Movie Time! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

I was fortunate enough to go to one of the many midnight screenings of this film at the Event Cinenmas (more on that later), and it was well worth it. Deathly Hallows part two makes up for the failure of the first film and then some, going into the past of our beloved characters and following someone other than Harry for a lot of this installment.

Deathly Hallows part one took all of the boring bits from the book and put them into one film. This isn't so much of a bad thing when you think that it means that part two was going to be filled with all of the good bits, but they could have used the slow parts of part one to explain the necessaries of this film that were left out, say Lupins kid and Bill's scar. Nonetheless, the first part is what it is, and part two has now made its way into cinemas around the world.

Where part started with a bang and went downhill fast, part two started slow and then ramped the intencity level up to 11. The scenes in Gringotts were very well done indeed, and I liked the Hermoine/Bellatrix bits the best. Helena Bonham Carter did such a fantastic job not only playing the crazy Bella, but playing someone else playing crazy Bella. There's a reason this woman is famous, kids. Ralph Fiennes is fabulous once more as the dark lord, and Alan Rickman as Snape brought a tear to everyones eye I'm sure. But it's really Matthew Lewis who steals this one, playing the kick ass Neville Longbottom once more. Neville has always been a favourite of mine, and I'm glad they did right by him until the end. It was great to see Neville as leader for a change, rallying the troops and basically being a heck of a lot more awesome than Harry. No offence to the Harry lovers out there, but it's clear that he may have power on his side but Neville has all of the heart.



The locations are breathtaking, but with England as a back drop what else is new. While Hogwarts was never a safe place for the students, it was the safest place they had, and seeing it destroyed was almost as sad as seeing our favourite characters loose their lives. While special effects were responsible for a lot, the practical effects really drew home the horror. 


If there's any quibbles I have, it's that they didn't show the deaths of Lupin, Tonks, and Fred. They weren't shown in the book either, and it does drive home the realities of war when you can't keep track of everyone and people die, but it would have been nice to see them die heroically. I wonder what it was like for such renowned actors as David Thewlis and Gary Oldman to have two lines each. 


I wouldn't have been able to see this if it wasn't for the awesome team at Event Cinemas. They made the midnight screenings a true pleasure to attend with the lovely staff and great decorations. It's a shame to hear that some people stole a lot of the decorations, making it not as pretty for the people who are seeing the film today.


All in all, a terrific movie, and one that I can't wait to see again. What are your thoughts? Like it, love it, hate it? Put it in the comments. 


Kathy



Themes: Bellatrix LeStrange, Daniel Radcliff, David Thewlis, Deathly Hallows, Event Cinemas, Fred Weasly, Gary Oldman, hallows, Harry Potter, Helena Bonham Carter, horcrux, Matthew Lewis, movie time, Neville Longbottom, Ralph Fiennes, Reamus Lupin, review, Tonks, Voldemort

Tv time: Once Upon a Time

A new review for the new series Once Upon a Time. Looks good so far!



http://www.tvline.com/2011/07/fall-tv-once-upon-a-time-first-impression/

Kathy

Themes: Adam Horowitz, Anna Snow, Edward Kitsis, fairytales, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Once Upon A Time, Prince Charming, Rumplestiltskin, Robert Carlyle SnowWhite

Linkin Park quotes Battlestar: Galactica

...or actually, they quote the same quote that BSG quotes. Confused? Let me explain.

Linkin Park's new album 'A Thousand Suns'. If you own this image then please let me know if you want me to take it down

So I'm driving along listening to the new Linkin Park song ‘Wretches and Kings’ when I hear a very familiar piece of dialogue coming through my speakers, particularly the line "and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop". I knew it from somewhere, but I couldn't remember. It wasn't until they played the same quote at the end of the song that it twigged: Chief! This is Chief Tyrol of Battlestar! At first I thought it was weird, but since Linkin Park have said that they wanted this album to have influences of the unorthodox and abstract sounds they experimented with in the early stages(1), so why not include a quote from an well-known and often time critically acclaimed series?
When I went home I looked it up and realised that the speech wasn’t exactly the Chiefs, it was Mario Savio. He was a free rights advocate in American in the 60s and gave this famous speech in Berkly. Chief paraphrased the speech (just putting this here in case anybody thinks I believe the BSG writers copied this word-for-word) when he spoke to the union on New Caprica, and it worked to rouse them to striking and standing up to the Cylons.
The rest of the album is an awesome mix of beats and music, alternating between powerful ballads and just plain crazy tunes. It’s not exactly back to their ‘old’ stuff, but it’s along a similar enough vein to please those who have disagreed with their new stuff. My favourite, though, is the mix of ‘The Requiem’ and ‘The Radiance’. There’s no gap between these songs on the album so it seems like the two are one, and this is simultaneously the best and the creepiest music I have ever heard. The female voice they have repeating the chorus to ‘The Catalyst’ is odd enough, but the music and the J Robert Oppenheimer(2) quote in the background really drive home to oddities.
This is one of the best albums that I have heard in a long time. Everything gels together so well that this is a work of art. Well done to Linkin Park and the gang who put this together.

So, did you like this album or the songs mentioned? Or do you listen to repeats of 'Meteora' on your music player of choice? Let me know in the comments.

Kathy

(1)   Note from the band in the album sheet. 

(2) The album title is also a line attributed to Oppenheimer when discussing the first nuclear blast.