Movie Review- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

As the final film in the Harry Potter series, Deathly Hallows Part 2 needed to be fantastic, and since going into this, 2 of the 3 films directed by David Yates have been very good, I had high hopes. The first part of the Deathly Hallows was fantastic, and in my opinion the best of the Harry Potter series so far. This part picks up where the last left off, at Dobby's funeral. It follows Harry, Hermione, and Ron on a trip to Gringott's bank, and then back to the central location of Harry Potter, Hogwart's school of witchcraft and wizardry. This is were the last stand takes place, when Harry and the students and the Order of the Phoenix fight against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Anyone who has read the books knows how it all ends, but for those who haven't, I won't go any farther and ruin it here. Safe to say its a very emotional and satisfying end to the series. As a fan of the books, I have some minor gripes with ways they chose to put things in the movie, but those are not for a movie review. Strictly as the movie goes, it was done very well. The F/X are terrific, and all the actors from child to veteran have grown with the series and gotten much better. Alan Rickman alone gives a supporting actor worthy performance in his final turn as Severus Snape, who is now the headmaster of a Auschwitz like Hogwarts. Other actors who have been with the series since the beginning also get their due after being absent from the previous film all together. Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom and Maggie Smith as Professor Mcgonagall get more to do here then in the rest of the series combined, and the film is better for it. I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 9 Ninja Stars out of 10, and personally bid a due to a series that I have loved for a long time. The film is directed by David Yates, and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Matthew Lewis, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, John Hurt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Kelly Macdonald, Ciaran Hinds, Bonnie Wright, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent, Gary Oldman, and David Thewlis.

New DVD Review-Battle: Los Angeles

Battle: Los Angeles is a war movie with aliens, not an alien movie, and it shows. Instead of focusing much on the extra terrestrials, they focus on the war and film it like a war movie. This is the aspect of Battle: LA that makes it worth watching. You feel every soldier who dies and get to know each and every soldier as the movie goes on. The actors do a great job, especially Aaron Eckhart, who plays the aged veteran leader very well. The battle scenes are done well and are very intense. Having said all of this though, no matter how great the battle scenes and the acting are, they cannot overcome just how stupid the aliens look. Robot aliens....really? Robot aliens are what directors put into a movie when they don't have any idea what visual effects they should use to make things that look like aliens. These look like a cross between the bad guys from The Fifth Element and the drones from Empire Strikes Back, and they are done terribly. I have never seen an alien robot soldier, but my guess is they look intimidating or scary, not ridiculous. If the creatures were done well, then Battle: Los Angeles could have easily been an 8 star movie, but due to the ridiculousness of the aliens, it gets 5 Ninja Stars out of 10. The film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman and stars Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodgriguez, Michael Pena, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, and Jim Parrack.

-Maximus

New DVD Review-The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau takes a short story by Philip K. Dick, and turns it into a two hour movie. At times in the film it shows, many year gaps are needed to advance the plot, and there are times when it feels there is a decent amount of filler. Having said that, the best parts of the film are those when Emily Blunt and Matt Damon are on screen interacting together, they have a great chemistry and you want to root for them to be together. The supporting performances by Anthony Mackie, Michael Kelly, John Slattery, and Terence Stamp are very well done. As a nice getaway on a Saturday afternoon, The Adjustment Bureau works great and will keep you entertained, just don't expect a deep Sci-Fi thriller like Minority Report, which was also based on a Philip K. Dick story. I give it 5 Ninja Stars out of 10. The film is directed by George Nolfi and stars Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Anthony Mackie, Michael Kelly, John Slattery, and Terrence Stamp.

-Maximus

New DVD Review-Black Death

Black Death is an independent film starring Sean Bean as Ulric, a knight for the church during the black plague. He is tasked with leading a team into a town which is somehow not affected by the plague, and determining what black magic they are doing to remain unaffected. I assumed Black Death would be a Sean Bean vehicle to get him back in period garb and allow him to swing a sword, however there was not a lot of action in the movie, and the film felt pretty short, having said that though, it was a direct movie that got straight to the point. They did not add battles for fluff, and fought only when necessary. The acting is top notch and the darkness of the film is palpable. I enjoyed Black Death and would recommend it. I give it 7 Ninja Stars out of 10. The film is directed by Christopher Smith and stars Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, and David Warner.

-Maximus

Box Office Recap-July 18th, 2011

To no one's surprise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 won the weekend in dramatic fashion. HP7 P2 broke the record for biggest midnight opening, biggest first day, and biggest opening weekend. While other movies have sold more tickets, with inflation and 3D/Imax prices, HP7 P2 made more than any other movie has in its first 3 days with $168 million according to the AP. With it being the last HP film, there is a good chance it will hold up well as in addition to those seeing it for the first time, many fans will go back and see it a second....and third time as well. In second place was Transformers 3 with just over $21 million, pushing it over $300 million. In third and fourth place were Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper, Cars 2 rounded out the top 5. The other new wide release, Winnie the Pooh, made $8 million for 6th place, since the film cost $30 million to make, it should be able to get close to that back. The question I would ask is how in the world Winnie the Pooh shot in the same format as the old Winnie and with the same voices cost $30 million to make?

Next weekend we get Captain America and Friends with Benefits. Its a tough call to determine if Captain will make enough to dethrone HP, but expecting a decent drop for its second weekend, Captain America should hold on, I predict Captain America, Harry Potter, Friends with Benefits, Zookeeper, and Horrible Bosses will be next weeks top 5. Check back later for reviews of Harry Potter, The Adjustment Bureau, Battle: Los Angeles, and Black Death.

-Maximus

Opening This Weekend - 7/15/11

So this week we have two movies opening making it easy on me.  One is a goliath and the other is a kid's movie.  Originally you might have ranked Harry Potter into a kid's movie category but not anymore.  It is very dark, with this one promising to be the most bloody and sorrowful of them all.  The kid's movie I refer to is Winnie the Pooh.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part II
Harry Potter and crew are back for the 8th and final installment of the Harry Potter series.  Harry will finally confront the Dark Lord once and for all.  There will be the forces of good, fighting out of Hogwartz which is the last stronghold that has not fallen to the Dark Lord, against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  The wizards and witches will have to fend for themselves while their champion continues his search for the horcrux's that sustain Voldemort's evil life.  There will be a showdown but what will happen?  Will Harry have to make the ultimate sacrifice to rid the world of the most vile and evil wizard to ever walk the earth?  You'll just have to hit the theaters to see.  Being that I read the books I know what happens but that doesn't diminish the amount of excitement I have to see this movie.  If it is even remotely well done, the storyline will propel it to a solid level of awesomeness.  If they try to spice it up in their own fashion then they may in-turn ruin a no brainer of a great movie.  That has happened before folks, just ask Brett Ratner... So this movie is getting 9 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.
Check out the trailer at:

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html

Winnie the Pooh
Pooh and the gang set out to save Christopher Robins from an imaginary culprit.  They have an adventure along the way.  Not much else to say about this movie.  It is only 70 minutes long and seems like the typical Winnie the Pooh TV show just extended another 40 minutes and without commercials.  I use to enjoy this cartoon but I have kind of grown out of its age bracket.  On the Viewability Scale it would get 3 Ninja Stars out of 10.
Check the trailer out at:

http://disney.go.com/pooh/

So to recap we have:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part II         9 Ninja Stars
Winnie the Pooh     3 Ninja Stars

Check back next week for previews on Captain America: The First Avenger and Friends With Benefits.  I'm excited for Captain America so we could have another good weekend coming up.  If you see any of the movies above please comment in a way that won't ruin the movie for others (especially if you comment on Winnie the Pooh...).

-Diomedes         

Summer Movie Cage Fight-Round 2, Quarters, and Finals

We start round 2 off with a battle of heavyweights, Magneto our 4 seed vs Captain America our 6 seed. A classic battle of a hero vs a super villain. Captain recognizes right off the bat that Magneto spent time in Germany. He wrongly assumes Erik is a Nazi and starts to have WWII flashbacks, he charges in aggressively, however Magneto uses the cage bars to his advantage and is able to levitate around the cage. Captain's frustrations mount, but he was smart and did not bring a firearm into the cage, knowing Magneto could use it against him. Magneto realizes that while its an unusual metal, Captain's shield is still controllable, Magneto uses it to get Captain's arm stuck in the cage bars. He bends the cage bars around Captain, crushing him. Captain attempts to force the bars back, but Magneto is too strong, and he finishes Captain off in gruesome fashion.

Next is 3 vs 5, Thor vs. Voldemort. Voldemort starts off right away throwing killing curses at Thor, Thor deflects them all with Mojinor. Thor brings in a righteous storm, the wind picks up and Voldemort struggles to keep hold of his wand. Thor charges at Voldemort with Mojinor, and Voldemort attempts to block with his wand, however the hammer crushes the wand, with Voldemort left defenseless, Thor vanquishes him to a prison is Asgard.

Next 1 seed Optimus Prime takes on the 9 seed, the monster from Super 8. Both are the same size and don't have much room to move around the cage. In a clash of monster arms vs metal arms, neither seems to gain much of an advantage. Seeing that the fight is going nowhere, Optimus turns into a truck and begins to do circles around the monster while the monster clings to the roof of the cage, spinning trying to get leverage on Optimus. It takes Optimus a few minutes, but he gets behind the monster and draws his sword, finishing the monster with a sword through the thorax.

The last match of the second round is 2 seed Harry Potter vs 10 seed Conan the Barbarian. In another battle of range vs close quarters battle, Conan has to dodge many spells flying his way. Harry knows to beat Conan he needs to keep him at a distance. As stupify and disarming spells fly around him, Conan knows he is going to have to take a risk to beat the boy who lived. Conan narrowly avoids a disarm spell with a summersault to the right, as he stands up he heaves his sword with both arms at Harry, but the sword misses by inches. Conan, knowing he is beaten, bows his head to Harry and then charges, Harry hits Conan with a stupify spell, giving Harry the narrow victory.

The quarters come down to our top 4 seeds. Our first is the 2-3 match up, Harry Potter vs Thor. Thor walks into the cage cocky and defiant, with Mojinor down at his side. Harry tries to end the fight early and throws a disarming spell at Thor, the spell catches Thor right across the chest, but nothing happens. Thor laughs, knowing that even the most powerful wizard can't affect a God. Thor throws Mojinor at Harry who dives out of the way. Harry, knowing he has very little chance, throws his honor out the window and attempts the unforgiveable killing curse on Thor, however this also does not even phase the Prince of Asgard. As Thor gets closer Harry attempts to take Thor in hand to hand combat, but when his fists pound harmlessly off Thor's chest, Harry bows to one knee and yields, advancing Thor to the finals.

Next Magneto takes on our 1 seed, Optimus Prime. When the two match up in the cage, the size difference is comical, as Optimus dwarfs Magneto, however Magneto remains cool and collected despite his size disadvantage. The referee rings the bell just as Magneto raises a single open fist, Optimus looks perplexed as Magneto closes his fist, Optimus' arms close in around his torso, his legs fold up behind him, and Optimus falls to the ground. Despite what must be pure agony for Optimus, he does not scream out. Magneto has his foe beaten, but instead of just letting the battle be over, he crushes Optimus mercilessly. When Optimus was left as just a sardine can, Magneto walks out of the cage with out another word.

With both our quarter final match ups being complete mismatches, we have to hope our finals match is worthy of the characters it involves. Our 4 seed Magneto beat Jake Longerhan, Captain America, and Optimus Prime on his way to the finals, with Captain America giving him his only real challenge. Thor took down Megatron, Voldemort and Harry Potter. The referee calls for the fighters, Magneto comes into the cage. Thor comes from the locker room, but he comes in without his hammer Mojinor, or any of his armor. Thor is wearing just his blue spandex. Magneto smiles, showing no surprise or fear. As the bell rings, Thor instantly starts calling in some weather related assistance, a large tornado starts up in the distance. Magneto begins to bend bars of the cage around himself, by the time the tornado is on top of him, he is secured safely in his self made cage. Thor realizes the tornado is not going to destroy Magneto, so he lets it dissipate. Magneto unfolds the bars, and begins using them like tentacles whipping at Thor, Thor avoids them with some nifty rolls and ducks. The battle rages on for nearly twenty minutes, Thor gets some punches in, and Magneto connects with a few of his cage bar tentacles, but neither is heavily damaged and both are showing signs of fatigue. Thor, knowing there is no advantage for either fighter, shoves a fist to the sky, and in a flash of lighting, Mojinor flies into Thor's hand, he charges. Magneto sees his chance just as Thor is upon him, Thor raises Mojinor and brings it down upon Magneto, as the hammer falls, Magneto pushes his hands up in the air and pushes back on the hammer. The hammer is stuck straight up in the air, caught between the brute force of Thor and the magnetic control of Magneto. Like a tense arm wrestling match, the hammer doesn't lean towards either side, but as time goes on, the hammer begins to shake violently from the stress being put on it. Magneto, knowing eventually Thor's deity like strength will overpower him, blinks his eyes, his helmet begins to rise from his head, you can see the panic on Thor's face, but he cannot release the handle of the hammer. With a thrust of his head the helmet flies directly into the face of Thor, causing his arms to slack, the sheer force of Magneto's power sends the hammer slamming down into Thor's unprotected head. Thor falls helplessly back to the mat, the referee counts 1, 2, 3, and declares Magneto the winner.

So after all of this, Magneto wins the title of most powerful summer blockbuster character. Disagree with my results? Feel free to let me know in the comments section.

Tune in next summer when we see Captain America and Thor back in action against Iron Man, Batman, Bane, Catwoman, Edward Cullen, Spock, Superman, Hawkeye, Loki, Zeus, Spiderman, Lizard, Ethan Hunt, Snake Eyes, and Stormshadow.

Summer Movie Cage Fight-Seeding and the First Round

In my box office recap I mentioned that I believe the boy wizard will beat Optimus Prime and Jack Sparrow's box office totals, but it got me thinking of another question, who of the three would win in a cage fight? Now if we were to just take all the main characters from our big summer box office films and pit them against each other, who wins? In order to have a tournament, we need seeding. I seeded the characters based off how awesome they are at fighting, and be warned, minor spoilers may be contained below.

1. Optimus Prime-Giant robot, can both use a sword and turn into a semi-truck, plus he can spout encouraging things like nobodies business.
2. Harry Potter-Has become quite a powerful wizard since the first book/movie. Seeded behind Optimus only because without his wand....he is worthless.
3. Thor-Well he is a God, and has a huge hammer. Seeded third because his father can take away his powers anytime he chooses.
4. Magneto-Can control metal objects, and has a helmet that keeps him from being controlled by telepaths.
5. Voldemort-The most powerful dark wizard since Slytherin himself......only that pesky boy wizard stands in his path.
6. Captain America-Super soldier who can throw his shield really hard, can also use a gun if he chooses.
7. Green Lantern-On paper his power of being able to create anything he wants should make him number 1, but he loses points for being lame, not to mention Hal Jordan's cockiness may be a hindrance in battle.
8. Charles Xavier-Professor X can control people and things using only his mind, his moral reluctance though may hurt him against most of these foes.
9. Super 8 Monster-Hard to tell how powerful the monster is based off just getting to see him briefly, but his spider like features and sheer size should make him a force to be reckoned with. Also once you touch him, you feel for him and he could use that.
10. Conan the Barbarian-If it was Swarzenegger, we would rank him 1, but we are not yet sure what this Conan brings to the table.
11. Priest-Vampire hunter, great gadgets, driven by hate. He can fight vampires, but what about the rest of this crew?
12. Jack Sparrow-Wit, swordplay, but his lack of physical strength means he may have to outwit to win.
13. Jake Longerhan-A cowboy with an alien blaster attached to his arm, enough said.
14. Megatron-Another large robot, loses ranking because Optimus keeps kicking his ass.
15. Po-The Kung Fu Panda himself has grown into quite the karate expert, he will need all his training.
16. Hobo-Well he has a shotgun and a nasty disposition......and that's it.

So the seeding is done, now the battle commences....

Our first battle is 1 vs 16, Optimus Prime versus the Hobo with a shotgun, not much of a battle as the Hobo's shotgun blasts bounce off Optimus like nothing, Optimus makes quick work of the Hobo, and then gives a speech honoring the fallen.

Next we have 2 vs 15, Harry Potter vs Po, Harry hits Po with a stun spell before Po can even get close, Harry then hits Po with a befuddlement charm and Po wanders out of the cage confused.

Next its 3 vs 14, Thor vs Megatron. The first close battle, Thor puts Megatron on his back a few times with his hammer, but as he was about to finish him, Starscream distracts the ref and hits Thor in the back with a chair. Thor is dazed and takes a few big hits from Megatron, however Mojinor has a mind of its own, and aids Thor while he is down taking out Starscream and knocking Megatron down in the process. Once Thor gets his wits back, he brings in a tornado that sweeps Megatron out of the cage and carries him to Asgard, once on Thor's home turf, Thor and Mojinor make quick work of Megatron, who ends up resembling a tin can.

In our 4 vs 13 battle, Magneto takes on Jake Longerhan, while Jake is quick with his pistol and gets some good shots off with his alien wrist blaster, Magneto realizes early on that both Jake's gun and blaster are made of metal, and turns them both on Longerhan, Magneto shows no mercy from there.

Next is 5 vs 12, Voldemort vs Jack Sparrow. In a battle of heavyweights, Jack prances out of the way of a few killing curses, he continues the dodging process for close to an hour, spouting incoherent sentences the entire time, after the first hour ends, Voldemort is mentally exhausted. Jack sees his chance and gets in close, but he doesn't go for the kill, instead he snatches Voldemort's wand, points it at Voldemort and says something no one in the vicinity can understand, the wand lights up a purple color and backfires, hitting Jack in the chest, Sparrow turns into a monkey and attempts to flee, however Voldemort will have none of it. He reclaims his wand and with the flick of a wrist, the monkey becomes nothing but a pile of clothes and gold teeth.

In the 6 vs 11 battle, we get Captain America vs Priest. This is a ranged battle, Captain's shield flies from one end of the cage to the other, while Priest's ninja star crosses narrowly miss Captain's head. After a lot of dodging, Priest is out of throwing stars, but Captain's shield just keeps coming back to him, with a strong throw the shield puts Priest down for the count.

In the 7 vs 10 match up, the Green Lantern Hal Jordan takes on Conan the Barbarian. Conan aggressively comes after Hal with his sword, Hal believes he can handle him so he has the ring create a sword of his own, however Conan is the better swordsman, and Hal realizes it too late, while he is trying to create something else to aid him, Conan takes advantage. With one swing of his sword, Conan gives us our first upset.

In our last match up of the first round, we get Professor X vs the Super 8 monster. Professor X knows physically he like a mouse going up against a lion, so he goes right to work trying to get into the monsters head. However the monster does not have a brain configuration that Charles can decode, as the monster charges, Xavier has to resort to attempting to use telekinesis, however there is nothing in the cage to throw at the monster, and before the audience has a chance to blink, Xavier is cocooned and hanging from the top of the cage.

This concludes the first round, but the subsequent rounds promise to be real nail biters. Check back later for the remaining battles!

Box Office Recap-July 10th, 2011

I was on the right track with last weeks predictions, as Transformers did maintain the number one spot. However the order of my 2-6 was a little off, but regardless of my incorrect guessing, the box office remained very strong this weekend. Transformers became the years biggest domestic success in only its second weekend, besting the domestic totals of Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Thor, X-men: First Class, and all the other big films to be released this year. Transformers 3 appears to be headed towards becoming the years second global billion dollar movie alongside Pirates 4. In second place, R-rated comedies remained strong with Horrible Bosses opening to a very impressive $28 million according to the AP. Behind Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II, and Bad Teacher, this gives the summer alone four very successful R-rated comedies, and it appears we are headed towards a new comedy era. In third place was the other new wide release, Zookeeper starring Kevin James. The film took in a decent yet underwhelming $21 million. I assumed the total would be closer to Paul Blart's $31 million, but considering all the box office competition and the fact it should hold up well, $21 million does not mean failure. Cars 2 made another $15 million for 4th place, the film has dropped quite a bit for a Pixar film, but still has made a decent amount of money. However with the critical panning it has been getting versus Pixar's generally strongly reviewed films and the fast drop in ticket sales, we may not see a third Cars film. In fifth place was the aforementioned Bad Teacher, which has held up  well for such a poorly reviewed film. Larry Crowne made another $6 million for 6th place. I assumed the older audience who didn't show up for Larry Crowne due to Transformers crowded multiplexes last week would show up this week, however I was apparently wrong. Larry Crowne did not have to make very much money to break even, but even that may be difficult at this stage.

Next week.............comes the big fish. Will the boy wizard make more than Optimus Prime and Jack Sparrow? My assumption is the final Harry Potter installment will fight for a top ten all time box office spot. So in no uncertain terms my prediction for next week is Harry Potter 7.2 in an overwhelming first place, followed by Transformers, Zookeeper, Horrible Bosses, and Bad Teacher. Also we get a Winnie the Pooh film next week but I doubt that makes any impact on the box office at all.

-Maximus

Movie Review- Super 8

Super 8 is story about children and their fathers, and the bond between them. Yes there is a supernatural backdrop that no one understands, but make no mistake, the film is about the relationships between all the main characters. Super 8 is the type of movie that is hard to review because I don't want to give anything away, but from the trailers you can tell a group of children filming their own zombie film witness a train crash, and the train had more than just your usual cargo. Soon the military is showing up and people are disappearing from the small town, and the main kids want to know what is going on. The majority of the actors in Super 8 are unknowns, but people will recognize Kyle Chandler (King Kong) as the sheriff, Ron Eldard (ER) as the town drunk, Elle Fanning (Somewhere), and Noah Emmerich (The Truman Show). The majority of the movie I absolutely loved, that dissipated a bit towards the end but only because of how high the bar was set for the first three quarters of the film. All the child actors do a tremendous job, and J.J. Abrams is masterful behind the camera. I highly recommend seeing the film, even if you are not a fan of Sci-fi as a whole. I give Super 8....8 Ninja Stars out of 10.

-Maximus

Box Office Recap-4th of July Weekend

After a break for vacation, we are back and there was some big box office happenings this weekend. Transformers: Dark of the Moon made over $116 million on the 4 day weekend according to the AP. Since it opened last Tuesday, the film has made around $186 million, while this is behind Transformer: Rise of the Fallen's 6 day total, its still a great number. At least until Harry Potter 7.2 opens in a few weeks, Transformers will remain the biggest opening weekend of the year. In second and third place were holdovers Cars 2 and Bad Teacher. New release Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts made over $15 million, which is a respectable total for an adult dramedy opening against Transformers. Super 8 landed in 5th place, and continues to hold up well even after several weeks in release. The weekends other new wide release, Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez, made $8 million for 6th place.

Next week we get R rated comedy Horrible Bosses with Charlie Day and Jason Bateman, as well as Zookeeper with Kevin James. I predict Transformers will remain in first place, followed by Zookeeper which should take in the same amount or more than Paul Blart: Mall Cop. In third will be Horrible Bosses, followed by Cars 2 and Larry Crowne. I would think that Larry Crowne should hold up well considering many older movie goers will not have wanted to go to the theater on Transformers opening weekend. Check back later this week for reviews of Super 8, The Adjustment Bureau, and The Rite.

-Maximus