Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

I don't know what I can say about this movie that is going to matter. I don't have the technical knowledge to talk about any problems it may have had with sound, light, editing, etc. (for what it's worth, it looked and sounded fine to me), and the global hype about the film makes any discussion of plot and characters secondary to the narrative about this being an end of an era and a big deal to the current crop of Gen Y/Z/whatevers.

That being said, I thought the film was a fitting ending to the series, keeping pretty faithful to the book (as far as I can remember, I'm not a fanboy). I will say that you'd be well advised to see part one again if you haven't in a while, as this movie jumps right into the story and it was a little distracting trying to recall the details from where it left off).

I do think this is the best of all the David Yates-directed films in the series, for what that's worth. I still wish that some of the action from this movie wound up in the first one, as there were times I found things moving a bit fast for my taste.

Also, thanks to whoever finally convinced the powers that be to let the actors play themselves in the epilogue. Even if they didn't look particularly mid-30s, subbing in new actors would have been sad.

Saw a number of previews:

Hugo, a Martin Scorsese-directed movie about a French kid who inherits a clockwork man from his father (Jude Law) that apparently has some sort of instructions or message for the kid. There was a lot of chasing around a train station involving a Javert-lite policeman. Not sure how the Mob fits in.

Abduction, the Taylor Lautner spy thriller that the wife called a Bourne Identity for the Twilight set. Sorry girls, he's mostly clothed in this one.

Happy Feet 2, which will make my son very happy. Bonus points for using "Mama Said Knock You Out" in the trailer.

The Dark Knight Rises, the last of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. Not a bad trailer for a film that's a year out. Makes me wish I'd seen the other two.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, in which Guy Ritchie finds a way to make ever more stuff blow up than in the first movie. There is copious use of Maxim guns, Downey in drag, Noomi Rapace (best known as the original Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish movies of the Millenium trilogy), and the first encounter with Moriarty (played by Mad Men's Jared Harris!).

The AMC-provided pre-movie ad reel included a "preview" of Dolphin Tale, based on the true story of a dolphin who was given a prosthetic tail. It stars Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Seems like an innocuous family film.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I suppose my biggest criticism of this movie is that it, like the book, spent too much time camping and not enough time doing stuff. That being said, when the movie wasn't camping it did quite a bit, as there were more action sequences in this installment than usual, and these were done pretty well. There were a couple of scenes that seemed off - one on the Hogwarts train seemed included just to get face time for some supporting characters - but all in all it did what it was supposed to in furthering the story to its conclusion.

We only got three previews:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader continues that series, and it looks like it will be similar to the others in terms of effects and no recognizable stars. I've always been at a loss vas to who sees these movies, but the inclusion of group sales info at the end of the trailer suggests church groups.

Yogi Bear, to which I say, why? We are at the point where there are almost no kids- and a shrinking number of parents- who have seen the original cartoon. And based on the trailer, I don't see this film sparking a renaissance for Yogi. The most misleading part of the thing was the rating, which said the film contained mild rude humor. From what I could see, it contained no humor at all.

Red Riding Hood takes the classic fairy tale and gives it the Twilight treatment, becoming the story of one girl's love of overly-billowy head gear and, possibly, werewolves. Seriously, the hood appears to be about eight feet long; if Red ever went riding with it on it would get caught in the horse's legs and she'd get the Isadora Duncan treatment. Anyway, this will score well with tween girls and the Amanda Seyfried as a children's character fetishists.

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Oscar Predictions

This being a movie blog, a post of Oscar predictions seems appropriate. That the post comes from the guy who has seen just one nominated film (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, up for Best Cinematography)?  Less appropriate. But when has knowledge ever been a requirement for blogging?

I'm not going to pick every category. For the ones I don't mention, assume that Avatar wins all the technical awards it's nominated for, the documentary awards go to the most left-leaning entries, and everything else is won by a movie you probably didn't see.

For the rest (these are what Wikipedia terms the "major awards"):

Best Foreign Language Film: I have no idea why this is major while cinematography is not. In any case, I would tend to go with Ajami, which is Israel's submission, except that it's primarily in Arabic. I think that will confuse some people and irritate those who aren't crazy about Israel's Arab population in the first place. So I'm going with The Milk of Sorrow, a Peruvian film that's partially in Quechua. Score one for repressed indigenous peoples!

Best Animated Feature: Up is the only animated movie nominated for Best Picture. It is also nominated in this category. While it would be hilarious if one of the other nominated movies (Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells) won, I don't see it happening.

Best Adapted Screenplay: I'm thinking Precious. I'm a little surprised that Avatar didn't get nominated here for adapting whatever episode of Captain Planet it's based on.

Best Original Screenplay: I think this is where the run of awards for The Hurt Locker will start. The writer, Mark Boal, also strikes me as the sort of person that tends to win this, based on past awards for young writers who make a splash (thinking of the likes of Diablo Cody, Alan Ball, and, way back when, current nominee Quentin Tarantino).

Best Supporting Actress: We're all agreed that Mo'nique is going to win this, right? 

Best Supporting Actor: I know nothing about him, but what little I've read suggests that Christoph Waltz is the odds-on favorite here. Which is why I'm going with Christopher Plummer for his portrayal of Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station. There needs to be at least one surprise acting winner, and why not do it in a category that often recognizes older actors with a long body of work (Alan Arkin, Morgan Freeman, Jim Broadbent, Michael Caine, James Coburn, etc.).

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock. I almost can't believe I just typed that, but then I remember that Julia Roberts has won an Oscar, so all bets are off.

Best Actor: We're all agreed that Jeff Bridges is going to win this, right?

Best Director: Everyone has this coming down to the formerly married couple, though it would be something if Lee Daniels, the first African-American director nominated for the award, could benefit from a split decision. I don't think that'll happen, especially as Kathryn Bigelow has already won the DGA Award, which is a very strong indicator of who wins the Oscar.

Best Picture: Twice in the last ten years the Best Picture and Best Director awards have split, both both could be considered unusual cases. In 2005, Crash won best picture while Ang Lee won the directing award for Brokeback Mountain, whose story of gay ranchers wasn't likely Best Picture material. In 2002 Chicago won Best Picture but Rob Marshall was passed over as Best Director, I assume because he's a theater person who directed a musical. 

This year poses a similar dilemma, given the technical breakthrough represented by Avatar. Do voters choose to reward the advances made by a movie that's a little light on story and character, or do they reward a more traditional film that's more completely made? It's a hard choice to make, but then I realize the kicker: James Cameron is an ass, and that might just tip the scales enough to let The Hurt Locker squeak by.

So there you have. Place your wagers accordingly (with the full knowledge and understanding that by reading this post you've waived any claims of liability against Adventures in Snack Canyon for any losses incurred, especially as you'd have to be a gold-plated moron to wager actual money based on picks made by a guy who clearly indicated at the start that he's seen none of the films up for major awards.).

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Half-Blooded

Looking back, I was apparently less critical of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when I wrote about it than I've grown to be now. I suppose I've had time to reflect on the failings of that film, especially as I reconsidered it in light of going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I will say that this latest film manages to pace itself better than the previous one, which I now blame on David Yates' experience coming mostly from TV. But I still think some plot lines are truncated too much compared to the book. A good example of this comes from the title itself, as we're introduced to the concept of the Half-Blood Prince when Harry gets his used potions book, but barely touch on the mystery until the end when we learn who it is. I was also sad to see that the battle in Hogwarts that appears towards the end of the book doesn't happen in the movie, as I think that would have give the movie a dose of action it could have used.

One deviation from the book I did like was seeing Malfoy grapple with the enormity of the task he was given by Voldemort. Even here, though, the movie tips the secret of what he's doing way too early.

Anyway, this is a better film than its predecessor, which hopefully portends continued improvement for the last two films.

On the trailer front, we were treated to six, though four were for the younger crowd (Shorts, The Princess and the Frog, New Moon, and GI Joe, which is aimed for adults but I can only think of as a kid's movie). The two of note for me were Sherlock Holmes, featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. Looks interesting, but I don't recall there being that many explosions in the original stories. As for the other one... I've forgotten what it is. I'll post later if I remember.

UPDATE! The other trailer was for Where the Wild Things Are, and it looks fantastic. Or it at least has a really good trailer.

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