finding-something

Let's get my bias out of the way first. Ryan Reynolds can do no wrong. I think he's as close to a Cary Grant as we'll get ever again. His face, and the many expressions it can make, are perfect for both drama and comedy, and he seems perfectly willing to commit to both extremes. In fact, in this movie, he's able to turn the tone of the movie in an instant. Oh right, he's also incredibly attractive.

Frank (Reynolds) is an efficiency expert whose day has been thrown off. The irony of being late to his own lecture on time management is not lost on him either. Through a serious of less than fortunate events, Frank manages to mount up enough circumstantial evidence of his committing adultery at least once, that his wife throws him out.

The twist, when it comes, is not altogether unexpected, but the material is treated with a humanity that makes you happy to keep watching. In one scene, Frank is streaking across a hockey rink and in another, his and Susan's (Mortimer's) foreheads are touching, and their muted sobs are pulling at heartstrings no mere romantic comedy would ever be able to play. The sort of climax of the movie is quite superb. You see great dramedic acting, and a clever script to boot. No, not a clever script, but a sincere one. Its writing makes this movie more of a comedic romance than a romantic comedy. If you don't understand that distinction, you will after watching this movie.

From the moment Optimus Prime began narrating, I knew I chose the wrong movie to see. From hokey narration we go immediately to senselessly blowing lots of stuff up. Michael Bay took the action coloring book, stayed in the lines well enough, but used all the wrong colors, maybe all the same color. Action movies can be brilliant, even some of Bay's own films. This one wasn't.

The Cube has crash landed on earth, and both the Autobots and Decepticons are looking for it. Without a doubt, the robots look absolutely awesome, these are simply the greatest special effects in a film to date. That said, the Decepticons, the bad guys, essentially all look the same. Honestly, this doesn't matter, because nothing in the script or the story does anything to distinguish any of them anyway. The Autobots on the other hand, are drawn to show plenty of character individually, but only two really get any attention from the film makers development-wise. Perhaps half way through the movie was just too late to start introducing the good guys.

It's impossible to tell if the acting is good or not. Like the Star Wars sequels, the script is just that bad. I'm pretty sure Megan Fox was pretty weak, though. LaBeouf has a style all his own, the way he delivers lines, he kind of attacks naturalness, but once you get used to it, it's actually easy to like.

Don't expect any surprises in plot. Don't expect any sort of sophisticated humor, besides a decent attempt when Sam (LaBeouf) picks out his car. Other than that, it's all pee jokes and boy/girl awkwardness. Dramatic lines like, "Megatron must be stopped no matter the cost," and, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings," come off painfully banal and unjustified.

Halfway through, I realized I didn't care what happened, or, I already knew what was going to happen, and just didn't care to watch a story I could have told in 20 seconds. Go, take a nap, wake up and see some good special effects, then go back to catching up on some sleep.

Bringing out the ugly! What really makes this film great and uncomfortable and funny is how it lets us see ourselves. In only a few moments Ben Stone is transformed from sweetly funny stoner into a shouting, mean-spirited, insensitive child. Pete retreats selfishly from a wife, Debbie who suffocates him with insane, but strangely familiar, expectations. All the players at some point become irrational, and this is where Alison (Hiegl's character) escapes criticism. Because she is pregnant, any outburst, any unmotivated action is easily excused, and ironically, she may have the fewest anyway. She's still Izzy from Grey's Anatomy, but without the self-righteousness. She's the ideal, a little vanilla, and a little hard to identify with, but in a good way.

Despite Rogen's and Hiegl's competence, it's the little characters that really make this film shine. Leslie Mann, Alison's older sister, somehow seems like both a potentially wonderful mother and potential basket case. She teeters on greatness and disaster and I love and identify with her for it. Jason Segel, whose turn on CBS's How I Met Your Mother is nothing short of phenomenal, shines here as a slacker friend, unfoundedly cocky, and somehow endearing. He effortlessly controls the screen.

Most wonderful, though, is Paul Rudd's Pete. I've never seen a character like him animated on the screen. After attempting just now several times, it's impossible to describe what's with this character. I guess there's a kind of absent, off-hand responsibility to him that just makes for compelling screen time. An Oscar worthy performance that, sadly, will never manifest in a nomination because of the kind of movie this is.

The film is undeniably funny on all levels. There are jokes ranging from the sophisticated pokes at pop culture, to the almost mandatory fart joke. I will say, that even the fart\poop references manage to be original and hilarious. Is the humor crude? Yes, and somehow not quite inappropriate either. We're eavesdropping on funny people with their most intimate friends. Thank you Mr. Apataw for letting us listen in.

This film is simply outrageously bad. It's major failing point; it knows not what it is. Is it a syrupy gangster movie or a modern day musical experiment in the vein of Moulin Rouge? Songs are thrown in rather haphazardly, and only once does a song advance the plot at all. In the meantime, the story drags and is essentially tired and uninteresting. The acting is not over the top, but it's not subtle either, but just bad. Like watching a high school production but without any of the fun of knowing the people on the stage.

On the musical side of things, despite the musical group Outkast in charge of the music, the duo never did perform a song together. Perhaps this is the major failing of the story. It lacked intricacy. The love story was simple, the bootlegging problems were simple, the dynamics between characters was like watching a bunch of strangers thrown together for the first time. Everything going on was pretty obvious to the viewer, but then the movie had to explain it extremely slowly.

I really can't think of a single thing I enjoyed about this movie. I wish the duo would try again sometime. I think someone had a good idea, but most ideas need to be developed.

Despite how embarrassing and condemning it may be, I am going to honestly explain how I felt while watching this movie.

About a half hour through, I realized, with some horror, I really didn't care about any of the characters. It wasn't that they were portrayed poorly, they were plenty convincing and even interesting. I was certainly curious about what was going to happen to them, but curiosity is where it stopped. I shared no emotional or sympathetic bond with any character, I did not need for any of them to survive, I did not suffer when any fell. I'm not entirely sure why this is. Is it because of cultural differences? Is it because they were speaking another language? I think it must be that somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was watching the enemy. These people were in situations, at least sometimes, I could sympathize with and displayed extremely admirable qualities, I just couldn't invest emotionally in anyone. It wasn't until an injured American made his way onto the screen that I could feel my heartstrings being pulled. Granted, that may be because it was the most amazing scene in the movie, but I think it's really because they started speaking in English and talked about places I had heard of before.

The film is truly remarkable what it put me through. I've never watched a war movie except through a Western set of heroes and they are generally the victors. Eastwood made me examine myself more thoroughly by being placed somewhere so foreign. I'm not saying my default attachment watching the Japanese is necessarily wrong or immoral (who knew I was so patriotic?), but it was certainly there with me in the theater. I thought myself more enlightened, more a member of the global village. This movie revealed that perhaps I am not. A lesser film, I don't think would have allowed for so much introspection.

It is an American that commits the most heinous acts in the movie. The most amoral thing I might have ever seen done on film, and I'm shocked how quickly I thought, "Well war does terrible things to people." If the Japanese had done something comparable (as they do in the companion piece FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, I probably would have thought instead, "What a messed up culture."

Why none of these fine actors were nominated for an Academy Award, I don't know.

Typically, if there is a book and then a movie, the book is the better by far. Enter Christopher Nolan, and this is no longer the case.

As two friends' different philosophies on magic set tensions in motion, it is a tragic death that forever puts a wedge between them. A rivalry ensues between the more penetrating Borden (Bale) and the showman Angiers (Jackman). With three different time lines moving all at once through most of the movie, there's really never a moment's boredom. This storytelling is efficient and compelling.

There is enough foreshadowing throughout the movie to make one giddy. I loved how Nolan chose to focus much more on Borden's personal life than Priest did in the novel. All of the developing back story is gone, but what is gained is worth it in my opinion. Borden's wife, played by Rebecca Hall, was an unexpected treat. She certainly out-performed the other female lead. . .

At times, the movie was a little too enunciated, my reason for giving it a 9 and not a 10. Just a little more faith in the audience, especially at the very end, would have been nice.

As always, Bale was perfect. Cane was able to really shine as well, especially when reprimanding Angier at the end of the movie. A real surprise though was Hugh Jackman. Of X-Men and Kate and Leopald fame, I was more than worried for his quality of performance in this movie. Thankfully, there was never any reason to be, however. It wasn't till the very end when perhaps he was just a little too over the top (and he kind of earns it) that I thought, "Wait, that's Hugh Jackman. Oh dear, good for him." Never for a second was I ever tempted to think of Wolverine or elevators.

Splendid entertainment.

I don't know if it was the crude camera work, I think the cost of just a decent camera may even exceed the entire film's budget, or the acting or just the scenario, but half way through my heart started pounding. Without being a true horror film, Primer certainly succeeds in creating a sense of anxiety in its audience.

It's a time travel movie that feels totally believable. Like you just happen to be watching some buddy's working on some sort of .com startup while living next door. The two main characters act, think, and just look like regular people. No big budget corporations or governments exhausting billions in time travel here, just two guys who work in cubicles all day stumbling on to something big while tinkering away in their garage. Eventually, serious ethical issues begin to sprout up concerning time travel, and it's refreshing that these two clearly lack the comic book responsibility associated with super heroes. For me this is also where the real suspense comes in, just what will these characters become capable of? Incredible attention is paid to detail. Unfortunately, because of rudimentary editing, the audience might not notice it all in one viewing. The conventional, boring really, camera work, while capturing a certain every man feel, could have been more effective in cluing the audience in to characters, events, implications and consequences.

In the end, we don't feel like an audience, but more like a fly on the wall. Maybe that's okay, maybe even better than okay. I'm not exactly sure.

This movie was just what I wanted. Escape at its best. From the very beginning there's an excitement in hearing the old John Williams theme, updated quite nicely actually, and in seeing the beginning credits mimic the ones form 25 years ago. This movie certainly respects its predecessors. What's great is that it does so while one-upping them.

The beginning is where the film is truly weak. I would have loved to see the whole cornfield and barn scenes work instead at the beginning of the movie as introduction, rather than twenty minutes in as flashback. I hated the written explanation at the beginning of the film. Totally unnecessary.

But all is forgiven quite quickly. The cast is gorgeous and Lex is evil, though perhaps just a little boring, but Parker Posey does just wonderful things with her character. The special effects are really unparalleled and above all, the humor is spot on. All these things work together to carry us through the, at times, slow pacing. I trust, though, that Bryan Singer knows what he's doing, using this film to set up number two, giving us lots of characterization, just as he did with X-Men.

Regardless, the film is still action packed, and without a single true fight scene. I was literally on the edge of my seat twice; first with the airplane and then again when the White family was trapped on the boat. Loved the maturity and restraint Singer used in storytelling, not exploiting Jason White's big secret and not conveniently killing off the less plot tidy characters. Routh was perfect, absolutely perfect. He took control of the role and really made the film work picking up where others, Bosworth in particular, might have slightly lacked.

This was by far the best film of the summer. I can't help but compare it to X-Men 3. This film was FUNNY, made as much SENSE as is possible for a comic book made into a movie, and had a phenomenal score, even memorable. All things the other movie lacked.

Why, oh why, wouldn't any studio wait for Singer?

As someone who finds the whole mob movie genre a little tired, Paul Walker a less than convincing actor, and the whole Tarintino blood bath stylized film a little gimmicky in the hands of imitators, Running Scared was a real shocker for me.

The real trick to understanding, and maybe even enjoying, this movie is to not take it too seriously. Yes there are ridiculous moments in the plot, and coincidences become tedious, until it becomes obvious the audience is watching a fairy tale. Half way through, I looked at my sister and said, that little boy's gone down the rabbit hole and Paul Walker followed him. There's a fantastical element to the film reflected in its larger than life, stereotyped secondary characters and the set designs and costumes mixing with its gritty quality that results in an interesting disjoint. It's Alice in Wonderland, but instead of a Mad Hatter we have a pimp, and instead of Red and White Queens, we have a pedophile couple.

I couldn't help but get excited, scene after scene, about the camera pans and cranes. It never stooped moving or pulling; it was like a roller coaster and the scene changes seemed to run on ball bearings, almost seamlessly.

The real success here, though, is Paul Walker. He rises above his previous roles and gives the audience something altogether demanding. His lines come absolutely naturally, and his energy never wavers. It's a driving force in the film at times becoming just plain frightening. This is quite a feat, situations frighten me, rarely characters, and even rarer still is it the hero. Kramer, the writer/director, played with my expectations of all the characters, and I bought into it and loved him for it.

Supporting cast Farmiga and Bright shone brightly as well. At one point Farmiga, playing Mrs. Gazelle, drops the f-bomb and, with well deserved irony, warmed my heart. Cameron Bright as Oleg doesn't just show potential, but real acting chops. His performance was reserved and mature. Brilliant.

Nothing too profound here. There's no commentary and little reality at all. Expect an enjoyable, frightening, edgy ride.

This movie was just great. More cohesive than Amores Perros and less gimmicky than 21 Grams, relying even less on coincidences to drive its plot, Arriaga absolutely nails this one. While Brokeback Mountain might have changed the Western in 2005, if indeed it was a Western, this movie let the genre evolve. Terrific directing from Mr. Jones, and it was his debut. Barry Pepper was, in just a word, phenomenal. This was a pleasant surprise as his only other work I can recall was in the five minutes I saw of Battlefield Earth. Right. Anyway, how he was overlooked for, oh, I don't know, an Oscar during a year weak on supporting candidates, will leave me forever wondering. He carries some of the most disturbing scenes and really quite life shattering scenes, a numbingly stale love scene with his character's wife comes to mind, but also triumphs when he exhibits hope and optimism. Truly spectacular, can't wait to see what he does next.

The movie is told basically in two parts. The first half, we are discovering exactly how Malquiades died, and watching his first two burials. All the while, we are figuring out through disjointed, but efficient storytelling, just how Pete, played by Jone's, and Norton, Pepper's character, are involved with Malquiades and his death. The pacing of the first half, just how the audience discovers several key plot elements, is quite ingenious and captivating as we try to put all the pieces together surrounding Mal's death, just as Pete is doing.

It is the abruptness of the second part that may be the film's one flaw. There's almost a Weekend at Bernie's feel to the movie while Pete crosses the border in order to keep a promise, dragging along a kidnapped penitent and a hapless corpse. Oh, and he's being chased by a three fourths competent police officer. It's a dark sort of Faulknerian humor, and if the audience can buy into it, they won't walk away empty handed. The end is one of the greatest climaxes to any film I've seen. After having rooted for and against both Pete and Norton, sympathizing and questioning with each one's moralities, the conclusion is quite satisfying even beautiful and, most importantly, deserved.

Why was no one talking about this movie?

Jean Grey goes insane, in a Fruedian/alter ego way as the Pheonix; Pyro and Iceman fight, I've been waiting for this; there is a cure for the x-gene (not without its blatant homosexuality metaphors we've all come to love from this franchise); larger than ever special effects arenas; and some interesting additions to the cast, done most notably by Grammar as Beast and Ellen Page (a real delight actually) as Kitty Pride. Juggernaut wasn't too bad either.

So, what goes wrong? Really, everything. After beginning promisingly enough with a 20 years ago introduction to Jean, it quickly begins to spiral into a marathon of senseless deaths and unmotivated actions. All the themes and plot lines prove just barely, and I mean frustratingly so, too much for the director, Brett Ratner, to handle. While in the last two movies we saw into the formative moments of Bobby and Pryo and Rogue and Logan and others, here we really only learn more about Jean Grey, a class five (this evidently means she is ridiculously powerful) mutant. Certainly the whole Pheonix storyline was difficult for Ratner to understand and to include, because for most of the movie Jean Grey just stands there next to Magneto not doing anything but having red hair. In the end, we learn nothing more of newcomers like Kitty Pride and Collusus. The film moves so quickly, at such a dizzying speed, betrayals are glossed over and simply not treated with a maturity in storytelling they deserve. Sunddenly, Logan exhibits this deep and intimate bond with Jean Grey that was only ever dismissed in the earlier films. Wolverine is too consistent a character, too good, too reliable without adequate development. Storm is rather less than inspiring, given terrible lines, emerging as something like the leader of the X-Men by necessary default or accident, certainly not as an ideal choice. This would have been fine, but she never rises above the place-filling. Sad.

While some things work, such as Rogue's dilemma concerning whether or not she should take the cure, and my absolutely favorite part where Magneto yells out, "Charles," too many shortcuts and easy outs are taken for this film to be anywhere near satisfying. There are far too many casualties (I've decided one dramatic death done well per film is plenty), a way shmatlzy score, and the climax of the movie is rather rushed and, well, repetitive. I'll say it now, the Iceman/Pyro fight was truly a let down. I had been visualizing this since I saw the second movie three years ago. Clearly, this was a mistake, and I only set myself up for MASSIVE disappointment.

I left asking my brother if it would be possible to unwatch it.

This film is not boring. Not in the least. What is routine, what is everyday, does admittedly consume the first, oh, 45 minutes and requires patience from the audience. But after that, and one cannot really mind all that much as the cast is absolutely gorgeous, the suspense piles and piles until it is quite unbearable. One of the most satisfying suspense films ever.

What Meyers does playing Wilton, the protagonist and tennis pro, is phenomenal. His smoky eyes speak volumes and his mouth is absolutely expressive. From early in the movie, Dostoyevskian themes are suggested, and Wilton's behavior and psychology slowly shift into a complexity worthy of one of the Russian author's own heroes. Indeed, instead of confusing the pace and content of the movie, Woody Allen's allusions to books like Crime and Punishment is woven integrally, with care, into the film.

The movie itself plays, almost, as a tennis game. Characters act, and the audience feels batted back and forth as we take short leaps in time and discovering events directly as well as indirectly. If there is a net the audience passes over, it's the films score. Opera music provides a continuous thread and boundary to anchor the story. There is hardly a superfluous line in the movie, much less any criminally unnecessary scenes. Speaking of scenes, I love how classically the movie is filmed. Often times, two characters are framed very properly without the camera cutting for whole minutes at a time. While camera shots become more complicated and disjointed in popular cinema, here, Allen's simplicity was a treat. Beautifully filmed.

Undeniably, Scarlett Johanson is a beauty, and is on her way to greatness, although, do not expect it here. At times, her performance is a little reserved, but her subtlty is reamrkable. One laugh in particular had me distracted even scenes later.

As I said, patience is rewarded. The plot is tight and thick, though slow-going at first. One thing is certain, if you commit to it, you'll never imagine, or be disappointed, where this movie will go.

While the direction is flawless, the art direction unparalleled, and despite Ewan McGregor providing another breathtaking and engrossing animation of character, the film is, unfortunately, fundamentally flawed. It's story is lazy.

Images will stay in your mind for months afterward. The wall of books, Sam's too short pant legs, the staircase that seems to have been built on its side, the film is nothing short of a breakthrough visually. It never really cuts, it's absolutely seamless from scene to scene. The special effects are truly special. The movie is absolute eye candy, and shot totally unconventionally, breaking the 180 degree rule almost constantly to brilliant affect.

First, how the story works. The way the narrative unfolds, the story itself becomes a kind of character, and a very good one at that. Sam is a wealthy psychiatrist, seemingly beginning to break down, prone to bending the rules of the trade, while Henry, a patient, is undeniably a mess mentally. As a result, we see the events through the eyes of, well we're not sure. Probably one of these two characters. This is the gimmick-going-for-genius-but-fails of the film, the audience is only ever as sure of anything as either of the main characters seem to be. We plunge with them down to the depths of their ever increasing madness. We accompany them on their journey, trying to make sense of an utterly senseless world.

Now, how it doesn't work. The twist is just not tight enough. If you're going to write a story where ultimately nothing happens, then the twist better be brilliant, I mean perfect. Here it is not. While it is interesting and complicated and even good, it pales in comparison to the other components of the film. It fails at any psychological or philosophical profundity, and fails as a rewarding narrative. The story alone, I'd only give 3 stars. So, while I'm unsure just how this movie ever got made based on its story, I am glad that it was. A true treat for the eyes and the imagination.

I saw this movie late one night on HBO my junior year in high school. I bought it the next day and probably saw it 25 times that week. This was the first movie I ever saw that gave me reason to believe movies could be more than entertaining or heart warming. Movies could say something intelligent. Of course, the fact that this is one of the most entertaining movie's EVER only makes the watcher want to listen to what it says all that much more. And despite it's presentation and even content, it does say good things.

I won't talk, at least that much, about how amazing Pitt, Norton, and Carter are. I won't focus on the twist that no one ever sees coming and yet makes so much sense. Even without the twist, the movie would have become a classic. I won't talk about the interesting homoerotic themes, and I won't go on about how this is the modern western. Let's talk about the book instead.

I'll say it. The movie is better. While the book obviously made the movie possible, the movie is an improvement, a realization. Even Palahniuk says so concerning the end. A difficult story to put on film, but the effort was not in vain. Just as harsh, just as (and I hate this word) unflinching, the book may actually be a bit clumsy, things about beaches and Marla's mother really aren't necessary or even interesting. The grittiness of the movie is superior to anything I could have imagined, and I have an okay imagination.

I mean it, that this is a high schooler's dream. Having never even imagined things like Nihilism or self sustained living or even the virtue of pain, this film was eye opening. This movie hits like a brick, and you want it to keep hitting. Oh, and it's super quotable.

It's embarrassing to say, but this movie shaped me to some extent. I saw it at an age where I could have easily grown into conformity, or I could have begun to question and challenge everything. Fight Club instills a sense of responsibility and urgency in it's audience. It's my very favorite movie.

Quite the treat. I can't think of anything which to compare this movie. It was amazing, and Amy Adams was totally intoxicating as the very disarming Ashley.

There are many themes, very familiar themes, running throughout this movie. However, their presentation is never done with cliché there are no shortcuts in reaching them. I guess it's mostly about family, loving them, being embarrassed of them, escaping and running from and to them, comfort and sacrifice, and understanding (not to be confused with forgiveness which this movie is NOT about). There's sibling rivalry. Well, something close to it at least. There's a lot of paradox bordering hypocrisy. But only just bordering. It's about unrequited longing and discovering boundaries between people we never even saw till we run into them and our shins bleed and bleed.

Hands down, Amy Adams stole the show. I shall now have to see anything she appears in from now until I die. But the two scenes that really stuck out, that made a lasting, and I mean very lasting, impression and made the movie unforgettable, do not include Ashley at all. One is when Eugene (Scott Wilson from the OC of all places) means to record something for his wife about meerkats, and his attempts are rather frustrated. There are so many emotions and insights into character displayed here. How subtle love can be; how fragile it is. How easily it can be warped into something different, in just a moment, over something so trivial. What is trivial in life anyway? There's nothing we can go back and undo or do better.

The second scene I must mention is in a church. George sings a hymn and we get to see Madeleine's reaction. Her facial expressions are absolutely perfect. Mindbogglingly perfect. It is like she is seeing her new husband for the first time, and she is fascinated and worried by something she doesn't even know what yet. So much in this movie is communicated without clumsy dialogue. I guess that seems like maturity in a story. Well, especially a film. The dialogue is far from sparse, though. I would call it what is necessary.

Loved it. Expecting big things from the writer and the director. This film was beautiful.

A perfect balance. Sad, but not self-pitying. Triumphant, but not cheesy. Frightening, but never grotesque. Shocking, but not gimmicky. Touching without being cheap. Visually it is stunning. There are some truly amazing shots, the attention to color is appreciated. Haley Joel Osment as Cole is extraordinary. What a promising career ahead of him. Bruce Willis, as a workaholic child psychologist, ought to be extremely proud of this, as it may be some of his best work. Tender, brooding, regretful, determined. Perfect. Toni Collette, is really phenomenal. I think she gets overlooked, but with any less talented actress, the film would have certainly suffered.

I watched this film again recently, absolutely certain I would have lost some of the awe I had for it since last watching it on the big screen seven years ago. I was pleasantly surprised. It was just as moving, eerie, and beautiful. An obvious top five film of all time for me. Quite the freshman effort from Mr. Shayamalan.

Why is this movie currently in the top 250? My six stars go entirely to special effects, musical score (which is superb), swordplay, and Ewan McGregor's performance in the final minutes of the film. As for the story, there were significant problems listed below. The script is a blatant nightmare. Lines exchanged between Anakin and Padme are actually quite painful to experience. I mean I had to cover my ears.

Let's begin with Padme. This is, perhaps, the weakest female character EVER written for the screen. Ever. She does three things in the film. She cries, she sits in a room, and she is pregnant. Is this character really birthed from the same mind that gave us Princess Leia? I can't believe it. Episode One and Two suffered from quite different problems than the one thing that really damaged this movie. In the previous two films, not a lot happened. They might have even been boring. Pretty? Yes. Interesting? Like watching grass grow.

In this film, though, too much happens. If developed properly, this movie alone could have in fact been the entire trilogy. Even a satisfying trilogy. We could have developed Bail Organa's character a little more (ahem, I mean at all), had Padme involved with the infancy of the rebel alliance from even the second film, and really taken time evolving the Emperor's and Anakin's relationship. Instead everything is heaped on us all at once. By the end, the movie proves to be overwhelming (in a bad way), rushed, and premature.

I left the film, strangely enough, entertained, because it was quite a ride, and angry. Maybe this is preferable to how I left the other two; that is simply disappointed.

This might be the best movie ever; certainly one of the most potent.

A thank you to the actors, the director, whoever was in charge of cinematography, and Ms. Proulx. Simply amazing. Honestly, Brokeback Mountain has ruined all other movies for me. This is a rather happy shame.

While it is obvious anyone involved in the project invested in it completely, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams gave absolutely legendary performances. I found myself hoping Ms. Williams would end up in other scenes throughout the film. She animated Alma and gave her to audiences without any sort of reservation. Mr. Ledger's performance was nearly flawless as well. The story and the movie are both powerful. I don't know if I can say that about any other movie I've ever seen. And I'm afraid I've seen too many.

As for the film's "controversial" nature, what controversy? It is a love story. Love is messy, wrong, and destructive. Love can be shared between two men, and whether that is wrong or right, the movie provides no commentary. Homosexuality is far from glorified in this movie. That would be grotesque. It is, however, shown as a reality. Love has consequences no matter its makers. This movie is beautiful, and should be watched. I don't care who you are.

I give the movie seven stars. It did what it was supposed to do, and it did it well. The third movie was spectacular AS A MOVIE, but this was simply a well done adaptation.

From the very beginning, I thought, "Oh my goodness. This is not John Williams." This was unfortunate as the score lacked the cohesion with which the first three films were blessed.

Moving on. The acting is fine, but I felt at times both the script and the direction were a little off. Some dialogue just didn't fit together like it should. Hermione would say something, and I'd just feel awkward about it. To be fair though, all three of the teenage trio had some absolutely phenomenal moments.

The pace at the beginning was enough to make anyone dizzy. So much was happening and so quickly, I felt as though the film makers were being too careful to include EVERYTHING in the book and at the expense of the cinematic effect. I felt like I was watching a book and not a movie. What's more, the middle of the movie, the dance that is, actually began to drag! I can appreciate exploring adolescent awkwardness, but it felt as though the one stupid dance took up a third of the movie's running time.

As much as I can criticize the movie, the final climactic scene was near perfect. Ralph and Rupert stole the show. I was terrified and mesmerized. Still Harry was pried from Cedric's body the confused pace continued.

Enjoyable? Yes. As good as Azkaban? I wonder if even the seventh installment will be as good a MOVIE as the third was.