SPOTLIGHT November 2022: Barbara Broccoli, Beloved BOND and Beyond

Barbara Broccoli epitomizes what a great producer should be: smart, creative, passionate, tenacious, and successful. Along with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, she oversees one of the longest-running, most acclaimed, and most financially successful film franchises in the world. But she is not content with that achievement alone and consistently seeks to produce other films and theatrical stage productions as well as engage in philanthropy and activism. As a teenager she knew she wanted a career in the film industry and she set out with fierce determination to achieve that end and has risen to the top in her field with the awards, critical acclaim, financial success and respect of her peers to prove it.

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NO TIME TO DIE – Review by Liz Braun

No Time To Die is more of an event than a movie, but that’s the territory with James Bond. Fans waited 18 months to see the film and everyone knows it’s Daniel Craig’s last time at bat as the famed British spy, so the film came freighted with massive expectations. Luckily, it’s hugely entertaining — with explosive action, wild car chases, fascinating spy gadgets, beautiful women, evil villains, somewhat incomprehensible plotting and many narrow escapes — but this time out with a whole new level of emotional engagement. Writing about women and film is what we do around here, so it’s important to note that Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) reshaped the story with the blessing of all concerned, including Daniel Craig, who described her as a “fucking great writer” to the Financial Times.

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NO TIME TO DIE – Review by Pam Grady

Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond that began 15 years ago with the elegant Casino Royale, ushering in a tough, charismatic 007 ends five films later on more of a whimper than a bang. Entertaining, if overlong, a weak villain and a third act that could have used a rewrite that put some thought into where you might go when you’ve written yourself into a corner betrays Craig’s swan song. He deserves better than this; so, does Bond.

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NO TIME TO DIE – Review by Susan Granger

For Daniel Craig’s final performance as James Bond, he still has his license to kill, Aston Martin DB5 and enough weaponry to subdue countless henchmen. This 25th installment begins with a Norwegian backwoods flashback as a helpless, young girl witnesses a mysterious, masked killer stalking her and her mother, determined to wreak revenge for what her father did to his family.

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