Evangelism
Harry Potter And The Past Ten Years
There’s an intrinsic link between Harry Potter and age. So many of its readers have grown up with Potter, although hopefully they’ve not aged at the same rate, as the seven years of the characters took ten for both the books and the films. There was also, when it first started, an issue around the credibility of Potter, especially if you were reading it and weren’t the same age as the young wizard and his friends. Sadly, neither the Mr Men books or The Very Hungry Caterpillar have been published with adult covers to allow you to read them on public transport and to pretend you’re retaining your street cred – and if that ever changes, let me know as I’ve always wanted to read Mr Tickle again – but as Pottermania buried itself deep into the public consciousness, then you became lacking in credibility if you weren’t obsessed with finding out the latest misadventures of a boy and his wand. Ahem.
From a personal point of view, it marks the end of a peculiar journey for me. I saw the first one at the cinema with my nineteen year old girlfriend at the time, so felt comfortable from a perspective that (a) I hadn’t read the books, and (b) I was just going to keep her company so watching some tiny wizards wasn’t going to affect my life one way or the other. Fast forward nine years, to 2010 and three things had changed. My nineteen year old girlfriend had become my twenty-eight year old wife; she had read all of the books on day of release, so had known the final outcome for some time; and I had started a film blog, so felt compelled to see the events to their conclusion. So compelled, in fact, that when I missed Half-Blood Prince at the cinema, I bought the DVD from my local Asda’s bargain bin so I could be up to speed before watching Deathly Hallows. How times change.
Yes, the first film came out only two months after 9/11, and in that time the lives of anyone who’s watched it have been changed, although in all likelihood unless they’re the most rabid obsessive their lives have not been changed by watching the films themselves. I’m a moderate Potter fan, and have gone from being able to take them or leave them to being able to slightly more take them than leave them. But looking back, I do wonder how many of them have actually been great films? There’s only one way to find out.
1. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
It’s impossible to look back now without a sense of fondness and novelty at the original film, but looking back it’s also impossible to escape the slightly perfunctory nature of the whole enterprise. It did an acceptable job of setting up all of the elements, but was no doubt significantly overlong and the young nature of the cast and the slavish adherence to the book meant that there wasn’t anything more than the mildest of perils, a very linear plot which established the main characters and little in the way of genuine excitement or tension. The one good thing to come from the first film is John Williams’ fantastic themes, which have thankfully survived all the way to the end of the series. No doubt enjoyable if you were a fan of the books, the thrill of seeing the characters on the big screen may have been a little lost on those coming cold to the films. 5/10
2. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
The second year, and as with so many franchises, free of the requirement to establish the key elements, the plot can flow better and characters can start to develop. Yes, there were problems; the plotting was still a little too flabby, and the series did itself a favour by making this the last time in the director’s chair for Chris Columbus, and of course the fact that it’s the second in a long franchise means that there can’t be too much development. But Kenneth Branagh’s Gilderoy Lockhart was a delight, the tension and threat level increased nicely and it felt like the franchise was becoming well and truly established. (At this point, Daniel Radcliffe still hadn’t quite learned how to act properly, sadly.) 6/10
3. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Wow. The move to a new director not only breathed new life into the series, it saw it soar to new heights, both literally and figuratively. Finally the youngsters had reached an age where the material could be properly dark and Alfonso Cuaron was absolutely the right choice to explore that. Everything, from the Dementors to the scenes in the forest with Buckbeak has a scope and breadth that has been sorely missing from the previous films. The wider plot and the characters of Sirius and Remus give a bolder feel to the series as a whole, and although densely plotted the film manages to remain easy to understand and compelling through all the tricks and turns of the narrative. A high point for the series, but one that sadly it would never quite reach again. 9/10
4. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
Another new director, but the series maintained its course and achieved again a good balance between the demands of portraying events of the school year, this time given variety by the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and then the darkness of the last half hour with the return of Voldemort, and the realisation that no-one is safe and that the consequences are real. There’s a good sense of fun as well, though, as the first flushes of adolescence come to bear on all of the characters and some jealousies rear their heads. Mike Newell takes what looks to be a very dense and story-packed book and pares it down to the bare essentials, but the streamlined plot and the later action make this another well worth watching. 8/10
5. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
So the Dark Lord has returned, and the battle truly begins. Some of the best characters of the series, including Dolores Umbridge and Bellatrix Lestrange, make their first appearance, but we’re in a slight holding pattern and consequently there’s a feeling of familiarity beginning to set in, despite the fresh faces and the increased focus on the youngsters and their rebellion plans. David Yates is the third new director in as many films, but while he does a perfectly acceptable job the scale has once again gone missing, and only the final battle at the Ministry of Magic really stands out. At least Daniel Radcliffe’s voice has now fully broken and he’s starting to show signs of becoming a quality actor. 7/10
6. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
The plot wheels turn ever more slowly, and this one would be better titled Harry Potter And The Endless Exposition. A means to kill Voldemort is arrived upon, but by the end of this one you may already have begun to have lost track of exactly how close to achieving that goal our heroes actually are. The magical world intrudes dangerously on the real world for the first time in the series, and then promptly fails to follow that up with any real sense of threat, and even the climatic death feels somehow strangely undersold, as events aren’t as earth-shattering as they should be. The fact that most of the material from the trailers released happens in the second half of the film is revealing in the sense of how little happens here, and apart from the main death we’re just biding time before the finale. 6/10
And finally we come to the Deathly Hallows, split into two films because the makers couldn’t work out what to cut. And for these two, as I’ve seen them since I started the blog, both have received full reviews, but for the sake of completeness here I will say that thankfully the downward trend was reversed over the last two films. But check here for the full reviews of Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2.
So, the series managed to serve up one excellent film, two great ones, two good ones, two moderately good and one resolutely average film. Not bad for an eight film series, and while it won’t be held in the same regard as the original Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings trilogies by most fans, or this middle-aged blogger, this franchise has been great for keeping just about every British actor in work for the last ten years, and is a worthy addition to anyone’s film library. It will be fascinating to see where Messrs. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson are in another ten years…
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Looking Movies For July 2011
Trailers time again. We’re now in the peak of the summer season, but apart from one week when Harry Potter and the Whatever Thingy will be on in every screen in your local multiplex, there seems to be a lot on offer and most of it should stand at least a chance of nabbing one of the smaller screens in your art house or larger multiplex. I’ve left out Harry Potter, as it’s another one of those that you’ll not even be worried about seeing the trailer if you’re a fan, and you’ll not want to see the trailer if you’re not, even though it is an extremely well put together promo and bodes well for the end of the franchise.
I’ve also left out The Tree Of Life. The trailer did leave me slightly cold, but not anywhere near as cold as I felt when I watched the only previous Malick film I’ve seen in a cinema, The Thin Red Line, and even with an intermission I can’t remember the last time a film tested my patience quite as much. I hope that my tastes have matured somewhat in the thirteen years since that came out, but I’ll hopefully find out this week one way or the other.
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Looking Movies For June 2011
It’s now well and truly summer. If the fact that your local multiplex is clogged up with soggy Pirates and men with Hangovers isn’t enough to put you off going to the cinema, then the fact that it’s sunny outside, an event which still inspires conversation and debate in this country due to its seemingly relative rarity, means that you may not want to spend two hours or more in a dark room. I’d remind you that it’s normally a cool dark room if the air conditioning is on, and that while you will normally see the same old scenery outside, you can actually see something different if you’re looking at the right walls inside.
And actually, this summer hasn’t been half bad so far. Despite my misgivings nearly twelve months ago about the barrage of sequels that would be upon this year, many of them have turned out to be great so far, including Thor, Kung Fu Panda 2 and X-Men: First Class. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find something a little more intimate, more daring or just a little different to a bog standard blockbuster, it just means you have to try that little bit harder. If you are willing to put that little bit extra in, here’s six of the best that might well tempt you this month.
Senna
In the world of movies, it’s not uncommon to get two films coming along on similar themes within weeks of each other. Whether it be insects (Antz and A Bug’s Life), meteors (Deep Impact and Armageddon) or volcanoes (Dante’s Peak and, erm, Volcano), there’s always a feeling of self-imposed competition. So hot on the warmed-up rubber tyres of TT3D comes another documentary about men who drive at ridiculous speeds and face danger at every turn. And since TT3D was fantastic, Senna will have to be outstanding to win this battle. I’m sure the great man himself would have relished the competition.
Life In A Day
Often a trailer will catch my eye because of a caption, as you will know if you’ve seen previous mild rants on such topics as “Academy Award nominee”. In this trailer it’s the caption “Directed by Kevin McDonald”. Since this is submitted footage that’s been captured from YouTube, surely edited is a more appropriate moniker? I look forward to see how much Kevin actually directs, unless he actually achieved omniscience, omnipresence and lots of other omnis on the day that this life was recorded.
Potiche
I thought this was just going to be another reasonable looking foreign film, sitting anonymously in among the other trailers, but if you’ve been to the cinema in the past week or so you’ll probably know it’s following in the footsteps of The A-Team, Gulliver’s Travels and Rio as the film being horribly mutilated in the name of the Orange campaign. While turning off your phone is a valid message, the choice of this is left field in the extreme, to the point where I expect many people to believe it’s not even a real film. Unless the whole thing’s some sort of Orange publicity scam. (Other mobile networks are available. Most of them don’t make horrendous adverts to be shown in the cinema. Unless you turn up on time, in which case you might see this awful effort from my current network provider.)
Just Do It
Lots of documentaries this month, and for that I make no apologies, and again it’s the captions that have grabbed my attention. All I’ll say on this one is that it’s the very last, title caption that sold me on this one. You’ll know when you see it.
Bridesmaids
In the world of trailer crimes, one of the biggest, which I also singled out ‘Tamara Drewe’ for last year, was the use of laughing from the film to make a sort of laughter track. Either put a laugh track on your trailer or film or do something that justifies me laughing, OK? It also features Kristen Wiig, well known in the US for Saturday Night Live but more familiar for propping up everything from Knocked Up to Ghost Town in throwaway roles. After having graduated to poorly handled romantic lead in Paul, she finally gets the chance to headline a film, and hopefully this will just be the first of many opportunities.
Incendies
And finally this month, another film in the grand tradition of Academy Award nominees for Best Foreign Language Film that take forever to reach our shores. I look forward to seeing winner In A Better World, and then being able to grumble that it wasn’t better than Dogtooth or Biutiful, which were both amazing. Perhaps this could have also been unfairly overlooked? Anyway, make the most of it becuase next month it’s Transformers 3 and we’re all going to hell. Probably.
Goldilocks And The Three Films (With Apologies To Roald Dahl)
The Half Dozen: Anniversary Special – Your Help Needed
There were seven wonders of the ancient world, but apart from the Pyramids of Giza they were not wondrous enough to stand the test of time. There are probably more than seven wonders of the modern world, if you were to try to count them up, but one of the most significant is undoubtedly the fact that I’ve managed to keep churning out this blog to the same middling quality for almost a year now. Yes, on the 27th April I will have been writing this blog for a year, so I thought I needed to do something to mark the occasion, and that seeing a whole day’s worth of films would be as good as any option.
It’s a regular occurrence for me to spend the day in the cinema, and seeing four or five films in the course of a day is not an uncommon occurrence for me. Indeed, I’ve managed to squeeze in seven a couple of times, and I’ve also achieved some other feats of endurance, including seeing over 100 films in a year at the cinema twice, and a period last year when I racked up 21 in 11 days during the Cambridge Film Festival. Over the next month, I’ll be blogging about all of these feats, and also why – and how – you should give them a go, if you haven’t already.
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Trailers for April 2011
If you’re anything like me, then you’re wondering how on earth it can be April already? The year has slipped by, and the first season of the year has passed – and by that, of course, I mean Oscar season, not winter. Yes, all of the gold plated statues in their freakish forms have been handed out to the other freakish forms that are Hollywood, and we’ve been in the post-awards season lull, awaiting the arrival of the next season: blockbuster season. (I also find it impossible to think of all these seasons without thinking of this. Oscar season – blockbuster season – FIRE!)
So if the sheer number of sequels and studio-produced product this year are giving you cold sweats (and it was giving me the shivers as far back as last summer) then be grateful for one more month before the giant exploding robot movies take over completely, and your fifteen screen multiplex has Harry Potter on eight of them and Captain Thor on the other seven. Of course, we’re not immune to sequels in April – Scream 4 and Winnie The Pooh both land in the middle of the month, but thankfully at least one of those looks like it was worthwhile; I have seen all three Scream movies in a cinema, so my attendance at the fourth is a given, but I will reserve judgement for now.
Not making the list this month are either of those, Winnie The Pooh losing out for using a fairly maudlin Keane song in the trailer – we don’t all want to be Eeyore, Mr. Disney. Your Highness has Natalie Portman in a bikini and a moderate line about triangle faces, but that’s it, and we’ve also got Gallic frippery in Little White Lies, moon based madness in Apollo 18 and Helen Mirren in a Darth Vader mask in the was-it-really-necessary Arthur remake. But none of those were quite interesting enough to make this list.
Source Code
Duncan Jones isn’t a name to inspire the most active of imaginations in and of itself, but when you consider he spent a large chunk of his childhood being referred to as Zowie Bowie, then it’s hardly surprising he’d want a less outlandish identity. Maybe it’s this that’s drawn him to this tale of dual identities and men changing faces almost as often as his dad has changed identities, but it could just be because it’s another cracking sci-fi concept after his first film’s cracking sci-fi concept and execution, Moon. Either way, let’s hope Mr. Jones continues with the original content for now.
Louise-Michel
Speaking of original, it’s a crying shame that movies like this one don’t get a better deal on distribution. If you’re not in the vicinity of Cine Lumiere in London, then you won’t be seeing this on a big screen, and that’s a shame. Maybe it’s the subtitles that put people off, but I fear this is one that’s only going to find life on DVD. Almost makes you want to rent a hitman yourself. Almost.
Meek’s Cutoff
There’s a number of things that qualify this for the Interesting of the title of this post. The cast is eclectic but solid, all of the big names having a big performance on their CV from the last few years. More unusually, this has been shot in 1.33:1; if you’re not au fait with your aspect ratios, that’s the same as old, pre-digital TV which is in the 16:9, or 1.85:1, format. (Most films are either in that or 2.35:1 these days.) That format is no doubt intended to reinforce the old-fashioned feel, and this is one Western that looks sufficiently out from the rest of the crowd for those reasons.
Fast Five
It would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity to both have my cake and eat it. So, if you’re going to see one sequel this month, after all my moaning about sequels earlier on, then my gut’s telling me it should be this one. If action movies are your kind of thing, then surely The Rock and Vin Diesel having a scrap should be worth the price of admission alone. My confidence in this is built up by the surprisingly decent fourth entry, which set out to be nothing more than a cool action movie with cool cars, and this looks like it’s continuing in the same tradition.
How I Ended This Summer
There are few greater pleasures when watching a trailer for the first time of stumbling into one film and then realising you’re actually watching entirely another. How I Ended This Summer’s trailer manages to swing from comedy to danger very successfully, but that’s more easily done in a two minute highlights package than in a full length feature. Still, when both halves look sufficiently worthy of your time then you’ve got twice the chance not to be disappointed.
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec
For some reason, I chose to skip this at the Cambridge Film Festival last year, and watch Winter’s Bone instead. This worked out well for me, as Winter’s Bone was stunning, but less well for Luc Besson, whose film I have not yet seen. (I’m sure he’s personally gutted by this turn of events.) I would normally take umbrage with a trailer like this, which tries to cover up the fact it’s in foreign by omitting dialogue of any kind, but the narration is rhyming, and there’s a pterodactyl or something, so I’m going to let it off.
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Looking Trailers For March 2011
So, Oscars and their varied thrills and disappointments are behind us, and now we’re in that quiet period when nothing earth-shattering or awards contending appears, but nor does anything that might have too many famous names and giant explosions. And no, I’m not counting Battle: Los Angeles, which might have Aaron Echkart and giant space aliens, but wasn’t produced with the same level of studio-crushing budget that an Independence Day or an Armageddon was.
Blockbuster season starts at the beginning of May, this year with Thor, and the odds of getting an awards contender this early are pretty small. Having said that, we can still get quality films; it’s a time for everyone to breathe and relax, and for viewers to pick up tickets for something more unassuming. Or Battle: Los Angeles, it’s your call.
After Skyline made November’s list, I’ve chosen not to put B:LA in this month’s list, mainly because it just looks like a more expensive version, and in the end I didn’t see Skyline. There are a number of other interesting looking films with average and indistinguishable looking trailers this month, including The Adjustment Bureau (the third Matt Damon movie of the year, he’s a busy boy that one), Ken Loach’s latest Route Irish and the Bradley Cooper / Robert De Niro high concept thriller Limitless. But here’s the six that stood out from the crowd for me this month.
Patagonia
What’s better than one road movie? Two road movies in one, that’s what! But pitch to me, make it different. Maybe make it about the journeys of two more mature ladies, rather than strapping young men. I know – let’s have one half in Wales and the other half in Argentina! Genius. Showing this week in Wales. And one cinema in London. And none in Argentina. Oh well.
Rango
Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski. Not yet a partership of Depp / Burton lengths or heights, but another team up here. Verbinski has abandoned the Pirates franchise to the open seas and instead this team up is the first animated movie from special effects wizards Industrial Light and Magic. Consequently it has an instant visual appeal; time will tell if Depp and Verbinski’s talents have worked on things like plot and character.
The Resident
It’s a new Hammer horror! With Christopher Lee in it! But this is no ordinary Hammer horror, mainly because the rest of it feels like a bog standard American horror that the likes of Hilary Swank normally do to give their career variety. Oh wait, there’s Hilary Swank now. Can’t wait to see how the culture clash pans out on this one, and well done to Sir Chris for keeping going as his age. I hope I have half that energy, at half that age for that matter.
Submarine
Richard Ayoade will be a familiar face to any fans of The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh and the works of Garth Marenghi, but he’s also an acclaimed music video director, having worked on videos for the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Vampire Weekend. He’s assembled a cracking cast for his first feature, and if I had a trailer of the month then this would probably be it. I don’t, but let’s let this one have the glory this month anyway.
Ballast
Now a window into international distribution. This was a Sundance winner… in 2008. It appeared on many critics’ ten best lists that year, and picked up prizes at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2009. But, thanks to those vagaries of distribution, it’s only now making its way into our cinemas. Long shots in the trailer and a feeling of urgency help this one to grab your attention in three minutes or under.
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams
It’s a movie about cave paintings. Directed by Werner Herzog. In 3D. If you’re not at least curious now, you’re reading the wrong blog.
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Looking Trailers For February 2011
February is always a month that I greet with a tiny amount of dread. Not just because it’s the month in which my birthday falls, so it’s another year closer to all my hair falling out and joining the ranks of the OAP screenings with tea and biscuits (which is fine; I happen to quite like tea and biscuits, now you mention it), but also because February normally marks the falling of the Oscars. That means that the “awards corridor”, as it seems to be known now, will come to an end, and the quantity and frequency of high quality releases will drop off for a few months.
So we can but make the most of it before it’s too late. There’s an amazing amount of new releases out this month, and trimming the list down to six has been a real challenge. Not making the cut were the variety of awards troublers still making their escape before the Oscars, including The Fighter, Never Let Me Go, Rabbit Hole and Brighton Rock, all of which had trailers which felt entirely too conventional or spoilerific. More disappointing was the omission of Frost / Pegg love-in Paul, which I saw a fantastic preview for at Movie-Con last year, but for which the promotional material since has been of a noticeably lower standard.
Half Dozen Special: The 6 Best Superbowl Trailers
I love pretty much anything to do with sport. I’m an avid fan of football, rugby, cricket, snooker, darts, tiddlywinks, sloth racing, synchronised bog snorkelling, you name it, I’ll watch it. With one exception. Try as I might, and believe me I’ve tried over the years, I’ve never been able to get into American Football. I don’t know what it is; I used to think it was the gaps in play, where a match which is supposed to last 60 minutes takes upwards of three hours normally, but that’s never stopped me liking baseball, for example. There’s certainly plenty of strategy involved, and it has a lot of the qualities that other sports I love have, but for some reason, American Football and I are always destined to tread different paths.
But there is one upside to the giant rock concert that had a small sporting event during the intervals last night, and that’s the commercials. With most of America watching who’ll be crowned World Champion of America, advertising rates are at a premium, so the film studios stump up their biggest wads of cash for the year to try to entice viewers into cinemas later in the year. And as a typical slot lasts only thirty seconds, it’s not only ideal for the cripplingly short attention spans of most viewers, but also means that most are packed wall to wall with keen quips, giant explosions and things doing things to other things in the biggest way possible. With explosions and quips. And explosions! BOOM!
The Friday Encourager: Have You Seen It Yet?
Hardened film blogger that I now am, I get asked more and more these days by people whether certain films are worth seeing. Admittedly this is because I spend long enough in their company to engineer the conversation round to movies, but the time it takes to do this can normally now be measured in hours rather than days, so I’m making progress. But since Christmas, the vast majority of questions I’ve taken have been about one film. There’s a British film that, last weekend, actually increased its takings week on week, and screenings have been selling out. The lead actor is a strong contender for the Best Actor Oscar, the rest of the cast is stellar and it’s a feel good British movie the likes of which we probably haven’t seen since The Full Monty. (Although thankfully, there’s no chance of seeing Colin Firth’s bum this time.) But it’s not the one that people are asking me about. It’s this one.
The Movie Evangelist 