Death becomes him

There is definitely a sense of foreboding with the arrival of the latest film in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. This not only holds true inside the film, but for viewers as well as they come to the realization that soon there will be no more films. While we are now seeing less of the whimzy that marked the early films, it doesn't mean that the quality of this franchise has also waned. Instead, this is another excellent outing that has given its three core characters an opportunity to display the acting skills they've gained over the years.

The film gets off to a great start with a montage of everyone preparing for the battle that lies ahead, which then leads into a terrific chase sequence in one of the many attempts by the Death Eaters to capture Harry Potter so that he can be killed by Voldemort. Within the course of this first half hour we are treated to appearances from practically the entire cast of characters that we've come to know and love over the course of this entire franchise. In some ways, it feels like a class reunion. It's wonderful to see this terrific collection of actors, no matter how fleeting their time on screen is.

Things eventually settle down as the film shifts to focus primarily on Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they travel together avoiding Death Eaters and seeking the remaining horcruxes - the talismen which hold the key for killing Voldemort. For some, particularly those who have not read the books, these scenes may test your patience. Personally, I still found these engrossing as they solidify the relationships between the three characters and illustrate what a terrible situation they find themselves in.

I have given director David Yates grief in previous reviews for some of the personal liberties he took with the books in his films. However, now in his third effort he has evolved as a director and has become comfortable in how to move the story along. Given that he had the luxury of seperating this last book into two films, he was able to not only remain more faithful to the original text, he was also able to include more of the specific details associated with pivotal scenes. Of course, things still aren't perfect. For example, the introduction of characters, who had already been well established in previous books, like Bill Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher, are a bit abrupt. However, these are minor offenses and overall I had few complaints about what was and was not included here.

Keeping the same director for these past few films has also been helpful for the film's three young leads. Daniel Radcliff, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all grown up in front of our eyes and in this film they really shine in their scenes with each other. They've gained a familiarity with who these characters are without displaying any complacency in still playing them a decade later. Watson, in particular, has become a great young actress. She, similar to her character, has become the glue that holds things together. I'll be very interested to see how well these three can translate their fame and success into other acting jobs in the future.

If you have not heard yet where they have chosen to stop Part 1, I won't spoil it for you hear. All I will say is that I was perfectly satisfied with the spot they chose. Initially, when I heard that they were splitting this book into two films, I liked the idea but didn't have a clue as to where they would stop this first part. There was no real moment that felt like a mini victory that they could choose to close on. Instead, they opted to have this film end in a The Empire Strikes Back-esque way. The whole 'the night is always darkest before the dawn' concept. Using this method is effective and certainly will make you eager for part 2, which thankfully will come out next July.

Despite the bleaker tone and less than natural conclusion, this is still an excellent film that any Potter fan will love. It finds a nice balance between big-time action and a more intimate character study. While everyone will have their nitpicks, I think most will have difficulty finding major flaws with this latest entry. At the very least, it will do more than enough to whet your appetite for the final showdow. The battle may be between Harry and Voldemort, but the clear cut winners continue to be the fans who get to enjoy each one of these great films. Grade: A-

LIVE from Sesame Street, it's Saturday Night!

Apparently, the success of the internet campaign to get Betty White as a host on Saturday Night Live has made everyone believe that with the right promotion, they too can get a hosting job. Most are pretty frivolous, but this latest entry earned my attention. Here is Sesame Street's own, Cookie Monster making his bid for the hosting gig.

NMR: Retro-grade

Here's a handful a films that are (hard to believe) now over 20 years old...

The Abyss: I've continued to be on a James Cameron kick recently, so I wanted to check out this underwater adventure from him. From a visual standpoint, this earns a major wow from me. Back there, he was already doing things way ahead of everyone else and ended up being rewarded with the Best Visual Effects Oscar as a result of this. It's interesting to see some of elements of Avatar already seen both here and his Aliens film. The primary characters are not the most interesting, but the acting is solid enough to keep the story moving. I watched the original theatrical cut, but after reading about what was included in the extended edition, it seems like it's one of the few cases where more was needed. You get a much better sense of the the aliens' inclusion in the film with the added scenes. Regardless of which version you watch though, this is an engaging film. It's not yet available on Blu-Ray and given how strong the visuals are here, I might suggest you wait for that version to come out and then watch this if you have never seen it before. Rating: ****

Robocop: I initially wrote this off as a cheesy 80s action thriller, but once I gave it a chance, I was very impressed. The action and violence in this film is excessive, but done in a way that delivers a message with it. It's overblown in a way to make a commentary on the type of violence that is typically seen in these type of films. You also have director Paul Verhoven's signature satirical take of the media on display here. On top of all that, Robocop is a hero without being corny and the villains are evil without being cool. You're actually rooting for the protagonist and you really enjoy seeing him emerge victorious. Having watched this, I rescind my cynicism and complement everyone involved here on a very entertaining action thriller. Rating: ****

Robocop 2: After enjoying the first and seeing that this was available instantly on Netflix, I gave this sequel a shot. Sadly, this one pales in comparison to the original. What makes it more depressing is that it seemingly didn't have to be that way. This film is a mess because it keeps introducing interesing story ideas and then abandoning them halfway through. Ideas like Robocop reconnecting with his wife, the relationship between him and his partner Lewis, being controlled by the evil corporation, and a child drug dealer are all started but are not developed properly. Instead, the film builds to an uninteresting battle between Robocop and a another robot that has an apparent ending and is not set up properly to make the audience invested in the outcome. While some of Verhoven's touches remain, it's clear that he would have needed to stick around and actually direct this for it to have any chance of being good. Instead, this is just a lazy cash grab that fails on all levels. Given how far the quality dropped here, along with some reviews I've read I don't think it is even worth my effort to watch the third one in this series. This one did enough damage on its own. Rating: **

Cowboy up

Laugh at the title all you want, but a film that features James Bond and Indiana Jones guarantees I'll be checking this one out.

Immature arrival

Now that it's Thanksgiving break, I'm able to catch up on my blogging and that includes a couple of movie reviews; first up, the latest Todd Phillips' comedy, Due Date. Phillips' who's on a roll coming off the success of The Hangover, set himself up nicely for this follow up by pairing Zack Galifianakis with Robert Downey Jr. Unfortunately, it seems he felt that this dream team was enough and not enough attention was spent on the story or humor.

The film is basically a retread of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In this case, Peter Highman (Downey) is trying to head back to L.A. from Atlanta for the birth of his first kid. However, a meeting with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis), causes him to be kicked off his plane and placed on the no-fly list. The two then decide to travel by car across the country, all the while Tremblay increasingly annoys Peter with his antics and mannerisms.

How much mileage, no pun intended, you get out of this sort of plot will vary. You have to tow the line of having the antagonist be annoying enough to justify the victim's frustration, but still sympathetic in order to prevent the audience from turning on the character too. In this case, Galfianakis doesn't quite evoke the same pathos that Candy did (a dead wife trumps a dead father in this case), but he's a strong enough comedian to make you laugh at most of what he does, rather than detest the character.

Due Date certainly has a familiar feel, but it's not just because its using a borrowed plot. I also felt like I had seen this movie already because of the volume of commercials and ads that there were for it before its release. As a result of their aggressive ad campaign, there were very few scenes in this film that I had not already seen that were also laugh out loud funny. That's a depressing feeling because you just sit there and you begin to recite the lines with the actors and also identify which scene comes next. If you feel like you have seen a lot of commercials for this film, I may recommend you pass on seeing it; you've already gotten most of the jokes for free.

The fact that most of the jokes were shown on regular television also tells you that the humor here isn't as edgy as in some of Phillips' other films. That is certainly disappointing as I felt that having this pairing of actors would have lent itself nicely to some good blue humor. That is not to say the movie doesn't have its laughs; it is just that you can't expect this to appeal to the same audience that fell in love with The Hangover, Old School, or Road Trip.

Truthfully, if this film didn't star Downey and Galifianakis, it would be a severly underwhelming film. These two, however, have both the acting chops and comedic time to milk the most out of this material. If you're being asked to go for a long drive, then you want to make sure you enjoy your passengers. These guys qualify for that and so that makes this a bit more tolerable. Still, you would have hoped that they could have given these guys more to work with instead of relying on their talents.

Due Date is not a bad film, but its certainly a flawed film. You're likely to get some laughs out of it, but not as many as you would hope. While this is not Todd Phillips' worst film (that would likely be School For Scoundrels), it falls short of being included with some of his modern classics. You may give this a look, but as we near Thanksgiving, you are probably better off revisiting Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and watch how an unlikely pair of travelers can make an uncomfortable ride a lot of fun. Grade: B-

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A Choo-in to stay in the U.S.A.

This is very good news for Indians fans...

Shin-Soo Choo has his gold medal. That should be enough for the Indians' star outfielder and nine of his South Korean teammates to avoid their home country's required military service.

On Friday, South Korea defeated Taiwan, 9-3, to capture the gold in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, completing a quest to possibly become exempt from military conscription. Ten players from the team will avoid the requirement, so Choo using his bat to win gold may turn out to be a way out of the obligation.

"I am kind of dreaming right now," Choo told Korean reporters. "Honestly, if [I told you] I didn't think about the military service, I might be a liar. But it wasn't the primary reason to join in national team. I love baseball, and whenever I put the national flag on the shoulder, I am really proud of my nation and myself.

"That's why I want to play [for] this team. I am representing all the Korean baseball players."

In the gold medal game against the defending champs from Taiwan, Choo went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base. Over five games in the tournament, Cleveland's budding star hit at a .571 (8-for-14) clip with three home runs, six walks, eight runs scored and 11 RBIs for South Korea.

Along the way, South Korea went undefeated to reclaim the gold it also won in 2002 and 1998.

"I'm very happy for him," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He is a proud man who cares a lot about winning. Now South Korea is on top of Asian baseball, and he can continue to make them proud with his accomplishments in MLB."

Indians general manager Chris Antonetti was impressed with how Choo performed, considering the very unique circumstances.

"It's hard to imagine a more presure-filled environment than playing under the circumstances Choo was playing in," Antonetti said. "It's certainly a great accomplishment for him and Team Korea to win the gold medal at a very competitive tournament and to perform exceptionally well in helping lead Team Korea to the gold."

That said, the Indians have not received an official declaration from the Korean Baseball Office concerning the status of Choo's military requirment. Antonetti said he anticipates hearing from Korean Baseball officials soon and the Tribe's GM fully expects Choo to be exempt from the mandate.

"We have not received official word from the K.B.O. that he's been granted a military exemption," Antonetti said. "But, based upon our understanding prior to the Asian Games, as well as past precedent, it's our understanding that Choo's military obligation will be waived."

According to the Korea Times, 10 players from the team will receive an exemption from 30 months of military conscription for capturing a gold medal in the Asian Games. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve two years in the military by the end of their 30th year.

With the gold in hand, and the possibility of Choo being fitted for a military uniform seemingly removed, attention can be turned on the Indians' attempt to sign the outfielder to a contract extension. Choo -- a client of agent Scott Boras -- is eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, but Cleveland plans on exploring a long-term deal.

Choo, who turned 28 in July, hit .300 with 22 home runs, 90 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in 144 games. The outfielder became the only Indians player since 1901 to record a .300 average and at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in consecutive seasons.

Considering the Indians control Choo's contractual rights through 2013, there is no real reason to rush into a deal. The Indians are also working with a limited budget this winter. Antonetti said, however, that he plans on meeting with Boras this offseason to continue dialogue about a long-term deal.

"It's certainly something that we'll explore," Antonetti said. "I think it's important to remember that Choo is under club control for the next three years, but we'll certainly look at the opportunity to extend that relationship beyond that.

"We certainly value him and are hopeful that he'll be a Cleveland Indian for quite a long time."

Seeing Green

Now that the holidays are here, expect to see a lot of trailers for next year's big movies. Here's a pair of Green themed superhero movies that may be worth checking out:

NMR: Get Him to the Greek

British comedian Russell Brand reprises his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall as rocker Aldous Snow, however, Jonah Hill, who was also in Marshall, plays someone different here. Needless to say it's not a conventional spinoff movie. While Brand really added something with his first portrayal of Snow, it appears it wasn't a character that deserved to be the central protagonist. The film involves Hill's character attempting to chaperone the rocker from London to LA for a comeback concert. Of course, a lot of shenanigans happen along the way that are supposed to be funny. The problem in these situations is their lack of directions. They hover in the middle ground and fail to either be crudely funny or a poignant look at the fake happiness of a rock star's life. An example of this is a scene where Snow proposes a three way with Jonah Hill and his wife. Leaving it at the suggestion would offer some depth to the characters and allow them to reevaluate their relationships. Having them go all the way with it could have been peversely hilarious. Instead, they start to go forward with it, but then puss out halfway through. The actors try their best to make the material work, but that only goes so far here. If you really enjoy the lead actors, it may be worth a rental, but most will likely be disappointed. Rating: **

Trailer deconstruction: Hall Pass

First, watch this trailer, the latest film from the Farrelly brothers...


So can anyone else see some fundamental flaws in the set-up and storytelling here? You begin with an average married guy getting caught checking out another woman. Wife gets frustrated and opts to give him a 'hall pass' so he can be with whoever he wants for a week without consequences. OK, fine. It's not the most realistic scenario, but I'm with the premise so far. We then get into the bulk of the trailer where we see how the guy uses his hall pass and it goes completely against convention. If we're to believe that a wife would get so frustrated as to offer such a pass, the guy must frequently have a wandering eye. Yet, in the scenes of him living the single life again, he hardly interacts with women and when he does, it appears he's never talked to a woman before in his life. These two things just don't add up, regardless if the scenes are funny or not, which admittedly some are.

Furthermore, let's do a reality check here. The wives of the two married guys in this film (Owen Wilson and SNL's Jason Sudekis) are The Office's Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate. This prompts a couple of questions: 1) Why would you ever have a wandering if you were married to either one of those two smoking hot women? and 2) How did they ever marry those beautiful women in the first place given their ineptitude around women that we see them display in this trailer.

Now maybe I am being too harsh and the trailer is misleading in some way of the film's actual narrative, but I would guess not. To me, it just seems like lazy Hollywood writing that eschews reality and instead cobbles together a handful of jokes and gags without any consideration for the premise or if it reflects real life.

Recreation time!!

NBC Pulls the Trigger on Three-Hour Comedy Bloc, Puts Parks and Recreation Back on the Schedule

Happy days are here again! Parks and Recreation finally returns in January and I'm already counting down the days. I love the fact that they have scheduled it after The Office as well, hopefully giving it the best chance at decent ratings. If you aren't already watching this show, do yourself a favor and check it out once it retuns in a couple of months. As for NBC's decision to have a 3 hour comedy block, it's risky, but I hope for their sake it works out. Their network has a lot better programming than what their ratings would suggest.

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The return of Coco

So after a 9 month exile, Conan O'Brien finally made his long-awaited return to television with his new late night show, Conan, on TBS and the results were less than what I had hoped for. It seemed like Conan's vacation didn't do a whole lot to produce change. A lot of the problems that I saw with his version of the Tonight Show, still seem there in this new incarnation. I really hope Conan is not trying to be stubborn and prove that that show would work had NBC given him a chance. While I believe NBC gave Conan a raw deal, his show was not perfect and a far cry from his original Late Night, where he gained his reputation as being one of the funniest late night talk show hosts out there. One of his biggest mistake in my opinion was to stay in Los Angeles. The caliber of crowd out there is terrible and the quality of guests is subpar. New York, on the other hand, had a great energy that fed well off of Conan's humor and he had a great cadre of celebrities, both big names and local favorites who would make for entertaining chat sessions. It also didn't hurt having the SNL crew nearby to feed into the comedic energy his original 12:30 show had. Everything thus far feels pre-fabricated and over-produced. Gone is the level of absurdity that made his original show great.

Now it's certainly too early to write Conan off. It may take some time to get back into the swing of things. I certainly feel the NBC jokes will thankfully subside after a while. And it still remains to be seen how much of his old characters and bits he'll be allowed to reuse on this new show. Still, I can't shake the sense that Conan has been so blinded by NBC's ineptitude that he can't properly evaluate the quality of his own show. I certainly hope I'm wrong, because when Conan's on, he can be great. But if things don't improve, I may have to settle for watching old YouTube clips of classic starring contests, If They Mated and visits from friends like PimpBot and Triumph. Grade: B-

Spot the difference

Anyone who can tell me what the difference between these two films, both due out next year, are, aside from the actors in them, wins a prize.

NMR: Batman: Under the Red Hood

As you know, I occasionally like to check out the animated comic book movies. This direct-to-dvd entry came out a few months ago and is already available for instant viewing on Netflix. I'm a big fan of Batman and this film was really entertaining. It digs deep into the motivations of the Batman character, while also exploring the origins of one of Batman's Robins. The main story revolves around a mysterious character named the Red Hood who's trying to take over all of Gotham's mob scene. Even though the focus is on Red Hood, the movie manages to work in appearances from other classic Batman villains including the Joker, the Riddler, Ra's Al Guhl and the Black Mask. None of their appearances feels tacked on, instead they create a more rich story. The voice work here is solid, but nothing spectacular. I did enjoy Neil Patrick Harris' work as Nightwing though. This film is probably only for Batman fans, but if you're included in that category, I would definitely recommend this one. The story is great and they pack a lot into it's brief, 80 minute runtime. It will definitely help fill the void until 2012 when we finally get a new live action Batman movie. Rating: ****

Wheel skills

Check out this shocking achievement on a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune:


Personally, I still think this is the more impressive accomplishment:


Sorry about the video quality of each of these.

NMR: How To Train Your Dragon

Just as Dreamworks' other animated film, Megamind, comes out this weekend, I'm finally getting around to see their first entry from this year. This is in the vein of Kung Fu Panda as it illustrates (no pun intended) that someone other than Pixar can make a really good animated film that will please children and adult audiences alike. The strength of this film is the relationship between protagonist Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and the dragon, Toothless. The bond that forms between these two is very well done and just as emotionally effective as the connections you see with children and pets in other live action films. In addition to Toothless, the film features a number of different types of dragons, each unique with their own personality without needing to speak. The dragons are just a part of the great look that this film has and I'm saying that based off of watching it on my simple TV. I would imagine being able to watch this on either a big screen and/or in 3D really makes this a visual spectacle. About the only thing that didn't work for me was the relationship issues between Hiccup and his father (voiced by Gerard Butler). That subplot felt very tired, especially since we've seen it a lot in other recent animated films, like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Overall, this is an enjoyable film and worth checking out, particularly if you enjoy these computer animated efforts. Rating: ****

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Senior moment

Any concerns I may have about getting older (It's hard to phathom that I've lived for three decades now) are alleviated while watching a film like RED. I took great pleasure in seeing guys still twice my age up on the big screen continuing to kick ass and take names. Based off of a graphic novel, RED stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich as a group of black-ops agents who are now 'retired, but extremely dangerous'. The quartet is rounded back up together after the government tries to assassinate them.

That's really all you need to know about this film. The film makes a half-hearted attempt to provide some reasons as to why they are being hunted, but it's really inconsequential in a film like this. If you find the concept of old people furiously shooting guns and blowing stuff up, you're in for fun ride and if you don't well then you're probably more of a curmudgeon than anyone in the film.

RED offers up several big action sequences, both in the hand-to-hand and weaponry variety. Nothing about them is particularly noteworthy, but they're all successful at keeping you entertained. Of course, Bruce Willis still knows how to craft an effective fistfight, as well as properly shoot a gun. Like riding a bike, Willis knows exactly how to get right back into John McClain mode.

As for the rest of the primary cast they each bring something fun to the table. Malkovich finds a new variety of crazy to display here that is equally infuriating to both his enemies and his allies. He's like Fringe's Walter Bishop if he had better access to explosives. Mirren seems to relish in being able to blend sophistication and savagery. It's a shame her mainstream success is coming so late in her career because she has consistently shown she performs well in both popcorn and art house fare. And then you have Morgan Freeman who manages to add gravitas to any film, no matter how large of a role he plays in it. While his character doesn't offer up the same flash as the others, he does enough to make you know he's just as dangerous as the rest of them.

What's nice about this film is that they still find time to let their supporting cast shine as well. Veteran actors like Ernest Borgenine, Brian Cox (who ends up having a larger role than I expected), and Richard Dreyfus all show up and add some excitement to the story. Speaking of Dreyfus, where has he been for practically the last decade? I was so happy to see him back here hamming it up and I hope it's an indication that he'll be taking on more work again in the future.

But before you think that the cast only consists of people with their AARP card, fear not. Balancing out the age factor are Mary Louise Parker, who unknowingly gets caught up in this gunfight, as well as becomes a potential love interest for Willis' character. You also have Karl Urban (who made a name for himself last year playing Bones in the Star Trek reboot) plays foil to the old codgers as the FBI agent trying to bring them in. A role like this will mostly get overshadowed by his bigger name co-stars, but will also help him land larger roles in the future. I liked his work here and expect more from him down the road.

They say that spoof films are critic proof, because they never have any artistic merit; it just comes down to whether or not you laughed. Well RED is pretty much the action equivalent to the spoof film. It's not really fair to grade the film based on the acting or artistic direction. This is just a pumped action film that wants to take you on a ride. If you're willing to hop on, then you're in for a good time. For me, the film worked in spades. It provided a nice balance of action and comedy and never was dull.

A film like RED attempts to spit in the face of those who claim there are no good roles for anyone over the age of 55. Here, you have a number of actors, mostly playing against type, who are willing to show they still have what it takes. I'll gladly take this over any the garbage that Jason Statham or Gerard Butler tries to offer these days. Anyone can fire a gun, but its takes a special kind of person to make it look this much fun. Grade: B

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