Date Night - Deathly Hallows Part One

Plot: The first installment of the two-film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they search for the pieces of Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul that he extracted from his being and hid in obscure locations both far and wide. If the trio is unable to locate and destroy them all, Voldemort will remain immortal. Despite their long friendship, a combination of dark forces, romantic tensions, and long-held secrets threaten to sabotage the mission. via.

Matt's Rating: B-

Nicole's Rating: A-

Nicole: Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Matt: Ah, ah, ah, what?

N: Harry Potter!

M: Nerd. I love Harry Potter.

N: Did you just call me a nerd and then mumble that you love Harry Potter? (this is me explaining to our readers what just happened.)

M: It was good but the Harry Potter movies don't seem to live up to the books.

N: I never expect them to. I think if you expect a movie to follow a book 100%, you are gearing yourself up for one boring ass movie. Not everything translates. All I ever ask for is for the screenwriter, director and actors to stay true to the feel of the book. I think Part One did that well. AND this one hardly ever veered.

M: I never said it had to follow the book, I said it has to live up to the book. I think that considering J.K. Rowling was a producer, it was as close as it was going to get. It's just that being a reader and fan of the books, it makes me biased and I think the movie is almost doomed from the moment it starts.

N: You don't get a much bigger fan than me, Matt, and I think it lived up to the movie really well. I've read the books at least six times each. Maybe more. I know ridiculous details. I thought it was great.

M: Donnie Rodlift is not a good actor.

N: Daniel Radcliffe. And I thought he did a really good job in both this one and the last one. All of them did.

M: I think she, the girl who plays Hermione, was good. And I think the guy who plays Ron was good. But I think that Harry is a character that's difficult to act because in the books he's not as colorful as the other characters. The reader sees everything through Harry's eyes. So the character is very internal. All the stuff that goes on with Harry goes on in his head. It's hard for an actor to show that. I think you're doomed if you have to play Harry Potter.

N: I agree that both Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were good. Rupert Grint has always been the best actor of the three. Emma caught up in the sixth movie, as did Daniel Radcliffe in my eyes. I think all three of them have grown into fantastic actors and you can't sway me on that point. But - how did you like the movie?

M: I think, ultimately, Part One and Part Two of Deathly Hallows should be viewed as one movie. So it's difficult to flat out critique Part One since it's all build up. And it's supposed to be. The movie ends during the rising action. You don't have a complete story yet.

N: Agreed. There were parts of it that dragged because of the fact that it just setting up things to come later. I did really like a lot of the action sequences though and I loved the story of the three brothers and the Deathly Hallows. That animation was really unique and interesting.

M: Yeah it was cool.

N: I don't know, I thought it was pretty awesome.

M: I think, too, that where it falls short is the meat of the movie takes place at a point in the story where the characters are having a lot of internal struggles. And I think it's difficult to show that on screen, but the moments that had to do with the Horcruxes were very good because it was cinematic.

N: I thought they did an excellent job showcasing the internal struggles. I think we're just going to go back and forth here.

M: I do think there were good things. I thought the comedy was good. I thought Dobby was the most interesting character in the whole movie.

N: I can't talk to you.

M: When he came on screen as a CGI character he stole every scene he was in, which I think speaks to the other actors.

N: If I could only insert silence and a dirty look into a blog post. Closing thoughts, jerkface?

M: It's an okay movie, but we only have half the story. So you can't judge.

N: Don't listen to Matt. It was really good. I loved it. Go see it.