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Oscar 2012 contender so far: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II"


Genre: Drama; Action/Adventure; Science Fiction/Fantasy
Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe; Emma Watson; Rupert Grint; Ralph Fiennes; Helena Bonham Carter; Michael Gambon; Tom Felton; Maggie Smith; Gary Oldman; Emma Thompson;
Release date: 15th July, 2011

"The thrilling conclusion to a phenomenal cinematic story 10 years in the telling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 is proof that authentic movie excitement is its own form of magic (...) With so much heightened action and wrenching emotion, pacing is key. And here Yates and his outstanding production team excel (...) Composer Alexandre Desplat assists with a score that tunes in to our collective aural memory of Potter movies past; production designer Stuart Craig excites our collective tactile senses with a finale-size wealth of evocative objects"
by Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly
"Yates and his team of design artists and f/x wizards take strategic advantage of the castle grounds (masterfully designed by Stuart Craig) to deliver fantastically inventive sights and setpieces that, if never quite rivaling the great war films for martial splendor, nonetheless exist on a scale unlike anything the series has attempted (...) In keeping with its predecessors, "Part 2" delivers below-the-line work of an immaculate standard. The visual effects are so deftly and artfully handled that the magic seems almost commonplace, and Alexandre Desplat's fine score incorporates a gratifying blast of John Williams' familiar themes and, most poignantly, a mournful Nicholas Hooper composition from the sixth pic. D.p. Eduardo Serra's brooding, beautiful work gains little, however, from the underwhelming stereoscopic conversion"
by Justin Chang in Variety
"But Part 2, the shortest film of them all, turns out to be everything a summer blockbuster should be but rarely is — a whip-smart, slam-bang piece of entertainment where we deeply care about the fate of the central characters (and many subsidiary ones who return for their last bows)(...) Part 2 has some of the best special effects I’ve ever seen (I can’t believe the 3-D conversion, which I’ve not seen, would enhance the experience). They are deployed with great narrative skill in spectacular set pieces by the series’ regular screenwriter, Steven Kloves, cinematographer Eduardo Serra, production designer Stuart Craig, and director David Yates. I’ve not been a fan of Yates, a TV veteran who took over with episode five, but give the man credit: He more than lives up to the challenge of the memorable series ender"
by Lou Lumenick in New York Post

Oscar potential categories:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction
Best Original Score
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

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