Two Movies Enter the Billion Dollar Box-Office Club

Both Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon have both crossed a significant hurdle this past weekend, entering the billion dollar box-office club! They are the 9th and 10th entries into this list of movies, respectively. The list includes Avatar, Titanic, and many more. I realize that this group probably doesn't seem as special anymore as 2 movies have made it in over the last few days, but they were also expected to make a ton of money, and there aren't any more movies expected to do as well as them until next summer's The Dark Knight Rises.

Have you seen either of these movies? If so, do they deserve a spot on the prestigious list of films? Sound off in the comments!

'Captain America' Steals a Little Bit of the 'Harry Potter' Magic

Fine, fine, you can rub it in, my dear Harry Potter has been pushed out of the number one spot. I have to admit it, I haven't actually seen Captain America yet, but I hope to this week.


Based on studio estimates, Captain America made $65.8 million, only $100,000 ahead of May's Thor. In second place was my beloved Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 made another $48 million, bringing it's domestic total to $274.4 and it's worldwide total to $834,582,000. I hate to jinx it, but it is highly unlikely that this film won't cross the billion dollar mark, especially after it opens in China next month.


Here's how the rest of the weekend went down (in millions):


1. Captain America: The First Avenger - $65.8
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $48.1
3. Friends with Benefits - $18.5 mil
4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $12
5. Horrible Bosses - $11.7
6. Zookeeper - $8.7
7. Cars 2 - $5.7
8. Winnie the Pooh - $5.1
9. Bad Teacher - $2.6
10. Midnight in Paris - $1.9

'Harry Potter' Shatters Nearly Every Box-Office Record that is Possible to Break in Just One Weekend

Don't deny it, deep down you knew this would happen. Harry Potter has rightfully taken Twilight's place as the franchise with most domestic box-office records... in just one weekend! I absolutely love Harry Potter and really don't care for sparkly vampires, so this comes as welcome news to me (sorry, twi-hards). In just three days, Deathly Hallows Part 2 has broken the records for the following: (previous record holders are in parentheses or brackets)

• Most money made from pre-ordering tickets (Fandango, Yahoo! Movies, etc.)
• Most money made through midnight showings (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
• Most successful first day (domestic) [The Twilight Saga: Eclipse]
• Most successful weekend (domestic) [The Dark Knight]
• Most successful weekend (international) [Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides]
• Most successful weekend (worldwide) [Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince]
• Most successful weekend (England and Australia)
• Most successful IMAX weekend (domestic) [Alice In Wonderland]
• Most successful IMAX weekend (worldwide) [Transformers: Dark of the Moon]

Wow. My hands practically ache from typing all of that. You have to admit, all of those records in just three days is pretty impressive. Can the movie make a billion dollars? Will it dominate the world? Can Twilight top Harry this fall or next summer? Will The Dark Knight Rises get revenge on him for stealing their most successful weekend record? Can Harry keep the record all for himself? Am I asking way too many unnecessary questions? Of course!

'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2' A/95

This weekend, a worldwide phenomenon is ending. My favorite books and movies of all time are coming to a close. Out of all of my reviews, trust this one the most.


It's already made $43.5 million dollars at the box-office in midnight showings, and is set to break almost all box-office records regarding opening days and weekends, worldwide, and domestic totals. As always, spoiler alert.


Hogwarts


I'm going to put almost the whole review in this section, as almost the entire movie takes place in this square-mile area. While you would think that limiting an entire film to one location would be a terrible mistake, the movie explores so many areas of the school that it feels like a different site for every scene. Of course, the acting was great (Alan Rickman!), the makeup was heavy (Alan Rickman!), and secrets were revealed (Alan Rickman's character, Severus Snape!) throughout the entire movie. Although I practically know the books by heart, I would still be surprised at some times, as the filmmakers did a great job, and I happened to be half-asleep at some points (we had to wait outside in the rain to get in, then sit in dim lighting for two hours, don't hate). The only reason that I didn't give it a 100 is because for some reason, I just couldn't become fully immersed in the story, as I usually do with Harry Potter films. Another reason is the teenage girl sitting next to me who kept rocking herself back and forth muttering "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God....." every time a character died. (One of my biggest pet peeves: when people don't shut up.) I absolutely loved everything about it other than that, and I think you will too. After all, everyone's gonna see it eventually! (Kidding, kidding)


A / 93


Everywhere else


The only other places in the book are the forbidden forest (which is right beside Hogwarts), Hogsmeade (only a few miles from Hogwarts), Gringotts (sort of close to Hogwarts) and the cottage (not anywhere near Hogwarts), also, if you count the epilogue, 9 and 3/4. There was barely anything to see in these locations (other than Harry's supposed death). (I know I'm overusing the parentheses). As with the rest of the movie, I loved just about every second of it.


A / 97


Overall grade: A / 95


Just for reference, here is a list of my favorite Harry Potter films.


1. Deathly Hallows Part 2 (That's right, I said it)
2. Goblet of Fire (In very close 2nd)
3. Chamber of Secrets
4. Sorcerer's Stone
5. Half-Blood Prince
6. Deathly Hallows Part 1
7. Prisoner of Azkaban
8. Order of the Phoenix


They are all practically equal to me, but I had to choose, and that's just what I did.

'Mr. Popper's Penguins' - F/50

Poster from buzzbo.com

Aah Jim Carrey. First he's the Grinch, then the Cat In The Hat, and now? Apparently, he's a divorced man who lives with six penguins and enjoys turning his multi-million dollar condo into a "winter wonderland". Meanwhile, no one in the movie finds this odd. Oh, and of course, spoiler warning.


Childhood Life


The movie starts out showing Jim Carrey at about age 4 to age 8 talking to his dad over a radio set, as his dad is always away looking for an unknown treasure. This part was touching to some, but to most, it was just plain cheesy. Sadly, this part of the film was one of the okay parts, and only lasted for about two minutes.


F / 55


Business As Usual


As every kids movie, this film features a man who apparently hasn't figured out what life is all about. Instead, he's doing crazy things like making a living. So, he attempts to get an old lady who has owned a "very special" restaurant for a long time to sell, but she refuses to. His bosses then start freaking out, but he assures them that he'll have it done soon enough. He arrives at his multi-million dollar condo and finds a box. He opens it and places what he thinks is a stuffed penguin on a side table. And get ready for your minds to be blown: it's a real penguin! Wow. Never saw that coming. He tries to make the penguin go away, but all of his desperate attempts fail.


Grade: F / 30


The Ex-Lovely Lady and Her Children

Of course, he gets another box filled with five more penguins, and then he begins to freak out. He had already invited his ex-wife and her children over for his son's birthday, and his son mistakes the penguins as his presents. A zoo-keeper comes to get the six waddling birds, but Carrey refuses to give them to him, and promises to his son that he can keep them.


F / 40


Getting Re-Connected


The ex-wife decides to let her kids stay with Carrey for the night, and the older girl immediately assumes that Carrey has fallen in love with his ex-wife all over again. Which of course happens all of the time. The former family begins to bond and grow closer (which is quite a bit considering how much the kids hated him at the beginning), especially with the penguins. They go to the park, build a snowman, and Carrey and his ex go on a date at an ice skating rink.

D- / 70


What Life Is but Isn't All About


Are you enjoying the titles for the different sections? I sure am. Anyways, Jim then begins to fall apart when the first penguin's egg doesn't hatch, and gives the penguins to the zoo. His ex calls him "heartless", his kids hate him again, good stuff. After that, he gathers up his kids and takes them to the zoo to kidnap the penguins. He calls his ex-wife and of course she wants to get back together again and cancels her super-expensive vacation with her extremely eco-friendly boyfriend.


F / 60


Saving the Penguins and Impressing the Grandma


They then break into the zoo offices, steal the penguins out of a freezer, and lock the zookeeper in the freezer. They begin to waltz out the gate of the zoo, when they realize they are missing one. The first penguin has been chased onto the roof of the main building by two thugs who of course can't out-run a penguin. Said penguin then flies off of the roof with a toy plane and lands in the limo that is waiting for them. Sound exciting? It wasn't. He then gets the old lady's approval to buy the restaurant because she sees how kind he is. Yeah, not like she was just waiting for a better offer or something ridiculous like that. He remodels it and sits at his "special table" with his newly-reunited family. And..... it's over. Finally!


F / 45


All in all, I hated every second of it. The only part that I came close to enjoying was getting to see his condo in all of it's stainless steel glory. If that's not a big enough hint, don't go see it.


Overall Grade: F / 50

'Cars 2' Review: B-/84

For our first review, we'll be discussing the highs and lows of Pixar's latest family hit, Cars 2. Though it is a sequel to the original Cars (2006),  it feels like a whole different series... in a good way. We'll break the movie down into different parts and rate them accordingly. And of course, spoiler warning.


Radiator Springs


While almost the entire first film was set in this small, all-American town, only about ten minutes of the movie are spent here this time around. It is shown at almost the very beginning and at the very end. At the beginning, it felt rushed with Mater doing about five things that him and Lightning used to enjoy, yet where it happened across an hour and forty-five minutes last time, this time it's condensed into about thirty seconds. The only part I enjoyed from that was the few minutes focusing on Mater posing as a waiter to be able to go on Lightning and Sally's date.


The end part I found unnecessary, but I figured they would show it. The quality of it felt like one of the many "CarsToons" that they have been showing on the Disney Channel, which look great, but have pretty bad plots.


Grade: C- / 75


World Grand Prix


We had only seen a little bit of all the flashy things that the Pixar makers can create in the first film, where as here, it's right in your face. As soon as Mater and Lightning cruise on into the World Grand Prix launch party, your mesmerized with deep purples, blues, greens, yellows, reds, and every other bright color you can imagine. And it looks awesome. While I know that this has no relation to the plot or review of the movie, I find it amazing that if I had just been shown that scene, I might not have been able to tell you if the movie I was watching was animated or not.


The actual racing scenes I didn't like, mainly because of the horrible attempt and showing time passing, where as in the first one, they did a great job with that in the races. The overall racing time in this movie was about ten minutes, and it felt like five. I did like the Italian racer, and especially Jeff Gorvette, as I am a huge Jeff Gordon fan. Other than that, the Grand Prix was only okay for me.


Grade: B- / 84


Mater's Spy Adventure


Here's a hint: there's no way that Lightning McQueen should be on the front of the poster. Mater was easily shown twice as much as Lightning in this movie, which is what I think made people review it badly. However, that's what made the movie for me. Mater went along with his shenanigans, (according to Holly Shiftwell, Finn McMissile's partner, he acts "extremely American") and of course got into trouble in the restroom of all places where he ended up getting himself and unwanted car wash and had a tracking device snapped onto him by an American spy. He is then assumed to be the American spy, and hilarity ensues as he attempts to all the things a spy would do, but with his signature Tow Mater flare.


In the end, Holly ends up being his girlfriend, which I thought was good as poor Mater misunderstood her telling him that they'll "rendezvous tomorrow night", taking it as her asking him out on a date. He is of course asked to be a full-time spy by Holly and Finn, but turns it down saying that he belongs in Radiator Springs. I believe that it was the safe way to go, and they really missed the opportunity to do a Cars spin-off, and of course to break the mold of kids' movies of "Thanks for the totally amazing opportunity to do something that I could never even dream of much less get to participate in my whole life, instead I'll stay in my hometown that has a population of 600 people." or in this case, cars.


Grade: A- / 93


Overall, it was one of the best kids movies in a long time, and I enjoyed it much more than the original. To help you imagine that, I would rank Cars 2 one slot ahead of Wall-E, but behind Finding Nemo and Up. In relation, the original Cars would be ahead of Ratatouille, but still behind Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles. Just for the record, my least favorites are Toy Story and A Bug's Life, and my favorite would have to be Up. I know that's different than most people's opinions, but I generally have different tastes from others.

Extremely Excited for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II'

As you will learn, I am a total Harry Potter junkie. I read, watch, and breathe Harry Potter. The upcoming final movie should be the most action-packed but tear-jerking one yet. Once the series is done, a part of me will feel slightly empty, but also slightly full since I have completed the book-to-movie chapter of the series. The $6 billion (that's 9 zeroes) and counting series will release it's final chapter on July 15, and I will be in a theater at 12:01 that morning for the midnight premiere.


Are you a Harry Potter junkie, and if so, do you feel the same?