My Entertainment News » Movies

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Gerry Grant — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:05:43 +0000

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Warning Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince spoiler, but if you have read the book you know what happens anyway.

Don’t be late for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because it starts out dark and powerful. While full of plenty of magical action and drama the content has matured with the ages of the original audiences. Love interests change faster than a magical dueling match exchanging spells. Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) falls for infatuated Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave), leaving Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) jilted and in a jealous rage. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) has his own love triangle, when Ron’s sister, Ginny (Bonnie Wright), starts dating another student with him, as Ron complains to Harry that he is “Running his hands all my sister.”

Hermione unleashes some magic in response to being jilted by Ron and she also gives some scathing looks that no man wishes to see from a woman. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince explores the pain of being dumped by your first love and what happens when forced to face these changes. Some of the girls come across as down right randy in their obsession with the boys. Even the broomsticks in the Quidditch match have changed to have a bawdy phallic look. As Ron so aptly states in one scene, “These girls are going to kill me!” yes the movie includes lots of scenes of the older more mature Hogwarts students sneaking away to dark, secluded parts of the castle for some intense Snogging. By the end of the film all the right lovers are back together with each other a little wiser and more experienced.

The story of course is about the Half Blood Prince and Harry finds an old Potions book with copious notes that was previously owned by him. The true owner is reveled when Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) turns and says to Harry, “How dare you use my own spells on me. Yes I am the Dark Blood Prince.” This after Snape has killed Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), because Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) cannot perform in his opportunity to be a true dark wizard. He was lowering his wand when Snape steps in to deliver the final curse that trhows Dumbledore off the ramparts of the Hogwarts castle.

Much of the story revolves around Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) a professor who “collects” star pupils as he collects magical ingredients. Horace has many sides and Harry is charged by Dumbledore to extract a hidden memory of Tom Riddle. Harry manages to do this by being lucky, the luck produced by a luck potion, when Horace and Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) get drunk together.

After much dueling, both magical and sexual, the movie stops in mid-story. We will need to wait until the Fall of 2010 to see the three of them go on a quest to find the remaining parts of Tom Riddles soul.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is 153 minutes long, it could be slightly shorter if they shortened the dead spider scene and tightened up some edits. It does drag a little in spots, but the time is used to delve into the charecters a little more so it is not so bad.

I saw this private advanced screening at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach thanks to an invitation by NetJets. NetJets is the way to travel. Thanks NetJets.

Of course you must see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Horse2Heart.com | Great horse stories.

Follow on Twitter

www.Twitter.com/Horse2Heart

Lymelife: A Strong and Touching Indie Drama

Gerry Grant — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:30:48 +0000

Lymelife brings forward the dark side of a suburban paradise. It is a story of love and rejection, mystery and adversity, which is crafted on the lives of the director brothers Derick Martini and his brother Steven. They wrote the screenplay together and also co-edited the film.

Set in the Long Island during 1970s, Lymelife focuses on two families, the Bartletts and the Braggs struggling to deal with economic problems and Lyme disease. The adults in the film – Alec Baldwin and Jill Hennessy presented as Micky and Brenda Bartlett, Cynthia Nixon and Timothy Hutton as Melissa and Charlie Bragg are described as ill-equipped and aweful role models for their kids – Rory and Kieran Culkin as Scott and Jimmy Bartlett and Emma Roberts as Adrianna Bragg.

The story of Lymelife moves around a sensitive and clumsy 15 year old boy, Scott Bartlett. His family life suffers a lot after the Lyme disease hits the community and spreads illness and paranoia. The movie has bonafide and classic touch with the look of a true American indie. The soundtracks of 70s are a real crowd pleaser. Despite the presence of few dark themes, the story has a bit of humor element. You can compare it with slightly lighter films like American Beauty or Snow Angels. Rory’s relationship with Emma is one of the best descriptions of first love and the awkward sexual encounters you have during that period.

Coming to photography, it’s top notch. The cinematographer Frank Godwin preferred long takes and tracking shots for building tension and making the audience stay in tune with the flow of the story. Martini has allowed Rory’s face and eyes to speak more by removing dialogues in some of the most powerful scenes.

The entire cast of Lymelife has given an outstanding performance. Timothy Hutton and Cynthia are impressive, but Rory catches all the attention. His offscreen relationship with his brother is so beautifully translated onto the screen that viewers will find it hard to distinguish between virtual and real life act. In some scenes, Martini left the camera rolling to capture the playfulness of both the boys. All this has made the story more real and painful.

The twists and turns make Lymelife an ultimate story of wonders and discovery. You will find out different possibilities presented by youth after watching the movie. The style of Martini’s direction resembles lot to that of David Gordon Green (Snow Angles). He has a unique style of working, where he works more on getting maximum actions from actors. This gives a natural look to the story.

500 Days of Summer: An Offbeat Romantic Story

Gerry Grant — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:58:59 +0000

An unpredictable storyline makes 500 Days of Summer a delightfully refreshing movie. Winner of critical acclaim award in the Sundance Film Festival, the movie has already made critics expect that it will be the next Juno.

The film revolves around the guy Tom (Gordon-Levitt), who meets the girl Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and falls in love. But, the girl doesn’t. Summer has come to LA from Michigan to do internship at a greeting card company, where Tom also works. The girl is portrayed as a realist who doesn’t believe in love. Tom is a romantic guy, who is still in search of a soul mate. This office romance soon becomes serious, Tom is infatuated with Summer and their love story proceeds.

The story is not so simple. There are many tweaks and turns telling that love is all about taking risks, disappointments and knocking into fate, when it is least expected. This is a surprising must see for a movie lover.

First time director Marc Webber with writers Scott Neustadter and Michael Webber, has very well put together the elements of charm, freshness and fun in this romantic comedy. They have included few movie making devices that might appear distracting to some of the viewers. The best part of direction is the presence of forward and back stories, which are weaved together in the form of a beautiful narration. 500 Days of Summer is paying homage to classical movies, with inclusion of many clips and snippets.

Talking about cast, Deschanel and Gordon- Levitt have done full justice to their roles. The film is certainly going to do wonders for Levitt’s career. Deschanel has smartly managed to convey the mixed up and messed up attitude of Summer. She is frank, sexy, flirtatious and has a crazy allure that makes viewers understand why Tom falls for her. Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly, Rachel Boston, Matthew Gray Gubler and other actors have also shown their acting skills very well on-screen.

The movie is bright and full of life, but at the same time thought provoking. It is more realistic and moving, which makes it different from a typical love story. Director Marc Webber has shoot on locations in LA, but has showed city’s architectural heritage, which makes the film slightly different from a typical Hollywood-Indie fare. At present, 500 Days of Summer is expected to get an R rating. If the movie is edited to a PG-13, it will perform good at the box office.

Will Smith Smashes the Box office

♥ KW — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:43:56 +0000

After this weekend, and Hancock opening to upwards of $62M in ticket sales (and the fact that his careers has never been better, is married to a beautiful woman, is very sexy himself and has the most adorable kids), I thought it would be fun to look back at some of Mr. Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr.’s other movies:

photo courtesy of people.com

Year	Title	Budget	Gross (US)	Gross (Worldwide inc US)
1993	Made in America	N/A	$44,942,695	$104,942,695
1993	Six Degrees of Separation	N/A	$6,410,676 ^[29]	N/A
1995	Bad Boys	$23m	$65,807,024	$141,407,024
1996	Independence Day	$75m	$306,169,268	$816,969,268
1997	Men in Black	$90m	$250,690,539	$589,390,539
1998	Enemy of the State	$90m	$111,549,836	$250,649,836
1999	Wild Wild West	$170m	$113,745,408	$222,105,681
2000	The Legend of Bagger Vance	$80m	$30,695,227	$39,459,427
2001	Ali	$107m	$58,183,966	$87,713,825
2002	Men in Black II	$140m	$190,418,803	$441,818,803
2003	Bad Boys II	$130m	$138,396,624	$273,339,556
2004	I, Robot	$120m	$144,801,023	$347,234,916
2004	Shark Tale	$75m	$160,861,908	$367,275,019
2005	Hitch	$70m	$179,495,555	$368,100,420
2006	The Pursuit of Happyness	$55m	$163,566,459	$307,069,059
2007	I Am Legend	$150m	$256,393,01	$584,137,442
2008	Hancock	$150m	$107,321,000	$185,321,000

There are only 3 movies on this list that don’t break the 9 figure mark – that is definitely an accomplishment! I have to say, my favorite was either Bad Boys II or Shark Tale…

So, what is your favorite Will Smith movie?

♥
KW

Celebrity marriages – why they never seem to last

♥ KW — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:22:01 +0000

In today’s society, there is about a 50% divorce rate and among celebrities this number certainly seems much higher. But is it? Do they really not last, or is it just how it looks? Unfortunately for the celebrities, no one cares when marriages work – only when they end in tragedy. Sometimes (and this is an extremely rare, ‘there is nothing else going on’ type rare case) gossip mags and websites will report on the marriages that work. But more often than not, the cover stories revolve around who’s cheating who, who got what in the divorce and who is next in line for the courthouse to battle out custody. This weighted coverages of divorce is what leads us to believe that there are so many in Hollywood (although it is probably higher than the national average).

Anyway, whether or not it is a little or a lot higher, it is interesting to look at why. There are hundreds upon thousands of reasons that marriages fail, and it is rare that any marriage is ended for the exact same reason than another. But, I believe there are 3 main reasons that celebrity marriages fail:

1. Love Triangles from movies: Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston were the epitome of the perfect couple - then he started filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Enter Angelina Jolie and say goodbye to Jennifer.

2. The paparazzi stories. It is difficult enough to trust your partner when they are traveling all the time and when time together is hard to come by but when the entire gossip world is telling stories that your significant other is cheating…it can be almost impossible.

3. Great careers vs. fledgling careers. In the real world, it isn’t strange to see only one person in the couple working. Or one that makes more than the other. And, while this can put a strain on a relationship, imagine the life of 2 celebrities in very different places in their career. For example: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe. Although they both worked, she was significantly more successful than he was. So, he found someone new, someone who made less money than he did and said goodbye to his successful wife.

I’m not saying these are the only 3 reasons that marriages end, but they are definitely 3 of the reasons we see most often. I wish that I could say I was surprised that the marriages don’t last, but I don’t really believe that the celebs think marriages are that serious. The whole ’til death do us part’ seems to be forgotten amidst the life and lights of fame.

Is there another reason you see as overly prevalent reason for celebrity divorce?

♥
KW

J.K Rowling speaks at Harvard graduation

♥ KW — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:12:09 +0000

In addition to being a gossip addict, I absolutely love the Harry Potter Books! (yes, I am an adult, and yes, I did wait in line to get the final book at midnight!). With that said, I am so jealous of the Harvard Grads this year! I would have loved to hear J.K. Rowling speak, about really anything! Sad thing is there were probably at least 10% of the people there that had no idea who she was or why she was speaking… http://www.usmagazine.com/jk-rowling-urges-harvard-grads-to-imagine-better

Which book is your favorite? What about your favorite character?

♥
KW

Gossip addicts and Kung Fu Panda

♥ KW — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:53:59 +0000

Ok, so I have a confession…I am a gossip addict. I swear I wouldn’t survive without my gossip updates from people, us weekly, yahoo and of course, Perez! But, unfortunately…I don’t have the gossip talents that they have to capture the news as it is breaking. So, instead, I will put my opinion (ok, so some of you may not care about my opinion, but tough! ) on some of the top stories, and links to where you can see more details of what’s going on…if it’s interesting in gossip…I’ll be adding my 2₵! Kung Fu Panda opens tonight – will be avoiding theatres like the plague….thousands of kids and parents that don’t pay attention? Not for me..thanks! The movie does look funny, and Jack Black is hysterical, but I don’t think it is worth sitting in a theatre packed with kids who can’t be quiet through a whole movie. It’s definitely going down on my ‘to rent’ list :) If you do go see it….let me know how the kids are!

♥
KW