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.