They are older, but than children do grow and change when they are attending high school. The teachers are relatively the same. Hogworts, the school that the young wizards attend still rests sternly on the hill side overlooking the river that flows... Well, we aren't sure where it flows but the it evokes a promise of a future.
The Harry Potter Series both book and film is about the future. It is in essence a coming of age tale that includes a compelling facet of magic. I ask you who hasn't wished that they couldn't solve their problems with a little bit of magic. Harry Potter, like Star Wars Luke Skywalker, is living with the memory and legacy of his father. Harry is the reluctant hero in the battle of forces that have been warring for power for all time. It is, as all good stories are, a battle between good and evil.
In this edition of the saga, Harry is inducted into the The Order of the Phoenix, a group that supports the good Wizards, the organization that refuses to go the dark side. Complicating this situation is in intractable bureaucracy that doesn't want to admit that Lord Voldemort, the leader of those on the dark side has indeed returned to overthrow the good wizards.
Pretty predictable stuff, Eh!
No one will ever argue that J K Rowling can't write a good story. She can indeed. Her books have reintroduced reading to millions of TV, Nintendo, and You Tube addicted teenagers. While the author has strung along her readers through six novels and is releasing the final one in close proximity to the release of this film, she has successfully established a Disney like franchise that will no doubt hook future generations. It's easy to see today's readers introducing their children to Harry just like my folks wanted me to read the "Black Stallion" books and my sister was urged to read Nancy Drew.
But what I'm suppose to write about here is my opinion of the movie. The Harry Potter films have always suffered from poor casting and it starts with Daniel Radcliffe. Radcliffe's range is insufficient to play the morose and brooding Potter. Even as a young Potter, Radcliffe couldn't portray the innocent and vulnerable Harry. As a now enlightened and supposedly wiser young wizard, Radcliffe can't pull it off.
Emma Watson didn't have enough of a role in this film to judge her worth to the effort and the same must be said of the usually reliable Rupert Grint, in the role of Ron Weasley. The star studded cast does make the film notable in it's performance, but you can't build a strong performance on a star that gets as much screen time as Radcliffe does and who can't shoulder the load. I've always wondered how the film's would fare if Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley was cast as Potter and the limited Radcliffe was playing the buddy role. It couldn't be worse and it would have a chance of being better, Grint can act.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Jindabyne, He Said
Four guys go on a weekend fishing trip. something happens out there, but they don't want to talk about it. A description of the classic movie "Deliverance"? No, but the comparison could be made. In the case of Jindabyne, the guys didn't really do anything other than ignore the commission of a crime while they continued with their fishing. But tying the naked body of a dead aboriginal girl to a tree root while they continued to fish did not sit well with the people from the small town they lived in and in particular the
In the early part of this film a great deal is made about the importance and the tradition of this fishing trip. Enhancing the significance is the addition of a new young recruit to the group. Each of the participants in this foray have issues that are unique and play into the plot, but the main focus is put on the Kane's, Claire and Stewart. Their relationship is clouded by Claire's desertion of the family following the birth of their son. She's back and they are trying to put their lives together again, but there is much that is not settled. Claire is aware of the scrutiny she is under and Stewart still doesn't understand why she left in the first place
When are merry band of fishermen get into the barely accessible stretch of the river, they discover the dead body of an aboriginal girl floating down the river. We saw her abducted and disposed of in the opening of the film. They decide to concoct a story that blames their tardiness on the sprained ankle of one of them.
This lame story (excuse me I couldn't pass that up) didn't fare well with the townspeople and in particular the aboriginal people in the community. They are taken to task for their heartlessness and racism. No one seems to understand their callousness including one member of their own party.
The latter part of the film sees Claire reaching out, seemingly to no avail, to the native people. It's apparent she is doing this to deal with her own issues as well as the greater problems of misunderstanding and mistrust built between the native people and the white people.
This film takes place in a colorless town in Australia. My guess is that the director wanted that pallet to indicate the drabness of life and to focus n the racial tension in the community. Laura Linny is wonderful as the conflicted Claire. Garbriel Byrne equals her as her husband Stewart.
The problem I had was with the continuity of the script. It seems to me some editorial cuts were made that paid little attention to sequence of facts we needed to know to get us from one place to the next. I remember very little of the discussion, the all important discussion, the men had in deciding to tether the body to a tree root while they continued to fish. And I haven't clue how the town suddenly and unanimously decided the story they told was flawed. I think this was a valiant effort to tell an important story that was lost on the cutting room floor
In the early part of this film a great deal is made about the importance and the tradition of this fishing trip. Enhancing the significance is the addition of a new young recruit to the group. Each of the participants in this foray have issues that are unique and play into the plot, but the main focus is put on the Kane's, Claire and Stewart. Their relationship is clouded by Claire's desertion of the family following the birth of their son. She's back and they are trying to put their lives together again, but there is much that is not settled. Claire is aware of the scrutiny she is under and Stewart still doesn't understand why she left in the first place
When are merry band of fishermen get into the barely accessible stretch of the river, they discover the dead body of an aboriginal girl floating down the river. We saw her abducted and disposed of in the opening of the film. They decide to concoct a story that blames their tardiness on the sprained ankle of one of them.
This lame story (excuse me I couldn't pass that up) didn't fare well with the townspeople and in particular the aboriginal people in the community. They are taken to task for their heartlessness and racism. No one seems to understand their callousness including one member of their own party.
The latter part of the film sees Claire reaching out, seemingly to no avail, to the native people. It's apparent she is doing this to deal with her own issues as well as the greater problems of misunderstanding and mistrust built between the native people and the white people.
This film takes place in a colorless town in Australia. My guess is that the director wanted that pallet to indicate the drabness of life and to focus n the racial tension in the community. Laura Linny is wonderful as the conflicted Claire. Garbriel Byrne equals her as her husband Stewart.
The problem I had was with the continuity of the script. It seems to me some editorial cuts were made that paid little attention to sequence of facts we needed to know to get us from one place to the next. I remember very little of the discussion, the all important discussion, the men had in deciding to tether the body to a tree root while they continued to fish. And I haven't clue how the town suddenly and unanimously decided the story they told was flawed. I think this was a valiant effort to tell an important story that was lost on the cutting room floor
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, He Said
I've said for years this film is the finest example of it's genre. It's a story about coming of age, the last fling before adulthood and giving the status quo the finger on your way out the door on the road to becoming part of the status quo, film. It also is John Hughes homage to his home town, Chicago.
Hughes cast a young Mathew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, the wise guy pain in the ass to the high school principle. Ed Roony. Ferris has charmed his parents, friends and most everyone except Rooney. Ferris quilts his best friend Cameron Frye into stealing his dad's vintage sports car, mimicking his girls friends father so they can spring her from school and facing up to the rest of his life. Cautionary note here. If you're looking for a character arc, the character that changes in this story is Cameron.
The hi-jinks of this trio are legendary. If you've never seen this film in it's entirety, you probably are aware of some of the scenes, because of their out take and situational value. The most famous is the improbable but enjoyable scene, where Ferris hi jacks a float in a Chicago downtown parade and leads the crowd in a Broadway style version of the Beatle's "Twist and Shout". The most creative is a MTV type montage of shots inside the The Chicago Art Institute.
The battle between the stuffy irate principle and the always ahead of the situation Bueller, comes to a head when in a final confrontation Ferris has to depend on his sister, a character who has been setup as an unlikely ally. Her conversion to the Ferris Bueller fan club is handled in such a way that we never see it coming.
All in all this film is just fun. I label it a classic simply because, while the costumes and the pop culture references are somewhat dated, the film is still relevant. Kid's are always rebelling against authority. We could only hope they express that dissatisfaction by skipping school to go to Wriggly Field, The Chicago Institute of Art and attend a Parade
Hughes cast a young Mathew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, the wise guy pain in the ass to the high school principle. Ed Roony. Ferris has charmed his parents, friends and most everyone except Rooney. Ferris quilts his best friend Cameron Frye into stealing his dad's vintage sports car, mimicking his girls friends father so they can spring her from school and facing up to the rest of his life. Cautionary note here. If you're looking for a character arc, the character that changes in this story is Cameron.
The hi-jinks of this trio are legendary. If you've never seen this film in it's entirety, you probably are aware of some of the scenes, because of their out take and situational value. The most famous is the improbable but enjoyable scene, where Ferris hi jacks a float in a Chicago downtown parade and leads the crowd in a Broadway style version of the Beatle's "Twist and Shout". The most creative is a MTV type montage of shots inside the The Chicago Art Institute.
The battle between the stuffy irate principle and the always ahead of the situation Bueller, comes to a head when in a final confrontation Ferris has to depend on his sister, a character who has been setup as an unlikely ally. Her conversion to the Ferris Bueller fan club is handled in such a way that we never see it coming.
All in all this film is just fun. I label it a classic simply because, while the costumes and the pop culture references are somewhat dated, the film is still relevant. Kid's are always rebelling against authority. We could only hope they express that dissatisfaction by skipping school to go to Wriggly Field, The Chicago Institute of Art and attend a Parade
Monday, July 9, 2007
Evening, He Said
I've always hated the segregation of films into guy films and chick flix's. When you term a film like "Field of Dreams" as a man's film, you deny women the chance to see how men can feel about their relationship with their fathers. This would be true of the film "Evening", if men chose not to see it because some critic or the marketing department shortcut their responsibilities and hung the Gal film label on the it.
It is true that the main theme of this film is the relationship between mothers and their daughters and I for one can't learn enough about this subject, as every women I know and care about has a mother and these relationships fairly teem with nuances and issues I have no clue about.
In addition to the need to understand more about the subject, men would deny themselves the opportunity to see some fine performances by some of our finest actresses. The unique situation here is the film features two mother daughter teams. Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson play a mother and daughter. Meyrl Streep and Mamie Gummer play one character at different ages.
In this magnificent use of the flashback technique Michael Cunningham and Susan Minot, who wrote the novel the script is based on, combine to write a script that allows us to go back in time and return to present day seamlessly and intelligently to understand how things of the past affect the way we are today.
In this story, two daughters are trying to make sense of their lives and their relationship as their mother lays dying in the room above them. The mothers dreams and ravings, assisted by the painkilling drugs she is getting to make her comfortable, are suggesting to her daughters a part of her life that they are unaware.
We see the past through the dreams of the mother, played by Vanessa Redgrave. Her younger self, Ann, played wonderfully by Claire Danes, is the off beat New York friend of socialite, Lila, played by Mamie Gummer. Ann has traveled to Rhode Island to be the maid of honor in Lila's wedding. Lila's brother, played by Hugh Dancy, is eager to stop his sister's marriage to the family's approved spouse in favor the their friend Harris. Harris is the son of an old housekeeper, who has become a part of the family.
Harris has returned for the wedding from his medical practice in a small town where he serves a mainly poor clientele. it is obvious that he is welcome, but he would not be if he were to try and elevate himself above his status in the eyes of Lila and Buddy Wttenborn's Parents, played by Glenn Close and Barry Bostwick. In the story of the past Harris's relationship with Lila, Buddy and Ann hold the key to the mystery of why Ann is reliving this time in her life as she prepares to die.
In the present her daughter Nina, played by Toni Collette, is unsure of her future. she has been bounding from one career to another and duplicating that pattern in her love life for years. At this point however there is a unanticipated defining moment in her life occurring. she is pregnant with the child of a man who truly loves her and wants to marry her. She is afraid of making a mistake, which is why she has lived her whole life in a series of failures to commitment.
Her sister Constance, played by Natasha Richardson is the 'good daughter", who has the career, the husband and kids. her success hides and equally frustrating suspicion that somehow by committing she's missed something.
What we learn in the end is that by committing we do pass up opportunities and we will never know what might have been and we can't help but wonder but grieving over lost opportunities that might have been is a wast of time. This is brought home in a scene where Lila , played at this age by Meyrl Streep, comes to spend one last visit with the dying Ann. Reminiscent of an earlier scene where they lay together in Lila's bed on the the morning of her wedding a discussed her commitment to her marriage that day, this time they talked about Harris and what he meant to both of them and how their lives turned out because both of them turned down the chance to build a future with him when in truth they both wanted to do that and turned their back on the chance.
In the end, that scene summed it up for us, but one more scene between Nina and the older Lila summed it up for the girls. In the end, it's not the life we could have had that counts, it's what we do with the life we got.
It is true that the main theme of this film is the relationship between mothers and their daughters and I for one can't learn enough about this subject, as every women I know and care about has a mother and these relationships fairly teem with nuances and issues I have no clue about.
In addition to the need to understand more about the subject, men would deny themselves the opportunity to see some fine performances by some of our finest actresses. The unique situation here is the film features two mother daughter teams. Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson play a mother and daughter. Meyrl Streep and Mamie Gummer play one character at different ages.
In this magnificent use of the flashback technique Michael Cunningham and Susan Minot, who wrote the novel the script is based on, combine to write a script that allows us to go back in time and return to present day seamlessly and intelligently to understand how things of the past affect the way we are today.
In this story, two daughters are trying to make sense of their lives and their relationship as their mother lays dying in the room above them. The mothers dreams and ravings, assisted by the painkilling drugs she is getting to make her comfortable, are suggesting to her daughters a part of her life that they are unaware.
We see the past through the dreams of the mother, played by Vanessa Redgrave. Her younger self, Ann, played wonderfully by Claire Danes, is the off beat New York friend of socialite, Lila, played by Mamie Gummer. Ann has traveled to Rhode Island to be the maid of honor in Lila's wedding. Lila's brother, played by Hugh Dancy, is eager to stop his sister's marriage to the family's approved spouse in favor the their friend Harris. Harris is the son of an old housekeeper, who has become a part of the family.
Harris has returned for the wedding from his medical practice in a small town where he serves a mainly poor clientele. it is obvious that he is welcome, but he would not be if he were to try and elevate himself above his status in the eyes of Lila and Buddy Wttenborn's Parents, played by Glenn Close and Barry Bostwick. In the story of the past Harris's relationship with Lila, Buddy and Ann hold the key to the mystery of why Ann is reliving this time in her life as she prepares to die.
In the present her daughter Nina, played by Toni Collette, is unsure of her future. she has been bounding from one career to another and duplicating that pattern in her love life for years. At this point however there is a unanticipated defining moment in her life occurring. she is pregnant with the child of a man who truly loves her and wants to marry her. She is afraid of making a mistake, which is why she has lived her whole life in a series of failures to commitment.
Her sister Constance, played by Natasha Richardson is the 'good daughter", who has the career, the husband and kids. her success hides and equally frustrating suspicion that somehow by committing she's missed something.
What we learn in the end is that by committing we do pass up opportunities and we will never know what might have been and we can't help but wonder but grieving over lost opportunities that might have been is a wast of time. This is brought home in a scene where Lila , played at this age by Meyrl Streep, comes to spend one last visit with the dying Ann. Reminiscent of an earlier scene where they lay together in Lila's bed on the the morning of her wedding a discussed her commitment to her marriage that day, this time they talked about Harris and what he meant to both of them and how their lives turned out because both of them turned down the chance to build a future with him when in truth they both wanted to do that and turned their back on the chance.
In the end, that scene summed it up for us, but one more scene between Nina and the older Lila summed it up for the girls. In the end, it's not the life we could have had that counts, it's what we do with the life we got.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Once, He Said
The musical is as movie genre as old as the talkie. In recent years, it has taken a back seat probably best done in animation by Disney. But take heart, telling a story by singing your heart out has not died. John Carney director and writer has given us a totally different take on the concept with his film "Once".
eastern We are introduced to a Dublin street busker who is playing, as he says, what people want to hear during the day and his songs at night when there aren't as many people. A immigrant European women encourages him to record his music. Her aid and encouragement seems selfless, but in fact she also needs an outlet for her pain. As it turns out she is an accomplished musician and just the thing he needs to take his flagging pride to another level.
Both of these people are drifting after the loves of their lives failed them. He lost his girlfriend when she left him for a new life in London. The girl, there are no character names in this film, left the father of her child in her home country to find a new and more hopeful life. What they have in common is music and beautiful music it is.
In this film music is not incidental music to create background. The director is not creating moods or scene with familiar music. With their music, he created dialogue that drives the story and introduces us to the characters. Following them in their effort to record their songs, we are exposed to their dreams, suffer their pain and hear their stories.
In the wings lurks the question, can they over come their grief and find love and if they do will it be with each other? I won't tell you the answer to that, because it would spoil it for you, but I can tell you that seeing this film is a wonderful and worthwhile experience.
eastern We are introduced to a Dublin street busker who is playing, as he says, what people want to hear during the day and his songs at night when there aren't as many people. A immigrant European women encourages him to record his music. Her aid and encouragement seems selfless, but in fact she also needs an outlet for her pain. As it turns out she is an accomplished musician and just the thing he needs to take his flagging pride to another level.
Both of these people are drifting after the loves of their lives failed them. He lost his girlfriend when she left him for a new life in London. The girl, there are no character names in this film, left the father of her child in her home country to find a new and more hopeful life. What they have in common is music and beautiful music it is.
In this film music is not incidental music to create background. The director is not creating moods or scene with familiar music. With their music, he created dialogue that drives the story and introduces us to the characters. Following them in their effort to record their songs, we are exposed to their dreams, suffer their pain and hear their stories.
In the wings lurks the question, can they over come their grief and find love and if they do will it be with each other? I won't tell you the answer to that, because it would spoil it for you, but I can tell you that seeing this film is a wonderful and worthwhile experience.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
The Valet (Doublure, La), He Said
Romantic comedies are so much better with French subtitles, or so it might seem. The plot of this farce is simple. The CEO of a large French company has a mistress. She happens to be a supermodel (potential trophy wife of the highest order). They are photographed together and the photo is published in a newspaper along with the obligatory speculation that there is a romance in the air.
Our CEO / Lover is worried about his wife, not because he loves her, but because she controls sixty percent of the stock in the company he runs. In the the photo there is a man passing by. Our CEO's attorney suggests that they set up this guy with the supermodel to take the heat off of him until his position at the company can be secured, he can than divorce his wife and have his trophy,
Cut to hapless man walking past the power couple at the moment the photo is snapped. He is a parking valet for a popular restaurant, who lives with his pal in a dumpy flat commiserate with their status in Paris. His girlfriend has just gone into debt to open a bookstore. When he proposes to her, she tells him that she is too involved in her venture to consider marriage to him. Despite her offer to remain friends, he is despondent and desperate
Cut to supermodel, (think whore with a heart stereotype). She is actually in love with the CEO, but wants him to leave his wife and marry her. She serves him notice and leaves him. But the damage from the photo is done and the CEO must recruit her and the hapless hero to play act as a couple until the heat is off of him. Hapless man does it for enough money to get his girlfriends bookstore out of hock. Supermodel makes the CEO a deal. Hedging her bet, she'll do it for twenty million which he will get back when he divorces his wife.
And so the playacting begins, with the question for everyone else is what the supermodel sees in the Valet and why isn't he more happy about his new room mate. Events all work out in the end, but the trip is enjoyable and while somewhat predictable amusing in a very French way of looking at things
Our CEO / Lover is worried about his wife, not because he loves her, but because she controls sixty percent of the stock in the company he runs. In the the photo there is a man passing by. Our CEO's attorney suggests that they set up this guy with the supermodel to take the heat off of him until his position at the company can be secured, he can than divorce his wife and have his trophy,
Cut to hapless man walking past the power couple at the moment the photo is snapped. He is a parking valet for a popular restaurant, who lives with his pal in a dumpy flat commiserate with their status in Paris. His girlfriend has just gone into debt to open a bookstore. When he proposes to her, she tells him that she is too involved in her venture to consider marriage to him. Despite her offer to remain friends, he is despondent and desperate
Cut to supermodel, (think whore with a heart stereotype). She is actually in love with the CEO, but wants him to leave his wife and marry her. She serves him notice and leaves him. But the damage from the photo is done and the CEO must recruit her and the hapless hero to play act as a couple until the heat is off of him. Hapless man does it for enough money to get his girlfriends bookstore out of hock. Supermodel makes the CEO a deal. Hedging her bet, she'll do it for twenty million which he will get back when he divorces his wife.
And so the playacting begins, with the question for everyone else is what the supermodel sees in the Valet and why isn't he more happy about his new room mate. Events all work out in the end, but the trip is enjoyable and while somewhat predictable amusing in a very French way of looking at things
Monday, June 4, 2007
Paris Je T'aime, He said
This is an unusual film in that it is an anthology of "love stories from the city of love." A series of short stories with the theme of love with absolutely no ties to one another, except they all occur in Paris.
The segments range from brilliant to "I can't wait until it's over it's so bad". It is so uneven that I can't begin to deconstruct it. I'd have to run it in slow motion to do a credible job. And frankly it's not worth it
The segments range from brilliant to "I can't wait until it's over it's so bad". It is so uneven that I can't begin to deconstruct it. I'd have to run it in slow motion to do a credible job. And frankly it's not worth it
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