Movie #385 - Harry Potter & The Dealthy Hallows (Part I)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 26 min
Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bill Nighy, Richard Griffiths, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright, Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Timothy Spall, Michael Gambon, Robbie Coltrane, Brendan Gleeson, David Thewlis, John Hurt, Frances de la Tour, Rhys Ifans, Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson, Warwick Davis

The casts of these movies keep getting longer and longer! But what a great cast of main characters this franchise has built, honestly! I have to say that almost everyone chosen, even the most lovable characters and the most hated villains, are so spot-on cast that I have no complaints! And who doesn't think Carter is the craziest Bellatrix Lestrange there could ever be?

Anyway, back to this review. The seventh book took a lot of heat for being reeeeallly boring for the first half, likes its warming up for the epic battle at its conclusion.  But I've always argued that it should be exactly that. Rowling's writing has always been an excellent mimic for the feeling of her hero, and as Harry feels aimless in his wanderings for the horcruxes, we get to feel it right along with him.  I've always felt that to be a strength of her style, a treat for us readers. If you disagree, you're clearly just reading for the juicy bits.

So this movie also took a lot of heat for "dragging" and while I agree that it probably didn't need to be over two hours by quite so much, I think it captures that aimless feel of the book.  We get to see our favorite trio turn on one another and really feel the pressure, the burden placed on their shoulders at such a young age.  It's fitting, too, that we should sit and feel pressured, burdened by their struggle.  It's like the full-experience kind of movie and book we should expect from such a big franchise.

And I, for one, am a big fan.

Movie #384 - GoldenEye

GoldenEye
1995 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 10 min
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond

Although the video game is lots of fun to play, this Bond movie was never one of my favorites.  I feel like they tried to modernize the franchise with all this tech jargon and, back then, I just got confused. I can understand the whole Sean Bean evil-doings better now that I'm older, but by now, most of their equipment's obsolete.

Alan Cumming is a highlight of the movie -- perfect as the goofy techie Russian with a bit of an attitude. And Sean Bean's a pretty good bad guy, bad enough that I didn't sit there thinking about Lord of the Rings the whole time, so that's good!

Anyway, this one's not really a favorite.  It's got some great action scenes, lots of explosions, and plenty of Bronsan-ized Bond to go around.

Movie #381- From Hell

From Hell
2001 - Rated R - 2 hr 2 min
Directors: Albert & Allen Hughes
Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson, Jason Flemyng

More Johnny Depp!  (And more deleted posts that I have to rewrite and try to make sound good again. argh!)

Based on the Alan Moore graphic novel of the same name, this one's set with the Jack the Ripper story as its backdrop.  Really, it centers on a broken investigator who needs the case to really prove to himself he's worth something.  Enter Heather Graham as Mary Kelly, the prostitute most famously known for being the Ripper's final -- and goriest -- murder.  Hooray.  Of course, she's cooperating with Depp and they fall for each other. Of course. 

Leave it to Moore to turn a grim, gruesome bit of history into a love story.

Still, it's very, very good... just not necessarily accurate.  They blame the Freemasons --- or rather, a Freemason -- and I'm sure that doesn't help their reputation much. Don't believe it though, because Freemasons didn't kill prostitutes, guys. That's just nuts.

Movie #262 - Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
2009 - Rated PG - 2 hr 39 min
Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Bonnie Wright, Helena Bonham Carter, Timothy Spall, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Gemma Jones

The end of this movie still gets me.  And every time, I remember reading the end of this book in my hotel room in Italy and looking at Mike and saying, "WHAT?! Are you KIDDING ME?!"

JK Rowling wasn't kidding, despite the various websites that sprung up between books 6 and 7 arguing the contrary. 

And although the end of the movie is different, it's nice that it doesn't leave the same ambiguity as the book.  No Fawkes flying into the sky imagery. No confusing colors of light deployed from Snape's wand to throw you off track.  Honestly, read it.  You'll see what I mean.

Of course, this movie has to cut out lots as well, since it's too large to comfortably fit everything into a film adaptation.  I think this is one of the better ones, but I'm always biased because I've read the books so I know what's going on.  If you watch this without reading the books, I can't promise you'll catch everything.

I guess what I'm saying is, go read the darn books already.

Movie #260 - Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
2005 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 37 min
Director: Mike Newell
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Timothy Spall, Bonnie Wright, Tom Felton, Robert Pattinson, Jason Isaacs, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, Clemence Poesy, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Brendan Gleeson, Miranda Richardson, Gary Oldman, Shirley Henderson, Ralph Fiennes

The biggest book so far and it's the choppiest movie.  Maybe I'm overly critical because this is my favorite book in the series.  I'm not even partial to Hermione's S.P.E.W. subplot but I'm still mad it's not in the movie.

Still, they do a great job bringing the big stuff to life - the TriWizard Tournament, the Voldemort confrontation.  Although I didn't like the cerebral quality they gave to the maze.  It's supposed to be monsters, not their own personal demons.  Anyway, aside from this, my only other critique is the director's apparent mis-steps in some seasons.  Hermione overreacts here and there, Dumbledore basically attacks Harry in one scene -  acts that are largely out of character to the seasoned HP fan, maybe not so for the untrained eye.  It feels like Newell didn't get a full grasp of some of the relationships here.

And also, everyone needs a bloody haircut in this movie...

Oh yeah. Screw you, Twilight, for making Cedric Diggory a vampire. We had him first, you jerks.

Movie #259 - Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004 - Rated PG - 2 hr 21 min
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Griffiths, Gary Oldman, Bonnie Wright, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Dawn French, Emma Thompson, Julie Christie, Timothy Spall

Watching these in a row, the actors are growing up right before my eyes. Actually, it's kinda cool.  It's also fun to watch the story unfold in succession like this.  It's not fun, however, to watch several 2+ hour movies in a row. My butt's starting to hurt somewhere around the end of this movie.

Still, this movie takes a marked turn away from the happy-go-lucky Hogwarts vibe that Chris Columbus established.  It's probably got a lot to do with the new director, but it aptly captures the feeling of the third book. Bleak, sad, dreary.  It's an important segue for Harry to go from Yay I'm a Wizard! to Crap, Voldemort Wants to Kill Everyone and I have to Stop Him.  Rowling does a good job in the series translating this to us and Cuaron was the right guy to take over for this film.

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?

Movie #257 - Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone

Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone
2001 - Rated G - 2 hr 32 min
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Emma Watson, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths, Ian Hart, Warwick Davis, Verne Troyer, John Hurt, Bonnie Wright, Tom Felton, John Cleese, Alan Rickman

A Harry Potter marathon?  Ok, sure!  I've never watched all of these in order - it's a huge undertaking.  But so much fun!

Yes, I'm a fan. And yes, I'm still pissed that I'm a muggle. 

This first movie reminds me of that... and how I never got my letter to Hogwarts. But I digress... from a book-to-movie standpoint, this is probably one of the best films.  Basically, it's the shortest book so they didn't have to cut that much out.  Once we get to the complicated, longer books, I can't say the same.  Sad, but necessary.

The only thing I regret about this movie is that they didn't have the foresight to cast Ralph Fiennes to do Voldemort's voice this early on.  But when this movie came out, I don't think the fourth book had even been released yet. So I guess I can't blame them.

Onward to the Chamber of Secrets!