Harry Potter, goodbye my friend

About 12 years ago, my Dad dragged me into a bookstore, demanding I pick out half a dozen books. That was how he tried to get me into reading (to be honest, it didn’t really work out as well as he’d hoped). One of the books I reluctantly picked out was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which in my opinion was a great book for a 9-year old considering I had recently graduated from Enid Blyton. I read it. Loved it. And got hooked to the entire series. Now more than a decade later, it all ends.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is everything I expected it to be - exciting, action-packed, emotional, heart wrenching and most of all an epic and satisfying finale to an amazing series. There are plenty of good things about the movie. More than ever, the color and lighting suits the tone of the movie. It’s like the entire film has the Walden filter (if you’re on Instagram, you’ll know what I’m talking about) layered over it. Effectively, it makes the movie more heart wrenching than it already is. On top of this there are some absolutely gorgeous visuals. I was really struck by the pure beauty of this film. It’s probably the best shot of all the Potter films, and I love gorgeous-looking movies.

Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) probably gets more screen time in this movie than in any of the previous four, which brought me around to realizing that he does a fantastic job. Everything is convincing. His pain, his anger but most of all, his terrifying whispers. While on the point of acting, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have come a long way and finally give barely decent performances.

My favorite part of the movie was Snape’s story. It’s brief, concise and gets the point across but most importantly, it instantly built a sense ofaffection and close emotional connection for me. With that, it brings me to the content of the movie and my issues with how they were separated, making up part 1 and part 2. David Yates had two options - either film a long ass movie no. 7 or, split the last book up into two movies. Obviously, he went with option no. 2, which I believe to have been a wise decision. My problem is that there is too much content in the book to have been fit into one movie but on the other hand there is too little content to have made two outstanding movies. So this is a problem for me that can’t really be solved. Big props to Yates for making the best of it though.

Having cut the first movie off at a great point, part 2 essentially comprises scenes set in only three locations and only one day passes in the movie. Although massively eventful, the movie feels stretched, dragging the content out to fill up the allotted 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Having said that, I think this is a good movie on its own and if you’ve followed this from the start I believe you will be quite satisfied. I know I was. And to everyone who has grown up with Harry Potter, as I have, say goodbye but only for now. This is our generation’s Star Wars and we will introduce our kids to this. And when we do, we’ll experience, all over again, the magical escapism it’s brought us.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer

We all know the Harry Potter film franchise is coming to a close soon with the last book being split into two films, to be released 7 months apart; ala The Matrix. What people are calling the trailer to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was just released on the Internet recently but it doesn’t really seem like a trailer to me. It’s more of a promo for the last two films instead of being a standalone trailer for an individual movie.

Lines like “The Finale Of The Worldwide Phenomenon” and “The Motion Picture Event Of A Generation” sort of spoiled the trailer for me and made it more of a TV spot than anything else. Having said that, I am no less excited for the final two films in the franchise. Check out the trailer below.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I will be in cinemas November 18, 2010 and Part II July 15, 2011. What do you think of the trailer?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

[This review contains spoilers]

The sixth Harry Potter book is by far the best of the series. And now, the sixth Harry Potter movie is my favorite and best of the franchise so far. Quite simply, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the best movies of the past seven months. Let me try to tell you why I think so.

WARNING: If you have not followed the franchise, I highly recommend you watch the previous five movies before you enjoy this one. If you plan on watching Half-Blood Prince without having a shred of Potter knowledge in you, you will not only have absolutely no idea what is going on, but you will also have spoiled the wonderful experience that is the Harry Potter experience. Just to give you some perspective, an item from book/movie 2, Chamber of Secrets, is talked about in book/movie 6 Half-Blood Prince. What I’m saying is that Half-Blood Prince cannot be enjoyed if you have not seen the previous movies.

Lord Voldemort is back and is building his army. Back at school, in his 6th year, Harry is instructed by Professor Dumbledore to obtain precious information from the new Professor Horace Slughorn. Information that will prove crucial in the attempt to defeat the Dark Lord.

As usual, the music of the movie hits you right from the get-go. As we’ve gone from the first movie, to the sixth one, the music has gotten much darker and more haunting but at times very dreamy and warm. It’s good that by just the music alone, the aspect of the joy of being at Hogwarts, this fantastic and magical place, is preserved in spite of the plot taking a very dark turn.

This movie, like many others, is not perfect. But what flaws it has is incredibly smothered by the sheer brilliance of the storyline. I guess that’s why J.K. Rowling is the richest lady in Britain. Maybe it’s because its been a while since I read Half-Blood Prince, but I was so compelled by the storytelling ability of the movie, I could not stop wanting to know what was going to happen next. Most of the previous movies, especially the first two, had extremely chopped up, directionless and episodic ways of interpreting the story. Half-Blood Prince is nothing like that. The movie flows beautifully from event to event without seeming static. There is less focus on the normal everyday magical stuff that really wowed us back in the first few movies. This allows the movie to have a firm direction, more focus on the essential parts of the story and lead the audience appropriately.

In Half-Blood Prince, we really see a lot of Tom Felton as the plot follows Draco Malfoy very closely. It is very obvious that his acting has improved dramatically and he’s matured a great deal. Unfortunately, I can’t really say the same for Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), who in my opinion, is not a very good actor, although he does have a very good scene where he drinks the Felix Felicis (read the book or watch the movie to know). I can see Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) having a relatively successful comical acting career ahead of him and as for Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), she seems to be a fan favorite and has decent acting skills. Along with Tom Felton, I was most impressed with Michael Gambon’s (Professor Albus Dumbledore) and Alan Rickman’s (Professor Severus Snape) acting in the film.

The way this film was shot was nothing less than spectacular. I believe the Potter films were all shot in Scotland and if the film failed as a Potter film, it could double as a “Visit Scotland” promotional video. Some shots of the scenery as just incredibly breathtaking. And this only contributes to the fantasy of Harry Potter. However, I did spot some scenes that I could tell was shot in front of a green screen.

The special effects of the movie as a whole is undoubtedly very good and believable, but as always, it could have been better. What really caught me was the cinematography of the film and the colors that are used. Basically, there are two sets of color schemes. When it was needed, the film is covered in grey, green and black, making the thoughts of Voldemort, cold, evil and Slytherin pop into mind. On the other hand whenever gold and red engulf the screen, it really transmits the feeling of warmth, joy, good and Gryffindor. I guess this is typical in all the other Potter movies, but it really got to me in this film and I loved it.

Half-Blood Prince is first and foremost an action-adventure and fantasy movie but it is also a very big romance movie. In this movie we see Harry, Ron and Hermione fall in love. David Yates does well in unveiling the relationships at the right time but leaves little traces and hints throughout the whole film. The romance in this film may be nice and sweet and yada yada yada, but I doubt it will be winning any Twilight fan girls (and fanbois?) any time soon.

To describe Half-Blood Prince in one sentence, it is like Order of the Phoenix, except an astronomically better movie. Being one, I can safely say that Potter fan s all over the world will be satisfied, if not extremely happy with this movie. As for the general audience, I cannot say because like I said before, nobody can sit through this film without having already seen the previous five.

I loved the movie. It is highly recommendable. Take your whole family, although the young ones as well as the old ones would probably need some explaining to. I have to say that this is my third favorite film of the year and second of the summer. I can barely wait for the next two films which are, unfortunately, a year and a half and two years away, respectively.

I give Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 8/10 Popcorns

Opening This Week: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This post is overdue enough. So let's cut the crap and get straight into things. Let's go!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Tom Felton, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Wright, Jim Broadbent
Director: David Yates
USA release: July 15
Msia release: July 16
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Runtime: 2 hours 32 mins
Rated in USA: PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality
Rated in Msia: PG-13
IMDb User Rating: 8.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Lord Voldemort is back and is building his army. Back at school, in his 6th year, Harry is instructed by Professor Dumbledore to obtain precious information from the new Professor Horace Slughorn. Information that will prove crucial in the attempt to defeat the Dark Lord.

I have already seen the movie so I will reserve my thoughts for my review, which should be up on the site by tonight. I will say this though, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was, by a mile, the best Potter film so far. And if you have the chance to get your hands on tickets for the movie, don't give it up. Highly recommendable.

New Harry Potter 6 Posters

Check out these new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince posters featuring Harry and Ginny; Ron and Hermione; Ron, Lavender Brown and Hermione; Luna Lovegood; and Draco Malfoy.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince gets a worldwide release July 16, about one month from now.

The Deathly Hallows Split

As we all know by now, the seventh and last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split in two for the onscreen adaptation. The question was, how would the book be split into Part 1 and Part 2? When Empire sat down with David Heyman, the series producer this is what he had to say.

"We’ve played around with a couple of places and ultimately settled on a place that we think is very exciting, and I think quite bold, in that it’s not necessarily where one might expect. You want to give a sense of completion, on one hand, but a sense that there’s another piece, more to come. We tried one and then Steve [Kloves] came up with the idea to try it another way and when we tried that, it felt just right."

If you're even the average Harry Potter fan, you would remember the last chapter of Deathly Hallows where we get a glimpse of Harry, Ron and Hermione 19 years after the main story. Well, there were two options on how they are going to make this happen on the big screen. One, to go with doubles to play the grown-up versions of the main characters; two, to use advanced CG technology, Benjamin Button style, to alter their appearances. Here's what the man himself, Daniel Radcliffe had to say about this.

"I am nervous about that because if it’s good I’ll be really, really pleased; if it’s not good and that’s what people are left with, that would be awful. If it’s a choice between having me, Rupert and Emma looking a bit stupid and it being slightly comical or having other actors play us, I would go for other actors every time. So, we’ll see."

So what do you think? Do you think they'll use doubles or CG technology? I think they'll risk it and go for the spectacular tech. And where do you think they're going to split the finale in two? I have absolutely no clue. So many things happened in that book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is set for release November 19, 2010. Fans will have to wait almost eight months for Part 2 when it opens July 15, 2011.