July Nights

Movie, best: I've never said this about any Harry Potter movie (even with Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban) but the film's sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has me saying the following: a sure-fire contender for Best Picture come award season. Yes, I mentioned a Harry Potter movie and Oscar in the same sentence, but this isn't the rantings of a Potter-head. Watch cinematographer Bruno Debonnel work pure magic with light and scenery that captures the bleak atmosphere surrounding Hogwarts, the magical world and Harry's as well; listen to composer Nicholas Hooper's haunting and achingly beautiful score; Look at how visual effects supervisors Tim Burke and Tim Alexander use eye-popping and gorgeous visual effects to contribute to telling the story and not merely using the imagery as a crutch to lean on; witness Tom Felton dig deep to find sympathy for the devil's servant in Draco Malfoy in which he is recited by Lord Voldemort to perform an act that will break his soul, or the madness and seductive nature of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, or Alan Rickman diving into Severus Snape to the point where even his facial expressions and body gestures do more acting than any line of dialogue he can deliver; then tell me how this knockout of a fantasy drama doesn't deserve a piece of the Oscar pie.

**** stars out of ****

Comedy, laugh-out-loud: When it came to balls-to-the-wall, outrageous and downright nasty comedy, Sasha Baron Cohen is king with Bruno, the newest mocumentary from the Larry Charles, the man who helmed Borat in 2006. This time, Cohen is playing Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion critic looking for his fifteen minutes of screen time in America. Critics have said that it's like an old dog trying to wow everyone with the same trick. Fair point: Bruno is just following the same routine as Borat, which is to expose the dark side of American culture while being as outrageous and humanly possible, leaving any and all decency to the wayside. But who's to say that it's still not jaw-droppingly hilarious and an amazing trick?

***1/2 stars out of ****

Show saver, most needed: Confession: I loathe American horror movies these days. It's all formulaic, slasher/torture porn and no fun. Orphan is basically, a formulaic slasher thriller, but with one key that most horror films don't have: a villain that's completely deranged that leaves an impression on you. Ladies and gentlemen, I give Ester, easily the creepiest and baddest evil kid around the block since Damien. Isabelle Fuhrman plays the seemingly sweet and innocent nine year-old Russian orphan with menace. Her sickly smile alone can give you the willies and will have you screaming at Mom (Vera Farminga) and Dad (Peter Sarsgaard) for not realizing that Ester is one crazy bitch.

Performances, best and baddest edition: As I mentioned above, Fuhrman is delightfully evil in Orphan, but so was Bonham Carter as the sexy, demented second-in-command Bellatrix Lestrange in Half-Blood Prince. Also let me add Tom Felton's haunting work as Death Eater in-training Draco Malfoy, Alan Rickman as the sneering, shadow-dweller of Hogwarts, Severus Snape, and Adam Sandler as George Simmons, an asshole comedian with terminal cancer in Funny People. This July, my attention was on the bad guys, and boy they were so good to watch.