Breaking Emotions: Tears + Surprise

This week MettelRay shared another two emotions - tears and surprise. This time I'm gonna do both.

10 cinematic dynamites

I came up with the term "cinematic dynamite" when I was writing "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" review in order to describe Penelope Cruz's character. The term means a supporting character so amazing, not only you would love to see separate film just with that person as protagonist, in addition you feel like the movie loses something very special and unique whenever that character is not in the frame and you keep waiting for him/her to appear. There are some movies that you feel would lose a lot without that one performance and one splendidly written character. Here are ten of them:

Soundtrack Wednesday - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Song: Statues
Artist: Alexandre Desplat
Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Scene of the Week: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

directed by David Yates

The scene: Forget "Braveheart", "Milk", "Titanic" or whatever movie that makes you cry. Look no further - this will reduce you to pathetic bucket of tears. In a sequence, that with all honesty may be the most powerful and certainly is the saddest I've ever seen, we see the memories of Severus Snape. In the twist we find out that he was a great hero and he loved Harry Potter's mother Lily, even after she chose James Potter over him and may have never loved Snape in return. Beginning with "Dumbledore's Farewell" playing in the background we see Snape's reaction to finding Lily Evans's dead body. To avenge her death he was a spy for Dumbledore after her demise. After the reveal made by Dumbledore - that Harry needs to die in order to defeat Voldemort, Snape is shocked at Dumbledore's cruelty - keeping the boy in the dark for so many years. Dumbledore asks if after all those years Snape now cares for the boy - in the response Snape conjures his patronus - a doe, identical to Lily's patronus and looks at it with sadness and absolute reverence. Dumbledore, astonished, asks Severus if he loved Lily all those years, after all this time, to which, after we see a quick glimpse of crying Snape holding Lily's lifeless body, Snape responds "Always".

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

(130 min, 2011)
Plot: Harry, Ron and Hermione search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord.
Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Years of magic, years of love.

(spoilers)
I remember when I was still a kid and I was siting in the theater watching “Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone”. I recall how I loved the characters flying on broomsticks, facing danger and forming life long friendships. Over the years I haven't missed any of the movies, although I only started to read the books recently. What makes that series so beloved and unique? Why is it my favorite popular story, one which I love more than 'Lord of the rings”, “The Matrix”, “Star wars” or “Pirates of the Caribbean”?

The secret is that J. K. Rowling realized that her readers will grow, that with time they will mature. As they did, the characters followed. We saw Harry, Hermione and Ron falling in love for the first time, having disputes, facing tragedies and going through normal phases of life. Even though they live in magical world their lives never differed too much from ours. Kids and adults all over the world witnessed their adventures and related to them. Because in its heart “Harry Potter” was never about magic. It was about friendship, love, loyalty and sacrifice. And most of all – about making choices.
The second part of “Deathly Hallows” shows Harry, Hermione and Ron on their quest to destroy horcruxes – magical objects in which Voldemort hid parts of his soul. Only when they are destroyed he can be killed. Their quest continues during epic battle for Hogwarts, when Death Eaters attack the legendary school and all of our beloved characters try to stop them.

While part 1 had very flawed pacing part 2 is an extraordinary movie – things move fast, very rarely too fast. Apart from one short scene with Helena Ravenclaw (which I think could be cut down by a half and the movie would be much better) I was not bored for a second, whilst during part 1 I think I dozed off at one point. The movie races as fast as the spells shoot out of wands, but you can still follow the story. Still, I cannot understand why the last part and with all honesty, best part of the series was made into the shortest film. Some of the scenes, like duels between Snape and McGonagall and Molly Weasly and Bellatrix Lestrage really deserved to be longer.