“Defiance” is a powerful drama based on the true story of three brothers who set out to defy the Nazis by living out their lives with some sense of normalcy.

Movies set during World War II and the Holocaust are depressing by nature… because of the inhumanity of the Nazis in their persecution of Jews.  While “Defiance” is sad, it sets the mood and then keeps it there without constantly attacking you with reminders of movie’s time in history.

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell are great as the three brothers who band together to escape the Nazis and ultimately form their own community of survivors.
 While this may not be the best Holocaust-era movie ever, it is certainly the most uplifting as the brothers battle the Nazis both literally in battle and figuratively as they try to keep their sanity and humanity by living out their lives, even if they are in hiding.

The movie weaves in a sense of history while exploring a part of the survivor story many of us had never heard of before now… the settings, the clothing, the weapons, the vehicles, the characters, everything helps remind you that you watching people in the late 1930s/early 1940s.

The action is spread out throughout the movie… followed by moments of dialougue and character building.  Daniel Craig puts in one of his best non-Bond performances yet as the oldest of the brothers, leading the group through the forest and through the very difficult circumstances.  Liev Schreiber does and excellent job as the second oldest brother, a character layered with problems and regrets and disagreements with his older brother.  Jamie Bell is solid as the third brother and the other supporting cast are also good, including a solid turn by Ravil Isyanov as the Russian commander who comes into conflict with their little community.

THE BOTTOM LINE: (more…)

Quantum of Solace is a riveting sequel with tons of action, but its not as good as Daniel Craig’s first James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006

Quantum of Solace

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content) (1 hr, 46 min)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, Jesper Christensen

Director: Marc Forster

"Quantum Of Solace" good, but not as good as "Casino Royale"

Genre: Action/Adventure

The Plot: Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country’s water supply.

MY TAKE (minor spoilers): As you’d expect from the opening sequence of a Bond movie, Quantum takes little time to get going, jumping right into a vicious car chase through Italy.  As previously reported, this is a direct sequel, as the story picks up about an hour from the end of Casino Royale… with Bond racing to his HQ.

Daniel Craig is great again as 007, Judi Dench is awesome as usual as M, Jeffrey Wright and Jesper Christensen were good again in their limited, but important roles as Felix Leiter and Mr. White.   New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is solid as the female agent trying to conduct her own covert operation on new villian Dominic Greene, played convincingly by Mathieu Amalric.

There’s tons of action in this one – but if you didn’t see Casino Royale, you may be surprised at the style and type of action – its a lot more Bourne Identity that your grandfather’s smooth talking shoot and punch Sean Connery of the classic Bond movies.   Craig’s James Bond is fleet of foot, jumps from rooftop to rooftop, dangles from ropes, shoots, punches, and jumps some more.  But as we saw in Casino Royale, this Bond is also more conflicted and a little darker than the just charming and cool Bond’s of the past – this Bond has many layers and troubles that has M in a constant state of concern.

The script and character development were good as you’d expect after Casino Royale, eventhough Quantum has a different director.

Its fun to see the opening scene going through a construction site again as it did in Casino Royale… all of the action scenes were great: a car chase, a boat chase, foot chases, and an airplane dogfight.

BUT…. there are 2 very noticeable issues that set this apart from the last movie:

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The 6 Bonds: Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, Craig

The 22nd official James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace” hits theaters Friday… so who do you think is the best Bond? 

Which actor has officially played Bond in the most movies?

Careful, this is a bit of a trick question…

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(RE-POSTING FROM 7/6/08)

“The Invasion” a decent remake, a decent rental
 

 Its almost been a year since “The Invasion” hit theaters (August 2007), and its one of those movies I wanted to see, but just kept putting off… for one thing, it didn’t do so well at the box office (only making $15 million with a budget of $80 million)… and it didn’t get a lot of buzz after it hit theaters… but it was also overshadowed the weekend it opened against “Superbad” and by four other movies still playing and winning at the box office “Spider-Man 3″, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, “Transformers”, and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”… needless to say, I finally saw it and… it was a pretty good rental.