Thursday, August 20, 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The latest Potter installment is also the best, though it doesn't really have any right to be. To explain, it's best to go through a little bit of nerd-talk. Also, there are spoilers for the next films. If you're the type that hasn't read the books and has miraculously managed to remain ignorant of the finale's plot details, I suggest you skim through at your risk. There are also spoilers for the movie, but, duh.

Around the time that Steve Kloves began working on the screenplay for Chamber of Secrets, the second film in the series, he and author J.K. Rowling decided that the films would tell the Potter stories strictly from Harry's (Dan Radcliffe) point of view. As Harry is the protagonist of the books, it was at the time a completely reasonable decision from an adapter's point of view, and was probably the best avenue to distill the increasingly gargantuan books into 2 and a half hour films.

Until you get to book 6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the novel, is the only Potter novel that is NOT about Harry. Book 6 is about Voldemort and Snape, and Harry does very little himself other than listen to Dumbledore, and learn about Voldemort. What this means is that MOVIE 6 becomes the point where the films completely and absolutely part ways with the books. And so we have a situation where the movie has the same plot, and the same things happen, and yet it's telling a totally different story than the novel.

It's not a bad story, by any means. In fact it's quite good. Director David Yates and returning writer Kloves successfully, and I daresay artfully, create a world of impending doom, with a tangible sense of fear, without even having Voldemort appear in the film at all. The only difference is, the story is from Harry's point of view. We see him and his friends deal with this changing world. This results in new scenes (including the much maligned Burning of the Burrow, and the drastically altered finale), all of which I totally approve of. For the first time, the movies are a different monster from the books, and I think that given the game plan, this is the best way to approach this film.

*SPOILERS FOR MOVIES 7/8 IN THIS PARAGRAPH*

That isn't to say that I don't have issues. Being familiar with the books, I worry that this film has dropped several important details that I can't reconcile with the next two films, try as I might. But in the end, those quibbles affect the next two films, and not this one. THIS film features spectacular acting from all around (though Emma Watson's Hermione continues to be the weak link, as Radcliffe and Rupert Grint's Ron continue to grow leaps and bounds past her as actors). As for the usual stable of Britain's finest, Michael Gambon as Dumbledore finds himself the true star of the movie, more than aptly filling Richard Harris' admittedly large shoes. I've truly enjoyed his take on Dumbledore, and given an actual arc here, he has been nothing short of delightful, and I can't wait to see his return in the final installment.

*NO MORE SPOILERS*

That said, I am disappointed that Alan Rickman wasn't given the chance to shine as Snape truly becomes the villain of the piece, as he was relegated to a few (key, meaty, to be sure) scenes throughout. I assume, however, that the next films will have considerably more of this new, evil Snape. And I can never praise enough Helena Bonham Carter's delightfully insane Bellatrix Lestrange. This is a character I cannot get enough of, and I am extremely happy to see her role continue to be expanded from the books.

Most of all, though, this feels like a very mature Potter film. It is dark, and it is grown up, and it forces its main characters, as well of its audience, to be the same. I can only applaud everyone involved for not shying away from the core of Rowling's stories, which take you to very dark places indeed before assuring you that everything will be alright, in the end. Color me a big fan of this one.

A-

District 9

I can't really bring myself to continue reviewing bad movies, so I'll continue along with District 9 before doing Brüno and Public Enemies (which wasn't so much bad as it was not very good).

District 9 is a very, very hyped up movie. It has been hyped up since before it was even District 9 (the film began life as the highly awaited Halo adaptation, but video game developers Microsoft and Bungie couldn't get on the same page with the studio, hence District 9). And it does, in fact, live up to the hype. District 9 is a perfectly excellent sci-fi actioner, and I have no complaints.

Well, except for one. This movie was hyped as SO DIFFERENT. This movie will BLOW YOUR MIND. "Unconventional" was tossed around a lot. And the first act or so does. The movie is a rather stunning apartheid allegory with creepy aliens who are still somewhat sympathetic, and it really works on that level, and it's very unlike anything we've really seen in cinema. And then in the third act, it turns into a run-of-the-mill shoot-'em-up. Like, seriously. The entire third act is main character Wikus and his alien companion Christopher sneaking into a lab, and then shooting their way out, and then the movie is over, just barely returning to some semblance of drama at the ending (about which, the ending is very sentimental, and I like it, but it really doesn't feel like the same movie as the beginning).

Let's talk again about the first act, as it was my favorite part of the movie. The film opens with Wikus (played to perfection by Sharlto Copley, who should get SO MANY ROLES after this film) recording some kind of office home video for the MNU, who are in charge of quarantining the aliens. This is juxtaposed with documentary footage that takes place, chronologically, after the film's conclusion. The horrific images of abuse of these aliens in District 9, juxtaposed with goofball, Michael Scott-esque Wikus, is truly unsettling, and creates a dichotomy that continues through much of the movie.

I don't want to say the film gets bad at any point, because it really doesn't. And I'm a sucker for sentiment, so the ending doesn't bother me, and clearly this movie has something to say. I mostly just am let down by the lagging third act, which degenerates an otherwise sublime film into the merely average. It does the job better than most other sci-fi films, but I had hoped that District 9 would be something more for the entire running time, and not just the first 2/3rds.

B+

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

G.I. Joe Is the Best Movie Ever (Sort Of)

So I'm gonna start the backlog with the most recent, and then work my way back. And what a difficult film to talk about here. Movies like G.I. Joe often make me doubt the effectiveness of a letter grading system, or, really, any kind of ranking system at all, when it comes to movies. Let's face it, G.I. Joe sucks. It is truly terrible, in just about every way that a movie can be terrible. The acting is poor, the writing doesn't make sense, it's got literally every single action cliché you can imagine.

But I LOVED it. I honestly don't think I've had more fun at a movie this summer than I did at this one. It is, in every way, what happens when you put a bunch G.I. Joe toys on the big screen, running solely on spectacle and nostalgia and not losing a bit of steam right through to the cliffhanger, sequel-guaranteed ending. If I had my druthers, I'd give the thing an A+ and get on with my life.

Now, clearly I can't in good conscious do that, because that would imply that G.I. Joe is better than several movies I've reviewed this year, and just as good as "Up" was, and neither of those things is true, by any stretch of the imagination. But you'd better believe that I enjoyed this movie more than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, like a lot, largely because G.I. Joe didn't make me want to stab my eyes out every 15 minutes. In fact, I would happily watch G.I. Joe again, and I wouldn't even feel like I wasted my 10 dollars. The movie is fun, pure and simple, and anyone expecting anything more is clueless about what G.I. Joe is actually supposed to be (and those same people probably think Transformers is worth watching, which is just not true).

You know what? Fuck it.

A+