Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It's seems to me it's been a while since I saw it so my review comes a little late.



I've never been in any sort of Potter-mania, I haven't read the books (I'm always telling myself that I should ... it's definitively missing to my ... hem hem ... "culture") but I've enjoyed the movies.



That's my very own Harry Potter paradox ... I'm definitively not part of the basic fan base of Hogwarts people, and I know every single showtime is fully crowded during the first weeks so I'm always telling myself that I can wait to see it .... but when it's released I can't refrain myself to see it in the first week end.



So did I again this time.


The Story

As for the other ones, the movies starts as Harry is about to start a new year (that makes six now) at Hogwarts. The school welcomes Professor Slughorn, a friend of Dumbeldore's but also someone with heavy memories. Love is the in the air for lots of the students but in the meanwhile, Voldemort's threat is increasing and Harry understand it might already be in Hogwart's walls.

The Actors

I know the whole main cast is already well known .... Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint don't need more introduction. Neither do Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbeldore), Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) or Helena Bonham-Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange).
Most of the secondary characters are back too.
For this movie some other faces join the cast : the great Jim Broadbent is Professor Horace Slughorn, Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown. Also Frank Dillane and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (who also happens to be Ralph Fiennes' nephew) share the task to be the young (respectively at the ages of 16 and 11) Tom Riddle who'll later become Lord Voldemort.

What did I think ?


I'm sure it will not be my favorite episode at all ('til know I'm shared between giving my preference to the Goblet of Fire or to the Order of the Phoenix). Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed it but I felt like it was missing something.

I saw it more like a transition to the final parts (as the last book will be split in 2 movies).

I found the movie focused too much on the love interests of the different character and it has too much of a teenager movie. I guess the idea behind that is to clearly show us Harry and his friends are no more the little kids of the first movie. But that was a little too much in my opinion.
I felt like the sorcellery side was put more in the background and some secondary character became almost inexistant. I'm thinking about Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Luna Lovegood. And in this area I was particularly disappointed about Neville Longbottom. His character became interresting in the Order of The Phoenix but he almost disappeared here, to be in almost only one scene, playing the waiter at Professor Slughorn's party.

It seemed to me the whole film was only a long introduction to its dramatic end (as we know, a main character dies in the end). I regret that some aspect were almost ignored, like the identity of The Half-Blood Prince, which is revealed in 2 seconds between other scenes.

BUT ... as I said, I enjoyed it anyway ... because it still have the ingredients that makes movies of the franchise what they are ... great movies. I mean great movies for entertainment (we do not always need a masterpiece to enjoy a movie and think its great). The scenery is, as usual, amazing ... should I dare to say, magical ? Quidditch scenes are as always very impressive, as well as the "fighting" scenes. The introductory scene is really really great (Am I the only one to see a reference to the Tacoma Bridge ?!?). I liked to know more about Voldemort's past. Professor Slughorn is a very interesting character and Jim Broadbent is just great to play it. It also was interresting that even if Draco Malfoy is obviously attracted by the "dark side of the force", his conscience sometimes seems to tell him he might not be ready for that yet. Plus, even for the "bad ones", a mother is still a mother, fearing for her child. And Helena Bonham-Carter is equal to herself while playing Bellatrix Lestrange, crazy just the way I like it.

So, even if I don't think this one is the best of the serie, it's still good enough and I guess that most of the audience will like like it.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland trailer

It was supposedly released yesterday but was finally able to watch it today. As some people didn't respected the embargo date and published it a little earlier, most links were sending me to places were the video had been removed or disabled.

Anyway ... here it is ...



I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton's work and I already told how much I enjoy to see Johnny Depp on a big screen. Plus, Alice in Wonderland is probably my favorite Disney classic. So, I have gigantic expectations for this movie.

And this first trailer let me hope that I won't be disappointed. I already can imagine how mad the Mad Hatter will be.

Oh God ... more than 7 months to wait !

A Summer in the City

As I decided to travel back to Europe in the fall, I spend the whole summer in the city. And you know what ? I like it !

No doubt that one reason why I enjoy so much living here in Montreal. There's so much to do with all festivals during the whole summer. And the good part of it is that in all those festivals, there's always a lot of really great things to do for free.
Where else could you you see a great show of Stevie Wonder for free ??
Of course, not everything is free but there's so much choice !

And that's such a great way to discover new thing. For instance, I'm not a huge fan of jazz. Not at all. But, I go to the jazz fest anyway. I pick up (mostly randomly as I don't know well the subject) some shows among the free ones and that's how I learn to open my ears to that kind of music. Of course, there are show that I preferred but I've never been disappointed enough to leave a show (easy when the show are outside) before its end.

Same thing with "Just for laughs/Juste pour rire". I wouldn't pay to see a stand up comic show but I like to go and see what's happening around, all the external activities. On the other day, there was that really amazing show featuring a choir called Scala, which covers hits of pop/rock music.

I already picked up some shows for the coming Francofolies festival and ended with at least one for each day !

Those are major festivals but there's also so much others (Osheaga, Nuits d'Afrique, DiversCité, Piknic Electronik ...) that's almost impossible to find something that you'll like.

And I didn't even mention the fireworks competition every Saturday.

House M.D. - Season 6 promo

Ok, now I just can't wait 'til September.

Gee ... Just realized that I won't be at home on that day ... anyway, I guess I will record it.

Public Enemies

Good thing that I had a day off today so I didn't have to wait to see "Public Enemies", which was among the summer movies I wait the most.






Do I really need to say the reason is exclusively Johnny Depp ?

The Story

During the Depression, John Dillinger and his gang rob banks in Chicago and escape the police. Even when they are arrested, they do not remain in the jail for a long time. That was enough to make the gang the major target of the FBI. The main task of the Bureau became to arrest definitively Dillinger.

The Actors

Beside Johnny Depp as John Dillinger (note the common initals "JD", which is how Depp signs his paintings ... nothing to do with the movie, I just noticed), we found Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette (Dillinger's love interrest), Christian Bale as FBI top agent Melvin Purvis and Billy Crudup as FBI director Hoover. This interresting cast also includes Emilie de Ravin (Lost), Giovanni Ribisi and even a cameo of Diana Krall.

What did I think ?

I don't know yet exactly what to think.

On one side, I liked it as I think I could like any Johnny Depp's movie ... I mean, I think it should be very bad before I dislike one of his movie (I even liked Cry Baby ... but I was a teenager at that time ... yes, it is a good excuse).

But on another side, I didn't enjoyed it as much as I expected.

It wasn't bad at all but I didn't find anything very exciting. However I still enjoyed it.

Johnny Depp has a character who very well fits him : sort of a bad boy but still with good feeling ... does the term "romantic gangster" exist ? That's how I would describe it. So, he cannot be bad ... and every single scene he is in is an eye-candy. But, even if this kind of character fits him, I prefer him in characters with a crazy side (Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka ... and I can't wait to see him as The Mad Hatter).

In the things I liked, I would add the chemistry between Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard. They did a very nice couple. Sounds like Depp knows what to do with French women ;-) Seriously, they're doing great together. And Cotillard didn't disappoint me at all. She doesn't do a performance as extraordinary as in La Vie en Rose but still, she does great. There was only a scene where I didn't like her a lot ... when she's questionned by the FBI, she makes the exact same "tortured" face as she did in some scenes of La Vie en Rose. Anyway, that wasn't a big deal.

Actually, most of the actors do well. No outstanding performance but good.

Being released now is a good timing for the movies as we can relate to the economic situation. And it can be interresting to see how people reacted in the time of Depression. Actually, Dillinger didn't seem to be seen as an ennemy by the population, and he even was popular (because he robbed money from banks ... not from people ...). Most people didn't seem to care for the robbed banks, which were seen as partially responsible for the situation (see how it relates to the situation we live now).

Technically, the movie is well "polished", apparently it is all made in HD and it looks like. However, sometimes the faces of actors seemed a little "waxy" ... I don't know if it's because they used too much make up or if it's just something weird in the photography.

In fact, I think the weakest part of the movie might unfortunately be the scenario. We're always floating between great scenes (for instance a jail escape) and boring scenes that brings nothing to the movie. Once again, I felt the movie could have been easily 30 min shorter, it would have taken nothing away from the movie, actually it could even have improved it by cutting the boring part.

So I felt a little disappointed as I expect it a lot but, in the same time, it's always such a pleasure to watch Johnny Depp on screen. So go to see it and judge by yourself ... don't expect a lot but if you like Johnny Depp, you will probably like it anyway.