DVDA

					CHARACTER AVERAGE
TITLE	CGPA	GRADE	CGPA	GRADE	CGPA	GRADE




May 8th
Underworld: Awakening	2.70	D+
May 1st
Haywire	3.10	C
April 17th
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	3.05	C
March 20th
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	2.90	C-
The Muppets	3.50	B+
March 13th
My Week with Marilyn	2.85	C-
March 6th
Footloose	3.33	B
Immotals	2.75	D+
February 24th
Puss in Boots	3.05	C
February 21st
London Boulevard	2.80	C-
February 14th
The Rum Diary	2.86	C-
Breaking Dawn: Part 1	3.51	B+

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

End of the line. The Harry Potter series has at last reached its conclusion. And, it’s the first Potter film since Phoenix that hasn’t disappointed. For awhile there I thought Potter might go out like a punk, but Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 recovers nicely from the series’ recent string of mediocrity. It’s an epic and fitting conclusion to a great fantasy series that has revived the genre and become a cultural phenomenon.

Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 sort of pulls a Two Towers here and blows up a battle into the whole film. A lot of the journey of Harry and company to find Voldemort’s horcruxes is streamlined, and we jump straight to Hogwarts for an extended battle between the Order and Voldemort’s army. Harry discovers that the final horcrux is somewhere at Hogwarts and rushes there to free the school from the tyranny of Snape. Meanwhile Voldemort realizes what Harry is up to and marches on Hogwarts for a final, decisive confrontation.

Just like Two Towers, the film picks up immediately after the conclusion of the previous film, with only a minor re-enactment of a few of Pt. 1’s final scenes. This is almost a failing of storytelling, because one would be completely lost without knowing the events of Pt. 1. There is no attempt made to refresh the audience on where the story is at and why, you either know where Harry and company are and why, or you’re left in the lurch. If Pt. 1 & 2 were ever combined this would work, but as separate films it’s a problem.

While the battle of Hogwarts isn’t as impressive as the battle of Helm’s Deep, it is impressive in its own right. There aren’t many one-on-one fight scenes, but a real battle feel is given as things explode, shrapnel flies, and casualties mount. It’s quite visually impressive. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort is almost anticlimactic, given the high adrenaline action of the other battle sequences.

Unfortunately the acting is little more than par for the course. Alan Rickman brings his A-game as always, and I’ll give Helena Bonham Carter some props for pulling double duty in a dual role, but other than that the performances are pedestrian. After eight films one would expect this to be an emotional tour-de-force, but the actors never connect on a deep enough level to pull the audience in. Though the actors don’t bring the rain, they do get the job done and allow the audience to immerse themselves in the story.

For a time Harry Potter was a juggernaut that looked as if there was no stopping it, but an end comes to all things. And alas, Harry Potter has come to an end. It has been quite a journey since the Chris Columbus fairtale-esk Sorcerer’s Stone that started it all. Deathly Hollows Pt. 2 has provided an adventurous, epic finally to a great fantasy sage in a way that captures the spirit of the series. On the Dann-O-Meter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is “Ex-cellent.”

Atlas Shrugged: Part I

Who is John Galt? When I first heard that Atlas Shrugged was being cast without any A-list actors, and was being produced by an independent studio my expectations plummeted. And when the Man gave it a resounding thumbs down, I believed the film was doomed. But I had to see the train wreck, and to my surprise it was anything but. Atlas Shrugged: Part I doesn’t have the epic feel that one might expect, but it’s far superior to what it appears to be on the surface.

When I first started reading Atlas Shrugged and realized that it centered around trains, I couldn’t imagine a way to make that work on the big screen. Yet the filmmakers have done a brilliant job at contemporizing the story. Set in the future, oil prices have spiked and supply has dwindled, making jet fuel impractical, which isn’t that far of a stretch. Once again trains have reemerged as the lifeblood of industrial supply. Thus the story of a struggle to rebuild a rail line into the heart of industrial production becomes an interesting and captivities tale.

In the story the country has come upon desperate economic times, and the government has taken to rationing industry resources to prevent an all out collapse of the industrial economy. Threatening this balance are Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden, who plan to build a high-speed transit system out of a newly development and untested metal compound.

The casting is actually rather good. It is extremely hard to translate Ayn Rand’s characters to cinema: they lack the passion and emotional residence needed in a visual media. With the exception of a few scenes, Taylor Schilling does a good portrayal of Dagny Taggart and her struggle to take a commanding lead in saving her family’s railroad company. And Grant Bowler does an exceedingly impressive job at bringing the character of Henry Rearden to life.

There are two real failing of Atlas Shrugged: Part 1. The first lies with the director, Paul Johansson, who is new to film directing. The film lacks the grand screens and camera movements that epics usually have. The cheapness of the film starts to show in how Johansson splices in footage of railroad cars and countryside scenery. There’s a lack of fluidity in the main character scenes and the establishing scenes. The other failing is the musical score. At times it hits the right beats and emotions, but it is largely mediocre and doesn’t enhance the film.

What surprised me most about Atlas Shrugged: Part I (besides the thunderous applause it received in the theater) was what a relatively good adaptation it was. It has its flaws of course, yet, with a few elements not withstanding, the adaptation is the best one could have hoped for. In the final analysis the film overcomes it’s shortcomings and delivers an entertaining and enjoyable ride. On the Dann-O-Meter Atlas Shrugged: Part I is “Sat.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Not since The Phantom Menace have I been so disappointed in a trilogy follow up. Everything that was good about the Pirates Trilogy has been removed, and we’re left with entertaining garbage`. On it’s own, perhaps it’s a fairly decent film, but as a Pirates film it’s a failure. And as an aside, the 3D does nothing for the film.

The film picks up several months after the conclusion of At World’s End. Both Barbossa and Sparrow have failed in their searches for the Fountain of Youth. However, new information about the fountain’s location arises which thrusts Spain and England in a race to reach it. Also in the mix is Blackbeard, who is trying to avoid a prophesy of his death.

Barbossa, a newly turned British naval captain, leads the English expedition, and Sparrow is gang pressed into the crew of Blackbeard’s ship. Believing that Sparrow has been to the fountain, Blackbeard forces him to lead his expedition. A final showdown then ensues between Barbossa and Blackbeard, with Sparrow caught in the middle.

One of the main issues with this film is that it largely ignores the previous trilogy. One would think that the Pirate War against the East Indian Trading Company and the release of Calypso would be news in the pirate world, but apparently it was just another day and Jack Sparrow is still an anonymous pirate captain. The Black Pearl is gone and the crew has disbanded, and apparently the Flying Dutchman isn’t around anymore to ferry those who die at sea. The Pirate World that we knew from the previous films has been wiped away.

The second issue with this film is that the tone is all wrong. The quirky light humor has been removed, leaving a dark horror adventure. It feels like an attempt to replicate the first film, but there’s little levity to counter the horror: zombies, vampire mermaids, ghost ships, etc. For some reason the death and violence seems more prominent in this film then in the original Pirates Trilogy films.

And Penelope Cruz is no Keria Knightley! Cruz does well enough and plays well off Johnny Depp, but her performance is lackluster. Ian McShane gives a fair performance as Blackbeard, but it’s rather generic and is undistinguished from the other Pirate nemeses. Sadly, even Geoffery Rush seems off his game, playing a far more menacing and evil Barbossa than the character was in At World’s End. Johnny Depp delivers his usual captivating performance as Jack Sparrow, and that almost makes up for the rest, almost.

Once again a great film series has lost its way and strayed from its roots. When I first heard that the Pirate films were going to end with At World’s End, I was disappointed for there was so much promise and possibility. Now I wish it had ended there. Pirates of the Caribbean now joins the ranks of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Terminator, as a great film series that pushed too far. On the Dann-O-Meter, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is “Slightly Objectionable.”

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