Score: 6/10

This film started with the best of intentions, picking up right where 2006’s Casino Royale left off, but immediately shows it’s flaws. The first action sequence, a car chase scene, contains so many “shake the camera really bad” shots that it’s hard to tell what’s going on. This annoying effect continued throughout the movie’s other action sequences. I’m not sure who is directly responsible for placing this “effect” in the movie, but they need to leave Hollywood. Too many films are using this effect in their action sequences, and it doesn’t help in the slightest. I can only assume that director Marc Forster’s inexperience at filming action sequences let this happen. It just doesn’t work at all. But that’s not the only flaw of this film.

The usual Bond intro titles were terrible; I really cannot stand the film’s track “Another Way to Die”. The lyrics are nonsensical (can anyone explain to me what they have to do with the film’s plot?), as is the actual music—I mean, Jack White and Alicia Keys, really? Visually, they decided to use a different person to do the titles, and it really shows. Daniel Kleinman was responsible for the excellent GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and Casino Royale titles, and none of his talent is visible here.

Plot-wise, the movie tries to throw too many relationship/connections at us and expect us to keep track of it all. My wife, myself, and our friends walked out of the movie asking quite a few questions about the plot, and what happened in general. I won’t dive into the larger problems with the plot (since they’d spoil it for you), but let’s just say that Bond seems to be indestructible in this film, and there are too many “convenient” moments, if that makes any sense. Daniel Craig is excellent as Bond, though, and I think he’s getting settled into the role nicely.

I wonder why they didn’t just hire Martin Campbell again to direct, since he did such a great job with Casino Royale (and GoldenEye.) Maybe he was busy with other projects, I’m not sure. But I would’ve gladly waited longer for Quantum of Solace in order to have a better end product. I am optimistic as to what a third Daniel Craig as Bond film could bring, but at the same time, if this is the direction the series is headed in, I’m not liking it.

My wife Heather was begging me to find some Wall-E ringtones; after a short while I couldn’t really find anything for free, so I decided to make some. I’m sharing them with the world in case someone else wants to check ‘em out too. I’m making them available in MP3 and M4R (iPhone Ringtone) format:

MP3:

Wall-E Music (from the trailer)

Wall-E Saying His Name

M4R (iPhone):

Wall-E Music (from the trailer)

Wall-E Saying His Name

Instructions for iPhone: Simply right-click and save the files to your hard drive. Drag them onto iTunes, and they should be recognized as ringtone files. The next time you sync your iPhone, they will show up.

Update: Do you have a request for another Wall-E ringtone, or just a ringtone in general from your favorite movie/TV show? Let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.

Update 2008-07-18: Here are some more "ringtones" I made from Wall-E!

MP3:

Eve Saying "Wall-E!"

Mo Saying "Woah Woah Woah Woah Woah!"

Wall-E Saying "Eeeve-A"

Wall-E Saying His Name (longer)

M4R (iPhone):

Eve Saying "Wall-E!"

Mo Saying "Woah Woah Woah Woah Woah!"

Wall-E Saying "Eeeve-A"

Wall-E Saying His Name (longer)

Update 2008-08-05: Want a glimpse into the life of me and my wife? Check out her blog, Inquisitive Sensitive!

Heather and I went to see Wall-E on the opening night. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this movie— I couldn’t think of a single Pixar movie I didn’t like. As a side note, I held off watching Ratatouille for forever because I just didn’t want to be disappointed in Pixar; everyone was telling me Ratatouille sucked. It didn’t.

Anyway, getting back to Wall-E, the film is right in so many ways. The pacing is spot on, and we really get invested emotionally in all of the characters, not just the leads (Wall-E and EVE.) And on top of that, it’s just a great sci-fi story, with a dash of action and a extra spoonful of romance.

The visuals are obviously gorgeous, and Pixar did a great job of defining “the world”. There is live-action (real humans) mixed in with the animation and it doesn’t actually seem that out of place. I’m not spoiling anything, but as an example, there’s a great chain of pictures in the captain’s quarters that starts as a picture of an actual person, and ends with the current captain:

As to why us humans are fat, that gets explained :)

Anyway, it’s a great movie, and I’d say it’s easily one of the best I’ve seen this year. There’s an animated Pixar short in front of it, called “Presto!”, about a magician experiencing some issues with the ol’ rabbit out of a hat trick. The audience was in tears for that, and it just set the stage perfectly for what was to come with Wall-E.

So go see it. Take your girlfriend or wife too, especially. They’ll swoon (multiple times) over Wall-E’s cuteness.

Here’s some more Wall-E related images and (ooh!) retro-looking Disneyland-ish posters:

The latest (and final) trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, coming out May 22nd, 2008.

I especially love the "rocket sled" part of this trailer, looks like a typical Indiana Jones fight atmosphere. Didn't you just love it when Indy punched that guy into an airplane's propellers on Raiders of the Lost Ark? Can't wait for this movie.

Streaming Version

1080p Quicktime Version

720p Quicktime Version

480p Quicktime Version

"It's all... part of the plan."

Check out the newest (and final) trailer for The Dark Knight, coming out July 18th, 2008. We get a few new glimpses in this trailer, and an interesting shot (near the end) of Harvey Dent's face in some sort of flammable liquid. Two-Face, is that you?

http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/