I'm a bit late to the Casino Royale discussion, but I saw it when it came out as well and found it to be very enjoyable. Granted, it doesn't take much to entertain me at the movies, but the storyline and plot seemed solid, good acting and excellent character develepment of the Bond persona. It was cool.

Some of the more recent movies I've seen ...

300. I expected this to be over the top and not adherent to history, as I'm sure many of you did, but I think it went too far. It promised us an over the top action film, but instead we got a boring, movie with too many disjointed themes clashing for your attention. The fight scenes started way too late and ended too early, were a bit too gratuitous I think, and peppered with poor dialogue.

Children of Men. I had pretty high hopes for this one based on all of the feedback I read off of my usual haunts on the internets, but was a tad disappointed. The plot was decent, the acting was pretty damn good (even Kee ... I don't know where the hate for her is coming, she did well), and the camerawork was great. It dragged on far too long though, and seemed like there was unnecessary content that could've been cut. Except for the last 20 or so minutes of the movie, it was just boring, a fact which the acting, camerawork and atmosphere couldn't alleviate.

Pan's Labyrinth. This is one of the best movie worlds I've ever been drawn into, and easily ties for my favorite movie ever (with Miller's Crossing). I loved the balance of this movie between "true" dark fantasy and the real world. The elements of fear and adventure of both worlds collide perfectly. I only wish there were more fantasy movies of this mood and caliber to speak of. This movie has probably the most outstanding performance by a young actress I've ever seen, and of any actor/actress of recent years for that matter. And of course the special effects were used just right to provide that eerily surreal atmosphere. Simply beautiful in the full spectrum of the word.

Bridge to Terabithia. I haven't read the book but from what I hear it is very true to the story. Great acting by the kids, if a little "over-acted" at times. Despite that, it was a truly wonderful movie. Real tearjerker.

Breach. Good movie, excellent job by Chris Cooper, but a tad slow pretty much throughout the whole movie. There were a couple of tense moments, but they were over too quickly. Really, the only excellent thing about this was the job Chris Cooper did ... everything else was rather average.

...

I think that's about it, that I can recall. Good to chat with you all again after my holiday break (yes, I realize it's been 3 months since said holidays...)