Walter Bauer (WalterPayton)

One complaint against this film: It was too short! Sure, it would've been nice to have that scene where Dumbledore laments to Snape that maybe they sort "too soon", or the scene where Harry gives Tom Riddle another chance at redemption. Heck, even to see Harry call the villain Tom like good old Dumbledore did. Despite this minutiae from a hardcore HP fan, it's hard to complain. Seen it three times already, and believe me, cried each time. Bring your tissues folks, this one is quite jarring. Right from the bat we see creatures and people killed left and right, at a much more rapid pace than even part 1 could even compare to. The cast of characters in this last film could literally be people from a list of big "Who's Who" in British acting these days. The main story that the movie and books have elucidated to us (despite the hundreds of characters Rowling so wonderfully gives us) have always been Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and despite the short running (a mere 135 minutes!), the movie does a great job centering us on them. In fact, despite the numerous characters we could've enjoyed seeing getting their loose ends tied up, the movie, for the most part, does a great job never wandering away from the main plot lines and tying up the loose ends. The best scenes by far were: The forbidden forest, King's Cross, the pensieve scene, and of course, the epilogue. The film did wonderful justice with Snape, and Rickman played the Snape I've always imagined for once. The pensieve scene alone got me in tears, and for good reason. Rickman did wonderful justice to showcasing us the trials and tribulations of the brave man. He certainly deserves an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. Ralph Fiennes did such a creepy and convincing Tom Riddle this go round that I think he deserves an Oscar nomination as well. Especially the scenes where we get to see the clear connection between RIddle and Potter that hints not only at one of the twists we see at the end, but also how much hurt and terrible Voldermort can still be. Gambon did such a wonderful Dumbledore at King's Cross that I can never sit through that scene without crying. Not only did they have all the great quotes that was echoed in that scene, but the way I envisioned it was so on par with how they portrayed it that I couldn't find anything to nitpick about it. Radcliffe certainly played the best for last, and his best scene by far came at the Forbidden Forest onward-to King's Cross and then in the epilogue as the understanding dad who knows what his son is going through to giving Snape justice there at the end. The music had great homage and echoes of John William's masterpiece from the beginning. Then the cinematography was wonderfully shot, especially the iconic image of the sign "9 3/4" at the right with the train at the left towards the end, and of course, the closing shot of the three characters we've all come to love and root for. It's hard to put into words what it means to see this film coming to an end. Having grown up with Harry and seeing how this has consumed half of my life-let me leave y'all with the moment I got the last book in that midnight sale. Going back home, reading it aloud to my friends in the car as we raced back home to begin reading, I was the only one who stayed up the next 13 hours after that to see how it all came to an end. I did get feelings that I had at that moment, when, nearing the end, I come to the shocking conclusion that Harry is a horcrux-felt like that when I saw it in theatres-realizing the gravity of Harry's situation, denying the theories smarter minds than mine had coming up with that since we had been lead along by Rowling to see Dumbledore in a certain light, that surely he would've told Harry much earlier than that if he was or not, and then getting that wonderful, satisfying conclusion as we see the last few twists that made the magic come alive again.

Not the funniest film of the summer (that goes to "Bridesmaids"), but certainly unique in what direction it could take us. Eventually however, it becomes stale and cliched instead of becoming something much, much more. Seeing Spacey shooting Farrell because he mistook the "misplaced" cell phone that was Farrell's as a whiff of evidence that his wife really was committing adultery made the film look like something you'd expect from the Coen brothers. What made the film bearable was Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day each played a familiar, comfortable, comedic niche. Charlie Day played his usual boisterous and obnoxious self I'd expect in a "It's Always Sunny" episode. His last outburst against his boss (Aniston) was the epitome of that usual role. Bateman played something you'd see in "Arrested Development" while Sudeikis played his usual role as the flamboyant, horny school boy player. Each of these usual parts certainly make it more intriguing and funny as the film shows. Then there's Jamie Foxx doing a wonderful comedic turn as..well, you'd just have to see it to understand. Spacey played what I thought was a slight parody on his role in "American Beauty". Finally, have to give Aniston kudos for her part. You could tell she was really enjoying her role, relishing every line as the over zealous boss intent on seducing Charlie Day.