Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Release Date: November 19th, 2010

Click here for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Trailer.

Following the death of his friend and Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) at the hands of Professor, and Death Eater, Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) decides to drop out of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in his final year in order to complete the mission entrusted to him by Dumbledore: finding the remaining horcruxes that Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) created to hold pieces of soul, essentially making him immortal.

Accompanied by his two closest friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Harry sets off across the many places where Voldemort could have hidden his horcruxes. But things quickly spiral out of control when, in a daring move, Voldemort kills Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy) and takes over the Ministry of Magic as well as Hogwarts, appointing Death Eaters Pius Thicknesse (Guy Henry) and Severus Snape as Minister of Magic and Headmaster of Hogwarts, respectively.

With the ministry under Voldemort's control, Harry, Ron and Hermione must go into hiding as Harry has been deemed Undesirable No. 1 by the ministry, who has placed a 10,000 Galleon bounty on the boy wizard. With the only person able to stand up to Voldemort on the run and Voldemort's forces growing stronger, it is only a matter of time before the dark lord reveals himself to the wizarding world, taking control of everything. If he is to be defeated, Harry, Ron and Hermione must find the remaining horcruxes and destroy them, before all they know is lost.

---

The highly anticipated film adaptation to the final chapter in J.K. Rowling's epic masterpiece has finally arrived.....well, the first part at least. That's right, the final book in the Harry Potter series has been deemed so epic that it was forced to be split into two separate movies, the first which was just released and the second set to be released in July of 2011.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the first half of the two part series set to round out the Harry Potter franchise. The film sees our main trio of characters on the run from Voldemort's forces while trying to destroy the dark lord's remaining horcruxes, objects into which Voldemort has placed pieces of his soul.

Anybody who has read all the books, or even just seen all of the films, has seen how as each book or movie comes out, the feel and the theme of them have gotten progressively darker, especially in the previous film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (who could forget the dramatic death of Albus Dumbledore?). Well, this one proves to be the darkest film yet and is definitely not one for the younger Harry fans out there.

This film is definitely dark with a lot of sad and even depressing themes to it. For the first time in the series the main setting is not the safety and security of Hogwarts. Instead, our trusty trio takes to the hills for their journey, one which holds the fate of both the wizard and muggle worlds in the balance. This change of scenery is a much needed break from the traditional halls of Hogwarts Castle. For me it added a sense of realism. It also helped to show just how far our characters have grown since we first laid eyes upon them in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

When I say that this film is darker than the others, I mean it. There is a lot of drama in this film. With all that is going on around them and the weight and severity of the mission they have set out upon you can really get a sense of how serious things are for our three wizards.

Taking one book and making it into two movies is no easy task but director David Yates does a great job of finding the perfect cutoff point (Chapter 24 for those reading the book) and leaving fans with a huge cliffhanger and probably more anticipation for the next film than is needed.

There isn't a whole lot of action in this film as many may expect from the previews. There are about four or five mini-fight scenes in the film that help keep pace and are very exciting to watch. However, I find that this film wanted to focus more on developing the characters and the drama as well as the story than action. And that is exactly what Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 does.

With this film you really get a sense of dread and despair that the characters are feeling. You can really feel the weight and importance of their decisions and how they will affect everybody around them. I love how through this movie you can really come to terms with who these characters have become and how grown up they have become through the course of these films. This film is so much darker than the other six that it may be a bit too intense for some of the younger fans of the series. There is definitely a more adult feel to this film, mainly because our characters are, in fact, adults.

Some fans of the series may find this film to be a tad on the boring side, reminiscent of the last film in the series, which many fans were less than impressed with. However, fans of the book will understand the direction this film takes and will remember that the whole of the action will take place in the second installment of the film.

As far as following the book goes, the film stays pretty close to the subject matter. There were things here and there that were left out that I, as a huge fan of the book, would have loved to see in the film, but I understand that they were not crucial points. On the other hand, there were instances in the movie that only people who have read the book may comprehend. For instance, the scene in the film where the gang infiltrates the ministry in order to capture one of the horcruxes felt a bit rushed and thrown in there. And many people may be a little confused about what is going on if they haven't read the books. There were a few parts like that in the movie but for the most part, everything seemed to flow quite nicely.

As far as the acting goes, this film was the best yet. It has really been cool to see how these main actors have grown up throughout the films and to see how far they have come in their acting careers. This movie strays away, for the most part, from the lightheartedness that was key in the other films, and the actors take it in stride. Daniel, Rupert and Emma really show their range in this film which takes the characters down whole new roads.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was not my favorite out of the series but it definitely added a lot to the plot and added a great deal of depth to the characters we have come to know and love. While some fans may find it a bit boring, true fans of the book will love it. The movie leaves you with an epic cliffhanger, so to speak, and makes anticipation for the next film that much more intense.

If you haven't seen this film yet and you are a true Harry Potter fan ,then you must see it. Growing up with these characters makes this feel less like a movie and more like a part of life. While I wished they had kept a few things from the book, I can honestly say that Yates stayed true to J.K. Rowling's subject matter. Definitely one of the best in the series.

I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 9 Horcruxes out of 10.

Plasma Rentals - Projector Rentals

Clash of the Titans

Release Date: April 2nd, 2010

Click here for the Clash of the Titans Trailer.

Zeus(Liam Neeson) along with his brothers Poseidon(Danny Huston) and Hades(Ralph Fiennes) rose up one day to overthrow their own creators, the Titans, and assumed leadership over all with Zeus ruling over the gods, Poseidon ruling over the seas and Hades, tricked by Zeus and Poseidon, ruling over the underworld in chaos and torment. Zeus then creates mankind so that their prayers and worships may forever strengthen the gods.

Many years later, a fisherman named Spyros(Pete Postlethwaite) finds a coffin floating in the water with a baby inside. Spyros adopts the baby and names him Perseus. 12 years later, Perseus(Sam Worthington) is fishing with his family when the witness soldiers from Argos destroying a massive statue of Zeus, declaring war on the gods. Hades then appears above the soldiers and releases harpies to destroy them and in his rage, Hades destroys Perseus' fishing boat, killing his whole family.

Perseus is found by Draco(Mads Mikkelsen), the leader of Argos' Praetorian Guard, who takes him to the city to meet with King Cephus(Vincent Regan) and Queen Cassiopeia(Polly Walker) who are having a feast celebrating their soldiers and the war on the gods. The king and queen compare themselves to gods and even declare their daughter, Princess Andromeda(Alexa Davalos) to be more beautiful than the goddess Aphrodite(Agyness Deyn). This angers the gods and Hades appears at the banquet and kills the queen. Hades also creates a vortex, sucking in and killing almost all of the returning soldiers as Perseus remains unharmed. Hades then reveals that Perseus is a demigod, the offspring of a god and a human, and threatens to release the Kraken, an enormous beast that was created to destroy the Titans, on the city of Argos unless Andromeda is sacrificed within 10 days.

King Cephus begs for the aid of Perseus to find a way to defeat the gods and the Kraken in order to save Argos. Driven by his hatred of the gods for killing his family, Perseus embarks on a quest, along with Argos' Praetorian Guard and Io(Gemma Arterton), a woman cursed with agelessness, to find the answers he needs and the means to defeat the Kraken before all is lost.

Clash of the Titans is a remake of the classic 1981 film of the same name with hopes of revamping the story and bringing in a fresh new audience. That seems to be the theme for a lot of recent movies these days and the director can either succeed or fail. With Clash of the Titans, director Louis Leterrier does either depending on what exactly you expected from this film.

There are some very notable differences from the first Clash to this one. Probably the most noticeable is the presentation. The original 1981 film featured Perseus(Harry Hamlin) as a young, fair skinned man with flowing black wavy hair. He was very clean and looked, for lack of a better term, like a pretty boy. Sam Worthington's Perseus, however, is rugged, dirty, vengeful and bald adding, for me, a greater sense of realism to the character. Another huge difference is the story. In the original, Perseus is tasked with completing a riddle to win Andromeda's hand in marriage and then the goddess Thetis declares that Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken or the city of Joppa will be destroyed by the creature. To put it side by side in the original, Perseus married Andromeda, this didn't happen in the remake. Thetis will send the Kraken to destroy Joppa if Andromeda isn't sacrificed within 30 days(1981). Hades will send the Kraken to destroy Argos if Andromeda isn't sacrificed within 10 days. So as you can see, the differences are not slight. However, the differences are good and they do give the film its own uniqueness.

So lets get into the components of the film. If you haven't guessed it by now, Clash of the Titans is an action film through and through. The film focuses on swordplay, big battles and dangerous creatures to satisfy the bloodlust most of us have brewing inside us. This is where the movie works its magic. We already know Sam Worthington can do action thanks to his performances in Terminator Salvation and Avatar and he definitely upped his game in this film. The action sequences were definitely intense. The sword choreography was awesome and reminisced films like 300 and Gladiator.

That being said, my one problem with the action/fighting scenes is that there wasn't enough and there certainly were not enough monsters. I expected Perseus to be fighting through hordes of enemies similar to 300 but on a lesser scale. But that wasn't the case. In the film, Perseus fought a total of 4 different monsters: giant scorpions, Medusa, a mutated and burnt king named Acrisius who was given superhuman powers by Hades and the Kraken. It was like playing a video game and skipping right to the boss battles. For me, it lessened the struggle Perseus had to face. I also was very disappointed with the Kraken sequences. The previews played the Kraken up big and his downfall was rather small.

The acting in the film was pretty good. I didn't think anybody was really terrible though Ralph Fiennes was really hard to hear and understand at some points. Other than that I though Worthington did a really good job and that all the supporting characters were very well done as well. Director Leterrier tried to incorporate humor into the film which is always good, but in an action flick you do not want to add to much and, at times, the humor tended to be a bit obnoxious and unnecessary.

The visual effects were all really good, obviously the creatures in the film do not exist but the team used to create them did a good job of making them look realistic and intimidating. The Kraken was by far the most visually stunning creature of the film, even though it deserved more screen time. Mount Olympus and the gods all had nice looks to them. They all had a tendency to glow, especially Zeus, which added to their mythology even more.

Overall, Clash of the Titans is a good flick to catch if you are in the mood for some good action, nice special effects, mythology, or just a good time. While there needed to be a bigger vairuety of monsters and some more action sequences, the ones that were in the film did a good job of holding your attention. Definitely one to see if this is your type of film but I would recommend seeing it in 2D. 3D is by far more expensive and the general consensus on the 3D in the film is that it isn't worth the extra cash. Overall I give Clash of the Titans 7.5 crazy Hades worshiping, Kraken loving zealots out of 10.