Pearce might give one of my 10 favorite performances of the decade here, but as a whole I just couldn’t get on this movie’s wavelength. Maybe I could have in the 2.5 hour version that’s buried within.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 2011
One of the few reasons why I’m begrudgingly excited for the series is that they can fix everything post-Neville’s stand.
Harry and Voldemort fighting around the castle is cool, but that final showdown in front of nobody, Voldemort evaporating and the Elder Wand talk at the end just irk me. You could have squeezed so much more emotion out of all that.
Two things they won’t improve though: the Prince’s tale and the resurrection stone sequences. I bawl like a baby every single time.
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September 5 2024
Really, really great. I'm such a sucker for a good news/journalism movie. This is one of the better ones I've seen in a very long time.
Pairs well with Conclave and Saturday Night as a stressful, claustrophobic procedural/thriller. I would like many more such films.
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009
I understand why Yates gets so much shit, but the way he streamlines the stories of the later movies is honestly pretty impressive. Yeah, a lot of cool stuff got cut, but for the most part he totally maximizes the dramatic impact of what’s there. Half Blood Prince’s omissions from the book should annoy me much much much more than they do, and the fact I like this a great deal is a testament to his skill as a director.…
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A Complete Unknown 2024
Timmy is going to conquer the world, holy cow.
A Complete Unknown is admittedly a superficial look at Dylan, but I think that’s the point.
The mystery and contradictions that surround him is what makes Bob who he is. And the film makes the case that Bob Dylan is what he does to the world around him, by being such an off-beat, singular figure. It’s an argument that I fully bought into.
EKL #8
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 2007
Montage is one of the most powerful tools in filmmaking.
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004
Cuaron directs this thing like its the last movie he’ll ever make. It’s too bad the story doesn’t live up to his effort.
I firmly believe that time travel doesn’t belong in the fantasy genre.
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Juror #2 2024
An increased exposure to him recently has made me realize that Hoult just doesn’t do it for me.
He’s fine, but he lacks that extra thing (ex. Messina’s general sliminess, Collette’s face, Simmons’ voice) that would make him a more interesting person to watch.
Anyway, the movie is good! I love a good moral quandary, and it’s nice to see Clint try again, he even used a real baby this time! I hope he directs the next film in the Ant-Man franchise.