2010 Reviews #100 and #101! "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One" and "The Next Three Days

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One

Rated PG-13

2 hours 26 minutes

With Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

The saga is finally, and sadly coming to an end. I remember the first movie when Harry was this tiny little, adorable tot and he got brought into this magical world full of wonder. The earlier films were light hearted, family friendly films with only a touch of darkness. As the films went on, the story became more complicated. The heroes were in more danger. The risk became greater. The fate of all wizard kind is now fading away. Cut to 10 years later and now Harry has grown into a handsome young wizard who, along with his two best friends Ron and Hermoine, try to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort. They are now on the journey to find and destroy the 7 horcrux's (spelling is off, I'm sure - I haven't read the last 2 books). Gone are the days of bright futures for the 3 friends. Gone are the lessons at Hogwarts. In fact, Hogwarts is not even shown in this film once. The last film, The Half Blood Prince, for me was the first time a Harry Potter film took itself seriously as a full blown, epic movie. I love the whole series, but the last film had such a beautifully dark feel to it, and you really started to sense the danger these characters face. You got a feel for their will to live and kill Voldemort once and for all. Nothing changes here, in fact it gets even better in my opinion.

To me, The Deathly Hallows Part One is the finest Potter film to date. Beautifully crafted on every technical aspect. Incredible set designs, an amazing score, and breathtaking visual effects. For the first time, I felt apart of this world because it most of it takes place in non wizard land...our world. We finally see the effects this battle between wizards is having on the muggle community. There is real danger here, our world could be overrun by Voldemort. The last hope is Harry Potter, the only person who can defeat him. Voldemort is getting stronger and is trying to prevent Potter from finding the Horcrux's. The story here is full of great depth and is wonderfully written. I don't know how close to the book it is, but I don't really care. It's an amazing screenplay and the story is unbelieably epic.

This is only part one of a two part film (the second half comes out in July). The whole time this movie feels like a giant build up to something brilliantly epic. I keep using that word to describe this movie...because it's very true. The way it ends was so cool but it really pissed me off. Because I want more, and I want it now! This movie roped me in from the opening scene and never let me go. I was glued to the screen at every moment and the 2 hour 30 minute run time felt like an hour! Not often do movies have me that captivated. I really cared about every character in the film. I've been on this journey with them, like everyone else, since the very beginning. You almost feel connected to them. We have watched these kids grow up right before our eyes.

In the first few films, the kids acting abilities weren't all that superb. I'll tell you what though, they have really come into their own. You believe them now. You see their emotion painted on their faces and you want them to win. They act in some scenes, in some moments without opening their mouths. Just facial expressions, and it's so unbelieably good. It's awesome how far these 3 kids have come. Emma Watson as Hermoine turns in a star performance, her best to date. I can see her in the future garnering an Oscar nom. Daniel Radcliffe gives his most vulnerable and belieable performance of the whole franchise and by God...this is the only person who can ever play Harry Potter. This is HIS role. He now owns it. Rupert Grint was also quite fantastic and he showed more emotion then ever before and did so really well. The rest of the cast wasn't featured as prominently, they all kind of just came up here and there in bit parts. This movie was all about the three main stars and their journey. They carried this film on their shoulders, with no problems at all. Good for them!

It's hard to fully review this film, because it is only really half of a movie. There is no actual conclusion. It ends, on what I think, is one the most emotional scenes in the entire franchise. Death of a well loved character. I heard some sniffles in the theater, and I think I got a little choked up. The final final scene is what cliffhangers are all about. That's how you end a two part series. It left me craving more right away!! I don't know how I will make it until freaking July!! This film (so far) is brilliant. It is, in my opinion, the best of the whole series. It is incredibly dark, it's frightening, it's packed full of emotion. It has the best performances of the whole lot. It is the most visually striking one. This movie to me, is the complete package. It's damn entertaining, there's never a boring moment. It has an incredibly epic, triumphant feel to it and you just know the conclusion is going to a tour de force and is going to be one movie experience that everyone should see. Part One is already that kind of film...Part Two should be no different. I cannot wait!! One of the best movies of 2010, no question!

**By the way, it should be noted that this is NOT a kids movie. Young children may not be suitable to watch this film. It is very dark and may scare a lot of younger kids.***

Critics Grade: 79%
My Grade: A

The Next Three Days

Rated PG-13
2 hours 2 minutes

With Russel Crowe and Elizabeth Banks

Well this movie is NO Harry Potter! Doesn't even come close...they are completely different movies as well. So it's not fair to compare Mike. Geez. This is the kind of movie that tends to go quietly into the night. It barely gets noticed. It's the kind of movie that's usually regarded as being "OK" but nothing special. And then everyone forgets about it in a week. I'd like to say that's not the case with The Next Three Days...but really it is not. This whole movie, beginning to end all feels so standard. It follows every rule in the book for escapist type movies. Characters that are in way over their head, and somehow manage to fool everyone. The first two thirds focuses on the husbands scheming and plotting to free his wife (who may or may not have actually commited the crime accused of). Those scenes are all pretty bland and uninteresting if you ask me. I never got fully invested into the story or these people. They never even touch the storyline involving the wifes guilt or innocence. It's barely even mentioned until the very end. I would have liked to see more of Russel Crowe trying to discover if his wife is actually a murderer or not...but he just didn't seem to care. The last act is definitely the better part, at least it has a lot of excitement and some moments of tension. I don't care about plausibility...which this movie has almost none of. But that should never be a reason to not like a movie. It wasn't really over the top or anything...but it started to become really predicatable and you kind of know exactly how the movie will end. We do finally get one scene at the end that shows exactly what happened during the crim the wife was accused of comitting though...so you do find out if she's innocent or guilty. It was a little silly how it was just randomly thrown in there at the end, but whatever. It has 2 good lead performances, but it just lacks in anything original or fresh. I just wasn't that interested.

Critics Grade: 42%
My Grade: C-.

2010 Reviews #97-#99: "The Joneses" "Morning Glory" is "Unstoppable"!!

Unstoppable

Rated PG-13

1 hour 38 minutes

With Denzel Washington and Chris Pine

Unstoppable was absolutely everything it should have been. It was an intense, non stop action packed ride of pure entertainment. Best part was that it was never over the top action. Actually it relied more on the tension to keep us hooked and not scene after scene of things blowing up. This isn't a loud, explosive action movie but even with that it still remains to be high octane thrill a minute fun! Simple premise: A large cargo train has gone rampant and is gaining speed and it cannot be stopped from any train yard or station. So either they try to derail it (by the way it is carrying a quite a lot of hazardous material that can wipe out a whole city) or they let it destruct in a highly populated area, possibly killing millions. OR...you have the Denzel option. He has the idea to connect to the train from the back and yank it the other direction and try to stop it. I had so much fun watching this movie. It was the perfect length, it did not run on to long. There was never a dull moment. Denzel was perfect and Chris Pine was also quite great! Rosario Dawson was very good in a supporting role as well. One of the better performed action films I've recently seen. This movie's sole purpose is to entertain us...who cares if anything in it "can't happen in real life"...it's fun! In my opinion, a must see action flick! Critics Grade: 85 %. My Grade: A-.

Morning Glory

Rated PG-13
1 hour 42 minutes

With Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton

I think Morning Glory is my little guilty pleasure movie so far this year. It's not a remarkable film by any means. We've seen stuff like this before a gazillion times. Bur for me, it was just so well put together for the most part. I never got bored watching the movie. I think the story is sweet and quite funny a lot of the times. The main cast were all excellent especially McAdams whose charm and likable character carried this film all the way. She is the type of character you just really root for the whole way through. Harrison Ford was fantastic as the grumpy legend who just wanted to retire. Diane Keaton was hilarious in her all to small of a role as the crazy co-anchor. Oh and the weather guy was hysterical as well. This is not a girly romantic movie by the way...at least I didn't get that vibe. There's a mini storyline that does involve a romance but does not in anyway overshadow the main story. As I was watching the film, I just never got distracted. I was into it all the way and thought it was a lovely little film. By no means an Oscar Contender (although McAdams might make my personal short list for lead actress). Oh and Jeff Goldblum was sadly misused in this film...he needed more screen time!! Just one of those movies I saw and loved a lot but let's face it...might forget about in a month or so. Critics Grade: 54%. My Grade: A-.

The Joneses

Rated R
1 hour 36 minutes

With David Duchovny and Demi Moore

Not many people really know about this film. It had a very limited release in some independent theaters across the country for a brief time. Now here it is on DVD. The premise of this film is actually really cool and not one I've really seen before, as far as I can remember. It's about a fake family (none of them are actually related in anyway) who work for a private advertising company. This company gives this family a new identity and sets them up in huge homes in very classy neighborhoods and supplies them with every cool gadget and gizmo you can think of. Not to mention all the latest clothing and makeup products. Their job is to "infiltrate" their community and schools and show off these products. Which in turn the unsuspecting community goes and buys these cool things. Basically they are covert sales people who don't actually push product...but just show them off to get people to buy them. Really neat concept to begin with. You also have this "family" who has to live together and we learn about all of their personal lives and also have to see them act their way through local gatherings and pretend they are a unit. Duchovny and Moore start to form a little love for each other but both know it's not a real possibility. All looks great, and this movie for the most part for me...was pretty pretty great. I just don't think they did enough with this unique premise. I would have liked to see more moments of people figuring them out and people from their past recognizing them and almost blowing their cover. We didn't see enough of the "dangerous" side of what this job could entail. At the same time, it is quite a stunning and real look at how our society feeds off each other and has to have what our friends have to be current and cool. It may be a little to forced here in this movie though, there was no real secret or hidden message here...it was right in our face. So it didn't come off as inspiring, I guess you can say. It just told me what I already knew about myself and our society and never offered a real suggestion as to how we can fix that about ourselves. It started to focus more on this fake family and all their issues...which was great! Just wish the actual job had more attention is all. Duchovny was brilliant and funny and Moore was not to shabby herself. It was definitely a good movie just didn't completely live up to the strong potential it had from the start. Critics Grade: 61%. My Grade: B.

2010 Reviews #94-#96: "Megamind" has a "Due Date" for a "Conviction"!

Conviction

Rated R
1 hour 47 minutes

With Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, and I waited a few weeks while it bounced around in limited theaters to finally see it released nation wide. I love a good true story that focuses around courtroom jargon and wrongful imprisonments. I don't know if this story was very popular in the news nationwide as it was going on, I never heard of it until now. It's about a man who is allegedly wrongfully convicted of murder and his younger sister goes through years of law school and years of fighting the judicial system to free her brother. That's family right there. This actually happened ladies and gentleman. It was a story that took place over the course of roughly 18-20 years. I thought the movie was pretty good. Mainly it had two very strong performances at it's core and they were surrounded by a fairly well made flick. The problem I had was I didn't really feel totally connected to the struggle. There were times where I just didn't care what happened (even though I already knew). I kind of wanted more back story to really dive into these peoples lives to make us feel some genuine pain for them. Also I would have liked to see more investigative type stuff going on. More interviewing, more crime scene analysis. More digging into the truth. I don't know if that actually occurred in real life or not, but all we get in the movie is mainly this woman's life and her going through law school and balancing her home life. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible story. We didn't really see any actual "murder case" stuff going on until maybe the last act or so. I feel like there was a lot of great pieces going on but some parts of the puzzle were missing for me. I also like to note that Juliette Lewis gives a freaking stellar, and very short lived performance in this film. She's mainly in one major scene and she acts her ass off and totally goes into that character and is almost unrecognizable. Hilary Swank shows great passion and delivers a solid performance. Sam Rockwell is one of the most under appreciated actors of our time. He was brilliant here once again and will also once again go completely unnoticed by the Academy. Conviction is a wonderful film about a woman's passion to save her brother, I liked the movie. I just didn't get all I wanted from it. Can't win them all...but still a good movie nonetheless. Critics Grade: 66%. My Grade: B-.

Due Date
Rated R
1 hour 40 minutes

With Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

Well Due Date is a film that suffers from what a lot of big comedies suffer from. Way to much pre exposure. If you have seen at least 4 or 5 movies in the past few months, you have likely seen the trailer for this film before at least 4 of those 5 films. It was funny the first time, still kind of funny the 2nd, then it stopped being funny after that. Sure, you still really want to see it because of the stars and the trailer was funny so it must have more funny stuff. There is also the obvious connection between this film and the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. People keep being snide by saying we shouldn't compare them...but it's almost impossible as they are practically the SAME film, this one is just more updated. But that's not the problem, we see like films all the freaking time. I watched this movie and halfway through realized...holy crap...I haven't laughed yet. Holy crap...pretty much no one in the audience has really laughed yet. Sure we all chuckled lightly a few times, but no hearty laughter bellowed out from the audience. Because almost ALL of the main jokes were featured prominently in the trailer. The movie itself had almost nothing fresh in terms of the humor. It was a total disappointment, I was bummed! The positive thing about the film is that Downey Jr. and Galifianakis were brilliant together! Such complete opposites and worked so amazingly on screen. Both give fine performances and both had some funny moments. It's just sad that the material wasn't that funny and that the film just had way to much revealed to us before it even came out. Grrr! Critics Grade: 38%. My Grade: C.

Megamind
Rated PG
1 hour 36 minutes

With Voices of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey

I was overall quite happy with how Megamind turned out! I mean it won't win my personal favorite for best animated film of the year, but it did it's job and it did it well. I loved the concept of the super villain who has a really soft side and may or may not have to end up saving the day. You know it's kind of a good message for kids. Some people who appear to be bad (such as kids at school) may actually be quite nice but no one gives them a chance or much hope. Anyway, Megamind is a funny movie for the whole family. Kids will love it and adults will find some nice grown up humor thrown in to please them. Will Ferrell is a PERFECT voice over actor and he was great as Megamind!! He was funny and you just rooted for the guy. It has a simple story to follow for kids and it ultimately delivers a solid message that kids and most adults can learn from. For me, I just don't think it was totally memorable. It's an animated film I may kind of forget about in a few weeks or so. But first time viewing...pretty solid movie. Take the kids! Or just go see it for yourself...no one will judge you. Critics Grade: 67%. My Grade: B+.

2010 Reviews #87-#93: "Hereafter", "Monsters", "Cropsey" and More!

#87: I Am Comic. Rated R. 1 hour 27 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This is a documentary that focuses on the behind the scenes of stand up comedy. I am a huge fan of stand up and this film features a lot of my favorite comics. I thought the movie was a pretty cool look into this world of misfits who just want to make the world laugh. I like that it was a movie about comics that was nothing but funny. Sometimes in movies like this they want to show the dark side of people like this, because they say usually comics are the most depressed people on the planet and use humor as a crutch. Maybe so, but this movie doesn't really pay any attention to that. I think some of the comics even poke fun at that concept. This film is just a series of funny and a lot of the times, very interesting interviews with various comics. Some big names, some names people don't even know about yet. That's how stand up is, some comics get immediate huge followings some need to develop over the course of many years to get solid recognition. It's not an easy job nor does it pay well. They don't live a life of luxury by any means. I Am Comic is a pretty fascinating look into this under appreciated realm of comedy. It was funny, as it should have been. I liked it. No Critics Grade. Rotten Tomatoes Fan Grade: 68%. My Grade: B-

#88: Winters Bone. Rated R. 1 hour 40 minutes. NOW ON DVD. Winters Bone is the indy sensation of 2010. In many ways it could be the "Hurt Locker" of this year. I don't think it has any chance of winning best picture, but it could sneak in a nomination. This is all according to the huge support it has from critics and indy film films all over the country. I finally saw it on DVD and I must say, it is quite an amazing little movie. For me though, I don't think it has the indy punch and oomph such as The Hurt Locker did for me last year. This is a very slow paced film and it is incredibly somber. That's all very fine and well, I enjoy movies like that. While I still loved the film overall, I wasn't totally blown away by it either. I thought it had a solid story but for me didn't grab my attention all the way. This again is just MY opinion on how I viewed the film. Obviously it's different with everyone. The part of the movie that DID blow me away was two BRILLIANT performances. First and foremost by newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. She makes this movie the sensation that it has become. Her performance is quiet and subdued and there isn't a lot of flash and bang to it, but it is one of true emotional depth that she pulled off immaculately. Fine work from her that if anyone in the academy has a brain...she will be nominated for an Oscar. The other one has gone slightly unnoticed but I thought it was incredible. That is the performance from John Hawkes, whom we all know from popping up in small roles all over the place. He was in HBO's Deadwood, you saw him in the film Identity...you know him. He has a bigger role here and he carries himself very well in a performance I thought was quite different for someone like him. He probably will go unnoticed by the Academy, but still...he was fantastic. So for me, I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was good. I just didn't think it was AS incredibly as everyone said it was. Mainly because I didn't really feel connected to the movie all the way through. My fault I guess. But again...to each is own. This is just my viewpoint. Still a really good movie though. Critics Grade: 94%. My Grade: B+.

#89: Cropsey. Rated R. 1 hour 24 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This is a documentary and a horror movie all in one. It's the true story about a group of kids who meant missing on Staten Island over the course of 20-30 years starting in the 50's/60's. One of the girls body was eventually found in an old campsite of a drifter named Andre Rand. He was tied to the murder of this girl, but to this day no one truly knows if he is the guilty party. They tried to pin another missing girl/murder on him and he was charged with that one as well. They believe he was responsible for all the missing children referenced in the film, but most of their bodies were never found so there is no real case. Apparently the term "Cropsey" was a term used for a maniac or serial killer in all the urban legends told on Staten Island. Kids grew up thinking all these missing kids may have just been a good story or an urban legend but as they grew up they learned it was more real than they could ever imagine. Movies about serial killers unnerve the living hell out of me. Because they are real in our society. They aren't some made up monster by Hollywood. They lurk our streets and cities. Some kill at random. Some kill to get off. There are numerous reasons why these evil people do what they do. They can be unpredictable and that to me is frightening. And this is a documentary about a real life series of kidnappings and murders so to me...this was a scary film. Just knowing that his Andre Rand may not even be the guilty one, that the real killer may still be out there...gives me the heebie jeebies! Even so, Andre Rand is a creepy creepy dude and is very bizarre. But like someone in the movie said...just because you seem strange or creepy...doesn't mean your a killer. This movie is sad, as it is about young children. If you hurt a child I believe you have no reason to be on this earth. So there were a lot of elements to this movie and it was a well told documentary. It can both frighten you and make you want to cry. It was brilliantly put together and is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a while. Critics Grade: 89%. My Grade: A-.

#90: Hereafter. Rated PG-13. 2 hours 9 minutes. IN THEATERS. Oscar winner Clint Eastwood is at it again. He has directed yet another Oscar bait movie, but this time he goes out of his comfort zone and gives us a movie of supernatural proportions. From the previews, this movie never truly grabbed my attention, but I felt I just had to see it. Eastwood has pretty much always been very reliable with his films. It honestly pains me to say that for me, Hereafter was a massive, HUGE disappointment. It had to be one of the most dreadfully boring movies I've seen in a super long time. I mean I debated more than once about walking out the theater (I did only pay $5.25). I simply just did not get this film. I love the subject matter. The afterlife and near death experience fascinate me. But all the near death and afterlife stuff in this film is all so damn generic and nothing remarkable. Even with the main character being a psychic...I felt like the actual subject material of the afterlife was only a vague topic throughout this painfully long film. In the very beginning we get the tragic events. The French woman drowns and "dies" only to be revived. She got a glimpse of the "white light". Then a young British boy looses his twin brother to an accident and now he's forced to go to foster care. Then we have the story of the psychic. We get glimpses of each story as the film progresses but nothing really powerful comes from this story. It was all way to subtle and I did not see this "beauty" of the film that people are talking about. It dragged on, it didn't connect at all until the very end. The woman's story was just so coma inducing boring to me and I didn't care at all about the kid. Matt Damon's story was more of just him wanting to be left alone and also a lot of it was him trying to find love through a woman he meets in a cooking class. I just simply didn't get it. I didn't like it in the least. It was well directed, meaning that it technically looked great. The story for me however, lacked severely in the heart and soul category. I cared about no one. The performances were all very standard and blah. Total swing and miss by Eastwood. A shame. Critics Grade: 49%. My Grade: D+.

#91: Monsters. Rated R. 1 hour 34 minutes. IN THEATERS IN SELECT CITIES. ALSO PLAYING ON DEMAND WITH COX. I just don't know about this movie. I saw the preview a while back and thought it looked cool and thought it had a pretty cool story. It has been compared a lot to movies like "Cloverfield" (although there is no hand held camera) and even last years Best Picture nominee "District 9". I can definitely see some vague similarities, but let's give it some credit here, it is it's own film. This was done by a first time director who essentially edited the film on his laptop, where apparently he also created all the visual effects for the film. With that being said, I thought the movie looked incredible. For what this director had, he did quite a phenomenal job piecing it all together. The few scenes we actually get to see full on monsters (who kind of resembled the creatures from "The Mist" if you ask me) were unbelievably real looking. They were huge and kind of creepy. For me though, that's kind of where my excitement over this movie ends. The two main characters were never once in any real danger. There was no thrill to this story. We barely ever saw the monsters and when they were on screen, they were just walking by or destroying vehicles or something like that. I mean yes there were a few moments when people were killed but it was never scary or basically you never felt the main people were in harms way. This was more of a "love" tale than anything. It wasn't even that interesting to me. Other people who watch it might definitely get it or like it, I just really wasn't into this story. It had a beautiful final few moments though, I will give it that. But overall this movie let me down. It wasn't really bad it just didn't do anything for me. It was a bit bland. Critics Grade: 61%. My Grade: C.

#92. When In Rome. Rated PG-13. 1 hour 31 minutes. NOW ON DVD. This will be a short review. I hated this movie. This movie did not make me laugh. It was full of stupid gags we have seen in comedy films a BILLION times before. It was predictable. It was painful to watch. Why did I watch it? Because I enjoy watching movies. ANY movies sadly. I was bored before watching the movie. This movie just made me more bored. What else can I say...Ummm...I thought it was AWFUL!!!!! One of the worst movies I've seen this year. Just the opinion of silly old me though. Critics Grade: 16%. My Grade: F.

#93: The Experiment. Rated R. 1 hour 36 minutes. STRAIGHT TO DVD FILM. Seems crazy to me that a movie starring TWO Oscar wining actors, Adrian Brody and Forrest Whitaker is a straight to DVD film. But I guess the film itself sort of speaks for itself in that regard. Anyway, I thought this was an entertaining film. It was based off a famous college experiment in Stamford in the 70's. College students were split up and one group were to be prison guards and the other were the prisoners. It was supposed to last 2 weeks but actually only lasted 6 days due to do the "prison guards" becoming sadistic and the prisoners became quickly depressed. This film follows almost exactly that. Except these aren't college kids and it takes place during present day. These guys are being paid $14,000 each to complete the experiment and are told if one person fails before the 2 weeks, no one gets paid. They have no communication to the scientists. Only thing they have is a red light that will flash if someone breaks a rule, and the experiment is over. This light becomes sort of the "God" like character. Quickly chaos ensues and Brody and Whitaker are pitted against each other. For the most part it was a good movie, and in the end I got what the experiment was really about. But also in the end, it kind of falls flat. It starts to get really climatic...then just abruptly ends. So much hate and bad happens and from it seems like...everyone gets off scott free. A person dies in that prison and you have no idea if the guilty part get's in any form of trouble. All the guys involved seem to brush off the whole experience in the end. I guess I didn't get that part. I got what the experiment was all about and I get that the characters realized it in the end. But some crazy shit still happened and everyone seemed to let bygones be bygones in the end. Eh, I don't know. Maybe I didn't get it after all who knows. It was a pretty decent movie with two very good lead performances. It just fell flat in the end for me personally. Overall, pretty entertaining movie. No critics grade. IMDB Member Grade: 6.4 out of 10. My Grade: B-.