Alas! The fifth Harry Potter film has arrived. The time is long past that
this can be considered a simple "children's" series--though children
and adults alike will enjoy it immensely. Starting off from the dark and
tragic ending of the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
begins in a somber and angst-filled tone that carries through the entire
138 minutes (the shortest of any HP movie despite being adapted from
the longest book). Hopes of winning the Quidditch Cup have been
replaced by woes like government corruption, distorted media spin, and
the casualties of war. As the themes have matured, so have the primary
characters' acting abilities. Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma
Watson), and especially Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) are more convincing
than ever--in roles that are more demanding.
Harry is deeply traumatized from having witnessed Cedric Diggory's
murder, but he will soon find that this was just another chapter in the
continuing loss he will endure. Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has
returned and, in an attempt to conceal this catastrophe from the
wizarding public, the Ministry of Magic has teamed up with the wizard
newspaper The Daily Prophet to smear young Potter and wise
Dumbledore (Michael Gambon)--seemingly the only two people in the
public eye who believe the Dark Lord has returned. With no one else to
stand against the wicked Death Eaters, the Hogwarts headmaster is
forced to revive his secret anti-Voldemort society, the Order of the
Phoenix. This welcomes back characters like Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan
Gleeson), kind Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), fatherly Sirius Black (Gary
Oldman), and insidious Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), and introduces
a short list of intriguing new faces. In the meantime, a semi-psychotic
bureaucrat from the Ministry (brilliantly portrayed by Imelda Staunton)
has seized power at Hogwarts, and Harry is forced to form a secret
society of his own--lest the other young wizards at his school be left
ill-equipped to defend themselves in the looming war between good
and evil. In addition, Harry is filled with an inexplicable rage that only his
Godfather Sirius seems to be able to understand.
This film, though not as frightening as its predecessor, earns its PG-13
rating mostly because of the ever-darkening tone. As always, the loyal
fans of J.K. Rowling's books will suffer huge cuts from the original plot
and character developments, but make no mistake: this is a good
movie. --Jordan Thompson: Amazon.com
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As of its release in early 2007, Planet Earth is quite simply the greatest
nature/wildlife series ever produced. Following the similarly
monumental achievement of The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, this
astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David
Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode
covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains,
caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire
planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing
sights and sounds you'll ever experience from the comforts of home.
The premiere episode, "From Pole to Pole," serves as a primer for
things to come, placing the entire series in proper context and giving a
general overview of what to expect from each individual episode.
Without being overtly political, the series maintains a consistent and
subtle emphasis on the urgent need for ongoing conservation, best
illustrated by the plight of polar bears whose very behavior is changing
(to accommodate life-threatening changes in their fast-melting habitat)
in the wake of global warming--a phenomenon that this series
appropriately presents as scientific fact. With this harsh reality as
subtext, the series proceeds to accentuate the positive, delivering a
seemingly endless variety of natural wonders, from the spectacular
mating displays of New Guinea's various birds of paradise to a rare
encounter with Siberia's nearly-extinct Amur Leopards, of which only 30
remain in the wild.
That's just a hint of the marvels on display. Accompanied by majestic
orchestral scores by George Fenton, every episode is packed with
images so beautiful or so forcefully impressive (and so perfectly
photographed by the BBC's tenacious high-definition camera crews)
that you'll be rendered speechless by the splendor of it all. You'll see a
seal struggling to out-maneuver a Great White Shark; swimming
macaques in the Ganges delta; massive flocks of snow geese
numbering in the hundreds of thousands; an awesome night-vision
sequence of lions attacking an elephant; the Colugo (or "flying
lemur"--not really a lemur!) of the Philippines; a hunting alliance of fish
and snakes on Indonesia's magnificent coral reef; the bioluminescent
highlights, masterfully filmed from every conceivable angle, with
frequent use of super-slow-motion and amazing motion-controlled
time-lapse cinematography, and narrated by Attenborough with his
trademark combination of observational wit and informative authority.
The result is a hugely entertaining series that doesn't flinch from the
predatory realities of nature (death is a constant presence, without
being off-putting), and each episode ends with 10-minute "Planet Earth
Diaries" (exclusive to this DVD set) that cover a specific aspect of
production, like "Diving with Pirahnas" or "Into the Abyss" (the latter
showing the rigors of filming the planet's most spectacular caves,
including the last filming ever officially permitted in the "Chandelier
Ballroom," a crystal-encrusted cavern found over a mile deep in New
Mexico's treacherous Lechuguilla, the deepest cave in the continental
United States.)
With so many of Earth's natural wonders on display, it's only fitting that
the final DVD in this five-disc set is devoted to Planet Earth: The Future,
a separate three-part series in which a global array of experts is
assembled to discuss issues of conservation, protection of delicate
ecosystems, and the socio-economic benefits of understanding nature
as a commodity that returns trillions of dollars in value at no cost to
Earth's human population. At a time when the multiple threats of global
warming should be obvious to all, let's give Sir David the last word, from
the closing of Planet Earth's final episode: "We can now destroy or we
can cherish--the choice is ours." --Jeff Shannon: Amazon.com
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