The end is approaching. It's approaching fast. Too fast, for my liking. Harry Potter has two films left. And I found that rather depressing. Just as I was feeling after coming out of the film today.
And before you think, no, I didn't hate the film at all. It was absolutely brilliant. But I was very sad after the loss of a very beloved character, I'm sure all of you know who it was, but I won't say, just in case. The film actually managed to reduce me to tears. They weren't very big tears, but tears they were. I have never cried at a film or a book before. This film and the final Harry Potter book have made me do so. Good work, JKR.
Before I begin, I have to point out that Harry Potter brings people together. I know that's terribly cheesy, but that's what happened with me and my friends. And that's what happened in the cinema. I arrived early, so there were about 15 people in there. And we were all talking to eachother about Harry Potter, having a joke. I'd never met half of these people before. But that's what a good book series does. More of the same please.
The opening second got me all excited about the film. All it was, was dark clouds, and the Warner Bros. logo. But that was enough to get me hyper and realise "Harry Potter 6 is here!" and there was a shared emotion of the same context throughout the cinema. And that excitement continued throughout the whole 153 minutes of it. Something that hasn't kept me gripped so much since...well...anything. Transformers...well you know my opinion on that. The Dark Knight was incredibly long, and even though it's an amazing film, there was a time around 2/3 of the way through that I just wanted it to end. It seemed to drag on longer than it needed to. Lord of the Rings, I feel the exact same. But with Harry Potter I was completely absorbed. I knew exactly what was happening throughout the film as I read the book (again...) very recently, but I was still whispering "No, don't do it!" even though I knew they were going to do it.
The special effect sequences were just brilliant to watch, and whoever did them deserves huge credit for that. When Dumbledore made that incredible circle of fire around him and Harry in the cave, I was amazed.
The acting was good too, especially amongst Slughorn (Broadbent), Snape (Rickman) and Dumbledore (Gambon), who were superb, with Snape having the greatest villain voice ever to grace the cinema screen. Helena Bonham Carter deserves a mention too, because her Bellatrix manages to be - scary, funny and quite sexy all at the same time. Rupert Grint (Ron), however, out-shined every young actor in the film. I personally don't think Daniel Radcliffe is good enough an actor to play as big a character as Harry Potter, Emma Watson (Hermione) has improved so much, whereas Bonnie Wright (Ginny) was just annoying.
Another small gripe is the amount of stuff taken out of the book and added into or changed in the film. There were a number of scenes that I was confused at, and didn't see their relevance to the story as a whole, but also a number of scenes (one in particular - fire at the Burrow) that were added into the film. And that I was gutted there was no battle at Hogwarts at the end, but that could be down to the fact that there's going to be a huge battle in Deathly Hallows, so I can forgive that one. But on the whole, they kept all of the important scenes in, setting up for an absolute blockbuster of film A and B of Deathly Hallows. And I for one can't wait.
It wasn't perfect, but it was so very close. 8.1/10
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Monday 6 July 2009
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Before I start, I'd just like to make the point that I'm a big fan of the Transformers in 2007 (and Megan Fox, but that's beside the point) so bias may be an issue in this review.
I originally didn't go into Transformers 2 with high hopes, after reading many a review saying pretty much the exact same thing: it's shit. But, on the contrary, a number of my doppelgangers had already seen the film and had told me it was "awesome", "class" and "sometimes hilarious". This only proves one thing about these people: they like loud noises. So on this basis, I ploughed on to the Odeon, Bridgend (which as it happens isn't as good a cinema as the Showcase Cinema, Nantgarw where I saw the other films I've reviewed so far, even though they have these "Premium Seats" which are exactly the same as the normal chairs, except they have a head rest) to witness the spectacle.
And, my first impressions of the film after I came out where these descriptions seemed true. But while actually looking back, there were a few, make that many, flaws.
The good stuff. The action scenes (which at a guess lasted 120 minutes of the 150 minutes the film lasted) were spectacularly loud with many an explosion and robot faces being ripped in two. That's about it.
The bad stuff. These noises are all very well, if there's a reason for them. Half of the sequences were pointless and didn't really have anything to do with the final story, with mini-skirmishes between anyone and everyone, it seemed purely for revenge of the fallen, surprisingly. And even though they were great to watch, I did get annoyed at the fact that it all seemed very similar to the first film. Optimus making a comeback to winning the battle versus Megatron/whatever the master Decepticon's name was, they never really said that. Or I just wasn't paying attention. And the ending was pretty much the spitting image of the first film. Shia LaBeouf and Optimus standing on the edge of something, with Optimus talking over it about how they won the war and they'll stay on earth. That pissed me off.
Shia LaBeouf did his best to rescue the film, with Megan Fox guaranteeing every male in the galaxy will watch the film one way or another, but sadly the film was poor on hindsight. I can understand why the audience gave it a good reception because it's what a summer film should be. Explosions, fighting and aliens. But, it has to be good at the same time. The humour I found rather stupid, clearly aimed at the younger audience, other than Skids, Mudflap, and the Decepticon that Fox took under her wing, were very funny indeed. But the soldiers in the film seemed very stupid and were just there because they had overly big arms.
So on that rather pissed off sounding review, Transformers 2 gets my worst review so far, if 3.9/10. Shame really. I'll watch the original to get my hopes up a bit more.
I originally didn't go into Transformers 2 with high hopes, after reading many a review saying pretty much the exact same thing: it's shit. But, on the contrary, a number of my doppelgangers had already seen the film and had told me it was "awesome", "class" and "sometimes hilarious". This only proves one thing about these people: they like loud noises. So on this basis, I ploughed on to the Odeon, Bridgend (which as it happens isn't as good a cinema as the Showcase Cinema, Nantgarw where I saw the other films I've reviewed so far, even though they have these "Premium Seats" which are exactly the same as the normal chairs, except they have a head rest) to witness the spectacle.
And, my first impressions of the film after I came out where these descriptions seemed true. But while actually looking back, there were a few, make that many, flaws.
The good stuff. The action scenes (which at a guess lasted 120 minutes of the 150 minutes the film lasted) were spectacularly loud with many an explosion and robot faces being ripped in two. That's about it.
The bad stuff. These noises are all very well, if there's a reason for them. Half of the sequences were pointless and didn't really have anything to do with the final story, with mini-skirmishes between anyone and everyone, it seemed purely for revenge of the fallen, surprisingly. And even though they were great to watch, I did get annoyed at the fact that it all seemed very similar to the first film. Optimus making a comeback to winning the battle versus Megatron/whatever the master Decepticon's name was, they never really said that. Or I just wasn't paying attention. And the ending was pretty much the spitting image of the first film. Shia LaBeouf and Optimus standing on the edge of something, with Optimus talking over it about how they won the war and they'll stay on earth. That pissed me off.
Shia LaBeouf did his best to rescue the film, with Megan Fox guaranteeing every male in the galaxy will watch the film one way or another, but sadly the film was poor on hindsight. I can understand why the audience gave it a good reception because it's what a summer film should be. Explosions, fighting and aliens. But, it has to be good at the same time. The humour I found rather stupid, clearly aimed at the younger audience, other than Skids, Mudflap, and the Decepticon that Fox took under her wing, were very funny indeed. But the soldiers in the film seemed very stupid and were just there because they had overly big arms.
So on that rather pissed off sounding review, Transformers 2 gets my worst review so far, if 3.9/10. Shame really. I'll watch the original to get my hopes up a bit more.
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