The Entertainment Critic

www.theentertainmentcritic.com

Home Edition Video Review

By James Myers

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX   

DVD 2 Disc Set - Wide Screen / Two-Disc Special Edition

Release Date: December 11, 2007

UPC: 085391174929

Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO

Region Code: 1

Time: 2:19:00

Director: David Yates

Screenwriter: Michael Goldenberg (screenplay)

J.K. Rowling (novel)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon

Genre: Fantasy Adventure/ Drama

Awards: Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 5 wins & 9 nominations

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Official Website: http://www.harrypotterorderofthephoenix.com/

Runtime: 138 Mins

Features:  Additional scenes; The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - Explore all the movies in the series for clues to the mystery of Harry's true destiny; Trailing Tonks: Natalia Tena (aka Nymphadora Tonks) leads a very personal film set tour; Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes; DVD-ROM enhanced features

Review: 9/10 rating

 

 

6^th HIGHEST GROSSING FILM OF ALL TIME, GROSSING $938,464,961 IN THE YEAR 2007

 

As Harry grows up before our eyes on film, a little bit of the innocence is lost and is replaced by more adult themes, and scarier villains.  Nonetheless, this video, the 5^th of 7, left me wanting to see more Harry Potter, and more of his adventures.  The film begins with Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley mysteriously attacked by two Dementors. In turn Harry is forced to cast the Patronus charm to repel the Dementors, but when the Ministry of Magic detects what he has done (the underage practice of wizardry) he is expelled from Hogwarts. He begins to have horrible nightmares depicting Lord Voldemort's return.   Harry is awoken and taken to headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization founded by Dumbledore. Members of the Order, including Harry's Godfather Sirius Black, reveal that under the Ministry's influence, The Daily Prophet has launched a smear campaign against anyone who claims the Dark Lord has returned, leaving Harry feeling alone and isolated from the other wizards.

 

Dumbledore helps to clear Harry's name is cleared of all charges, and he is allowed to return to Hogwarts. Upon entering his fifth year of school, Harry learns that the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has appointed a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher: Dolores Umbridge, a Senior Ministry official who refuses to teach practical magic to her students, out of fear that Dumbledore will organize his own personal wizard army. As her grip on the school increases, Ron and Hermione aid Harry in forming a secret defense group, calling themselves "Dumbledore's Army".

 

During the year, Harry envisions mysterious scenes in his sleep, including a dangerous attack upon Arthur Weasley in the Department of Mysteries. Fearing there may be a connection between Voldemort and Harry's mind, Professor Snape immediately initiates Occlumency lessons to close his mind from the Dark Lord's influence.

 

Promoted to High Inquisitor, Umbridge, Filch and her loyal Inquisitorial Squad, including Draco Malfoy uncover Dumbledore's Army after interrogating one of the students, Cho Chang with whom Harry had developed intense feelings for. Dumbledore is questioned and makes an impressive escape as Fudge orders for his arrest. With Dumbledore gone, Umbridge becomes the new Headmistress whose sinister dominance over the school continues.

 

During an O.W.L. exam, Fred and George launch a firework display causing chaos for Umbridge; as the students cheer joyously outside, Harry suffers a vision of Sirius trapped within the bowels of the Ministry. Umbridge, soon after, catches the trio attempting to use the Floo Network and begins interrogating Harry. Hermione leads Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest in search of a faux weapon when a herd of centaurs emerge and carry the Headmistress into the darkness. Finding Ron and other DA members, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley, they fly to London by winged-horses named Thestrals.

 

Arriving at the Ministry, the six enter the Department of Mysteries where they uncover a prophecy named after Harry. Transfixed, they soon become ambushed by Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' deranged cousin. A battle erupts as the Death Eaters try to stop the students from escaping, resulting in Sirius' death at Bellatrix's hand. Back in the Atrium, Harry corners Bellatrix where he struggles with his desire to enact the Cruciatus curse. Voldemort himself appears; ready to kill Harry when Dumbledore emerges.

 

A brief but furious duel takes place, in which Bellatrix escapes through the Floo Network. When Voldemort disappears, and the battle seems over, Harry suddenly finds himself being possessed -- recalling images of his past, of his family and his friends. Seeing Ron and Hermione across the hall, Harry resists and rebuffs Voldemort, calling the Dark Lord weak. Before Voldemort can kill Harry, Ministry officials, including Fudge, arrive via the Floo Network, finding the Dark Lord with their own eyes. Voldemort promptly disappears.

 

In the aftermath, the Ministry is forced to end their smear campaign and Umbridge is removed from Hogwarts awaiting a formal investigation. Dumbledore explains that he had attempted to distance himself from Harry all year, hoping it would bring less risk as Voldemort would not try to invade his mind.

 

Gone from this film is sweet innocence of self-discovery seen in the earlier Potter films.  This is an attempt to be grimmer than the past films.  The viewer gets a real feel of danger, desperation and grit in this film.  It is closer to the new Batman films than to a Disney/Pixar film.  Harry comes of age in this film, going from a wide-eyed youth to a sadder but wiser adolescent after the incredible confrontations with evil in this film.  The tone of this film from the outset is a sense of foreboding that only an adult can sense in real life.  The film is different from its predecessors, but works on a more dramatic level.

 

The home video version of this films adds some extra scenes and information including The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - Explore all the movies in the series for clues to the mystery of Harry's true destiny; Trailing Tonks: Natalia Tena (aka Nymphadora Tonks) leads a very personal film set tour; Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes.  I really liked the Special Edition of the 2-Disc set.  Don’t pass this one up. It’s different, but it is still very good.

 

 

The Entertainment Critic

www.theentertainmentcritic.com

Home Edition Video Review

By James Myers

The Bourne Ultimatum    

DVD - Wide Screen

Release Date: 12/11/2007

Genre:  Action, Thriller

UPC: 025193227423

Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Region Code: 1

Presentation: Wide Screen

Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound

Language: Français

Time: 1:56:00

Director: Paul Greengrass

Screenwriter:

Tony Gilroy   (screenplay) and 

Scott Z. Burns   (screenplay) and 

George Nolfi   (screenplay)

Tony Gilroy   (screen story)

Robert Ludlum   (novel)

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Official Website: http://www.thebourneultimatum.com/

Features:  Deleted Scenes; Man on the Move: Jason Bourne; Rooftop Pursuit; Planning the Punches; Driving School; New York Chase; Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass

Review: 9/10 rating

 

 

            There are 2 things that make the Borne Series worth watching.  One is the tremendous, moving, non-stop action and special effects.  The second is Jason Bourne’s (Matt Damon) undeniable desire to learn the truth and exact revenge on his adversaries. 

It is Bourne’s internal struggle, admirably portrayed by Damon that makes these films something other than trite spy movies. In Ultimatum, Damon and Bourne are at their action-paced best.

 

The movie begins immediately after Bourne apologizes to Neski's daughter. Wounded from the Bourne Supremacy car chase, Jason Bourne is still evading the Moscow police. Cornered by two officers while breaking into a medical clinic to treat his wounds, Bourne overpowers the officers and leaves them alive as he escapes, saying his argument is not with them.

 

The story continues six weeks later when Bourne goes to Paris to tell Marie's brother Martin of her death. Bourne heads on to London by train and reads an article in The Guardian where journalist Simon Ross describes Jason Bourne as a CIA officer. Bourne arranges to meet Ross in London at Waterloo station. Ross, however, is under surveillance because his use of the word "Blackbriar" in a phone call to his editor was tracked by ECHELON, alerting the CIA. After receiving a phone call from Bourne, Ross drives to Waterloo Station and is followed by the CIA, who believe him to be meeting his source there. At the station, Bourne sees CIA officers following Ross and places a prepaid mobile phone on him; through it, Bourne instructs the frightened journalist on how to dodge the station's surveillance, while knocking out the CIA agents attempting to kidnap Ross. However, CIA official Noah Vosen who heads Operation Blackbriar (a renamed Treadstone proposed by Ward Abbott at the end of The Bourne Identity), orders an assassin named Paz to kill Ross and his source. Vosen's team identifies Bourne on a security camera and recognizes him as the original Treadstone assassin, assuming he must be Ross's source. Bourne advises Ross to remain hidden, but Ross panics and reveals himself, giving Paz a clear killing shot. In the ensuing chaos, Bourne steals Ross's notes from his body; the notes reveal Ross's source as Neal Daniels, the CIA's Madrid station chief.

 

Deputy Director Pamela Landy is asked to help capture Bourne. With Landy's help, Vosen and his team realize that Daniels is Ross's source. They decide to send a team to Daniels's office in Madrid, but Bourne arrives first, finding only one photograph in the otherwise empty safe. Bourne attacks the CIA team when they enter the office. Just as Bourne finishes mopping up the CIA agents, Nicky Parsons enters the office. Nicky tells him that Daniels fled to Tangier and helps him to escape the CIA reinforcements by telling Vosen that Bourne had already left the office. Bourne calls the police to report the sound of gunfighting; they arrive just as the second CIA team piles out of their vehicles, guns drawn, in front of the office. When Bourne asks Nicky why she is helping him, Nicky only hints vaguely at something before Bourne's amnesia ("It was difficult for me... with you. (long pause) You really don't remember anything?"). While in Tangier, they realize the CIA has sent assassin Desh Bouksani for Daniels. Nicky uses her official clearance access to send Desh a message, telling him to meet her for a new phone. This allows Bourne to follow Desh to his target. When Vosen realizes Nicky's deceit he orders Desh to kill Nicky and Bourne after terminating Daniels. Landy is outraged at Vosen's willingness to indiscriminately kill CIA personnel and quits the operation.

 

 

Bourne shortly before confronting Desh in Tangier, Bourne follows Desh and is unable to save Daniels, who dies from Desh's planted bomb. When Desh returns for Nicky, Bourne outruns the Tangier police and fights Desh, eventually strangling him with a towel. Bourne accompanies Nicky to a bus station where she begins her own separate life on the run from the CIA. At the Tangier morgue, Bourne examines Daniels' charred papers and finds the address of the CIA substation in New York City. Bourne takes a flight to New York City, and on arrival deliberately uses a passport that alerts Landy to his presence. Bourne calls Landy while observing her and Vosen from across the street. The ending of The Bourne Supremacy is repeated: Landy tells him his real name is David Webb and that he was born on "4/15/71", a code for the address of the Treadstone facility at 415 East 71st Street. Bourne sends a text message to Landy to arrange a meeting. Vosen and his team intercept the message and follow Landy as she leaves the building. Bourne's meeting is later found to be a diversion, allowing Bourne to enter Vosen's office and steal classified Blackbriar documents.

 

Vosen realizes the diversion after a phone call from Bourne, who called Vosen to get a recording of Vosen's voice - the key to unlocking the safe. Bourne states he is in Vosen's office, and a desperate Vosen frantically orders CIA officers back to his office to capture Bourne. Bourne escapes and enters into a car chase with CIA officers and Paz; emerging victorious from his vehicular duel with Paz, Bourne chooses not to kill him. Just outside the facility, Bourne meets Landy and gives her the stolen documents from Vosen's office before entering the building. Inside, he meets Dr. Albert Hirsch, who ran Treadstone's psychological conditioning. With his help, Bourne remembers that as Captain David Webb he volunteered for the program. Horrified by the memory of what he did to complete his conditioning and to assume the Jason Bourne identity, he tells Hirsch, "I remember everything. I'm no longer Jason Bourne."

 

On his way back to the substation, Vosen realizes Landy gave Bourne an address in code when Landy told Bourne of his date of birth. Vosen races to the facility and confronts Landy as she finishes faxing away his documents Bourne stole. Meanwhile, Bourne is cornered on the facility's rooftop by Paz. Paz holds Bourne at gunpoint and demands to know why Bourne spared his life. Bourne asks if Paz knows why he was ordered to kill Bourne. "Look at us. Look at what they make you give," says Bourne, repeating the dying words of the Treadstone assassin called The Professor from The Bourne Identity. Paz lowers his weapon, but Vosen appears and fires on Bourne just as he jumps from the roof into the river below.

 

Some time later, Nicky sees a news report noting the exposure of Blackbriar, the arrests of Hirsch and Vosen, that CIA Director Ezra Kramer is the subject of a United States Senate hearing regarding his conduct, and that David Webb (Bourne's real name), fell into the East River. The report notes that after a three-day search, Bourne's body is yet to be found: at which Nicky smiles. As Moby's "Extreme Ways" plays, the movie (in an allusion to the opening scene of The Bourne Identity) cuts back to Bourne, floating motionless in the water; after a long moment he starts to move, and swims away into darkness.

 

Bourne’s internal, existential dilemma makes this extraordinary action film both interesting and thoughtful.  As long as Damon continues to play the dangling secret agent, these home DVDs are worth taking home.

 

 

 

Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administrations War on American Values

THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS

www.theentertainmentcritic.com

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES: SPECIAL COMMENTS ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATIONS WAR ON AMERICAN VALUES

By Keith Olbermann, Host of Countdown

Published by Random House, An Imprint of the Random House Publishing Group

A Division of Random House, Inc., New York

Publication Date:  December 26, 2007

Price: $24.95

172 Pages

ISBN: 978-1-40000-6676-6

Five Star Rating *****

KEITH OLBERMANN IS THE HOST OF COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN ON MSNBC.  A VETERAN BROADCASTER, HE WAS THE CO-ANCHOR WITH DAN PATRICK OF ESPN’S SPORTSCENTER FROM 19992 TO 1997 AND HELPED TO LAUNCH ESPN 2 AND ESPN RADIO NETWORK.  MR. OLBERMANN IS THE RECIPIENT OF NUMEROUS AWARDS IN RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING, INCLUDING THE EDWARD R. MURROW AWARD FOR HIS COVERAGE OF THE EVENTS OF 9/11.  HE HAS HOSTED PRIME-TIME NEWS PROGRAMS, MODERATED A DEBATE BETWEEN DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES, ANCHORED WORLD SERIES BROADCAST, AND WRITTEN FOR DOZENS OF PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEWSWEEK, TIME, AND SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.  HE CO-HOSTS MSNBC’S ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE AND NBC’S FOOTBALL NIGHT AMERICA.

 

 

A Portion of Mr. Olbermann’s Special Comment for November 6, 2006 entitled, “Where Are The Checks and Balances?”  given on the evening before the Congressional Election in response to the Republican’s efforts to use Saddam Hussein’s conviction to rally their own voters.

 

            “Suddam Hussein found guilty in an Iraqi court.  Who can argue against that?  He is officially what the world always knew he was: a war criminal.

 

            Mr. Bush, was this imprimatur worth the cost of 2,832 American lives, and thousands more American lives yet to be lost?

 

            Is the conviction of Saddam Hussein the reason you went to war in Iraq?

           

            Or did you go to war in Iraq because of the weapons of mass destruction that did not exist?

 

            Or did you go to war in Iraq because of the connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda that did not exist?

 

            Or did you go to war in Iraq to break the bonds of tyranny there, while installing the mechanisms of tyranny here?

 

            Or did you go to war in Iraq because you felt the need to wreak vengeance against somebody, anybody?

 

            Or did you go to war in Iraq to contain a rogue state which, months earlier, your own administration had declared had been fully contained by sanctions?

 

            Or did you go to war in Iraq to keep gas prices down?

 

            Not four years removed from the most dismissive, the most condescending, the most ridiculing denials at the very hint at, as Mr. Rumsfeld put it, this “nonsense” that you were, campaigning in Colorado, in Nebraska, in Florida, in Kansas-suddenly turning the “unpatriotic idea” into a platform plank.

 

            ‘You can imagine a world in which extremists and radicals got control of energy resources,’ you told us. ‘And then you can imagine them saying, ‘We’re going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following,’”

 

            Having frightened us, bullied us, having lied to us, having ignored and rewritten the Constitution under our noses, having stayed the course, having denied that you’ve stayed the course, having belittled us about “timelines” but instead extolled “benchmarks” you’ve now resorted, sir, to this?

 

            We must stay in Iraq to save the two-dollar gallon of gas?

 

            Mr. President, there is no other conclusion we can draw as we go to the polls tomorrow.

 

            Sir, you have been making this up as you went along.”

 

“We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet.”

William O. Douglas

 

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

Thomas Paine

 

“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Thomas Paine

 

“That government is best which governs least.”

Thomas Paine

 

 

 

            Sharp, stinging, shocking, but always illuminating, Keith Olbermann’s “Special Comments” have made Countdown with Keith Olbermann the fastest growing news show on cable television.  In a day and age of the Fixed News Network comes this independent, clear voice extolling the virtues of democracy and American ideals, starkly in contrast to the fear and loathing of our current Presidential administration.  In Truth And Consequences, Mr. Olbermann collects the best of his Special Comments, taking to task the mismanagement, brutality, cronyism, lack of accountability at the highest levels of the Bush administration (Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as the President himself).  To do this in an era of the mainstream media’s fear and trepidation is nothing short of heroic, not to mention tantalizing interesting as his rapidly expanded audience attests to.   His nightly attack on the presidential overreaching and abuses of executive power belie the main them of this book:  our current presidential administration has lost its ability to distinguish between leading our great country and ruling it.  His candor and razor-sharp commentary make this book a must read in the most important Presidential election year, in perhaps the last 100 years.  Keith’s comments and this book are a great exercise in the ideals that underlie the basis of democracy; we not only have the right to dissent, but the obligation to do so when our government is intolerant, fear-mongering, and Anti-American.  In the free marketplace of ideas that underlies the 1^st Amendment, Mr. Olbermann has demonstrated the courage to fight to reclaim the dignity of speaking one’s mind and acting on one’s conscious.  To dissent with the government is not treason, but uniquely Democratic and American.

 

            Keith’s Special Comment’s have been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale news environment.  The main support of the 1st Amendment is a free and independent press. The job of a free and independent press is to honestly inform and discuss politics in the free marketplace of ideas.  This frequently means to examine and criticize those who have power, subjecting them to close scrutiny, skepticism and sharp, pinpoint criticism.  What it does not mean is that the press is to act as a sounding board for those in power, acting out of fear and conveying not only that message, but that atmosphere to the general public.  This does not mean supporting President Bush when it became clear that his administration lied about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and his administrations continued attacks on the basic rights of Americans everywhere.  The other news networks echoed the far right-wing messages, but not Keith.  Keith’s sharp candor and insights punctured the big, bad balloon of fear politics.  His straight forward, honest, skeptical, and frequently humorous approach as seen in this book are just the balance that is required.  Eric Alan Isaacson said it best, “Keith Olbermann is a model for what American journalism should be.”  The selected Special Comments that inhabit this interesting and provocative little book demonstrate just that. 

 

            In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, Keith’s new book reminds us, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”  Irreverent, intolerant, the dissent in this book reads like Thomas Paine or former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, “Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us?”  Keith Olbermann is in very good company, and this election year of change, his book resonates with the echoes of those who have fought tyranny and won. “The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.” said Justice Douglas.  In Truth and Consequence, Keith Olbermann does just that, or as he put it, “Screw you, pally.  This is America.”  By thumbing his nose at those who seek to suppress our inalienable right to speak our mind and act on our conscious, he reminds us that the true American character is not ruled by fear and self-loathing. Don’t be surprised if you hear many of the themes in this book being echoed by the candidates for President.  This book is in the tradition of those who in the past have upheld traditional American values against the transgressors.  This is a great political book that should be on the top your reading list.