Casual Chat: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

The last Harry Potter film just crossed the billion dollar mark at the box office. So we both thought it was a good time to finally post something on this blog again and so why not talk about what we each thought of the final film of the boy wizard?

Aki: So… Harry Potter 7 or 8 or 7.5?

Ryan: Well, the official name is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, which is just all kinds of long

Aki: Seriously.

Ryan: Where to begin?

Aki: Snape was so hot. Like I almost can't believe it.

Ryan: Well, you're very much into suffering men, so that wasn't such a surprise.

Aki: Yeah, but the crying... sexy.

Ryan: I thought the crying was a bit too much myself. Felt a bit forced.

Aki: No way, he was breaking down. He was a person for once... not just a frowning idiot. So sexy!

Ryan: Sure. I just wished they did a better job in previous films setting it up, but I guess that's not REALLY the fault of THIS film.

Aki: They made him a hard-ass in all the previous films and books with a very strange pedophilic obsession with Harry. Now we know why. Because he cries and he’s sexy! Kind of…

Ryan: He's definitely a complicated character, but I rather the reveal had been a bit more organic. Now, I personally think Daniel Radcliffe has never been better.

Aki: He was good. I didn't like how he was smiling at the end walking through a makeshift hospital full of dead and dying people. I was like, okay sure, your 7-8 year ordeal is over, but have some respect!

Ryan: I don't quite remember him smiling. But if he was, then it was probably more to the effect of “HOLY SHIT I ACTUALLY MADE IT OUT ALIVE.”

Aki: Moving on, I AM disturbed that Harry Potter is constantly being called the film (film series) of our generation. Especially when Harry Potter’s world is so dangerous.

Ryan: It’s a series that’s been around for nearly two decades in book or movie form, so it was bound to be called that. Plus I don’t think their world is more dangerous than ours.

Aki: Magic is way more dangerous than terrorists!

Talking About the Oscars

We didn't see the ceremony together, but we definitely had something to say about this year's ceremonies. In summary though, the hosts were uninspired, the winners were charming, but predictable, and Kirk Douglas pretty much stole the show. More below...

AKI -- So at about 10:00pm, I was so bored by the Oscars I started washing dishes. Oh, Franco and Hathaway tried... well Hathaway tried. Franco looked like he had indigestion. Dear Academy, cause I know you read this blog, please oh please bring back the comedians. Comedians aren’t just funny, they know how to hold the attention of the crowd, respond to whatever is happening and keep the show moving. Bring back the professionals! The Oscars should not be amateur night.

The show aside, the major awards were pretty predictable. Natalie Portman was cute and Colin Firth was hot and they both seemed generally touched by winning. I love Aaron Sorkin to death and I’m glad he won adapted screenplay. I don’t like Christian Bale (and he totally forgot his wife’s name), but everyone knew he was going to win Best Supporting Actor. Melissa Leo earned my respect by dropping the f-bomb and being completely distracted by everything around her during her speech because that is exactly what I would do.

I loved The King’s Speech but best picture? Really? It’s not even about predictability. The best picture should be the film of the year that moves the ever-evolving entity that is cinema forward. Sorry, but it isn’t enough to be a really good film. To win, you have to be a really good innovative film. Inception or The Social Network should have won. Inception because it threw away conventional storylines, created an entirely new reality and, most importantly, assumed that the audience was smart and made them work to figure out what they were seeing in front of them. The Social Network because it took a close look at who we are as a generation and where we are as a society. It wasn’t a flattering assessment; it was petty and empty and disgusting and completely honest. It made me angry and I loved that. I love when a movie evokes that kind of emotion; it’s like listening to good punk music. The people who voted for The King’s Speech are dead inside. Okay, that’s was a little extreme.

On a more positive note, the best moment of the night was by far Kirk Douglas giving out the Best Supporting Actress award. I don’t know why people say this moment was uncomfortable. He’s old so his delivery is a little slow, but he was hilarious and energetic. Maybe he can host next year.

RYAN -- When it was announced that the Academy had unexpectedly chosen James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host, I was initially worried, but quickly applauded the balls they had to think outside of the box. Plus Franco and Hathaway are young, hot, and would surely bring a different energy to the ceremony. That was the problem. Their energies weren't in sync with one another. While Franco was stuck on the basement floor of boredom, apathy, and/or cold feet, Hathaway tried to compensate by getting more and more enthusiastic and excitable as the night went on creating a generally uncomfortable energy between the two that permeated the whole ceremony.

They both weren't helped by the clunky structure of the show where each set of categories had to be tied in to some historic cinematic milestone that, while informative, wreaked havoc to the flow. And as much as I loved Kirk Douglas expertly hamming it up, his act most likely set everything behind and set the tone for the rest of the evening.

The winners themselves were absolutely delightful, but ridiculously predictable, which made the ceremony a bit dull. Of course it was still great to see Colin Firth and Natalie Portman deliver heartfelt and emotional speeches with both also looking like winners if I do say so myself. Another favorite speech came from David Seidler who dedicated his win to stutters everywhere,. I'm also happy that despite all of the drama that they've both endured, either from the past or more recently, both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won. I was a bit sad that Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop lost as I would've loved for him to have done something, but alas it wasn't meant to be. As for The King's Speech winning the top prize, I'm largely okay with it despite it not being my personal choice which would've been The Social Network, Black Swan, or Inception. I don't begrudge the Academy one bit unlike other years where my favorite have not won, because in this case it still went to a truly worthy film.

To end, just some of my favorite things/moments from the show: the Best Picture montage to open the show as well as the latter one to present the nominees, the Inception-movies skit from the beginning, the presentation of Original score, Hathaway singing to Hugh Jackman (get them both in a musical now!), and finally, the whole auto-tune montage (hilariously brilliant!).

Review: I Am Number Four

I AM...NEVER GOING TO SEE ANYTHING BY ANYBODY WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THIS MOVIE EVER AGAIN.

I Am Number Four
Director: D.J. Caruso
Date of Release: February 18, 2011
Reviewed by: AKI

So now that the Oscars are all done with and we have celebrated the best movies of 2010, lets look forward to the award season of 2011-2012.

I AM NUMBER FOUR will, without a doubt, be up for a few Razzies. This is, after all, possibly the worst movie ever made.

We follow John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), a teenager who moves to a small town called Paradise who has trouble fitting in because he is an idiot… and an alien. He falls for the pregnant chick from GLEE (Dianna Agron) only in this movie she’s not pregnant, she's an artsy pseudo-photographer named Sarah. John barely has time to deal with the adolescent drama surrounding Sarah and her jocky ex-boyfriend when the aliens that wiped out his home planet come along. The bad aliens are on earth looking for 9 special aliens from John’s planet. For some reason, these bad aliens with big feet and sharp teeth are killing these special aliens in order. In order of what they never really say, but they have already killed three and John is number 4.

At the five-minute mark, I leaned over to my friend and apologized for dragging her to yet another bad movie (the other was THE EAGLE). For it is about five minutes into the film where we are given a cheesy circa-80s voiceover telling us John’s life story which is frankly quite boring for an alien. It is all embarrassingly lazy screenwriting.

A third of the way through the film, John begins to discover that he has superpowers. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t have suspected before since, you know, he is from another freaking planet. We can only guess he discovers his powers now because now he knows he is in a movie.

So we trudge along with horrible special effects, a forced love story, a geeky abused kid, a dog that turns out to be an alien and an Australian chick who looks like Kristen Stewart (Teresa Palmer) who reveals she is number 6. I would explain all this further but why? It would be a waste of space even for the Internet. All you really need to know is this:

The bad aliens find out where John is, they tear up the town, kill people and release hell on earth. What does John do? He runs away and goes to a dark room to develop a roll of film and share a sweet moment with his pseudo-artsy girlfriend. Yep, I began rooting for the bad aliens. So what if they want to wipe out all humankind and take over earth? They also want to kill John and that makes us friends. Besides, maybe earth should be wiped out if we keep making pedestrian movies like this.

RATING: ---- That's right! Nothing! This movie doesn't deserve a star or apple or a screen to be played on. Too bad the film actually has a decent soundtrack. Really Kings of Leon? You won't lend your music to Glee but you lend it to this pile of rancid vomit. And Adele...you're breaking my heart.

Ranking the Best Picture Nominees

We know it's been awhile since we have updated this blog, but we're diving right back in and immediately talking about the Oscars which is happening next weekend. More specifically, we're going to each list and rank rank the Best Picture nominees we each have seen and share with you our brief thoughts on them.


1. Inception - Blew my freaking mind!!! In an age where Hollywood plays it safe and turns books with an established fan base into movies, this totally fresh thriller from the warped mind of Christopher Nolan gives hope to screenwriters who want to get back to writing rather than just adapting. Unfortunately, it may be too imaginative for Oscar voters.

2. The Social Network - It’s the film that sums up a generation and does the job so heartbreakingly well. Its intelligence and cleverness oozes from of its well-crafted seams. We could have a big upset against The King’s Speech on our hands. Sometimes, the Oscars like films that are little time capsules of the period and The Social Network is definitely a snapshot that should be floating around on someone’s Facebook page.

3. The King's Speech - I dare you not to be transfixed by every single performance on screen. This is the stuff the Academy lives for and the movie will probably walk away with Oscar Gold. Predictable? Yes, but for once the predictable choice actually deserves to win. I mean, have you seen this flick? It is pitch-perfect.

4. Black Swan - Ballet. Mirrors. Women turning into swans but really just turning crazy. This film lived up to all the hype, but it won’t take home Mr. Oscar. It lacks a certain amount of pseudo-sophistication and self-importance for the naked gold man. Oh well, it will certainly go down as a top-tier thriller.

5. Toy Story 3 - I’m not ashamed to say I totally cried. TS3 is a perfect example of how intelligent and complex films can be even if they are aimed at children. It won’t win the Oscar, but it does contribute to the renaissance that seems to be happening right now in the Animation industry.

6. True Grit - To tell you the truth, I was expecting a bit more. Westerns are epic little adventures and this tries to be, but falls flat. However, the performances were great and major props to the Coen Brothers for bringing back the old west.

7. 127 Hours - I have this thing about bones breaking…I don’t like it. When I hear a crack it’s like someone jammed a pencil all the way in my ear, my body goes rigid and I winch in pain. I’m sure this was a good movie. I was too busy covering my eyes and ears to really know.

8. The Kids Are All Right - Seriously, why is this film nominated? It was just all right (see what I did there?). Break it down and it is a formulaic Indie flick. Too bad…the topic of same-sex couples, their children and the entire concept of a modern family deserve a more innovative and heartfelt examination.


1. The Social Network - Actually don't buy the whole "movie of a generation" hype, but I do think it's the best movie of the year anchored by an excellent script and an amazing 1-2 punch in acting with Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield. It's most certainly a modern classic.

2. Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky has mastered the genre of "mindfuck movies" and it's a testament to him and to the hard work by an absolutely divine Natalie Portman that this film works in so many levels. Special kudos to all of the other fierce ladies in the ensemble who not only supported Portman, but enhanced the film.

3. Inception - Not only was its cast probably the best ensemble out of any film this year, but the story itself was just so unique that I can't help appreciate the risks director-writer Christopher Nolan always seems to take with all of his films. Just an excellent and highly imaginative piece of cinema.

4. Toy Story 3 - I could talk about how well made the film is, but with Pixar isn't that always a given? Instead I'll just off-the-bat say that I have no shame in admitting that I cried a lot during this film and that's pretty much all I have to say on that along with my heartfelt adieu to a magnificent trilogy.

5. 127 Hours - The fate of this film heavily rested on whether or not James Franco had it in him to deliver this performance and thankfully he achieved it brilliantly. You wouldn't think that a film about a guy stuck in a canyon would be riveting and exhilarating, but Danny Boyle's frenetic style and Franco's passion made it happen.

6. The King's Speech - Even with a largely predictable (but no less affecting) story, the cast elevates the whole film by pretty much owning their roles. In fact Colin Firth was just downright genius in his role as the reluctant stammering king and his ability to overcome his struggles was just inspirational.

7. True Grit - Being not a huge Western fan, my expectations for this film was fairly low, but the Coen brothers proved me wrong by unspooling such a wonderful vengeance tale headlined by the lovely debut of Hailee Steinfeld who more than held her own against veteran actors.

8. The Fighter - I generally like boxing movies, but with a cast as brilliant as this one had, it wasn't hard to love the film. The whole feel of the film felt so authentic and the love the filmmakers and actors had regarding the story they were telling was palpable with every scene.

9. The Kids Are All Right - What made this movie for me were the fantastic performances by the kids who probably should've been given more screentime than their adult counterparts, who weren't bad at all, but their story were less interesting to me. With that said, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening were wonderful together.

10. Winter's Bone - If I'm being completely honest, I found this film haltingly slow and oddly cold despite the emotional journey its characters had to go through. With that said, this film was chock full of character actors being damn good and that's no easy task.

Looking back at the results, it's interesting to see that our rankings for the most part lined up with one another. We both really enjoyed The Social Network and Inception and we both expected a lot more from The Kids Are All Right while the rest of the films were scattered in the middle. One of these days we're going to have wildly differing opinions to feature in this blog. That is a promise.