I’d Rather Be at Hogwarts

For those of you fellow Harry Potter fanatics, here are a few interesting HP finds that I have recently stumbled upon. I am sure you are just as excited for the upcoming movie as I am! For those of you who think that being the director of a Harry Potter movie is just as consistent of being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, rest assured. Since Christopher Columbus directed the first two movies, a different person has directed each of the preceding movies. Until now. David Yates, the director of Order of the Phoenix, has signed on to the do the remaining movies. I am very excited for this. I think he did an excellent job with Order of the Phoenix, and has the right vision and amount of darkness for the remaining pieces of the story. Another exciting piece of news is that they have decided to break The Deathly Hallows into two parts, à la Kill Bill. There are multiple reasons for the splitting of Hallows, and it seems to be a win-win situation for everyone. First of all, the books have gotten progressively longer. The first book, the Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s) Stone only had 223 pages. The Deathly Hallows has 776 (and the Order of the Phoenix had a whopping 870!) As readers acknowledge and despise, subplots from the books have been cut-out to make room for the important parts of the plot in the movies. With Deathly Hallows being the final instalment of the 7-part story, there are no such things are sub-plots. Every detail ends up tying into some resolution as the story is completed. To keep everything in, a single movie would have been over 4 hours long. And while kids are one of the target audiences (even though the stories have gotten so dark, I wouldn’t let my kids see them if I was a parent since I had nightmares while reading them and I’m in my mid-twenties!), having a movie longer than two and a half hours would be impossible for children, and some adults to sit through. Therefore, Warner Brothers decided to split the Deathly Hallows into Part I and Part II to do the final Harry Potter story its full justice. Fans will be excited to get two movies without important things left out instead of one, Warner Brothers will make bank on the two movies (the first five brought in upward of 4.5billion dollars in box office ticket sales alone) , and all the people involved in creating them will have double the paycheck. And while sources say the reason behind the two-part plan is artistic rather that financial, I’ll leave it to you to decide. Either way, I’m not complaining. The Half-Blood Prince was set to hit theaters on November 21st of this year. However, the date has recently been been pushed back to July 19, 2009 despite the film being completed. A Warner Brother executive says the date push is “to guarantee the studio a major summer blockbuster in 2009”. Also, I bet the success of summer WB films Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) and The Dark Knight (2008) also influenced the decision. Honestly though, when would a Harry Potter film NOT be a blockbuster? Everyone and their mom will be there no matter when it comes out. I apologize for being the bearer of bad news, but now we have to wait an extra 8 months. Anyway, I will try to cheer things up with a little preview or just a refresher — the official plot line (that Warner Brothers released) of Half-Blood Prince:

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

The Half-Blood Prince looks amazing from the brief trailer that has been released. I am all twitterpated in anticipation. As I already mentioned, David Yates will return to direct the film. Also, the much missed Quiddich makes a beloved return. And of course, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron) and the rest of gang is back again.

Some informative and interesting websites that will answer almost every one of your little heart’s desires, about Harry Potter that is, are listed below. Enrich your mind. Check them out!

Harry Potter Wiki

Muggle’s Guide to Harry Potter

Harry Potter Lexicon

Harry Potter – Official Site

JK Rowling – Official Site

Harry Potter Games and more

Muggle.net

Long live Hogwarts.

Dale Vicky Cristina Gotham

In the past week, I have seen more movies than I saw all year. First, I saw the hilarious and ridiculous Pineapple Express, which was hilarious but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I followed my siblings lead of smoking a fatty before the movie. After a while I was thinking there couldn’t possibly be anything else to blow up. And then they found the last item, and 100 others. It was insane. And kudos to James Franco for playing a sexy and very convincing stoner. I am not personally aware of his personal choices, but I bet he doesn’t toke up as often as Seth Rogen does. I enjoy Seth Rogen’s writing (having seen SuperBad and this), but I don’t enjoy seeing him run around in tighty whiteys. Seth, buddy, do us all a favor and keep you pants on.

Next, I saw The Dark Knight for the second time. I was skeptical of seeing it again. I really enjoyed it the first time, but I wasn’t jumping out of my seat saying it was the best movie ever and I needed to see it twenty more times in while it’s still in theatres. The cast is amazing. Hands down. However, the movie’s strengths are Heath Ledger as the Joker, Christian Bale’s looks and the flawless special effects. I did not enjoy how they made TwoFace look. Seriously, if that much of his face is blown away, he is not going to have a fully functioning exposed eyeball. And Christian Bale was pretty to look at and plays an even keeled and witty Bruce Wayne, but my vocal cords hurt just from listening to his incomprehensible raspy Batman voice. It was actually pretty humorous to the point that I had to refrain from giggling almost every time he talked. Also, they kept calling him “The Batman”. It was just awkward. Why not call  him Batman and nix the “The”? But really, Heath Ledger was phenomenal. There is talk that he will be the second person to be nominated and possibly win postmortem (First being Peter Finch of the 1976 film Network). Obviously, it is too early to even think of Oscars, but I hope Ledger is nominated and that he wins.

Tonight I saw the new Woody Allen flick Vicky Cristina Barcelona. First of all, I walked into the theatre not know what I was seeing. I assumed I was seeing some indie film. I mean, I’m not a total idiot. I knew that Woody Allen had a new movie out, but I had NO idea what it was called and vaguely remembered who was in it. I thought the film was fantastic. Woody Allen has done it again. The film is witty and light with a very blatant sexual overtone. And the backdrop being gorgeous Barcelona, makes you want to go find some Spaniard and get swept off your feet. Barcelona has definitely been bumped further up on my list of places to go in the immediate future. Penelope Cruz was hilarious and it was a pleasure to see Javier Bardem looking very sexy minus the awful hair piece he wore in No Country for Old Men (with hair that bad, no wonder he was so angry). Infact, does anyone else think that Javier has a Hollywood twin? Look:

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (best known as Denny from Grey’s Anatomy Season 2) and Javier Bardem are practically twins separated at birth. Both sexy. Both with accents.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen these three movies, please do. Especially Vicky Cristina Barcelona. You’ll thank me later.