One of the most recognizable movie composers of all-time is about become the very first to win an AFI Life Achievement Award. John Williams — known for his work on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and Superman — is set to awarded the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award, the organization announced on Thursday. Previous …
Even before Emma Watson took the stage at the UN to give a speech about feminism, and before the video was shared by everyone you know on Facebook, and everyone was talking about her and whether she should be the face of modern feminism…before all that, she was still our boss ass witch. Throughout all eight Harry Potter films, Watson played Hermione Granger, the female member of the Holy Trinity that also included Harry and Ron Weasley. Though Harry is ostensibly the hero of the series, considering it’s named after him, Hermione is the ingenious character and the one that saves the day more often than not. Many have pointed this out, but it’s worth saying it explicitly: Hermione Granger is the hero of the Harry Potter series.
If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard the news, J.K. Rowling has recently released a new Harry Potter story exclusive to users of her website Pottermore. The short story, which is called “Dumbledore’s Army Reunites,” centres around the now 34 year old Harry at the Quidditch World Cup final with his youngest …
Divergent Written by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor Directed by Neil Burger USA, 2014 The price of movie stardom in the 21st century for young women involves headlining a big-budget young-adult-novel adaptation; so now, it’s time for Shailene Woodley to prove her mettle against peers like Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence. With her past work …
By now, Alfonso Cuarón has pretty much earned the crown of being one of the best, if not the best, technicians in modern cinema. His last three films—Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men, and now Gravity—all demonstrate a playful and intelligent command of space, his camera always roving in, around, and out of locations whenever possible. Gravity raises the bar for technical prowess in mainstream filmmaking, and Cuarón doesn’t shy away from the challenge of a film set entirely in space. This is nothing short of a flawless technical exercise, a frequently intense and relentless theme-park ride of a movie. The real downside is that Cuarón could’ve made more than just a ride.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Directed by Thor Freudenthal Written by Marc Guggenheim USA, 2013 The footprint that J.K. Rowling left in the world of pop culture is ever-expanding, even as those who are influenced by her work often produce something that feels less like an homage to the world of Hogwarts, Muggles, and wizards, …
Beautiful Creatures Directed by Richard LaGravenese Written by Richard LaGravenese USA, 2013 What Beautiful Creatures has that the Twilight films desperately needed is a refreshing sense of silly self-awareness. The latter books and films, which clearly inspired the former, were frequently funny, if always unintentionally so. (OK, fine, that Michael Sheen yelp in the last …
Ever since it became a major pop culture phenomenon, Twilight has earned a heavy dose of criticism. Critic Mark Kermode has defended the series from the cheap dismissal of older, male reviewers too far removed from the series target (though not exclusive) audience but the criticism is perhaps nowhere greater than a feminist community aghast …
The Tumblr round-up is a compilation of images, links, posters, stories, videos and so on, taken from the Sound On Sight Tumblr account. We simply do not have the man power nor time to write articles on every interesting movie related goody we find, so this is our way of still promoting some of the …
Throughout the first half of February, the Sound On Sight staff will take a look at the Academy Awards. Whether one of the major studios takes the top prize at the Academy Awards or not, they have no squawk this year. Several years ago, as you might recall, the Big Guys were getting fed up …
Bill Mesce recently wrote an interesting and comprehensive article for Sound on Sight, “The ‘Gray Ones’ Fade to Black.” Though many points were well made, I respectfully disagree with the overall conclusion of the article. Yes, the distribution model for film has changed drastically since the invention of television, cable, and the repeat viewing success …
After ten years, eight films and countless articles celebrating both, it’s all over. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has apparated into cinemas, broken records all over the place, and now there’s nothing left to do but watch it over and over and over again. Possibly in 3D. But when you come out …
In case you didn’t know, the last Harry Potter film is coming out on July 15th. In countdown to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I will be doing a bi-weekly series called “Harry Potter as Cinema”, starting with the first film in the series and working my way up to the final …
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Directed by Chris Columbus
Written by Steve Kloves
USA, 2002
Director Chris Columbus returned with the second Harry Potter installment a year after the first’s release. As a film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a marked improvement over first installment. It’s not even close to being perfect and it has gone down greatly in my estimation since when I first saw the film in the theatre. However there is enough good stuff in there to make it an adequate Harry Potter film while not really holding up when compared to the films following it.
In case you didn’t know, the last Harry Potter film is coming out on July 15th. In countdown to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I will be doing a twice-weekly series called “Harry Potter as Cinema”, starting with the first film in the series and working my way up to the final …
In 1993, audiences gazing on the truly imposing sight of dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park felt the same sense of jaw-dropping awe displayed by the movie’s human characters. Nothing in movie history could compare to what Steven Spielberg and his CGI crew were able to put on the screen: not the herky-jerky stop-motion-animated …
Being the not so Harry Potter fan that I was and now a true believer in the franchise, seeing a few bits of the cast of the Harry Potter films visiting the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park was fun and fascinating. Robbie Coltrane, Emma Watson, Mathew Lewis, and James and Oliver Phelps …
How well do you know your Harry Potter trivia? Does the name Nicholas Flamel ring any bells? He was the alchemist responsible for “the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the title of the inaugural Harry Potter book and movie adaptation, but Flamel is more than a J.K. Rowling creation. He was an actual alchemist who born in …
Awkward Kissing on Harry Potter set Emma Watson (“Harry Potter’s Hermione) recently commented that “…in a new interview on the BBC’s “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross,” the 19-year-old revealed kissing Rupert (Grint), who plays teen wizard Ron Weasley, was just about the most uncomfortable filming experience she’s had in her career so far.” Emma commented: …