Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

I’ve grown up with Harry. I first picked up the book when only the first two were published and have continued the journey alongside him ever since.

Naturally, the countdown to the last Harry Potter film was filled with eager anticipation.

The film follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) on their search for the remaining Horcruxes which leads to the Battle of Hogwarts and ultimately the final showdown between Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and Harry.

It begins where part one left off, with Voldemort taking the elder wand from the grave of Dumbledore before the journey takes off at quite a pace.

You aren’t given a chance to catch your breath from the moment the trio arrive at Gringotts until the end of the film.

In fact, it doesn’t feel like the film runs for 130 minutes! Before you know it the end credits are rolling!

There is no denying the film is visually spectacular. The imagery and special effects are breath taking, and to be honest, you really don’t need to see it in 3D to see it in all its glory.

The acting of the three leads, Dan, Emma and Rupert really is a testament to how much these three young actors have learnt in the last decade they’ve spent on the set of Harry Potter.

While their acting was good for untrained ten year olds when they began in the first film, the acting in this final film is “bloody brilliant” (as Ron would say).

The performances, with the exception of the OTT kiss between Ron and Hermione, are convincing and compelling.

The film has some light relief every now and then, particularly and surprisingly coming from Professor McGonagall (“I’ve always wanted to do that spell”) however much of the film is packed with action, fighting and a dark atmosphere.

As the pace and intensity of the film increases, the true heroes of the series emerge, tugging on heartstrings and inducing tears.

The performance by Alan Rickman as Professor Snape cannot go unmentioned.

For eight films he has played the dark villain. The Hogwarts teacher who seems to have made it his mission in life is to make Harry miserable.

This film shows Snape’s true colours. In a heart stopping performance, Rickman brings Snape’s story to life, and in doing so converts millions of Potter fans to become Snape fans as well.

Overall, the filmmakers did a good job staying true to the book, with the exception of a few minor changes.

One change that wasn’t minor, however, was the final battle between Harry and Voldemort.

I won’t give too much away about this as it is the final showdown on the film, however it is slightly different than the way it was described in the book.

I’m sure the filmmakers had their reasons for the change, but I found it left too many questions unanswered, raised new questions and didn’t round the story up as nicely as it had done in the books. Then again, this could be down to personal opinion.

Overall, the movie was beyond fantastic. In fact, the day after seeing it for the first time I booked tickets to see it again. It was just as good, if not better, on the second viewing.

Highly recommended.

Super 8

I’m not a sci-fi fan. I should get that out there before I go any further. Super 8, I figured, would be the exception.

A couple of months before Super 8 was due to be released I watched the teaser trailer, which really showed you nothing at all, yet the fact the film was a J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration was enough to get excited about.

As the release date for Super 8 approached, more trailers were released giving more insight into the film, and Super 8 fever appeared to have taken over the social networks.

The film follows a group of friends in the summer of 1979, who are spending their holidays filming a zombie movie on a Super 8 camera (this is where the name for the film comes from, it has nothing to do with 8 super powers as I have heard many people presume).

During a late night of filming, the friends witness a mysterious train crash which marks the beginning of a number of strange occurrences around their small town.

The group watches as the dogs of the town go missing, followed by a number of civilians, and then finally, one of their own group members.

As the police are shut out of the investigations and the Army roll into town, the friends begin their own investigation to uncover the mystery and save their friend.

While the film may not live up to the expectations of some (who were probably wanting a super sci-fi, epic event), this movie exceeded my expectations – which truly I didn’t think was possible.

It’s a great combination of adventure, romance (yes a small romance brews between two of the kids), sci-fi coupled with a splash of comedy here and there.

The story had me captivated and when the credits rolled I was keen to see it again.

I heard someone describe Super 8 as the ‘E.T’ for the next generation, and while it has quite a different feel, I could definitely see how they got to that description.

Super 8 is now rated in one of my top 5 films, and as soon as it’s released on blu-ray it’ll become part of my collection.

X-Men: First Class

I have a complicated relationship with X-Men. Mainly because I'm not a cartoon fan, but also because movies of this genre typically seem to be 'boys movies', with a lot of fighting. Not really my scene.

When the second X-Men film came out, my friend sat me down and told me not to move until i'd seen the entire first film. I whinged about how much I was going to hate it, and told her I had much better things to do with my time.

Unfortunately for me, she got to laugh in my face and say 'I told you so', when I really quite enjoyed it. I went off to the second movie happily and enjoyed the adventures of these mutants. While my interest in the X-Men story didn't die, I did find other things to fill my time with and wasn't too concerned about seeing the later X-Men films.

That was until X-Men: First Class was released. A film about the young Xavier (Professor X) and Eric (Magneto) sounded like one I couldn't miss. It follows the discovery of Raven (Mystique) by Xavier followed by the gathering of a team of mutants, Hank, Angel, Armando (Darwin), Alex (Havok) and Sean (Banshee).

This was a film that had been the subject of a significant amount of hype in the media, which consequently meant I was expecting a lot of this film. To be honest, I wasn't disappointed.

The film begins in 1944 during the childhood of Eric, a young boy who is stuck in a German concentration camp and can move metal with his mind; Xavier, a young telepath who lives in the mansion in the New York countryside; and Raven a homeless young shape-shifter.

The film then skips forward to 1962 when three mutants are in their late teens. It follows as Xavier (James McAvoy) and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) meet CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) who has recently witnessed the Hellfire Club; Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost (January Jones) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng) displaying their mutant powers.

What follows is Xavier's mission to stop Shaw's plan to launch World War Three. Xavier then teams up with Eric (Michael Fassbender) and they set out to find a group of mutants to help shut down Shaw's operations.

X-Men: First Class looks into the complex relationships formed by the mutants and between the mutants and humans. It lays the foundations of the X-Men trilogy in a captivating and intriguing way which shed light on the various components of the trilogy.

While the X-Men films may not be for everyone, I really think this film lived up to its hype. It is a brilliant prequel to the trilogy and I would recommend anyone thinking of watching the trilogy for the first time to check out X-Men: First Class before going any further, particularly if, like me, they're not a fan of comics.

History Boys

It has been a few years since I saw the film of History Boys, and although I thoroughly enjoyed it I was stupid enough to miss the last stage performance of History Boys in Christchurch. Therefore when Peach Theatre Company decided to put it on this season, I knew it shouldn’t be missed, particularly with such a stellar cast!

If you have seen the film, you’ll know History Boys follows a bunch of bright and energetic British boys in their last year of boarding school. While their teachers push the boys to succeed and get into the prestigious colleges such as Cambridge and Oxford, one teacher, Hector, strives to broaden the horizons of the boys. He teaches them other ways to think and learn about life which meets the disapproval of a new young teacher, Irwin, who has been brought on board the teaching staff to help the boys gain entry to the colleges.

I was impressed at how well the show had been put together. The sets were amazing; the set changes were quick and well incorporated into the show, and show moved fluidly. I did find the first act a little slow moving, however the second act made up for this as the pace quickened and action ensued. I felt Harry McNaughton, who played Dakin, was good in his acting, however it seemed he was trying a little too hard to shed the gay stereotype and be butch. This was conveyed in his voice which he had lowered significantly and was making it husky. As I was watching the show with two trained singers, they agreed that kind of voice manipulation can’t be good for the vocal chords. It seemed he has been working in television for so long that he is pushing his voice harder than necessary to project it. I enjoyed his performance though, and felt he did well in portraying the character.

George Henare played Hector, and did so wonderfully. His movements, body posture, facial expressions and tone of voice fitted the role perfectly and his character came across so clearly that it made it possible for the audience to engage in his performance. Annie Whittle was another great performer gracing the stage in History Boys, and although her role as Mrs Lintott was small, she still gave the performance everything and this consequently impacted on the success of the show. Andrew Ford as Irwin gave a fantastic performance as a stiff, awkward teacher who, whilst trying to help the boys with their future, was also intimidated by the brooding Dakin.

Overall the director, Jesse Peach, delivered yet another successful show. I would recommend the performance to others, and look forward to what Peach Theatre Company brings to Auckland next year.

Don't Hold Your Breath

I had never been to a semi-staged/workshop based performance before, however I thought it might be interesting to see what happens behind closed doors at the Auckland Theatre Company.

Don’t Hold Your Breath is a play with songs, written by Lisa Chappell of Gloss and McLeod’s Daughter’s fame. The actors had a week of staging and rehearsing the script under the direction of Ben Crowder and musical direction by Penny Dodd before performing it twice and receiving feedback from the audience on the storyline, music and staging.

The story follows Letitia Lush who aspires to become a famous singer of like her idol Frank Sinatra. After reading that Frank Sinatra attributes his success to his enormous lung capacity, Letitia begins experimenting, using her younger sister Rose, as a guinea pig by drowning her in the bath and training her to beat Sinatra’s record. Unfortunately for Letitia, Rose also has a brilliant voice, and the exploitation she suffers at the hand of Letitia assists in the training of her voice. When Letitia, and ultimately Letitia’s manager realise Rose can sing, jealousy takes over and old and new rivalries take the sisters to breaking point.

Watching this show be performed, it was obvious there was some work that needed to be done on the script, however it certainly has great potential. The ending that had been chosen for this version was a much lighter and happier ending than the one in the original script, however upon hearing of the original version (which ultimately ended in a death) I thought that would give the story more depth and intrigue although it may cause the show to lose its happy and comic genre rating.

The show certainly had some very funny parts, such as Letitia’s constant attempts at physically hurting Rose, which although it sounds quite nasty actually has a comic element to it. The set was well done, particularly with their use of styrofoam instead of water in the bath. The musical numbers were great and very well done and the acting was suburb, as to be expected from Auckland Theatre Company. It was a bit off putting to have Letitia using her script throughout the show, but given they had only been rehearsing for a week and the script had been changed numerous times, that could be forgiven.

It may be a while before this show hits the stages again, due to the desire of Lisa to work quite intensely on certain aspects of the script; however when it does come back to New Zealand stages make sure you go along. It’s a great piece of New Zealand writing.

Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat is not a movie I would normally go to. Romantic comedies I can do on DVD when I have a boring night ahead or need something mindless to watch. Occasionally I enjoy them, but more the ones where Mr McDreamy rides up to the church on a big white horse to stop the wedding of the girl he loves. Comedies with Vince Vaughn I find generally try a little too hard to be funny and don’t quite make it, or put all the funny bits in the trailers.

Couples Retreat is a little bit of both. I read the synopsis before I went in so had a wee bit of an idea of what the movie was about. Basically one couple want to go to this retreat in the tropics (the movie is filmed in Bora Bora – you’ll want to go there once you’ve seen the backdrop!) to try and fix their crumbling marriage. The only way they can get into the island’s marriage counselling programme is if they take a package which another group had cancelled. This requires three other couples to go along also. Luckily this couple have three couples who are all good friends and before they know it they’re on the way to the tropics. However, they are all under the impression the couple bonding activities are optional. Well, you can see where this is going. The couples end up participating in the couple bonding activities to ‘rebuild and maintain the marriage’ and it is either going to make or break them.

Without giving the plotline away, although that wouldn’t be hard, these movies are generally rather predictable, what ensues is a vaguely funny, quite amusing scenario of what happens if you put a group of couples who think their marriage is fine into marriage counselling. I can’t really go into detail about aspects of the story that I liked or didn’t like because to be honest there isn’t that much of a story.

There are of course those few moments that make you go ‘awww’ and those that make you think ‘that is how I want my story to end’ but if you want a decent movie that will make you really feel or think something, this probably isn’t the one for you. Go for something with more heart or real emotion, unless you’re in the mood to just watch moving pictures and not really process much, which let’s face it, we all have those days. It does have some decent acting in, and some parts that certainly had me laughing, although I think the movie was a little too long. If you’re into this sort of thing though, give it a whirl and enjoy.
Ciao.

(500) Days of Summer - For Mindfood Mag

Note: This review was originally written for the 'reader review' section of Mindfood magazine.

The narrator of (500) Days of Summer told me from the start that the film was not a love story. I really should have believed him. The film doesn't start where one would expect (day one). Rather, it fast forwards into the film’s future and starts at day 488. I wasn’t a fan of this, as I like stories to proceed in chronological order. However, not too far in the film sped back to day one and the story truly began.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, Stop-Loss) plays Tom Hansen, a greeting card designer who falls for a woman, Summer Finn (played by Zooey Deschanel of Yes Man and Almost Famous) who does not believe in true love. Tom believes Summer is the one. Summer, however, is quite content being a single and independent woman. The film follows the 500 days when Summer is part of Tom’s life, through the good times and the bad.

Tom’s relationship with his younger sister, often turning to her for love advice is a nice touch. I didn’t like that the film went back and forth in time, from day one to 488, day three to 276. Personally I would just prefer it to start at day one and go forward, however I guess this was part of what made the film special.

(500) Days of Summer is a cute wee film, and one thing that I really enjoyed about it was its sense of reality. It does not place unrealistic expectations on men and women about how relationships should pan out. It shows the troubles people face in relationships from the moment they meet someone they like, through to the process of beginning a relationship, addressing the speed bumps along the way. However, at times it was too real and although it is refreshing to see on the screen, it can be quite nice to escape reality with a sugar-coated rom-com every now and again.

Overall, the film was sad, but not in a reach-for-the-tissues kind of way. It was sad because I could really emphasise with the characters and feel the sadness and misery they were feeling. Then again, the narrator did tell me from the start that the film is not a love story...