Fantasy

Fifth ‘Potter’ Fails at Charms

  • Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • IMDB: link

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was all wrong, it felt more like a James Bond movie than one about a teenager trying to surpass some nasty obsticales just to grow up.  So it’s with a melancholy tone that I tell you that this next Potter film is better than the last, but still falls far short of these stories’ potential.

When Warners Execs signed Alfonso Cuarón to direct the third Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, they managed to commit the single best and worst action in the history of Harry Potter films.  The single best action, because Cuarón has a thorough and energetic love and understanding of the quirky world of Harry Potter, and it showed in the film.  It was the single worst action because two films afterwards, it’s now seeming that Cuarón may be the only man for the job, casting a shadow darker than a Dementor’s over the rest of the franchise.  This fifth installment is a large step above that last chapter, but still shows a deficiency at performing charms.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

  • Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • IMDB: link

Harry Potter finally gets a little style. Harry Potter’s 5th installment of the film is well balanced in acting, technique, mood and storyline, and is a complete joy to watch. I found myself more enthralled in the characters and their relationships with one another instead of being completely bashed with one special effect after another like the 4th film. The Order of the Phoenix kept a great balance with their computer-antics and maturity of characters. Harry has his first kiss, Ron is no longer the complete blubbering idiot, Hermione isn’t so girly and winy and plenty of screen time for characters that had such small parts in the past. Getting a few extra storylines from other characters like Sirius Black, Fred & George Weasley, Neville, Luna and Cho makes the film feel more complete and a whole than just focusing on Potter’s little group. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best of the 5 to date.

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Bridge to Terabithia

  • Title: Bridge to Terabithia
  • IMDb: link

I wasn’t sure what to expect going in to see Bridge to Terabithia.  The film is being marketed as an imaginary fantasy tale much like Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which I hated to no end, see how much here).  But that’s not really what the film is, thank God.  It’s a simple tale about the importance of your first best friend and how children often use the power of their imagination to comfort themselves against a world that can often be cruel. If you are looking for a special effects feast for the eyes than this isn’t your film, but if you just want a film about kids being kids you could do worse than give this one a shot.

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Eragon

  • Title: Eragon
  • IMDB: link

Eragon is based off the novel by Christopher Paolini who began writing the novel (of the same name) at the age of 15. By the age of 17 he had a New York Times Bestseller on his hands, and is now working on the third and final book of the “Inheritance Trilogy.” The film, as I suspect the book does as well, plays very much like it came from the mind of juvenile.  While that’s not all bad, it is limiting.

The story begins with a long prologue from an unseen narrator (Jeremy Irons) explaining the world of Alagaesa ruled by King Galbatorix (John Malkovich, who opens the film with what might be the dumbest line in cinema history) who has killed off all the dragons and taken control of the kingdom.

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King Klong & The Island of Monsters

  • Title: King Kong
  • IMDb: link

See what happens when you reward a director for 4 hour CGI heavy movie! King Kong is a maddening film. Peter Jackson has been dreaming of making Kong for years now.  Who would have thought his dream would become our nightmare?  There are some good moments and acting but it’s all been hidden beneath so much CGI that you can hardly see it.  I preferred the remake of Mighty Joe Young with Charlize Theron or the 1976 King Kong with Jeff Bridges to this monstrosity.

The story in a nutshell is this…  Filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) along with his writer (Adrien Brody), stars Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler) and his crew travel to the mysterious Skull Island to film a movie.  After about a third of the film’s running time they arrive on the island and Miss Darrow is taken captive by a aborigine tribe of pole jumpers (who mysteriously appear and disappear completely in the film) who plan to sacrifice her to Kong (voice by Andy Serkis).  While trying to save Ann the group encounters every kind of CGI monster you can imagine including numerous bugs, velociraptors, T-Rexes, oh who gives a crap, there’s a bunch of monsters okay?  After saving Ann, Carl decides to capture Kong and take him to Broadway to make his fortune.

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