Yep, the film at its final hand goes full Hollywood poker. I’m assuming so as give reasons for everyone to go all in. Would’ve been a bit awkward if Bond beat Le Chiffre then had to keep playing against Infante for a few hands.
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Yet still I love it. Orson Welles said that a director was a person who presided over accidents As a film, DAF plays with the Bond template (as established up to that point), so a lackluster “big invasion scene finale” fits in and seems yet another meta-comment on the Bond Film blueprint. Heck: the movie goes back to the series first Bond; give us a third (credited) Blofeld (whose fate is never assured) as well as happily-coupled gay killers; a more dissonant John Barry score; no scene in M’s office; a Bond girl who is American and wears pants; and a WMD left circling the globe (I guess its orbit has decayed by now, and it burned up falling back to earth. Or it may still be up there just as Bond and Tiffany are still on that cruise).
Tiffany vacillates between that hard-boiled coolness and helplessness throughout the movie as if she is not sure what kind of Bond girl she is supposed to be (just as DAF cannot quite make up its mind what kind of Bond movie it wants to be).
I am no SW fan either, but I love that Johnson eschewed the usual heroic actions at the end of the film. As I have posted before, there are some quite interesting Buddhist critiques of the movie. TLJ may be my favorite of them all, and one I rewatch with pleasure.
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I thought Luke’s last stand in TLJ was way more kick ass by proxy than it would have been if he’d shown up in person. Hux and Kylo’s reactions are priceless. Brave film making worked well here I think.
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Different horses, I suppose, but I personally reckon it would’ve been braver to go there in person. It should be, I thought, like if an agoraphobic stayed in his house all the time, but saw someone getting mugged outside his house and finally crossed the threshold to help them. If this had happened, the ending to TLJ would’ve been about redemption and bravery. As it is, it was about video conferencing. But I’m glad it worked for you.
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Haha that made me chuckle 
But you’ve got to admit it was proper kick ass video conferencing!
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What I enjoyed was that the ending was not about redemption (for once). Rather, it was about finding a different path of success–one involving sitting in the lotus position rather than assuming the cowboy stance.
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“A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack .” Master Yoda.
Luke appearing in spirit was far more fitting for the culmination of his journey. It’s also the idea of legends, the idea of Luke Skywalker was more powerful than Luke himself. He would never have survived the bombardment from the First Order but seeing his projection walk away unscathed was a far more powerful symbol for those who saw it.
Then there’s the symmetry, when Luke first saw Leia she was a projection (hologram). When Leia last saw Luke he was a projection. It’s like poetry, sort of. They rhyme.
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Strange. My copy of TLJ has that exact finale.
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I’m just glad he didn’t get the Powerpoint out.
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I meant a proper duel, like in Empire or Return. Luke would be more powerful now, so a proper duel really would’ve been something. I wanted Luke to confront Kylo, not evade him.
Anyway, this is just me.
It‘s about peace vs aggression, wit vs violence. Luke is a Jedi and has learned from his mistakes. Kylo has not.
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Fair enough. That’s my world view, so I support him doing that.
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This is how I feel too. Great insight as always, Jim.
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One of my accidental collections is the films of Herbert Lom, best known for playing the long-suffering Chief Inspector Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films. Now, though, in a plot twist (if a thread on a forum could have such a thing), I’m now collecting such films deliberately. He was such a remarkable talent.
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“Bring me eye twitches Clouseau.”
US president: “What’s a Clouseau?”
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My hero! No, seriously…
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The Pink Panther Strikes Again is my favourite. Return is good, but really slow in places. Revenge is fun, though. Trail, of course, is terrible, while Curse is only livened with Roger turning up near the end.
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I like the set pieces in Return best, but it’s easily half hour too long. Devotes too much time to plot, when all we want is Clouseau!
Strikes is fantastic! The Quasimodo disguise and melting nose and,
“does your bite bite?”
Pats dog - dog bites him.
“I thought you said your dog does not bite!”
“That is not my dog.”
This has given me a new thread idea… 
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Return made me wish that we had a film, even a series of them, with Christopher Plummer playing an aristocratic cat burglar.
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Sellers is an absolute god in my eyes and obviously irreplaceable, however… I’ve often wondered who could do a half decent job today! I’ve always thought ‘comedy actors’ was the wrong direction. The actor plays it straight; the character’s unaware, or in denial of how hopeless he is. Sellers was a fine actor (Being There is phenomenal). You never feel like he’s playing his part in a gag, but genuinely believes this crazy stuff is happening. There’s no subliminal wink to the camera in his timing - he’s totally committed to the moment.
Steve Martin’s great, but I never thought he had the chops. Plus his take is a little too caricatured (I know how crazy that sounds). I was hoping for Jeffery Rush, but then I guess that wasn’t just me, since he played Sellers in the biog.
Now I’m thinking maybe Matthew Macfadyen? Until recently I thought him a good actor, but after seeing in own the marvellous HBO dramedy Succession and last week again treading a superbly fine comic line in itv’s brilliant Quiz (about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ‘cheat’) I think he could pull off a decent Clouseau.
Next massive challenge is the Director! Blake Edwards was the pink panther movies. Levy is great at Americana; the night at the museum movies are well made and his stranger things eps are first class, but he didn’t crack his Panther movie. I think Quiz Director Frears, who’s made many amazing movies over the years, including Dangerous Liaison and Dirty Pretty Things, would do a great job. He’s getting on a bit though, so I don’t know if he’d fancy it!
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