Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone movie review

This first installment of the Harry Potter series was released in 2001. I hadn't read the book by then as I was only 7 years of age. However I remember the excitement of going to see the movie in the cinema. Harry Potter was one of the many books my Mother read us before bed. So I heard the story I just didn't appreciate it as much as I do now.


The Philosopher's Stone was directed by Chris Columbus. Based on the book by J.K Rowling. The movie is about a young boy who has suffered a tragic past who finds out on his eleventh birthday that he is in fact a Wizard. His Parents were killed by the evil wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort. For eleven years Harry has been living with his aunt,uncle and cousin at number 4 Privet drive. The relatives Harry lives with despise him with every fiber of their being and it is not an understatement to say that to Harry the feeling is mutual. On his eleventh birthday a Half-Giant called Hagrid gives him a letter inviting him to study at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.  Harry jumps at the chance to get away from his horrid relatives. He soon learns that
his stupid relatives are the least of his worries.


Life doesn't get easier for Harry at Hogwarts. Where he has things that he never had before such as friends and a place to call home.
J.K Rowling sold the film rights of the first four films to Warner Bros in 1999 for £10000. One of Rowling's conditions was that they keep the principle cast strictly British. 


The movie starts with a dark privet drive and Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster of Hogwarts), Professor McGonagall and Hagrid leaving Harry on the doorstep of number 4 privet drive the night Voldemort killed his parents. The Introductory scenes show how Harry starts to make things happen unexpectedly such as making a glass containing a Boa constrictor vanish setting the snake on the rest of the zoo. Not long after this specific incident Harry ( Dan Radcliffe) starts to get letters inviting him to Hogwarts. Uncle Vernon however knew what these meant and tried his best to prevent Harry from reading them. He tried everything from burning the letters to moving away from their house. However moving away just meant that Hagrid tracks them down on Harry's birthday and pays them an unexpected visit. He explains the truth of who Harry was and what actually happened to Harry's parents to a very confused and slightly scared Harry.


The movie was very entertaining and a good way to kick back. This was Harry's first year and in a way our as the viewers first years as well. One thing I enjoyed was the forming of the friendship of the trio (Harry,Ron and Hermione). The cast choices made in my opinion were pretty good. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape has to be one of favorites. I would say that this movie is not really fit for children at some points but then again I remember that 6 year old children watch this and don't wince at all. Its as the series gets darker the age restriction gets higher. It was a great way to start a great series of movies. 


I give it 8 out of 10
********

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Transformers: Dark of the Moon review.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review.

Firstly , I have never been a big fan of the Transformers. I remember watching the animated series once or twice in primary school but that was it. I knew enough to get by in conversations revolving around the show but I wasn't really interested in any of it. When I heard that Michael Bay was releasing a movie in 2005 I avoided it like the plague. Even when all my friends were talking about how cool it was I refused to watch it. For Christmas in 2006 however my dad had bought me the DVD. So I figured I might as well watch it. I ended up really enjoying it.

Now here we are two movies later. After the disaster that was Transformers: Rise of the Fallen I was truly not expecting much from this one. However as I've learnt you should never watch a movie with the I won't like it mentality for the simple reason that you will end up finding reasons not to like it. So despite what I thought I went in with an open mind. So when the movie started and Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)did his normal opening sequence brief. Which as it normally is was long but fairly interesting. Then the next scene with the introduction of Carly to me was highly inappropriate. I know Michael probably wanted to introduce her in a BIG way but with the knowledge that children will be watching the movie he could've toned it down a bit.

So Sam Witwicky (Shia La Bouff) is now leading a normal life. He's living in DC with his new British girlfriend Carly. He is looking for job but what he really wants is the feeling of being needed again. The Autobots are helping out with missions for the Government but while they do so they are searching for something. The Decepticons are strategizing against them.

So the storyline was generally quite good. There were some aspects that I felt could have been explained in more detail like who the little smoky autobot was that was living with Sam. I felt that in a whole the story was told effectively. The characters weren't bad either. One of my favorites has to be Wang (Ken Jeong)pity he had such a small role in the film. The new Autobots weren't really introduced to us like all the others from the previous movies were. For instance the Scottish Autobot whose name isn't even mentioned or if it was I didn't catch it. True they did introduce some of the new Transformers such as Sentinel Prime and Shockwave. Megatron(Hugo Weaving)is back for a third round in this film but he has some serious competition for the ruler of earth role. 

The action was intense! Especially in the final battle. It was a lot more action packed than the previous movies. I did enjoy the angles and camera movements used in the battle sequences. The use of the background music in these sequences were also very effective.

Speaking of the music. I found that I enjoyed the music in this film way more than I enjoyed it in the previous films. For example in Revenge of the Fallen in most of the scenes they had the backtrack to New Divide playing in the background.

What did disappoint me in the movie was the 3D. It was post-production and I don't have a great history with post-production 3D movies. However even I have to admit that the 3D wasn't badly done. I just thought because it was Transformers you want something fly out at you or Optimus to swing his blade and it to fly straight at you to really increase the feel of the movie. If they had made the movie 3D from the start and paid careful attention to the action scenes things might be different. This was one of those watch a few scenes in 3D but the rest you can watch with or without glasses it doesn't matter type movies.
The visual effects in these movies are normally very good and this one was no exception.

I never thought I would but I actually enjoyed the Dark of the Moon. However I really do not want a fourth movie. In my opinion they have ended of the trilogy well and it should stay that way. Transformers:Dark of the Moon was a great way to just sit back and relax. I would give it about seven out of ten.

*******