Movie Review : Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part One

Let me start first with the storyline, just for the sake of all of you who are too lazy to read the books. I will not go into details, just the big picture. Continuing from the last book, now Dumbledore is dead and the whole world (magical and muggles alike) is in chaos, with Voldemort getting stronger every day and his army of death eaters growing by the numbers. Just before he died, Dumbledore asked the trio (Harry, Hermione, and Ron) to find the remaining horcruxes (things magically enchanted to contains part of Voldemort's soul) and destroy them so that V-man can be destroyed once and for all. So they go on a journey with very little clue of where to go or what to do. Most of the time they are just moving from forest to forest and try not to get caught by the bad guys. At the end of the movie, they managed to destroy one horcrux, but still have another 4 to find and destroy.

At one point of time, they discovered the legend of the Deathly Hallows, which turns out to be the 3 most powerful items in the magical world. Legend says that the person who have these 3 items will be master of Death itself. The first item is the most powerful wand, named the Elder Wand. The second item is a stone that can bring the dead back to this world. It is called the Resurrection Stone, and the whereabouts of it is still unknown up to this point of time. The third item is the Invisibility Cloak, which makes the owner, um... invisible (d'oh!!). Harry actually already owns this item since the beginning without even knowing it.

V-man, pissed because his own wand seems to always be on the losing end against Harry's wand, go on a quest to find the Elder Wand. After some torturing and investigation, he found out that it is actually Dumbledore's wand. So he go and open up D-man's coffin and took the wand for himself. And that's the end of the first movie.....

Now on to the movie review. Having read all the books (some of them even more than one time) and watch all the previous 6 movies, I don't really have a high expectation for this movie. To me, the movies are a nice visual treat, but what I always get from the previous movies is that they always screw up the storyline and leave out many details that makes the books magical.

However, this time they actually managed to get it right. Well, there are still a few minor modifications, but it is still bearable and doesn't affect a lot to the main storyline.





OK I have to admit some details are best to be left in the books, like the joke that Fred (or is it George?) makes when he lost his left ear, and the other twin ask him how he feels. He actually said "Saintlike. I'm holey, get it?". I was smiling when I read that in the book, but in the movie theater, there was no response from the audience, because they just don't get it. Or perhaps it's just the bloody thick British accent that they had. 


By the way, doesn't the poster above reminds you more of James Bond rather than Harry Potter? It's nice to see Emma Watson blossomed into a beautiful woman, and Daniel Radcliffe becoming more and more like a serial killer mature. Sadly, the same can't be really said for Rupert Grint. Sorry, Ron, but you're just the same ugly boy as before, only with messier hair and even more contorted facial features.


Can't wait for the 2nd part, coming in July 2011! Hope they don't mess up the epic battle at Hogwarts. 


If you want to know more about the stories, well it's about time to get your fat ass out of that chair and pick up the book at your local bookstore. Or, buy an ebook reader and I can email you the epub version :)

Movie Review : R.E.D.

R.E.D is another action comedy movie that is loosely adapted from a comic book series. The main character is Frank Moses (played by Bruce Willis), a former CIA agent who is now retired and live a lonely life in the suburbia. The only companion he has is his pension agent, Sarah (played by Mary Louise Parker). They chat a lot over the phone, but they never met each other in person. One day, a team of hit squads comes to his house and tried to kill him. So, after he killed them, he protected Sarah by kidnapping her and forcing her to go with him to find his old mates (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren). Together they found out who is after them, boom boom boom, and in the end they get their revenge. 

In the movie, R.E.D stands for Retired and Extremely Dangerous. Well, perhaps they got the color wrong, because to me, it's more like B.L.U.E = Boring, Lame and Uninteresting Elderly (people). The fact that I can think of that abbreviation WHILE watching the movie says everything. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against old people, but I just don't think that they should star in action movies anymore. Another excellent example : The Expendables.

To me, Mary Louise Parker gave a good comical performance in this movie. Bruce Willis is also always great being a tough guy. However, the movie was brought down by boring, predictable plots, unbelievable action scenes (is it really THAT easy to break into the CIA office??), and the general slowness of the conversations. Helen Mirren was OK, but I'll take my Hit Girl over her character anytime, thank you very much. Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich was just cuckoo, and I never really liked them anyway.

So, my advice is to skip this movie and save your money to buy popcorn next week when watching Harry Potter :)

Movie Review : Megamind

Setelah sekian lama gak nonton bioskop (terakhir ya Eat Pray Love itu), akhirnya tadi sempet juga nonton Megamind. Tadinya sempet bingung mau nonton Due Date apa Megamind, tapi dari baca2 review sama kata temen2 sih bagusan Megamind. 

Ceritanya lumayan simple sih. Tokoh utamanya itu ya si Megamind itu, dengan kepala biru gedenya. Ceritanya dia tuh dari planet lain, trus pas masih baby planetnya mau hancur, trus bonyoknya kirim dia ke bumi. Nah dari planet sebelah juga ada baby yang nasibnya sama, namanya si Metroman. Mereka berdua sampe ke bumi, tapi si Metroman mendarat di rumah orang kaya, sedangkan si Megamind mendaratnya di penjara. Since dia bentuknya aneh, anak2 lain pada gak suka sama dia. Akhirnya dia jadi jahat deh. Dari kecil sampe gede mereka kerjaannya cuma berantem melulu, dan si Megamind gak pernah menang. Until one day...... akhirnya dia berhasil. Dan si Metroman mati. Well, that's just the first 10 minutes of the movie. Apa yang terjadi selanjutnya? Nonton sendiri ya..... :)


Menurut gua sih film ini masuk ke kategori biasa banget. Ya memang storylinenya lumayan original.... not your typical good guys vs bad guys. Pengisi suaranya juga beken2..... ada Will Ferrel, Tina Fey, dan bahkan Brad Pitt. Ada beberapa scene yang lucu juga. Tapi overall  tetep menurut gua sih gak ada greget2nya.... taon depan juga udah lupa deh ada film ini. 

Next stop : Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, part 1!