Film: Skyfall directed by Sam Mendes

I saw Skyfall at the cinema, and it was pretty good. It did feel a little like a series of set piece stunts linked up by a background plot - but that does not detract too much.

As always the stunt scenes are really well done. A lot was made of us hearing a little more of Bond's background - but that was quite weak really.

The product placement was not too bad - I missed the Heineken bit which they paid so much for. Also they found a good balance of showing iconic representations of text messages rather than using it as an opportunity to product place a mobile phone handset (which date so quickly as to age a film prematurely).

I feel they played a bit too much on Bond "getting old", a bit absurd that - also leaving them less room to manoeuvre on subsequent films.

Film: Quantum of Solace directed by Marc Foster

Before going to see the new Bond I rewatched this for the first time since seeing it in the cinema.

I still found it to be a good film, the critics say it was a bit weak because it was Bond trying to be Bourne. There is some truth in that, but I think there is no harm in that.

As always the car chase scenes are really well done, and the plot is not too bad.

Film: A Woman Under the Influence Directed by John Cassavetes

A film that feels more like a extended play or drama detailing a very vivid picture of someone's mental illness and a working class families' attempt at dealing with it.

Peter Falk stars as the husband of his wife Mabel, and struggles to deal with the whole deterioration until she is sectioned by a doctor.

There is no coverage of her 6 month treatment, although some references make it sound like it was very crude. Given this film was made in the 1970s it is ahead of it's time in covering a difficult topic, something that even today is considered difficult to admit or talk about.