Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth installment in the series, and Daniel Radcliffe's first appearance as the boy wizard post-Equus, is a much darker film than its predecessors.  While Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ended in the death of Cedric Diggory, this film suffered under a cloud the abuse of power.

The not so subtle subtext behind Hogwart's curriculum being manipulated by conservative zealots at the Ministry of Magic is clearly an indictment of post-9-11 legislation enacted to "protect" civil liberties by taking away those same basic rights from those labeled as terrorists.  

While the film is based on a British novel, the power of film's ability to be open to multiple interpretations, comes through.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a very well balanced, if not predictable, sequel in what appears to be a developing franchise.  The story picks up where the first ended and a new adventure is unfolding, again involving the Gates family role in history, this time involving Thomas Gates role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Along the way new secrets are being revealed and the infamous President's Book of Secrets is found.  A book that supposedly is handed down from president to president with the secrets of the Kennedy assassination and Area 51, among others, with page 47 of the book providing a lead in to another sequel.

In the end the Gates family name is cleared, the world is saved from certain treasure falling into the hands of the bad guys and the treasure is given to a museum for cataloging and preservation.  If only everything is life were wrapped up so cleanly in the end.

Evan Almighty

For those who thought Dogma was blasphemous, Hollywood gave you Bruce Almighty.  For those who thought Bruce Almighty was sacrilegious, there is Evan Almighty.  In this sequel to Bruce Almighty, the story follows Evan Baxter, Bruce Nolan's nemesis, rise Junior United States Congressman to modern-day Noah.

The inspiration for building the ark is not salvation from God's wrath, but his benevolence to save the lives of a new upper middle class community.  Evan suffers for his work building the ark and in many ways becomes both Noah and Christ by sacrificing himself for the greater good.

This film serves as an excellent example of a stand-alone sequel.  The fact that Evan is from the first movie in the series in no way impacts the viewer's understanding of the current story.  This formula provides immense opportunities for future franchise potential through characterizing different Bible characters.  Only time will tell if Hollywood will agree with me on this point.

A River Made to Drown In

A River Made to Drown In was the first film released after Richard Chamberlain came out of the closet.  The story is of an older gay man Thaddeus (Chamberlain) with a penchant for young gay hustlers who returns to spend his last days with one of his favorite boys.  

Allen (Michael Imperioli) has no idea that the return of Thaddeus, and his favor to find the young Jaime (James Duval), will force him to not only deal with his past life, but with his current feelings for Thaddeus.

Allen and Jamie serve as book ends to Thaddeus's very tortured life.  By returning to die with Allen and committing suicide with Jamie at his side, Thaddeus hopes to leave the two great loves of his life to take care of each other after he is gone.  Neither are ready for the responsibility and the film leaves you wondering what will become of them together and individually.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I do not remember the how or why I became fascinated super hero stories.  I know it is common for all kids to like it, but as you get older, you either out grow it, or become a geek and still love it until the day you die.  I am the latter I think, but like I said, have no idea when or how that happened.

My earliest memory of the Fantastic Four was of a board game - The Amazing Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.  I think there were variations with the Incredible Hulk and others as well, but the Spiderman version was the one I remember best.  I saw the first Fantastic Four on DVD with a friend.  Since it was so much better than I had expected it to be, I had decided that I was going to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in theater this time.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.

I found this sequel to be the epitome of what a sequel in this genre should be.  It was simply a further adventure with the existing cast.  There was no attempt to complete a cyclical story, no attempt to lead into a further sequel, two traps often found in this genre.  Instead, this movie was a firm, stand-alone piece that did not demand that the viewer know anything about the prior film or really anything about the lore of the Fantastic Four.  

To me, this is what makes a sequel in this genre great.  it really is too bad more are not made on this very simple premise.   Could be a lot more big screen comic book features if they did.

Spiderman 3

I have seen childhood photos of me from one of my 2nd or 3rd birthday holding a crap load o Spiderman paraphernalia, including a doll, van, and gun.  So it is not surprising that I of course was tickled once Sam Raimi started releasing new versions of the classic icon from my childhood.  I actually own the first two, but missed Spiderman 3 when it was in theaters this summer and just found time to watch it on DVD.  

I have to say, I thought this movie was a lot longer than the earlier ones or at least it was seeming that way this evening.  I can only describe this movie as a classic Id, Ego, Super Ego allegory.  Venom of course is the Id, Peter the Ego and Spiderman the Super Ego.  The only other comment I can make about this movie is that it very neatly wrapped up nearly every single loose end that was trailing from the first two movies.  

Normally this sort of trite convention irritates me, but since I am tired of movie franchises being worked into the ground, I was thrilled that this franchise had a sound, coherent conclusion, without leaving lingering questions tat just serve no other purpose than to lead into another installment.

boys life 6

I love shorts collections.  They offer you some of the best of the best shorts from the film festival circuit and in some cases can be a test for a film about to jump into the full length feature arena, e.g. Just One Time.  Boys Life 6 is the latest in a series of collections that enlightens, entertains, and often times  makes you uneasy at the images before you.

No film in this collection is more descriptive of this than the lead off shirt Bugcrush.  This short is a story of the gay semi-closeted geeky kid who has an unhealthy attraction for the bad boy.  The price paid for gaining the acceptance of the bad boy is physical and sexual abuse and temporary paralysis by an unknown caterpillar.  Losing one's dignity and sense of personal safety, a small price to pay for high school social climbing.

Doorman follows the traditional tale of the intermingling of the social classes and what happens when the masters start playing with the servants.  The rich college kid felt an itch that only is doorman can scratch.  But when the doorman tries to cross the line from fetishistic toy to boyfriend, he is dismissed.  The doorman does have the last word after giving into the rich college kid's ultimate desire, which has just less impact than the doorman;s final words, "You have a good day sir."

Davy and Stu is a classic tale of first love in which the lovers are polar opposites and heading in completely different direction, but fight to hold onto what they have just a bit longer.  One intellectual, one jock, one urban, one rural.  The story is quaint and cute and the ribbon on the package is when Davy (the intellectual) thanks Stu (the jock) for showering after school before coming to meet him.  A little gesture, that means so much, is the best way to seal the deal in young love.

Heartland is a sad story of a gay boy forced to return to his small town from New York to take care of a family and farm he never wanted to be part of in the first place.  While there he is outed by his best friend and makes out with the former high school football star who is also in the same situation.  A good use of parallel characters, but the story to me was not very engaging, simply due to its simplistic and formulaic nature.