Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2

Feel good comedy of the year

So I like the Harry Potter franchise. I love the books, the films, some of the games; the whole package. And it's with a heavy heart in which is say that this is where it all ends. because it feels like an entire era is crashing down all at once. So it's my job to decide whether or not, after 10 years of hype and holler, it was all worth it. Is "Pottermania" justified as a rival to "Beatlemania"?

So, unless you've built a house under a mountain of rocks, are both blind and deaf, or generally ignorant, I would imagine you know what's at stake here. Harry, Ron and Hermione have to find the final horcruxes, Voldemort is making his march on Hogwarts to kill Harry Potter; pretty much the fate of the entire world hinges on whether or not Harry can destroy the dark lord. This is where everything ends. All ends are tied, all i's are doted, and all t's crossed. If you've ever watched a Harry Potter film, or read any Harry Potter book, you'll understand what's going on, and what will happen.

Or so I thought. As someone who's read all the books a few times each, and seen all the films, it's strange that I was lost at the beginning of this film. And that's the first issue with Part 2; you're thrown to the dogs. Unless you've read the book or seen Part 1 pretty recently, you'll have to take a few minutes to gather your bearings, to let your mind figure out what the fuck is going on. It's fine once you get going, but this is an issue that could've been resolved with a 20 minutes catch-up session instead of excessive amounts of trailers and adverts. Just saying.

And once it gets going, you're going to drop your jaw. Every generated area is crafted with such grandeur and bombast that, at times, you may be taken aback with sheer awe. Green screening and real landscapes mix near seemlessly. I say near because, and here's issue number two; this film is in 3D. Something I've noticed with alot of 3D films is, in its current form, it can't handle depth particularly well. Which is strange seeing as the Z-axis is extended somewhat. The 3D in this film seems, nay, IS, tacked on. it makes the green screening stick out, it throws characters into the foreground and takes you out of the moment. All I can see its use for is for floating particle effects. If you can find the film in 2D, watch it that way; it'll save you about £3 per ticket, and you'll seep into the action effortlessly.

As this is the last film in the saga, there's a hell of a lot more emphasis on how the characters have developed since the series opener all those years ago. And, while it's clear that both Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have evolved somewhat into competent thespians, the lead (Daniel Radcliffe) certainly has not. I kid you not, from the first to the last minute, he gives the same emotionless, monotonous performance he's given since 2000. He's on the brink of being half decent. But, for someone who's taken 10 years out of their life to be in this project, that certainly isn't good enough. (Issue number three) The entire film hinges on him giving a performance of a lifetime. And he does. But his previous performances in these films ARE his lifetime, and they're shockingly terrible. That said, Ralph Fiennes makes for a truly terrifying Voldemort, and Alan Rickman is as haunting as he's ever been in the Role of Snape. Leave it to the professionals, eh Dan?

If you've read the book you'll know that this chapter in the over-arcing saga is the biggest in terms of combat and action. And, in many respects, this film does that outlook justice. Hogwarts is the backdrop to the most ambition face seen in the film serious. Literally hundreds of innocent extras are mercilessly cast down in, what can only be described as, a Helms Deep killer. There are firefights all across the castle. As Harry struggles to piece together the clues leading him to another Horcrux, all the good guys do their best to fend off the Dark Lords army, in one way or another. Characters you've come to love (Neville, Luna, Seamus, Cho Chang, amongst others) get their chance in the spotlight. Especially Neville; in a moment where a bridge is collapsing and he's fleeing for his life, he finds the time to become the action man no one expected. Luna (Evanna Lynch) continues to surprise everyone, delivering another outlandishly captivating performance built upon the strange and amusing.

I'm not done with characters yet, by the way. This is a MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING, WHICH WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE VERY END OF THIS REVIEW. I SURE AS HELL AM NOT AVOIDING THE END OF THIS FILM, AND WILL TALK ABOUT IT IN EXTENSIVE DETAIL, SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Harry realises what he needs to do in order to end this madness, and carries his sorry ass off to the forbidden forest to meet his maker. Voldemort Advada Kedavra's him right in the crest, and he dies (pssssss, not really.) What follows is Harry returning from the dead, and the final battle commencing, with several secondary characters kicking the bucket. Now that's fine, it's in the book, but I'm sure J.K.Rowling didn't intend to build Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Botham Carter, brilliant performer since the order of the phoenix, by the way) up as a character, just to see her cut down in a matter of moments. And this is issue number four, and possibly the most crucial; big characters are killed off without any fanfare. It just happens. In the book, Fred Weasley was murdered in a huge scene leading to emotional sentiments from his twin brother, George. There's one minute spent on this in the film. Bellatrix Lestrange has become quite the prominent character in this series. Killed off in a matter of seconds. Snape gets the chop in an unforgiving manner. But, what's most unforgiving, is that Voldemort dies in a very un-noble manner. It just happens. This was the opportunity to get the great hall involved one last time; et the glass shattering, the students riled up; but it happens outside, and he dissolves. And it doesn't feel right. I'm all up for changing the book if it makes the film better, but it DOESN'T MAKE THE FILM BETTER.

So, in conclusion, Part 2 is the biggest, most bombastic Harry Potter film to date. More often that not the cast gives some truly excellent performances. You'll come away from this film feeling satisfied. But only that. it's a film that could've done with an extra half hour/45 minutes to give the deaths more impact, to make the film more complete.

Up until Potter learns his fate this was a 10/10, ring the academy we might finally see a Harry Potter film nominated for an Oscar-type of film. Then it speeds up to 100 miles an hour, and leaves you behind wondering "what happened there?" Don't get me wrong, it's a good film. A really good film. But it's not without its shortcomings. This is a film that will leave you, an the series, satisfied. But nothing more.

8/10

How do you end a film set in a box? A beginner's guide to the film, Buried.

The totally unrealistic Buried; Blackberrys so don't have 91 minutes' worth of battery.

Now I'm not going to pretend to be a film critic or movie geek. I simply know what I like and dislike.

Last night, I watched the 2010 thriller Buried. If you don't know the plot of the film (which I'll let you off for - I didn't), Ryan Reynolds' character, Paul Conroy finds himself stuck in a coffin, underground in Iraq. Terrorists have put him in there, and he has to phone people for help, against the clock, and try and escape from the box. The thing is (spoilers here), he doesn't. Sand begins flooding the box, and Paul dies.

Which begs my question: what's the right way to end a film like this?

The cornerstone of Buried - or gimmick - is that it's a film set in a box. If Paul escapes, it's not longer a film set in a box, so for art's sake, Paul must die. In the box, naturally. My only problem with that is this: films from The Lion King to Lord of the Rings all take on a journey. Paul doesn't move physically on this journey. He thinks he'll die at the start; he does in the end. That's like saying that you got on the tube at Oxford Street, and the train didn't leave. You knew the train wouldn't move, yet you still stayed in your seat. Is that a journey? And if it is, is it worth making a film about? This film however is a example of a beginning, a middle and an end brilliantly executed:

Take another film set within the confines of four walls, The Truman Show. It's radically different, but same rules apply; Truman is trapped in a world built by a television mogul, and the film revolves around him finding out the truth and trying to escape. Spoilers here. Imagine if Christof, the creator, had killed Truman in the storm, before he reached the end of the world, uttered his catchphrase, and opened the door into the outside world? That would have thoroughly changed my opinion of the film.

I feel slightly led-on by Buried duo, director Rodrigo Cortés and writer Chris Sparling. There's only so much rollercoaster ride you can pack into a coffin (metaphorically speaking of course), and it's really not that much, but the ending doesn't have The Truman Show's satisfying conclusion. It's safe to say I was disappointed with Buried. I'd liken it to a goalless cup final, minus the extra time and penalty shoot-out; 90 minutes of nothing special, followed by a crushing blow of disappointment. I'm not sure what I wanted to happen to Paul Conroy but it wasn't sand-asphyxiation, that's for sure.

The Green Hornet in 3D- Review

Seth Rogan (Superbad, Knocked up) is Britt Reid, son of a millionaire, party animal extraordinaire. After the loss of his father to an allergic reaction, Britt inherits his fathers millions, and his media tycoon. After a night fighting crime with employee "Kato", played by Jay Chao, the pair agree that becoming masked vigilantes is the way forward. The pair look to take down, what is essentially, the Los Angeles mafia, and regain order and integrity to the LA that Reids' father once knew, whilst battling personal issues on the way. With a twist, however. To stop innocent civilians getting hurt, or killed, the pair act as criminals. Hence the tagline "Breaking the law to protect it".

If you were to imagine modern day superhero films on a line, with Kick-Ass on the "all out comedy" side, and The Dark Knight on the "deadly serious, hell this may as well be real life" side, with Spider-Man in the middle, The Green Hornet leans towards the Kick-Ass side. It's cliched, it's predictable. But at the same time, it's very funny. The characters, to an extent, are well written, and every superhero film convention used to great effect, and this adds to the comedy played out on screen.

Seth Rogan does a decent job of playing the selfish millionaire (clearly taking some inspiration from a certain Robert Downey Jr). Everything that he said is very casual. At times it feels too casual. Certain action scenes that could potentially be really tense are tainted by Rogans want to get another laugh. More than likely this is down to the reuniting of him and his writing partner from Superbad; Evan Goldberg. The script isn't as good as Superbad, of course it isn't, but they get across that they want it to be fun. They want the audience to enjoy themselves.

The role of Kato is almost show stealing. Chao did a good job of portraying an uptight, anxious, stressed side kick looking for more than being know as "The Green Hornet's sidekick". Stand out, for me at least, was the role of "Chudnofsky", played by Christoph Waltz. Waltz brilliantly played a gangster afraid of being left in the dark. Always making sure his associates are scared of him, always looking for a way to get his name said again, I was very impressed by the overall performance.

As mentioned earlier, the film was written by the pair that wrote Superbad. I suppose it isn't bad. The story is quite engaging, to be fair. But it relies too heavily on the character interation to drive it forward. Cameron Diaz plays a part in the overall film, however her character is almost non-existent. Her character is written boring, and as a result, she is boring. You feel that more time had been put into the inventions for the black beauty, and the jokes for Rogan to be a part of, rather than the overall character development.

The Green Hornet is not the film you go to see when you're looking to be impressed. The 3D is tacked on, and, until the credits, it's hardly noticeable. It's not a film to win any awards, either. It's stupid, it's silly, it's violent. But it's exactly those thing that make it funny, and somewhat charming. Some of the action sequences are genuinely brilliant, and you'll laugh at least once. At the very least, it's the closest to a summer blockbuster you'll find at the start of the year.

127 Hours- Review

127 Hours is the latest film from Oscar winning director Danny Boyle, known for 2008's Slumdog Millionaire and 2002's 28 Days Later. Reportedly waiting four years to craft this piece of cinema, Boyle has filmed one of the most personal experiences possibly in the history of cinema.

Aron Ralston is a rock climber, mountaineer and all round thrill seeker. One weekend he travels out to the canyons of Utah. Whilst taking on one of the canyons, a rock traps his arm and leaves him stranded with little more than a litre of water, a few chocolate bars and his climbing gear. Over the course of five days, Ralston remembers past friends, loves, and his family, and comes to the realisation this rock was destined for him since birth.

127 Hours is a true story, so it's no wonder why the story extremely personal. Every word said, every action acted, it's all very precise, very emotional. And this is, in no small part, down to James Franco, best known for his role in the Spider-man trilogy. Franco puts everything into his performance that you genuinely feel for the man. Franco does everything right in this picture, and I wholeheartedly believe he should at least receive a nomination, if not win, an Academy Award for his role in this picture.

As you'd expect, the film is padded with flashbacks. Yes, they can get a bit tedious, yes they can get slightly confusing. But for the most part, they flesh out a potentially mundane story brilliantly, adding significant depth to Francos character, and offer much more than expected. You get an insight into how the man trapped in a cave came to be, you get an emotional connection to the players in his life. It's wonderfully bound.

But where the real film lies is the video diary entries he partakes in each day. The shorts allow for some comic relief, as well as giving the audience a view into the growing madness of Ralston, who fully believes this canyon will be his tomb.

Ultimately 127 Hours is a superb effort. Everything about it screams "Award Winner". Acted brilliantly, directed brilliantly, delivered brilliantly. The best film of 2011 may have arrived on the fifth of the first month. If you don't see it, you'll miss out on an unbelievable treat.