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Bond hits the scene

To succeed, a James Bond movie must traffic in equal parts sophistication and pure preposterousness, a winking willingness not to take itself too seriously, but with peerless writing, acting and production values. All of those elements are on hand in “Skyfall.”

At the outset, Bond (Daniel Craig) is in Istanbul, pursuing a bad guy through bazaars and over rooftops in a ludicrous motorcycle chase. That episode will send Bond into something of an existential spiral, bringing him alongside Jason Bourne and other au courant secret agents as people who are fighting not just shadowy forces of mass destruction but also their inner demons.

When Bond flies into action after a self-imposed hiatus, he’s an Oedipal wreck, bleary-eyed, out of shape and visibly aging. The not-so-sub-subtext of “Skyfall” is the ongoing dialogue between past and future, whether it’s youth vs. age, computers vs. analog, or point-and-click terrorism vs. old-school geopolitics.

The DVD (Sony, $30) includes a four-part making-of documentary, while the Blu-ray ($40) adds eight more segments and commentary.

Washington Post

 

Colin Covert says: “Skyfall” is a mixed bag. Some of it is terrific. And some of it is spectacular.

 

Also out Tuesday

Movies: “Bully,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” “Jedi Junkies,” “The Kid With a Bike,” “The Man With the Iron Fists,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Robot & Frank,” “The Sessions,” “Silent Hill: Revelation.”

TV: “Gossip Girl” (Season 6), “The Hardy Boys” (Season 3), “Nurse Jackie” (Season 4), “Weeds” (Season 8).

 

Game

‘Madden’ wins again

While “Madden NFL 13” didn’t predict the power failure that left the Superdome dark and delayed the game for 30 minutes, it got just about everything else correct. With the Baltimore Ravens’ 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, the official “Madden NFL” Super Bowl prediction correctly foretold the exact point difference in the game and has now correctly named the winner of eight of the past 10 Super Bowls.

The “Madden NFL” Super Bowl prediction, which was run using “Madden NFL 13,” also correctly forecasted Joe Flacco as MVP of the game.