crafting an odd blend of morose 'Jekyll and Hyde' melodrama and ridiculously flamboyant action-fantasy antics. Visually it was bold, even innovative, but in terms of storytelling it was a fascinating jumbled mess - distant, bloated, ambitious, arty and often impenetrable.

In contrast Louis Letterier and Edward Norton's new incarnation of the green meanie has no such lofty ideals or hidden depths. This 'Hulk' is designed purely for fast, formulaic mainstream thrills by mixing a chase thriller across the Americas with a few key set pieces of Hulk smashing up things. It's derivative to be sure, various scenes cribbing off better efforts of the genre along with other recent hits, but the script balances its disparate elements enough to likely satisfy fans.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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THE BROADS ARE BACK - 'SEX AND THE CITY' - VARIETY REVIEW

Papa H would've been down with about half the chipees in the "Sex and the City" quartet. We figure Carrie would be his intellectual favorite during those quiet times on safari in a candlelit tent. That said, Samantha would undoubtedly be the one up with him boozin' and bangin' all night. The first reviews for the long-awaited big screen version of the hit HBO show are trickling in and they ain't all that positive.

Says Variety: "For a series so steeped in romance, the eagerly awaited “Sex and the City” movie feels a trifle half-hearted. Although there’s pleasure in seeing HBO’s fabulous four reunited, writer-director Michael Patrick King doesn’t fully bridge the gap between TV and film — delivering major story flourishes but, too often, playing like a regular episode bloated to five times its customary length. Best in its small moments, the movie should find receptive gal pals congregating for the mother of all viewing parties, but appeal beyond that core should present New Line with less of a storybook finish than it doubtless would like."

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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VARIETY'S 'IRON MAN' REVIEW

OK ... The reveiws for "Iron Man" are starting to trickle in and the first one out of the gate is Variety's positive review.

By TODD MCCARTHY

Finally, someone's found a sure-fire way to make money with a modern Middle East war movie: Just send a Marvel superhero into the fray to kick some insurgent butt. The powerhouse comicbook-inspired actioner "Iron Man" isn't principally about this fantasy, but it won't hurt at least American audiences' enjoyment of this expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza. Having an actor as supercharged as Robert Downey Jr. at the center of such a tech-oriented enterprise reps a huge plus, and Paramount should reap big B.O. rewards by getting out ahead of the summer tentpole pack with such a classy refitting of an overworked format.

To read the rest of the review, click HERE.

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'RAMBO' NOT TO SCREEN

Rambo fans, this isn't good ... Lionsgate has decided not to screen the upcoming "Rambo" for press -- aside from the few who attended the press junket in Los Angeles earlier this week.

What's more, even the scribes who attended were subject to extensive Non Disclosure agreements which won’t allow them to say a word. Hate to think it's THAT bad... Then again, like most modern horror films that don't screen, the studio probably thinks there's enough of an audience so why risk bad press.

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VIVA LA ZUNE!

I just bought a new 4 gig Microsoft Zune for the little lady for Christmas and I must say, it's damn impressive. A mini player that's WiFi??? Aple must be crappin' in their pants. I've never been - nor will I ever be - an iPod person. Why? Because there are way too many awesome mp3 and video players out there to just fall victim to the slavery that is iTunes.

If you're on the fence, check out this review on the Zune.


Zune (8gb, 2nd Gen.) Player - Complete, Hands On Review from TheDigitalLounge.com on Vimeo.

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FIRST 'OCEAN'S 13' REVIEW

Those Danny Ocean boys are back for another go-round of cool in "Ocean's 13." This time, they've thankfully left behind the shenanigans in Europe (where they should've never been) and are back in Sin City dukin' it out with Al Pacino.

Cue: "Viva Las Vegas"

In any case, the first official review is out via Variety and it's quite positive.

"As smooth as a good mojito, as stylish as an Armani suit and as meaningful in the grand scheme of things as yesterday's Las Vegas betting odds, "Ocean's Thirteen" continues the breezy good times of the first two series entries without missing a beat."

Click HERE to read the review.

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