Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Director: David Yates
Studio: Warner Bros.
Released: July 15, 2011

Reviewed by Lindsay Marshall (Toronto)

The end has finally arrived for Harry Potter.

In the eighth and final film of the Harry Potter series, the series that is 14 years in the making comes to a satisfying and magical close. Potter fans will be attending this film in droves, and for good reason, as it marks an end to the most profitable (and one could argue popular) series, ever. Fans can rest easy knowing that the final film will likely satiate any lingering curiosity, and ties up most loose ends in the story, without revealing any spoilers.

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Film Review

Film: Page One: Inside the New York Times

Director: Andrew Rossi

Cast: David Carr, Bruce Headlam, Brian Stelter, Bill Keller, Tim Arango

Studio: Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media

Rating: R

Release Date: July 8, 2011

Runtime: 88 minutes

Reviewed by Tessa Perkins

Dealing with the age old battle of new, innovative media vs. old, traditional media, this documentary gives an inside look at the way journalists at the Media Desk of The New York Times put together a story and have it ready by their deadline. It also makes the principal argument that The New York Times is a vital institution that produces the highest quality journalism and its disappearance would be a disaster for news and media in general.

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Meek’s Cutoff follows three settler families and their guide as they trek the Oregon Trail in 1845.

FILM REVIEW
Title: Meek’s Cutoff 
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Cast: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan
Runtime: 104 minutes
Rating: PG

Reviewed by Rhys Dowbiggin 

Film is storytelling—a story told with images. Filmmaking is unique because the structure of how to tell a story on film is virtually limitless. A filmmaker can put these images together in a very linear fashion within time of space—Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, and Ron Howard have built their careers on telling effective, straightforward stories. A filmmaker can also put the images together in a non-linear fashion—Stanley Kubrick, Terrance Malick and Quentin Tarantino built their films to tell a story outside of a linear framework. However, one style is not superior to the other. If film is story telling with images, it is effective images that create an effective story.

Meek’s Cutoff follows three settler families and their guide as they trek the Oregon Trail in 1845. The film follows a very linear storyline, however, unlike the standard structure of beginning, middle and resolution, Meek’s Cutoff never does conventionally begin and does not conventionally resolve. The film opens and closes similarly to the opening of the curtains to the closing of the curtains during a theatre play (hinted at by the opening credits and closing credits, for those with a keen eye). We are introduced to our characters, not at the beginning of their journey but at a portion deep into it.

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Film Review

Title: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey and Frances McDormand
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG

Reviewed By Adam A. Donaldson

These Transformers movies are the very definition of critic-proof. Anyone with a keyboard and opinion will tell you that the first two movies—based on the popular 80s toy line (especially Part 2)—radically redefined awfulness. Yet still, somehow, Revenge of the Fallen’s final box office tally landed just shy of $1 billion USD worldwide. So what’s the appeal? Big robots, big explosions, hot chicks and the usual “Bayhem.” All true, but how about a story? Compelling drama? Character development?

Well there’s none of that in this third Transformers movie, Dark of the Moon. Actually, that’s not fair. As compared to Revenge, which suffered the dual indignities of being developed during the Writers Strike and on the narrative whims of Bay himself, Dark of the Moon is a Homer-like epic wrought with shifting allegiances, gripping motivations and, of course, big robots, big explosions, hot chicks and “Bayhem.”

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