Memento (2000)

(imdb) (rotten tomatoes) (metacritic) (mubi)

After reviewing this, I felt I needed to detox and review something good, and what better film id there to soothe a film buffs mind than Memento. Now, I am afraid that I might exaggerate in praising it, but after seeing however many times I have, I have come to the conclusion that this film features one of the most incredibly told stories ever. Of course this may send a chill down the elitist's spine, who having heard of Christopher Nolan only after his incredible success with Inception, will think, "What a buffoon, calling a film made by this explosion heavy, De Caprio addled halfwit of a director the conceiver of a masterpiece, ha, I laugh at at this simpleton." I will refrain from rebutting all the points made by my imaginary elitist counterpart, since it is only imaginary, but even so, it does make a good point, how can I put Nolan's second feature film (after Following), up with masterpieces such as Bergman's Seventh Seal or Fellini's 8 è mezzo (which I will eventually review)? This film is one of the best examples of the use of nonlinear narrative, because it not only fits in perfectly with the deranged anterograde amnesia suffering protagonist's coatic mind, but it also serves well in the representation of the disorganised and deceiving Los Angeles, as if it were supposed to have been shown that way from the start and Nolan was the first to pick up on it. The simple revenge tragedie based story is rendered intriguing by the employment of two alternating timelines, one in color, where the main body is developed, oh, I almost forgot, it is shown in reverse chronological order, and the other in black and white. Don't let it's apparent intricacy but you off, because, as it unfolds, it becomes a tounge in cheek thriller. So overall if you are looking for a mindbending thriller (neo-nior influences), with decadent view of Los Angles and twist ending, Memento is probably the best example of all those things.
8.5/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

(imdb) (rotten tomatoes) (metacritic)

Ostentatious ending to a series that has lost its splendor of originality
4/10 

Story: Now this is where the film falls short the most, paramount importance is given to scenes where cheap romance occurs (retrieval of the basilisk teeth), which does nothing to enrich the plot, because it has no effect on the overall story, but the filmmaker does not seem o think it is important to explain Harry's "loljks, I wasn't dead", probably assuming that most people have read the book and the others will just say "It was probably magic", but this cannot be too much of a criticism because many of these weak storytelling mechanisms are taken directly from the books. As for the epilogue it seems cheap, gratuitous and completely out of tone with the rest of the film. It feels like it was left there to get a few cheap laughs and to leave the viewer with no uncertainty that Harry does live happily ever after. But most of these criticisms should probably go into a book review, because the source material is as weak as the film itself.

Camera-work and Direction: Average to low standard, especially considering the budget was $250 million. The shots where steady cam was not used only seem out of character with the rest of the film. The sequences where Harry and Voldemort communicate through their psychic connection seem incredibly redundant and have a tendency towards fake experimentalism, which has no motifs and seems to be completely self-indulgent. Under this category falls also the white Kings Cross station, which seems to be an optimistic attempt to form some sort of symbolism, but once again this optimism must go unrewarded. The animations are standard, not adding much to the plot, even when they are mostly visually pleasing.

Acting: The acting in the lead roles seems to be consistent with the rest of the series, even though our familiarity with the characters does not seem to make them more sympathetic. The supporting actors seem mostly relived to be over with this lengthy project and their performances are very weak, which is not saying that they are given enough screen time to give their characters any development.

Sceenplay: Steve Kloves' screenplay seems to be an incomplete work where the adding in of interactions with cute animated creatures through out the film, seem to have importance over the development of the plot. With the fact that his only large job has been in writing the screenplay for the Harry Potter series, his knowledge of the overall story should have aided in tying loose ends, but these remain completely unsolved and seem accentuated with lousy dialogue and lengthily emotionally dry scenes.

Soundtrack: Forgettable rehash of previous successes

Poor ending to the epic (in size not in merit) Harry Potter franchise.