Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Review

I finally went to go see the new Harry Potter a few days ago, after dangerously trudging through snow and ice to get to the cinema. It is quite ridiculous the amount of snow we're getting at the moment, but digress...

I confess I have not read all of the books (despite wanting to go to university to study English Literature...ahem...) and so, very slightly I was lost concerning the plot. However, I'm sure I also missed a ton of references that only readers will notice, so maybe after all these years I should return to the books - who knows?

Despite these drawbacks, I found the film entertaining. Very much so. It's standard now for the Potter films to be made with such high quality and attention to detail that you almost forget what a polished film it is. The special effects were superb, and yet some so subtle you probably don't even notice them, you expect them.

Fortunately, or unfortunately the film is mainly composed of just Harry, Ron and  Hermione running from a wild goose chase by Voldermort...y'know...the nice politician from Maid in Manhattan? I say fortunately and unfortunately because whilst you get to see some nice acting and all that from the three young stars, you miss out on a lot of the great British talent the past films have scooped up. Smidgens of Bill Nighy, Mark William, Julie Walters, Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Robbie Coltrane and more crop up, but not enough for me. Of course, the film's based on a book so it's not their fault, but it's a disappointment none the less.

So yes, the film was solid - none of it was amazingly bad (although the cheese factor was knocked up a notch in some cases...BAM!) but then none of it blew me away either. The main reason for this, or indeed the only reason, is because as it says in the title, it is 'Part 1.' In other words, the prequel to the action, the calm before the storm and inevitable most of it therefore is going to be build up and story setting for the final film as it goes out with a bang.

And don't get me wrong, I really do like the story and it all works well but I do have a small problem. I'm not sure whether this is a fault to the film or the books, but the latest cinema outings for the Harry Potter franchise do seem rather bleak and depressing. I am still content with the Chamber of Secrets being my favourite film, or perhaps the Prisoner of Azkaban because they act as the 'Harry learning and growing within the wizarding world' films. In those, everything was fun and light-hearted and there was cool magic and happy people and not everyone was dropping like flies all the time. Now I feel they've went too far the other way and left the films feeling empty. Or this whole paragraph could just be me reminiscing of simpler times when the three stars were young and had nothing to stress over...like me when I watched those films for the first time. Sigh...

Anyways, yes the film was good and yes of course it's made me want to go see the final final but I don't know, something just wasn't right for me and of course, it's only going to get worse in the next film where everything and everyone goes kablamo!!! That's right isn't it? That's what happens!?

It's still terrible.

This game is so wrong and so bad on so many different fronts, I don't know where to start.

So I won't.

I will say this, though. After playing on it for only 20 minutes, its made me question my fondness of FPS's.

Stay away from it, please.

Uh Oh Spaghettios!

It's official - no one cares about Pudsey any more. Children in Need last night only managed to make £18 million by the end of the night (and what a dire night that was as well) and looking at the stats below, the little bear seems to be on a downward spiral.


2005 - £17,235,256

2006 - £18,300,392

2007 - £19,089,771

2008 - £20,991,216

2009 - £20,309,747

2010 - £18,098,199

The solution? Don't make it annual! The reason Comic Relief is so successful, not just because it's far more fun and entertaining, is because it's held every two years meaning when it finally comes, there's excitement for it. However, I'm sure this will never happen, Terry Wogan seems obsessed to keep his little charity drive annual and he shall face the consequences...

Please note:

I am currently playing the Halo Reach campaign because there's nothing else to do on the Xbox and actually quite enjoying it.

Variety of gameplay. Damn intelligent AI. Nice cinematic cutscenes. Interesting storyline.

I guess you can't judge a book by its cover...or a game by its online multiplayer.

Remember this?

"At the moment I'm still not completely sold on buying this, but no doubt if my chums do on x-box, I will to. Maybe the campaign and/or other features we sell it to me, but at the moment all eyes are on Halo Reach!"

Well it turns out I couldn't be more wrong. Firstly, I have absolutely absolutely no inclination to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops. The campaign and/or other features, to me, seem pointless, unnecessary and generic. So much hype surround the game and now it's finally out I can't wait for the moaning to begin. Campers. Guns. Boosting. All that delicious stuff.

Of course, the game is different, but not different enough for me to warrant forty-odd pound to buy it. In general the gameplay is the same, the maps are the same, the guns are the same which all means it could boil down to DLC for Modern Warfare 2 and nothing more. Now, I must admit, I haven't played Black Ops, but surely if I have no lust to play the game, it has failed at it's purpose?

For those who have the money/time/patience to buy it, play it and not get annoyed by it (for the first couple of weeks anyway), good for you. But personally, the Xbox has seemed a bit lackluster lately. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough but all I want it a nice, original, interesting, absorbing game to play whilst everyone else is nuking, bombing, bow and arrowing, RC driving, knifing, sniping and n00btubing their way into frustration.

Oh, and the second point that is wrong in the quote is that I find Halo Reach to be truly one of the most disappointing titles in a long, long time. Sorry Bungie.

It think it's time for some expansion on here...

Expansion into what? I don't know...

What I do know it that things around here (when shakily updated) are getting a bit stale so here are some remedies to take twice daily...

• More posts - this is quite obvious but the more I do in here, the more varied and more interesting it will become...right?
• Make use of the other pages - as you can go see now, I haven't done this yet.
• Experiment with the limitations of blogger (which I much prefer over tumblr or wordpress).
• Other things...

I know this isn't the most interesting of posts (how ironic!) but to be honest this is more for me than it is for you...and whoever 'you' are, thank you for actually reading it!

Review: RED

I really wanted to title this post 'RED-iculously bad' but in my annoyingly obsessive manner I must stick to what I did with the Expendables review.

Anyway, as you may have now guessed, I didn't think RED was that good. But at the same time, I don't think it was that bad either. Of course, it was 'film bad' which means something completely different, but to me is was watchable. Most of the films released nowadays are 'film bad' which simply put means they weren't incredibly amazing, but worth the £5 or so you spent going to see it (plus if you have a bag of Werther's Originals with you, you're set!)

The ensemble cast of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich did a pretty good job, combining very well into the 'Retired and Extremely Dangerous' category. However, something was most definitely missing. The film felt 'empty' and raw. The spy-like thriller tone with a hint of comedy (and I mean a hint, the funniest character on there is Malkovich as the kooky funny man, a foil to Willis) doesn't really go anywhere. There is a...ahem...plot per se but everything moves too fast to keep up and ultimately care about.

It's a run of the mill film to say the least, and after a strong summer of films it certainly quivers in comparison. At this time between the big Hollywood blockbusters of the summer and the upcoming Christmas bonanza of films, it's stuck in the middle leaving no real desire to see it.

Whilst to some it may have dragged on and on and on, it comes as fast as it goes leaving no impact and little to be seen again. Sure it's entertaining, but it has to be - it's a film. That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be good...

Hee hee hoo hoo ha ha!

See how carefully and most deviously in my previous post I ignored the fact my last update was 24 days ago?

I am so smart, I am so smart! S-M-R-T...I mean S-M-A-R-T!

I have a bad feeling about this...

So it seems George Lucas could be making more Star Wars films after the 3D release of the three we all know and love as well as the...other three. Shudder. Meh, I shouldn't really say that - the whole three prequels thing has been done to death and although they are bad and are nothing but an insult to the original trilogy, the awfulness has certainly been exaggerated over the years. (On a minor related note, the third of Plinkett's Star Wars reviews is coming out soon, hoorah!)

Back to the rumour however, and it seems the new films will be unrelated to the Skywalker's and all their mess, starting fresh once again. I must wonder though, how much Star Wars-ness can exist? After six whole films, billions of expanded universe novels and a planned 100 episodes of the television series, surely ideas will repeat themselves and/or people will bore of George Lucas' world. Pah, what am I saying? It's been going on for 33 years and looks to never diminish!

Bother, blast and piffle.

A recent surge in university open days, Minecraft and of course, school work led me to kinda, well - forget about Dropped Banana.

For that, I am sorry.

However, after a recent update on LudiCrumb, I was reminded that blogging is indeed good and healthy and wise and many other positive words.

So yes, once again I shall update but I can't promise them to be regular and/or indeed funny, amusing or interesting.

Nonetheless, I shall try and actually, there are quite a few things I need to catch up on

• Halo: Reach has been released which I have bought and played and well...didn't amazingly enjoy (which I shall explain about another time). If you want to read a review by someone who did enjoy it, then try LudiCrumb again.
• The new season of The Simpson's has began airing over in the US - be prepared for more ranting on the crapiness!
• Other things I cannot yet think of...but they exist!

I can't think of a decent exit so I'll just say this...goodbye!