Movie #006- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Released: July 15th, 2009
Length: 2hr 33 min
Genre: Fantasy
Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Harry Potter is a fixed point in the early 21st century. It's a series that has captivated nearly the entire world, and has changed literature forever. It seems the simplest of things, and the most ancient, can sometimes act as an escape for us all. And that thing is magic. The film adaption of J.K. Rowlings sixth tale in the unforgettable Harry Potter saga is a marvelous journey into the world of wizardry. But you know what makes Harry, Ron and Hermione so lovable? Do you know what makes Hogwarts so appealing? Do you know what makes this series so priceless? The fact that its not so far from our own. The characters jump off the screen and into our hearts because they ARE us. The love, fear, hate, and humor of life are picture so perfectly on the silver screen. In this installment, the young love of the three characters, with its ups and downs is portrayed so spectacularly by Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, that it stirs up memories of own personal experience. The darkened world of magic seems to be in just as much turmoil as our own, and through the eyes of Potter and his friends we feel the emotions and tensions that make their world so appealing. But is theirs so much different? Do we not have wars? Do we not have heartbreaks? Do we not have exams and angst and failures? Do we not have death and love and laughter? And most importantly, do we not have owls? Rowling's world is so real and so big that the movie theater seems barely able to contain it. Needless to say, I loved Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. But it goes without saying...nothings perfect. Particularly the first half of the movie seemed a bit choppy, but it was the familiar choppy that you get with any Harry Potter movie because you know they are trying to tell as much of the story in as little time as possible. It jumped around a little bit, and anyone who hasn't read the novels might have found themselves a little thrown but once the movie found a rhythm it became a bulleting train I did not want to get off. It had everything, the interactions between the characters in every way was mesmerizing (although the near-absence of Neville Longbottom and the complete absence of Lord Voldemort was disappointing) and the on-screen visual effects were stunning. The score of the movie was every bit of heart-pounding as the action dashing across it. The climactic scenes, with Harry and Dumbledore on their last hoorah adventure was edge-of-your-seat drama, with the feeling of doom lurking not to far off. If I had one complaint, it lies with the ending. The funeral scene is absent because the powers that be felt it didn't fit in with the tone of the film. Fine, but the ending didn't have that smash, thunderous, the war is on ending that I wanted. Harry, Ron and Hermione sort of had a moment where they looked out onto the landscape of Hogwarts and subtly decided to finish what Dumbledore started, but you kind of wanted Harry to say something like "there's no turning back now" or "neither can live while the other survives" or even "THIS IS HOGWARTS!" but it just kind of faded to black. Not with a bang but a whimper, and its a shame. Nevertheless, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince lived up to expectation, the actors, particularly the main trio continue to grow with each movie, the story comes to life so vividly on the massive screen, and the moments and memories that Rowling had written so beautifully play out like a dream symphony. Needless to say, this movie was...well...magic.

Score (92/100) A-
Story: B+
Characters: A+
Visual Presentation: A-
Writing: A-
Impact: B+

Movie #005- Knowing

Released: March 20th, 2009
Length: 2hr 1 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicholas Cage

"Knowing" is best generalized as "a great idea". The movie follows John Koestler, a professor at MIT, who thanks to a 50-year old time capsule, finds a bizarre manuscript of numbers. Koestler (Nicholas Cage) becomes fascinated with the set of numbers and becomes convinced they are a list of all catastrophes for the last 50 years, complete with date and death toll. His obsession, along with prodding of some "Strangers" who visit his home in the middle of the night, fuel his belief that the numbers are warning for three more catastrophes yet to come. Koestler is helped along by his son, as well as Diana Wayland, the daughter to the woman who wrote the numbers list (Rose Byrne). As it stands, "Knowing" is a fantastic idea. It's got the DNA of a great movie. People like apocalyptic thrillers with original story lines and great special effects. But it also needs strong characters to pull you into the story and create a suspension of disbelief, making you feel like this could actually happen. Unfortunately, this is where "Knowing" looses you. Nicholas Cage spends most of the film either enraged or crying. It's impossible to take him seriously and it really detracts from the quality of the film. Also, the film drags on a little too long. The writers tried to do a little too much at the end and it had me confused and feeling a little cheated. The big reveal at the end, which I won't spoil, is sub-par and a little far-fetched, but I'm willing to accept that because this is, after all, a science fiction epic. However, the final few frames of the movie are where I have a bone to pick. Viewers are left wondering how to feel. As the closing credits rolled I took a huge sigh and cocked my head to the side, feeling like I had just been sucker punched. All in all, this movie is targeted towards those who enjoy science-fiction. It's audience can also expand to those of us wanting to enjoy a good mystery, because "Knowing" has a good amount of creative twists and turns. But at its core...it's was just " a great idea"

Score: (79/100) C+
Characters- D
Story- B+
Visual Presentation- A-

Movie #004- Taken

Released: January 30th, 2009
Length: 1hr 31min
Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Pierre Morel
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace

"Taken" is a parent's worst nightmare. A story about an ex-CIA operative chasing down his kidnapped daughter through the world of sex trafficking in Europe. Kim (Maggie Grace) takes a vacation to Paris with a friend only to be immediately abducted by the Albanian Mafia. The story then follows Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his efforts to rescue her. It's a good story, equipped with high energy, heavy-hitting action, but also a strong emotion performance by Neeson, who conveys the horrors of the situation both as a parent, and CIA agent, quite well. Is he over the top? A little. But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, his daughter is being sold as a sex slave for gods sake. Maggie Grace's character is, for lack of a better word, annoying. She's a bit too stereotypical teenager, and the limited amount of time she spends in front of the character is filled with cheesy dialogue. However, Grace does play the role of annoying, high-maintenance quite well, such as her character "Shannon" on ABC's "LOST". The bad guys, characterized as scum of the Earth gang bangers are just as crude and villainous as you want them to be. Neeson's encounters with them are skin tingling. The adrenaline rush of the chase and the peppered-in action scenes complete a solid movie. And that's what "Taken" is...solid. It has a bit of everything from sex to daddy issues, all the way from guns to remarkable plain Parisian apartments. The climax of the movie, for fear of spoiling is simply thrilling. It doesn't disappoint on any scale, and the emotion and intensity bleeds from the screen. If your looking for an action movie that will hold your attention, "Taken" comes recommended. Or if you like "happy endings". Your call.

Score: (86/100) B
Characters- B-
Story- B+
Visual Presentation- B+

Movie #003- Inkheart

Released: January 23rd, 2009
Length: 1hr 46min
Genre: Fantasy
Director: Iain Softley
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis

I rooted for Inkheart. It seemed like an interesting story about a man who can bring characters to life by reading them aloud. Sure, it was probably going to be a little cheesy, but overall, I was expecting a good sound 2 hour journey into books. What I got was good special effects coupled with disappointment and unrest. It felt like "Inkheart" a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke, was thrown together too quickly. Brendan Fraser's character, Mortimer Folchart a.k.a. "Silver Tongue" who when he reads aloud brings the characters out of the story and into his world, in exchange for someone of our world going into the storyworld, is kind of flat and doesn't get nearly enough screen time. The drama surrounding him, mainly the loss of his wife into the storyworld's titular novel "Inkheart" where most of the storyworld characters are from, and his own personal demons with his "ability" all kind of happen to fast. It's like "hey I can bring books to life" and "oh by the way my wife is trapped in one". The villain and the storyworld hero, Capricon (Serkis) and Dustfinger (Bettany) respectively, give solid performances. I liked Serkis as the villain, he was funny, crude and hateable. Dustfinger was a sort of anti-hero, who was fighting his own personal desires (to be reunited with his family in the story world) with those of Brendan Fraser (who wanted his wife to be brought back). But this seems like a simple solution, does it not? Swap Dustfinger for Resa Folchart (Sienna Guillory) and problem solved. But for whatever reason, Mortimer refuses to do this just long enough for the bad guys to show up and burn the last copy of Inkheart (or so it seems) and thus trap both Dustfinger and Resa in their respective worlds. Luckily, with the help of his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett), and one of the forty thieves that was "read" into our world (Rafi Gavron) the group sets out on a journey to find a copy of Inkheart and right all the wrongs. The special effects are fun, in particular the characters from the Inkheart world, who have bits of text scripted on their faces. Also, the feared "Shadow", Capricorn's secret weapon, is well done and imaginative. However, as much praise as I have for this movie, I have disappointment. It never really lived up to its potential and focused too much on Dustfinger, who is really a supporting character given lead character screen time. It should have been more about Mortimer and his daughter Meggie and their ability and less running around. Overall, the movie was fairly entertaining, and had some humorous moments and some creative ones, but its not a movie I'd recommend you rush out and see. If your into fantasy story's, your welcome to give this a try, otherwise "Inkheart" is not for you.

Overall Score: (77/100) C+
Characters- B-
Story- D
Visual/Presentation- B

Movie #002- The Unborn

Released: January 9th, 2009
Length: 1hr 27min
Genre: Horror
Director: David S. Goyer
Starring: Odette Yustman

Most would agree that supernatural thrillers like "The Unborn" aren't viewed with high expectations. But even by lower standards, this movie falls flat on its face. If it's not over exploiting Yustman's physical beauty, its using cliche' scare tactics that are predictable and unimaginative (upside down heads?) The story line is so vague and confusing, the alleged "twist ending" in the final few seconds is almost entirely pointless. The movie explore a Jewish mythology of a mysterious paranormal demon called a dybbuk, which is trying to seek entrance into our world. However, the explanation to its origin and why it has chosen Casey Beldon (Yustman) are hand-waved with a fancy World War II flashback from Casey's grandmother which actually doesn't offer any explanations at all. Casey also experiences a lot of strange flashbacks to her mother's death (allegedly caused by the dybbuk) but the emotional impact of this trauma is overacted by Yustman, who's dialogue feels like she's reading it off a cue-card. All of the characters seemed to be unrealistic and talk to eachother like they've rehearsed it a million times. There are a lot of convenient hand-waves in this movie, where everything just sort of happens nicely and without a lot of effort on the characters (like the strange old woman being Casey's grandmother, the Book of Mirrors being found in about three milliseconds, and Casey figuring out that her never-born twin is trying to kill her without any reason to jump to that outlandish conclusion). All in all this story is strange and really hard to watch. I actually stopped it 55 minutes in and went to sleep because I honestly was bored to tears. It has a few moments that make you jump, only because its a scary face with a loud noise and it offers very little in the ways of actual horror. The climactic scene at the end has its positives, and was the most entertaining ten minutes of the movie, but don't get me wrong it fails at producing an interesting, plausible and understandable storyline. Avoid at all costs (Unless you just want to stare at Odette Yustman)

Score: (48/100) F
Characters- D
Story- F
Visual/Presentation- F

Movie #001- Angels and Demons

Released: May 15, 2009
Length: 2hrs 20 min
Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer


As an avid Dan Brown fan, one could say I was excited (beyond excited) to see director Ron Howard's second try at a film adaptation of one of Brown's marvels. I had higher hopes for "Angels and Demons", it just felt like a more screen friendly story than the mega popular "Da Vinci Code". Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Tom Hanks, a terrific actor, was brilliant as Robert Langdon, the lead character. However, some of the supporting cast, primarily Vittoria Vetra, portrayed by Ayelet Zurer was a cardboard and flat character than didn't seem to ever come to life the same way she did in the pages of the novel. Ewan McGregror's adaption of the Carmelengo, the would-be villian of the story, was breath-taking. He gave a great performance of a religious man trapped in the battle between science and religion, and he was as lovable as he was hatable throughout the film.
Overall, this film was a win. A terrific adapation of a complex story that made it enjoyable throughout. In comparison to the book, it is cliche to say that the book is always better, and some screenplay changes made by Akiva Goldsmith and David Koepp, did detract from the story. Noneteless, it was an action packed ride and eventful religious meets science thriller capped off with a punctiuation of twists and turns to the very end.
Angels and Demons is a movie worth-seeing in 2009, and a must-see for Dan Brown fans.

Overall Score (88/100) B+
Characters- B
Story- B+
Visual Presentation- A-