I’ve been anticipating this James Bond movie for a long time and it completely lived up to my expectations. It’s beautiful, it’s sexy, it’s so damn cool.

Opening Title Sequence – SKYFALL from Exophrine on Vimeo.

Skyfall is the intimate story of James Bond and his espionage world. We see a lot of his past as well as his boss M after the list of NATO secret agents is stolen by the conniving and vicious Silva. The murky depths that M has gone to protect her nation comes bubbling back in disturbing and intense events that she and Bond must face together.

I love this movie from the first frame to the last. The fantastic soundtrack, the gorgeous production design and direction, the perfect theme song by Adele with the jaw dropping title sequence. Skyfall is so well made from every angle, there was incredible love put into this movie. It looks and sounds stunning, the production is just oozing with style and precision to detail. The plot is a mature and surprisingly introspective on Bond and M, the relationship between what is essentially a hired killer and his boss.

There are a ton of nods to the series past while setting up the franchise for the future. Action scenes, while rather infrequent, are superbly done and exciting. With CG only used to enhance or to truly make something too dangerous to do live, possible. There are some spectacular stunts and explosions on display. I was also surprised by the lack of gadgets, but what is there is very plausible and cool.

Along with the terrific script is this outstanding cast. I love Daniel Craig as Bond, this is easily his best yet. Casino Royale was very good and Quantum of Solice is one of the bigger disappointments for me (writing that was bloated and unfocused). Judi Dench is back for her seventh time as M and she is simply fantastic. There is a lot of interaction with her and Bond, they usually just have brief scenes together, but here they have a real partnership. We see that their fates are intertwined, a level of trust and honor that is rarely scene in such genre pictures. They only exist because the other person does. The brilliant Javier Bardem plays Silva, who is far and away the best Bond villain in years, if not decades. A truly scary man with a killer backstory and murderous intent. He pushes Bond and all of MI6 to their limit, I loved watching him devour every scene he was in (a lot of this was due to some fantastic direction, his first scene comes immediately to mind). We get two fantastic Bond girls in this entry, with the beautiful Naomie Harris as Eve (first time I saw her was in 28 Days Later) and the stunning French newcomer Berenice Marlohe as Severine (even her name is cool). We have a new Q as well, played by Ben Winshaw. He’s not seen much, but he’s very memorable and is quickly making a name for himself in cinema.

I can’t really say much more beside glowing praise, I truly loved it. It respects the 50 year old franchise while bringing it to new places. Daniel Craig is signed for two more movies and the foundation for a really incredible run is right in front of us. I have really high hopes, go see this in theaters with a fantastic screen and sound system!

Disney animation has been on a roll! Tangled was a great movie and a huge success and Wreck-It Ralph is even better.

Ralph is the villian in the 80’s videogame “Fix-It Felix Jr.”. Ralph breaks the apartment building while Felix Jr. comes and fixes it. At the end of the level, Ralph is thrown off the roof into the mud below. After 30 years of this, he’s sick of getting the bum rap of being a villian. In an effort to be on equal ground with the “good” guys in his game, he goes off to another game to win a medal to show them how useful and imprtant he is. Trouble insues.

The premises is really smart and very well executed. It’s kinda like the videogame spin of Toy Story. When the arcade closes, the characters can leave their game and visit the others by zipping through the power cables of the games (the hub is in the power strips that the arcade machines are plugged into). There are ton of video game references from start to finish. Half the fun is picking out all of the characters from games that are just milling about in the background.

There’s a lot of heart in this movie, Ralph being voiced by John C Reilly is a brilliant choice. I really like him to start with and he makes Ralph a super relatable and lovable character. He’s upset with his job, upset with who he is in this videogame world. His story is one of discovery of self, meeting other characters who share similar life struggles (Sarah Silverman as Venelopee is a great foil for Ralph, one of the best cartoon duos in quite sometime.). He grows as a character and uses his established skills to solve problems. There is a lot of love and respect in this film, that’s why I really liked it. It also doesn’t hurt that the animation in this movie is exceptional. The characters look and move great, the original video games they came up with are terrific and inspired. Some amazing lighting and texture work, the Sugar Rush game looks like it’s really made of candy.

It can get pretty intense at times for younger viewers, so the PG rating is applicable. Really liked it, terrific work from a studio that isn’t Pixar!