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.

Live Free or Die Harder

I'm sure that will be the sequel to Live Free or Die Hard. This was actually my first in the Die Hard series. I'm not particularly a fan of Bruce Willlis. He's too self aware as an actor and I don't particularly like his choice of films. That being said, as a new resident of New Hampshire how could I pass on a film with such a creative title. Oh, and I'm totally crushing on Justin Long. I did check with the buds to make sure he's on screen long enough to warrant a trip to see the film.

I have to say, I was completely taken by the film. From the start is it engaging. The character development lasts all of 10 minutes and then we're into the non-stop action. Matt Farrell is one of the top 1000 hackers in the U.S. When someone hacks into the F.B.I.'s network, John McClane is sent to fetch Matt and bring him to F.B.I. Headquarters. It turns out that Matt and seven other hackers have been writing code that has allowed an evil computer genius to perpetrate a "fire sale"--a complete meltdown of the U.S. brought about by a shutdown of all computer networks. The bad guys are out to finish the fire sale at the same time there after Matt, since he's the only one who can stop them.

The story works and the action is almost over the top. It is possible to launch a car to take out a helicopter. And that happens pretty early in the film, meaning that there are better effects to come. Tom Olyphant is an excellent bad guy, and Maggie Q is fierce.

Justin Long and Bruce Willis make a good team. Bruce has a more natural style then usual, and Justin demonstrates that he has acting chops that go beyond Mac commercials and Accepted, which, by the way, I thought worked on the strength of his charms.

So, Live Free or Die Hard is a pretty amazing ride--definitely an E ticket. But it also has a good story and some warmth that kept me on board until the end and in between the special effects.

Hex

A colleague recommended that I check out the British series Hex. Given my ongoing devotion to Buffy the Vampire Slayer I figured I'd give it a shot. Of course, living in the boonies means limited selection of channels. But lo and behold, two days later, season one of Hex was released on DVD. I've made it through 7 of 10 episodes, and I'm ready to weigh in.

Overall, the feel of the series reminds me of Heroes more than anything I've seen recently. Hex maintains a laidback approach to the genre. In fact, several episodes go by and you realize Cassie, our heroine and resident ingenue hopped up on voodoo, hasn't used her powers once. Previews of upcoming episodes suggest that maybe the producers got a special effects budget sometime around the 8th or 9th episode.

The show is set in a British boarding school housed in a historic manse. We discover early on that Cassie is a McBain, a lineage connected to the angel Azazeal and the 200 Neferline (angels who hooked up with mortal women). In her quest to figure all this out, Cassie (Christina Cole) is aided by her dead best friend and "dyke in shining armor" Thelma (Jemima Rooper) as she grapples with the dark forces that have taken over her life.

The show develops this interesting mythology that is not always consistent. For example, we learn that ghosts can talk on cell phones, eat, put money in vending machines or, what the heck, just open them and take the snacks. Ghosts cannot, however, touch humans or wear human clothes (although they can take the clothes from dead people).

Possession can pass from one person to the next through sex, even when wearing a condom. This would put it in the class of STD's like crabs or HPV. Angels are not ghosts and can take corporeal form--either human or demony (as Buffy might say).

All of this, quite frankly, makes the show more engaging. Plus, it's a portrayal of life at 16 that is fueled by drugs, sex and manipulation. I always wondered what life was like at boarding school! So, while I haven't figured it all out, yet, I'm ready to preorder season two.

True Colors Tour--Boston Show

Spent the weekend in Boston. It was a great weekend. My first visit to the ICA. But the main reason for the visit was the Boston leg of the True Colors Tour at the Bank of America Pavilion. Overall it was a great, empowering event with some unfortunate technical difficulties and mediocre sound. But the performances were uniformly excellent and added up to an amazing show.

The line-up:

The Gossip provided a strong start to the evening. I think the Cyndi Lauper crowd didn't quite know what to make of The Gossip, but Beth and company put on a rocking first set. This was the first indication that the acoustics were not going to be great.

Dresden Dolls followed with an amazing and engaging set for the hometown crowd. They engaged the crowd, perhaps better than any of the other performers. They did an audience friendly set that included songs from familiar albums and a few new ones. The new single, Shores of California, is great. Check out the video. They also did a groovy version of Coin-Operated Boy that was one of the highlights of the show.

A word about Margaret Cho: It was highly effective to bridge the sets with Margaret rather than intermissions. She was fierce as always ("I'm glad that Jerry Falwell died"). But from Section 6, Row 11, it was often difficult to make out what she was saying. There was no picking up on the nuance of a Margaret Cho performance. The lesbian take on Mickey Avalon was fun, but Mickey really deserved a shout-out.

Rufus Wainwright was up third. The audience members who chatted their way through the performance were annoying (you know who you are, Section 6, Row M). Apparently Rufus was, too. The last time I saw Rufus, he was totally engaging onstage. At True Colors he wasn't. He said nary a word to the audience. The set was mostly from Release the Stars, but I was disappointed that he chose not to do the concert-friendly tracks, like "Rules and Regulations" or "Between My Legs". It was great to see Rufus with his band, but I'd hoped for a stronger set.

Deborah Harry was the first performer to get the audience to its feet. After an amazing "French Kissing in the U.S.A.," she launched into some new material that had me a little nervous about the set. But the second half of the set was rousing and kept the audience moving--even if there was some hope in the air for "Rapture" or "Tide is High."

Erasure took the stage and the audience lept up and stayed up. It was the perfect mix of classic Erasure ("A Little Respect," "I Love to Hate You," "Oh, L'Amour" were standouts) and tracks from the new album. For the, um, newer gays, this was all a revelation. And really, really empowering.

Cyndi Lauper was without a doubt the headliner. This was the third time I've seen her, and she's a master of the stage. Her set seemed to be plagued by technical difficulties, but she managed them with grace. Her duet with Beth on "Time After Time" was another highlight of the event. The choral finale of "True Colors" was also quite moving.

A word about guitars: Cyndi, Rufus and Vince all played guitar at one point in their sets. They seemed self-conscious. Perhaps a little out of their elements.

What a great night, and what a great way to spend time across the generations. Technical difficulties aside, this was special.

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