Last year, I wrote an article titled “Why It Is Impossible to Review Harry Potter”, where I stated that I couldn’t really do a decent review of a Harry Potter movie due to the fact that I was such a fan of the series.

So what do we have here?  A review of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”.

Let’s all break into a chorus of “liar, liar, pants on fire”.

I watched this movie at the midnight showing when it was first released, along with what seemed to be 2,000 of my closest friends.  This was the first time I’d ever been “invited” to the midnight showing by my wife.  Previously, she had always went with our two kids as kind of “their thing”, and I was relegated to the chopped liver category, attending the movie later on that weekend.  As it turns out, the “traditional thing with the kids only” was a ruse my wife used because in reality, she wanted to see the movies TWICE in the first weekend, and since she won’t go to a movie alone, she needed me to skip the first one.

Long story short; one of the kids couldn’t make it to the midnight showing, so I received the call up from AAA for the big event. (And then my wife took the other kid to see it on Sunday).

One thing I love about midnight showings?  Uhmmm…well…OK, not a damn thing.  The multiplex was showing it on eight different screens at the same time, so everyone was trying to be in the lobby at the same time, of course.  I’ve seen better organized riots.

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I’m still not exactly sure what to think about “Unstoppable”, the latest collaboration between director Tony Scott, Denzel Washington, and a train.

In one regard, it is one of the most solid pieces of entertainment you are likely to see this year.  A short (90 minute) film that will have you gripping your chair due to its heart pounding action and tension.  If you want something to get your adrenaline flowing; this is the film to watch.

On the other hand, if you want a movie that has any depth?  You’ll have to go see something else…but that won’t stop you from enjoying this film.  For me, the lack of depth didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film while I was watching it.  Later on, it occurred to me that I had just had the visual equivalence of cotton candy, but I didn’t really mind.

Credit goes to Scott, Washington, and Chris Pine in his first major role since his breakthrough as Captain Kirk in JJ Abrams’ reboot of the Star Trek franchise.  Scott for keeping things minimal.  Show the actors…let them get in a little background information on themselves…cue the runaway train.  But if the actors can’t sell themselves as sympathetic, then you are just there to watch the carnage…and you can do that for free every week watching NASCAR.  This is where Washington and Pine shine through.  There is very little time for getting too in depth with their characters, so they have to sell themselves quickly and believably.

Washington once again plays the older man facing his own mortality as Frank, a 28 year veteran train engineer staring down an upcoming forced retirement and life alone after the passing of his wife and his 18 and 19 year old daughters moving out of the house.  This time, Denzel doesn’t pack on the pounds for sympathy/character like he did with the uneven Scott directed “Taking of Pelham 123”; he just plays it straight, and it is a very effective, minimal performance that can stand up to any of his other roles.

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So what’s been happening over the last few months?  That’s how long it’s been since I’ve talked about any News and Rumors.  Of course, one reason that I didn’t bring these tidbits up in the columns for September and October were because not much was happening.  That’s changed a lot over the past four weeks.

Hobbit Time!! – Those furry footed little critters were everywhere in the entertainment news over the past few weeks.  First was the story that Peter Jackson would indeed be directing the two films (for any of you who don’t already know, the first Hobbit film will cover the entirety of the book “The Hobbit”.  The second movie will cover the 60 some years from the end of the first book until the start of “The Lord of the Rings”, using Tolkien’s material).  Then there was bad news as a labor disagreement looked like it might put a kibosh on filming the movies in New Zealand. 

Next came casting news; the biggest of which was the long-rumored-about signing of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.  Excellent choice, as far as I’m concerned.  Freeman was perfect for the role, and does resemble Ian Holm (Bilbo in the LOTR trilogy) enough to make it work.  They also announced the casting of several of the dwarves.  I didn’t recognize any the names, but that doesn’t concern me, as they’ll be under as heavy of makeup as John Rhys-Davies was.

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Action comedies are a very unusual genre indeed.  Most often, they are primarily action films with a few laughs scattered about just to prove that they don’t take themselves that seriously.  “The A-Team” is a prime example of that type of film.  Other times, action films take on a lot of comedic overtones; often in the form of satire or black comedy; “Tropic Thunder” did it very well (despite the negative of Ben Stiller’s awful acting), while other films such as “The Mexican” and “Nurse Betty” failed miserably.

“Red” approaches action-comedy in a completely different way, one that got me thinking waaayyy back to a similar type of movie, 1980’s “Hopscotch” with Walter Matthau.  I was reminded of this film due to the fact that both have “bad guys” trying to kill our good guy former-spy heroes, but all the while you know damn good and well that the bad guys don’t have a chance, so you just sit back and watch the good guys play road runner to the baddies’ Wile E. Coyote.

Another similarity to “Hopscotch” is that you have protagonists that are older; although I’m still not sure how comfortable I really was in the way the script was continually calling out Bruce Willis’ character for being “so old”, when he is only in his mid-50s.  But perhaps that’s just a bit of paranoia on my part.  In truth, the movie is a testament to “experience over youth” on almost every level, a fact that the film hammers home in the use of some extremely talented “older” actors, most of whom usually do much more serious fare.

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