items tagged with Chris Columbus

HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

Anyone interested in the distinction between routine direction and inspired direction – anyone who has ever wondered what, exactly, it is that a director brings to a movie – should compare Chris Columbus’ first two Harry Potter films with Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban, helmed by Alfonso Cuaron; Columbus’ films are the work of a by-the-numbers craftsman, and Cuaron’s is the work of an artist. (Which isn’t to say that everyone will prefer Cuaron’s style; many people would rather dine on Big Macs than filet mignon.) Cuaron isn’t quite able to overcome the series’ built-in limitations – the familiarity of the storytelling arc, the “surprising” character reversals that aren’t really much of a surprise, the fact that all three movies are too damned long – but for those viewers, like me, who’ve never been overly enamored of the Harry Potter film series, Azkaban is as fine an entertainment as you could hope for, a visually audacious work with moments of true magic, and it improves on Chris Columbus’ vision tenfold.

Among the year’s seemingly endless spate of business-as-usual Hollywood product, with the remakes and sequels and – in the case of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines – a de facto remake of a sequel, I saw exactly one work in 2003 that, with absolutely no qualms, I would call a masterpiece, and it made its debut on HBO. (It was that kind of year.)
Read More About 2003 In Movies...

HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Although I didn’t care for last year’s Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, I was more than willing to greet the new Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets with an open mind.

HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE

When I sheepishly tell friends that I haven’t yet read any of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, their reaction is usually shock – “You’re kidding!” – followed by euphoric insistence – “You’ve got to read them! You’ll love them!” When I tell these same friends that I didn’t much like the movie version of Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, I get a different response, one that’s a combination of mild disgust and serious condescension.