Molly Garner Has Had Impure Thoughts About Harry Potter [FIERCE ANTICIPATION]

FIERCELY ANTICIPATING

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Every time the trailer for this movie pops up on TV, I gasp and sit up straighter in my seat.  I have been a Harry Potter fan since page one of the novel.  His journey through the multiplex has been rocky, but it’s fun to have watched a cute, boyish Harry Potter become a chiseled, handsome Harry Potter about whom I have had one or two impure thoughts.  (The fact that in real life Daniel Radcliffe stands a mere 4’3 has no bearing on my affection.)  The films have matured along with their young stars, and the juicy supporting cast, killer plot lines and crackerjack special effects promise to make this a surefire hit.   And an Anglophile’s wet dream.

Coming July 15.

SORT OF WANT TO SEE

X-Men: First Class

Not even my affinity for the slightly-gay Hugh Jackman could convince me to see the previous X-Men movies. I’ve generally considered this franchise to be thin on plot, high on special effects, and loaded with two-dimensional characters about whom I couldn’t be bothered to give a shit.  In other words, not my kind of movie.  So what does First Class have that the rest of them haven’t?  Answer:  James McAvoy.  My husband and I “discovered” him when The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was playing innocently in the background on ABC Family or something.  We were sucked in by McAvoy’s simple, playful elf.  (Or troll.  Or whatever he was.)  Just recently the two of us were lamenting that the talented McAvoy had disappeared from Hollywood.  (Why wasn’t he in the cast of Inception, for example?)  But then we saw his mug staring down at us unexpectedly during previews for this movie, and now I’m considering shelling out the $12 to see X-Men.  Maybe.  We’ll see.

In Theaters

WOULDN’T SEE IT IF YOU PAID ME

Spy Kids 4

Even with Talk Soup’s Joel McHale and a crazily bearded Jeremy Piven, I cannot muster any enthusiasm for Spy Kids 4.  Even if I had a rowdy child in tow, this summer is chock full of kid-friendly flicks like  Cars 2 and the new Muppet movie.  Even Kung Fu Panda 2 got terrific reviews.  Does the world really need a Spy Kids 4?  Frankly, did we need a Spy Kids 1-3?  This charmless franchise seems too eager to please with its focus-group-tested kids and superheroes. The trailer (see below) does get points for featuring Ricky Gervais as the talking robotic dog, but I have a feeling all the best jokes are given away within those three minutes.  That is, if lame-ass ’80s references are considered good jokes.  (There is a reference to “Hammer Time.”)  Surely a parent would need to be hammered to endure this overblown, money-grubbing sequel of a sequel of a sequel.   I pray the cycle will end.

Coming August 19.