Harry Potter 6 Screened, Duke Nukem, Bond, Cylons

Should be a good blog today. I'm saving this for last but mentioning it first... As many of you know since I blabbed about it on the Donor Forums, I was sent an invitation to test screen "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", the 6th film/book in the franchise, last night. I'm giving my Tankspot Blog here my exclusive review... which is basically to say that I won't be C&P'ing it across the internets and Ciderhelm can go nuts over all the linkbacks.

Given the unique nature of this opportunity, there will be spoilers, so don't read it unless you're ready to have things revealed.

Moving on for the time being, the Toronto International Film Festival just finished up and everyone is going on and on about Darren Aronofsky's fourth film, "The Wrestler". It stars Mickey Rourke in the lead roll and looks to be pretty damn good. I can't find a synopsis right now, but here's a good outline/review (very light spoiler) from Time Mag.



Okay so that's not an image from The Wrestler, but Rourke stole the show as Marv in Sin City, so I'm not exactly surprised that his newest project is apparently great as well.



Keanu Reeves next flick, the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, will officially get an IMAX cut. I doubt even IMAX will save this movie or make it remotely enjoyable.



Producer Scott Faye of the soon to be released Max Payne is already hard at work on his next project... Duke Nukem! He's working on collaborating with 3D Realm's Scott Miller on the project, saying the following:

There isn't much to really judge Scott Faye against at this point... but at least what we've seen of Max Payne so far seems like it might actually be good. We shall see.

Well this is kind of a what the fuck moment for me. In the middle of writing this blog entry up I literally just had this tidbit of news break into my inbox... I've been keeping everyone appraised on the Guy Ritchie version of Sherlock Holmes, currently looking to have Robert Downey Jr and Russell Crowe taking on roles within the movie as Holmes and Moriarty. There hasn't been any solid info, rumor or otherwise, on who would be playing Watson in this film... until about two minutes ago. Of all the unlikely people to be spat out by sources close to the casting, the name for Watson is Colin Farrell. Seriously, what the hell. I mean I didn't actually envision Downey as Holmes but I definitely didn't see Farrell of all people as Watson... the well educated writer/doctor. This stretches even my faith quite a bit.



The new Quantum of Solace Trailer has hit the internet. Go watch it now.

The official synopsis has been released by Sony as well.

So everyone but Fox had their fair share of superheroes this year, which many may be thankful for given their history with things like X-Men... That being said though, they're definitely in the works to redevelop some of their properties as indicated in a recent Variety interview. Here's the quote in question:

That last part is particularly interesting... I mean I didn't hate Daredevil when it came out. It wasn't really good but I blame that mostly on the developing concept of Superhero/Comic movies being back and the writers/directors thinking they had the right to do whatever the hell they wanted with the property (as was set as the "standard" with X-Men and Spiderman). Obviously the studios have learned this isn't the case. Seeing Daredevil return would be pretty cool, and to be honest I wouldn't mind if they brought Affleck back for it because he didn't seem to do bad, although if full reboot is what they want then so be it.

So Battlestar is one of those shows that you definitely get the feeling that SciFi doesn't want to end. The issue is, of course, that the creators only drafted four seasons before it would... so we're now seeing the massive effort by SciFi to get other BSG related material up on screen in some fashion. The most notable is Caprica, but another, Cylon-centric BSG tv-movie prequel is also in the works... and apparently has eight of the cylon characters signed on.

TV Guide provides the list:

Of note, Edward James Olmos is directing. Kinda gives off that Shatner/Nimoy directing Star Trek vibe for this particular BSG project.



Well now what you've all been waiting for, my impressions and spoiler-ific review of year-away Harry Potter.

So let me first introduce you to what I saw. Let me be clear, this was not a finished product. The flick came in at a running time of two hours and twenty-five minutes, had roughly three-quarters of the special effects in and done, and still had some placeholder music in (lolbatman).

Let me also be clear that I never read the books, so my impressions of this are from a movie standpoint only, not impacted or biased on the "Well X part sucked because it was done like Y in the books" factor.

So that all being said, let me begin thrashing this movie... because it was bad. I'm not precisely the target demographic for this franchise, but that doesn't exclude me from being able to enjoy the previous films in some fashion... especially the more recent ones as the central characters got older and a bit more... I dunno... relatable?

Anyways to the movie in question... The start was pretty badass. We're tossed into a scene of combat and panic. The Death Eaters are striking at the normal world, destroying bridges, Diagon Alley, etc. It was a very cool opener but ultimately set level of anticipation the rest of the film couldn't keep up with, in my mind.

That's not to say the acting wasn't good though, because characters like the newly introduced Prof. Horace Slughorn were amazing. For such a dark movie the tension is completely broken by the comedy. There's nothing wrong with that to a degree, but there's a point, rather early on, that the central focus of the flick is completely tossed aside in favor of some Teen Dramedy. From gags with love potions, love triangles, and basically anything involving these students and their raging hormones rather than whatever the story involving this "Half Blood Prince" should have been is what we were treated to. In fact, if it wasn't for a rather kind individual at the post screening describing what that meant and was about, I would have basically never known because the movie doesn't actually reveal anything.

That being said, for this being such a character focus there was a complete absence of regulars or individuals that I was told played some sort of part in the movie, such as Rufus Schrimgouer, Fleur Delacour, and Bill and Charlie Weasley. Other regulars barely had half a second of screen time or just enough time for a one liner. Snape notably, being the individual who kills Dumbledore, basically shows up for that one scene and leaves... and I'll get more to that travesty in a bit.

Lots of the hot points of contention at the gathering afterwards concerned the completely removal of all "memory" scenes involved in the delving and digging in to Voldemort's past. They pay lip service only to them, not giving even a glimmer of understanding or imagery to accompany them.

There's holes everywhere that I just don't want to go in to... such as starting at point A in a major plot point only to arrive at point B with no explanation of how or why. Imagine, if you will, watching The Last Crusade and starting at Venice then with no explanation you're suddenly in the action sequence at the Canyon of the Crescent Moon with no rhyme or reason as to how you just got that far.

There's lots of uncomfortable pacing, too. Halfway through the flick we're given a charming Christmas scene at the Weasley residence that's interrupted by a Death Eater attack. It felt awkward and unnecessary, only really there to make sure you were still awake because compared to the previous attack sequence it was poorly done. The constant forcing of these love stories over the main plot is completely awkward as well.

If the film wasn't in shambles already, it completely breaks apart in the third act. I mean there were audible groans and "wtfs" from people in the audience and things progressed.

Since I don't have the book to reference to, I can really only comment on how the scenes confused or otherwise felt uncomfortable. Commenting again on the Snape kills Dumbledore sequence, it just feels terrible. There's no sense of urgency, there's no tension, there's nothing. It just happens. You don't feel shocked when it happens. You don't get choked up. You don't feel anything. It just happens and you're left there wondering how and why things got here still.

Afterwards we jump forward and that's where the notably audible curses came from. I'm told there's supposed to be some immense Order of the Phoenix vs Death Eaters battle that's completely removed and there's no funeral for Dumbledore at all. Everyone just slips away and there's nothing to suggest anyone even cares about what just happened. I wasn't the only person who felt this way either. There wasn't a person in our screening that was impressed or satisfied with what they saw.

Overall I desperately want my $30 in gas and six hours of my life back. There's so many better things I could have done with that money and time its not even funny... I'll outline a few of the things that would have been immensely better, yet still be completely horrible but ultimately better than seeing this movie... a "Top 5" if you will.

5) Pay my boss the $30 to work for the 6 hours.
4) Get a prostate exam.
3) Play Warhammer Beta
2) Rent all the Monty Pythons that were not "Holy Grail".
1) Six hours with an anorexic blood elf.

I guess its a blessing in disguise to Warner Bros who's pushed the film back about 9-10 months... because they've got lots of work to do.