Good Fantasy to get over the Post Harry Potter Hangover: Harry Potter Week Part 2

Good Fantasy to get over the Post Harry Potter Hangover

Commentary by: Frederick Cholowski

    Well the Potter film franchise is coming to an end. What are you going to read/watch!!!!! You probably have a good idea but in case your super duper lost I'm here to recommend some fantasy!

 

A Song of Ice and Fire

    First book: A Game of Thrones

    Author: George R.R. Martin

        This is my #1 recommendation. I love this series because it's so unpredictable. No one is safe and you never know what's going to happen next. I'm on the four of five available books right now and am loving every second. Also an HBO original series titled Game of Thrones has been made based on the books and it is also amazing!!

 

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

    First book: The Alchemist

    Author: Michael Scott

        This is a fun little series from Irish fantasy writer Michael Scott. It's really fast pace and messes with a lot of mythology in ways that sort of make sense. It may not be the extreme rich detailed fantasy like the lord of the rings or song of ice and fire but for what it is it's a lot of fun.

 

The Inheritance Cycle

    First book: Eragon

    Author: Christopher Paolini

        The fourth book which has taken forever to come out is finally coming in November this is a great time to get into the franchise. It is a little slow sometimes and the story may resemble Star Wars at times but it's also very detailed and a lot of fun.

 

Lord of the Rings

    First book: The Fellowship of the Ring

    Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

        Who hasn't read these books or at least watched the movies. Tolkien's Lord of The Ring's remains one of the premier examples of fantasy. If you haven't read these why haven't you? That is all I'm going to say

    

Well there you go a place to start for now, and if you read all these well props to you. Anyways there you go if you have any favorites you can put them in the comments.

 

Tomorrow: Potter 7 part 2 preview

 

Looking Back at the Harry Potter Movies: Harry Potter Week Part 1

Looking Back at the Harry Potter Movies

Commentary by Frederick Cholowski

Well it’s almost over, the Harry Potter franchise which has spanned 7 novels and in a few days 8 movies is coming to a close. Those who know me know that I love the books, not read them 7 times and carve “nimbus 2000” into broomsticks love but still love it the same. Those who know me also know I simply like the films. Not saying they are bad by any stretch of the imagination (good means good) but not up to the level of the novels. Maybe it’s because they follow the novels too closely or lose a little charm at times but still I like them anyways. Well with the end of the film franchise (the book franchise ended a number of years ago) I have decided to look back and count down from my least favorite Potter film to my favorite Potter film (excluding the last one because it hasn’t been released yet).

7. The Chamber of Secrets

Ah yes number 2 my least favorite of the franchise. This was back when the films still hadn’t matured out of the we’re a bit kiddy faze. Don’t get me wrong I don’t dislike this film but it’s also the weakest in the franchise with a “we’re still young” feel. That would be radically changed in the next film but more on that later…

6. The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Here lies the reason why I’m only cautiously optimistic for the last film in the Potter franchise. This film didn’t work on its own it was just endless build up without achieving much. Then it just kind of ends! Right when the film starts to get some momentum going too. Again by no means a bad film but still one of the weakest in the franchise.

5. The Order of the Phoenix

How do you turn one of the best most richly detailed books in the franchise into the shortest film in the whole series? That is the question many Potter fans where asking when the fifth film in the franchise myself included. Not judging the book (which I usually try not to do) though this is a solid entry in the Potter franchise. It’s not great and feels a bit rushed but a solid film none the less

4. The Goblet of Fire

My favorite book in the whole series is the Goblet of Fire. I think it brings the series to new heights adding new depth and expands the franchise into new territory. Problem with this film is that this happened to the film series last film. More on that later. Anyhow Goblet of fire is a solid entry in the franchise and definitely deserves to be this high on this list.

3. The Philosopher’s Stone

This is the one that started it all. Sure it has its shaky points but this film brought all the atmosphere and character into the franchise almost flawlessly. It’s always a treat when you get to see one of your favorite books jump to life on screen and the first Potter film did this on almost all the right notes.

2. The Half Blood Prince

I am in the minority of people who love this one. It gets some much needed character development and build in before racing to an interesting (yet a bit anticlimactic) finale. It succeeds in being a good set up film while also be able to stand alone as one of the best in the franchise.

1. The Prisoner of Azkaban

Funny how my least favorite book in the franchise becomes my favorite film. This took the Potter franchise in a new much needed direction. It was darker and more convincing while still keeping the charm of the series. It also managed to grow the sires up a couple of years to get older people involved. It’s the only film in the Potter franchise I would call truly great.

Tomorrow:

Fantasy to read or watch after Potter

Transformers Dark of the Moon Review

Bumblebee watching stuff pointlessly explode in Transformers Dark of the Moon

Transformers Dark of the Moon

D

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Let’s get two things off the chest before we start this review. 1. I do not like Michael Bay films. I have always thought they were loud and stupid. 2. I am one of those people who “doesn’t get” this franchise or how it could appeal to anyone who turns their brain on if not for a brief second well watching. Well now that’s out of the way, Transformers 3 is a stupid movie. It combines stuff going boom with more stuff going boom. It (as the last two did) avoids something called “character development” or “a decent storyline”. I mean do I sound like I’m asking too much. Honestly the average 1 hour TV show dose a better job at these things than Transformers 3 dose in 2 and a half hours. That’s just sad.

Let’s not try to explain the plot because there isn’t much. Basically the evil Decepticons want to take over our planet and recreate their former planet in its place. It’s up to a bunch of army guys, the good robots the Autobots, and Shia LaBeouf (with his model girlfriend of course) to save the world. Wahoo!

Bay blamed the poor screenplay of the last Transformers film on the writers’ strike. So why is the screenplay here even worse? Don’t worry Michael Bay will find something. Maybe Bay should just abandon the whole idea of a screenplay and give us 90 minutes of stuff blowing up. It would be much better than sitting there for two and a half hours listing to all the actors scream at the machines (who PS aren’t listening most of the time guys).

Speaking of actors oh Shia LaBeouf would you please for the love of god stop embarrassing yourself on screen. I mean come on I can’t believe you could have gone lower after your last couple of films. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is basically the pretty face for Michael Bay’s cameras to exploit. I mean come on every time she walks into a room with men in it they stare at her butt. I mean you gave us a butt shot at the beginning of the film do we have to be told every 5 seconds she has a nice butt? Anyways Frances McDormand dose a very wink wink nudge nudge I’m in a crapy movie performance witch I thought was kind of fun. Lenard Nimoy even appears to be Sentinel Prime and he even utters one of his famous lines from Star Trek 2 Wrath of Kahn “The needs of many out way the needs of few”. I wonder who gave the ok on that one.

The one good thing in this film is the special effects. I didn’t get the chance to see this film in 3D so I don’t know how well that worked, but even in 2D the effects are breathtaking. Michael Bay finally gets the action scenes right so I’m not confused about who’s on whose side. The problem though is that the big set piece is anticlimactic and predictable. I pretty much saw what was coming next at every point of tension (not that I cared enough about the characters to have any sense of tension…). The other problem is by the time it gets to the big action scene the film has gone on for one and a half hours (and that one and a half hours is not good) so I was so tired of the movie by the time it got to the big set piece I didn’t care about anything that was going on.

To put it in simple man's terms Transformers Dark of the Moon is not a good film. That’s putting it lightly, really lightly. It’s one of those films that while may be pretty at points, is never decent enough to make me care. Plus it goes on and on and on and on for 157 minutes. This shouldn’t even warrant 90 minutes mind you 157 minutes of torture. Transformers while not the worst movie in recent memory (Vampires Suck still holds that one) is up there. I think when it’s all said and done Transformers 3 might just be my least favorite movie of the year.

Cars 2 Review

Lightning Macqueen and Tow Mater zoom past danger in Cars 2

Cars 2

C+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Well the streak had to end sometime. Pixar’s 16 year streak of not making a bad movie has come to an end. While Cars 2 is by no means a terrible motion picture that should be burned, it’s just incredibly average. Everything from the jokes to the emotions feels forced where in other Pixar films it would be top notch. Cars 2 is by far Pixar’s worst movie to date and one that I sadly cannot really recommend to anyone over 10.



Cars 2 again follows Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) a young race car who has now gained super stardom in the US. He just came home to Radiator Springs after capturing his fourth piston cup to meet his best friend the tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). After a brush up with the biggest European race car Francesco Bernoulli he is thrust into the Word Grand Prix, a large race tournament to promote a new alternative fuel. Meanwhile good old Mater has gotten involved with two British spies Finn McMissle (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) who are trying to find out who is behind a plot to destroy the Grand Prix race cars.



Lightning McQueen takes a back seat in this film as dose the racing. Where the focus lies is Mater’s spy subplot. The humor here though is obvious and heavy handed. It’s not handled with the usual finesse that Pixar is known for. Neither is the emotional part of the film. It just does not have the level of sophistication required to keep an older audience engaged in the characters and plot.



The performances here are good but not great. The one fun standout here is Michael Cane who works well as the older, more experienced spy. Other than that though Owen Wilson is ok although he lacks some emotion, Mater feels forced as a character to me but I guess that’s not the fault of Larry the Cable Guy. Most of the supporting cast (except of course the late Paul Newman) returns although most of them make small cameos throughout the film.



Visually, Cars 2 is stunning. Pixar’s animation is still the most vibrant and colorful in the industry. Each location the characters visit has its own unique and fun visual flare to it and the visuals are never dull and boring. I cannot comment on the 3D though as I chose to see it in brighter more vibrant 2D.



Cars 2 is the first Pixar film I didn’t like. It lacks the sophistication and finesse of past efforts from the company. Don’t get me wrong it’s by no means a terrible or unwatchable film but it’s not up to Pixar’s standards. Hopefully Pixar will ditch the sequels next year and bring us something original and special.



Super 8 Review

Super 8

A

A review by Frederick Cholowski

 

    Super 8 is director J.J. Abrams's homage to the film's producer Steven Spielberg. It's also a love letter to people who have embraced the art of filmmaking at a young age. Super 8 also manages to be the first film this summer that emphasizes character and plot over special effects and action set pieces. For that reason Super 8 is also my favorite film of the summer so far.

 

    Super 8 follows Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) a young man who's troubled by the death of his mother. He and bunch of friends are helping Charles (Rickey Griffiths) complete a Zombie film for the local film festival. The group includes the always panicking Martin (Gabriel Basso), the lighting guy Preston (Zach Mills), the pyromaniac Cary (Ryan Lee), and the girl Joe has a crush on Alice (Elle Fanning). They soon find themselves in a fighting situation when as they are shooting a pickup truck derails a train. It seems like an accident until strange things start happening to the town and the air force shows up.

 

    The monster mystery set up is only a backdrop for the characters to settle their issues. For example Joe has some issues with his police officer father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) who is a bit of a workaholic. The story and characters shine here with good writing and excellent direction by J.J. Abrams. The characters are likeable and complex.

    

Some people don't like the ending of this film as much. I kind of like the ending as it feels very much like the way a Spielberg film would end. The ending fits perfectly with the tone of the film and to me never crosses the line and becomes corny.

 

For child actors there are some great performances here. This is Joel Courtney's first film and man dose it not show. He is fantastic as the awkward and sweet Joe. Also Elle Fanning (yes Dakota Fanning's younger sister) is spectacular as Alice. I would have never have guessed Elle was just 12 if I hadn't looked it up.

 

The film looks and sounds great as well. As expected with an Abrams/Spielberg creation the special effects are top notch. The beauty of the action and effects though is that they are used well and they never get in the way of the story or characters. Oh and props to composer Michael Giaccihino who creates a great John Williams like score.

 

Super 8 is a great summer film. It's Spielberg nature mixed with the modern influence of J.J. Abrams strike a perfect balance. Same with the film itself witch strikes a perfect balance of good story, character development, and action. Super 8's mix of all these things make it the best picture I've seen so far this summer. (Oh P.S. stay for a bit during the credits you won't regret doing so.)

Kung Fu Panda 2 Review

Kung Fu Panda 2

B

A review by Frederick Cholowski

    Animated sequels have a bad rap for not living up to the original. Shrek 2 wasn't as good as the original nor were any of the ice age sequels. Along comes Kung Fu Panda 2 the sequel to the fun yet flawed Kung Fu Panda and eyebrows raise. Well I'm glad to report that the second Kung Fu Panda is just as good as the original.

 

    Kung Fu Panda 2 continues to follow the panda Po (Jack Black) who is now the full time dragon warrior. Po's next goal is to find inner piece (which PS involves his past). This is where are villain comes in (wait for it, wait for it) an evil peacock Shen (Gary Oldman) who found the deadly usage of gun powder. Shen knows how Po ended up where he is today and this is a key for Po to find inner piece. So Po accompanied by the furious five (Tigress, Mantis, Crain, Monkey and Viper) go out to save China from the impending doom of a peacock with gunpowder.

 

    The plot is decent despite the fact that everything moves too quickly. The plot has no time to breathe and truly develop into something special. For example the inner piece story line (the most interesting of the two plot points) feels a bit rushed and unable to get past that wall between decent and really good.

 

    The voice work is fine here. All the American superstars from Angelina Jolie to Jackie Chan are good. The standout here though is Gary Oldman who clearly has a ton of fun as the evil peacock Shen. He's both the funniest and the most charming character here and he's the villain (go figure right).

 

    DreamWorks has clearly mastered the art of animation. Both the computer generated and the hand drawn animation looks great with great detail and lots of colors. I chose not to see this film in 3D so I don't know how well the it works but in essence I say save the money go for the brighter colors.

 

    Kung Fu Panda is a solid sequel to a good animated film. Well it feels rushed and sometimes uneven to me the film still looks and sounds great. Kung Fu Panda 2 is good solid summer entertainment that just misses being a really good animated feature.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides Review

Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides

C

A review by Frederick Cholowski

    Well after the disappointment that was the 3^rd Pirates film we return for a fourth time to the Disney amusement park ride. This time we have a new director a new supporting cast and a new treasure to go find. Unfortunately this time around the series falls flat on its face. Unimaginative, predictable and boring Pirates 4 is the perfect example of a film that is there just to take your money.

 

    Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns as the title character this time he is going after the fountain of youth. Jack reunites with his old flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz) whose father Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after the fountain as well. Oh but it doesn't end there. The British want to get to the fountain too. The British fleet is manned by former pirate Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and assisted by Jack's former right hand man Gibbs (Kevin McNally). Oh and did I fail to mention the Spanish are after the fountain too… because they are.

 

    The plot is a clumsy attempt at an average adventure story. It never gets off of the runway, correction it never gets close to off the runway. At the beginning of the film it moves to fast with no chance for you to connect with anyone. After the first 30 minutes it starts to drag, and I mean really drag. By the end I was bored out of my mind. The expedition is not interesting, there is nothing interesting for the characters to say and it goes on and on and on and on.

 

    Johnny Depp manages to carry this film for about 10 minutes and then you get bored of him. The writers have given him nothing super interesting to say and he ends up repeating the same kind of speech many times. Penelope Cruz is even more plastic than Kiera Nightly (who surprisingly is sorely missed) in her role and Ian McShane is an uninteresting villain.

 

    The action scenes are alright. The opening scene is cool but all the scenes after it are predictable and uninteresting. One of the things I can now appreciate about the director of the original Pirates trilogy Gore Virbinsky is the way he did action scenes. He made them suspenseful and interesting. The action scenes in this film while flashy are drab. They feel too much like an uninspired video game than a convincing movie set piece.

 

    Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides fails to compel on basic levels. The dialog is basic, the characters uninteresting, and the plot unsatisfying. Throw in the film being way to long for what it tries to accomplish and you have another summer sequel that's not worth your time or money.