They used to say about the early cars of Henry Ford that “you can have any colour you like, as long as it’s black”. As a cinephile, this phrase comes to mind as I scan the listings for my local cinemas for October movies: “You can have any film you like, as long as it’s Bond”!
For Bond is back! “No Time to Die” (12A) was forecast to be the ‘saviour of the cinema’ and so it seems to be. At the time of writing, showings are still well attended, with fans going to see it multiple times to pick up the nuances of the (quite complicated) plot.
It’s been a controversial film, splitting opinion amongst ‘Bond fans’, with some detesting one particular plot point in the movie. I would count myself as a ‘Bond fan’, having seen every Bond film at the cinema (with my first ‘first-run’ film being “Live and Let Die” back in 1973). And I thought it was TERRIFIC, not only as a ‘Bond film’ but as a movie in its own right: Great action, great acting (especially from Daniel Craig and his “Knives Out” co-star Ana de Armas), a great action score from Hans Zimmer (with multiple nods to John Barry’s OHMSS) and the most epic and emotional finale since OHMSS. Well worth the price of your cinema admission in my book.
If Bond doesn’t float the olive in your vodka martini, there are relatively slim pickings showing at the moment. You might still be able to catch these recent releases:
- Respect (12A): The biopic of the great Aretha Franklin ably illustrates not only the quality of her output (as sung by Jennifer Hudson) but also what a great influence she was on both feminism and race equality issues. As a movie, it doesn’t quite grab you by the throat the way that “The United States vs Billie Holiday” did earlier in the year (which covered similar ground) – – but it is still a worthwhile watch. (The illustrious Mrs Movie Man absolutely loved this one!)
- The Many Saints of Newark (15): This is something of a prequel to the TV show “The Sopranos”, but it only tangentially looks at the teenage years of Tony Soprano. The primary focus is on the life story of his uncle Dickie Moltisanti (hence the title). As a “Sopranos” virgin, I no doubt missed a truckload of ‘Easter Eggs’. But I found it an entertaining enough ‘Goodfellas-lite’, without thrilling me enough to recommend it.
- If you can still find it anywhere (its limited release was rather swept aside by the Bond tsunami) I’d recommend the British coming-of-age comedy/drama Sweetheart. A delightfully bittersweet debut by Marley Morrison.
- And for the kids, there’s the sequel to the animated hit The Addams Family 2.
Bond won’t be wall-to-wall forever. New movies out in the next few weeks include the sequel to the superhero movie “Venom” – Venom: Let there be Carnage (15); the long-awaited Denis Villeneuve attempt at Frank Herbert’s “unfilmable” Sci-Fi novel Dune (12A); and the musical/drama Dear Evan Hansen.
That’s my Bond-centric round-up of mid-October movies. You can of course read my full spoiler-free reviews for these movies, and others, on the website at http://bob-the-movie-man.com, or see my video reviews on Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram (or just search for @onemannsmovies).
Enjoy!
