A Franchise Review is where we look at the whole series of movies in a franchise and review them as a whole rather than individually. As with all Views from the Sofa reviews, it will be rated out of 5 … Continue reading New Features Week: Harry Potter Franchise Review
Where Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows story was definitely designed to set the scene and place all the pieces of the tale in place, Part 2 is the finale. To say that this movie is one large set-piece may be … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) Review
The first part of the Harry Potter franchise’s finale doesn’t feel very Potter at all. The rest of the series took part in Hogwarts, introduced different aspects of the world of wizardry and had a wider mystery waiting for Harry and … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) Review
It is very telling that halfway through the Half-Blood Prince, there is a scene which was added to the film but not in the book, to give the movie some actual action in it’s second act. This is because there doesn’t … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Review
The Harry Potter movies have always been hinged on the central mysteries. This is usually the unlocking, discovering, decoding or understanding of the titular macguffin until we get to the usual Voldemort linked finale. Unusually, The Order of the Phoenix isn’t necessarily … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) Review
You could argue that there is a lot less focus on story in the fourth Harry Potter movie and much more focus on action. It is a movie of set-pieces and spectacle rather than advancing any of the larger mythology forward … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2004) Review
The third movie in the Harry Potter series finds the franchise with a firm grasp of identity and confidence to start changing things. Chamber of Secrets began to get darker and shed some of the more childish elements but Prisoner of … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Review
It would have been easy for the Harry Potter movies to be content with repeating some of the better moments of the first movie and not developing the story too much but even with their first sequel, the movie feels … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Review
From the moment the movie begins you can sense the “magic” of the world of Harry Potter. It is a credit to JK Rowling that she is able to create such an imaginative place and then for director Chris Columbus to … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) Review
Daniel Radcliffe is doing a great job of distancing himself from the boy-wizard character that made him a star. His choices of roles, on both the stage and screen, have been mature, well-thought and never once played on the role … Continue reading Horns (2014) Review
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