Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

This is by far the best Harry Potter film in terms of film making style, and it makes the film 100 times better than it actually is. Unfortunately this film is a very talky one and there isn't really a lot of action in it. If it weren't for a couple of extra scenes that were added into the film (which weren't in the book) then it would have been quite dull. However, thankfully these scenes helped to but a bit more action in the film, which it still could have done with more of, but then the film is obviously restricted by the book.

There was a slight problem I had with the script and that was the way the film revealed who the Half-Blood Prince was. It seemed as though it was just an after thought, as though they'd reached 145 minutes into the film and realised they hadn't a lot of time left. Nevertheless, this is me just nit picking and I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

If you go and see this one then I would recommend watching at least Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix before hand because this film almost carries straight on from it, and it helps to introduce some of the characters which you might not know if you haven't seen them in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix.

The acting in this film is much better than the previous films, and those who said Daniel Radcliffe couldn't act, have to admit that he has improved a lot. He might not be the greatest actor in the world, but he was a lot better in this than Christian Bale was in Terminator Salvation. I think he did quite a good job.

The visual effects aren't even worth mentioning, because they're so good.

The music was amazing and really took the film to another level. I can see why David Yates brought Nicholas Hooper with him when he signed on to directed Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix.

I think it is safe to say that the next two Harry Potter films are in safe hands. David Yates has more style in this film than Tarantino himself.

The Guild - Season 1 - Episode 1: Wake-Up Call

San Diego Comic-Con News

As you may know Comic-Con was last weekend (23rd - 26th July), and so I've rounded up some of the interesting bits of news and written them up here. Enjoy.

Halo: Legends is a collection of seven short anime films (much like The Animatrix) made by about 5 different studios, including STUDIO 4 C which is making a two-part 30 minute film titled "Origins", which gives an overview of the 100,000 years of Halo history. For more info on the different films, click here. A DVD release is expected to be available in Spring 2010.

In other Halo news, Neill Blomkamp denies that his upcoming film, District 9, is a showcase for how he could handle a Halo film, and confirms that he is no longer involved. "The rumours are completely wrong... The answer is, I probably wouldn't do it if it was offered to me. But creatively, I would like to do it. It's kind of like I'd be sad to not work on it, but I would still say no." Elaborating he stated "I worked on it for five months... I put a lot of sort of sweat and blood into it. Creatively it's very compelling. I love it. But, when you work that long on something and you have it bottom out and collapse... I mean, I got out of it, I think I'm probably better off because it's more a personal film. But yeah, I love the world of Halo. I don't think I would go back there."

To watch the panel talk with Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp about how the Halo movie became District 9 click here.

Wil Wheaton joins the cast of The Guild for season 3 which premieres on August 25th across the Microsoft Network (Xbox, MSN and Zune). All of season 1 is available to watch on YouTube, and season 2 episodes are being uploaded on a weekly basis. I will be using my Wednesday post to post episodes here. Also you can check out Felicia Day's blog where she has posted a few pictures and a video interview with herself, just click here.

Dark Horse will be releasing a one-shot Dr Horrible comic book featuring an all knew story, which will be released in November.

Watch a video interview (below) with Joss Whedon as he talks about Dollhouse, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dr Horrible and more.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan will not be the last Battlestar Galactica movie, according to Edward James Olmos. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is set to come to DVD on 27 October 2009.

If you're a Heroes fan you can watch the entire panel video here.

The Prisoner is a 6 part series starring Sir Ian McKellan and James Caviezel. It will air in the UK on ITV1 in the winter. It has to have the longest trailer I've ever seen, but it is also one of the best.

Trailer

Panel Highlights Video

On 21st August the trailer for James Cameron's first feature film since Titanic in 1997, called Avatar will be released. As will the trailer for the Avatar: The Game.

Here is a little none comic-con new, Ridley Scott is to direct a prequel film to Alien. For more info, click here.

The Transporter

Whilst watching this I realised that I've never seen a film written by Luc Besson that didn't have a car chase in it. Oh no wait. There is one I've watched, Arthur And The Invisibles. But otherwise, The Fifth Element, Taxi, Taxi 2, The Transporter, all have car chases in them. As a result, I've come to the conclusion that Luc Besson must love car chases.

I don't think the chases in this film though are as good as the ones in the Taxi films or The Fifth Element, but they're not bad though.

With Jason Statham in the film you can kind of tell what sort of film it's going to be. However, this definitely isn't his best performance. His American accent is pretty bad and keeps fading in and out. He probably would have been better sticking with his regular accent.

His fight scenes however are excellent. Not quite as good as Jackie Chan, but definitely coming close. Some very well choreographed stuff, with a bit of humour too.

The fight scenes are the best bits probably and the story isn't as good as Besson's other stuff. It seems a bit 2 dimensional. I've only seen the film twice, and the second time I found it a little boring.

6/10

Comic-Con

As some of you may know. San Diego Comic-Con started on Thursday and finishes tomorrow. Therefore, next week I'm going to try and collect some of the interesting bits into one big saturday post. Thought I'd wait until next week so that it gives time for panel videos to appear online.

Casanova

Heath Ledger takes the lead character and joins a great cast in this amazingly clever little romantic comedy. I'm not sure if romantic comedy is really the right term to use because it's not really like other romantic comedies.

The plot is very clever and whilst you can probably guess some of the twists and turns, you would be disappointed if they didn't happen, because you want the characters to live happily ever after.

However, most of the twists and turns do surprise you and it is not until the middle that I started to think I know what's going to happen now. But I think that fact that you know what is going to happen makes the film better, in this case, because you sort get this clever little shock when you work out what it is that's going to happen.

All though that said, the film only really lets you guess a few and right up until the end it just kept on churning out surprise after surprise.

A great little film that you can just sit back and enjoy. Plus it's got some excellent music.

8/10

Brüno

If you've seen Borat and disliked it then your going to hate this so stay clear of it. However, if you loved Borat then you're going to find this hilarious too. If you've not seen Borat then... well... good luck watching Brüno, you'll be in for a shock! (Although even if you have seen Borat you're still going to be in for a shock.)

If you thought Borat was wrong, then you've seen nothing yet. This film goes way beyond Borat in terms of it's wrongness (I think that is a word). Homophobics be warned, this is not the movie for you. There is some explicit nudity and some even more explicit invisible nudity (you'll know what I mean by invisible nudity when you see it). There are moments of this film which would actually border on being porn if it weren't for the black square or circle covering those areas! And trust me when I say, thank God for those black squares and circles.

But don't let the nudity put you off, because this film is fucking hilarious. If you've seen the trailer than that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I have to say that I'm probably not going to watch this film again, but I think I'm right in saying that I'm glad I watched it. Just be warned, the film will leave you feeling pretty uncomfortable from the opening credits, right up until the end credits. But the laughter you get in return is so worth it. I haven't met anyone, yet, that didn't think the film was hilariously funny.

Taxi 2

I should first point out that if you haven't seen the first film (which doesn't matter, but is a definite bonus) than this is a French film and is therefore in subtitles. However, don't let that stop you from watching it, as it is still a great film.

Taxi introduced the characters and their relationships, because of this I think Taxi 2 is better than Taxi. It just gets straight into the action/comedy of the story right from the start and keeps on going until the very end. Another great movie from writer/producer Luc Besson.

7/10

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

It seems hollywood is just churning out the 3D movies lately, and most of the seem to be animated. Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs is one of them. If you're new to the Ice Age films then it helps if you've at least seen Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. And ideally you want to have seen the first Ice Age as well, otherwise you might not get the character of Scratte.

I didn't think this was the best film of the three, because I kind of tired of the character Ellie. But then perhaps I like this film less also because I'm older now and probably out grown these kind of films, because there wasn't really a lot in it to please adults. It is definitely a kids movie.

Saying that, the film was still very good. In the previous films I found the character of Scratte a bit boring, however, in this film he was the best character and had the best story. I also loved the aeroplane noises that came with the flying dinosaurs.

As for the 3D, I'm neither a big fan, or a disliker of 3D. Some films it works, others it doesn't. I'm not sold on it yet. In this film the 3D definitely made the film look nicer. I've only seen 3 movies in 3D, this being the 3rd, and whilst I'm glad I saw it in 3D, I didn't exactly find it mind blowing. But then it could just be me, as the litte kids sat in the row in front of me were practically standing on their chairs trying to touch film.

Unless your a kid, or taking your kids to see this film the I wouldn't worry too much if you don't catch this one.

Hannibal Rising

This is the fifth film about the character of Hannibal Lecter. The original, Manhunter, was followed five years later by The Silence Of The Lambs, which was then followed by Hannibal. Then in 2002, one year after Hannibal, Manhunter was remade as Red Dragon. And now there is Hannibal Rising, where the story truly begins.

Hannibal Rising is about the origin of Hannibal Lecter and why he went down the path he did. Now the only other Hannibal film I've seen is Ridley Scott's Hannibal, and in my opinion this one is better. It is beautifully shot, has a beautiful score, and isn't afraid to show how dark Hannibal Lecter really is.

At first I wasn't that blown away by Gaspard Ulliel's (who plays Hannibal Lecter) performance. However, once the true colours of Hannibal Lecter started to show, he was truely phenomenal. As for the other actors, they were just as good.

The scenes where Hannibal kills his victims were incredible. They were so good they were almost beautiful. These were the moments when Gaspard Ulliel really shined. He actually was evil.

This film simply is a master piece of film making.

8/10