Moon Minis - P.S. I Love You, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Hangover

P.S. I Love You

Grief's always a hard emotion to produce in a film. It's easy to see what could lead to a film's failure to emit such a response - many times, the grieving process differs for each individual, and one of the most important components to the emotion is a strong connection to the grief inducer. Unfortunately, a lot of films fail to create a strong relationship between viewer and actions on-screen.

But P.S. I Love You is different. The main plot point, a woman's grief and subsequent journey towards homeostasis after the tragic passing of her young husband, who helps her on her way to recovery through posthumous letters and gifts, is effective because of Gerard Butler's portrayal of the husband Gerry, an outgoing, sensitive, and often overly generous gentleman with a giant heart. Endearing and affectionate, Gerry's character is the whole reason why one should watch P.S. I Love You - even if the ending is reasonably foreseeable, Butler's limited presence fills the film with passion and love, and one can't help but understand his wife's sense of dread at living a life without him. Not deeply affecting, but true enough to life to warrant a tear drop or two, and a suitable date film to keep the romance alive and recognize the special person in your life.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Stale melodrama thrives in the sixth film based on J.K Rowling's magical septology about a boy fighting an unstoppable force named Voldemort. If you've seen the first five, carry out the tradition here, but those who weren't drawn into the Potter universe with the other films will absolutely hate Half-Blood Prince. In fact, fans may well take offense to the film's horrid pacing and lack of substance. Even the actors seem bored at times. Could it be the ridiculously abundant dialogue? Possibly, and the fact that the wizard battles are few and far between.

Taking into account the length of the film - a 2 and a half hour jaunt through wizard school rife with more relationship problems than conflict - much of the running time seems wasted on inane details that do more to confuse the casual Potter fan than explain much of anything. And for a film that supposedly centers on the half-blood prince, there's very little mention of him. A tedious watch that does not bode well for the conclusion of a very compelling book series, you'd do best to stick with the text as there's more to enjoy there than this slow film can provide.


The Hangover

Contrived but funny, The Hangover finds four friends heading out to Vegas for a bachelor party gone wrong. Waking up, they can't remember anything they did the night before after being slipped roofies on accident; plus, they're missing the husband-to-be and have to set out to find him. Wacky hijinks ensue, creative and also a little helter-skelter, and one can't help but think the writers wanted to put in whatever they could to spice up the film's bare premise.

But through successful personality performances by Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, the frat boy humor works most of the time. It may be farfetched, but it is an adventure that luckily does not drop off into boring exposition, constantly moving from one zany idea to another. A good comedy watch with lots of laughs, albeit stupid ones, that surprisingly does not glorify binge drinking and instead focuses on the less pleasant effects of a blackout, The Hangover will eventually succumb to its own plot line - fun for a while but ultimately forgettable in the long run, as the laughs aren't strong enough to become quotable, and though the events of the plot are original, the intent behind them is not.