The end of Harry Potter and Borders

Banner for the final Harry Potter movie — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

On Sunday, 24 July 2011, Janice and I screened Harry Potter [8] and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The movie was a mostly satisfying conclusion to J.K. Rowling’s fantasy saga, if not as lighthearted or filled with wonder as some of its predecessors.

A generation of young readers has grown up with the boy wizard, Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the villainous Lord Voldemort. Rowling’s ear for Dickensian names and characters, eye for detail, and increasingly intricate plots are generally well served by director David Yates.

Lead actors Daniel Radcliffe as Mr. Potter, Emma Watson (whom I saw in person at the British Museum last year) as the smart Hermione Granger, and Rupert Grint as the long-suffering Ron Weasley have matured before our eyes. They remain sympathetic, aided by eccentric tutors (most notably Maggie Smith as Prof. Minerva McGonagall and Michael Gambon as Prof. Albus Dumbledore) and too many classmates to name here.

Since she had rented Part 1 of The Deathly Hallows just last week, Janice had a somewhat easier time following the muddled story, which involved our heroes collecting and destroying reliquaries called horcruxes to weaken Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). After several chase scenes, the dark lord’s hordes of corrupt wizards, lycanthropes, and giants has a final confrontation with Dumbledore’s “army” of students at Hogwart’s.

The visual effects were solid (I saw the 2-D version), the script had more humor than the preceding entry in this series, and romantics will be comforted as people pair off and the fallen are avenged. The many supporting characters each get only a brief moment in the spotlight, but I was glad to see Matthew Lewis’ Neville Longbottom rising to the heroic challenge, as well as the motivations of Alan Rickman’s Prof. Severus Snape finally explained.

I’d give The Deathly Hallows Part 2, which is rated PG-13 for violence, about a “B,” 7.5 out of 10, or three out of five stars. How does it compare with the rest of the live-action adaptations?

–Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) ***/B+

–The Chamber of Secrets (2002) ***/B

–The Prizoner of Azkaban (2004) ****/A-

–The Goblet of Fire (2005) ***/B+

–The Order of the Phoenix (2007) ***/B+

–The Half-Blood Prince (2009) ***/B+

–The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010) ***/B-

The Harry Potter franchise has been more popular than any other young adult fantasy series, such as The Chronicles of Narnia or “His Dark Materials,” but horror melodrama Twilight may eventually challenge it for box office receipts. I’d rather see Redwall than many of the more angsty alternatives.

On a more adult level, I’m looking forward to the new Conan the Barbarian movie, as well as Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of The Hobbit. I don’t expect them to be especially faithful to the source material, but I hope that they at least capture Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien’s spirit.

Speaking of books, Janice and I also went to some shops this past weekend, including the Borders at Legacy Place in Dedham. I’ve ordered many books online, but I’ll miss the experience of browsing in brick-and-mortar book chains. Fortunately, we also went to Magic Dragon Comics and The Book Rack in Arlington, Massachusetts, before meeting Thomas K.Y. and his girlfriend Kai Yin for a steak dinner at Tango.

Coming soon: Captain America review, Comic-Con, and how I’d reboot the DC universe!

Rochester, N.Y. visit, Part 2 — fun and games

David I.S. at the Strong Museum of Play — He does everything a spider can!

Please see my previous post for the first part of my belated visit to longtime friend David I.S. in Rochester, New York. We started Sunday, 10 July 2011, strongly with cheddar melts and turkey bacon. I met some cool hipsters at Park Avenue Comics and found a few more back issues in the disorganized but full stacks at Comics Etc. I’m impressed that a small metropolitan area with only 1 million residents can support so many comic shops.

Comics Etc. also had more tabletop gaming books than Millennium Games, but not as many comics as Comic Book Heaven, which reminds me fondly of Hole in the Wall Books in Falls Church, Va. In general, I collect DC’s superhero comics, and Dave tends to like independent and horror titles, but we’ve come to appreciate numerous genres and art styles. I’m glad to have stoked his and his friend Amit T.‘s interest in the medium.

We then went to the Strong National Museum of Play, which I’d compare favorably with Boston’s Children’s Museum and the Museum of Science. It was a walk down memory lane, with old board and video games, antique doll collections, and a superhero exhibit. Fortunately, the museum wasn’t too crowded on a late Sunday afternoon.

The famous Dinosaur Barbeque didn’t disappoint us for a late lunch/early dinner (“linner”). Dave and I ate chicken wings, pulled pork, mojito chicken, plus side dishes. While that may not have been the healthiest of meals, I had tried vegan jerky earlier in the day. It wasn’t bad, and partly relieved my guilt at eating intelligent, delicious animals.

After that, we walked to the Thomson Reuters and art deco Times Square buildings, as well as varied bridges. The Rochester Spillway and abandoned subway in the heart of the city are unique landmarks. We skirted the Genesee Valley Park and the University of Rochester campus before visiting the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Dave recently got tenure at the School of Interactive Games and Media in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. He took me to his office and the cool Game Design Development Lab. While I’ve only dabbled in computer and console games over the past 30 years, I respect the creativity and hard work that goes into them. As with wargames, collectible card games, and board games, I still prefer my weekly pen-and-paper role-playing games.

That night, we created comic book dividers and talked about music and health. The next morning, I drove back to Massachusetts. This time, the lack of air conditioning was more apparent when I sat in traffic as the temperature reached the 90s Fahrenheit. I stopped at my sister-in-law Shelly’s house in Utica, N.Y., on the way for lunch and to spend a little time with her husband Melvin and children Laura and David.

Since then, I’ve been busy with work and trying to catch up on recorded genre TV and phone calls from friends before my next trip!

Rochester, N.Y., visit — food, falls, and funnies!

Dave and Gene, July 2011 — Near Ontario Beach

This past week has been even busier than usual. It started with the Independence Day and 300th anniversary events in Needham, Massachusetts, continued through various meetings at work, and included a Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” telecom fantasy game.

On Friday, 8 July 2011, I drove to Rochester, New York, to visit college chum David I.S. On the way west, I realized that the air conditioner in my car still isn’t working. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t too bad, and traffic was light. Dave and I stocked up at Wegman’s and Beers of the World before returning to his current apartment to grill steak and chicken for dinner.

As usual when we get together, we stayed up late into the night talking about family, relationships, work, housing, and our circles of acquaintances. Among the beers we tried were a Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar, and Imperial Chocolate Stout. The dark brews went well with the dry-rubbed beef. We also ate vegetable and fruit salads, kamut noodles, and chocolate frozen goat’s milk, among other things.

After sleeping in the next morning, Dave drove me to several spots along the Genesee River Trail. We didn’t have the time (or I the likely endurance) to rent a bicycle or fully explore them. I saw the strange megaliths near Lower Falls, the Fast Ferry pier and Ontario Beach, and Maplewood Gardens. Dave and I did a mix of “urban hiking,” viewing of bike trails, and strolling to take in the sights.

Rochester has poorer, African-American neighborhoods interspersed with more affluent, mostly Caucasian ones. I’m glad that Dave is aware of but willing to cross racial and economic divisions. I’ve said before that the Rust Belt isn’t confined to the Midwest — it begins in Worcester, Mass., and ends in Iowa or beyond.

We had a tasty lunch at Cheeburger, Cheeburger and visited a few comic book and game shops, including the small but well-organized All Heroes Comics, the friendly suppliers at Empire Comics, and the range and depth of the collections at Comic Book Heaven (CBH). In addition to meeting Dave’s local friends Amit T. & Krysta B., CBH proprietor Dan showed us the amazing archives in his old building, and we all hope to help his business.

Dave also took me to Millennium Games, which had a decent selection of role-playing games, if not as well-stocked as the best shops I’m familiar with in downstate New York, Northern Virginia, or eastern Massachusetts. We passed on local landmark Nick Tahou’s “garbage plate” for a simpler dinner at classic Jay’s Diner. That night, Dave enjoyed Superman/Shazam: the Return of Black Adam, especially the grindhouse Spectre short and the western/horror Jonah Hex one.

Coming soon: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Animation nation, early summer edition

Animated-style Justice League — DC's Justice League

In the past few weeks, I’ve caught up on DC’s animated movies, including Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and Superman/Shazam: the Return of Black Adam (as well as Marvel’s Thor: Tales of Asgard).

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is part of an ongoing series of direct-to-video animated adaptations of DC Comics superheroes. Like Green Lantern: First Flight, it features Firefly/Serenity and Castle‘s Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan, the first human to join the interstellar Green Lantern Corps. Unlike First Flight or the recent live-action movie starring Ryan Reynolds, Emerald Knights isn’t an origin story and takes an anthology approach to tales of the corps.

The Korean animators behind DC’s recent cartoons do an excellent job of depicting Green Lantern‘s aliens, exotic worlds, ring constructs, and fight scenes. I was pleased to see stories taken from the print comics, and Andrea Romano has again assembled a strong voice cast, including Harry Potter’s Jason Isaacs as the aptly named Sinestro, Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss as rookie Arisia, musician Henry Rollins as big “poozer” and drill sergeant Kilowog, and The Mummy‘s Arnold Vosloo as Jordan’s predecessor Abin Sur.

Other notable actors include Kelly Hu as martial artist Laira and wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as brawler Bolphunga. I’d compare Emerald Knights, which is rated PG for violence, favorably to Marvel’s recent Thor: Tales of Asgard and give it a B+/A-, 8.5 out of 10, or four out of five stars. There’s also a short preview of Batman: Year One, the next in DC’s video adaptations.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming Green Lantern TV series, which looks like it takes Bruce Timm’s designs from the great Justice League and combines them with the blocky computer animation of Star Wars: Clone Wars. There’s also another Batman TV show in the works, but it’s too soon to say whether it will continue the character’s legacy. In the meantime, I’m waiting for Young Justice‘s return and the final episodes of Batman and the Brave and the Bold.

I also belatedly watched Superman/Shazam: the Return of Black Adam, which compiles the shorts attached to previous cartoons and adds a brawl among the title characters. If you already own the other videos, it’s not worth paying full price for a slightly longer short, but it was decent nonetheless. It’s too bad that The Return of Black Adam didn’t sell well, because I enjoyed these glimpses at other superheroes relatively free of continuity. (As a Green Arrow fan, I was hoping for more of the emerald archer.)

Green Lantern movie review

On Saturday, 18 June 2011, Janice and I went into Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Free RPG Day (which I’ll blog more about soon) and lunch at Four Burgers. We then picked up my comic book subscription at New England Comics in Norwood and went to Legacy Place in Dedham, where we screened Green Lantern. Despite mixed reviews and middling box-office receipts, we enjoyed the movie almost as much as the similarly cosmic The Mighty Thor a few weeks earlier.

The latest live-action adaptation of a comic book superhero shows how hotshot test pilot Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds) overcomes his fears to join the intergalactic Green Lantern corps. Fans of space opera literature will recognize the similarities to E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Lensman” series, and Janice and I once met GL creator Martin Nodell at a convention.

I thought that Reynolds and Blake Lively (as Jordan’s boss/love interest Carol Ferris) delivered better-than-expected performances, if not quite on the level of Thor‘s Oscar-winning cast or script. Jordan and Ferris are not only both attractive but also bring a human dimension to the star-spanning tale.

Other notable actors in Green Lantern include Geoffrey Rush voicing bird/fish-like Tomar Re, Michael Clarke Duncan as drill sergeant Kilowog (who pleases fans by using the epithet “poozer”), and Mark Strong is spot on as Jordan’s superior and potential rival Sinestro. If you liked all the aliens in Star Trek and Star Wars, there are some cool crowd scenes on Oa, headquarters planet of the Green Lantern corps.

On the Earthling side, Peter Sarsgaard plays mad scientist Hector Hammond; Tim Robbins is his smarmy father, Sen. Hammond; and Angela Basset portrays government agent Amanda Waller. As with Thor, the hero and villain both struggle with daddy issues. The younger Hammond is infected or corrupted by Parallax, a soul-sucking entity mistakenly created by the blue-headed Guardians. The tentacled horror isn’t the best villain in movies, but then, it’s not the most compelling one in the comics, either.

As in Superman Returns, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk, the action scenes were well choreographed and took place in daylight. Only now are the visual effects of the ring-slinger’s will-powered constructs even possible. Green Lantern may not be considered to be as good as Batman: the Dark Knight or Iron Man, but it was entertaining nonetheless, and Disney/Marvel and Warner Bros./DC are to be commended for trying to tackle cosmic and second-string heroes again after many were disappointed by Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

I’d give Green Lantern, which is rated PG-13 for violence and language, a solid B, three out of five stars, or a 7.5 out of 10, only slightly less than Thor. While I haven’t yet seen X-Men: First Class, I’m looking forward to more movies based on comic books this summer, including Captain America: the First Avenger and Cowboys & Aliens. I also recently picked up Green Lantern: First Flight on DVD.

Coming soon: Animation reviews and space opera games!