Friday, July 8, 2011

Deathly Hallows Countdown

Are you eagerly awaiting the last Potter movie? As they keep saying, "It all ends" for the Harry Potter series. So how do you think Deathly Hallows will measure up to the other films? A grand and suitable finale? Oh I hope so. It's too soon to know, but the few early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes look good. "This is an exciting and, to put it mildly, massively eventful finale that will grip and greatly please anyone who has been at all a fan of the series up to now," wrote Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter. "If ever there was a sure thing commercially, this stout farewell is it."

And Philip Womack of London's Telegraph says, "This is monumental cinema, awash with gorgeous tones, and carrying an ultimate message that will resonate with every viewer, young or old: there is darkness in all of us, but we can overcome it."

However, in his mostly positive review, Variety's Justin Chang wrote that "more than a few viewers may be left wondering: Why the rush? The series' shortest entry at 131 minutes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II surges ahead with tremendous urgency, superb spectacle and powerful, even overwhelming emotion, only to falter with a hasty sendoff that seems to buckle under the weight of audience expectations."

I admit, I love the series. Both the books and the movies. I read them to both my kids. I've watched the actors grow up on screen. And I was so glad that they cut Books 4 and 5 because they so needed it. I love the pantheon of actors who parade through the films. Some of the cameos are perfect. Which was your favorite film? book? character? Do the movies make you want to go back to the books as they do for me? And, oh, I so hope they don't include the epilogue in this movie -- please, please, please.

Thoughts?

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