HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS ~ PART 1: Hang in there, Harry!

Like many Harry Potter fans, I was perturbed to learn that the final installment of the series, Deathly Hallows, was going to be split into two movies. Not that the 784-page tome doesn’t deserve five hours of screen time – I’m certain it does. But I wasn’t looking forward to the cliffhanger ending of Part 1, followed by the interminable wait for Part 2 to be released next year.

This craving for closure is no minor quibble on my part. I was so mad at the way Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest left me hanging, I completely boycotted the franchise and, in fact, have yet to see At World’s End. But how could I not see Deathly Hallows – the “motion picture event of a generation”? I love those kids. I had to see them again. And anyway, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see my beloved Ralph Fiennes without his nose, chewing up the scenery as Lord Voldemort.

We turned the event into a family affair – the three Webbers plus a friend who was seeing it for the second time and who assured us that we were doing the right thing. I prepared myself as best I could for the worst sort of cliffhanger ending. Every time things got intense, I thought, “This is it. Any second now. The screen’s going black.” But I’m pleased to report that the filmmakers brought the movie to a close at a natural stopping place – i.e., without my heart up in my throat.

Speaking of “intense,” that’s how the youngest Webber described the movie. And rightly so – the Harry Potter stories have gotten darker and darker over time, and this is the darkest one yet. But Entertainment Weekly also called it “the most cinematically rewarding Harry Potter chapter yet.” And that’s the adjective I’d go for – rewarding.

And so begins the countdown to Part 2, the last, the final, the end. Go see Deathly Hallows ~ Part 1 now, then mark your calendars for July 15, 2011. I’ll save you a seat!

See the Deathly Hallows preview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWEc_rwF4KA

MEGAMIND: Pure blue evil fun

We’ve got supervillain movies running out our ears these days. It was only last month that I saw Despicable Me. Following so closely on the heels of that success, I hated to get my hopes up too high about Megamind, especially considering the months of hype we’ve endured. But how can you go wrong with Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Brad Pitt, brought to animated life under the steady hand of DreamWorks Studios? The answer is you can’t.

Executive produced by Ben Stiller, who also provides one of the supporting voices, Megamind has all the ingredients for a megahit – a lovable blue evildoer, a family-friendly PG rating, and a thumping soundtrack that will introduce the little tykes to the splendor of Ozzy, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, and George Thorogood. Sounds intense, but it’s really all in good fun.

In a nutshell, the bald blue meanie Megamind loses his zest for life after finally defeating his arch-nemesis, the good-haired Metro Man. Having taken over City Hall, Megamind finds himself bored – and lonely. He immediately sets out to solve his latest existential crisis, using some questionable methods that result in some unintended consequences. Let’s just leave it at that. Some of the newer previews give the whole story away, and I’m glad I didn’t see those before I saw the movie.

There are lots of nice touches here, including comedian David Cross as Megamind’s minion, a helpful fish-creature named – appropriately enough – Minion. But despite all its humor and whimsy, Megamind would probably not be appropriate for the tiniest viewers. While there’s no blood and guts, there is a fair amount of bludgeoning and, worse, some scary-bad singing on Brad Pitt’s part. If you can handle all that, you’re in for some pure blue evil fun.

See the Megamind preview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CJUQr4Vs40

EASY A: Hawthorne would be amped

I grew into the target market for high-school movies in the early 80’s, and the timing couldn’t have been better – starting with Footloose in 1984, followed by Back to the Future in 1985 and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986. I haven’t been a teenager in a long time, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying Election, Napoleon Dynamite, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, 17 Again, or my all-time favorite high-school movie, Clueless.

I still love a good high-school movie, and was immediately intrigued by the prospect of Easy A. For one thing, the cast is incredible – especially the supporting cast, which includes Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, and Thomas Haden Church. For another, it promised a modern take on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s festival of sin and guilt, The Scarlet Letter. Only in this case, it’s not sex that’s the sin – it’s the lying about it, or rather, the lying about the not having of it. Or something like that.

The story starts out innocently enough when our heroine Olive, played by a winsome Emma Stone, lies about losing her virginity in a kind-hearted attempt to, well . . . let’s just say it’s a lie for a worthy cause. But the rumor mill takes over from there, worthy causes turn up left and right, and Olive soon finds herself embracing her inner Hester Prynne. If only Hawthorne could see his modern-day protagonist, flouncing her way through the fundamentalist firestorm!

The plot is fresh, the dialogue is sharp, and the young performances are earnest. But the highlight of the movie for me was the interaction between Olive’s parents, played by Tucci and Clarkson. They’re the kind of parents that must exist only in the movies – completely with it and hip, wise and witty, with unshakeable faith in themselves and their offspring – the kind of parent I could only dream of being. Of course I see the irony in this – that the best part of this high-school movie for me turned out to be the parents. I hate to think this might mean I am finally growing up.

See the Easy A preview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZAo_KwKFh8

And here are the 50 best high-school movies, according to Entertainment Weekly:
http://www.filmsite.org/50besthsfilms.html

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT: No surprises here

Kurt Vonnegut gave this advice about writing stories: “Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.”

At least in that one regard, Vonnegut would have loved Life As We Know It. Cockroaches could have eaten all but the first few minutes of the film and we would have known how it ends. Usually the pleasure in a movie like this lies in watching the inevitable unfold. Here it’s not so much pleasure as popcorn-flavored resignation.

Starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel, Life As We Know It is ostensibly a rom-com, although as many a movie reviewer has already noted, it contains very little romance and even less comedy. Katherine Heigl lights up the screen in her Doris-Day way, but even she has a hard time compensating for her love interest, a contemptible louse appropriately named “Messer.”

Sure, they threw in some wacky neighbors and a cute baby. But it’s still your standard mismatch love story. Does she end up with Messer? Or does she end up with the handsome and responsible pediatrician, played by that blue-eyed doll Josh Lucas? I won’t spoil it for you, but I will nudge you gently toward the movie poster, where Duhamel’s name appears at the top in big fat sans-serif letters. The cockroaches could eat all but the last few inches and we would still know how it ends.

See the Life As We Know It preview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqzjDrrZIdE