Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The annual anticipation for the next installment of the Harry Potter saga is now over, and like all the other films, this one does not disappoint; in fact, it shines. Aside from the inevitable box office success, this film seems to encompass its novel counterpart better than its prequels. I've seen the movie multiple times now and though this movie holds true to its predecessors, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the best Potter film yet.

What stands out from the earlier installments was the dialogue between the young movie stars (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley) that have grown up in front of our very own eyes. Previously, we accepted their less than impressive acting chops because they were young and charming and looked strikingly like the books' descriptions of their respective characters. But with this go around, the conversation that seemed forced and awkward in the past, was delivered quite smoothly. And of course much of the credit for this obvious improvement goes the script writers, but the acting was a real positive in this movie, unlike its prequels.

Another thing that I loved about the movie might be a bit specific to my particular tastes. Professor Slughorn, a character I was not particularly fond of in the book, was played by Jim Broadbent, an actor who is not particularly one of my favorites. But he was HILARIOUS. The second time I saw the movie, he made me laugh more than the first. And of course, the great Alan Rickman was nothing short of spectacular as Professor Snape.

The action sequences were much more in depth and intense than usual. It's refreshing, because this is more or less a kid's movie, but nothing was taken for granted and the intense or scarier parts of the movie were done quite well.

While this movie made improvements in the necessary areas, it also matched all of its strengths that we have come to expect from the franchise. The look of the movie was great, the music was fantastic and there was a perfect blend of suspense, romance, action and comedy. As it seems with each passing Harry Potter film, The Half Blood Prince raises the bar from what we've seen in the past and sets high expectations for the two movies that will conclude the saga.

Muller's Grade: A-

If you liked this flick, check out: all the other Harry Potter movies, The Chronicles of Narnia saga, and The Golden Compass

Public Enemies

Public Enemies is a movie I have been looking forward to for a very long time. What an incredible idea, paired with an all star cast under the direction of Michael Mann, you can see why I was excited. However, even with all the potential, Public Enemies, to me, came up way short.

The most glaring problem I had with the movie was the pacing. Besides the first scene, much of the first half of the film was devoted to developing the plot line and the main characters, but done so with little care and focus. I had no idea who was doing what and why. It was also slow and monotone. Just boring. Furthermore, I felt none the wiser after all that half assed exposition, which ended abruptly with a flurry of machine gun fights left and right. I know that sounds awesome, but the action sequences needed to be spaced out more; I felt like I was watching two different movies that were desperately searching for it's counterpart.

The other problem I had was the lack of storytelling. I was itnroduced to too many characters, too quickly and done so too carelessly, that I missed the significance (and often the name as well) of said characters.

Having said all this, the movie wasn't bad. The action, though cluttered and a little heavy at the end of the movie, was engaging and realistic. It kept me on the edge of my seat. Plus, star power alone was going to make the movie average at the very least. Johnny Depp was good in this one, but inconsistent. Early in the movie, he was throwing away his lines with the same dry tone, but then at the end of the movie, he showed some serious range. Christian Bale was fine, but it was often confusing how much authority his character was meant to have. The real gem, however was Marion Cotillard. Her performance may draw more oscar consideration after she brought home the hardware last year. She was fantastic and compelling and she made her character's story line most fulfilling. 

This movie cold have, and probably should have, been a lot better. It felt slow at times and rushed at others, and hastily started way more story lines that they wrapped up.  All of this could have been remedied with better pacing and better focus on character development and plot lines. What saved it was fantastic by Marion Cotillard and two big name stars. All in all, it was largely average.

Muller's Grade: C

If you liked this flick, check out: American Gangster, Donnie Brasco, Heat

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Okay, if you haven't seen the first Transformers movie, where have you been? It was awesome, go see it. But whatever you do, do not waste ten dollars on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. It should be revenge of the stereotypical lame sequel. 

I'll get right to the point. It was terrible. The story was confusing and even more ridiculous than the first, there were huge plot holes, and the acting was pretty bad, though I blame the production and writing team mostly for not coming up with a decent script. 

SPOILER ALERT!!! For instance: I know that the robots are totally cool and can transform into anything, and I should just accept a lot of what happens in this type of movie. That's all well and good until they start making machines that literally look like a human beings, and have other robots teleport whole crowds of people half way across the globe. Explanations please?

Another spoiler alert coming up. Why do we have to kill off the coolest robot (Optimus Prime) five minutes into the movie, when everyone and their mother knows that he's going to be brought back to life at the end. And why does Shia Labuff's character have to die and go to Robot Heaven only to be sent back to "finish his task"? Wow. Hundreds of millions of dollars and that is what we've come up with?

The worst among the long list of bad plot choices in this movie, however, are the two robots that were obviously supposed to be black. It was a blatantly racist portrayal in my humblest of opinions, which didn't necessarily offend me all that much, but will certainly offend many others, especially knowing how much time and effort went into developing these CGI characters. No one thought, "this seems wrong." I mean, the robots were "from the hood," couldn't read, and had gold teeth. It was ridiculous. 

The only good part of the movie, besides Megan Fox, was John Turturro. He was hilarious, as usual. 

As for the action, yeah it was exciting, but I saw it in the last movie. And it really is pretty hard to tell which giant robot is kicking ass on the other. Oh well, Michael Bay. You can't win them all. 

Muller's Grade: D+

If you liked this flick, check out: Transformers, Fast and Furious, and Live Free or Die Hard

Angels and Demons

It's difficult to see the major differences between Angels and Demons and it's predecessor, The Da Vinci code. For starters, the original novels, written by famed author, Dan Brown (though they were released in opposite order as their film counterparts), are very formulaic, as I'm sure future stories featuring the character Robert Langdon will be. Both films share a similar pace and plot line, as well as equally sinister villains behind the master plan. And each film has a twist ending that no one sees coming, unless you read the book before.

It isn't difficult, however, to say that Angels and Demons is better than The Da Vinci code. Because it is.  I'm not sure what about it was better, but I walked out of that theater thoroughly satisfied. Ron Howard and the production crew behind Demons just executed better all across the board. Most of all of that starts with the improved performance of Tom Hanks. I love Tom Hanks and think he is one of the very best actors in all of Hollywood. They should make him the ambassador of Earth because I can't think of one person who doesn't like Tom Hanks. Regardless, he seemed not to be fully in his performance as Robert Langdon in the first go around. This time, he was great. Funny, believable, captured the spirit of Langdon, just all around good.

The surrounding cast was great as well. I can't think of one performance that was subpar. Ewan McGregor was the most notable of said supporting cast. He was excellent, portraying Carmerlengo with grace and respect.

Apart from the acting, the action, effects, camera angles etc. was just better. It is refreshing to see a Hollywood production improve with a sequel as opposed to just creating a watered down version of the first success.

The only thing that I might have done differently is keeping some of the plot line from the book. A lot of the information, not unlike many film adaptations of books, was edited out. Some of it I agreed with; it helped the plot line move quicker for a suspense movie, but some of it I couldn't understand.

SPOILER ALLERT!!! For instance, in the beginning of the movie, someone kills a researcher and uses his eye to gain access to a heavily secured area using a retina scan. Well, in the movie, that was the end of it. In the book, that man who was murdered, was the father of Langdon's love interest, Vittoria Vetra. I thought that was a key piece of the plot line which brought vulnerability two Vetra's character and would have brought a different level of emotion to the film. Maybe there is a good reason for the omission, but I can't figure it out, and that is only one example.

Other than that, however, the film was a success. Exactly what I had hoped it would be, an entertaining summer blockbuster. Oh, and my mother enjoyed it as well. We went and saw it together.

Muller's grade: B-

If you liked this flick, check these ones out: National Treasure, Indiana Jones,  Apollo 13

Up

It must be difficult for a company such as Pixar to release a move every year when we have come to expect greatness from every new motion picture it produces. With such amazing accomplishments as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and, most recently, Wall E, Pixar has revolutionized the way we look at movies, particularly animation. And if it's not obvious, for what it's worth, I love Pixar movies.

Up is no different, but it isn't an instant classic like the previously mentioned juggernauts. Up is heartwarming, funny, family oriented and even a bit melancholy, though certainly not in a bad way. In short, it's good, not great. I liked it, I didn't love it. I wold recommend it, but don't drop what you're doing to go see it right now.

What Up really lacks is that "X" factor. It just isn't that memorable. I walked out satisfied but the further I get away from that moment, the further Up drifts from my Mind.

Having said all this, Pixar has nothing to be ashamed about, and likely never will for that matter. But with the bar being set so high from previous successes, Up, for me, is on the lower end of the spectrum of great Pixar movies. Plus, I saw it in 3-D, which added basically nothing to the movie. It was kind of cool, I guess, but was just a good movie that they decided to make 3-D as apposed to a good 3-D movie. So save yourself a few extra bucks and see it on a standard screen.

The story was good enough and the characters were likable. I actually thought that Pixar went in an interesting direction making the main character in a kids movie and old man. And a widower at that. But the themes of love and companionship really shine through and Up doesn't disappoint. 

Muller's Grade: B

If you liked this flick, check out: Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek or Coraline which was a great 3-D movie.

STAR TREK

Now, these first couple of posts are going to be a little late. I haven't really had much time to get started on all these reviews so bare with me. The first review of this summer season starts off with the much anticipated, latest installment of the "Star Trek" franchise.

I should start off by saying that, until seeing this movie, I had never seen another "Star Trek"... anything. Not a movie, not a television episode, not anything, never really having any inclination to do so. What can I say? I'm a "Star Wars" guy. So if you are a Treky yourself, please excuse my ignorance on the matter, and don't hate me. 

Having said that, this movie was nothing short of totally AWESOME. The action was great, the acting was good enough and I was not lost on the story, much to my surprise. The people behind this movie really took great care in introducing the characters, who have been pop culture icons for decades, to a whole new audience. I thought I was going to get left behind in all the sci-fi jargon, but this "Star Trek", at least to me, was the first to really be marketed to a much broader fan base. I can't be sure, but I doubt the die hard fans are upset with the finished product, and guys like me, who have no experience in such matters, are going to love it.

It kicks ass! That's basically all there is to it. Fast paced, witty, good and evil. What more could you want?

What really impressed me the most were the performances by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who played Captain James Kirk and Spok respectively. They seemed to create there own versions of such recognizable characters while still holding true to the original performances themselves. I mean from what I know of those characters, which is admittedly not much, these guys really nailed it. Pine as Kirk was a perfect choice. This will be his breakout performance and he deserves the recognition he gets. His cockiness and wit made him a Captain Kirk that need not be compared to Shatner's 

If you go see one summer movie, (be warned that Harry Potter has yet to be released) see Star Trek. If nothing else, director J.J. Abrams knows how to entertain.

Muller's Grade: B+

If you liked this flick, check out: Iron Man, Transformers, Mission Impossible III

Welcome

Dear Prospective Reader,

If my blog was the bible, this post would be Genesis. If my blog was the NBA draft, this post would be the number one overall pick. If my blog was the American Flag, this post would only have only thirteen stars.

Hello and welcome to my blog. I thank you dearly for taking the time to at least get this far in your quest to read this post. And I hope you like the template with which I was supplied. It might be a bit too dark, but for now it will do.

This blog is for the greater good. I will be reviewing many major motion pictures throughout the remaining posts, or at least as many motion pictures as I can afford to go and see. My mission is to create an every-man's Movie Review blog so that anyone can see what a normal guy thinks. Ideally millions upon millions of people will be reading this and then you could also get an idea of what other people think in the comments section, but let's not get over zealous with our hopes and dreams just yet. At least for now, if you choose to read this blog, you are subject to my opinion unless you take the necessary steps to contradict me on this website, which I encourage you to do.

Along with movie reviews, I will also be posting some lists, random discussions, and articles I consider newsworthy, that all of course relate back to the wonderful world of film. 

So without further delay, sit back and enjoy Muller's Movie Review. And thank you.

Best wishes,

Josh Muller