DVD Collectors Online

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a review by Dragonfire

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince In Harry Potter's world, portraits come to life, potions transform, time reverses, Quidditch players soar, dragons attack and magic is everywhere. Now, fascinating new insights, interviews and watch-it-happen footage let you experience the triumphs of technical wizards who conjured up an awe-inspiring alternate reality.

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I have several issues with this movie, though I do still like it overall.  Stupid, pointless stuff is added in while once again important things from the book are left out.  The set up for the final movies is screwed up big time, with it being presented like Dumbledore had no clue that Voldemort had made horcruxes before they checked out Slughorn's memory.  That makes Dumbledore look stupid, which he wasn't.  I don't mind that an attack on a muggle bridge is added at the beginning of the movie since that helps to show that Voldemort's followers are openly going after muggles.  In the book, there are on going attacks that are mentioned every so often.  That doesn't happen at all.  Instead an attack on the Burrow is added that is a complete waste of time and just stupid.  It is more clear in the movie what Draco is up to than it was in the book.  Memories about Voldemort play a big part in the book, showing how he starts to become Voldemort and giving Harry more information for what will be coming. Unfortunately they aren't handled right in the movie.  The ones that are in the movie are done well..the problem is that most of them are cut out.  The ones that are cut out show things that would be helpful for Harry and help to show a fuller picture of Voldemort.  All of the memories were in an early draft of the script, but Yates said they were unimportant - again in an interview.  Stuff is added early in the movie with Harry in a normal coffee shop, reading the Daily Prophet in front of muggles.  That is just wrong.



I did post a longer review on Epinions after I saw the movie in the theater.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


(From Marie's Random Movie Viewing on July 15th, 2013)

Whisky, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are:  Uruguay
wikipedia

What We Watched:


WhiskyOverview:
The deadpan style of Jim Jarmusch meets Aki Kaurismaki's wry sensibility in this perversely funny story set in Montevideo, Uruguay.  When Jacobo, a lonely sock factory owner, hears about the impending visit of his irritatingly cheerful brother, who he hasn't seen in years, he enlists his faithful assistant Marta to pretend to be his wife.

My Thoughts:
This is another low-budget film.  In fact, Whisky is so minimalist, you could call it a no-budget film.  It is quiet, droll and subtle.  It's a deceptively simple film - a few days in the lives of three people who mostly go through the routines of their days.  But nothing is given to the viewer, who must decide for themselves whether this is comedy or tragedy, where to laugh, where to feel sad, what happens afterward.  This is a fine little film, about real life and real people, but it's for art film fans only.

Bechtel Test:  Pass 

Overall: 4/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on October 1st, 2012)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Smallville



What's the show about?
Clark Kent was raised by the Kents in Smallville, Kansas. But Clark is no ordinary teenager. Clark is Kal-El, an alien from the planet Krypton. He has super-strengt, super-vision and many other special abilities. Clark was sent by his parents to Earth because Krypton was on the eve of destruction. Here on Earth he lives the official life of a farm boy and the inofficial life of the rescuer of people who need his help.

What happened before?
I am not entirely sure, but I believe that Smallville is also a re-imagination of the Superman universe.

"Pilot"
A meteor shower hits a small town in Kansas: Smallville. But with that shower a spaceship arrives and it contains a small boy that is adopted by the Kents. 12 years later. Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are freshemens on the Smallville Highschool. And Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor takes over the management of the Smallville fertilizer plant. But then an accident happens where Lex nearly gets killed - if it weren't for Clark. And a man awakes from a coma in which he had laid for twelve years...

My Opinion
Great show, lots of Freak-of-the-Week episodes but it has some great storyarcs, too.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 6th, 2008)