J.D. Hansel

Fantasy

Into the Woods Review

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What do you call a movie that feels much longer than it really is, and yet stays very interesting throughout?  You call it Disney’s Into the Woods.  (About two thirds of the way through the film, my friend joked that they must still be making it and sending footage to the theater as they go along, creating a literally never-ending story.)

You should see this movie.

Let’s talk flaws first.  Between the lighting, set designs, and color grading, the woods look like a slightly fantasized version of… well, the woods.  Like the woods by the park where you used to play, or at least the way they might have seemed to a reasonably imaginative child.  That’s nice and all, but this was a missed opportunity to create unique woods in a unique fantasy world, like they did in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.  And, while on the subject of visuals, the way the film opens is essentially a modified jump scare, which I found incredibly annoying.

Because of the nature of the stage musical upon which this film is based, the story structure is a bit odd.  Without giving too much away, the film gives few warnings that its structure is going to throw off some viewers.  I… don’t know how I feel about this.  It is certainly one of the many thing about this film that had me saying, “Woah, are we really doing this, movie?  Are we really doing what it looks like we’re doing?  Wow.  Okay then.”  Honestly, that reaction wasn’t really a bad one – it meant I was intrigued and surprised, mostly in a positive way.

Now that we are talking about things I liked, I think the casting was pretty good, and the film featured one of my very favorite Johnny Depp performances.  I also really liked the way that Little Red Riding Hood was written and performed; her voice is the one that was stuck in my head afterwards because it stands out in much the same way that her bright red hood does.  Which, again, is mostly a plus.  Since the story and music are, for the most part, right out of an impressive Sondheim musical, it’s pretty much a given that they are impressive in the film.  Even the look of the film, in spite of my rant above, has a lot to offer (and you can click here for Exhibit A).

The story, characters, music, theme, and other elements are strong in this film.  This is amazingly dark, with moments that are hard to believe Disney would keep in, and I think that makes it all the more memorable.  It has a couple of little problems, but it sticks with you.

38 Into the Woods

Harry Potter 7 Review

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(MINOR SPOILERS)


Yeah, I got tired of writing out the full titles.  They’re really long.

Anyway, the seventh film in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part One is dark.  By about the third or fourth film, it was clear that this series was not for the children anymore, but now this is especially true.  It’s time to bring back beloved characters, bring back characters we didn’t care about and make us love them, and then finally kill them off.  It’s also time to bring back old Umbridge, who unfortunately does not get her heart ripped out of her body and her skull bashed in in this film, but I can dream.

It is more fun to see our heroes in the Muggle world than in a Quidditch tournament, so that’s a plus.  There’s basically no Hogwarts or Minerva McGonagall, and there’s hardly any Snape or Dumbledore (despite the fact that this would be a great time to learn more about these two characters, particularly the latter.)  I have heard that, in the books, there’s a lot more information about Dumbledore revealed, but the movie is not focused on him.  The upside to this is that there is more time spent with the main characters, and the lack of Ron means more time focused on Hermione, who is, in my opinion, the most interesting character in the franchise.  I would like it if the films would go into her background a little more, and I’d like to see her brain at work, solving mysteries and showing off, but I guess you can’t have everything.

I do believe that this is one of the films that does not have the charm of the first two movies in the series, but the interesting details that are revealed, the focus on the main characters, the interesting drama, and the fascinating plot make it a nice film overall.

33 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

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(SPOILERS)

I think a better name for this film would have been Harry Potter and the Half As Much Snogging As There Should Have Been, because frankly, it’s all about the characters and their relationships.  The characters’ relationships are what have me anxiously watching the film and enjoying it.  Harry and Ginny keep one glued to the screen, and Hermione and Ron even more so.  The scene with Ron as he unconsciously mutters Hermione’s name is absolutely brilliant.  I would have written something like that myself if I could have thought to do it that way.  What makes that scene even more delightful is Snape standing there, presumably trying not to vomit.  I think this film makes the main characters, especially Hermione, finally get the attention they should have had in the third and fourth films.

Oh, and there’s also a plot in this movie somewhere, but it’s not very strong.  In the end, we learn that the task that Harry must complete in the climax of the film (if you can call it that) really doesn’t do much good.  All of the efforts made by the characters in this film seem somehow futile, aside from giving them an idea of what they need to accomplish in the next film.  It feels empty, and all of the focus on the Half-Blood Prince does not help.  It might have meant something had it been revealed in the end that Snape was evil rather than at the beginning of the film, but because of the way this was set up, the big reveal does not feel very big at all.  The Half-Blood Prince could have been just about anyone and it wouldn’t have made a difference: Lucius Malfoy, Hagrid, Dobby, Hedwig, or H. R. Pufnstuf.

The ending with the death of Dumbledore does emotionally impact the audience, and it is rather well done, but because this is pretty much the note we end on, the movie just doesn’t feel complete.  It seems like this whole year was just setting up for the events of the year to come, which it kind of was, but a movie should not feel like it as one watches it.  It’s like when I order an expensive meal at a restaurant, eat it all, and I’m surprised to find it was not filling at all and I’m still hungry.  Still, even if making the movie was just an excuse to show the scene with unconscious Ron mumbling about Hermione, I’d be totally okay with that and I could forgive many other aspects of the film.  Also, my rating of this film is right on the border between 3.5 stars and 4 stars, and this was a very, very difficult decision.  Sadly, because its story is weak, I do not think it would be fair to give it the same rating as I gave movies 2 and 5.

22 Harry Potter 6

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review

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This movie is focused and is satisfying.  That’s really the best way to describe it.  The story is pretty simple – the Ministry is taking over Hogwarts and is keeping the students from practicing defensive spells, so Harry and his friends decide to secretly teach their fellow students to defend themselves against the Dark Lord.  Well, maybe it’s not really simple, but that’s about as simple as it gets in a Potter film.  The point is, the focus is on the main characters and their friendship, as apposed to the third and fourth Potter films, which were focused on events, scaring the audience, and teenage drama.  This film is certainly a step up.

There are many reasons why the film is probably best described as satisfying, and I must warn you that they include spoilers.  First, it satisfies our need for information by showing us things like the past of Severus Snape.  Second, it satisfies my need for a break between the dramatic and frightening scenes with comedic scenes.  Third, it satisfies everyone’s need for the most annoying/despicable character in the film, Dolores Umbridge, getting captured by angry centaurs and arguably raped (look it up).  Fourth, it satisfies my personal need for lots and lots of Hermione being Hermione.  I think that this film was a return to the fun of the first two Potter films, perhaps because of it’s Rooney/Garland movie feel.  (Oh, and the directing and cinematography and effects and stuff are good too.)

15 Harry Potter 5

Harry Potter 3 & 4 Review(s)

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I’m lumping together my reviews of the third and fourth Potter films because these two are so similar, despite having different directors.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is clearly where the film series changes course and becomes a series for teens, not children.  The filters, colors, lighting, and overall tone of the film is changed to accommodate this, and its sequel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is about the same way in terms of tone and mood.  As pointed out by Cinema Sins, Goblet of Fire starts with a shot of skulls in order to make the movie seem less child-oriented.  This sadly takes away the childlike wonder that the first two films captured so well, and I think that the tone of the series did not need to change to the degree that it did.  Perhaps it was Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón who decided to make the change, or perhaps it was the producers and the studio, but I do wish Goblet director Mike Newell had tried to bring the spirit of the first two films back.

Alfonso Cuarón is known as a good filmmaker from a technical standpoint, and I can see why since his movies do look cool and have impressive cinematography.  However, I don’t think he was really quite right for making Potter films.  The movie is slow, and it doesn’t get all that interesting until the end, at which point the plot gets so complicated that the movie makes a number of errors in an attempt to express it well (and the aforementioned Cinema Sins video shows this well).  Mike Newell made the series even darker, and made a film that has the most whiny-teenager drama I’ve seen in a Potter film so far.  He brought on board a new score composer to replace John Williams, so a little more of the charm was lost.  It is really rather strange though that I thought they were directed by the same person, until I looked it up, because their styles seemed pretty similar.

Both of the films introduce interesting new characters, such as Professor Lupin – a very likable character that is played perfectly, as is Sirius Black.  Sybill Trelawney and Peter Pettigrew are each annoying in all the ways they should be for the sake of the story.  Alastor Moody is done brilliantly, particularly from a writing standpoint, but also in terms of acting.  Sadly, journalist Rita Skeeter did not get horribly murdered slowly and painfully as I had hoped she would, but in my opinion, she’s worse than Voldemort.  The depression of seeing the performer of Twilight’s Edward as a significant actor in a Potter film is balanced out by the joy of seeing David Tennant in a wonderfully evil role.  However, all of the new characters means that time is taken away from important characters like Hermione, whom I find more interesting as a character than Harry or Ron at this point.  This is probably because I find her more relatable since she seemed to have feelings of inadequacy as a child that she handled by becoming more knowledgeable about magic than everyone else.

Still, I really want to see the rest of the series, so I guess they must have done a lot right after all.

10 Harry Potter 3 & 4