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Archive for July 13th, 2009

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A POTTERLESS YEAR

July 13th, 2009 | by Tom
  • Comics
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars
(30 votes, average: 7.73 out of 10)
A POTTERLESS YEAR

In all fairness, there was a down year in 2003 between Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There also was not a Harry Potter movie in 2006 between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

But there’s some truth to the saying that “perception is reality” and it kind of feels like the Harry Potter franchise has permeated nearly every facet of my pop culture consciousness each year since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 8 years ago and has never really faded in that length of time.

The sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is hovering on the horizon and it kind of feels like a rebirth for me.

Cami and I didn’t see the fifth movie when it was in theaters. Henry had been born a few months prior and considering the downright dreadful slog that was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we didn’t feel compelled to find a sitter.

We ended up renting the movie and watching it maybe a month ago and I was kind of surprised by how dark it was. I’m not a fan of the books, so I can’t compare or contrast against the source material. But I found it INFINITELY more easy to follow compared to Goblet of Fire and (as I’ve been told) there was more complicated plot elements to cram into the fifth movie anyway. So, cheers for that.

With renewed interest I am looking forward to Half-Blood Prince and I think it is to the franchise’s advantage that they have settled on a director with David Yates. He directed Phoenix, Half-Blood and is in the process of filming both chapters of The Deathly Hallows.

As much as I love Alfonso Cuarón’s work in Prisoner of Azkaban (and as much as it looked like they were going to rotate directors out to keep the franchise in step with the natural aging of the actors) I believe a consistent voice is best and I eager to see where things go.

I have no other particular insights about the Harry Potter movies, so I’ll turn it over to you guys. Which one of the films is your favorite? Do you have high hopes for Half-Blood? How do you feel about them splitting the seventh book into two movies? Leave your comments below!

└ Tags: Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, making out, piano, quilt, War and Peace
[ 13 Comments ]

BROTHERS OFFICIAL TRAILER AND TEASER POSTER

July 13th, 2009 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Hot from my inbox, here is the official trailer and teaser poster for the upcoming military drama Brothers starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Lionsgate must think they have an Academy Award contender on it’s hands. Brothers hits theaters on December 4.

[qt:/trailers/brothers/brothers-iPhone.m4v /trailers/brothers/brothers-poster.jpg 480 214]

I think the film looks good. It seems to deliver on the promise of Maguire and Gyllenhaal’s emerging gravitas. Of course, anything not Star Wars that manages to attract Natalie Portman’s attention also gets a pass. I view her as an intelligent actress who strategically picks her roles. So her involvement in this one speaks volumes.

It’s weird for me to see Maguire in the trailer. Not only because he went all “method” and withered away to almost nothing. But also because I’ve come to identify him so strongly with Spider-Man, it’s jarring to see him in anything else.

How weird must it have been to be cast in a movie with Gyllenhaal – the dude poised to step into his shoes if his negotiations on Spider-Man 3 feel through? Any awkward conversations around the craft services table for those two? Who knows – maybe it benefited the animosity between the two characters as it builds into the third act.

Anyway, here’s the poster:

Brothers, Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, teaser poster

Synopsis:
BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, thirty-something Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters. Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. When his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains Sam is presumed dead and the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void. Tommy tries to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself, Grace, and the children. In the grief and strangeness of their new lives, Grace and Tommy are naturally drawn together. Their longstanding frostiness dissolves, but both are frightened and ashamed of the mutual attraction that has replaced it.

But Sam is not dead; he and a fellow soldier have been captured by Taliban fighters. In Afghanistan’s harsh, remote Pamir Mountains, Sam is subjected to traumas that threaten to rob him of his very humanity. At the same time that Sam’s sense of self is being destroyed overseas, Tommy’s self-image is strengthening at home.

When Sam unexpectedly returns to the States, a nervous mood settles over the family. Sam, uncharacteristically withdrawn and volatile, grows suspicious of his brother and his wife. Their familiar roles now nearly reversed, Sam and Tommy end up facing the ultimate physical and mental challenge when they confront each other. In the shifting family dynamics, who will dominate? Directed by six-time Oscar® nominee Jim Sheridan (IN AMERICA, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER), BROTHERS tells the compelling tale of how two brothers come to terms with issues of love, loyalty, and manhood—and with the woman caught between them.

└ Tags: Brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, poster, teaser, Tobey Maguire, trailer
[ 9 Comments ]

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