Film Reviews: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Before I start I would just like to say that I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books.  the films, not so much, but, being reasonably impressed with part 1, I thought I may as well watch part 2 too.   I was a little skeptical at first.   After all, in part 1 they'd got all the way up to Lord Voldemort taking the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb.   Beyond that point how much story was left really?   The battle for Hogwarts and that was it.   Was the entire film going to be one long battle scene?   But no!   It was actually really well done.   There was quite a bit of story in it.   Snape's memories take up a fair amount of time and do add a lot of substance to the film.   It's feels like a whole, complete film that you can watch without having to watch part 1 at the same time.   The polyjuice potion scene was really well done too - Helena Bonham Carter acting as Hermione, acting like Bellatrix Lestrange was really odd to watch!   Also interesting to see Crabbe's part in the film being filled by Goyle and Goyle's by Zabini instead.   Apparently Jamie Waylett who played Crabbe got sacked for drugs.   Ah well.   And they kept in Mrs Weasley's line!   She says the B word.   I'm glad they kept it in.   It's a great line.   Predicatably enough they gave it a more Hollywood ending though.   Harry snaps the wand rather than putting it back in the tomb.   I can forgive that, because it's the same outcome really.   Doesn't affect the story.   I wasn't that impressed with the final scene though.   The effort at aging the actors seemed a bit half-hearted.   Though I suppose that witches and wizards do live longer than muggles, so maybe they were purposefully aged accordingly?   But all in all, my favorite of the Harry Potter films, and yes, I did cry like a baby!

Films

Another film review post.   I'm going to start off with The English Patient.   As previously mentioned, this is one I'd seen before.   I just wanted to rewatch it now that I'd read the book.   I have to say that being able to compare them now I like the changes the film makers made.   They gave the story a proper ending and took out some of the silly bits.   I love most of the casting as well!   Juliette Binoche was perfect for Hana, and Ralph Fiennes was perfect for the Count (though he ought to be careful; what with this part and Lord Voldemort he's getting to be quite type cast as people with no faces).   I loved Kristin Scott Thomas as Catherine Clifton too.   The only character I thought could have been cast better was Caravaggio.   Willem Dafoe was just a bit too sinister I thought.   But yes, I feel I can now definitively say that The English Patient is both a great film and a great adaptation.

Next, Lost in Tanslation.   One I'd never got round to watching before.   It's pretty good!   It's about an aging movie star, played by Bill Murray,who's in Japan filming adverts and lonely.   He's having problems with his wife and doesn't know anyone in Tokyo.   That's when he meets a lonely young wife (Scarlett Johansson) who's accompanying her husband on a business trip, but he's neglecting her and having fun with his friends.   The two of them strike up a friendship and go around Tokyo together.   It's quite an artsy film.   One you don't watch for the story or the dialogue, but for the shots.   A lot of the time it just seems to be show-casing Tokyo, especially Tokyo night life, and there are long periods with no dialogue at all.   It's very atmospheric and quite melancholy.   I imagine it to be a good film to stick on at the end of a night out, when there are lots of people crowded together in a dark room and it's very late and everyone is quite sleepy and perhaps a little intoxicated.   And they must have worked pretty hard to get Scarlett Johansson to look like a Plain Jane.

            





And finally, Ladies in Lavender.   This was an interesting one.   It's about two elderly sisters played by Maggie Smith and Judi Dench who find a shipwrecked boy washed up on the beach in the 1930s.   They don't have a language in common, but they take care of him and grow to love him.   In fact one of them actually falls in love with him, despite the massive age gap.   In the end he leaves for London without saying anything where he becomes a famous violinist.   This one was also pretty and atmospheric, showing off the English countryside, though I'm not sure about the colour palette they used.   It made the sea look quite odd and unnatural.   And Maggie Smith was brilliant, as always.

  

Films

A couple more film reviews for you.   The first is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.   I really enjoyed this.   It's set in India but has a quintessentially British feel to it.   It's about a group of British pensioners who, for various reasons, all decide to go and live in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India.   Each character has their own story, but all the stories are interwoven.   Some of them feel right at home in India and others can't cope.   It stars all the people you would expect it to, like Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy.   It's the performances, rather than the story that make the film for me.   Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Celia Imrie were all great, but Dev Patel as Sonny, the eternally optimistic manager of the hotel was especially brilliantly funny.   A funny film that leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

 



And now, Brave, the latest offering from Pixar.   All of Scotland is going mad for it, because it's set in Scotland, and I must confess I'm no exception.   It makes Scotland look so pretty!   It's about a feisty young princess called Merida who doesn't want to get married, so she turns her mother into a bear.   As you do.   She then spends the rest of the film mending the damage.   Again, there aren't really any surprises in the casting.   Kelly McDonald, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane etc.   It's a great film.   Cute and moving and very funny.   It's also really easy to watch.  I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it felt like the film doesn't expect too much of the audience.   It makes you feel like you to watch it you don't have to be clever or "normal".   Like being you is fine.   It's a very accepting film.   Yes, I am a weirdo...

And finally, Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate).   It's a very odd, but very good Mexican film.   It's about a young girl called Tita who is forbidden to marry the man she loves.   She starts expressing herself through her cooking, and this has very strange consequences on all those who eat it.   Plenty of magic, plenty of mystery, plenty of Old Mexico and some really excellent performances.   A really unique film!