Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Directed by: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort
Rated: PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
12 years ago, J.K. Rowling released the first book in her Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Since then, the tales of the young wizard have become an international phenomenon that spawned LEGO sets, toys, costumes, video games and, of course, a film franchise. With each novel having its own film adaptation and the seventh book being split into two movies, Harry Potter is the most successful film franchise of all time. Last weekend, the box office was once again swarmed as fans swept into theaters to catch Part One of the epic finale to the Harry Potter saga. But, did it live up to the hype?

Positive Attributes
As in every movie and book, Harry, Ron and Hermione are best friends who remain loyal to each other, no matter what. Though they do have their differences, they overcome them to help each other out.
Other characters throughout the movie risk their lives to protect Harry.

Negative Attributes
Most of the characters use magic throughout the film. Though it is never said where this magic comes from, some might have a problem with that.

Deathly Hallows is by far the most violent installment of the franchise. The wizard war is in full swing and casualties are had on both sides. Harry's owl is shot down, mid-flight. Ron's brother George loses an ear and blood is seen running down his face. Dobby, a house-elf, gets stabbed with a knife. Hermione has "mudblood" carved into her arm. We don't see the carving, but she screams and writhes and blood is seen trickling out of the cut. Several characters get shot with stunning and sometimes killing spells and all receive cuts and bruises. One character speaks of being attacked by a werewolf and his face has three deep scars as proof. Hermione has to shoot Harry with a "blistering jinx", which causes his face to contort and swell and Ron's arm "splinches" and is shown ripped apart. Voldemort takes a wand from a rotting hand inside a tomb and kills several people.

This movie contains teenagers, so it also contains: hormones. Harry and Ginny, his girlfriend-he-still-has-feelings-for, kiss passionately. Ron and Hermione obviously have a thing for each other, but Ron gets jealous of Hermione's relationship with Harry and leaves. Later, an evil device uses his jealousy against him, showing Ron images of Harry and Hermione kissing while apparently naked.

My Problem With It...
Perfectly adapting a book for a movie is impossible, and is made even harder when you are only adapting half of a novel at one time. I understand this, but even still, there were several bumps in the film that made me flinch.

Things are going to get cut in the transition and I understand that, I really do. What i don't understand is cutting them and then continuing as if the audience knows what's going on. Example: Kreacher.
In the 6th book, Dumbledore tells Harry that Kreacher, a house-elf, now belongs to him, and must obey Harry no matter what. In the seventh book, Harry uses this skill to his advantage in a rather important plot point. This plot point was included in the movie, but with no reason as to why Kreacher was obeying Harry. Now, I understand that this was really the 6th movies fault, but given the wonderful job David Yates did of skimming over everything else he missed, you would think there would be a line that went something like, "oh, yeah. Dumbledore told me Kreacher has to obey me now, guys". Saved non-readers a lot of confusion and would have eased a bit of choppiness.
Along the same lines, Harry's invisibility cloak and a certain letter were disturbingly absent in the film, both of which become important to the plot of the next film. However, I'm giving the crew the benefit of the doubt here to see how/if they recover from missing those this time around.

As for the rest of the film, I was very pleased. The cinematography was fantastic, showing the passing of time while hitting the important parts of the story and keeping it from becoming boring. As I said, I'd like to see the invisibility cloak, as well as a bit more exploration into the Dumbledore drama next time around, but otherwise, I was very pleased with the whole thing.

Summary
A lot more could have gone wrong, way more than I mentioned above, but, overall, the director and cast did a fantastic job.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a well-rounded, emotionally charged film that beautifully follows the book better than any of the others. It ends on a cliff-hanger and leaves the audience steeped in anticipation for Part 2. Despite its minimal faults, part one of the Harry Potter finale lives up to it's reputation and surpasses it's predecessors. Now, if only the fans can survive until July...

Personal Rating: 8 of 10
Plot: 9.5
Sexuality/Sensuality: 1
Spiritual Aspects: 9 (if you look at it that way)
Drugs/Alcohol: .5

The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days
Directed by: Paul Haggis
Cast: Russel Crowe as John Brennan
Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan

Rated: PG-13
*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
What wold you do to prove the innocence of someone you love? That's the question John Brennan (Crowe) must answer when his wife is wrongly accused of murder.

After a fight with her boss, Lara Brennan is arrested the next morning after police have found her boss dead in the parking garage. Another employee saw Lara leaving the scene and the police found her fingerprints on the murder weapon, as well as the victims blood on her jacket. She is pronounced guilty and thrown in jail, where she lived for three years, leaving her schoolteacher husband and 3-year old son on the outside.

Despite incriminating evidence and a judges ruling, John Brennan refuses to accept that his wife is guilty, but even his lawyer says it may be time to give up hope.

Creatively, the film is broken up into three parts: The Last Three Years, a broad time from the night before she got arrested to the climax of the film that shows what life is like in the Brennan home without Lara. It then moves into The Last Three Months, a little narrower time period in which the plot begins to take off. And, finally, it goes into The Last Three Days before the movie's finale.

The Last Three Years is rather slow, just showing what John's life is like without his wife. He drops off his son, he teaches his classes and then they both go and visit Lara in prison. It's a rather depressing cycle as we see each of them deal with the consequences of a life separated by bars.
The Last Three Months is where the plot really begins to move. Realizing that his wife will never be proven innocent, John decides to look into breaking her out of prison. So, he turns to a man named Damon, played by none other than Liam Neeson.

Honestly, who else could there be?

Damon, having broken out of prison 4 times himself, gives John the secrets to getting his wife out of jail, and John starts to believe he can pull it off. But, Damon asks, can John become a killer, a thief? Because that's what it will take.

John decides to go for it, consulting YouTube, getting passports and making his plans. Then, it all comes down to The Last Three Days.

Positive Attributes
John and Lara love each other very much and do their best to maintain a healthy relationship and do what's best for their son. John never doubts Lara's innocence, saying that he knows who she is, even when she tries to push him away by telling him she was guilty.
Despite the rocky status of their relationship, John's father loves him, and after he figures out John's plan, he covers for him.

Negative Attributes
John breaks a LOT of laws, starting with trying to break his wife out of prison. He also shoots a drug dealer, beats up a few guys, has one man die in his back seat, buys illegal drugs while looking for forged passports, steals drug money, sets a house on fire, buys a gun, breaks into a medical van, steals a car and lies to his mother.

John gets beat up pretty bad by two thugs.

It's alluded to that John and Lara have sex in their car the night before she's arrested. Nothing but Lara's messy hair and John's inside-out shirt is shown. At dinner the same night, a woman wears a very low-cut shirt and flirts with John in front of Lara. A mom at the park tries to flirt with John as well, but he denies her.

Olivia Wilde is the "mom at the park". That's commitment.

One usage of the f-word and several of d**n. Lara and John drink wine at dinner.

*SPOILER ALERT* In the end, audiences are shown that Lara was in fact innocent. I think this is Hollywood's way to justify the crimes. But, no. Kids, don't try that at home.

Summary
The Next Three Days was very well written. It made you think to keep up and it was very cool to see it all come together. Though it drug a bit in the middle, it always picked back up quickly.
I'd definitely recommend this movie to those who enjoy a decent amount of suspense, but I don't think it would be very "re-watchable".


Overall Rating: 6 of 10
Plot: 6 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 1 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 1 of 10

Unstoppable

Unstoppable

Directed by: Tony Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington as Frank
Chris Pine as Will
Rosario Dawson as Connie
Kevin Dunn as Gavin

Rated: PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
Who rides trains anymore? Outside of New York, I think the number is slim. So then, why would it be necessary to teach a group of 6 year old's the basics of train safety? Oh, right. It wouldn't. But, it does create pointless drama that this movie can show in the commercials to make it seem interesting. And that's pretty much how they fill two and a half hours.

Unstoppable tells the story of two train operators, one rookie, named Will (Pine) and one veteran, Frank (Washington), who are teamed up for the day to pick up some random cargo train and haul it across town. As one might expect, the rookie doesn't really want to be here and the veteran doesn't like his laziness. Before the movie really gets going, both men have yelled at each other and have resigned themselves to silent glowering. It really is very touching (sarcasm).

Meanwhile, two lazy bums at the train yard desperately want to get lunch. Controlled by their hunger, they decide to "quickly" move a train. This plan results in one of them getting in the engine of half-mile long train, start it moving and then hops out of the moving train to go shift the track...LEAVING THE TRAIN MOVING. The train then randomly starts moving faster and the employee can't catch up mainly because he looks like this:

Emergency option: He can eat the train

So, he ends up face down in the dirt a the train speeds past him, heading towards three heavily populated areas with no apparent hills to stop it. Oh, and Fatso forgot to set the emergency brake so, that option is out too. The next two hours are filled with all kinds of stupid dramatic situations, only two minor explosions and the big, evil shipping company's ideas to stop it.

Denzel and Chris only decide to jump in to help after the 1 and a 1/2 hour mark.

That is seriously the ENTIRE plot. Yeah. It was bad.

Positive Attributes
Frank and Will both care for their families very much and bond through the drama.

....that's it.

Negative Attributes
The plot. It was terrible. Not only was it just REALLY lame, it had several holes. For example, I know that Fatso (also known as Dewey) is an idiot and made to look like one, but seriously, dude. Why would you hop out of a moving train? The whole reasoning for why the train was careening down the tracks was stupid. Also, Denzel Washington saves the day by running on top on the train cars and leaping the gaps. If that's possible at 75 miles an hour, why couldn't Fatty or his partner grab onto a car further back and make their way to the front. Instead, they just stand there looking at it.

With this exact expression.

And, like I said in the Overview, the train full of kids serves no real purpose. That's not even why they were trying to stop the thing.

The language in Unstoppable was terrible. Throughout the movie, the f-word was said once, a** and a-hole were said a total of 6 times, BS was uttered 3 times, Jesus' name was abused 5 times, b**** was said 3 times and, to top it all off, GD was said 10 times and s*** was said 11 times. Will's foot gets pinched in-between two car connectors and is shown covered in blood.

The move itself was just not filmed well, either. Shot both from a third person view and like live newscast, the transitions were shaky and confusing at times. All the shots depicting the action, such as Denzel running on top of the train are jumpy and out of focus, leaving you dizzy and confused.

Every action sequence kind of looks like this.

Other notes: A man crashes through a window, a train derails and explodes with a man inside, and a police car flips and smashes. Will speaks of pulling a gun on a cop and Frank's daughters work at and are shown in Hooters.

Summary
Unstoppable is proof that commercials make things better. I honestly enjoyed watching the commercial more than the actual movie. While Denzel Washington was convincing in his role, Chris Pine seemed to overact and came off as an annoying, angry know-it-all. On top of that, the supporting actors just seemed weak, not very committed to their roles and the end result was a boring, slow to start but quick to finish wannabe action/suspenseful movie.

Personal Rating: 3 of 10
Plot: 2.5
Drugs/Alcohol: 1

Megamind

Megamind

Directed by: Tom McGrath
Cast: Will Ferrel as Megamind
Brad Pitt as Metro Man
Tina Fey as Roxanne Ritchi
Jonah Hill as Tighten/Hal
David Cross as Minion
Rated: PG

*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
There are only two other animated movie reviews on this site: Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me. I don't see many animated movies, in theaters (I watched How To Train Your Dragon on DVD the other day, though and it was amazing). Occasionally, though, an animated movie will come out and catch my interest. Megamind was one of them.
I'll admit, when I first heard of it, I thought it seemed stupid. Then I saw a commercial and thought it would be another unoriginal, "all-the-funny-parts-in-the-commercial" superhero spoof. And then, I heard the plot. I accidentally watched an interview with Jonah Hill, the voice of Tighten in the movie. During said interview, he outlined the basic plot of the movie (wihout even calling "spoiler alert." Jerk). It was at that moment, I knew I had to see this film.

Megamind is quite possibly Dreamworks' best creation yet. It tells the tale of two aliens who are jettisoned to Earth as their two respective planets are sucked into a black hole (this is never explained). The bigheaded, blue one crashes in a prison yard, while his human-looking rival lands in a rich families living room. The film follows the life of the blue alien who, after a vicious childhood, adopts the name Megamind and becomes the supervillian rival to the other alien, a superhero named Metro Man, who can fly, shoot lasers, has super strength and "amazing hair."
*SPOILER ALERT*(that's how you do it, Jonah Hill) Megamind succeeds after many failed attempts and ends up killing Metro Man. Now, he rules the city, but quickly learns that its not all that fun when you've got everything in the world.

Positive Attributes
Megamind doesn't necessarily want to be evil, he just feels that he has to be, since Metro Man is the hero. *SPOILER* As a result, he eventually swaps roles and takes up the mantle of superhero.
Roxanne continually says "Good will always rise up to conquer evil." This is very broad and generic, as well as totally necessary to the plot, but I think it portrays a decent life application with it's "good will conquer evil" thing. Megamind insults his best friend and treats him like dirt, but later admits his wrong and asks for and receives Minions forgiveness
*SPOILER* Roxanne and Megamind develop feelings for each other, and even though Megamind originally lies to get close to her, she forgives him, saying it's not what we look like, it's who we are (paraphrased).
Roxanne is always very nice to Hal, (the guy who likes her and continually asks her out) no matter how creepy he gets. This teaches girls that, no matter how creepy a guy can e, always let them down gently. They might take it personally and try to kill you. (Just kidding. That only happens sometimes, ladies.)


Negative Attributes
Not a whole lot of "bad stuff" in the grown up department, but this is a kids movie, so:

Megamind has a taste for classic rock music and plays several hardcore songs, including "Highway to Hell".
Megamind gets beat up several times, and there are bits of slapstick violence throughout. Metro Man is killed with a giant laser that blows up the building he is in, and his skeleton lands in front of Megamind. They're are several references of "butt-kicking" and one shot of Megaminds behind tightly wrapped in leather.
During training, superhero Tighten is shown melting the face of a Megamind dummy with his laser eyes. Tighten is considerably violent, blasting the city and destroying buildings.
Hal and Tighten are both obsessed with Roxanne and give off creepy, stalker-like vibes. When she rejects Tighten, he goes on a rampage and threatens to kill her.
Megamind and Roxanne sip what appears to be champagne at dinner.

Summary
Megamind provides a rare mixture of comedy, action and good, clean fun. To many "childrens" films take it too far these days (Shrek, Dreamworks' earliest work is a prime example), but Megamind does a terrific job of steering clear of all things dirty, perverted or in the toilet, proving that you CAN have a successful, clean family movie. Two thumbs up, Dreamworks and three cheers for Megamind.

Personal Rating: 3 cheers, or 9 of 10
Plot: 9.5 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 0.2 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 0.2 of 10

RED

RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous)

Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Bruce Willis as Frank Moses
Mary-Louise Parker as Sarah Ross
John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs
Helen Mirren as Victoria
Morgan Freeman as Joe Matheson
Karl Urban as William Cooper

Rated: PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*

Overview
John McClain, er, uhh, I mean, Frank Moses is a bored, retired CIA black-ops operative who spends his days talking to a girl he's never met that works at the pension office. She seems to be his only contact with outside world. Needless to say, he misses his old job.
So when a strike team of US soldiers come knocking on his door with a gun full of bullets, he's prepared for action. He successfully "McGyver's" their sorry behinds and sets off to figure out why the CIA wants him dead, gathering a rag-tag team of retired operatives (and that chick from the pension office) as he marches to the F.B.I.'s front door.


Positive Attributes
THIS MOVIE HAS BRUCE WILLIS AND MORGAN FREEMAN. It really shouldn't NEED anymore positive elements. In fact, that should just be the end of my review right there. But I'll keep going anyway.
Frank cares for Sarah very much, but is in no way creepy about it. Which is hard to do when you're a guy that looks like he's fifty, liking a girl who (with the miracle of technology) looks like she's 25. But, hey, it's Bruce Willis, so who cares, really?
The movie has Bruce Willis AND Morgan Freeman.
The fight scenes are pretty much some of the greatest I've ever seen.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this movie is it's attention to detail. It's based on a graphic novel (read: grown-up's comic book) and the director does a good job staying true to it's original form; the guns are a little too big, the fight scenes are a little too awesome and the camera angles are done so that it really feels like you're watching a moving comic book.
The movie also stays true to the comics original awesomeness because IT HAS BRUCE WILLS AND MORGAN FREEMAN.

Proof that Hollywood cares.

Negative Attributes
This movie has Mary-Louise Parker as the love interest. I don't dislike her, per say, she's just not Bruce Willis' level of awesomeness.
One use of the f-word and several uses of s***.
The gun battles and fight sequences can get a little rough, while still being totally awesome. i.e., several people get thrown into and through walls.

Summary
RED is not an award winning movie. It does not speak about the trials of war or the hardships of the falling economy. Instead, it's a kick-butt movie where Bruce Willis can jump out of a spinning police car and walk towards the bad guys sedan and blow it up with a single pistol clip.
RED is a movie that pumps you up and makes you feel like an American. It stays true to the comic and has just the right mixture of action and humor to make it worth a watch.

And, come on, who doesn't love this stuff?

Personal Rating: 8 of 10

Plot: 6.5 of 10
Action/Violence: 7 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 1 of 10

It's Kind of a Funny Story

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Directed by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Cast: Keir Gilchrist as Craig
Emma Roberts as Noelle
Zach Galifianakis as Bobby

*The following may contain spoilers*

Overview
Every single one of us has thought of running away. There comes a point when the burdens of life are too heavy to bear any longer and we imagine what it would be like to just run away and leave it all behind. This same fantasy plagued the mind of Craig, a teenage boy whose dreams of escape manifested into slightly over-dramatized thoughts of suicide. Instead of killing himself, however, he runs away. Convinced that he his mentally unstable, Craig checks himself into a mental hospital, planning to leave the next morning in time for school. Instead, he is asked to spend a week in the hospital to see if it helps. The next five days help Craig discover that his world isn't as crazy as he thinks.

Positive Attributes
The film shows the patients as human beings, not a bunch of weirdos that need to be locked up. Craig interacts with them, becomes their friend and learns from them. In this way, Funny Story seems to break the somewhat standard stereotype that those with mental illnesses are different and shows them as the lovable people they are.
Craig befriends a patient named Bobby, a sweet man who is suicidal like Craig. Despite being different, Bobby embraces who he is, despite what others, including his wife, say about him. Bobby does his best to maintain a steady relationship with his young daughter and it's obvious that he cares for her.
Craig also begins to hang out with a young girl named Noelle. Sweet and mysterious, Craig and Noelle are instantly attracted to each other and are used to display the simple, sweet and naivety that is love. They spend their first couple "dates" in the hospital, drawing and spending time with the other patients.
Craig has several friends who try to make fun of him for being where he is and the other patients as well but Craig stands up for the others.
Despite feeling upset about spending a week in the hospital, Craig opens up and learns and grows from the experience.

Negative Attributes
Craig harbors a crush on his best friends girlfriend, Nia for the first part of the movie. He tries to juggle his feelings for her and Noelle, but fails when Nia comes to the hospital and makes a move. The two are shown kissing and falling onto Craig's bed before they are interrupted. Nia leaves and Craig shouts that he loves her. The next day, he's in love with Noelle. (Fickle, much?)
Due to the crush element, Craig imagines Nia in a tub and we see her bare leg. She also wears low-cut tops throughout the film.
Craig and Noelle are showing kissing in a picture-like freeze frame.
Craig suffers from nervous vomiting which is shown twice on screen.
Footage is shown at the beginning of the film of Craig climbing out onto a bridge and preparing to jump, before his parents stop him. Noelle admits to having an addiction to cutting, with several scars on her arms and face. She never says how she got them.
Multiple uses of the s-word, as well as a picture of Noelle holding up her middle finger. Craigs friends briefly talk about drinking and doing drugs.

Summary
Funny Story is an all-around fantastic movie. I honestly cannot describe in words why exactly I like this movie so much. It could be the beauty it finds in every little thing or the majesty of Zach Galifianakis playing basketball. Either way, Funny Story has an overwhelming charm that will touch your heart.

Personal Rating: 9 out of 10
Plot: 8
Sexuality/Sensuality: 2
Spiritual Aspects: 0
Drugs/Alchohol: 2