So, some quick reviews…of stuff….

Last night, caught the new Jonny Depp flick, “Charlie and Chocholate Factory, Wilder-lite.” I had a lot of reservations about this movie, as did, I bet, half the known world. Gene Wilder did such a great job with the original, most peolpe would wonder whether a remake would be….needed. Now, supposedly, this movie follows the book more, which I think is a requirement of remakes. That said…I like this movie a lot. Jonny Depp makes Wonka, well…really, really creepy. I would bet that this is what Michael Jackson is like in person. The Umpaloompa’s are hysterical. The characters: the kids, there parents, seem to be fairly two dimensional, but they all work…it’s also been moderized…Mike Teevee, or whatever, plays video games and has a rather violent streak. But, overall, I’d give it 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Also, I bought, and finished the new Harry Potter novel. This, the sixth book in the series, occurs about three weeks after the complition of the last. I really enjoyed this one. Rowling did well to streamline the text, leaving out a lot of minor dialog, so this book was considerable shorter. Harry has made a signifiicant change, as have a majority of the other charaters. In as such, some of the dialog may not be understood by the younger audience, but wold more in the older. Overall, this book started well, ran well, and ended…well shitty…not in the writing, but in the plot twists. When they say a major charater buys the farm…well, I won’t say more… The only thing I really didn’t like about the book, and maybe the series, is the path that Harry has to go. It been obvious from the fifth book that harry must kill Voldemort to live…so he’s got fate and survival…but I think that he’s beginning to get revenge in there too….and as they always say in the movies, what do you do after you’ve had your revenge. I suppose I can see why the right wing christians don’t like this series. But, go buy it, read it, loan it to someone else.

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