Movie #284 - How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
2000 - Rated R - 1 hr 47 min
Director: Michael Kalesniko
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Robin Wright, Suzi Hofrichter, Lynn Redgrave, Jared Harris, Peter Riegert, David Krumholtz, Jonathan Schaech, Kaitlin Hopkins, Peri Gilpin

Grumpiness doesn't get much better than Kenneth Branagh's Peter McGowan, troubled has-been writer who's wife desperately wants kids and who's latest play has the potential to fall apart at any moment.  Enter a barky neighborhood dog, a new kid next door with cerebral palsy, a director who sings all day long, and a doppelganger - that's the perfect recipe for a movie.  Of all his roles, this is my favorite Branaugh.  Robin Wright is also perfect as his dancer and would-be mother wife.

The movie has a sadistically comic tone, but the most beautiful storyline somehow evolves between Branaugh's character and the little girl next door.  A sweet, simple understanding blooms there and it seems to pure and real that you can't help but get emotionally invested.  It will warm (and break) your little heart.

Movie #258 - Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
2002 - Rated PG - 2 hr 41 min
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Jason Isaacs, Robbie Coltrane, Kenneth Branagh, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, John Cleese, Warwick Davis, Gemma Jones, Shirley Henderson

Dobby! And Malfoy's dad!  I remember how excited I was to see this one in theaters. At midnight of course.  It was the first movie to come out after I'd started reading the books and I was psyched. Ahh, memories.

Anyway, this one's another short book so the page to screen translation isn't so bad.  Of course, they take a few liberties here and there, trim down some other bits, but the basics are all there.  You can watch this and jump into the books at #3 if you really wanted to... but who would want to do that?