Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Director David Yates is the fourth director to try his hand at guiding Harry Potter and friends successfully through Hogwart’s onto the big screen, and it would be a pretty good idea to keep him around for a while. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth installment of the Harry Potter film bonanza, and for fans of the series, it lives up to its billing.

Aside from the first Potter film, this may be my favorite of the series. Admittedly, this is nowhere near a stand-alone film. I’m guessing anyone that makes this their first experience into the Potter movie or book world will be completely lost from the beginning. But you must take this as what it is – the fifth-part of a seven-part series.

The young stars of the series (Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter; Emma Watson, Hermione Granger; and Rupert Grint, Ron Weasley) are coming into their own, and their acting has moved from innocent smiles and goofy looks to genuine feeling and emotion. The true gem of Phoenix is Evanna Lynch‘s performance as the spacey Luna Lovegood. Not enough Snape, but can there really ever be?

All in all, the Order of the Phoenix is one of the two best films of the series. Solid acting and fantastic special effects make for a great adaptation of a very long, complex book.

Transformers (2007)

Michael Bay directs Transformers, a mind-blowing special effects masterpiece pitting alien, transforming, metal-giant beings against one another for the fate of the Earth.

The Transformers have been around before in comic books, television cartoons, and a feature-length animated movie in 1984, but these aren’t the same old Autobots and Decepticons that ran around (rolled or flew rather) back then. These robots are absolute digital magic. I never thought I would have come away from this movie thinking, “I never really thought that looked CG.”

The bottom line is this is a wonderfully entertaining film. If you want to go looking for things that are wrong with Transformers, you can find them: some over-the-top acting by some you wouldn’t necessarily expect (queue John Turturro), maybe a bit too lengthy fighting scenes, gratuitous hot chicks); however, my advice is to go to this movie looking to enjoy it. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and it’s movie making, special effects history.