The end of an era. It sounds like a lot of pompous hot air, but it’s a true statement for millions of people around the world. 7 books written and 8 books made in 10 years, the Potter series has been a blitzkrieg of entertainment to say the least. Deathly Hallows part 2 is a fitting end to the series, we’ve been very lucky to get movie adaptations of this quality from start to finish.

Part 2 starts right where part 1 ends, Lord Voldermort has discovered where the Elder Wand is and has taken it by force, leaving Harry and his friends with the task of finding and destroying the remaining Horcrux’s which will make Voldermort mortal. Fail in this task and the results are catastrophic.

Thousands of words, miles of film and countless man hours led to this conclusion. Any new comer to the series can’t start with this film, there is no way they would understand what’s going on and why everything works the way it does. It’s actually a hard movie to write about because so much has led up to this. Let’s try to break this down to the essentials.

The whole series has been made with incredible care and detail. The entire cast is spot on and fantastic. Dan, Rupert and Emma have grown up on screen and completely embodied these main characters. I don’t think anyone can read the books and not see these three in their minds as they read. They’ve gotten better and better with every movie and it shows in the finale. They’ve worked with amazing actors (Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman) which helped them greatly. Matt Lewis as Neville Longbottom finally gets his time to shine. With such a fierce and large evil side on display, the brotherhood and love of the good side standing behind Harry is a sight to behold. Many major characters lose their life in the last book and that weight has made it onscreen large in part because of the actors.

There are some amazing special effects done here. The dragon sequence is particularly stunning and much of the final stand at Hogwarts is incredible too. A lot of background work was done so well in this movie, a lot of people won’t realize how much of the movie was actually digitally created. It feels like a real breathing world which is important for the characters to live in. While the time and extra money to convert the movie to 3D was made, it only worked well in a handful of scenes, hardly worth the extra cost to the viewer. It’s not very prevalent and it dims the brightness of the picture so I’d recommend sticking to 2d showings.

This movie is the shortest in the series thanks to careful pacing and editing. The movie hits the ground running from the start, but the finale doesn’t feel as rushed as the book did. There’s a lot of ground to cover in the movie, but everything is shot and cut to a fine point. The battles aren’t drawn out and desensitizing. While there is mass chaos on screen, it never feels disorienting. The quieter scenes aren’t marred to rush to the next set piece, but they don’t drag either. The characters are able to breath in each scene which kept me completely engaged. There’s a lot of big moments in the book and many of them were done perfectly. Harry’s Walk, The Kings Crossing and Epilogue sequences are all really great. In fact, I thought the Epilogue worked better here than in the book. While I don’t agree with all the changes and how some scenes were shot (Molly Weasley’s big line with Bellatrix) it seems kind of trite to complain about at this point. Most of the changes do work, just look at the last scene that Snape stars in, brilliantly done.

Part 2 works so well that it’s arguably the best in the series. The movies all work together as a whole and are faithful, if altered translations. If you want the complete story, the books are right there to read. At the credits I felt a pang of sadness. Even though the story finished with the last book 4 years ago, there is now no more Potter lore to look forward. It’s all done, finished, complete. It was a satisfying journey, one that may not be repeated for quite some time. I kept thinking about the movie days after I had watched it. A lasting impression, something only my favorite movie can give me. I guess the first step to avoid the withdrawal is to take out the books, something I realize I’m long over due in reading again.

Dark of the Moon lumbered into theatres recently and after being insulted by how bad Transformers 2 was, I was really wary of this one. I enjoy Michael Bay movies, I know what I’m in for when his summer blockbusters flash their stuff. Transformers 2 was a rushed trainwreck of a movie and I’m happy to see that Bay and his team pulled their shit together and made a fun movie to watch again.

The Decepticons are up to no good again, setting a trap for the Autobots to bring their home planet, Cybertron, back from the ashes. The human race isn’t going to come out on top if the Decepticon’s plan comes to fruition. Shia LeBeouf and most of the previous cast are back to run around the Autobots feet while all hell breaks lose. Hey, some humans need to help out the giant robots save the planet. Of course the movie has it’s fair share of problems, long run time that could have been pulled in here and there, forced humor, really awkward moments (the talk in the RV with Sam and his parents comes to mind first), but the movie makes sense and is often a lot of fun to watch. There are some really great action scenes and the mindblowing special effects (really some of the best CG ever put on screen, there’s many parts where it looks like there are real giant robots being filmed. Amazing composite work between CG and live action). It’s still cool just to see Optimus Prime and company transform! The addition of filming in 3D was done with a lot of care and it shows. Bay took all the right advise and kept just about all of it to adding depth to the scenes instead of that terrible “pop out at you” stuff. The technology forced him to shoot in wider and longer takes and that just helped every action scene pop and be memorable. The action scene on the highway was thrilling and the squirrel suit jump team sequence was some fantastic filmmaking. Carnage never looked or sounded so good.

Transformers 3 is a Michael Bay movie that works well. Knowing that, you’ll know what to expect so you can set your expectations accordingly. But lets be honest here, Transformers was a terrible cartoon to begin with. We ain’t talking about sterling source material to begin with. It won’t win over any of the hardcore haters, but you can’t please everyone all the time.

Last years Oscar contender, True Grit continues to prove that the Cohen Brothers are easily one of the best film makers working today. A remake of the book of the same name (and movie from 1969), it’s such a treat to watch a bad ass Western these days. A classic tale of revenge, young Mattie Ross hires a Marshall, Rooster Cogburn to find her fathers killer, Tom Chaney. She’s a tough girl who won’t take no for an answer, hell bent on seeing Chaney be punished for his senseless crime.

True Grit is awesome from top to bottom. A great script that is surprisingly funny is brought to life by a fantastic cast. Jeff Bridges (who has been on a roll these past few years), Josh Brolin (him too, thanks to the Cohens as well) and a surprise casting choice with Matt Damon as LeBeouf fill out the main cast. But the real star here is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie and she’s amazing. The entire movie rides on her shoulders and she kills it in every scene. She’s relatively new to the business and at 15 years old her performance was that much more impressive.

Watch it!

Some recent stuff I’ve watched that can be summed up in 5 sentences or less.

Hereafter– Follow how 3 different people from 3 different walks of life deal with death. Clint Eastwood directs one of the most boring movies I’ve seen in quite some time. Matt Damon lends his star power to this snooze fest.

Twelve– A young drug dealer who really doesn’t dig life gets his world flipped over when his cousin is killed. Everything he calls on as a constant in his life ceases to. I usually dig these types of movies, but this one didn’t work for me and I’m not really sure why. The cast was decent but I think the journey wasn’t terribly interesting. Watch the amazing movie Pusher instead.

A.I. Artificial IntelligenceThis was the last movie Stanley Kubrick worked on, which Stephen Speilberg picked up to see it to completion. Wild sci-fi movie that I’ve been meaning to watch since it came out in 2001. Haley Joel Osment was The-Kid-Actor of Hollywood at this point and he did a remarkable job as David, a robot boy adopted to a family when their own sun is cryo-genically frozen until a cure for him is found. When the son comes back, David is cast out on his own to his bewilderment. He sets out on a journey to become a real boy so his family will take him back and love him. It’s a spin on the Pinocchio tale set in the future that really makes you think about what being human really means. Some crazy animatronic work by the late Stan Winston is in full effect in this often very visually striking film. I didn’t like the end though, it took a really weird turn there.

The Mechanic-Jason Statham laces up is action shoes again for this one. Arthur is a Mechanic (see: hitman) who is very good at his job. After he’s forced to take down a friend, he ends up taking his friends son as an apprentice, to teach him to channel his anger into this new, specialized line of work. The Mechanic is a solid action movie. Statham does his usual quality work here, the direction is good, the action is fun and often inventive and there are enough twists that keep things interesting (even if they are predictable).

Another Oscar favorite from last year, The Fighter stands tall next to other cinematic favorites like Rocky and Raging Bull.

Getting punched in the head is a dangerous profession. Equally so when you’re family is just as dangerous as the guy you’re facing in the ring. The Fighter based on the story of Micky Ward on his final run to become a boxing champ. With the help of his older brother Dicky as his trainer and his mother as his manager, Micky is stuck between a rock and hard place. With a brood of Boston sisters nipping and snapping behind him, Micky and his new girlfriend, Charlene, stick together to make some changes when the family status quo clearly isn’t working.

This is a hell of a movie. When Mark Wahlberg actually gives a shit about a movie, he puts in some fantastic work. This was a passion project for him and he had the great benefit of being able to act with Christian Bale as Dicky. They work incredibly well together, they really do come off as real life brothers. Often really funny even with a sad scenario, Dicky has a crack addiction that robbed him of his future, one that he wants his younger brother to obtain. Rounding out the wheelhouse is Melissa Leo as Alice, the mother of the 6 sisters and 2 boys. A maniac in heels, she steals almost every scene she’s in.

Such a good movie packed with great writing, actors and direction. The boxing scenes are terrific too, everyone should watch this movie, one of 2010’s best.

……..and the franchise is saved! After the train wreck of X-Men 3 and the embarrassing Wolverine movie from the passed 3 years, the X-Men flicks were all but ready to be forgotten. First Class cleans things up and shows us this universe has a lot left to offer audiences.

Turning the clock back to 1962, we watch as Professor Charles Xavier and and Erik “Magneto” Lensher step in front of the mutant movement and become the leaders of the two factions of the “next evolution of the human race.”

It’s a great idea going back to seeing how the two most powerful (somewhat arguable) and influential mutants in the X Men world befriended each other and ultimately split over ideological differences. It’s a well written and smart movie directed with a careful hand by Matthew Vaughn. Excellent casting and acting (I’m a big fan of James McAvoy and Michael Fastbender is a terrific Magneto) and some top notch special effects make the world come to life. Seeing the Cuban Missile Crisis in an alternate universe is a really cool experience and a great political and social backdrop for the story.

While the movie falls into some problems like comic book cliches (get to know you and training montages), odd changes that anger nerds (Havok is actually Cyclops younger brother, neither one of them would be alive at this time) and does run a bit too long at just over 2 hours. I’d say the biggest problem is that most of the mutants are unknown to most people so at times it doesn’t really feel like an X-Men tale. That said there is still a lot of respect given to the source material. Many nods to the series storied past giving winks that only comic book fans get and setting up characters and events for future stories. There are some great cameos tucked in here as well which are great additions.

Great job making this flick, which is not only a great summer blockbuster, but a great action movie in general. Gives great hope that the series is back on track and has me looking forward to the next one.

The King’s Speech won 4 very deserving Oscars this passed year. I wanted to see it based on the accolades and word of mouth buzz the movie had since it came out. I knew very little about the plot going in and what one would think would be a boring art film is actually a touching and brilliantly told story.

King George VI of Britain never wanted to be king, a reluctant hero (figure head really) to say the least. He was forced to step up in place of his struck-dumb-with-love brother and had a rough go at it. The good king had a brutal stutter since he was a child and as such had the self esteem and confidence of a wet mollusk.

It’s very human story that many people can relate to. King George had very pressured upbringing surrounded by a wall of unsympathetic people. As an adult he truly was the product of his environment. Stepping into the biggest public speaking role you could ever imagine KGVI seeks the help of many speech therapists who fail until he finds Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). This brilliant Aussie helps good George become a true King.

While technical praise for crafting this film from every department is necessary, The King’s Speech is carried entirely on the shoulders of Colin Firth as King George and Geoffrey Rush. Their acting ability and on screen chemistry elevates this movie to award winning territory. I don’t think the movie would have worked without them, they’re that impressive. Helena Bonham Carter is also notable as King George’s wife who is pretty much his rock through out the movie. As the saying goes, behind every good man is a better woman.

I’d recommend this to anyone, it’s a great movie with a lasting story that is rooted in our history.

Scream 4 is the most average movie I’ve seen in awhile. The concept and parts of the execution are good and they work. But the parts that don’t are really terrible.

Taking place 10 years after the last movie, Sidney Prescott comes back to Woodsboro for a book tour and this is of course starts a new copy cat killing spree. The essential cast from the previous movie make it back with a whole batch of new kids to murder.

First and foremost, this movie isn’t scary. It has basic jump scares and orchestra hits to get some sort of reaction from the audience. There’s a good idea for a movie here, changing the formula of a horror movie in the new film landscape of reboots and re imaginations that are all the rage. But for every good idea, there’s a bad one at work. You can tell the script was being worked on all through filming as it feels very piece meal in execution.

The opening sequence which has always been a trademark for the series is just stupid and unnecessary. There are two false starts with some god awful dialog (something about the word “meta” in any context drives me nuts) that never should have made it on film. When the real beginning actual starts it feels completely unoriginal and boring. Another problem is that every attempt at humor fails. There’s a movement near the end of the movie that got a big laugh, but it wasn’t intentional (and to be fair was probably unavoidable).

The death toll is high for a Scream movie, but only one death really had any weight to it. I constantly questioned the believability of the movie as I had a hard time suspending my disbelief. There’s just so much stuff that I don’t think the killer could really do and the amount of forensic evidence left behind was downright silly. That might seem like nitpicking but you can’t leave a barn door wide open and not expect people to look in. Finally, the movie went on for one scene too long. The reveal of the killer was good, the reasoning behind it was as well (watch out for some shit dialog and acting though) and there was actually a good ending there. But it was extended out to another scene for some reason. If they just cut to black at this one perfect spot I would have thought much better of the movie, but the last 10 minutes are a fucking mess. Completely derailed the movie into a cartoon and it mimicked parts of the trilogy for no good reason. They wanted to set up another potential 2 movies but just this goofy rehash ending ruined that.

If you don’t see this movie you really didn’t miss anything.

Source Code is director Duncan Jone’s 2nd feature movie and he’s got another winner on his hands.

U.S. Solider, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaul) is selected for the governments new “Source Code” anti-terrorism project. This new tech allows a person to go back in time for 8 minutes and re-live the events of a person who was present there. Here, a bomb blows up a train and the race is on to find the person(s) responsible so their next attack on the US can be stopped.

Source Code is a smart sci-fi movie, much like Moon, Duncan’s last movie. It’s a simple story with a few characters and locations (3 or 4 really) that is fascinating and fun to watch. It’s a lot like the movie Groundhog Day, but here Colter is forced to live just 8 minutes on the train, the clock ticking down to the next attack. Like any good movie, things aren’t as simple as they appear. In his investigation Colter must find out how to stop the terrorist and learn about how he got involved in the project. The ending is even well done if a bit confusing.

I’m a big fan of Duncan Jones, he’s got a great eye and vision and the special effects are great too. A real treat in a genre that is usually more bad than good.

I wanted to like Sucker Punch a lot more than I did. I like Director Zack Snyder a lot. Big fan of his previous movies, I love his style and direction (ease up on the slow-mo would be a good move though). Sucker Punch is a passion project for him. It’s his own creation, he had the idea for awhile and he got the chance to make it with a shit load of money and talent behind it. Something seems to have been lost in the production though.

They story of Sucker Punch is about a young girl nicknamed Babydoll who is institutionalized to a insane asylum by her step father after accidentally killing her younger sister. At the asylum she befriends a few other girls and hatches a plan to escape. Now the hook of the movie is that she uses her imagination as a coping mechanism to her situation which allows these crazy anime inspired action set pieces to dazzle the audience. It’s a neat idea that lets Zack come up with some really great and interesting action scenes. Reality doesn’t really matter in this fantasy…the real world goal is to obtain an object that is needed to escape (Map, fire, knife, key) so each action scene is for each item the girls are trying to get. Watching this it felt like something was missing either from the script or from editing. It’s an hour and 45 minutes long but it really looked to me that big chunks had been taken out for whatever reason (probably time) that made things way more confusing then they should be.

The entire movie is pretty much a fantasy sequence. The opening is told like a play, so even that doesn’t feel real. It’s clear what happens and how Babydoll gets thrown away by her step dad, but that fantasy world never really subsides. Maybe when she first gets to the hospital is that moment real, but Babydoll quickly changes her surroundings to look like a brothel/dance studio. The catalyst for the action scenes is when Babydoll dances, everyone is enthralled by her moves. This technique has apparently been taught to her by the resident shrink, Dr. Vera Gorski even though you never see that, only hear it in passing. But when Babydoll dances, it’s shown with her slowly moving her hips side to side and then closing her eyes which is when everything around her changes, she gets super powers and she brings the other girls into the mission with her. The way this is shown, I couldn’t shake the idea that the marks watching her, weren’t entranced by her dancing, but shocked and bewildered at how she looks like a retard with hip dysplasia.

I think the movie spends too much time in Babydoll’s fantasy world. You hear about real events (a doctor is coming in 5 days to give Babydoll a frontal lobotomy, which gives her a time limit on when she can get things together and escape) in some dialog but it’s impossible to even tell the amount of time that is passing in the movie. There’s not enough grounding to make the events and consequences make enough sense. You have no idea of what is actually happening during the action scenes in the real world so it doesn’t work as well as intended. It might have sounded great on paper but it just feels like a half baked idea when the filmmakers went through with it.

There’s also an idea of feminism and other wise “girl power” at play here. The main cast is all girls and they band together to get out of their sad reality. I’ve read a lot of moaning that there is more exploitation at work here then real feminism, but I never saw anything really gratuitous. There’s obviously sex appeal at work here, but it didn’t look obnoxious to me. The costumes are all ripped from the anime world and burlesque shows like Chicago. In fact the action scenes are really an American filmmakers take on making an anime with real actors. They defy gravity and time, they have huge weapons, everyone knows kung fu and weapon training.

An amazing amount of work went into making this movie. Everything was clearly worked on with a purpose and a vision, taking cues and cliches from all sorts of entertainment mediums. The action scenes are truly spectacular, but all the important parts linking them are too weak. There is some bad dialog here and there which is made worse by some downright terrible acting (Vanessa Hudgens, I’m looking at you. Thankfully she was barely in the movie).

I expect the home release with a directors cut to make this movie much better, I gotta say wait for that instead of seeing it in theaters.

Bradley Cooper is really hitting his stride, isn’t he. Limitless is Mr. Coopers first leading man role and judging by the response it’s received at the box office and by critics, his star power will continues to rise. Special mention for BC’s role on Nip/Tuck as Aiden Stone, which I think is the first time I really noticed him.

I found Limitless to be an enjoyable movie, if a bit on the safe side. It’s the story of a crumb bum of an author named Eddie who comes in contact with an exotic mind expanding drug by way of an old acquaintance. This translucent little wonder unlocks the mind, making the person more focused, creative and active. “It works best if you are already a smart person” and the effects have a drastic affect on Eddie. He can recall long forgotten facts that have been tucked away in his brain, learning anything becomes easy. He quickly gets his life into a new stratosphere of class and opportunity in Manhattan. But it’s obviously not that easy, all drugs have side effects and this unclassified wonder doesn’t come cheap or from the nicest people.

It’s a great concept and it’s put to great use in the film. There’s a lot of fun scenes, Bradley Cooper is a perfect fit for Eddie and it’s a really well put together movie. It’s edited quite well and didn’t overstay it’s welcome. They kept it from being too predictable too which was very welcome. You might think you’re on the right track early on but they tweak the characters and interactions here and there to keep you on your toes. My only real critique is the end, which I actually liked. It just felt a little too convenient and easy, the time frame of those last events didn’t seem that plausible to me. Great matinee movie.

Salt really took me by surprise, it’s the best action movie I’ve seen in awhile. I’m a fan of Angelina Jolie, she’s sexy, she commands screen presence and she really is a great actress. When she’s in a movie she really digs it shows. Salt it like a combination of Tomb Raider (the female hero lead) and the James Bond/Bourne series.

Evelyn Salt is a covert CIA agent who has done a lot for the United States. When she’s accused of being a sleeper Russian spy, she goes on the run. This doesn’t bode well for her innocence so she’s chased down by her co-workers while dealing with a plot to assassinate the Russian President.

Everything works well here. Really great direction to complement the action scenes (and there are many of them), the stunt work in here is nothing short of fantastic. Great integration with CG and practical effects and the soundtrack is fittingly epic (I did hear a rather obvious Terminator ring to Salt’s “theme” though). They made Salt a really vicious assassin, she has a heavy dose of Batman’s’ preferred style of getting the jump on enemies and disabling them as quickly as possible with no second thoughts. With two dangerous sides closing in on her, you’re not entirely sure where her loyalty lies. Salt is a really smart character and I really liked that. Gun fights, fist fights, crazy car and on foot chases, some great espionage action which I love. Jolie rocks in this movie, I loved everything about it.