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Upon seeing this in theaters, I thought it was a great conclusion. Revisiting it sometime later, I'll be honest, it wasn't a perfect ending by any means. Not to say that it's a terrible one. In fact, it's a good one. It just kind of lacked the spark of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Alfred is an annoying side character and there were certain scenes that were too truly devoid of logic such as Legolas jumping on crumbling rocks in the third act.

That being said, there were certain stuff I liked. The cinematography is as stunning as it was Andrew Lesnie's last Middle-Earth project before his death in 2015 and the costumes still amaze. The directing from Peter Jackson is still good, the editing is sharp, and the pacing is decent. Howard Shore still gives out beautiful music as ever retaining some of the themes from the last two films and the action remains breathtaking. And of course, the acting from everyone involved is superb with Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, and Evangeline Lily giving solid performances as their respective characters.

Overall, The Battle of the Five Armies isn't a perfect ending to the trilogy, but it's fitting enough for a farewell after 10 years since it's release. Happy New Year everyone!

I loved the first two Harry Potter movies. Sorcerer's Stone, while not without some problems, was still a pretty good start to the movie franchise while Chamber of Secrets is even better with improved child acting and interesting mystery. Prisoner of Azkaban is another great installment. My only quibbles is that while it does have some humor, it isn't quite as funny when compared to the first two which had some good humor and Michael Gambon isn't quite as strong as Richard Harris in terms of Dumbledore's portrayal although he did a decent job.

Everything else is handled greatly. In terms of being an adaptation (considering the movie franchise got me into reading the books as well as the fantasy genre in general), it does have some changes, but it was a noble effort in capturing some of the complexities. Not only that, it managed to have character development to not only the Trio, but the side characters as well notably Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Plus, the acting from everyone involved is superb. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson did great in their chemistry as the Trio while the supporting actors did a superb job including Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, and Pam Ferris (which is funny consider Pam Ferris played Aunt Trunchbull from Matilda, an adaptation of one of Roald Dahl's books that inspired Harry Potter and Emma Thompson did her portrayal of Aunt Trunchbull in that 2022 Netflix movie adaptation of the musical).

The directing from Alfonso Cuaron (A Little Princess and Gravity) is unique which captures the dark atmosphere while adding a sense of maturity, the cinematography is beautiful, the special effects are nice especially the Dementors in their chilling appearance, the makeup is great especially Wormtail played by Timothy Spall. And last but not least the music score from John Williams. While not in the same league as the music from the previous two, it's still good and a nice sendoff for the composer considering he later went on to compose music for other movies.

Overall, Prisoner of Azkaban is still a great installment of the movie franchise after 20 years. Recommended. :)

Upon learning that this movie became #1 when it premiered on Netflix, I decided to check it out. Not to mention it had a very interesting premise. An apocalyptic thriller about a family renting a beach house only to learn of an upcoming cataclysmic event involving a breakdown in phones, television and other technology, so they do whatever they can do survive. Sadly, it left me cold. That's not to say it's a terrible movie. I just wished that it could've been so much better.

Which is a shame, because there are some things I liked. First off, the cinematography is very beautiful to look at especially in the beginning, which was a strong start and could've made for a strong film. Not to mention the music score was very effective as it did fit the atmosphere the film was going for. The selling point of the movie, though, is the acting from everyone involved. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon and Mahershala Ali did great jobs with their own role, providing some good chemistry. Even the kid actors didn't do that bad of a job at all.

That being said, everything else left me underwhelmed. The story's premise was very interesting especially in the beginning, but later on, it gets both confusing and ridiculous which doesn't explain much that's been going on (especially the ending which came across as too silly and abrupt). I'm aware that this was adapted from the book of the same name, which I have yet to read, although I did learn that the movie changed certain stuff, so I guess that's the only reason why the audience were divided on this. Also, the directing/editing comes across as pretty weird especially with certain camera shots. Not to mention it's too slowly paced especially with the later half. As for the characters, sad to say that they left a lot to be desired execution-wise despite the strong efforts from the actors. Not one of them came across as likeable which is the biggest problem that left me cold.

I'm not trying to be too harsh since this movie got generally positive reviews from critics and other positive votes on this website. It's just that I wanted to like this movie so much considering it's premise, but at the end of the day fell short. It's well acted and has good cinematography, but didn't do anything else with it's premise. 5/10.