Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

Well Harry and his friends are at it again and this time the dark forces are more prevalent than ever. The evil Lord Voldemort is building his forces by recruiting some unlikely foes in attempts to infilitrate the grounds of Hogwarts and destroy all hope for the triumph of good. In this episode Harry uses a potions book that was previously held by the Half Blood Prince which allows him to excel in his most dreaded subject gain acceptance his new teacher's, Professor Slughorn, inner circle. This relationship is critical to the plot of the story because of Slughorn's past relationship with Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort, and how he may have impacted the Dark Lord's success towards immortality. There are also blossoming relationships that are being developed between a few central characters which will segue into the final chapter of the Harry Potter saga and beyond. Hold your breath because you will witness the loss of a main character (may be good or bad) at the end of Prince...

This movie is a success on many fronts. The visuals are wonderful (with the backing of a $250 million budget) and Potter newcomer, Professor Slughorn, played by veteran Jim Broadbent, stole every scene he was in. This film kept me interested throughout but was not in the same league as the book. They did not satisfactorily link the importance of the Half Blood Prince to the plot of the story and the relationships between the main characters became annoying and overbearing towards the end. However, this is by far the best Potter film of all, and my favorite book in the series. Even though there were a couple weaknesses this film definitely earns an A.

Bruno

Well Sasha Baron Cohen has done it again but this time with his ultra flamboyant, homosexual, fashionista persona, Bruno. After being discarded from the European fashion industry for his dramatic use of a velcro jumpsuit he heads to America with his former assistant's assistant. Here Bruno is going to restake his claim to fame by any means necessary, and if you have seen Borat you know just how far he will go. He will not only shock, offend, and quite possibly, disgust you to achieve his goal but he'll do that to anybody and everybody. But one thing is certain, if you liked Borat, you will love Bruno.

How Bruno did not receive a NC-17 rating is beyond me so please take caution when seeing this movie. It has graphic nudity (of the male persuasion), sexual perversion, and vulgar language so if you can tolerate all of that then you are good to go. Parts of the movie were mediocore and not as funny as I hoped but when I laughed it was to a point were I couldn't breathe. The things Bruno did not just to celebrities but also politicians, rednecks and your everyday people were just priceless. I'll give Bruno a well deserved B.

Moon

Nothing satisfies the moviegoing experience more than a good low budget movie with strong performances by its actors. In Moon we have Sam Bell, played by the always talented Sam Rockwell, playing multiple roles of himself as he is gathering alternative energy sources for Earth's consumption on, you guessed it, the moon. Nearing the end of his 3 year contract, Sam begins to lose his grip on his own personal sanity and begins seeing some pretty weird things which can't possibly be real, or can they? During a routine trip on the moon's surface Sam has a near fatal accident and wakes up to find that these strange occurences are going to become far stranger. He starts asking the question, who is this company I work for and what are they doing to me?

Even though I spotted the main plot twist in the first 15 minuts of the movie I was curious how they would play out. I was especially curious because a vast majority of the movie was reliant only on Rockwell's performance and it's a tall order to hold a movie on one person's shoulders. After I was done watching it I thought it was pretty good but after reflecting for a couple of days I think I really liked it. He did a solid job acting and the story was relatively interesting, one of the better low budget films I've seen in awhile. I give this movie a B.

Public Enemies

John Dillinger, Chicago's public enemy #1 hits the streets during the Great Depression and takes on the Bureau of Investigation's J. Edgar Hoover and Melvin Purvis (played by Billy Crudup and Christian Bale respectively). For 150 minutes Dillinger is constantly being pursued by them while remaining a focal point in the public eye and, of course, robbing banks. When he gets caught he escapes it was as simple as that. In every facet of his life he was bold, ruthless and brutally honest, "My name is John Dillinger and I rob banks," with the one exception, his girl, Billie (Marion Cotillard). Their chemistry was immediate, their love was believable but their relationship was ultimately doomed for failure but that was ok with them. This movie does not glorify Dillinger, he was a ganster, bank robber and murderer but in the end I was still rooting for him. And since it was based on a true story (or about as true as one can be), it makes for a hell of experience.

There are two things I love about Michael Mann films; first his style of filming, parts of the movie is almost like watching a home video shot on a personal camcorder, it is very unique and one of his many differentiators. Second, the gun fight scenes and if you have seen his other films like Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice you know exactly what I am talking about. There are several minutes where both sides are having a good old fashion shoot out...it doesn't get any better than that.

Bottom Line, Public Enemies was a fantastic movie. Johnny Depp's depiction of John Dillinger was brillant and he, yet again, pleases audiences with another genre of his many personas. His supporting cast Cotillard, Bale and Crudup developed their characters perfectly and made their performances extremely authentic. Even though the overall film dragged on at times, it missed tops marks by just a fraction. So I give it the highest possible A.

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If you would like a particular movie reviewed please email me your request at scenebyjames@gmail.com. Your requests are not limited to new theatrical releases but any movie I can get my hands on (yes I am an avid Netflixer also).