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

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: David Yates Writing: Steve Kloves (Screenwriter), J.K. Rowling (Writer) Length: 154 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40 Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dutch: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1, Catalonian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Flemish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

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Stars:
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Michael Gambon as Professor Albus Dumbledore
Dave Legeno as Fenrir Greyback
Elarica Gallacher as Waitress
Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn

Plot:
Harry and Dumbledore work together to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defences as he tightens his grip on the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Meanwhile, Hogwarts students are under attack from raging teenage hormones. Love is in the air but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same.

Awards:
Won:

MTV Movie Awards (2010)		Best Villain (Tom Felton)
National Movie Awards (2010)		Best Family Film
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Ensemble
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Sequel
Scream Awards (2009)		The "Holy Sh%t!" Scene of the Year

Nominated:

Academy Award (2009)		Best Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel)
BAFTA (2009)		Production Design (Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan)
BAFTA (2009)		Special Visual Effects (John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi)
MTV Movie Awards (2010)		Best Female Performance (Emma Watson)
MTV Movie Awards (2010)		Best Male Performance (Daniel Radcliffe)
MTV Movie Awards (2010)		Best Movie
MTV Movie Awards (2010)		Global Superstar (Daniel Radcliffe)
Scream Awards (2009)		Best F/X
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Fantasy Actor (Daniel Radcliffe)
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Fantasy Actress (Emma Watson)
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Supporting Actor (Rupert Grint)
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Supporting Actress (Evanna Lynch)
Scream Awards (2009)		Best Villian (Helen Bonham Carter)

Extras:

• BD-Live
• Deleted Scenes
• DVD-ROM Content
• Featurettes
• Maximum Movie Mode
• Scene Access
• Trailers

It has been awhile since I left off from this marathon. I have to admit I never had the urge to continue. Also this movie, even though it had its moments, never really drew me in. I like scenes where it is about the friendship of the three, and their love interests. But every time a scene with Dumbledore comes on, it just feels jarring. It's like they just have to cut to him with Harry, so that they can get the Voldemort storyline going, which by the way never really had me all that interested.
I don't regret buying this movie series (it didn't cost much and I did enjoy parts of it), but I still cannot see why this series has such a hype. Of course everyone will tell me now, that I have to read the books. But for me a movie still should work without having to have read the books.

Rating:

(From Tom's Harry Potter Movie Marathon on February 10th, 2013)

The Last of Sheila, a review by Antares

The Last of Sheila (1973) 4/5 - Has anyone been watching TCM the last two weeks? Instead of having some actor, director or film scholar pick films for the evening, they've been having TCM employees in the guest host spot, picking three of their favorite films. This has been so refreshing because they don't pick the atypical films that the more film associated person normally does. The Last of Sheila is one of those forgotten films from a time when murder mysteries were extremely popular. I saw this in its original run back in 1973, but hadn't seen it since probably the early 80's on Cinemax. It takes place on a yacht in the south of France and features seven film industry acquaintances who gather together on the one year anniversary of the yacht owner's wife's death at the hands of a hit and run driver. He has decided to play what he calls a gossip game, but in reality is really a murder mystery, which in the end, will reveal the murderer of his wife, who is among the six guests. What makes it really unique is the way the game is played out. Each of the six guests has a secret in their past, that will be revealed as the game progresses. Before the game can be finished, one of the seven is murdered and through this murder, the original murderer will be revealed. What I loved about this film then and still love about it now, is the many layers of intricacy in the plot concerning not only the murders, but the game itself. This is a very well written screenplay. The only downside to the film, is the horrible acting at times by Dyan Cannon and every thing Raquel Welch does onscreen. She should thank God every day for her natural beauty, because she has to be one of the worst actresses in the history of film. If you haven't seen this, seek it out, I think you'd be surprised at how good a film it is.

(From Antares' Short Summations on April 2nd, 2011)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Red Dwarf I
Year: 1988
Director:
Rating: 12
Length: 174 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
A radiation leak wipes out the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf leaving one survivor - chicken soup machine repairman Dave Lister. After three million years in suspended animation, Lister emerges to find he is the last human being in the universe. But he is not alone.

Extras:
Book Chapters
Booklet
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Japanese Version of "The End"
Music
Outtakes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

Having watched the series review by sfdebirs, I got into the mood to rewatch this series again. Initially I have planned to do a marathon thread, but today my brother said he wanted to watch them with me. So I plan to watch them series by series instead of episode by episode.

With "The End" the series is off to a great start. I still very much enjoy this episode. The character introductions are great. And who can forget the "Everybody's dead, Dave" delivery by Holly.

My favorite episode from the first series is "Future Echoes". These echoes are a nice concept and very fun to watch. Especially the scene with the conversation between Lister and the Echo-Rimmer followed by Lister and the real Rimmer when we finally understand, what the first conversation is about. This scene was it, which completely won me over to Red Dwarf when I first watched this show.

The other episodes are nice, but not so good as the first two. The final episode comes close though. It's fun having Rimmer have to live with himself. Also the episode "Waiting for God" is enjoyable, where Lister learns that he is a god to the cat people.

#	Episode	Rating
01	The End
02	Future Echoes
03	Balance of Power
04	Waiting for God
05	Confidence and Paranoia
06

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 10th, 2009)