Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; a Beautiful Epitome of a Perfect Summer Movie

Playfully mixing several genres such as comedy, horror, romance, action, adventure and even a bit of a detective story, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth Harry Potter film and the second from director David Yates, is a fun and thrilling summer movie dealing with fear and tremors --of teenage love -- and the battle between good and evil.


In this sixth instalment of the Harry Potter series, Harry begins his sixth year at Hogwarts knowing that the world is now in serious threat because the Dark Lord Voldemort and his fellow Death Eaters are on the loose, causing havoc, death and destruction to the wizarding and the muggle world. He then finds an old potion book mysteriously marked “This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince” and, with Dumbledore’s help, begins to uncover Lord Voldemort’s dark history.

First and foremost, this is undeniably the most gorgeous-looking movie this year. Thanks to the graceful directing of director David Yates and the genius of the director of photography, newcomer Bruno Delbonnel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince gives us an outstanding visual effect and cinematography. With much control of the CGI and special effect, David Yates shows us a whole exceptionally new atmospheric world using bigger set pieces that actually help the flow of the movie without really showing too much that it was edited by computers and thus making it a total eye-candy. And the choices of camera angles, extreme close-ups and the editing were very impressive. Furthermore, the score, consisting of orchestra and choir, really complements the movie and give each scene more emotion and a sense of nostalgia with the hint of the memorable sounds from The Order of the Phoenix.

Next, we can definitely see that the three main actors had grown up, not only physically but emotionally and also in the sense of acting skills. The story has to follow JK Rowling’s increasingly mature and darker books, and so have the actors. The sense of longing and raging hormones, plus the tense feeling towards danger and death makes this a more adult movie in the Harry Potter series thus far. But the PG rating seems fair. In The Goblet of Fire, Cedric Diggory’s death was shocking, but in The Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is at full power, making us feel the constant presence of danger and evil and that anyone on screen could die at any moment (but do not fret, body count: 1).

But the thing is, this movie does not only deal with the three actors like the films before it. They are a few outstanding performances. One, by the amazing Tom Felton (who plays Draco Malfoy) who shows true emotion and sadness in what he was forced to do. And then there’s Jim Broadbent (who plays the new Prof. Slughorn) who could actually received an Oscar Buzz for ‘Best Supporting Actor’. He plays the old yet loved professor effortlessly and did the best with his time on screen without having to drown the other actors around him. A natural.

As for the action: yes, some action scenes were omitted from the movie, but those that were left behind are astoundingly thrilling. The most outstanding and chilling sequence is perhaps the cave scene. It is layered with horror, sadness and suspense and not to mention top notch special effect. The extra 7-month post production did the movie good!

Despite its long running time, over 2 hours and 30 minutes, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince seems adequate as David Yates pushes the movie to a running pace and some of us might even crave for more. But after entering the first two hours, you might already forget about the titular Half-Blood Prince. The mystery of the owner of the book is gone and drowned by some needless fillers (hint: too much romance is never good). The storyline itself missed some key points that made the book such a masterpiece.

If you see this movie as an adaptation, then, yeah, it’s not that good. But as a movie on its own, then Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a beautiful epitome of a true summer movie. Epic is definitely the word for it.

Public Enemies is an epic story told in a slow manner.

Public Enemies tells the story of John Dillinger, the 1930’s public enemy number one and how the Feds tried to take him down along with his friends. Or better yet, it just tells the story of how Dillinger was taken down. The story didn’t start at the beginning nor did it tells us about John Dillinger, it just skipped to the middle of his ‘career’ and showed us how he escaped from prison and went on a bank-robbery-spree. So, in a way, the story was not in depth and, of course, it didn’t really follow the real history with some changes made. But the storyline is gripping nonetheless.

The acting is brilliant. You can expect nothing less from the casts of Johnny Depp, who played public enemy number one convincingly; Christian Bale, who is obsessed to take Dillinger down; and of course the lovely Marion Cotillard, who played Dillinger’s girlfriends. Cotillard however didn’t get a very long screentime but she used every second of it to give us her best, and one of the best stand out scene is the interrogation scene.

The movie is shot with a shaky “hand-held” camera. It feels like we are chasing the action as it happens. And the tone of the movie is bright making it look like a documentary without the use of CGI or such. Everything about this movie looks realistic from the costumes to the buildings and cars in the background.

The soundtrack really fits the movie and I love the shooting scene, which most of the time is just silence with only gunshot ringing in the theatre hall. The gunshot sounds realistic. Not the usual "BANG BANG!!" sound. And not surprising since this movie is made by Michael Mann, the director of Heat (1995). It's like a symphony to the ear in a form of bullets.

All in all, the emotional ride that is Public Enemies is not for everyone and the 140 minutes long run does not help either. But if you want realistic drama and sweet shooting scene, plus great acting from a cast of brilliant actors and maybe a bit of history lesson, then this movie is for you.

How to Review TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen

Ever since Michael Bay stepped into the filming industry, the whole idea of a movie is divided in two.




There’s the usual movie-type movie where there are in depth plot, character development, solid lines and sophisticated twist and even some exploration of the humanity, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jaws, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction... heck, even Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back or better yet some of the newer movies like The Dark Knight and even The Hangover.

And then there’s the Michael Bay-type movie where there are massive plotholes that are so big that you might fell off your sit, huge explosions, slow-motion sequences, and people running around acting scared and hysteric. Oh yeah, add in a dash of dirty humour and a bit of racism, why not.

Now let me tell you a story.

I have a dream. I have a dream that Transformers will be a legendary cartoon show that will amazed the generations to come. I have a dream of the younger generations watching it and be awed by the storyline and the characters themselves. I have a dream. But then someone came up with the idea of a live-action Transformers movie. Still, my dream remains. I have a dream that one day if that movie was to be made, it will be made by some genius directors that can do the franchise justice. Yes, I have a dream. And then it was announced that Steven Spielberg has something to do with it. My dream almost came true. I felt that my life was somewhat complete. But no, he wasn’t directing it. That job was given to Michael Bay. I did not put my hopes high.

Then the first movie came out. The effects were brilliant. I didn’t love the storyline or the characters etc, but there were enough action and suspense to keep me watching. I told myself, “Heck, that wasn’t as a bad as I imagined it’d be.”






Two years later, Revenge of The Fallen came out. I gave it a chance and went to see it. Thus, I lost all hopes for the Transformers movie franchise and for Michael Bay himself...

I asked myself, "How the heck am I supposed to write a review for this?"

But still, my dream remains. I have to do justice for the franchise. So I will now write a non-biased review.

If you see it as a movie-type movie, of course, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is an epic fail. There were no character development. The storyline – I won’t even call it rushed – was a mess! So much plotholes that you can shove Optimus Prime in them and back again. There was too many missed opportunity for a better plot such as the “Sam-as-a-fugitive” storyline which could’ve been more in depth or even “Jetfire, the old Decepticon turned good” deserves a better back story than that. And a lot of WTF moments. And one more thing, I remember the filmmaker saying that they had to write in Shia LaBeouf hand injury -- that was also one of the WTF moments.


But the only way to write a good review for this movie is that you have to see it as a Michael Bay-type movie. Then this is the best movie ever made. His best effort yet. There were plenty of explosions that your ears could go numb, slow-motion sequences that most probably made up half an hour of the movie, and some more explosions! There are also random Transformers running around that you won’t even know who is fighting what. I don't think anyone is capable of making a better Michael Bay-type movie than this. Heck, I don't even think Bay himself can top this.


And now, an exclusive quote from Megan Fox :

"I mean, I can't s--- on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's a--. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting."

(taken from an interview in the Us Magazine, full article on Yahoo! can be found here: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/us-magazine-megan-fox-bay.html )

Yeah, Megan, that's the reason why Mr. Bay hired you in the first place. Now how about telling us something we don’t know.

Drag Me to Hell; Sam Raimi brings back the Horror Genre

Drag Me to Hell tells a story of a loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who “has a good job, a great boyfriend, and a bright future” as the tagline says. But one day, she had to order an eviction of an old woman, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) from her house. After failing to convince Christine for an extension, the old lady cursed her and Christine finds herself being haunted by supernatural powers and her life is now a living hell. Desperate, she finds a seer and will try anything to save herself from being dragged to hell.

Sam Raimi, after the long years of making the Spider-Man trilogy, has come back to what he's good at and bringing along with him the horror genre, something that is long gone in Hollywood. The thing about this movie is that we know what’s going to happen in the end. Hence, the title. But the journey to get there was the real deal.

The soundtrack and camera angles really complement each other. We barely get to see the demon pursuing Christine, but we could feel the intensity. The jump scenes (the scary shocking scenes) are so effective; it gets you every time like a buzzer placed on your sit, unlike in recent Hollywood horror movies. The special effect is good, and the cinematography and atmosphere of the movie is perfect.

Of all the actors, Justin Long, playing Christine’s boyfriend Clay, was the standout. His reactions and especially towards the ending were priceless. The others were mediocre. But in a good way. It reminds me of the fun horror B-movies from the 80’s or so.

Drag Me to Hell is horror, plus fun, with a dash of comedy in its purest form. I had the most intense movie experience of my life. It is definitely a classic. I recommend it. And you HAVE to watch this in theatre to get the full experience.

The Brothers Bloom is the feel good movie of 2009!

The Brothers Bloom tells the story of two orphan siblings that grew up conning people and often with the assistant of the silent Bang Bang, their muscleman in the scheme. One day, the little brother, Bloom wants to quit and have a normal life. But the big brother, Stephen, offers him one last con and then he’d be free to live his life. The plan was simple. They were to con a beautiful and eccentric heiress by giving her the time of her life, while sucking her money on the way. But there’s a problem: Bloom fell in love with her.

The story is simple and very effective. It feels like a movie from the 40’s or 50’s. It’s one of those feel good movies that’ll make you smile throughout the movie and make you sigh and smile some more when it ends. The storyline is also laced with twists and turns that will shock you and keep you guessing until the end.



The characters are so loveable and often funny. The acting is top-notch and even Oscar-worthy I might add. The star of the movie, I’ve to say, is Rachel Weisz playing the eccentric heiress Penelope. She really captures the souls of the audience and makes us fall in love with her character.

Mark Ruffalo did a great job playing Stephen, a slick con man, like he’s been doing it for years. Adrian Brody really shows us a different side of him by playing the little brother Bloom who gets slightly controlled by his brother and always does what he’s told. Another star of the movie is Rinko Kikuchi playing the silent Bang Bang without any dialogue save for one profanity and a karaoke scene.

The cinematography is very beautiful. It transports you into a different world, in a way.


I am shocked that this movie did not get the hype that it deserves. But if you would like to watch a movie that will make you feel happy and good, then this movie is for you. You can follow the crowd and watch a blockbuster movie, but watch this if you want true quality.

Terminator Salvation; Epic visual cinematography, but the rest falls apart.

Let’s keep it simple: For fans of Terminator, you might find Terminator Salvation disappointing. But for the rest, this movie is the one to watch.

Terminator Salvation focuses on Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a death row inmate, who is convinced by Dr. Kogan (Helena Carter) to donate his body for an experiment, and then finds himself in a devastated future. He then comes across a teenager Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and a little girl named Star (Jadagrace). The three of them avoid danger and certain death on a journey to find the future leader of the Resistance to the machines, the legendary character we all know from the past Terminator movies, John Connor (Christian Bale). John Connor, with the help of his wife Kate (Bryce Howard), on the other hand, is busy trying to stop Skynet using a new found soundwave technology that could “switch off” machines and also trying to convince the command of the Resistance not to bomb Skynet because there are still human prisoners there.

The storyline sounds interesting enough, yet there is no depth to it. It’s the total opposite of what the first two movies were all about. There are little development for the characters and the ending seems rushed. The first half of the movie is very promising, but the rest just says “Hollywood”.

The acting is a very good aspect of the movie though. Sam Worthington stole the spotlight from the rest. Seeming as an unknown actor, he works well being a confused person who was reborn into the future. We could feel his pain and suffering in some scenes. And with James Cameron’s Avatar coming up, I see a bright future for Worthington.

The rest of the cast were just good enough. Anton Yelchin has convincingly played a young Kyle Reese. He had probably watched and rewatched The Terminator (1984). Christian Bale really needs to drink some water and put off his Batman voice, while Helena Bonham Carter and Bryce Howard did not get enough screentime.

What really saves this movie is the visual aspect. The CGI effect is marvellous and epic. The camera angles and camera control are very engaging and not at all confusing or shakey.
We get to see a post-apocalyptic world, with a tone down colour that really gives a sombre atmosphere. And then the jets, weaponry and the submarine of the Resistance. And, of course, the terminators look so realistic. The action sequences were way above any summer movies this year.

To conclude, if you’re a die-hard Terminator fan, stay away from this movie – far away! – or you can give it a chance. But if you’re just a casual fan and wants to know what happens next, or an action movie fan, or just a casual movie-goer out for a bit of summer action fun, then Terminator Salvation is perfect for you.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is just another Hollywood big-budget sequel.

The reason why I went to watch this is because the first one was such a good family movie. It has humour, suspense, slight action and in depth plot and character development.

The sequel, unfortunately, is far from that. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is about Larry Daley who found a better job since the first movie and has now moved on to a different life. Little did he knows that his friends at the Museum of Natural History are about to be shipped and stored at the famous Smithsonian Institute. Long story short, he now has to save little Jedediah and Octavius from a pharaoh who is trying to take over the world. Sounds weird. Because it is. It feels like the writers were out of ideas.

So what they do was they throw in a hell lot of characters including Kahmunrah, a crazy pharaoh who is trying to rule the world, Albert Einstein, Abe Lincoln and even Darth Vader.


The story seemed rush and some parts didn’t make sense. For example, why did Kahmunrah threatens to suffocate Jedediah in an hour-glass when Jedediah is just a little statue who will most probably come back to life the night after even if he ‘died’ today?


But negativity aside, I have to say that the actor that really stood out was Hank Azaria, playing the villain Kahmunrah. He was loud and funny and not to mention he even voiced Abe Lincoln and The Thinker. Ben Stiller was just his usual self. And Amy Adams was fun and very adorable as the female pilot Amelia Earhart, but the gung-ho attitude gets old pretty fast.

The special effect and the score of the movie were okay. Not too good, not too bad.

Overall, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is just another Hollywood big-budget movie that has a massive room for improvement and really could’ve done so much better.

I Love You, Man; A new take on the “bromance” genre.

I Love You, Man is a whole new take on the “bromance” genre. It shows the love between two men and ho they build it up. Before anyone shouts Brokeback Mountain, here’s the deal: I Love You, Man is about what happens when a ladies’ man turn out to have no close male friends at all and have to befriend a very testosteroned-up guy just so he could have a best man at his wedding. The movie also shows how he tries out with a few different guys (even a homosexual man, by mistake) before he finally found his true friend.

Sounds simple enough. But what really made this movie was not the plot but the realistic dialogues, the funny intended awkward silences throughout and the whole concept of it.


The writers and filmmakers did a great job bringing us a not-so-usual romance movie laced with good acting and unfamiliar soundtracks. It doesn’t have anything you might expect from a usual Hollywood movie (I’m not going to spoil anything, but I’m sure you get it).

Funny man Jason Segel (Peter’s new friend Sydney Fife) did a great job. So did Rashida Jones (Peter fiancé), Andy Samberg (Peter’s gay brother) and the other cast members. But the star of the movie is, obviously, Paul Rudd. He plays Peter Klaven, a nice ladies man, who don’t usually drink, who don’t really hang out with dudes, and just not good with socializing. He can’t even make up a nickname. He's trying to be cool when he's really just not.


The jokes are pretty grossed out type (not those ‘smart’ ones). Some might love it, some may not. But all of them are mildly-amusing so the movie really doesn’t have any dull moments.

All in all, it’s a perfect comedy for anyone who just wants to “chillax” or just hang out with friends or significant others.

Angels & Demons; Effective for those who have yet to read the novel.

I know there has been a lot of complaint about the changes done in the movie Angels & Demons; from the twist ending even to the storyline. But as a person who hasn’t read the novel, I see the movie as a very effective thriller. The storyline is very complicated yet interesting. The suspense is intense. I love the twist ending. The acting, though not Oscar-worthy, is anything you might expect from a summer movie. The editing is done very well. And the special effect is marvelous (hint: the explosion scene). The movie itself is such an eye-candy (it’s like a tourism video of Rome). And the movie seems to be like a visualization of a novel. Watching it feels like you’re reading a book.



Angels & Demons is a sure movie for anyone who wants a bit of suspense, intensity and mystery, and also for those who like thought-provoking stories.

Recommended.