Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Review
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes
director: David Yates
Like I said in my Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review, I thought that all of the creators of Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 did an amazing job at capturing the tense urgency of what needed to be done within the story and the importance it all meant to the wizarding world as well as the muggle world. The opening of the movie was perfect, except I didn't quite understand why they didn't show the farewell interactions between Harry and The Dursley's. Although it was in the book, I wasn't that taken aback since only a couple minutes later, the whole crew shows up and they start turning into the 7 Harry's.
I thought that one of the saddest parts of the movie was when Hedwig came out of no where to help protect Harry on her own will, and unexpectedly to Harry, receiving the most god-awful spell in wizard history (The Killing Curse). Movie-wise, I thought it was a brilliant shot because it captured the quickness, sadness, and bravery of Hedwig, the beautiful snow-white owl that has been by Harry's side since he turned 11 years old.
I thought Rupert Grint did a great job in this film, it seemed like he was especially comfortable in some of the parts he was doing. For example: parts where he was angry and yelled at Harry, and the fighting scenes it finally felt like 'yeah, thats Ron MF Weasley'. Another example was when he had the Sword of Gryffindor and became livid after the Horcrux showed Harry and Hermione aggressively kissing and holding each other while naked.
Emma Watson did a fantastic job on the entire movie series in my opinion. In this movie, she was the glue to how the movie flowed and it was through her that showed the type of emotion that was supposed to be felt at any given moment. I think that kind of talent comes natural to her, and it really shows up on the screen. While Daniel Radcliffe had the tough task of being in almost every shot and having the mindset of a hero.
The saddest scene, in respect to Hedwig, definitely has to be awarded to the free Elf: Dobby. I believe that CGI has come such a long way that instead of just having monsters created, it can produce some of the most touching moments of a movie. If you didn't have your eyes watering while Dobby was drifting away, I suggest you check your emotion level because that was just plain heart breaking. It was devastating in the book as well as the movie, and I believe that Dobby's death was a foreshadow of what was to come and that there were zero boundaries on who could perish in the great war between good and evil.
I thought this movie was incredibly refreshing leading up to Part 2, and I am very grateful that they decided to have The Deathly Hallows made in to two parts.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes
director: David Yates
The end of one of my most favorite stories has ended with this concluding Harry Potter film. I am sad to see that there will no longer be anymore Harry Potter movies to gleefully wait for, however, I am happy to have been raised with the movies being only about a year older than Daniel Radcliffe. I read all of the books, so I already knew what was going to happen, but I was still almost in tears at about 10 different parts of the movie. I definitely loved this movie and I think that this one was the best Harry Potter movie since the first 3 were made for many reasons.
One reason I thought it was one of the best Harry Potter films was because the movie stopped dumbing down the audience. In my opinion, movies 5-6 went a different direction and focused more on trying to educate the viewers on the wizarding world, the characters, and wizard dialogue rather than just tell the story at face value like The Lord of the Rings movies had done. They should have just spoke and talked about things in the wizarding world like it was normal and the viewer (mostly having read the books themselves) would have picked up on it instantly, or after watching it multiple times. In The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2, they through all of that away and just spoke and went on with the movie like it was all normal and the story was told the way it is supposed to be told, which is why I really loved this movie.
My second reason was that the filmmakers seemed to go back to the Harry Potter roots and had more 'emotional' scenes. Like the scene at the beginning of the film with Head Master Snape overlooking the students of Hogwarts as they were entering the castle while a deep ballad was playing in the background. The theme of darkness survived the entirety of the movie, which I thought was perfect for what was to come.
Although I thoroughly loved this movie, I was disappointed that we didn't really get to see Fred & George Weasley, Tonks & Remus, and some of the other Order fight during the big battle at Hogwarts. I would have loved to see them in their time of glory, especially since their fate was tragic. Also, John "Dawlish" Noe predicted a huge part in the final Harry Potter book which translated onto the movies where Professor Minerva McGonagall used a spell to summon most of the statues of Hogwarts to 'come alive' to defend and protect its home from the evil threat of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the rest of his army.
A beautiful way to end the book was also the best way to end the film series. 19 Years Later you see the Trio, Draco, and Ginny all sending their own children off to Hogwarts for the first time. I thought it was a real touching sequence after the violence and chaos that was previously shown. It was wonderful to see them grown up with the wizarding world back to 'normal' like it was when Harry first got on the Hogwarts Express via platform nine and three quarters.
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes
director: David Yates
The end of one of my most favorite stories has ended with this concluding Harry Potter film. I am sad to see that there will no longer be anymore Harry Potter movies to gleefully wait for, however, I am happy to have been raised with the movies being only about a year older than Daniel Radcliffe. I read all of the books, so I already knew what was going to happen, but I was still almost in tears at about 10 different parts of the movie. I definitely loved this movie and I think that this one was the best Harry Potter movie since the first 3 were made for many reasons.
One reason I thought it was one of the best Harry Potter films was because the movie stopped dumbing down the audience. In my opinion, movies 5-6 went a different direction and focused more on trying to educate the viewers on the wizarding world, the characters, and wizard dialogue rather than just tell the story at face value like The Lord of the Rings movies had done. They should have just spoke and talked about things in the wizarding world like it was normal and the viewer (mostly having read the books themselves) would have picked up on it instantly, or after watching it multiple times. In The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2, they through all of that away and just spoke and went on with the movie like it was all normal and the story was told the way it is supposed to be told, which is why I really loved this movie.
My second reason was that the filmmakers seemed to go back to the Harry Potter roots and had more 'emotional' scenes. Like the scene at the beginning of the film with Head Master Snape overlooking the students of Hogwarts as they were entering the castle while a deep ballad was playing in the background. The theme of darkness survived the entirety of the movie, which I thought was perfect for what was to come.
Although I thoroughly loved this movie, I was disappointed that we didn't really get to see Fred & George Weasley, Tonks & Remus, and some of the other Order fight during the big battle at Hogwarts. I would have loved to see them in their time of glory, especially since their fate was tragic. Also, John "Dawlish" Noe predicted a huge part in the final Harry Potter book which translated onto the movies where Professor Minerva McGonagall used a spell to summon most of the statues of Hogwarts to 'come alive' to defend and protect its home from the evil threat of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the rest of his army.
A beautiful way to end the book was also the best way to end the film series. 19 Years Later you see the Trio, Draco, and Ginny all sending their own children off to Hogwarts for the first time. I thought it was a real touching sequence after the violence and chaos that was previously shown. It was wonderful to see them grown up with the wizarding world back to 'normal' like it was when Harry first got on the Hogwarts Express via platform nine and three quarters.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Up
Up Review
starring: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger
director(s): Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
For the people that have seen Up, I don't have to tell you how sad the first 10-13 minutes of the movie is. The Pixar crew definitely summed the life of a childhood couple in love up quite quickly. The heart-warming scenes were, in my opinion, way more powerful than the whole movie put together. The scenes put time in perspective, and made everyone kind of realize how little they actually have on this wonderful Earth of ours.
Anyways, the movie then progressed slowly afterwards with a great idea for a plot, but it never captured my emotions the whole time like other Pixar films (like Finding Nemo). The 'talking' dogs, and huge colorful bird made it a little too unrealistic, even though it is an animation film. Not to mention the scenery and setting of the barren wastelands / semi-jungle was just not fun to look at or 'be at'. The little problems that Carl and Russell faced didn't capture my worry too much either.
Overall I didn't particularly love this movie as I do with almost every other Pixar film ever made. It seemed like not a whole lot of thought was put in to the story line and it could have definitely been improved, in my humble opinion. However, because it was Pixar, I still enjoyed my time watching Up, it's always relaxing to watch a good animation film made by the best animation studio on the planet.
starring: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger
director(s): Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
For the people that have seen Up, I don't have to tell you how sad the first 10-13 minutes of the movie is. The Pixar crew definitely summed the life of a childhood couple in love up quite quickly. The heart-warming scenes were, in my opinion, way more powerful than the whole movie put together. The scenes put time in perspective, and made everyone kind of realize how little they actually have on this wonderful Earth of ours.
Anyways, the movie then progressed slowly afterwards with a great idea for a plot, but it never captured my emotions the whole time like other Pixar films (like Finding Nemo). The 'talking' dogs, and huge colorful bird made it a little too unrealistic, even though it is an animation film. Not to mention the scenery and setting of the barren wastelands / semi-jungle was just not fun to look at or 'be at'. The little problems that Carl and Russell faced didn't capture my worry too much either.
Overall I didn't particularly love this movie as I do with almost every other Pixar film ever made. It seemed like not a whole lot of thought was put in to the story line and it could have definitely been improved, in my humble opinion. However, because it was Pixar, I still enjoyed my time watching Up, it's always relaxing to watch a good animation film made by the best animation studio on the planet.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Ugly Truth
The Ugly Truth Review
starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler.
director: Robert Luketic
I saw this movie recently on Starz late at night and I was about to turn it off, but as soon as Gerard Butler came on the screen I stuck around to watch the whole thing only because in this movie he is playing a character that I wouldn't expect him to be cast in since he is so bulky and manly (i.e. 300). Anyways, the first things I noticed about this romantic comedy was how neat, clean, and nicely colored all of the settings, scenery and props were. It had some good scenery from Abby's house to her network building offices. You could definitely tell that the crew put a lot of work into making the movie look like a movie, which is a great choice for a romantic comedy in my opinion.
Katherine Heigl's acting was good, I have only seen her in two movies, I believe, and she seems to have played basically the same role, which she pulls off perfectly. The beautiful blonde who worries more about her significant others' status, opinions and views of life compared to the guys overall appearance; even though she would prefer a 'hot' guy over an ugly guy of course. The scene that I thought was really funny which I thought was going to be awkward (acting-wise) was when Abby had on her vibrating panties at the dinner with her co-workers. I think she pulled it off as good as anyone could have in that situation because I had the feeling like it could have been over-acted and embarrassing, but her timing, control, focus and supporting cast around her made the scene really funny LoL. Overall I think Katherine did a great job in this movie, given that she was almost in every single scene, which I didn't mind at all. She was the star, it was Abby's story and she took control convincingly.
The first time I saw a Gerard Butler film was when I watched 300, which is a complete 180 from Leonidas to Mike Chadway. Gerard seems to be very calm and cool in the romantic comedy genre of roles that he has been cast in lately, and even though he is a beast of a man he pulls off the man/woman interactions very well. His transition from just liking Abby as a friend/another girl to actually falling for her was acted really well because he let the viewer know in the right scenes at the right point of the movie (credit also to Robert Luketic). The part of the movie where he was pumping himself up to go to Abby's hotel room after they had kissed was inspiring because Mike was going to yet again take another chance at love, even though he has been denied, cheated on etc. by many other past loves/girlfriends. His character has a hard shell but his intentions and morals are pristine and honorable.
The only part that made me scratch my head was at the end when Abby and Mike were in the hot air balloon basket, in and on the air, and instead of retaliating to Abby's argumentative statements, Mike just let Abby know that he just told her he loved her and that she could hear everything he was saying but that. The old Mike Chadway would have kept arguing and sniping back at her with much pride and confidence. But, I guess things change once you are speaking to the one that holds your heart. The inevitable kiss in the hot air balloon ride probably just needed to get on with it and that was the quickest way to get the climax underway.
All in all I thought it was a great movie. It doesn't take much thinking about and doesn't tug on a lot of real emotions that I prefer in movies, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless as I do with almost any movie I watch.
starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler.
director: Robert Luketic
I saw this movie recently on Starz late at night and I was about to turn it off, but as soon as Gerard Butler came on the screen I stuck around to watch the whole thing only because in this movie he is playing a character that I wouldn't expect him to be cast in since he is so bulky and manly (i.e. 300). Anyways, the first things I noticed about this romantic comedy was how neat, clean, and nicely colored all of the settings, scenery and props were. It had some good scenery from Abby's house to her network building offices. You could definitely tell that the crew put a lot of work into making the movie look like a movie, which is a great choice for a romantic comedy in my opinion.
Katherine Heigl's acting was good, I have only seen her in two movies, I believe, and she seems to have played basically the same role, which she pulls off perfectly. The beautiful blonde who worries more about her significant others' status, opinions and views of life compared to the guys overall appearance; even though she would prefer a 'hot' guy over an ugly guy of course. The scene that I thought was really funny which I thought was going to be awkward (acting-wise) was when Abby had on her vibrating panties at the dinner with her co-workers. I think she pulled it off as good as anyone could have in that situation because I had the feeling like it could have been over-acted and embarrassing, but her timing, control, focus and supporting cast around her made the scene really funny LoL. Overall I think Katherine did a great job in this movie, given that she was almost in every single scene, which I didn't mind at all. She was the star, it was Abby's story and she took control convincingly.
The first time I saw a Gerard Butler film was when I watched 300, which is a complete 180 from Leonidas to Mike Chadway. Gerard seems to be very calm and cool in the romantic comedy genre of roles that he has been cast in lately, and even though he is a beast of a man he pulls off the man/woman interactions very well. His transition from just liking Abby as a friend/another girl to actually falling for her was acted really well because he let the viewer know in the right scenes at the right point of the movie (credit also to Robert Luketic). The part of the movie where he was pumping himself up to go to Abby's hotel room after they had kissed was inspiring because Mike was going to yet again take another chance at love, even though he has been denied, cheated on etc. by many other past loves/girlfriends. His character has a hard shell but his intentions and morals are pristine and honorable.
The only part that made me scratch my head was at the end when Abby and Mike were in the hot air balloon basket, in and on the air, and instead of retaliating to Abby's argumentative statements, Mike just let Abby know that he just told her he loved her and that she could hear everything he was saying but that. The old Mike Chadway would have kept arguing and sniping back at her with much pride and confidence. But, I guess things change once you are speaking to the one that holds your heart. The inevitable kiss in the hot air balloon ride probably just needed to get on with it and that was the quickest way to get the climax underway.
All in all I thought it was a great movie. It doesn't take much thinking about and doesn't tug on a lot of real emotions that I prefer in movies, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless as I do with almost any movie I watch.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Life As A House
Life As A House Review
starring: Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott Thomas.
directed by: Irwin Winkler
Since this is my first ever review, I want to point out that I don't like doing ratings because I really do like almost every movie that I watch, I can connect with the characters and story emotionally which is why I dislike giving a rating on how the movie is.
Okay, on to the review; I Love this movie! No wonder Hayden Christensen won so many awards for his portrayal of Sam. He really did a wonderful job on making me believe that he was a lost, unguided teenager that just needed some real parenting, love, and a special friend to help him climb up out of his rock hard shell. His crying scenes were amazing to say the least. Although he wasn't crying, I really felt for him when he was smoking pot in the car with Josh right before he was supposed to.... you know. His glassy eyes really sold me when he took his final inhale of smoke while staring at the black Lexus he was about to enter.
Another part that gives me chills was when Sam finally learned the reason why he and his Dad were building the house and why his Dad wanted him for the whole summer. The part that gave me the chills the most was when Same yelled at his dad, "congratulations, because you fucking pulled it off!" and stormed out to seek his comfort in his best friend Alyssa. Beautiful acting by Hayden there.
Kevin Kline did a fantastic job at keeping his character real. What I mean is that after George learned about his diagnosis, his attitude was as if he had a plan, a purpose and nothing but love and a goal in mind. His 'who cares' attitude to life's tiny problems is how I would want to live. For example when his dog kept going to the bathroom on his neighbors lawn or car and his neighbor got really upset, George just laughed it off. Another example- when he made turkey sandwiches and Sam refused to eat it, after the pizza came he exclaimed "I don't even like turkey sandwiches" and forgot about the turkey sandwiches and had some pizza instead.
Overall I really loved this movie and wish there were more movies like this to be honest. I am thankful that this movie is online for free on YouTube so I can watch it any time I want, and if you haven't seen it I highly suggest watching this film. It's one great movie.
starring: Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott Thomas.
directed by: Irwin Winkler
Since this is my first ever review, I want to point out that I don't like doing ratings because I really do like almost every movie that I watch, I can connect with the characters and story emotionally which is why I dislike giving a rating on how the movie is.
Okay, on to the review; I Love this movie! No wonder Hayden Christensen won so many awards for his portrayal of Sam. He really did a wonderful job on making me believe that he was a lost, unguided teenager that just needed some real parenting, love, and a special friend to help him climb up out of his rock hard shell. His crying scenes were amazing to say the least. Although he wasn't crying, I really felt for him when he was smoking pot in the car with Josh right before he was supposed to.... you know. His glassy eyes really sold me when he took his final inhale of smoke while staring at the black Lexus he was about to enter.
Another part that gives me chills was when Sam finally learned the reason why he and his Dad were building the house and why his Dad wanted him for the whole summer. The part that gave me the chills the most was when Same yelled at his dad, "congratulations, because you fucking pulled it off!" and stormed out to seek his comfort in his best friend Alyssa. Beautiful acting by Hayden there.
Kevin Kline did a fantastic job at keeping his character real. What I mean is that after George learned about his diagnosis, his attitude was as if he had a plan, a purpose and nothing but love and a goal in mind. His 'who cares' attitude to life's tiny problems is how I would want to live. For example when his dog kept going to the bathroom on his neighbors lawn or car and his neighbor got really upset, George just laughed it off. Another example- when he made turkey sandwiches and Sam refused to eat it, after the pizza came he exclaimed "I don't even like turkey sandwiches" and forgot about the turkey sandwiches and had some pizza instead.
Overall I really loved this movie and wish there were more movies like this to be honest. I am thankful that this movie is online for free on YouTube so I can watch it any time I want, and if you haven't seen it I highly suggest watching this film. It's one great movie.
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