Film Review: Another Year

I really didn't put in enough effort to see this movie before writing up my "Best of 2010" list in January. There are only a few films that really deserve that sort of extra effort, or that warrant an extensive trip to see. I haven't exactly been a follower of director Mike Leigh, having ditched out of an attempt to see Happy-Go-Lucky at the last minute. He certainly isn't a household name, even if he has earned it with a track record more flawless than Christopher Nolan's. I've been saying before that the only reason Another Year wasn't nominated for Best Picture this year was because it missed out on the final rush of nominations voting, given its late release date. I can't quite say that to be true now, because in a society that is currently inexorably rotating around The King's Speech, it baffles me that this could go unnoticed.

I can see why audiences don't find immediate appeal in it. That can be summed up in a simple synopsis: It's about old people. In each of the Best Picture nominated films this year, the protagonist is of reasonable age. The closest we get to old is with Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, and they don't quite milk that for all that it's worth, do they? Even more than the characters, the central theme of Another Year is being old or growing older. The opening scene of the film, which could strike some viewers as being peculiar, shows a hopelessly depressed female insomniac, not ready to tell a psychiatrist about her family life. On a scale from 1 to 10, she's at a 1.

You see this character in very stark contrast to the other characters in the film at this time. There's Tom and Geri, two very happily married people, their positive son Joe, and their seemingly perky-as-bright-sunshine friend Mary. What could there possibly be to be so upset and depressed about. The film takes place in four acts, and the first act ends with a reveal of what kind of person Mary is. She drinks a lot, is very much in denial about her level of happiness, and her emotions are wild in frantic. She's a bit of a slut, thinking of a possibility with nearly every man she meets. You get to thinking, why are Tom and Geri even friends with her? She's that sort of friend that you're stuck with, and you very much don't want to just get rid of them. That would be just too cruel.

Potter-Watch (33 of 77) Review: Order of the Phoenix

When others rank the Potter movies, I'm always surprised to find this film in the top two, not only for most critics, but for members of the cast as well. It's a real shame because it remains the worst in the series. It sounds a bit harsh, but I just felt that this was one of the most unnecessary of the films, as nothing important really happens. When watching an entire marathon of the series in the future, just leave this film out, and it makes the sixth relatively more intriguing. As a matter of fact, this one may even steep down into the Twilight zone, where bad things happen to pretty people, and we don't care. Is it a bad film? Well there are a few bits I enjoyed, but on the whole part, this film was kind of disappointing.

The fifth episode picks up where the last one left off, with Voldemort now resurrected, Edward Cullen... sorry, Cedric Diggory dead, and the ministry in denial of the fact that there's a problem at all. And then the film stays there for the rest of its duration. The film moves at a fast pace, is packed into a tight two hour and ten minute runtime, but still feels awfully unnecessary. If you were to ask my opinion, if we cut off everything that doesn't matter in this film, it would be less than an hour long, and it would still be the worst in the series. However, please don't go around blaming David Yates for this catastrophe. The man is honestly a very skilled director.

If I were to point out one man to blame for how this film turned out it would be the writer, Michael Goldenberg. Steve Kloves has done a pretty outstanding job of the first four films in the series for the most part, and if he had consented to return for this film, I'm sure it would have been a great deal better. The dialogue that Goldenberg puts together is absolutely clunky, and rather than bring the plot points together coherently and explain certain things that people who didn't read the books wouldn't know, he just drops random facts from the book into the aesthetic of the story. He never explains such characters as Mrs. Figg, who never appeared in the series before. Grawp practically appears out of nowhere. It's just a bad translation of what is an otherwise good story.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, the whimsy of the first two films is officially back, and it sucks. How easy it is to forget that people are dying everywhere when a CG Santa is riding around on a broomstick, Fred and George are poisoning Filch, and Hogwarts is being made a wreck by a fireworks dragon. The tone of this film is simply all over the place. It never feels consistent, and leaves you with a weird feeling in your stomach. That may due to the fact that angst is in the air, mostly coming from Daniel Radcliffe. He does decent job here, but he's definitely in danger of becoming far too familiar. You can tell how he'll do something before he does it, and that should just never happen.

Despite the whimsy and all that, it does offer us an interesting villain in the form of Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge. There are so many things I hate about the film, but she isn't one of them. Umbridge is such a foul sociopathic character, and if she was given the Stephen King treatment, we'd be squirming in our seats out of pure fear. As it is, she still embodies this obsessive-compulsiveness and cruelty that simply work in the context of everything. This episode also offers us the last performance from Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, a lot more well shaven than the last time we saw him, and he gets in just enough scenes to make us feel a deep pang of sadness when we know what's coming. We don't feel that when he dies, and that's where the film messes up. All the same, my heart always rips to pieces when Sirius utters one particular line: "When all this is over, we'll be a proper family. You'll see."

One of my biggest problems with the film is the technical credits, which are absolutely terrible. The visual effects are fine, and I have no complaints there. The cinematography either looks like somebody urinated on our characters faces, or it just sits there in a boring and mundane position. Nicholas Hooper composes a score just as despicable as Umbridge, and it's very much to blame for the whimsically vomitous portions of the film. However, worst of all is the script for the film. It'd be one thing to take lines straight from the book, but this film commits a further atrocity, by replacing them with boring and cliched dialogue that could put you to sleep. Ultimately, David Yates' first outing as Potter director leaves a lot to be desired, and when I heard he'd be directing the last three films in the series, I was more than a bit concerned. This installment just doesn't live up to the standard created by the third and fourth films. It would take a while before Potter truly found its feet again. All the same, it isn't quite a horrible film, and despite unbearable slogs through foul territory, it still manages to just barely stay a relevant part of the series.

C+

Potter-Watch (28 of 77): The Road Movie

Welcome to the last conglomerate Potter-Watch before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1! We have a week until the big release which is bound to break all kinds of records in a fantastic way. I'm going to make my prediction right now that it will at least break the opening day record, due to huge midnight release earnings, and even more from the rest of the day. It may go on to break the opening weekend record, but it will be more difficult since the film is not releasing in 3D. Still, the fan base should trampoline this film to success over the weekend, as well as over Thanksgiving break. It will probably be the highest grossing film in the franchise to date, and the fifth non-3D film to date to make it past the 1 million mark.

There have been quite a few featurettes being released, including one that goes into the main plot point of the titular Deathly Hallows, and one that explores all the different characters. I'd like to show you the latter, but there isn't an embed available. I'd show you all of them, but I feel that Warner Bros. is steeping too far into their old ways of ruining the film a bit too much. It does give an idea of all the different layers this film will have, right down to the smallest details. What I will show you is the featurette focusing on the Ministry of Magic, which plays a very important role in this film. It shows Bill Nighy as Rufus Scrimgeor and Imelda Staunton returning as one of the most despicable characters of the series, Dolores Umbridge. Check it out.

What sets this film above most is the focus on the main three characters specifically. A lot of characters are returning, and that should be rather fun for those who've been initiated into the series. If you are brand new to it all, you really don't even matter. Sorry, but it's true. Early on, though, the cast and crew kept coming up with terms to describe the two Deathly Hallows films, and the phrase that escaped most often for Part 1 was "road movie". A lot of people have moved past it, but it's still very much true. These three are on their own in a very strange and beautiful landscape. They're running from those who want to kill them, and they can't really trust anyone. By any definition, this is indeed what you'd call a road movie.

Finally, before I leave you with practically no Potter news until after the release of the new film, the film premiered in London yesterday, and reviews are already hitting the net. The first two actually hit before the premiere even started, so that's suspicious, seeing as they were both very close to being negative. I don't consider The Guardian to be a reliable source when it comes to this sort of thing, so it's not surprising that they offer a review almost as negative as their review for Half-Blood Prince. For the most part though, reception has been rather positive, especially from the Potter fanbase. They admit that the film will not have an awards presence this year, which is something I've been tossing and turning over for the past few days. I gave it a good shot, didn't I. I guess it really is time to get serious. Though some reviewers have hinted at a possibility for next year's film to make a huge impact, and the technical categories are still likely shots for this film. I found the video review from UGO to be particularly insightful, because it just seems like a reliable point. I leave you with a hilarious video from YouTube user Tobuscus, and my top three choices for my favorite Potter moments. Tomorrow begins my week long review of the first six films. Enjoy!

3. Dumbledore's Death (Half-Blood Prince)

Of all the death in the Potter series, which haven't quite registered emotionally in the way they should, this is admittedly the most emotional and important of them. A year after Dumbledore and Voldemort fight over the soul of Harry Potter, a similar fight goes on over Draco, who is a much harder target for Dumbledore to win over. It's such an intense scene as Draco is on the edge of killing the only one Voldemort ever feared, and you can tell that Dumbledore is doing everything he can to stall Draco just long enough. He can see that Draco isn't emotionally capable of taking a life, but the consequences should he fail are too horrifying for him to risk it. It's definitely a powerful turning point for this character who has been all bark but no bite until now, but now we actually worry about this little douchebag.

Then the tension breaks as Snape arrives, and Harry makes the decision he'll soon regret to let him go forward. After the most suspenseful silence the series has seen to date, Dumbledore is murdered by the man he trusted most. I'll admit that this wasn't emotionally satisfying at first, but after the Death Eaters flee the grounds, there's a truly emotional sendoff in the courtyard, where all the students show up in sorrow and sadness. It really was the saddest moment of this series, despite the griping that several have instigated in. Deep down, this is a series about growing up, and part of that is leaving your mentors and father figures behind, and this was a rather poignant way of doing that.

2. Voldemort's Rebirth (Goblet of Fire)

There are several massive action sequences in the fourth installment of the series, and that's a rather large focus of the film. Some of the films have had definite problems with pacing, but not this one. It always feels like it's going at the right pace, and it all leads up to that finale. There's an undercurrent of dread throughout the entire film, and builds and builds until this point, and then everything is released in the most terrifying way possible. It's pure havoc and chaos when Voldemort finally rises out of pot as an amorphous blob, slowly taking form into this hideous snakelike humanoid. You can say that Ralph Fiennes has been hamming up his performance of Voldemort over the course of the films, and you would be correct.

However, he is as perfect as he could be in this scene. He has such confidence at that moment that it simply clicks on all cylinders. The sheer menace of the scene is frightening, for both Harry and the Death Eaters. They had never expected their master to ever return, and they were in fact counting on it. This throws a wrench into everything they planned. Then is the one on one between Harry and Voldemort, and you see Harry get the crap beaten out of him. He is tortured and humiliated by this crazed adult who takes out all the aggression he's had over his death on Harry. The battle ends on Priori Incantatum, when Harry sees his parents one last time before he escapes. It's a hopeful cap-off to a horrific situation, and it may be the most important scene in the continuity of the series.

1. He's The Dog (Prisoner of Azkaban)

Everyone has a certain scene of the series that has absolutely defined what it has meant to them. For me, that scene is the ultimate reveal that happens at the beginning of the climax of Prisoner of Azkaban. It's a very biased opinion, because I had not read the third book in the series at the time of watching the film. I had no idea exactly what I was in for, and it's really the best film for it. For the entire duration, we are led to believe that Sirius Black was not only a Death Eater, but the man responsible for the death of Harry's parents. He never laid a hand on them, but he did betray them. We'd been led to believe that Azkaban had twisted his mind to the breaking point, and that he had set out to kill Harry. We were so certain of it, and nothing could've been more surprising than the truth.

From the dread filled start with the surprised appearance of a disheveled Sirius Black, to the surprise appearance by Remus Lupin and revelation that he's a werewolf (though I could kind of guess that from the beginning), to the startling appearance of Peter Pettigrew, I was gripped to my seat. It was the first time a literary translation had surprised me in such a huge way, and I absolutely loved it. It brought every single dangling plot point to the fore, and the fact that Scabbers actually has such a huge meaning to the plot is magnificent. Nobody could have possibly seen that coming, so it came right out of left field. I understand if it wasn't the best scene for everyone, but it was the best for me. It carried the most meaning and impact, both visually and cinematically.