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Watched it last weekend. Quite underwhelming, I'm afraid. I think one really has to watch it in 3D, since it's pretty up set up as that to create an immersive experience. Take that immersive experience away, and we're left with the plot and characters, neither of which are particularly groundbreaking stuff. It's great to see James Cameron back at work though. His "Aliens" is, in my opinion, a masterpiece and yes, I love "Titanic" too.

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance

Didn't know anything about the franchise before watching this, but wow, was this impressive. Thought it was just going to be robots hitting each other ala Transformers, but was pleasantly surprised. Animation, as with all Japanese animation, was superb. Action sequences were great...really suspenseful and held my attention throughout. Light-hearted moments were a relief, especially Pen Pen the Penguin, because, quite frankly, the overall tone of the movie is pretty depressing. Some very powerful scenes, including Eva 1.0 under auto-pilot horribly ripping the guts out of the Angel, and the final sequence where Shinji tries to save Rei from the Angel. Highly recommended. Count me in as a new fan of the series.

Departures

Absolutely stunning movie, easily the best film I've seen this year, or for that matter, for the past several years. Deeply moving, poignant, and yet with moments of genuine humor as well, "Departures" richly deserved its Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Totally bawled my eyes out during the movie...I've lost count of the number of times I cried, and I've watched the movie twice! Though the story of how Daigo eventually overcomes his initial hesitation and revulsion for his profession of encoffinment breaks no new ground structurally, the eloquence of the storytelling and little things here and there make for a truly memorable film. I love the portrayal of Daigo and his wife's relationship, how devoted and supportive Mika is to her husband. Really felt the hurt that Daigo feels when Mike recoils at her husband's touch after she found out about Daigo's job, and shared the joy of their reunion after their brief separation. Also loved his surrogate family at work...his taciturn but gentle boss (Tsutomu Yamazaki in the performance of the movie) and Kumiko Yo's assistant. Watch for the powerhouse finale that the film understatedly builds towards. Another undoubted highlight is Joe Hisaishi's rich score. Not many films can be this powerful through its quiet elegance and beauty...this is one of them.

Up

Thoroughly entertaining movie, as one might expect from Pixar. The sterling first 10 minutes, chronicling Carl's life with his wife before the main events of the movie, is the perfect portrait of companionship (or lack thereof): real enough yet perfect enough to draw the audience in and tear their hearts out, even when the ending is inevitable. In fact, this prologue is so good, the rest of the movie seems almost an afterthought. In a way, it's kind of like Wall-E, Pixar's previous movie, where the bits on Earth are more fascinating than the bits in space. It does seem that the plot doesn't really know what to do after the concept has been laid for the audience (in the case of Up, a lonely elderly man who goes on the adventure that he and his late wife had always wanted, but didn't have a chance to; in the case of Wall-E, how a lonely robot finds love in a deserted future Earth). Still, the final scene that ties in the first 10 minutes is the perfect way to end the movie, and one can never go wrong choosing Pixar :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Went to watch "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" earlier this week, and really enjoyed the movie. I've seen all the Potter movie adaptations and this has to rank up there as one of my favorites, alongside "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Goblet of Fire". To someone who hasn't read any of the books, "Half-Blood Prince" came across to this non-reader to do a much better job than its immediate predecessor ("Order of the Phoenix") of streamlining JK Rowling's dense tome so that all the major plot points in the book are covered without seeming to rush from one event to the other, while leaving room for the movie to breathe in terms of letting the emotional moments sink in. Maybe part of this is because Steve Kloves, who adapted all of the previous novels to the screen except for "Order of the Phoenix", has returned to writing duties, and also perhaps that director David Yates (who directed "Phoenix"), has become more accustomed to his role.

Whatever the reason, "Half-Blood Prince" was an emotionally-rich movie that canters along at a good pace while having time for a few light humourous moments as well. The latter has been criticised by some critics and fans, but I felt the movie absolutely needed that, given the dark tone of the main plot in which Harry and Dumbledore seek out one of the horcruxes in which Voldemort has hidden part of his soul. The humor is mainly contained in Harry's and Ron's "adventures" in the romance department, and it not only serves to provide some much needed, and effective, light-hearted moments, but the subplot paid its dues in full when at the end, Harry's mourning of Dumbledore's death was made all the more effective because Ginny was there for him to have a shoulder to cry on. That final reel was a real gutwrencher, and made all the more so by all the students and teachers at Hogwarts raising their wands in honor of the fallen headmaster. I teared up all over and it was all I could do to prevent myself from crying out loud. As powerful, if not more, as Cedric's death at the end of "Goblet of Fire".

A minor quibble, and probably more because I haven't read the book, is the seeming throwaway reveal near the end that Snape was the titular Half-Blood Prince. Is this revelation meant to bear more significance?

"Half-Blood Prince" is a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, and this is one happy fan who'll most definitely be looking forward to the next movie in the series.