Bond's Skyfall and Holy Motors

Skyfall

Like so many James Bond movies of the past 50 (!) years, "Skyfall" (MGM/Columbia), jumps from one exotic locale (Turkey) and to another Shanghai. But unlike previous Bond blockbusters, "Skyfall" hits closer to home in more ways than one.

A stolen hard drive containing the names of undercover MI6 agents has fallen into the hands of vindictive rogue MI6 agent Silva (Javier Bardem), who will go to any length to get revenge on steadfast chief M (Judi Dench), whom he felt betrayed and abandoned him. Meanwhile, M, as businesslike and efficient as ever, is not only willing to sacrifice Bond (at one point in the movie she pens his obit), but will even lie to get whatever she wants.

Bond, badly injured following a motorcycle chase, a train-top tussle and a gunshot wound, returns to the MI6 HQ London in time to see Silva begin his systematic terrorizing of M. Not operating at 100%, Bond is nevertheless sent out into the field to stop Silva by all means necessary. After a side trip to a casino, where he survives a thug attack, not to mention a komodo dragon, Bond is lured to Silva's island. It is there that the much talked about homo-erotically charged scene between a bound Bond and a flirty and virtually salivating Silva takes place. Let's just say that it lives up to the hype.

Slithery Silva is eventually captured and enshrined in a bulletproof booth, on display like a museum object. But not even MI6, and the new quartermaster Q (Ben Wishaw), can contain Silva, his rage or his single-minded mission to murder M. Following his escape Silva is more determined than ever to obliterate M, even if it means shooting up a courtroom.

With the ever resourceful Bond by her side, M evades Silva yet again. Bond and M retreat and take cover at Skyfall (from which the movie gets its title), the Bond family estate in Scotland. But it isn't long before Silva and his goons find them and begin their systematic destruction of property and people. All Bond villains meet a bad end, and Silva is no exception. How else would the franchise, with the hottest Bond in history, continue? "Skyfall" is tops, from its Adele theme song to the closing credits informing you that there's more Bond to come.

****

Holy Motors

French filmmaker Leos Carax takes us where we've never been before, and in a tricked out stretch limo no less, in "Holy Motors" (Indomina). Mr. Oscar (Denis Lavant), an actor and master of multiple disguises (11, to be exact), is driven around to his various appointments in Paris by his faithful driver Celine (Edith Scob).

Each appointment involves playing a role and looking the part. From his perch in the back of the limo, Mr. Oscar begins his day as a business exec before transforming himself into a beggar woman, complete with elaborate drag and physical disability. At the next appointment, he arrives at a motion capture studio where he performs an array of martial arts and sexually acrobatic moves.

For the third appointment, he becomes a creature of the sewers. When he emerges from his underground community, he terrorizes the living in a cemetery by eating flowers left on headstones, running amok through the visitors and eventually disrupting a fashion shoot by abducting model Kay M (Eva Mendes) and taking her to his subterranean lair. Other "appointments" include becoming the cruel father of adolescent Angele (Jeanne Disson), playing in an accordion-dominated ensemble, being both an assassin and the victim, and portraying the elderly and dying Mr. Vogan.

If there haven't already been enough bizarre twists and turns, wait until you see what happens when Mr. Oscar runs into his ex Jean (Kylie Minogue – yes, that Kylie Minogue), who is also in the same line of work as he is. Portraying air hostess Eva on her last night alive, Jean (fittingly) gets her own musical number in an abandoned department store.

Oscar, who does it all for "the cameras," for "the beauty of the act," begins to wonder what would happen if there was no one watching. So, is "Holy Motors" (also the name of the limo company) a comment on reality TV? If it is, then what could possibly be the explanation for the talking limos finale? Don't go to see "Holy Motors" expecting some profound, life-changing statement. See "Holy Motors" because you've never seen anything else quite like it.