Movie review - Quantum of Solace

For my 100th blog entry, using Blogger, I will be reviewing a movie I saw exactly a month ago. Why do I procrastinate so much? At least I'm much more up to date on my Twitter updates, as they are short burst of on the moment happenings...

Quantum of Solace is a worthy sequel, or rather continuation, of Casino Royale. The action starts minutes after the end of the last Bond movie. We get to see some of the same characters, as well as new ones, both good and bad guys/gals. Part of Bond's motivation is based on revenge, even though he denies it. Bond, M, Felix and Mathis are back (Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini) and some of the new ones are Camille, Dominic Greene and Strawberry Fields (Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric and Gemma Arterton).

Once again, we are treated to fast action, chases, Bond girls, shootouts, torture and other spy stuff. There's another foot chase similar to the one at the beginning of CR, but not quite as intense. I liked QoS very much, but not quite as much as CR, I think, possibly because is wasn't as "new" this time around. But if you also liked CR, I'm sure you would like QoS as well.

Craig is again doing a great job as Bond and I hope he will be returning for many more. One thing that is missing is Q and his gadgets. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that and I hear they should be returning on the next movie. Lets hope so. I also hope they will get John Cleese to play the character again, who took over for Desmond Llewelyn on his last appereance as Q in The World is not Enough. Even though Cleese played R, Q's assistant, he became Q for one movie, Die Another Day.

I'm a Bond fan, so I'm always looking forward for more movies and I hope to see many more in my lifetime. James Bond FTW!

Movie review - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

I like to move it! You know you're watching a Madagascar movie when it opens with this song... It was in the first one, it's in this sequel and I bet it will be in the third one (already in the work, for a 2011 release). Actually, make sure you pay attention to the very beginning when you see the boy sitting on the crescent Moon for the first laugh...

I saw Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in it's Imax version. No 3D, but still gorgeous to watch. It still has the same look as the first one and stars the same voices for the main characters; Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Richter, as well as new characters from Bernie Mac and Alec Baldwin.

The plot revolves around the fact that our heroes, if they can be called that, wants to go back home, in New York (if you don't understand this, see the first movie, then come back). But due to an airplane's "premature landing", they end up in a totally foreign land called Africa. They soon figure out that this place just might be their real home, from all the animals they meet that just happens to be the same species as they are.

I really liked this movie, which was very funny and a worthy sequel. Being in a different environment helped the story to have lots of new elements, while still bringing back a few familiar ones. The psycho penguins are back for more mischief, of course, as are a couple of lemurs... All the returning main characters can be seen in the trailer, if I remember well.

Unlike the last few movies I reviewed, this one is for the whole family, although it is rated PG for "some mild crude humour", so parents should keep that in mind.