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[film review] NO TIME TO DIE

6/10/2021

Bond has escaped threats far greater than this one - and it's hard to ignore the fact that the overly long (not to mention convoluted) journey has slowly killed the main character throughout.
You may find you were expecting more, Mr Bond.

No Time to Die

Release date: 30 September 2021 (United Kingdom)
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Screenplay: Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge,

***Spoiler warning***

License Redundant in Bond 25

Billed as the last entry in Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond, and arriving a year and a half late, NO TIME TO DIE has a lot to live up to. The film's so-so predecessor SPECTRE provides a direct jumping-off point with an overly long opening sequence, but ultimately serves as one of this entry's strengths, racing from its shadow into a brand new escapade for our famous spy.

Skipping ahead 5 years, we find a weary (yet relaxed) Bond in retirement in Jamaica. When CIA agent and old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) contacts him to warn James about a stolen biological weapon it isn't long until he's drawn back into the game. After a thrilling escapade in Cuba where Bond faces down his old nemesis Blofield and SPECTRE itself, the film shrugs off the past and seemingly heads into new waters. So far, so good, with a stunning turn by Ana de Armas as a newbie agent - which unfortunately proves the highlight of the film.

More than any previous Bond outing, NO TIME TO DIE deserves credit for trying to do something new. There's a new 007 in the capable form of Nomi (Lashana Lynch), whose respect/envy for Bond lends a touch of rivalry and fun to a contentious role. Ben Whishaw returns as the bumbling Q and Ralph Fiennes as a grim-faced M, the latter's side project in killer nanobots providing the grist of the plot. There are glimmers of fun here and there, which elevate the film above the too-serious SPECTRE, but the plot unfolds in a remarkably typical and somewhat low stakes fashion for a concluding episode.

Less compelling turns come via Lea Seydoux who looks helpless throughout, a creepily blank 5 year old and a criminally underused Naomi Harris. Christopher Walsh gives another camp (yet effective) turn as Stavros Blofeld, but the villain he makes way for, the scarred and whispery Safin (Rami Malek) fails to equal his performance as a credible Bond villain. Safin's motivations aren't made clear enough early on and when finally revealed, can't help but come across as cheesy. A vengeful baddie who wants to take over the world from a secret island base might serve as a fitting nod to the venerable franchise, but it robs the plot of impact. (There are similar nods in other scenes, including a poison garden, Bond adrift in a dinghy and even gadgets - delightful fan service). Malik frustrates, rather than frightens, whenever he's on screen.

And it's the conflict between the old and the new in NO TIME TO DIE that makes it such a mixed bag. The exotic locations and set pieces are as thrilling as ever - there's even a smattering of Roger Moore-era wit - but the smart diversity and progressiveness on display only serve to draw attention to how redundant the central role feels, particularly when the story is determined to tame Bond completely and present a version of the character that doesn't quite fit with the 24 films before this one.

In fact, it all feels a little late for redemption and a gutsier director might've gone the other way, revealing 007 as the cold-blooded killer he is with the newbies set against him. In one later scene, Nomi's bowing to the titular character is out of place and undoes its own point - Bond is relevant again... why? Because he's an ageing straight white man doing the same job as her? By the climax, the action (and the music) scale to heights of pathos hitherto unseen in a Bond movie. The swansong arrives in an absurd and overwrought fashion - Bond has escaped threats far greater than this one - and it's hard to ignore the fact that the overly long (not to mention convoluted) journey has slowly killed the main character throughout.
You may find you were expecting more, Mr Bond.

NO TIME TO DIE ticks all the boxes, but the film is bound to divide fans. Sadly, the promise of CASINO ROYALE was never quite fulfilled and the series' move to continuity and character depth amount to something surprisingly bland and inconsequential. At this point, we all know who Bond is and while NO TIME TO DIE pulls a neat trick, this isn't it.

James Bond will return, of course. One hopes with a little more bite.

3/5

JAMES BENNETT

James Bennett is a British writer raised in Sussex and South Africa. His travels have furnished him with an abiding love of different cultures, history and mythology. His short fiction has appeared internationally and his debut novel CHASING EMBERS was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards 2017.

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OPEN CALL, INTO THE FOREST: TALES OF THE BABA YAGA

3/10/2021

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that moves through the forest on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.

Black Spot Books are looking for stories inspired by and featuring the BABA YAGA.
INTO THE FOREST: Tales of the Baba Yaga is a women-in-horror anthology. All writers who identify as women are welcome to submit.

GUIDELINES:
Payment: 6 cents a word (USD)
Length: 1000 to 5000 words
Submission Period: September 28, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Expected Release Date: November 2022 (traditional trade)

No reprints, multiple subs or simultaneous subs
Use classic Shunn formatting.

Full list of invited contributors:
- Gwendolyn Kiste
- Stephanie M. Wytovich
- Donna Lynch
- R. J. Joseph
- Lindy Ryan
- Mercedes M. Yardley
- Monique Snyman
- Lisa Quigley

For more information and on how to submit your story please follow this link

https://blackspotbooks.submittable.com/submit/204749/into-the-forest-a-women-in-horror-anthology

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[FILM REVIEW] NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

2/10/2021

HORROR MOVIE REVIEW HORROR MOVIE REVIEW NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

The last third capitalises on the slow-burn dread, building to a finale that bears all the arcane and grisly oomph of the author's previous screen adaptation THE RITUAL, along with his bravura touch.

Desperate and without documentation, a woman from Mexico moves into a rundown Cleveland boardinghouse. Then the unsettling cries and eerie visions begin.
Director: Santiago Menghini
Production company: Imaginarium Productions
Language: English
Genre: Horror
Screenplay: Jon Croker, Fernanda Coppel, based on the novel No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill

Horror maven Adam Nevill returns to the screen with the Netflix adaptation of his award-winning novel NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE. The novel's setting has been relocated from suburban Birmingham UK to a wintry Cleveland USA, which may have lost a degree of familiar dereliction, but should appeal to broader audiences. The plot focuses on Ambar (a convincingly vulnerable Cristina Rodlo), an illegal immigrant who's desperate for documents and a new life, adding an interesting social element to proceedings.

The film takes a more measured approach to the swift, rowdy violence of the novel. Bumps and bangs are replaced by creaks and whispers in plugholes, ratcheting up the claustrophobia and the chills. When Ambar takes a room in a grubby, women-only boarding house (which brings to mind the Bates' mansion in 'Psycho'), she soon finds herself at the mercy of Red, her shifty landlord, and Becker, his hulking and mentally ill brother. The other women in the house seem as oblivious as Ambar to the evils lurking in the basement and the unseen watchers in the hall. But not for long.

There are no easy answers in NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE and viewers less familiar with the source material may find themselves scratching for the mystery behind events. The MacGuffin in question could've used a tad more explanation, and the backstory characters remain less than ghosts. The supernatural menace is well rendered all the same and first-time director Menghini paints a sympathetic portrait of Ambar's toils in a sweatshop, her memories of a deceased mother and her faint hope of a better life.

The latter soon sees her trapped completely and the haunting spills over into real life, the horror unfolding in accelerating scenes of desperation and gore. A spectral fight on a stairway and a bid for escape lend thrills to events and there are spooky highlights throughout, with fluttering moths and clever lighting effects. The last third capitalises on the slow-burn dread, building to a finale that bears all the arcane and grisly oomph of the author's previous screen adaptation THE RITUAL, along with his bravura touch.

4/5'