Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. David Yates. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint.
Harry Potter seeks the three magical whozits to destroy the six evil whatsits in what is not just the best entry in the Potter film series, but also the best fantasy film I've seen since Pan's Labyrinth.
Splitting up the final installment of the franchise may have been primarily a scheme to sell two tickets to a single film, but it also gives the story the breathing room it has been desperately lacking since at least the fourth movie. Instead of frantic and incoherent like the recent overstuffed films in the series, Deathly Hallows is quiet and introspective.
The extra running time still could have gone to waste under a director with less insight and respect for the source material than David Yates, the man responsible for the previous two above-average Potter films. Yates devotes his newfound freedom to the strengths rather than the weaknesses of the medium: wordless character moments and beautiful scenery shots. These decisions give much-needed time to let events sink in while still building tension with every frame.
Having already established a willingness to kill off major characters and institutions, the story's hopeless and lonely tone is believable. And while the stakes expand massively, the plot's focus narrows to a pinpoint. Most scenes feature nothing more than the three main characters wandering in the wilderness.
Hogwarts, the backdrop to nearly the entire saga up until now, is seen for all of 30 seconds.
Held up next to the bright and whimsy-filled adventures that started the series, the bleak tone of Deahtly Hallows is almost unrecognizable, yet the shift is entirely appropriate. The stories have grown with their readers/viewers, and it would be wrong to imagine this is the same kid-friendly movie The Sorceror's Stone was.
Parents who ignore the PG-13 rating should be prepared to answer questions such as "Mommy, why is the giant snake wearing that lady's skin?"
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint continue to improve as actors. Watson is the best of them; Radcliffe still isn't quite up to the demands of his role as the lead, but he's close enough to not be a distraction.
It's a shame the producers didn't stumble onto Yates and the two-film format earlier. We might have been spared at least three movies' worth of mediocrity.
Rated PG-13 for suffering a witch to live.
4.5 out of 5
Country Strong (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Shana Feste. Starring Garrett Hedlund, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester.
To someone like me for whom a title like Country Strong immediately induces severe nausea, this film is something like an ultimate test of objectivity. Can I review a movie about country music without it devolving into a seven-page rant about cowboy hats and novelty truck testicles?
I was pleased to discover that Country Strong's failures are its own, and not a projection of my personal loathing.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, a country music superstar attempting a comeback tour as she exits rehab. Her husband/manager James (Tim McGraw, who turns out to be an adequate actor) seems creepy and condescending until we learn the extent of the alcoholism and infidelity he puts up with from his wife.
Among the prizes Canter has her eye on is show opener Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), an all-American golden boy who is just emotionally abusive enough to remind us he's a rough-and-tumble cowboy.
The characters are clichés and the ending is predictable. I was uncomfortable with the film's attempts to turn its lead into a tragic hero; this is a woman with no apparent redeeming qualities beyond her ability to perform.
The drama is just a wrapping for the music, which is what Country Strong is really about. It delivers what country music fans will want and expect from this kind of movie, but nothing more.
Rated PG-13 for drinkin' and a-fightin' and a-sexin'.
3 out of 5
