Harry The Big Boss Potter And The Kick Ass Deathly Hallows

The hype train has left platform 9 and 3/4 and is barreling full steam towards July. "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt.1" is easily the best of the Harry Potter film series and one of the strongest and most entertaining films of the year. Full disclosure here, thislalife readers know that I love hype and may or may not have been wearing a Ravenclaw (what's good) prefect badge at the screening, but seriously this film delivers the goods better than owl post.

What struck me the most about the film is that it managed to take everything that worked from the previous films and combine them all together. The excellent Order Of The Phoenix (that's the good guys) vs The Death Eaters (bad guys) combat sequences from the fifth film are ratcheted up now to the point where blood is flowing with the spells. The funny emotional comedy of the sixth film is here too, with Rupert Grint still bringing the comedic thunder as Ron. And finally, the innate sense of wonder with the magical world hasn't left either. Dirigible fruits, dangerous wands, disfiguring spells, and dastardly magical characters all figure into the story.

This is the third film from director David Yates and his comfort shows in every frame. Series leads Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint easily do their best work of the series under his guiding hand. Together with screenwriter Steve Kloves, Yates and his very adept technical army create a real powerful spell of moviemaking. Kloves even creates an entirely new scene which will probably make some hardcore potter fans wanna Avada Kedavra themselves, but the scene is fresh take on the characters.

Let it be known that I also saw the film with a muggle (aka someone who didn't read the books) and he loved it. And that's what great about the film. It has the action to satisfy the thrill junkies, it's got the special effects (many that look like they were made for the film's forgotten 3D version), and it's got the emotions for everyone else. Without a doubt, it's in the top 5 of best films of 2010 and if you are wondering, lemme tell you two things. First, it's going to be hard waiting for part 2 this summer, and two, part 1 is so good I will have no choice to but dress up for part 2. What do you think I should be?

**Big Ups to Olly Moss for the cool poster featured above