Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
July 7, 2011
Warner Bros.
Fantasy, Action
DVD
C+

Harry Potter regulars:

1. Afshan Azad as Padma Patil
2. David Bradley as Argus Filch
3. Scarlett Byrne as Pansy Parkinson
4. Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown
5. Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
6. Louis Cordice as Blaise Zabini
7. Warwick Davis as Griphook/ Professor Filius Flitwick
8. Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas
9. Amber Evans as Twin Girl 1
10. Ruby Evans as Twin Girl 2
11. Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
12. Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort
13. Michael Gambon as Professor Albus Dumbledore
14. Domnhall Gleeson as Bill Weasley
15. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
16. George Harris as Kingsley Shacklebolt
17. Guy Henry as Pius Thicknesse
18. Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle
19. John Hurt as Ollivander
20. Ralph Ineson as Amycus Carrow
21. Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy
22. Isabella Laughland as Leanne
23. Dave Legeno as Fenrir Greyback
24. Georgina Leonidas as Katie Bell
25. Katie Leung as Cho Chang
26. Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom
27. Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood
28. Helen McCrory as Narcissa Malfoy
29. William Melling as Nigel
30. Nick Moran as Scabior
31. Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan
32. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black
33. James Phelps as Fred Weasley
34. Oliver Phelps as George Weasley
35. Leslie Phillips as the voice of the Sorting Hat
36. Clémence Poésy as Fleur Delacour
37. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
38. Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley
39. Adrian Rawlins as James Potter
40. Anna Shaffer as Romilda Vane
41. Geraldine Somerville as Lily Potter
42. Timothy Spall as Wormtail
43. Freddie Stroma as Cormac McLaggen
44. Natalie Tena as Nymphadora Tonks
45. David Thewlis as Remus Lupin
46. Suzanne Toase as Alecto Carrow
47. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
48. Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley
49. Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley

Also, Christian Coulson and Ian Hart appear as Tom Riddle and Professor Quirinus Quirrell in archival footage.  Kelly Macdonald of Gosford Park appears as Helena Ravenclaw.  Gemma Jones and Miriam Margolyes are back, although not given much to do.  I put as many people under tags as I could.

While it's nice to see everybody one last time, I do feel that this is the weakest movie in the series since Goblet of Fire, and like that entry, it is sometimes unintentionally funny, as with the horrible makeup that Rickman wears both in present day and in flashbacks.  (I don't care that he was in his 60s.  It's distracting to see his expressive face puttied over like that.)  Also, the finale has far too many action sequences, which was perhaps true of the last third of the book, but there were more moments of humour and pathos.  Not that those elements are entirely missing, but the film does feel off and unbalanced at times.  (I do like Julie Walters's silent reaction to Maggie's Smith's "I've always wanted to do that," as if she still remembers McGonagall as her teacher some thirty years ago.)  The series as a whole still averages out to a B, and it remains an impressive achievement overall.

Lisa Osmond and Mark Sealey were also Gringotts Goblins back in the first movie.  Rusty Goffee was an Oompa-Loompa in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as well as a Goblin here and in Order of the Phoenix.  Jamie Dunlop is a Wizard, as he was in the first two movies.  Paul Davies is a Death Eater, as he was in Fire, Half-Blood Prince, and DH1.  Death Eaters who are just in the two Hallows parts are Jon Campling, Graham Duff, Emil Hostina, Tony Kirwood (also in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Penelope McGhie, Ashley McGuire, Peter G. Reed, Granville Saxton, Judith Sharp, and Bob Yves Van Hellenberg.  Ninette Finch was an unidentified extra in Prince but is Augusta Longbottom here.  Arthur Bowen was Boy at Chestnut Stand in Prince, but has the more prominent role of Albus Severus Potter here.  Sarah Jane O'Neill was a Ministry Wizard in DH1 but is a Wizard Parent here.

Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio (AKA The Boat That Rocked)
April 1, 2009
Universal etc.
Comedy, Musical, Historical
DVD
C+

I'm ambivalent about this movie, so let's get the negatives out of the way first.  This is the fictional, if inspired by true events, story of, yes, a pirate radio station in the days when the BBC did not like to play rock or pop.  Specifically, it's 1966-67, and as such I recognize that it's a period piece and this was not the most feminist of times or places.  That said, I feel that the way that sex and women are presented is excessively retrograde.  The next British movie I'll review, In the Loop, is not really feminist either, but it does treat the women as people with believable motivations, and there is nothing as creepy as the scene where a man tries to trick his partner into deflowering another man.  (Perhaps he's also trying to trick the other man, since it seems unlikely they would've gotten away with it, but this makes the scene no less creepy.)  Considering that writer-director Richard Curtis did The Tall Guy about twenty years earlier, it's fair to expect better than this.

The movie was released in a longer version (with the "boat" title) on the date I've listed, and perhaps there are fewer dangling threads in that.  To take a minor example, what the heck does Thick Kevin do on the boat?  Everyone else has a clear job but he just hangs out.  To take a more significant example, how does Philip Seymour Hoffman, as the "spirit of rock" character the Count, manage to survive after the boat sinks, while the Swedish crew disappears without comment?

The soundtrack and costumes are good at least (although the former is sometimes anachronistic), and there are some enjoyable performances, most notably Bill Nighy as Quentin, whose every line delivery and movement is perfect.  I might've rated this higher at the time, although what bothers me about it now bothered me then.

There are some Harry Potter connections here, with ex-spouses Kenneth "Lockhart" Branagh and Emma "Trelawney" Thompson playing respectively the main villain and the mother of the character closest to being the film's main character.  David Sterne was a Ministry Wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and is Marianne's Captain here.  Rhys Ifans, who's Gavin, would be Xenophilius Lovegood in Deathly Hallows, Part I, while Nighy would be Minister Rufus Scrimgeour.

Tom Brooke played a Production Assistant in Bridget Jones 2 but is more memorable here as Thick Kevin.  Kirsty Mather, who's John's Boat Girl, had recently been a Hen in Mamma Mia!  Chris O'Dowd, who's sweet and goofy as Simon (the most-betrayed-by-a-woman character) would be the love interest Rhodes in Bridesmaids.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
July 11, 2007
Warner Bros.
Fantasy, Drama, Action
DVD
B

Harry Potter regulars this time (* for newbies):

1. Afshan Azad as Padma Patil
2. Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange*
3. David Bradley as Argus Filch
4. Shefali Chowdhury as Parvati Patil
5. Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
6. Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick
7. Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas
8. Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
9. Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort
10. Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore
11. Brendan Gleeson as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
12. Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon Dursley
13. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
14. Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge
15. George Harris as Kingsley Shacklebolt*
16. Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle
17. Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy
18. Katie Leung as Cho Chang
19. Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom
20. Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood*
21. Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley
22. William Melling as Nigel
23. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black
24. Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory
25. James Phelps as Fred Weasley
26. Oliver Phelps as George Weasley
27. Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan
28. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
29. Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley
30. Adrian Rawlins as James Potter
31. Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia Dursley
32. Geraldine Somerville as Lily Potter
33. Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew
34. Natalie Tena as Nymphadora Tonks*
35. David Thewlis as Remus Lupin
36. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
37. Jamie Waylett as Vincent Crabbe
38. Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley
39. Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley

My review of the book is here:  http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/12/harry-potter-and-order-of-phoenix.html.  At the time this movie came out, it was mixed in with the feelings of the pending release of the final book.  Moments like when Voldemort tells Harry, "You're a fool and you'll lose everything," gave me shivers because we really didn't know how this was all going to end.  Also, coming after the disappointments of the fourth movie, this seemed like the best entry after Azkaban.

Now I'd put it on a level with the first two movies.  It generally doesn't wow me, although Evanna Lynch is amazing as Luna, Imelda Staunton makes Umbridge even creepier than in the book by making her "nicer" on the surface, and the Dumbledore vs. Voldemort battle kicks arse.  It's a good, solid entry.  My two main quibbles are that new director David Yates has overdone pulling everyone back from overacting and made some of the lines too soft-spoken (Yates himself is soft-spoken, quite a contrast to blustering Newell); and not only has Michael Goldenberg's script (or at least the editing) lost much of the book (this is always noted as the longest book turned into the shortest movie) but there are stray lines and even subplots that are just left hanging.  Most notably, Harry and Cho's romance, which is less awkward than in the book, fizzles out because of a misunderstanding that's never resolved.  Still, kudos for Yates in getting at the emotional core of the series in a way that no one other than Alfonso Cuarón managed.

Siobhan Ellen Williams was in Hufflepuff in Goblet of Fire but is now in Gryffindor.  Paije Richardson is also in both movies, as an unidentified student.  Sarah Harrison was a Schoolgirl in Goblet and here.  Nathan Clarke is in Gryffindor here and in Half-Blood Prince.  Christopher O'Shea was an unidentified extra in Chamber of Secrets and this one, while Tabatha St. Vincent is an unidentified extra in this and Prince.  Peter Best was the Executioner in Azkaban and is a Death Eater here.  Natalie Hallam was Professor Sinistra in Goblet and seems to be reprising it here, although she's uncredited.  Neil Findlater is a Ministry of Magic Panel Member here and would be a Wizard Teacher in Prince.  Rusty Goffe would again play a Goblin in Deathly Hallows 2.  Arben Bajraktaraj is an Azkaban Death Eater here and would be specifically Antonin Dolohov in Deathly Hallows 1.  Daisy Haggard would again be the voice of the Ministry Lift in Hallows 1.

Richard Cubison was the Head Waiter in Wilde and is a Death Eater here.  John Atterbury was Merriman in Gosford Park and plays Phineas Nigellus Black here.  Sam Beazley was a Very Old Man in Bridget Jones 2 and is Everard here.  Brigitte Millar was a Journalist in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and plays Emmeline Vance here.  Samuel Gaukroger was a Child at Church in Grint's Driving Lessons and plays a Hogwarts Student here.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
June 4, 2004
Warner Bros.
Fantasy, Drama, Comedy
DVD
A-

The Harry Potter regulars this time include (*means newbie to the series):

1. Peter Best as the Executioner*
2. David Bradley as Argus Filch
3. Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
4. Violet Columbus as Girl With Flowers
5. Warwick Davis as "Wizard" (see below)
6. Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas
7. Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
8. Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore*
9. Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon
10. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
11. Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle
12. Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom
13. Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley
14. Devon Murray as Seamus Finnegan
15. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black*
16. James Phelps as Fred Weasley
17. Oliver Phelps as George Weasley
18. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
19. Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley
20. Adrian Rawlins as James Potter
21. Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia
22. Geraldine Somerville as Lily Potter
23. Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew*
24. Danielle Tabor as Angelina Johnson
25. David Thewlis as Remus Lupin*
26. Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley
27. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
28. Jamie Waylett as Vincent Crabbe
29. Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley

In addition, Emma Thompson joins the cast as spacey Professor Trelawney.  (Which strengthens the Potter-Austen axis of course.)  This blend of old and new, including the shift of director Chris Columbus over to a producer role, so that the director's chair is filled by Alfonso Cuarón, really impacts the series.  As with Thompson's Sense & Sensibility, having a director whose first language is not English seems to both bring out the universality of what is a very British story and add an outsider's view.  

My review of the book is here
http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/11/harry-potter-and-prisoner-of-azkaban.html, but you'll note that I don't regard this as a children's movie in the way that that was a children's book.  This is very much a movie about a younger teen and his two best friends starting to really navigate their way through a more complex world.  The switch in directors also contributes to a less wide-eyed, warier tone.

As for that jump from B to A-, well, I thought then and continue to think that this is not only the best film in the series, but the only one that is on a level with The Wizard of Oz.  Everything is better-- the special effects, the acting, and the music in particular.  (Williams captures all the moods, from bittersweet to whimsical.)  Even the closing credits are much more creative than elsewhere in the series.

Radcliffe is making more effort, not always successfully ("HE WAS THEIR FRIEND" is notorious in fandom), but much better than under Columbus, while Grint and Watson continue to be solid, even as puberty complicates their bickering relationship.  And all the Gambon-bashers who are bitter about the loss of Richard Harris should take another look at his work here, which is much subtler and deeper than in the fourth film.  I also have to make special mention of Thewlis, who is just perfect as the avuncular but flawed Professor Lupin.  The only person who seems to be short-changed is poor Bonnie Wright with her one line as Ginny.  And the only one who is oddly treated is Warwick Davis, who apparently had nothing to do as Flitwick this time and so became the Choir Teacher, which would have a long-lasting effect on the appearance and to some degree character of Flitwick for the rest of the series, as I'll discuss under Goblet.

As for the special effects, it's partly that the CGI and other aspects had two and a half years to advance, but also that Cuarón and his crew are being more creative with them, as with the utterly believable Buckbeak, the Hippogriff who expresses everything from anger to affection to, well, defecation.

Interestingly, when I first saw the trailer for this entry, I had almost the opposite reaction to the trailer for the first.  I thought they'd really screwed up this time.  So it was a revelation when I saw the actual movie, which, yes, has a tone that takes some getting used to but is well worth the initial disorientation.  (And that the film starts with a tasteful masturbation joke was part of the surprise.)  I think the movie continues to hold up remarkably well, both within the series and as a stand-alone.  I was always disappointed that Cuarón did not return, but David Yates would make contributions of his own.  As for Mike Newell, well, stay tuned.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility
January 26, 1996
Columbia
Comedy, Drama, Romance, Historical
DVD
B+

My review of the book is here:  http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/sense-and-sensibility.html.  On balance, I think the movie and book are equal, for reasons I discuss there.  So let me just mention a few things, I didn't cover before, in particular, the casting.  As you can see, I've tagged a heck of a lot of people, three of whom were in Peter's Friends:  Emma Thompson of course, and Hugh Laurie & Imelda Staunton, again playing a married couple, although their height difference is used for more comic effect here.  Everyone of the tagged performers, except the two Hughs and Imogen Stubbs (who is Lucy here and would shortly appear in Twelfth Night with Imelda Staunton), would be in at least one Harry Potter movie, while Grant and Jones would be in both Bridget Jones movies.

This cast cosiness adds to the feel of the movie, which is, as it title suggests, very much about thoughts and feelings.   (And Thompson, whose marriage to Kenneth Branagh was breaking up at the time, would find love with Greg Wise, who plays Willoughby here.)  With the female side of the Dashwood family in particular (Jones, Thompson, Kate Winslet, and a quite good Emilie François as Margaret), we see how much they care, not in a corny way but as if the family is central to their identities, romances aside.  Watch for instance how Edward's proposal is told not through Thompson and Grant but through the reactions of her mother and sisters.  Meanwhile, Alan Rickman gives a performance throughout the film that is more about what he doesn't say than what he does.  (And he already has developed the Snapian pauses by the way.)

The other thing I really appreciated this go-round was the scenery.  It's not as lovely as Italy in Enchanted April, but in its own understated way England (Devonshire especially) is figurative as well as literal background to the mood of the story.

Peter's Friends

Peter's Friends
November 13, 1992
BBC
Comedy, Drama
VHS
B+

This is sort of an autobiographical film, in that the cowriters Rita Rudner (who plays Carol) and Martin Bergman are married and he's British and she sometimes felt out of place with his friends from university.  And much of the cast, including director Kenneth Branagh (who plays Andrew, Carol's husband), met at Cambridge and remain friends to this day.  Branagh was then married to Emma Thompson (who plays Maggie), and Thompson's mother plays housekeeper Vera.  Hugh Laurie (Roger) and Stephen Fry (Peter) were such good friends that they would often team up on television shows together at the time.  Even Tony Slattery, who's appearing as outsider Brian, was at Cambridge.  Oh, and there are lots of Harry Potter and/or Jane Austen points on this one, but I'll get to all that in later reviews, except to say that Laurie and Imelda Staunton (here as Mary) would again play a married couple.

This discussion of the "incestuous" background is not out of place.  The movie is about bonding and quarreling and flirting in a tight-knit group, and how (not) to deal with outsiders.  It is a witty if sometimes crude movie, very quotable (especially Andrew's lines).  The drama sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but the film never ceases to be watchable, which is saying a lot for something that is almost solely dialogue.  The cast works well together (with Thompson probably the stand-out), although I will say that Slattery fan though I was and am (it was a pretty big thrill to see him be both goofy and naked), his later scenes don't really work.  Also, the script is a bit cliched and Peter's big reveal (at midnight on New Year's) doesn't pack the wallop it did twenty some years ago.

But there is an added poignancy, seeing the cast when they were relatively young (mostly mid 30s).  When I first saw the movie at 24, I couldn't relate to the feeling of not having accomplished all you'd imagined in your youth.  And I laughed my head off at the opening credits, seeing all those faces of '82 to '92 (yes, including Salman Rushdie), while now it's a time capsule, no longer a look at the recent past.  Similarly, the soundtrack was then filled with the hits of a few years before, and now (while still as good as ever) it is more definitely golden oldies.  In short, the movie doesn't mean what it did before, but then nostalgia never does.

Remembering

The Tall Guy

The Tall Guy
Sept. 21, 1990
Working Title Films
Comedy, romance
DVD
B

This is another decade-straddler, released in '90, listed as '89 in IMDB, and in fact copyright '88.  Similarly, it's a very British movie with a very American star, Jeff Goldblum.  He's paired with then almost 30-year-old Emma Thompson, in her first film, although she'd done some stage and TV work.  The director Mel Smith (who'd made Morons from Outer Space a few years before) and writer Richard Curtis (whose later films I have mixed feelings about) both have uncredited cameos.  And Rowan Atkinson, who is cruelly parodying himself, had worked with Curtis on Black Adder.  (Much of the cast here had small roles on that TV series.)  So there's an endearing semi-newbies-larking-about feel to the movie, even a quarter century later.

As in Morons, the closing credits show comedy highlights edited jerkily to a pop song, in this case Madness's "It Must Be Love," which earlier appears in a sort of music-video, where much of the cast (including Goldblum's underwear) sing along.  There are in fact two great sequences in this film, surrounded by some pretty good stuff: the room-wrecking sex scene and the five minutes of the stage-musical version of The Elephant Man, known as Elephant.  (It's never clear if this includes an exclamation point.)  As funny as what happens onstage is, the best part is Thompson's trying-to-be-supportive-but-terribly-appalled reaction, as Goldblum's "nymphomaniac" live-in landlady (platonic with him) eats the cheesiness up.

Getting back to that sex scene, when I first saw this movie with a roomful of friends about twenty years ago, we all laughed uproariously at it, then rewound and laughed hard a second time.  It is also sexy of course, but then I have crushes on both Goldblum and Thompson.  The thing is, they both look far from their best here.  Her hair is too short, his too long; and their clothes are unflattering.  But somehow that adds to the charm of the movie, that it's deliberately unglamorous.  And they both have amazing eyes and smiles, especially when they look at each other, so who cares really?  He's playing a struggling actor named Dexter King (working for "Ron Anderson," Curtis was being semi-autobiographical), and she's a deadpan nurse named Kate Lemon.  The plot is slight but it's more of a character comedy, and the characters are definitely interesting, including the supporting cast.

Two decades ago, I'd have rated this higher, a B+ or maybe even an A-, but I have seen it several times and, as with Morons, much of the novelty has worn off.  It's the kind of movie I wouldn't want to oversell, since it is just a little gem, relatively obscure in Thompson's and of course Goldblum's ouevre.  But as "un film de Mel Smith," it's très bon.

Robin Driscoll, who was Space Pilot in Morons, is one of the Actors in Agent's Office here.  Another future Harry-Potterite, then 25ish Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), makes his big-screen debut here, as Doctor #2.

It must be love, love, love.