Skyfall

GREAT MOVIES: Sam Mendes' Skyfall (US, 2012) - Variety called it Stunning Skyfall in their headline: Putting the "intelligence" in MI6, "Skyfall" reps a smart, savvy and incredibly satisfying addition to the 007 oeuvre, one that places Judi Dench's M at the center of the action. It's taken 23 films and 50 years to get Bond's backstory, but the wait was worth it. In Sam Mendes' hands, the franchise comes full circle, revealing the three-film Daniel Craig cycle to be both prelude and coda to the entire series via a foxy chess move that puts these pics on par with Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy as best-case exemplars of what cinematic brands can achieve, resulting in a recipe for nothing short of world domination. Screen Daily also gives the film glowing review: Fifty years on from the release of Dr No, the twenty-third official James Bond film refreshes a formula which seemed flagging in Quantum Of Solace, the last entry, by keeping on Daniel Craig, who has grown into the role of the secret agent but brought his own distinctive take on the character, but bringing in top talent, including director Sam Mendes (unwinding after weightier things, but taking the assignment seriously), script-polisher John Logan (working over a screenplay by series regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade) and (perhaps in a masterstroke) cinematographer Roger Deakins, who finally provides a Bond film with a visual sophistication that matches the credits sequence.