TURKEY SEASON Movie Review Highlights

The opening  perilous moving train duck and dodge ends with an agent down.  And M’s ( Judi Dench   ) responsible for ordering  Eve  to take the shot. 007 has apparently drowned. His possessions have been placed in storage. The Bond family home in Skyfall has been the scene of an estate sale. M’s executive position and the future of MI6 are on the line due to the cyber theft of a list of agents  which results in the bombing M’s office and systematic execution of their agents.

Offsetting the blatant womanizer attitudes of predecessors Craig and Ms. Harris engage in an endless  verbal retort barrage  which consistently favors viewers with  hard laughs and stylized sexual attraction. It’s like each curt, slippery smart laced answer contributes to a male versus female ‘who’s better,’ and, Bond already knows his answer.

“Skyfall” evokes a blending of British spy tradition and 21st Century updating. Resisting urges to turn the cerebral super spy into an extreme action enforcer, this film mesmerizes with  an intriguing “Mission: Impossible” premise without the time consuming set ups and execution that visually document the precise timing. Instead, this secret agent rolls serendipity dice maximizing  roll with the punches jams which is naturally compatible with his hidden  high tech weaponry.

As London trembles from  terribly plausible  terrorist explosives, MI6 moves to World War II bunkers. A never failing casino enters the scene followed by dueling assassins, a lovely femme fatale, an nearly abandoned island, and a requisite ride in his armor laden Aston Martin. Summarily, “Skyfall” pleases all whether you crave explosions, cunning intrigue , verbal jabs or subtle sexuality.

TWILIGHT Breaking Dawn

Here comes the honeymoon.  Will it last forever?

Bella (Kristen Stewart ) has crossed into  Edward (Robert Pattinson ) Cullen’s 21st Century vampires existing among humans portal. Seems happy immortality has a few hurdles, meaning romance nirvana has Bella developing her Jedi like gifts and a stand off threatening blood sucking immortality.  

As “Twilight’s Breaking Dawn Part Two” opens, she’s survived   the delivery of her half vampire/half human daughter Renesmee, Bella  enthusiastically enters  the “never sleep” and “never get tired” vampire world by exercising her gazelle legs , sampling mountain lion hemoglobin , cavorting with Edward, and aiming amber rust eyes and adamant scowl.

In the transfiguration, a super strong willed woman has replaced her once work together conflict avoidance introverted demeanor. As her thirst increases, her compassionate soul  vanishes further.

“Part Two” taps satisfactory loose end tie-ups, rather than the suspense of a looming who will keep their juggler hand to hand bloodletting. Will the good side or dark side flourish? The werewolves snarls as we wait, wait and wait. The saga will wrap, but have the filmmakers planted foreshadowing clues of how an aspect of the “Twilight Saga” might once again lighten a big or small screen?

FLIGHT

Don’t enter the auditorium anticipating a feel-good miracle similar to the one engineered by pilot Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger when he successfully glided a bird struck Airbus A320 to an amazing Miracle on the Hudson splashdown. Mentioning the heroics and skill of Sullenberger in the same paragraph with “Flight’s” Capt. Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) nearly becomes sacrilege. Both made extraordinary ditching of messed up aircraft, but Whitaker’s character has baggage which scars his valiant conduct.

Washington’s gripping, stoic and human personification of a fictional substance abusing airline commander whose addictions override otherwise heroic circumstances befits award accolades which will ultimately be bestowed on Daniel Day-Lewis (“Lincoln”).  Washington’s personal battle of contradictions eventually outweighs the suspense of the crash itself.