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seusne ytiraliH. (okay okay, I'll go back to normal) "I was born under unusual circumstances." That is how Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) describes his birth. You see, when he was born his body was that of an 80 year old. The thing about Benjamin is that as time went by he grew younger, but like all of us, he is not able to stop the passage of time. The story follows his diary as he lives his life in New Orleans (abandoned by his father and taken in by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who runs an old folks home), and his adventures into the world. Along the way he meets a lot of people, including Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) the wife of a diplomat and spy in Minsk, Russia, Captain Mike (Jared Harris) a tug boat Captain, and Daisy (Cate Blanchett) the young granddaughter of a resident of the old folks home, and his life long love.

Trivia: Filmmakers worked closely with Levi's to obtain clothing items from their Levi's Vintage Clothing collection to authenticate various time periods captured throughout the film. Principal photography was targeted to last a total of 150 days, excluding the time it would take to create the visual effects for the metamorphosis of Brad Pitt's character to the infant stage. Brad Pitt stated it took 5 hours each day to complete the make-up required for the role. The second Hollywood feature film, after Denzel Washington's Deja Vu, to film in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Well this is the first and maybe only shoo-in for a Best Picture Oscar nomination this year. It definitely is the type of movie that Oscar loves, a dramatic and romantic love story that stretches over years and years. But does it have a chance? Well, in a word, yes. This is a solid movie with a solid cast. Brad Pitt. He does a great job with the different ages that he plays, you feel his struggle to live his life. Cate Blanchett. She is at her loveliest in this role, and she gets to dance. Tilda Swinton. She is only in the movie for about 10 minutes out of almost 3 hours but she ends up stealing her scene from Pitt. The makeup and special effects. They were awesome. We all have seen age makeup where an actor looks older then they really are, but it was the younger look that was so impressive. At one point Pitt looked like he had just finished Thelma and Louise the day before not 17 years before. Blanchett also gets the youth treatment. It is a good film and is considered by most as the Oscar frontrunner. We shall see.

The Fall (2006)

At a Los Angeles hospital in the 1920s, Alexandria is a child recovering from a broken arm. She befriends Roy Walker, a movie stunt man with legs paralyzed after a fall. Hilarity ensues as at her request, Roy tells her an elaborate story about six men of widely varied backgrounds who are on a quest to kill a corrupt provincial governor. Alexandria's imagination starts to run wild as her vision of the story gets more and more vivid and the line between fiction and reality begins to blur. But Roy has his own motives for befriending Alexandria that include procurement of Morphine.

Trivia: The film was shot on 26 locations over 18 countries. The director claims that there are no special effects in the film despite its surreal looks. Everything was shot on real locations. A miscommunication between the casting agent and Catinca Untaru (Alexandra) led her to believe that Lee Pace (Roy) was a real-life paraplegic. Director Tarsem Singh found that this brought an added level of believability to their dialogue, so he decided to keep almost the entire cast and crew under the same impression. Singh had to speak to the actor playing Alexandria's father and explain that his role was smaller than it appeared, since the script implied that he played the role of the bandit (actually played by Pace) in the fantasy scenes. Apparently it was hard to keep up the lie - a makeup artist walked into a room to find Pace standing and almost passed out from shock. The cinematic poster for this movie is based on the Salvador Dali painting, "1935_03_Face of Mae West Which May Be Used as an Apartment", circa 1935.

I saw Bedtime Stories this weekend (the review will be up in a couple of days) that had a man tell a story to two children and the story was acted out by the three of them and included other people in their lives. It was okay, a fun little romp. This movie blows it out of the water. It was a lot sadder then Bedtime Stories which is a comedy, and it deals with a lot of heavy issues including suicide, but it is still a lot better movie. Alexandria's imagination of the story is so vivid and full of color it is like a painting. It truely has no bounds. This picture was just so lush and beautiful. The thing I like the most is that the story was told by an American man about a native indian, a bandit, an explosives expert, a runaway slave, an East Indian swordsman, and Charles Darwin, but instead of just having Alexandria imagine the cliches that we associate with these name, her vision was of far away places and had a distinct far east feel. Her imagination was allowed to roam free. This is a gorgeous film, you should find it and see it.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

An evil elf, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) breaks an ancient pact between humans and the magical creatures, as he declares war against humanity. He is on a mission to release The Golden Army, a deadly group of fighting machines that can destroy the human race. As Hell on Earth is ready to erupt, Hellboy (Ron Perlman), our favorite red hero, Liz (Selma Blair), firestarter and Red's girlfriend, Abe Sapian (Doug Jones), the fishy brains of the outfit and the rest of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense set out to defeat the evil prince before The Golden Army can destroy humanity's existence. Their only hope lies with Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), Nuada's twin sister. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Peter Jackson approached Guillermo del Toro to direct Halo, and even though del Toro considered it, he turned the offer down so he could direct this sequel. Del Toro also turned down I Am Legend, One Missed Call, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the same reason. This is actually the second time del Toro opted for a Hellboy movie over a Harry Potter movie. He also turned down Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to direct the first Hellboy. As in the first movie, the agents that accompany Hellboy are named for things found while digging in the earth, albeit decidedly tougher than the first group: Marble, Flint, Steel (true, this is an alloy that is mostly iron, but Iron is not a common last name). The movie mentions Bethmoora, a city in the fiction of the early 20th century visionary writer Lord Dunsany. Also note that the Golden Army is hidden in Ireland, Dunsany's homeland. The term "glamour" used for the fairies' cloaking skill also originates in Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter". Just like the first film, none of the cast member's names are written on the posters, mentioned in the trailers or shown in the opening credits. The number 7 appears throughout the movie, most notably when it is stated that the Golden Army consists of "70 times 70", but also during the scene in the auction house, where the crown piece is listed as lot 777, with a starting price of $7,000,000. As the Angel of Death, Doug Jones could only see out of the crack across the mask he wore. Also, the mechanical wings he was wearing weighed about 40 pounds. Doug was originally supposed to walk around the set, but when it was discovered that he could barely stand, they instead hung him from a wire. This is why The Angel of Death floats. The Angel of Death's voice is done by Doug Jones doing each line twice, once in a higher pitched voice and then in a lower pitch, and then the two takes were blended together.

Wow, has it really been over a month? Anyway, Hellboy. This is one of the few times the sequal is better then the original. Guillermo del Toro pulls out all the visual magic for this one. Visually the movie is absolutely beautiful. The magical creatures seen and wonderful, especially Prince Nuada, Princess Nuala, and the Angel of Death (which could have easily stepped out of Pan's Labrinth). The Prince and Princess were beautiful and ethereal, while the Angel of Death was disturbingly beautiful. While the story will never seriously contend for a screenwriting award, it was still a good story and better then the first. Ron Perlman is solid and Selma Blair pulls liz off a lot stronger then before. Good solid movie.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace (both played by Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bulger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. Hilarity ensues when mysterious noises start to appear while everyday object start to disappear, the family blames Jared. When Jared finds a hidden room belonging to his great uncle Arthur Spiderwick, he finds Spiderwick's Field Guide and uncovers the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

Trivia: Film prints were shipped to some theaters under the fake title -- "Widow". The movie contains plotpoints from all 5 Spiderwick novels but most of the fouth novel is left out.

Okay, let me get this straight. You took 5 novels, right? 5 Novels to pull information out of, according to Amazon.com, 672 pages and all you got was a measly 97 minutes? What is up with that? You spend the money to invest in cutting edge special effects dozens of CGI characters and you can only come up with 97 minutes of movie? Yes, it is a children's movie but still, who said children's can't be engaging? Did you ever think that the reason children are all supposedly inflicted with very short attention spans is because we are forcing them into it? I have not read the Spiderwick books so I can only go with what I saw so I recommend renaming this movie The Undiscovered Country because that is what it is. There is a whole new world out there that looks really promising but you only get a glimpse. Like I said, there are literally dozens of fantasy characters but only 4 of them talk. The rest are basically soldier trolls that run around. Thimbletack, a little mouselike creature pretty much just shows up and with one or two sentences is excepted into the family so to speak. Hogsqueal is rescued by Jared Grace and the next thing you know, they are bosum buddies. And speaking of Jared. He finds the Field Guide left by his great uncle and 3 hours into reading it, he has a full and complete knowledge of this new world and can navigate through it easily. We get to a point where the hero's quest is revealed. Now we are getting somewhere, right? Adventure, perils, struggles? Nope. He pulls the book out, flips it open to a page in less then a second, reads some words outloud and poof, quest complete. Then there is Simon. He didn't even read the book and he can grasp the concepts and fashion pretty devestating weapons to use against the bad guys. That is pretty devestating to the bad guys, completely harmless to the good guys. Whoo Hoo! Oh yeah, there is a "Wait a minute, who are those guys and when did they come from" moment added in for good measure. If you want the wonder this movie provides AND prefer a good story, watch The Bridge To Teribithia. Way better movie.

Hayao Miyazaki Double Feature

Kaze No Tani No Naushika (1984)

(Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)

In the far future, a thousand years after a nuclear war left the Earth as a nuclear holocaust. The Valley of the Wind, a small kingdom ruled by King Jil struggles for survival as the community tries to defend the Valley from gigantic Ohm creatures and toxic plants that live beyond the Valley in the Sea of Decay, whilst Jil's daughter and heiress to the throne, Princess Nausicaa tries to understand and feels it is wrong to destroy the toxic jungle. The Valley is attacked by the Tolmekian people who plan to destroy the Sea of Decay by using the giant warriors that started the holocaust. After Nausicaa is taken prisoner, she escapes and goes beneath the Sea of Decay where she discovers the toxic plants are not poisoning the air but are purifying the world by draining the air of radiation and toxins. With everything at stake, Nausicaa unites with the Ohms and set out to the Valley to foil the Tolmekians plan of unleashing the Great Warrior before they start another holocaust. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: After the original, heavily re-written and edited 1980s release of this film in the United States (as "Warriors of the Wind"), which substantially changed the movie, Hayao Miyazaki demanded that any new licensor for his films be contractually bound to do no edits whatsoever aside from a straight translation and dub. Disney (who bought the rights to all of Miyazaki's films except Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979)) has honored this stipulation. Nausicaä is the name of a character in Homer's Odyssey. Ohmu means "king of the insects" in Japanese. The "Nausicaans" from Star Trek: The Next Generation were so named because the Star Trek writers were big fans of Japanese manga and anime, and Nausicaa in particular.

This one of Miyazaki's first features and it is a wonderful little film. There are normally three things you can count on in a Miyazaki film. Nature overcoming man, flying machines, and very strong female characters. You get all of these in Nausicaa. The princess, Nausicaa is a warm, kind hearted person adored by all of her fellow countrymen. She is strong, smart, daring, beautiful, and tough. Her compassion for all things living is amazing. She flies a glider with great skill, and the other humans all fly planes. The flying sequences are so vivid and beauitful. The forrest with it's defending insects and deadly spores really is a good way to show what could happen after we destroy our world. This is a wonderful movie and I would highly recommend it and Miyazaki's other movies...and speaking of his other movies...

Kurenai No Buta (1992)

(Porco Rosso)

In Early 1930's era Italy, air pirates, bounty hunters and high flyers of all sorts rule the skies. The most cunning and skilled of these pilots is Porco Rosso, a man cursed with the head of a pig after watching the spirits of the pilots killed in the last air battle he fought in rise to the heavens. He now makes a living taking jobs, such as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. Hilarity ensues. Donald Curtis, Porco's rival in the air and in catching the affections of women, provides a constant challenge to the hero, culminating in a hilarious, action packed finale.

Trivia: Porco Rosso was originally planned as a 30-45 minute in-flight movies for Japan Airlines. Director Miyazaki eventually expanded it into a feature-length production. The name of the production studio (Ghibli) is embossed on the engine Piccolo installs in Porco's new plane. Marco Paggot (Porco Rosso's real name) is named after an Italian animator who had worked with Hayao Miyazaki earlier in his career. Miyazaki mentioned in a chat room that the ghost plane scene was inspired from a passage in a Roald Dahl story. Hayao Miyazaki has stated that he prefers the French language cast (in particular Jean Reno as Porco Rosso) over the Japanese cast.

Wait, I bet you are saying, "Will, you just said Miyazaki movies normally have 3 things, that nature stuff, airplanes, and strong female characters. I only see the airplanes." And that is mostly true. Porco Rosso is just about the only exception on the nature vs man part, but...Miyazaki frequently works in pigs as a show of the dark side of man and Porco Rosso is no exception there. Miyazaki does a good job in showing the callous nature of Porco, but on the other hand, he also shows a soft side to Porco. As for the strong female characters? Well, it has them too, in the forms of Gina, an old flame who isn't quite out, and Fio, the 17 year old daughter of Rosso's Italian friend and who redesignes Rosso's plane and, with the help of her many female relatives rebuilds the plane as well.

The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle (2000)

35 years after their television show was cancel, we find our heroes living day to day in a deteriorating Frostbite Falls on the residuals from reruns. While in Pottsylvania Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro, yeah, that Robert DeNiro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander) and Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) hatch an evil plan to take over the world by brainwashing the poulation of the United States and getting the voters to vote for Fearless Leader. All then need is a cable television station. Check, they create RBTV (Really Bad Television). They need to get to America. Check, they dig a tunel. They need to become real and not just cartoons. Check with the help of a Hollywwod Producer that buys the rights to the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie. Hilarity ensues when FBI Agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Parabo) is assigned to stop the trio in the only way they have every been stopped before, with the help of moose and squirrel.

Trivia: The Whassamatta University infirmary is labeled "J. Ward", a homage to Rocky and Bullwinkle creator, Jay Ward. This film was originally in pre-production in the early 1990s, with Danny DeVito and Meryl Streep set to play Boris and Natasha. Legal problems with copyrights prevented the film being made until several years later. The students in the film were actually real students of Chapman University, where part of the film takes place. June Foray, one of the surviving members of the original "Rocky and His Friends", who created the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, does Rocky's voice for this film. She also recreates the voice of Natasha (when Natasha is in cartoon form) and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother. For the narration, Keith Scott is doing an imitation of the voice of the late William Conrad, who had been the narrator for the original animated adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "Rocky and His Friends".

It is pun filled, low brow, infintile at times and has a ton of movie cliches and doesn't take itself seriously. That is why it is funny. I will admit that I am not a die-hard Rocky and Bullwinkle fan (I don't go out of my way to watch it) but I will stop and watch it if I come across it. The thing that makes the Rocky and Bullwinkle series fun to watch is that it doesn't cater to one kind of kid like some, well, most of the cartoons of today. Any age could watch it and it would be funny. And in fact it is even funnier the older you get. Today if a cartoon isn't trying to teach a child some moral lesson it isn't worth making. This leads to boring cartoons. They are to generic, too politically correct, too something. I have no idea how kids can sit there are watch that stuff over and over and over again on DVD. Talk about brainwashing kids, there is something fishy there. Of course DeNiro did seem to have a pretty pained look on his face when he was delivering some of his lines (especially when he had to do the Taxi Driver monologue, "You looking at me?") and Natasha didn't have enough lines. I know Badenov is supposed to be the main villian but in the original series Natasha had the best lines.

And don't foget to take a crack at the trivia questions below. Have a happy Memorial Day Weekend. See ya on the other side.

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007)

The whole gang is back. What gang you say? Why the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) can stretch his body to, well, fantastic lengths. Susan Storm, aka The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) can bend light to make herself invisible and can create force fields, and, lets face it, has a fantastic body. Johnny Storm, Susan's brother, aka the Human Torch (Chris Evans) can light his body on fire and can fly, he is also fantastically arrogant. And Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis) has a body made from rocky and he is very strong. In the time between movies our fantastic heros have become fantastic celebrities, and it seems a fantatsic wedding has been fantastically planned. Susan and Reed are getting hitched...finally. Fantastic hilarity ensues when there is an unwanted wedding guest. A silver man on a flying silver surf board crashes the party and did I mention that he is here to destroy the world?

Trivia: Stan Lee plays himself in a cameo as a rejected wedding guest, in a tribute to his own fictional comic book incarnation. It has become a tradition for Lee to have cameo appearances in live-action adaptations of his comics; he appeared in the first Fantastic Four film playing the Baxter Building's mailman, Willie Lumpkin. The cameo scene where Stan Lee is refused entry to the wedding is in keeping with the comic series. In the 1960s story of Reed Richards and Susan Storm's wedding, two characters, obviously representing writer Stan Lee and artist/plotter Jack Kirby, are also not allowed to attend the wedding. Although the film uses the premise that the Silver Surfer gets his powers from his board, this is clearly not the case in the comics. In the comics, the Surfer is able to fly on his own and use his full gamut of powers without the aid of his surfboard. He uses it, however, as it significantly decreases the energy required for flight. The wedding dress Jessica is wearing in the wedding scene is a custom made design by the German luxury fashion brand Escada.

Sequels, Superheros sequels especially are hit and miss. This one pretty much missed. It is an okay movie sure, but I would expect more from Marvel, of course few of Marvel's superhero movies are actually very good. Most of them are okay. So after looking back at it, as a Marvel superhero movie it is good. In the first movie Johnny was the comic relief. You need a comic relief on a team for it to work well. They decided to go overboard and everybody is comic relief in this one. It is the too many cooks in the kitchen syndrome that has hampered superhero movies over the years. How to out do the original movie, which was good, not great, but good. So they took one of the few things that worked in the first one and multiplied it by four. Reed becomes a love sick absentminded professor type. Susan has a whole sctick when she inadvertantly switches powers with Johnny and ends up burning her clothes off, which would have greatly increased the entertainment of the movie except for the fact that it is PG so nothing was seen...dammit. Johnny seems to be the most serious of the group. It did have some thought provoking parts, well, kind of thought provoking cerning the fact that everyone know who they were. No secret idenities here. I can see where a secret identity could come in handy.

Enchanted (2007)

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Andalasia, a beautiful young maiden named Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in a cottage in the forest. But before she can marry the dashing Prince Edward (James Marsden), hilarity ensues when Giselle is sent tumbling down a magical well - and finds herself in the non-animated, extremely disenchanted world of modern-day New York City. There, she befriends a cynical divorce lawyer, Robert (Patrick Dempsey), who isn't so sure that her prince is coming to rescue her. Giselle's spontaneous singing and fairy-tale demeanor enchant everyone around her as she waits for Prince Edward. But she's about to discover that love in the real world isn't always as easy as sharing a single True Love's Kiss - and that she'll need courage, spunk and maybe just a little enchantment if she's ever going to find her own happily-ever-after.

Trivia: The bus driver's hair is shaped like Mickey Mouse's ears, as well as the green pepper slices on the pizza Robert and Giselle are served at the Bella Notte restaurant. In the scene where Prince Edward is standing on top of a moving bus, billboards for Hairspray (the Broadway Production) and Superman Returns are visible. James Marsden, who plays Prince Edward, stars in Superman Returns, and the movie, Hairspray, based off the Broadway Production. In the scene where Edward is on top of the bus, the people riding on tour buses next to him laughing and pointing at him weren't extras, but actual real tourists. The actresses who provided the voices for three previous animated Disney princesses make appearances in the film: Jodi Benson (‘Ariel’ in The Little Mermaid), Paige O'Hara (‘Belle’ in Beauty and the Beast), and Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas). Also, Julie Andrews, who starred as the title character in Disney's live-action Mary Poppins, provides her voice here as the Narrator. Cathleen Trigg's character's name is Mary Ilene Caselotti. This is a tribute to Mary Costa, the voice of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Ilene Woods, who did the voice of Disney's Cinderella, and Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Disney's first princess, Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The law firm where Robert works is Churchill, Harline and Smith, the surnames of the songwriters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Two of the elderly men dancers appeared together in West Side Story. One of the elderly men dancers appeared in Mary Poppins as a chimney sweep.

What can I say? As an admitted Disneyphile, this movie just called to me. I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters so it garnered a top spot on my netflix queue. What I love about it is how it can have fun with itself. It doesn't take itself seriously and how could it? Andalasia is pure Disney charm. Amy Adams works well as the out of place princess and you couldn't help but like her. James Marsden is hilarious as Gisselle's prince charming (um...I mean Prince Edward). Three of the songs were nominated for Oscars this year and each had the Disney magic behind them. The "Happy Working Song" is pure Disney (I keep saying that) with Amy Adams accompanied by pigeons, rats, and coachroachs (relax, it is actually pretty charming). "So Close", the romantic dance near the end was just beautiful. But it was "That's How You Know" that was the best. It was a full on production number in the middle of Central Park. It blended the fairytail feel with a live music feel if that makes any sense. Disney is at it's best when it isn't trying very hard to be anything else but just trys to be Disney.

Don't forget to send in your answers for this weeks quiz.

Transformers (2007)

A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war was being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasted off in search of it. He eventually tracked it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sent him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. His body was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, and before going into a comatose state Megatron used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the Allspark, into the Captain's glasses, and send a transmission to Cybertron. He is then carted away by the Captain's ship. Hilarity ensues as a century later, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers that it is not a camero, but Bumblebee, an Autobot in disguise who is there to protect Sam, the Captain's glasses and the map carved on them. But Bumblebee is not the only Transformer to have arrived on Earth - in the desert of Qatar, the Decepticons Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base, causing the Pentagon to send their special Sector Seven agents to capture all "specimens of this alien race," and Sam along with his girlfriend Mikaela (the aptly named Megan Fox) find themselves in the middle of a grand battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, stretching from Hoover Dam all the way to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, within the depths of Hoover Dam, the cryogenically stored form of Megatron awakens...


Trivia: Producer Don Murphy decided, after listening to feedback from Transformers fans, to use the voices from the "Transformers" (TV cartoon series). Veteran voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who provided the voices for the iconic Transformer leaders Optimus Prime (Cullen) and Megatron (Welker), were auditioned personally by director Michael Bay, who feared that their aged voices would be noticeable. Cullen was confirmed to reprise his role, but Welker's voice was too light for Megatron's new beastly look, and so Hugo Weaving took the role of Megatron. However, Welker reprises his role as Megatron in Transformers: The Game. Bumblebee's original alternate mode in "Transformers" was a Volkswagen Beetle, but this was altered to a 1977/2009 Chevrolet Camaro (against Don Murphy's wishes). This was because Michael Bay felt that the Camaro held a more friendly quality than the Beetle, and he wanted to avoid comparisons with Herbie the Love Bug. As a tribute to the series, a yellow Volkswagen Beetle appears next to him at the car shop (and as a joke Bumblebee damages it!). The Decepticons were to have more dialogue in the film, but most of their lines were cut out to keep them mysterious (screenwriter Roberto Orci reasoned that the more a villain talks, the less threatening they are). To please the fans, though, Megatron's classic berating of Starscream ("You have failed me yet again, Starscream...") from "Transformers" was put in the film. Sometimes, the camera was kept in a bulletproof glass box while shooting, due to the intense nature of the stunts. Shia LaBeouf quipped, "The camera's in a bullet-proof box, but what about me?" Optimus Prime is composed of 10,108 pieces. The Decepticons outnumber the Autobots eight to five. This was a deliberate move by the writers to emphasize the Autobots' teamwork, and the threat the Decepticons pose to the world. As that there were no running 2009 model Camaros, Bumblebee was actually created by Saleen inc. The same tuner that created Barricade. Working with the Pontiac GTO along with data and wheelbase drawings of the 2009 Camaro provided by GM, Saleen cobbled together, from the floorboards up, a running "Camaro" in just 30 days.


If you noticed my labels below, I have a new one (HD) that is because for Christmas I got myself an HD TV and an HD DVD player (Whoo Hoo!) so I watched this in High Definition. The ultimate toys for a movie buff. Anyway, back to the movie. It was really short of plot. I mean there was a lot of plot but it was pretty thin. And if you are going to have a Transformer movie, show the Transformers, not the whimpy Shia LeBeouf (although that meant that you got to see a lot Megan Fox, which is a VERY good thing, an uberhot woman who knows cars AND has a bad girl streak?). And they also have a beautiful analyst (Rachel Taylor) at the DoD that figures it all out. Um...Anyway, they also try to add humor into the mix. Why does every retro 70's TV show that is made into a movie have to have added humor inserted? I mean, yes, i was funny to watch the Autobots trying to hide from Sam's parents (who never seemed to look out any of their windows) but it took a little away from the character of Optimus Prime. Have some of the others give you the humor, leave Optimus out of it. There is also said to be a lot of religious overtones in the movie, good vs. evil, Opitmus as a savior like figure spouting grandios phrases to brainwash our kids or something like that. I guess I could see it a little but i was nowhere near what I thought it would be and I don't think people give kids enough credit. Kids are smart too. They can figure this stuff out on their own, it's just a freaking movie people.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)

Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. Eric Applebaum (Zach Mills), the hat collector, is known as a strange kid and has trouble with making friends. Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), an accountant, which is a cross between a counter and a mutant, is a stiff grown-up who doesn't really believe in magic. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store (Dustin Hoffman), bequeaths the store to her, everyone takes the news pretty hard but the store seems to take it the hardest. Hilarity ensues as a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium.

Trivia: Dustin Hoffman went to Santa Monica City College where he dropped out after a year due to bad grades. But before he did, he took an acting course because he was told that "nobody flunks acting." Natalie Portman was discovered in a pizza parlor and was originally turned down for the role of Mathilda in Leon (1994) because she was too young.

First let me start off saying that I know this movie is meant for young children. It is definitely a family movie. The actor is solid but predictable. Nobody went out of their way to produce an Oscar caliber performance, but the movie didn't need it. There were solid performances all around. Natalie Portman was charming and quirky. She plays a piano and her music is utterly charming. Zach Mills played a steady young man. Jason Batemen was good as the Mutant. The toy store is the real star of the movie as the toys come alive and the store really seems to love playing with the children who come to visit it. And then there was Dustin Hoffman. How do you play an eccentric 243 year old magical toy mogul. Well, you fluff your hair around and talk in a funny loopy voice. It did get grating after a while. But then again, I am really not the target audience for this movie. If you have young kids, this will be a great movie for them. If you have older kids, you might want to think about it.

Beowulf [Digital 3-D] (2007)

n Denmark in the year 507 a.D., elderly King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and his people are terrorized by the misshapen half-human, half-demon Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hrothgar orders the mead hall sealed and sends out a call for a hero to come and rid the kingdom of Grendel. Several months later, Beowulf (Ray Winstone) answers the call. Beowulf and Hrothgar's
queen, Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn) are clearly attracted to one another. Hilarity ensues as Beowulf prepares to battle the vile Grendel. And to make it fair, since Grendel uses no weapons, Beowulf will face him naked.

Trivia: According Ray Winstone, he and his fellow cast spent days filming in blue skintight suit, "showing up all your lumps and bumps in all the wrong places. Which can be hard when you're standing in front of Angelina, who looks stunning in hers." According to visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen, close to 300 cameras were used to motion capture the performances, compared with 64 to 72 for The Polar Express (2004).

Well, after much hilarity ensuing in my own life, I am back to torture you with my well intentioned yet sometimes lacking reviews. Beowulf. I watched this in Digital 3-D and it is stunning. This isn't your parent's 3-D. The action is smooth and the image is crystal clear. The only thing is that currently it is only being used for animated movies. That will change with the release of Journey 3-D with Brendan Fraser next year, the first live action Digital 3-D movie (the preview looks awesome), but back to the movie. Be sure to watch this in the 3-D format because it will enhance the movie tenfold. The movie itself is a tad simple and at times maddening in the animation. The motion capture is great for the action, but things like the eyes of the characters is still lacking. There just doesn't seem to be much life in the eyes at times and occasionally the backgrounds disappoint. The action more then makes up for the occasional lapse in the animation and once or twice you actually forget you are watching an animated movie. The motion capture does a fantastic job capturing the performances of the actors and with actors like Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich (the king's adviser), Robin Wright Penn, and Angelina Jolie (the water demon, those are her legs in the poster) you get some good performances. The camera also is unhindered because of the fact that it is animated so you are treated to some exceptional camera angles that you would be hardpressed to duplicate in anything but CGI. So to sum up, if you watch this film, be sure to see it in 3-D.

The Perils Of Gwendoline In The Land Of The Yik Yak (1984)

Hilarity ensues as Gwendoline (Tawny Kitaen), accompanied by a soldier of fortune, Willard (Brent Huff), and her French maid (Zabou), journeys deep into the jungle and desert to capture a butterfly that has eluded her late father's scientific quest. They eventually discover the lost underground realm of the Yik-Yak, an all-female society ruled by a queen who plans to kill Willard after he mates with a female gladiator champion.

Trivia: Tawny Kitaen is probably best known as the sexy vixen in several Whitesnake videos in the late 1980s, along with her then-husband, lead singer David Coverdale. She also married Chuck Finley, a major league baseball pitcher from 1986-2002, winning 200 games as a member of the Anaheim Angels, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Cardinals. Chuck Finley filed for divorce in Orange County (CA) Superior Court against Kitaen just 3 days after she was arrested for allegedly hitting him. Finley also obtained a temporary restraining order against her and temporary custody of their daughters. In her response, dated April 15, Kitaen acknowledged that she has become addicted to prescription medications for depression and migraine headaches and is currently seeking treatment. Gee that really livened up the mood.

The Perils of Gwendoline is a very good example of an 80s sexploitation B movie. It stars Tawny Kitaen and has more then it's fair share of the female anatomy showing but not enough to push it past an R rating. The plot is stretched to the breaking point, the acting is horrendous, and the effects are laughable. But that is what you would expect from a film like this. This is just fun, sit back, relax, and don't strain your brain fare. So what does it say about me when I like the loyal, slightly goofy, glasses wearing female sidekicks in these films better then the main eye candy? Hmmm. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

When a new princess is born to King Stefan & his wife, the entire kingdom rejoices. At a ceremony, three good fairies - Flora, Fauna & Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But an evil sorceress named Maleficent shows up, and because of a rude remark by Merryweather, she places a curse on the princess - that she will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow the princess - named Aurora - to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss from her true love. The fairies take Aurora to their cottage in the woods to keep her away from the eyes of Maleficent, and raise her as their own child, named Briar Rose. On her 16th birthday Aurora meets Prince Phillip, the son of a king whose own kingdom will soon merge with King Stefan's - and falls in love. Maleficent manages to kidnap the Prince and her horrible prophecy is fulfilled when she tricks Aurora into touching a spinning wheel created by Maleficent herself! Realizing that the Prince is in trouble, the 3 good fairies head to Maleficent's castle at the Forbidden Mountain, and spring the Prince loose. But the Prince soon finds himself up against Maleficent's army of brutes, and the power of Maleficent's evil spells - which include a thorn forest as thick as weeds around King Stefan's castle, and a fight against Maleficent when she turns herself into a dragon! Is the Prince strong enough to withstand the powers of the evil sorceress? Will hilarity ensues? (Well, this is Disney)

Trivia: Art direction for this movie was inspired by medieval painting and architecture. Live actors in costume served as models for the animators. The role of Prince Phillip was modeled by Ed Kemmer, who had played Commander Buzz Corry on television's "Space Patrol" five years before Sleeping Beauty was released. For the final battle sequence Kemmer was photographed on a wooden buck. All the live actors' performances were later screened for the animators' reference. When the fairies discuss how to help the king and queen, notice Merryweather magically create cookies, they are the shape of Mickey Mouse. Disney Studios has no record as to who provided the voice for the queen, Briar Rose's mother. Much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Sleeping Beauty". A flame thrower was used to create the dragon breath sound effect for the climax of the movie. Castanets were used for the sound of its snapping jaws. The elaborate background paintings usually took seven to ten days to paint. By contrast, a typical animation background takes one workday to complete. Second only to Dumbo (who didn't speak at all), this Disney title character has very few lines of actual dialogue throughout the entire film (well, she was sleeping from half of it). In fact, Briar Rose/Aurora says nothing at all in the film's second half. The Disneyland castle was named for this film, even though the park opened four years prior to the film's release. Princess Aurora's long, thin, willowy body shape was inspired by that of Audrey Hepburn. Briar Rose is the Sleeping Beauty's name the German fairytale. Princess Aurora is Sleeping Beauty's name in the Italian version.

Ah, Disney, for some reason I haven't watched a Disney film in a while so when my niece and nephew watched it this weekend, I joined in. What really struck me with Sleeping Beauty is the whole sense of art. The backgrounds are tremendous. They look like watercolors. Each Disney film has it's own visual style which is why they are so good. Maleficent is truly one of the most evil of Disney villians (why are most of the best Disney villians women?). I liked her design, she looks like the dragon she turns into in the end.

Blade: Trinity (2004)

Blade (Wesley Snipes) finds himself alone surrounded by enemies, fighting an up hill battle with the vampire nation and now humans. He joins forces with a group of vampire hunters including Abigail Whistler (Jessica Beil) and Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) who call themselves the Nightstalkers. The vampire nation awakens the king of vampires Dracula (Dominic Purcell) from his slumber with intentions of using his primitive blood to become day-walkers. On the other side is Blade and his team manifesting a virus that could wipe out the vampire race once and for all. In the end the two sides will collide and only one will come out victorious, a battle between the ultimate vampire whom never knew defeat, facing off against the greatest vampire slayer while all around hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Based on Marvel Comics characters. Ryan Reynolds gained 25 pounds of muscle for his role as Hannibal King. Jessica Biel inadvertently destroyed a camera when she shot it with a bow and arrow during a scene (she was directed to "aim for the camera"). When Hannibal King is telling Blade about the return of Dracula, he shows Blade a copy of Tomb of Dracula #55. Marvel's "Tomb of Dracula" comic (#10 to be precise) was the title in which Blade made his first appearance in the early-1970s. The character of Hannibal King was created by comic book writer Marv Wolfman, who also created Blade himself. Hannibal King made his first appearance in "Tomb of Dracula" #25. The film crew was forced to be selective in their shots for various green-screen segments because neighboring stages were being used for the filming of I, Robot and The Chronicles of Riddick and those sets would sometimes appear within the frames (and edited out later). One of the television commercials for the film was recalled after one day of airing because it accidentally credited Jessica Biel as Jessica Alba. The car Blade drives in all three movies is a 1968 Dodge Charger modified with UV lights behind the front grille as well as numerous switches inside the car. After the movie the car was purchased by a man in Vancouver who kept the car virtually the same except for adding a 440 under the hood.

The tattooed vampire hunter is back, and this time he brought help. I caught this one on television with it's inherent "edited for content" so I didn't get the full on experience but what I got was just fine and at points unintentionally hilarious (due to the editing of certain words, as in a certain male body part being called a "who-who"). They killed of Whistler so we get Whitsler's daughter instead (personally, I would much rather see the 22 year-old smokin' hott, vampire kicking, bow and arrow wielding, body of Jessica Biel [see movie poster above], over the wrinkled decrepit hobbling 68 year-old body of Kris Kristofferson any day and twice on Sunday, but that is just me). We also get the wisecracking Hannibal King. He provides much needed comic relief so Blade can just concentrate on being a bad-ass daywalker. So after Blade, where there is a megalomaniacal vampire tries to take over the world by summoning the blood god, and Blade II where mutant vampires called Reapers try to take over the world, who would be a good villain for Blade to fight? Dracula of course. Okay, the name is hokey and makes you think of Bela Lugosi, but they do an okay job in changing around the mythos of Dracula to make him the original ancient one (at least several thousand years old) in which all other vampires came from and he doesn't walk around in a cape or stuff. So all in all a good vampire movie.

Bridge To Terabithia (2007)

Jesse "Jess" Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) comes from a poor farmer family with four annoying sisters, he finds no haven at school where he's teased by everyone. The only thing Jess has is running; after training all summer for the big race on the school athletic day, he and every other boy racing are beat by new girl Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb). Like Jess, Leslie is teased by her fellow students, but unlike Jess she doesn't let it bother her. After a rocky start, hilarity ensues, they find common ground and together create the imaginary world of Terabithia as a haven from their struggles at school and at home. Leslie teaches Jess to open his mind to every possibility and leave reality behind. But, after a tragedy occurs, Jess must trust in what Leslie has taught him to help over come the horrors that reality can bring.

Trivia: The role of Leslie was originally offered to Dakota Fanning. The TV show that Jess' sisters are watching is "Hannah Montana", which is also produced by Disney. In the scene where Jess and his father are playing with the set of cars, the song on the radio is "You've Got To Keep Your Mind Wide Open", which is the song featured in this movie's music video, performed by AnnaSophia Robb. The original novel's content has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number nine. The name of Terabithia, the imaginary kingdom, sounds very much like Terebinthia, a Narnian island, created by C. S. Lewis for both Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Katherine Paterson acknowledges that Terabithia is likely derived from Terebinthia. "I thought I had made it up. Then, rereading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, I realized that I had probably gotten it from the island of Terebinthia in that book. However, Lewis probably got that name from the Terebinth tree in the Bible, so both of us pinched from somewhere else, probably unconsciously."

First off let me say that I don't think Dakota Fanning would have made a good Leslie. Second, The fantasy sequences are great, but I don't think they really fit to well in the story. Yes, a great deal of the story involves imagination and creating this fantasy world by these two children, but Terabithia is more of a catalyst then a destination. Unlike Narnia, Jess and Leslie don't cross over to another world, it is all in their imaginations and it helps them deal with the real world. What I would like to have seen more is stuff like the scene in which Leslie reads her report about SCUBA diving to the class, as she reads about the wonderful undersea world, Jess imagines bubbles coming out of her mouth and fish swimming around, it is nowhere near the hyper reality Terabithia becomes and better conveys the power of imagination to me. It is weird, but I think it would have been better with a cartoonish fantasy world, but with computer graphics these days, you can't do that it seems. This story is really about the friendship forged between Jess and Leslie, two kids that didn't seem to fit in anywhere else. It is also very touching and heartfelt and I will admit I did tear up a bit near the end. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The lovely Zooey Deschanel plays the music teacher. Ummm...music.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)

As another year begins for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry so does the never-ending articles stating that he and Dumbledore (Micheal Gambon) are insane. As the ministry starts to invent new and malicious lies about Harry's account on Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) return, Hogwarts begins to change for the worse as the ministry sends in their cure for all the insanity, Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). Hilarity ensues as she begins to inflict her rules and regulations on the students at Hogwarts and they begin to find that with her as their teacher, they'll never be ready for the outside world. So Harry along with his friends decides to take things into their own hands and begin to learn magic the real way. As Harry starts having visions of terrible events happening within the Ministries very walls he decides to take action, leading himself and his friends into battle, ultimately teaching them what friendship, loyalty and sacrifice really means.

Trivia: The carpet in Professor Umbridge's office cost £50,000 to make. The character of Grawp was done by using a recent breakthrough in film technology, developed by Image Metrics, which allows a computer to map an actor's performance onto any character virtual or human, living or dead. The result is said to be far superior to standard hand-drawn computer graphics which are very costly and time-consuming. Evanna Lynch beat over 15,000 girls for the role of Luna Lovegood. The radish earrings worn by Luna Lovegood were actually made by Evanna Lynch.

Cool Beans. It was a very good movie. Watching it in IMAX was awesome. I like the amount of compression in it. The book at around 800 pages had an extremely large amount of material in it and for the most part the movie had only the essential elements to it, although you would be better off having read the book to get the subtleties. Since this is a new movie and most of you probably haven't seen it yet I am just going to present a few random thought (more random then usual). I really really like Tonks (Natalia Tena) but she is only in a few scenes. Luna "Looney" Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) was great. The scenes where Harry teaches Dumbledore's Army were awesome. Professor Umbridge was a great villian in her saccharine sweet evil way. Ginny Weasley is going to be a really powerful witch. Helena Boham Carter chewed up the scenery when she was on screen, but she wasn't on for long. The Weasley twins exit was fabulous. The Thestrals were creepy. Dudley Dursley has really grown up (we didn't see him in Goblet of Fire). Dumbledore's Army is really good at the Stupify curse. Neville Longbottom is coming into his own. The Ministry of Magic is pretty much the way I invisioned it, except for the black glass on the floor, walls and ceiling in the lower levels. You can tell if someone is good or bad just by watching them apperate, The bad guys apperate in a black cloud, the good guys in white of course. Now I just have to wait 7 more days for The Deathly Hallows to come out.

Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire (2005)

Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) fourth year at Hogwarts is about to start and he is enjoying the summer vacation with his friends. They get the tickets to The Quidditch World Cup Final but after the match is over, people dressed like Lord Voldemort's 'Death Eaters' set fire to all the visitors' tents, coupled with the appearance of Voldemort's symbol, the 'Dark Mark' in the sky, causes a frenzy across the magical community as hilarity ensues. That same year, Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion. Since the magic cannot be reversed, Harry is forced to compete and brave three exceedingly difficult tasks.

Trivia: Mike Newell is the first British director the film series has had, he turned down directing The Constant Gardener to direct this film. Over 3,000 girls turned up at the auditions for the role of Cho Chang in London. Safety divers swam in with scuba regulators to allow them to breathe without having to surface. These scenes were shot in a huge purpose-built tank with a blue-screen background. Daniel Radcliffe alone logged around 41 hours 38 minutes underwater during the course of filming. At one point during training he inadvertently signaled that he was drowning, sending the crew into a huge panic to bring him back up to surface. Mike Newell originally decided not to have the make-up on Ralph Fiennes to give a more scary Voldemort. But he changed his mind after seeing a minimal make-up design by Nick Dudman. To complement the make-up, Fiennes shaved his head bald as well as his armpits. Stanislav Ianevski, who plays Viktor Krum, has only two lines in the entire film totaling 20 words. Katie Leung hadn't intended to audition for the role of Cho Chang. Her father had told her where the audition was being held and she decided to go before her shopping trip. Ralph Fiennes was not wearing any make up to cover his nose. In order to make the character scarier, film editors digitally removed it. Also, the "red, snake-like eyes" the novel describes were not added, due to the actor's thought that the expression in his eyes would provide a better idea of Lord Voldemort's insanity and malignity. The rock band at the Yule Ball is comprised mostly of members of Pulp and Radiohead. In the run-up to the movie, a Canadian folk group called the Wyrd Sisters filed a $40-million lawsuit against Warner Brothers, the North American distributor of the film, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of 'Radiohead for the use of their group's name. In the book, the band is called the "Weird Sisters" after the witches in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" but was reportedly renamed the "Wyrd Sisters" for this film. Before the movie was released, however, Warner Brothers removed all references to either name for the band. Nevertheless, the Wyrd Sisters moved for an injunction in a Canadian court to prevent distribution of the film in Canada. This motion was dismissed by an Ontario judge. The animated hedges in the Third Task were based on Stanley Kubrick's abandoned idea for the hedge maze chase sequence in The Shining. "The Shining" was written by Stephen King, who is an avid fan of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.

You know, every time I watch this movie I go along and think , hmm, that's nice, gee, Harry gets to play the "well, I came in last but then I did something selfless so I get bonus points that ends up screwing Viktor Krum" card, oh, Mad Eye Moody is giving Harry insider information, hmm, that's nice Harry and Cedric are going to tie, HOLY CRAP! THEY LETS KIDS WATCH THIS? The last 15 minutes of this movie (and book for that matter) have some really mature subject matter, suitable for the PG-13 crowd but how many parents are going to tell their kids that "gee, sorry, your too young to watch Harry Potter. (Well, I guess if they read the book they know what to expect. This whole movie is dark, like the whole film was shot at night. We also get to see the kids become young adults and see them start to notice the opposite sex and all that adolescent stuff. The dance was hilarious, I would totally be Ron or Harry, sitting on the side scared to death to dance, but then again, I am painfully shy, which is probably why I am still single. Well, next up is the new one. I am really looking forward to this. Why you say? (you did say that didn't you?) Well, I am going to tell you anyway. I have decided to see it in IMAX 3-D! Whoo Hoo. I already have my ticket for tomorrow. Ain't the Internet wonderful, Each time I checked the times, yesterday and today, the rest of the day was sold out, and most of tomorrow was already sold out too, but I was able to get tickets for the time I was looking at online. Sweet.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Approaching his third year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has had enough of his muggle relatives. He runs away from them (finally) and enters his third term facing trouble from more than one side: for using magic outside the school and from the news that a notorious criminal, serial killer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), has escaped the wizard's prison at Azkaban and apparently is headed for Harry. Hilarity ensues as the school calls in supernatural help against Black in the form of Dementors, but unusual things continue to put Harry in peril. He is thrown into a confusing sequence of shifting allegiances and shifting shapes where nobody is who or what they seem. Who is the real criminal? What is the real crime? Who is telling or knows the truth? If only he had enough time to figure things out.

Trivia: Emma Thompson accepted the role of Professor Trelawney to impress her four-year-old daughter, Gaia. After the death of Richard Harris, many actors were considered for the vacant role of Albus Dumbledore. Christopher Lee was in the frame for a while, and there was a rumor (reported in many newspapers) that Ian McKellen was also considered. The Harris family wanted Peter O'Toole to be cast for the role but O'Toole declined. Richard Attenborough also lobbied for the role but was ultimately turned down. Honeydukes "is floor-to-ceiling psychedelia" and includes Mexican skulls made of sugar. The cast was told that the Honeydukes candy was lacquer-coated, when in fact it wasn't, to prevent candy from disappearing between takes. The set for Honeydukes was previously used as Olivander's Wand Shop in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Flourish and Blotts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The tattoos on Sirius Black's body and hands are borrowed from Russian prison gangs. They are markings which identify the person as a man to be feared and respected. Alfonso Cuaron coached Daniel Radcliffe in one scene where the latter had to act awed: "Pretend you're seeing Cameron Diaz in a G-string". It worked. During the filming of the sleeping bag scene, director Alfonso Cuaron and the filmmakers played a practical joke on Daniel Radcliffe by hiding a remote-control-operated Whoopee Cushion in his sleeping bag. According to Cuaron, Daniel tried really hard to stay in character while everyone else was laughing.

So far this is the best of the three movies. The characters are set, the world of Hogwarts is well established and they can get down to truly telling the story. As I alluded to yesterday, the new style of Alfonso Cuaron is different from Chris Columbus who gave up the director's chair but produced this movie. First off, the kids are more casual and more of what I would picture a British school would be like, no robes but instead the kids get to wear dress shirts and ties. Second, Hogwarts is in a different, more rugged area. Hagrid's house is no longer across a small lawn, but rather down a hill. It gives it more of a feeling of the Scottish Highland then the first two did. Of course, I might be biased because I read the books, but the story in this one is very solid and I didn't see many errors even knowing about the time travel aspect at the end, there didn't seem to be any rough edges. The three main kids really help carry this one, (with the help of great performances by Gary Oldman and David Thewlis who plays Professor Lupin), they are really growing as actors. You can really see the dark turn that the series is headed for that will really get ramped up in the last four movies that will each feature deaths of major characters.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)

When Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is visited by an impish creature who warns him that danger lurks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, Harry decides to ignore his warnings to not return to school. But when the non-pure-bloods begin to get attacked by an unknown enemy, Harry begins to investigate the strange goings on at Hogwarts, including: a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (Kenneth Branagh) who seems to be more in love with himself than his teachings, strange voices coming from nowhere and haunting Harry's footsteps, a new Slytherin Team Seeker who just happens to be non other than Draco Malfoy, and a depressed and sulking spirit who haunts the girl's bathroom. And, of course, the ensuing hilarity and the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who may just be the one planning the attacks. But, could he have an accomplice?

Trivia: Fourteen Ford Anglias were destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Womping Willow. The "Let's just hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day" "Don't worry, I will be" dialogue was improvised by Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs. As Harry enters Professor Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of the great wizard paintings. It is above the door-frame and slightly to Harry's right. While chatting with the Grangers at the bookshop, Mr. Weasley says, "I understand that other muggles are afraid of you." This makes little sense unless you know that both Hermione's parents are muggle dentists. The Weasley's car is a Ford Anglia. This is actually the same color and model car that author J.K. Rowling and her best friend from school used to ride around in when they were younger. She used the car for the book, and later the movie, out of her fond memories driving in it. The script originally said that Hermione would hug Harry and Ron in the final scene. As the then eleven-year-old Emma Watson was embarrassed about having to hug the boys in front of the entire cast, Chris Columbus allowed her to changed the scene so instead Hermione just hugs Harry then starts to hug Ron but the two get embarrassed and resolve to only shake hands. Watson also stated in a recent interview that she kept letting Daniel Radcliffe go too quickly, so the filmmakers eventually had to freeze the film for a few seconds to make the hug last longer than it actually did.

It is amazing how much the three main kids (Dan, Rupert, and Emma) grew up in just one year. They are also a little more comfortable in their roles in this one. The story in this one is a little different then the others. Voldemort isn't really a big part of the story (well, actually he is but he really isn't if that makes any sense). This film marks the end for Chris Columbus who directed the first two films. It also marks the end for Richard Harris as Dumbledore. Harris died shortly before the release. The style will change in the next movie without Columbus at the helm, but that is a story for the next film isn't it?

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is an average bespectacled 11 year old boy who has lived with the Dursley family ever since his parents died. For some reason the family has always mistreated him. On his 11th birthday a giant man named Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) hands him a letter telling him that he has been accepted as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents were wizards and were killed by an evil wizard Voldemort, a truth that was hidden from him all these years. Hilarity ensues as he embarks for his new life as a student, gathering two good friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) along the way. They soon learn that something very valuable is hidden somewhere inside the school and Voldemort is very anxious to lay his hands on it.

Trivia: Richard Harris only agreed to taking the part of Albus Dumbledore after his eleven year old granddaughter threatened never to speak to him again. Author J.K. Rowling insisted that the principal cast be British and she got her wish, with two exceptions - Richard Harris was, of course, Irish, and Zoe Wanamaker, though she has made her name as a "British" actress, is actually a US citizen. Other non-Brits in the cast include Verne Troyer, born in Michigan, USA, who plays Griphook (the second Goblin in Gringots' Bank) and Chris Columbus' daughter, Eleanor Columbus, who played Susan Bones. There was a huge media outcry in Gloucester, England when it was decided to use the local Cathedral for some of the Hogwarts scenes. Protesters wrote letters by the sack-load to local newspapers, claiming it was blasphemy and promising to block the film-crew's access. In the end, only one protester turned up. Among the portraits on the shifting staircase, you can clearly see a painting of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Anne Boleyn was popularly believed to be a witch. The inscription around the Mirror of Erised says: "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi". Reading the inscription backwards it says, "I show not your face but your heart's desire." The Hogwarts motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" means "never tickle a sleeping dragon".

No, I am not going to go watch Harry Potter And The Order Of The Pheonix tonight at midnight when it opens in the U.S. because one, I actually have a job that I have to go to, two, I am not as young as I used to be, and three I am not crazy (or at least not that crazy). I plan on seeing it Saturday morning and hopefully by then the young kid crowd will only fill up 3 quarters of the theater. So I thought as a good way to get ready to watch it would be to go back and rewatch the first four (and report back to you, my loyal readers, what I rethink about them). So here goes. First off, how many of you noticed that I used the world wide title The Philosopher's Stone? That is the title used everywhere EXCEPT The U.S. (We aren't that dumb people, we could have figured out what a philosopher was. Of course, they did this for the original book also but we still could have figured it out). Did you know that they had to film each scene that contained the word "philosopher" a second time with the word "sorcerer". Pretty sad if you ask me. Anyway, I don't really remember if I originally thought the actors matched their characters but by now I can't see Harry, Ron, or Herminone as anyone else other then Dan, Rupert and Emma. But boy, they were young in 2001. We really have watched them grow up in the last 6 years. I also think it is pretty amazing that just about every secondary character is still being played by the original actors (except Richard Harris, but that was due to his passing away). All in all I think they did a great job creating the world of Hogwarts and the film is a very entertaining film. Well, it is getting pretty late and I have to work tomorrow so I will stop now.