Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (4/5 stars) (2010)

If there was a Harry Potter book that could have used some editing, #7, "The Deathly Hallows" was it. The last thing I wanted to hear was that they were splitting it into two movies. That was such a money grubbing move from JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. Hold on to the cash cow just a few months longer! We can make another $400M!

That gripe aside, I liked the movie. It has its flaws, patchy pacing issues (just like the book's 200 pages of Harry, Hemione and Ron in the forest hiding out and trying to figure things out), some questionable acting and some random departures from the book, however, it's HARRY POTTER!!

While there are pacing problems, 200 pages of the book translates into half an hour in the movie, during which, pretty interesting things happen and I'm entertained. I won't be lining up to see this again, but it was a good time at the movies.

To talk from a neutral position, my wife, who hasn't read the books, didn't mind the last book beingsplit in half - it was exactly like another book, which was fine.

If I were to rate this movie against the others , it was in the middle of the pack somewhere. I would say that it was the most like the book of all the movies and I liked it as much as I liked the book, maybe a little more, unlike "The Goblet of Fire", which was my favourite book and one of the least favourite movies, and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", my least favourite book (why does the rat stay with the Weasleys for TEN YEARS!!!), but one of my favourite movies - different stresses I guess.

Movie: Yes Man (4/5 stars) 2008

Freaking hilarious. I liked this movie from beginning to end and laughed all the way though.

Jim Carrey plays Carl, a "no man" not living his life, sitting around sulking since he got divorced 3 years before. The plot contrives to get Carl to a seminar "Yes - the new No" and his new life begins.

I can't really describe all the funny scenes without giving things away - just enjoy. Well worth your time.

I know some people are saying they don't like Jim Carrey and they won't watch it. It isn't that the movie NEEDED Jim Carrey to be good - he was quite NOT like the Jim Carrey from "Liar Liar" or "Ace Ventura". So, if you don't know if you like Jim Carrey, this would be a gentle introduction.

The worst part about the movie was Rhys Darby's character. Not that I dislike Rhys Darby - he is hilarious, but the entire character seems like a bit of an add-on with little thought to how he integrated into the rest.

Still - well worth watching.

Movie: Little Children (4/5 stars) 2006

We just got this out on DVD. I had no expectations at all with it.

I loved the movie and thought that it was an absolutely excellent film with strong characters with believable motives and actions.

Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Connelly star in an intense movie about what lonely and controlled people do when their life just isn't going the right way.

The movie built up so much, that I was actually nervous about how it might go, how these characters who I really cared about and had a vested interest in might be hurt or humiliated. It was torture in the last few minutes.

Any movie that can do that to me deserves my praise. A simply excellent movie.

Movie: "Casino Royale" (4/5 Stars) 2006

Best Bond film ever. Nothing silly, no missles being launched from cars, ejection seats, evil genius hideouts and so on. High on action, well executed, fun to watch (often painful looking) - what other Bond films should be.

If you like Bond movies, I don't know if you'll like this, it's significantly different from the last 4 or 5, which were, in my opinion, Hollywood fluff and written by committee.

If you don't like Bond, but like other action movies, then give this a go - it's high octane spy action.

I'm still not crazy for Daniel Craig - he's a good Bond, but has this silly little pout he does - as far as Bond girls - Eva Green is exotic ou la la! I've been a fan since I saw "Kingdom of Heaven".

book: "Way of the Cheetah" by Lynn Viehl (4/5 stars)

This is a book about writing. It is about how to be a more productive writer. She compares each of her strategies to the life and hunting strategies of a cheetah, sometimes to comic effect (imagine a cheetah being patted on the head by its cheetah friends that think his hunting is a nice little 'hobby')

I loved the book and even though it's only 72 pages, I though it was well worth the $9.95 I spent on line for it. The shortness is part of the appeal, and I finished it in about an hour and got lots out of it. It's an e-book, so you get it right away in pdf format (zipped) from Holly Lisle's writing resource page.

Lynn Viehl is the author of 36 novels in 5 different genres and writes over a million words per year. She is well worth listening to if you are interested in success as a writer. She also finds the time to share information on her popular and almost daily Paperback writer blog - I'm not sure where she finds the time.

Highlights for me included:
1. Strategies for upping your word count
2. Her own change of habit and how it helped her become more productive
3. That is ok to write for money
4. Her editing strategies and that she edits daily (a no-no in [[Nanowrimo]])
5. The constant and consistent cheetah analogy (it just works)

If you are interested in writing and have no clue how you could ever finish a novel or short story, and wonder where you'd ever find the time - this book answers all of those questions. If you are a writer by profession and want to be more productive, this is a must read.

Movie: Apocalypto (4/5 stars) 2006

I almost always start with mentioning the actors who were in a movie. With this film, 99% of everyone in it only have Apocalypto as a credit, so mentioning actors isn't much use.

The film focuses on Jaguar's Paw, a Mayan native living in the jungles of Central America around 1500 or so. His tribe is attacked and mostly captured and brought to a city nearby.

I don't know how accurate this portrays Mayan civilization, but taken as an action movie, there is little to fault it.

This is a high adrenalin movie and as with most Mel Gibson movies, there is no shying away from the brutal life of the time.

I liked it and recommended it to lots of my friends. It is worth the price of the ticket and a real roller coaster ride of a movie.

Movie: Mission Impossible 3 (MI3) (4/5 stars)

I didn't want to rent this one and I deliberately avoided it in the theater, since I didn't like the first two. They were full of plot holes and stupid ideas that were constantly jolting me out of any kind of suspension of disbelief that I might have had going into them.

As before, Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, the agent who goes out and takes on impossible missions (thus the title). In this movie, he's retired, and one of the students he has trained is in trouble and he rushes off to rescue her.

This is just a good, solid action movie. I liked it far more than I expected to.

It's worth your time, especially if you were avoiding it like I was. Lots of fun.

Movie: The Shining (4/5 stars)

The classic Jack Nicholson horror movie based on Steven King's popular novel. Believe me, I've received a few strange looks that someone as movie-philic as myself has never seen this 1980 movie until 2006. I know, I know, and everyone under the sun has probably reviewed it too, and in fact, most people reading this have probably seen it.

Anyway - that aside, I loved the movie and thought that it was well worth my time. Fresh off my novel frenzy with Nanowrimo 2006, a friend of mine thought that it would be a great movie to see on a movie night, since it's about a novelist who goes insane ("All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.")

I paid close attention to this one for bits on how to build character, how to pace, dialog, climax and so on. It's got few weaknesses. Oh... a massive bonus to this is the re-make of the trailer on youtube/ebaumsworld, where the preview is done as a family movie, with appropriate music mixed in and just the right scenes shown for just the right amount of time. It was funny before I'd even seen the movie, doubly so after I'd seen it.

If you haven't seen this, waste no time when you are next at the movie rental place, grab a copy and watch it!

Book: "No Plot? No Problem!" byt Chris Baty - (4/5 stars)

I love this book. It's written by the founder of Nanowrimo, and is more about completing 50,000 words in one month than anything about writing a novel, i.e. voice, point of view, characterization etc...

Still, that being said, from having done the 1 month novel, I realize that just sitting down and writing has more to do with writing than any of those other things, and in the end, that makes this a fantastic book for writers.

I love the humor of this book - Baty is a real wit, which makes it fun to read. He has tons of ideas from various nanowrimo participants, many of whom have written published novels, as well as great section on how to edit your novel, and something from publishers etc.

You have to know going in that it isn't really about the mechanics of writing, and when you do, you will find it exactly what you need to get that novel finished.

My only regret with this is that I bought it after starting Nanowrimo and only had the time to read it once I was finished my 50,000 word 1st draft. When reading it after, I felt that my novel could have been a lot better if I'd read this first.