Grant Minnick's Movie Reviews

“Why do you fight against us, so far away from where you are needed?” - Hanoi Hannah Da 5 Bloods is the newest film directed by Spike Lee, and it stars Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Chadwick Boseman, and Jonathan Majors.  The film tells the tale of four Black veterans who return to Vietnam in the present day to bring home the remains of a fallen soldier.  However, that isn’t their only mission.  They are also there to recover a cache of buried gold and split the money between the four of them.   Da 5 Bloods is an incredibly intense yet heartfelt film, and it’s also very important and relevant to what’s going on in the world today.  It’s an extremely politically charged movie, and while that could be a turn-off for some people, I think it’s the type of film that needs to be seen regardless of who you are.  It’s informative and educational, and it gives the viewer knowledge about our current political climate as well as t...

“She won’t let death get in the way of her job.” - James Bond Spectre is a 2015 film directed by Sam Mendes, and is the fourth film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  In this film, Bond is led right to the heart of a mysterious organization known as Spectre.  He finds out that all of his adversaries from the previous three films all have ties to Spectre, and the leader of the organization has an important connection to Bond’s past.  Meanwhile, a man named Max Denbigh challenges M by claiming that MI6 is irrelevant, and decides that there is no use for the program anymore. When it first released in 2015, Spectre didn’t get great reviews.  It received quite a bit of hate from fans, which in my opinion is completely undeserved.  I actually thoroughly enjoyed Spectre .  I think the problem that viewers experienced when the film released was that they were expecting another Skyfall .  Sam Mendes had so much success with Skyfall that he was bro...

“I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.” - Q Skyfall was directed by Sam Mendes and is the third film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  The film also stars Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, and Naomie Harris.  At the beginning of this film, Agent 007 is shot off the top of a train and goes missing.  When MI6 is attacked by a cyber-terrorist, Bond comes out of hiding to help.  But there is one problem: When Bond was shot, he was presumed dead by MI6, which means that he will now have to pass a number of physical tests to regain his status as an Agent before he can go off to save the day. When Quantum of Solace turned out to be mediocre, along came Skyfall to breathe life back into the Bond franchise again.  Skyfall has everything I want from a Bond film.  It has humor, action, suspense, witty dialogue, excellent costuming and makeup, ...

“You shot him at point blank and threw him off a roof.  I’d hardly call that showing restraint.” - M Quantum of Solace is directed by Marc Forster and is the second film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  The film also stars Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, and Mathieu Amalric.  Taking place directly after the events of Casino Royale , this film finds James Bond investigating Quantum, a mysterious organization responsible for the death of someone close to him.  His investigation leads him to Dominic Greene, a member of Quantum who is trying to occupy territory in Bolivia.  Throughout the film, Bond tails Greene in hope of finding answers as to what Quantum is. Casino Royale gave the Bond series a fresh new feel and showed us what a dark version of Agent 007 would look like.  Quantum of Solace keeps the grittiness and violence of Casino Royale , but there doesn’t seem to be as much passion or originality as there was in its predecesso...

“You changed your shirt, Mr. Bond.  I hope our little game isn’t causing you to perspire.” - Le Chiffre Casino Royale was directed by Martin Campbell, and is the first film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  The movie also stars Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, and Judi Dench.  In this film, MI6 Agent James Bond achieves 00 status and earns his licence to kill.  From there, he is assigned his first mission as Agent 007, and we follow Bond as he goes up against a terrorist financier named Le Chiffre in a game of poker, in an attempt to make him go bankrupt.  When it came out in 2006, nobody had ever seen a Bond film like Casino Royale .  It took familiar staples of the classic Bond films and turned them on their heads.  The film served as a reboot for the Bond series, and next to Mad Max: Fury Road , Casino Royale is one of my favorite reboots of a popular franchise.  It does what all great reboots should do: it gives familiar characters an...

“There was never any question that something was different about James… that something was wrong.” - Jim Gordon Batman: The Black Mirror is written by Scott Snyder and is illustrated by Jock and Francesco Francavilla.  It ran for ten issues in the year 2011 and is known for being the last Batman story written before the introduction of the New 52.  The book is now considered a modern classic, and many people consider The Black Mirror to be some of Scott Snyder’s finest work.   Batman has always been my favorite superhero.  There are just so many things to love about Batman as a character.  However, my favorite Batman stories are ones that give us a completely new look into Batman and the world in which he lives, and more importantly, ones that ask the question “What if?”  For example, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns asks “What if Batman were an old man?”  Brian Augustyn’s Gotham By Gaslight asks “What if Batman fought Jack the Ri...