Life will never be the same for Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) or, indeed, anyone else after these climactic moments from 'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince'

Credit: Warner Bros.

Seems fitting that I should publish this review on the day before I'm going to go see the new Chris Columbus film.  I know people love to beat up on Chris for the first few films in the series, and the second one in particular, but I'm going to point out that Columbus was the one who found these kids in the first place, and based on the work they do in this new movie, he's looking more and more like a genius for the decisions he made almost a decade ago.

I'm going to write this review as if there's little of substance that I'd be able to spoil for you, since this is a book that's been out there for a while.  If you're one of those people who has only been watching the films, then I'll warn you before I drop any big plot points.  Because I'd read the books, I realized from the moment the film began that director David Yates is working from a whole new level of confidence this time out.  The movie begins with the Warner Bros shield, and then we find ourselves in the Ministry of Magic at the end of the last movie.  Harry's still got blood on him, and as people push in to ask questions and the Daily Prophet starts snapping photos, everything slows down.  Harry looks lost.  Upset.  And just before he's overwhelmed by it all, Dumbledore steps close to him, puts one arm around him, and pulls him close to protect him.  That one gesture says everything you need to know thematically about this film, and from there, we cut to the main title, and I knew... just knew... that Yates was going to nail this film.

And he did.  This is absolutely the best of the "Harry Potter" films so far.

That may sound like faint praise, but it's not.  Even removed from the sliding scale of this particular series, "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince" is a remarkable fantasy adventure, dense and serious and adult, and it serves as a fascinating benchmark for just how far this series has come since 2001.  I've always liked the ambition more than the execution, but now, finally, it feels to me like we're seeing the full potential of the series realized, and the result is somewhat breathtaking.

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Jack Black stars as Eddie in 'Brutal Legend,' a new game by eccentric gaming legend Tim Schafer, due out this year on PS3 and XBOX

Credit: EA Games

Welcome to The Morning Read.

And happy birthday, Toshi! As you read this, I'm probably already at Toshi's school, where we're planning to celebrate with his classmates and pizza a nd cake, and I can't stop smiling at the fact that I've made it four years now as a father, and so far, no authorities have had to be called in.  Before I met my wife, I could barely keep myself alive from day to day, so it's sort of gobsmacking to me to think that we're starting to get pretty good at this whole "being parents" thing.  How do I know we're good at it?  Because my kids are awesome, and happy, and healthy, and that's pretty much all the yardstick I need to know I'm doing the job right.

I love that The New York Times ran a segment on "Jaws" because (A) you can never talk about "Jaws" enough, it seems and (B) they once again show the most oft-displayed beaver shot in cinema history.  And it's not marked "NSFW" at all, because it's "Jaws."  Everyone's seen "Jaws."  And even if you haven't seen "Jaws," you've probably seen the graphic push-in on a completely naked actress from underwater.  Depends on which color timing you've seen of the film, evidently, but still... I love that Steven Spielberg is so omnipresent in our film culture at this point that this shot, as explicit as it is, has simply entered the cultural language.  That's what I mean when I say you really can't say enough about "Jaws" and how good it is at what it does.  It is simply a marvel of storytelling by tagteam.  From script to cast improv to Spielberg to Verna Fields to John Williams to release, "Jaws" is about a series of storytellers all taking their shot at "Jaws," and all landing their punches with precision and taste.  "Jaws" is a blockbuster, sure... but it's a great movie first.  It was a blockbuster precisely because it was such a great movie.  It was an organic event.  Last time that happened, in my opinon?  "The Sixth Sense."  Here's the NY Times piece, which is pretty nicely done.  I like the use of the Alex scene on both ends of that report.

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The full cast of the JJ Abrams 'Star Trek' reboot, lookin' mighty serious

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Today is my oldest son's fourth birthday.

Crazy.  I can't believe I've been a dad for four years already, and I can't believe that in that time, I've managed to create a raving "Star Trek" nerd already.  That wasn't the endgame I had in mind, certainly, but a series of events in the last two months has brought us to this place, and so in honor of Toshi and his latest obsession, this week we're going to be talking about a whole lot of "Trek" here on the blog, as well as my evolving reactions to the series since rewatching it all and the reactions of a nascent nerd being exposed to it all for the first time.

It's strange, too.  I've never really thought of myself as a "Star Trek" fan.  I've liked some of it.  Haven't liked some of it.  So this definitely isn't a case of my trying desperately to force Toshi to like something I like.  No, like most of his current obsessions, this began with him asking to watch trailers on my computer one afternoon while I was working.  This was right after the third of the "Trek" trailers was released, and I figured he'd like seeing some spaceships and aliens.

When it finished, though, he looked at me, eyes wide, and just said, "Again, Daddy."  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  He would have kept watching it over and over all afternoon if I let him.  That trailer hit him like a bullet, dead between the eyes, and left him reeling.  He asked me dozens of questions about it.  "Who's that?  Who's that?  What is he doing?  What's that ship called?"  Right away, there was a hunger to try and understand the images that so obviously rang his bell.  In case you've forgotten it, here's that final theatrical trailer for the JJ Abrams film:

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Guillermo Del Toro on the set of 'Pan's Labyrinth,' with one of his iconic monster creations

Credit: New Line Home Video

I remember when Guillermo Del Toro signed a deal with Fox to develop a TV series.  I thought at the time it was a strange fit, and I couldn't imagine Fox having the nerve to actually air anything that came out of the fertile and fevered mind of Guillermo.  They're so bad about supporting genre shows that they put on that I couldn't imagine that partnership proving to be a durable one.

Sure enough, Del Toro pitched them a series about a plague that turns out to be an attempt by vampires to take over the world, and when Fox passed on it, Guillermo decided instead to develop the story as a series of three novels, working with co-writer Chuck Hogan.  The result has already made a huge impact on the bestseller lists, and I'm willing to bet that the entire trilogy will end up optioned for film at some point.  The question is how does this work as a book, by itself, removed from the hype of Guillermo's involvement and the promise of a trilogy?

Before picking up The Strain, I was unfamiliar with the work of Chuck Hogan.  He's an award-winning crime novelist, and his book Prince Of Thieves is going to be adaptated into a film by Ben Affleck as his follow-up to "Gone Baby Gone," so I'm guessing there's some substance to his work.  Now that I've read The Strain, though, I think I have a pretty good handle on Hogan's voice as a writer, because no matter what I thought of it as a book, it doesn't read like it came out of Guillermo Del Toro.

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Being a film director is really, really hard work, as Jody Hill demonstrates here.  Pray for him.

Welcome to The Morning Read.

Since Hollywood tried to get a jump on the holiday weekend, everything opened on Wednesday, so "Public Enemies" and "Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs" are both playing wide, and for anyone who feels like they just didn't get enough Nia Vardalos with "My Life In Ruins" last month, her new film "I Hate Valentine's Day" is opening limited.  How much you want to bet her character doesn't reeeeeally hate it?  Hmmm?

Fourth of July weekend normally means the news cycle slows down to a crawl, but already this morning, Sarah Palin announced she's resigning from politics and the New Beverly announced they're bringing The Movie Orgy back in August.  I can't handle a "slow day" like this.  I am troubled by rumors that Palin's resigning because she is the one who killed Jeff Goldblum, and I hope there is swift and terrible and hopefully dinosaur-oriented justice in the days ahead.

I can't believe I forgot to run this link in one of the Morning Reads already.  For a truly great interview with Jody Hill on all things "East Bound And Down," check out part one of /Film's talk.  Part two isn't up yet, but I'm sure it'll be equally awesome.  Jody is one of those guys who hasn't learned that you're supposed to never tell the truth in interviews and you have to only say the "right thing," and I hope to god he never learns those lessons.  He's way too cool for Hollywood to ruin.  I hope.

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This image from Atari's 'Ghostbusters: The Video Game' highlights the game's biggest plus... using the proton packs

Credit: Atari

I was 14 when "Ghostbusters" opened.

I had spent the two weeks before the movie opened with my grandmother in Memphis.  She was my most dedicated moviegoing co-conspirator.  A trip to Grandmommy's house meant a full week of going to see everything playing in the theater all week long.  I picked.  We went.  That was how easy it was.  I was set to leave from her house and go straight to Boy Scout Camp for two weeks, and the day before I left from her house, "Ghostbusters" opened.

I was the only kid in camp for those two weeks who had seen "Ghostbusters" before leaving home.  While the outside world was going crazy for the movie, with bootleg t-shirts onsale in Times Square three days after the movie opened and the dialogue instantly becoming the most-quoted lines of the year, inside the camp, I was alone in my mania, and I think I must have sounded like a lunatic to everyone else as I tried to explain just why "Ghostbusters" was so incredible.

Even now, it's hard to explain to someone who wasn't a movie fan at the time just how big an impact the film had.  It was a monster runaway financial hit, sure, but beyond that, it was one of those genuine collective cultural moments, and I would argue that "Ghostbusters" is one of the most influential movies of the '80s.  What they did so well was make a blockbuster horror film, complete with "state-of-the-art" ghosts and hardware, while making fun of it at the same time.  The attitude of Bill Murray's character, Peter Venkman, has become the prevailing attitude of pop culture in the '90s and the '00s.  Pop culture ribs itself so mercilessly all the time now that sincerity is almost subversive. 

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Chlore Moretz as Hit Girl in a new still from Matthew Vaughn's 'Kick-Ass'

Credit: Marv Films, /Film

Welcome to The Morning Read.

And welcome to July.  Goodbye, Karl Malden.  It was a good run.  Better men than I have already summed up his whole career, so I'll just mention one particular performance I think is awesome.  "How The West Was Won."  But in particular, you should see it on BluRay... in the crazy-ass Smilebox transfer, meant to simulate the Cinerama experience.  I saw the film projected in Cinerama last year, and it was a powerful experience.  Cinerama was a gimmick.  It was just plain too hard to project right.  But damn, it's a cool effect.  It's like 3D without the glasses.  And the BluRay transfer does an excellent job of reproducing that if you watch it on a big enough screen.  The reason I say that particular version of that performance is because Malden was one of those great actors who made the switch from the old studio system's version of "acting" to the post-method version of "acting."  He was a great anchor for other actors.  He could run the pace of a scene like a metronome... precise.  In charge in the things he played.  Acting in Cinerama was both a very theatrical experience, and a very technical one.  Malden knew that the point was to make the audience feel immersed in the screen, and each scene is staged on three planes.  Malden, more than any other actor in the three hours of the film, played to the audience in his scenes, in a broad, inviting, theatrical performance that is also, in the later scenes, genuinely vulnerable.  It's a fantastic performance that could have only been okay, and it still would have been enough for that film.  That was Malden.  He always gave more than anyone had to give in his scenes.  Because he could.

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Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, and a whole mess of other people make up the voice cast of 'Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs'

Credit: AP Photo/20th Century Fox

"Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs" is the actual title of the film, but if you're going to go see it, then go see "Ice Age 3!D!" as it should be called.  Find a digital theater.  Blue Sky is, just speaking on a technical level, exceptionally good at what they do.  They do a lot of really sophisticated work building the world of the dinosaurs and a huge (pun intended) new cast, and the performance work by one character in particular is so good that I expect a new franchise will be born Monday morning. 

As a film goes, it's a gag reel, as you'd expect, with sentiment ladled on with two fists in a few places.  It's a Fox movie, through and through, but generally inoffensive fun.  On the sliding scale of Fox movies, I'd say it's going to generally satisfy most of the audiences that go this weekend.

I wasn't screened the film by Fox.  Instead, I went to the theater that's about four minutes from my front door and saw the midnight show.  I was surprised to see a fairly large crowd in the lobby, buying tickets.  Heading in and down the hallway to the right.  I had cut it fairly close to midnight on purpose, and I suddenly worried I wouldn't get a seat.  When the dude tore my ticket, he told me to go down the hall... to the left.  Totally not where the large crowd all seemed to be going.  The crowd was sort of a free-floating mass of dolled-up hot 20-year-olds and the irritated dudes with them.  I stood for a moment to see where everyone was going, and I guess I shouldn't be too shocked:  "Public Enemies."  Fellas, buck up.  Two hours of tragic Johnny Depp in love and dying at the end?  You guys are getting laid tonight!

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A particularly pithy moment from the laugh-a-minute funfest that is 'In The Realm Of The Senses'

Credit: Oshima Productions/The Criterion Collection

I wasn't ready.

I first read about "In The Realm Of The Senses" something like 27 years ago, reading a magazine, where there was an article about Nagisa Oshima and his "new" release, "Empire Of Passion," which the article claimed was more like a spiritual sequel to his earlier picture than anything new.

In the article, they alluded to the controversy over "In The Realm Of The Senses," and whether or not it was "fair" for the film to get the same rating as pornography.  And because I decided at a very early age that censorship is a pure and simple evil, something that I realized later is one of those moral stances so broad as to be unenforceable.  I put "In The Realm Of The Senses" on The List.  Most film freaks, as they're becoming film freaks, put together that list of titles, the movies you know that you'll see at some point, and that you want to give your full respect when you finally sit down with them. 

And over the years, I've seen those films in Austin at the Alamo, or at the Cinerama Dome before the Arclight was there or at the restored Egyptian or at the Nuart or on VHS or cable or DVD or laserdisc or BluRay... anywhere I could, and in some cases, waiting on the shelf for a few years until I was ready for the experience I excpected to have based on what what I know about a film.

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Seth Rogen at the premiere of 'Observe & Report,' which reminds me... since there are ten best picture nominations now...

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Big day for Seth Rogen.  He's one of the people invited by the Academy to join as a voting member today, along with his "40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" co-star Paul Rudd.  I love that many of the names on the list are people under 40 today.  That's important.  We need to get as many young Academy members in there and active as possible to help counteract the votes of the 130-year-old mummies who keep voting for things like "Driving Miss Daisy" to win Best Picture.

Seth's starring role in "Funny People" this summer is impressive, and a real sign of just how much he grows as an actor from film to film.  I like that he's challenging himself to do something outside his comfort zone on "The Green Hornet," and that he seems open to anything that interests him and not just movie star vehicles that "serve his brand," like some actors.

He's developing about 300,000 projects at the moment, and any one of them could or couldn't happen, depending on how the stars align.  I heard about one today, though, that's worth a mention just because of the rather unorthodox casting that could happen if the film makes it through development.

Would you go see a road comedy with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand co-starring?  Because I'm pretty sure I would.

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