Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before anyone had a chance to tell me what happened. In the end, I'm not sure that mattered because everything has been leading up to where it takes us. In other words, there's nothing in the story that is shocking or unexpected.

All roads lead to Hogwarts and a final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. They have since Sorcerer's Stone. But the journey is intense and violent with many casualties along the way and a wee bit of humor. Rowling rightly focuses on Harry, Ron and Hermione, while other characters are crucial but peripheral.

The connections to other epics--for a moment I thought I was reading Lord of the Rings, no wait, this is King Arthur, no wait, use the force Harry--gives one a chuckle, but shows the cracks in the Potter universe, too. They do make for some exciting action scenes. And the action is almost nonstop.

The final showdown works as a fitting and solid conclusion to the epic. I'm not so sure the epilogue does, however. Set 19 years hence, we get fragments from the lives of certain characters. But I was struck more by what was missing. The Dursley's, for example, have been an annoying but constant presence throughout all seven books (at least the beginning of the books). They deserve some sort of resolution to their relationship with Harry.

The character with the most satisfying treatment in Deathly Hallows is actually Neville Longbottom. Although still not commanding a lot of text, he continues to come into his own, and Rowling handles his arc with great finesse.

I am sad that it's over. Glad of the resolution. Content.

Oh, Oh, Oh Woke Up Today, Feeling the Way I Always Do...

Hairspray is tremendous fun. From the opening number I had a big grin on my face. The transition from stage to screen has been handled very well. The performances are almost uniformly good (more on that in a moment), the story translated well, and there is great wit and humor throughout.

I am a big fan of the musical on stage. The things that bother me about the film have more to do with that than things that are particularly wrong with the film. Much of the second act, for example, is excised from the film, so "Without Love," Tracy's prison visit from Link, happens (very creatively, I must admit) with them in separate locations. None of the actors outshine their stage counterparts , though some (see Nicky Blonsky, Zac Efron, Michelle Pfieffer) bring equally seductive interpretations to their roles. Travolta, though, just didn't do it for me. While he gives us a full figured Edna, and plumbs some depth from the role, his Edna seems to fade into the scenery much more than the Edna's of his predecessors.

The stage version of Hairspray had less bite than the original film, and the latest film has less bite still. "There's a road..." brings some gravitas to the proceedings, but it almost seems forced. The film has been mainstreamed even more than the musical. The orchestrations have less bite; the new songs are more generic.

All that being said, the nods to the film and stage versions make it a great ride for those hair hoppers who've been with the show since the beginning, and the film is an amazing ride for those who are new to Hairspray. Our six filmgoers represented that range, and all had big fun.

Why Do I Like this One the Best?

I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Thursday, and I've been trying to put my finger on why I liked it so much. I expected that the darkness of the 5th book in the series would make it more interesting to me, and it did. But there's more to it. This film is stronger than the sum of its parts. I think the earlier films were equal to the sum of its parts. And what parts are those?

1. Better Acting. Overall, the focus is much more on the kids. The supporting players, like Neville and Cho, have a bit more to do, and Harry, Hermione and Ron are around a lot, the adults are largely absent. Maggie Smith gets one scene. Michael Gambon gets two. The kids hold up their part of the film.

2. Imelda Staunton. That being said, Imelda Staunton rules Phoenix, as the Inquisitor in Residence and Defense of the Dark Arts teacher, though anti-teacher might be better since everything she does is counter to the students learning to defend themselves against the dark arts. She is simply amazing. It is a compelling performance that is more fully developed than we're accustomed to in the series.

3. Good CGI. The special effects are great but not overwhelming.

4. A focused story. Okay, I'm a bit of two minds here. I think David Yates has done a terrific job of telling the core story of Order of the Phoenix. It moves and it engages. But there is so much of the book that's left out, it feels more like connective tissue between movies 4 and 6, rather than a film that stands on its own. But what a film.

Yates approach makes it easy to sum up the story: With the Ministry of Magic in denial about the return of Voldemort, Harry and friends, as well as the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix, must prepare to do battle with the Death Eaters. Meanwhile, Dolores Umbridge is sent to Hogwarts to implement the Ministry's head-in-the-sand approach to the return of You Know Who.

Phoenix is engaging almost from the start. Technically, it's more sophisticated than earlier films, give this one a more natural (albeit supernatural) feel. It is more violent. It is all about violence, in fact. The wizarding world is at war, and Harry and his mates are the ones doing most of the fighting for the good side.

This is definitely not for everyone, and I can understand why the reviews are either raves or kind. But for me, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix most lives up to the promise of the Potter collection on film.

I Don't Regret I Stepped into that Car

Not that it was a particularly great movie, though. As action movies go, Transformers had its charms. Two things, though, are immediately irritating and hard to get past. First, the writing sucks. For much of the film every line is a punch line. They're tedious, not funny, lines. Second, the cinematography during the action sequences is muddled. It's often difficult to tell who's fighting whom. The autobots and the decepticons largely look the same and mostly like a jumble of metal during the action.

The story is engaging enough for a summer action flick directed at kids and featuring kids toys. (The first audience laugh comes during the opening credits, when Hasbro is credited as a producer.) Shia LeBeouf handles the leading man role with sarcastic wit, and Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Megan Fox are just fine. The transformers get their own personalities--the autobots, at least.

So, if I'm not high on the film, it also wasn't an unpleasant way to spend the Fourth of July. But if you're looking for that real rush of adrenalin that comes from action films, see Die Hard.