For the past three hours I have actively avoided writing this review, struggling to stay objective and discuss the film as if it were any other. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 could have been just another children’s fantasy adventure, yet another sequel and an adaptation of a previous work, but subjective sentiment and a decade of fandom aside, this is one hell of a film.
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Are you ready? 10 years since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone arrived in cinemas, and 14 years since the first book was published, the final film of a record-breaking and cast-retaining franchise is finally on release. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has gradually become more than just another film, it now symbolises a huge achievement in British film-making and a symbolic end to so many people’s childhoods. We grew up with the boy wizard and his last stand is a final hurrah for a childhood friend.
But enough of this sentimentality! We can save all that for next week, now is the time for excitement, just look at that header. We still need to make sure you are fully prepared for the final film, we don’t want anybody saying they didn’t like the film because they couldn’t remember what was going on. Your first port of call is our superb retrospective of the series so far (with charts!) and the two videos we offered up as vital Potter prep, explaining where we left off and exactly what a horcrux is.
For any doubters we have a glowing review from Mark Kermode (whose Radio 5 live show is not on this week due to industrial action).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf
And to finish one last video to get you up to speed as Daniel Radcliffe and co. explain the plot of The Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
http://video.thinkjam.com/players/version05/js/thinkjam.js
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Now we just need to watch the damn thing!
From 4pm today (right now!) the UK’s biggest ever film premiere is taking place from Trafalgar Square up to Leicester Square. In case we haven’t drilled it in enough by now, the premiere is for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and we’re very excited. Below you can watch the whole event streaming live from the safety of your desk. It certainly beats camping out in London for three nights.
We accept no blame if the boss catches you watching Potter at work. Continue reading
We’ve gone Potter mad I admit… BUT LOOK AT THE TRAILER!
http://video.thinkjam.com/players/version05/js/thinkjam.js
// Right, back to work.
With just over a month to go until my childhood officially ends I think it is appropriate to begin to get excited about the eighth and final film in the Harry Potter series. Just look at the trailer, it’s enough to make you feel like you’ve been hit with a flipendo spell. (NERD ALERT!)
Clearly in the same mindset the BFI IMAX in London has a very exciting event planned. Harry Potter All-Nighters! Split over two nights, and repeated on a second weekend, the BFI IMAX will be showing all seven current Potter films in the wee hours to get you ready for 15th July. The first four are shown in one block on either 17th or 24th June and the remaining three on 18th or 25th June.
I’d suggest doing the 17th and then the 25th, it takes a brave Potter fan to do two consecutive nights. I also suggest that you take me with you, I make great company. Tickets can be bought here and I’ll keep myself free.
As we’ve got you here we’ve uploaded the eight character banners we couldn’t figure out what to do with last week. Finally! A ridiculously high res poster of Neville Longbottom! Check out all eight below. Continue reading
We’ve already given Deathly Hallows Part 1 the dubious title of Top of the Potters in our review last year so we’ll skip the bit where we go on about how good the film is, though it really is, and focus on the extras.
The Blu-ray and DVD have the same extras with one exception, the so-called “Maximum Movie Mode” which I had to abandon early on. With Maximum Movie Mode turned out you have the movie repeatedly interrupted with the cast present various extra features, these include deleted scenes, clips from earlier films, behind the scenes footage, random trivia and at one point Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) reading out part of the book. I prefer not to have the film interrupted and was disappointed to not be able to watch all the extra bits separately, although some were elsewhere on the disc. I tried to skip through the film but gave up after some inane trivia and Felton’s first reading. This particular special feature forgot to make its features special.
The rest of the features are more interesting and aren’t limited to just the Blu-ray. Deleted scenes are mostly quiet emotional scenes which flesh out the Hermione/Ron romance and give more closure to the Dursleys. You can see why they were cut from the already slow film but as a Potter fan they were great to see.
http://video.thinkjam.com/players/version05/js/thinkjam.js
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The behind the scenes featurettes avoid traditional talking heads extras, instead going into details about certain scenes while still leaving film nerds wanting more. Still, you can’t expect too many in-depth documentaries on the DVD for a children’s film, can you? The only extra outside Maximum Movie Mode that I had to abandon was a 20+ minute long clip following some of the cast playing golf and talking about how good friends they are, great for fans of the Weasleys perhaps.
If you’re the sort of person that buys Harry Potter DVDs then there’s no reason not to buy this on DVD
The DVD/Blu-ray is out today and Part 2 hits the silver screen on July 7th 2011.
Today we’re looking ahead at out most anticipated releases of 2011… and there’s a lot. A few glaring omissions perhaps but we have no interest in giant robots fighting.
So what can top 127 Hours and The King’s Speech?
Friday 14 January 2011
Blue Valentine
Made the headlines by getting its rating reduced in America as they claimed the sex scene wasn’t obscene just realistic. If that doesn’t tempt you how about a realistic portrayal of a marriage and career best performances?
Friday 21 January 2011
Black Swan
It’s great, powerful stuff and yet is another with more coverage of a single sex scene that the rest of the film. Portman is at her prime and Kunis ain’t too shabby either.
Friday 11 February 2011
Never Let Me Go
True Grit
A small British sci-fi with a beautifully subtle plot and the Coen brothers’ latest acclaimed production. Good Friday.
Monday 14 February 2011
Paul
For some reason sneaking out on a Monday, Pegg and Frost’s latest is funny if not up to the standard of an Edgar Wright collaboration. We saw it, reviewed it and got asked to take it down.
Friday 18 February 2011
Chalet Girl
A hopefully above average romantic comedy starring our own Felicity Jones and the slimy one from Gossip Girl.
Friday 25 February 2011
No Strings Attached
Waste Land
Natalie Portman tries her hand at a comedy about two friends trying out casual sex before Mila Kunis gets the chance. And on the same day we have one of our favourites from the London Film Festival, though most likely only at three cinemas.
Friday 4 March 2011
Rango
The Tempest
Animated comedy starring Johnny Depp as a lizard that is set to offer something better than the average animated film accompanied by the apparently less than perfect Shakespeare film featuring… Felicity Jones!
Friday 18 March 2011
Submarine
A film everyone should see as Richard Ayoade makes a strong directorial debut with a near perfect tale of young love and awkwardness.
Friday 1 April 2011
Sucker Punch
Zack Snyder kicks you in the face with amazing visuals, sexy crazy girls and general madness.
Friday 8 April 2011
Attack The Block
Joe Cornish made a film with a slightly bad sounding premise. Can Cornballs make a bad synopsis into a great film?
Friday 15 April 2011
Scream 4
Winnie the Pooh
Your Highness
A triple whammy in mid-April. First the fourth in the Scream series starring the cast of the entire TV alongside the usual faces. Then we have a hand animated Disney film about everyone’s favourite bear and a medieval comedy starring future Mrs Mild Concern, Zooey Deschanel and with her third film in four months, Natalie Portman.
Friday 22 April 2011
Source Code
Duncan Jones tries to top Moon with sci-fi action thriller involving confusing time travel in which Jake Gyllenhaal consistently fails to find the bomber on a train.
Friday 29 April 2011
Thor
Michael Gambon directing a comic book movie? Surely worth a look. Oh, hello Natalie Portman.
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Pirates Of The Caribbean 4
They’ve promised to keep it simple this time and have lost the less interesting characters, we’re excited.
Friday 15 July 2011
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part II
Because Part I was so good this can only be the peak of the Potter series.
Friday 29 July 2011
Captain America: The First Avenger
It might be terrible but is the lead-in to The Avengers which might also be terrible. Wait, it could be good too!
Friday 5 August 2011
Rise Of The Apes
John Lithgow and James Franco! And monkeys!
Friday 19 August 2011
The Inbetweeners
Super 8
The spin-off from E4’s best output and J.J. Abrams top secret new film. Funny and surprising… and deeply shameful.
Friday 26 August 2011
Final Destination 5
Guilty pleasure alert… I like to see people die in ridiculous ways…
Friday 2 September 2011
Friends With Benefits
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Mila Kunis gets to do the friends having sex comedy to see if she can top Portman. Portman doesn’t care after having so many other films out.
Friday 7 October 2011
Johnny English 2
“It’s only a bit of poo.” Heh.
Friday 14 October 2011
Footloose
The Thing
A musical remake of a personal favourite and a prequel starring Ramona Flowers. It could be a glorious pair or a double disaster.
Friday 21 October 2011
Paranormal Activity 3
With no new Saw film this is all we have for Halloween. Boo!
Wednesday 26 October 2011
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Because the best British writers all seem to have had a hand in the writing of this particular film. Wright, Moffat and Cornish? Wow.
I’m not someone who holds Alfonso Cuarón’s Potter film as the best of the series, those early films were all pretty terrible. The plots were mangled and cut down and the three leads simply couldn’t act. Luckily each film is better than the last and the latest is easily the best.
By splitting the film into two they have the time to really tell the book’s story, including all the slow bits that make it so much more than just a fun adventure film for kids.
With Potter and friends away from Hogwarts the story rests on the three actors shoulders more than ever before and Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have all come on leaps and bounds. Emma Watson no longer overuses her eyebrows, Daniel Radcliffe can show all kinds of emotions and Rupert Grint doesn’t just do comedy reactions any more.
David Yates has done a great job and I only wish he had directed the first four films and they the benefit of knowing how the series was going to end when the first was written. It’s also a shame that the main actors learnt to act while filming a major movie franchise.
Probably not a film for non-Potter fans but I really enjoyed it, and it has the best animated sequence I’ve seen in a long time. Bring on July.
At last we make it to Friday and the last of these endless posts. The climax of the week brings just one film on general release, and it’s a magical juggernaut.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part I
Harry Potter skips school to find the deathly hallows, and the horcruxes. And at some point the film just ends and we have to wait for the next film to find out if it all turns out OK. Rumour has it Emma Watson can act now and isn’t so eyebrow crazy.
Broken Sun (limited release)
Set in 1944 this film about a WWI veteran features absolutely no wizards. Boo!
Chico & Rita (limited release)
One is a singer, the other a pianist and both are in Cuba in 1948. Neither are battling Voldemort. Boring!
Dream Home (limited release)
It sounds like someone kills their future neighbours to ensure the purchase of a house doesn’t fall through. Chinese and sounds like gory fun. Could do with more Cho Chang.
Fathers of Girls (limited release)
A story about the love between a father and his daughter. I’d rather watch the story of the love between an owl and it’s owner.
Peeping Tom (limited release)
The classic film about a man who films his murders has been remastered and re-released. Guaranteed to have more murder and prostitutes than Potter, but much less butterbeer.
Robinson in Ruins (limited release)
A documentary(?) following a muggle as they travel around the south of England.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (limited release)
It won big at Cannes but has received mixed reviews since then. Sounds a pretty painful watch and does not star Emma Watson.
Mild Concern 