Prepare for the Final Battle!<br /><br /> Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts.<br /><br /> In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort.<br /><br /> It all ends here.



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<strong>Speacia Features</strong>

• Aberforth Dumbledore
• Deathly Hallows Costume Changes
• Harry Returns to Hogwarts
• The Hogwarts Shield
• Room of Requirement Set
• The Fiery Escape
• Final Farewells from Cast and Crew
• When Harry Left Hogwarts
• The Goblins of Gringotts
• The Women of Harry Potter
• Deleted Scenes
• Neville's Stand
• Molly Takes Down Bellatrix
• Pottermore Preview
• Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

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• <strong>Actors</strong>

Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Tom Felton, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Bonnie Wright, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson & Miranda Richardson

• <strong>Director</strong>

David Yates

• <strong>Certificate</strong>

12 years and over

• <strong>Year</strong>

2011

• <strong>Screen</strong>

2.40:1

• <strong>Languages</strong></li

It’s hard to see just where the Alien Anthology Blu-ray boxset could have been improved. Nominally a collection of the four main films in the franchise, what’s actually been bundled together here is one of the finest DVD or Blu-ray boxsets to date, boasting a series of features that genuinely go into a lot of depth about the movies themselves.

And what movies they are. Alien and Aliens are both exceptional pieces of cinema, and rightly regarded as classics in their own right. Alien 3 , meanwhile, has to be classed as an interesting and muddled failure, yet it’s still got a lot to like about it. Alien: Resurrection ? It’s perhaps the least ambitious of the four films, but in the early stages at least, it’s still with merit.

Each of the films is presently strongly, surprising given the variable DVD versions of each we’ve seen to date. But it’s the mammoth package of extras that set a template for pretty much every other Blu-ray boxset on the market. Spread across six discs, you not only get two cuts of each film, but you get extra features that are as impressive as they comprehensive. Presented brilliantly, it’s an unmissable box set, and you get at least two all-time classics as part of it. -- Jon Foster

Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as the slightly hapless, but still remarkably effective secret agent Johnny English in <em>Johnny English Reborn</em>. Atkinson's deadpan slapstick delivery is in fine form in this sequel to 2003's <em>Johnny English</em>. The sequel actually delivers as an excellent action film, with outstanding cinematography showcasing scenes as diverse as Hong Kong and Tibet, as well as a comedy along the lines of <em>Get Smart</em>. <em>Johnny English Reborn</em> opens in the mountains of Tibet, where a disgraced English has been living in a monastery, learning focus, attentiveness, and martial arts of the avoidance rather than of the über-attack variety. He is suddenly called back into action to serve Her Majesty in the spy agency MI-7, to help take down an international ring of assassins. English is reluctant at first, but then jumps at the chance to avenge the mistakes he made years earlier, and to deploy his new arsenal of skills. <em>Johnny English</em> is a very crisply directed, well-written, and even unpredictable comedy-action spoof, and it just might make fans out of Rowan Atkinson doubters. The timing of the gags is really well done, and Atkinson seems game for just about anything. He is also surrounded by a splendid supporting cast. Gillian Anderson plays the severe new head of MI-7, Pamela, with crisp assurance. Rosamund Pike is the comely Kate, a potential love interest for Agent English. And Daniel Kaluuya plays newbie Agent Tucker, who is assigned to accompany English, and who brings skills (and baggage) of his own. Director Oliver Parker, known mostly for his remakes of classics like <em>Othello</em> and <em>The Importance of Being Earnest</em>, brings a sure vision and entertaining pace to <em>Johnny English Reborn</em>. There's some crude humor, mostly in the form of blows to various groins, but there's no bad language or over-the-top grossness, so <em>Johnny English Reborn</em> is suitable for older kids and teens. --<em>A.T. Hurley</em>

<em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I</em> is a brooding, slower-paced film than its predecessors, the result of being just one half of the final story (the last book in the series was split into two movies, released in theaters eight months apart). Because the penultimate film is all buildup before the final showdown between the teen wizard and the evil Voldemort (which does not occur until <em>The Deathly Hallows, Part II</em>), <em>Part I</em> is a road-trip movie, a heist film, a lot of exposition, and more weight on its three young leads, who up until now were sufficiently supported by a revolving door of British thesps throughout the series. Now that all the action takes place outside Hogwarts--no more Potions classes, Gryffindor scarves, or Quidditch matches--Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione), and Rupert Grint (Ron) shoulder the film almost entirely on their own. After a near-fatal ambush by Voldemort's Death Eaters, the three embark on a quest to find and destroy the remaining five horcruxes (objects that store pieces of Voldemort's soul). Fortunately, as the story gets more grave--and parents should be warned, there are some scenes too frightening or adult for young children--so does the intensity. David Yates, who directed the Harry Potter films <em>Order of the Phoenix</em> and <em>The Half-Blood Prince</em>, drags the second half a little, but right along with some of the slower moments are some touching surprises (Harry leading Hermione in a dance, the return of Dobby in a totally non-annoying way). <em>Deathly Hallows, Part I</em> will be the most confusing for those not familiar with the Potter lore, particularly in the shorthand way characters and terminology weave in and out. For the rest of us, though, watching these characters over the last decade and saying farewell to a few faces makes it all bittersweet that the end is near (indeed, an early scene in which Hermione casts a spell that makes her Muggle parents forget her existence, in case she doesn't return, is particularly emotional). Despite its challenges, <em>Deathly Hallows, Part I</em> succeeds in what it's most meant to do: whet your appetite for the grand conclusion to the Harry Potter series. --<em>Ellen A. Kim</em>

If you’ve got too many pre-conceptions of just how a Sherlock Holmes movie should pan out, then it’s probably best that you check them in before popping this latest version in your player. Starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role and accompanied by Jude Law as Watson, this film dispenses with some of the conventions of Holmes, and instead starts turning him into something of a period action hero.

Downey Jr. is more than up to the challenge too. Early scenes in Sherlock Holmes are more Fight Club than sleuth-influenced, with the hand of director Guy Ritchie behind the camera being very clear. But the film soon settles down and starts to have some fun, with the able assistance of Mark Strong and Rachel McAdams, among the supporting cast.

Yet this is Downey Jr.’s show, and he doesn’t waste the opportunity. He’s an engaging leading man at the worst of times, and he’s clearly having a ball here. What’s more, it’s immensely satisfying when his Sherlock Holmes gets down to the business of solving crimes, even though there are some really quite impressive action sequences to work through first.

There are problems, of course. There’s not enough flesh on the bones of some of the characters, and the early part of the film feels very different from the latter stages. But there’s solid groundwork here for the inevitable franchise, and watching Downey Jr. reprise the role of Sherlock Holmes over the next few years should be really quite good fun too. -- Jon Foster

From the first spell to the final battle! The entire eight-film Harry Potter collection is now available for you to own.



<br /> Join Harry, Hermione and Ron from their first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone all the way through to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort.<br /><br /> It all starts and ends here.<br /><br /> Titles Comprise:<br /><br /> Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001)<br /> Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)<br /> Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)<br /> Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005)<br /> Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)<br /> Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (2009)<br /> Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)<br /> Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)<br /><br /><strong>Special Features</strong>



<br /><strong>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</strong><br /> Create your own Picture-in-Picture commentary<br /> J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life<br /> Cast members guide to moviemaking<br /> What's on your mind? - Q & A with cast/crew<br /> One-Minute Drills - Cast members sum up their characters



<br /><strong>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1</strong><br /> The Last Days of Privet Drive - Maximum Movie Mode<br /> Hagrid's Motorbike - Maximum Movie Mode<br /> Death Eaters Attack Cafe - Maximum Movie Mode<br /> Creating Dobby and Kreacher - Maximum Movie Mode<br /> Magical Tents! - Maximum Movie Mode<br /> The Return of Griphook - Maximum

Of all the folks in long underwear to be tapped for superhero films, Thor would seem to be the most problematic to properly pull off. (Hypothetical Hollywood conversation:"A guy in a tricked-out, easily merchandisable metal suit? Great! An Asgardian God of Thunder who says stuff like <em>thee</em> and <em>thou</em>? Um, is Moon Knight available?") Thankfully, the resulting film does its source material rather proud, via a committed cast and an approach that doesn't shy away from the over-the-top superheroics. When you're dealing with a flying guy wielding a huge hammer, gritty realism can be overrated, really. Blending elements from the celebrated comic arcs by Walter Simonson and J. Michael Straczynski, the story follows the headstrong Thunder God (Chris Hemsworth) as he is banished to Earth and stripped of his powers by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) after inadvertently starting a war with a planet of ticked-off Frost Giants. As his traitorous brother Loki (the terrific Tom Hiddleston) schemes in the wings, Thor must redeem himself and save the universe, with the aid of a beautiful scientist (Natalie Portman). Although director Kenneth Branagh certainly doesn't skimp on the in-jokes and fan-pleasing continuity references (be prepared to stick around after the credits, Marvel fans), his film distinguishes itself by adopting a larger-than-life cosmic Shakespearean air that sets itself apart from both the cerebral, grounded style made fashionable by <em>The Dark Knight</em> and the loose-limbed Rat Packish vibe of the <em>Iron Man</em> series. Glorying in the absolute unreality of its premise, Branagh's film is a swooping, Jack Kirby-inspired saga that brings the big-budget grins on a consistent basis, as well as tying in with the superhero battle royale <em>The Avengers</em>. <em>--Andrew Wright</em>

A galaxy's worth of nihilism buried under a 70s Velveeta topping, <em>The Planet of the Apes</em> series stands today as a dark marvel of pop cinema, a group of wildly variable films that combine to form a giant inescapable kiss-off to the human race. (That said message was able to withstand such distractions as ever-cheapening makeup and Charlton Heston loudly pounding sand makes its achievements even more impressive, really.) Boasting a keen awareness of its predecessors' particular charms and a gem of a central CGI performance by Andy Serkis, <em>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> makes for a rather miraculous summer movie: a big-budget special effects extravaganza that also delivers a killer backhand. Sort of redoing 1972's <em>Conquest of the Planet of the Apes</em>, the film follows the events set in motion when a bereaved scientist (James Franco) attempts to create a cure for Alzheimer's, resulting in a supernaturally intelligent chimp named Caesar. The old bit about science tampering in God's domain quickly applies. Director Rupert Wyatt (<em>The Escapist</em>) displays an admirable sense of pacing, deftly levying the escalating action scenes with small character moments from the likes of John Lithgow and Brian Cox. That said, the film belongs to Caesar, whose path from wide-eyed innocent to reluctant revolutionary generates the ironic pulp empathy that gave the original series such a kick. Watching the climactic confrontation on the Golden Gate Bridge, it's distressingly easy to figure out which side to root for. Chuck Heston would no doubt grit his teeth in approval. Note: Those skeptical that this revamp could wholly retain the original's doomy backbeat would do well to stick around during the end credits. --Andrew Wright

When Bryan Singer brought Marvel's X-Men to the big screen, Magneto and Professor X were elder statesmen, but Matthew Vaughn (<em>Kick-Ass</em>) travels back in time to present an origin story--and an alternate version of history. While Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher) grows up privileged in New York, Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) grows up underprivileged in Poland. As children, the mind-reading Charles finds a friend in the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Erik finds an enemy in Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), an energy-absorbing Nazi scientist who treats the metal-bending lad like a lab rat. By 1962, Charles (James McAvoy) has become a swaggering genetics professor and Erik (Michael Fassbender, McAvoy's <em>Band of Brothers</em> costar) has become a brooding agent of revenge. CIA agent Moira (Rose Byrne) brings the two together to work for Division X. With the help of MIB (Oliver Platt) and Hank (<em>A Single Man's</em> Nicholas Hoult), they seek out other mutants, while fending off Shaw and Emma Frost (<em>Mad Men's</em> January Jones), who try to recruit them for more nefarious ends, leading to a showdown in Cuba between the United States and the Soviet Union, the good and bad mutants, and Charles and Erik, whose goals have begun to diverge. Throughout, Vaughn crisscrosses the globe, piles on the visual effects, and juices the action with a rousing score, but it's the actors who make the biggest impression as McAvoy and Fassbender prove themselves worthy successors to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The movie comes alive whenever they take centre stage, and dies a little when they don't. For the most part, though, Vaughn does right by playing up the James Bond parallels and acknowledging the debt to producer Bryan Singer through a couple of clever cameos. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

The good news is, Dr. Watson does get married. The bad news is, Sherlock Holmes throws his bride off a moving train. Actually, there's even worse news than that--but all will be explained in <em>Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows</em>, the sequel to Guy Ritchie's 2009 hit. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law return to their roles as Holmes and Watson, as the duo take on the world's greatest criminal mind, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), a man whose latest scheme has global implications. Sherlockians who prefer their consulting detective to remain in a traditional mode had best look the other way, for the sequel continues Ritchie's vision of Holmes as a hard-punching action hero hurtling through a barrage of special effects sequences. If you can go with that, <em>A Game of Shadows</em> actually improves on the first film: the story makes a little more sense (or possibly the whole thing moves so smoothly you don't notice the illogic), Harris is a delicious villain, and new cast members Noomi Rapace (from the Swedish <em>Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</em> series) and Stephen Fry (playing Sherlock's brother Mycroft, who calls his sibling"Sherlie") add appeal. It's all frivolous and superficial, but the film's playful attitude and breathless forward motion are skillfully managed--and the final note adds just the right punctuation. <em>--Robert Horton</em>

In his second movie <em>Source Code</em>--a looping, hall-of-mirrors story about a downed helicopter pilot who must revisit the same passage of time--Duncan Jones restores some of the virtues of traditional sci-fi, in which technology is just a framework for human drama and where the efficient sketching of smart ideas has as much impact as any amount of CGI. Such is the case with <em>Source Code</em>, in which Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is suspended in a digital limbo (the 'source code') by his military bosses, who force him to revisit the same eight minutes on board a Chicago-bound commuter train--right before it explodes. With each attempt to ID the bomber--a satisfying picture puzzle of close detail and shifting perspectives--Colter's growing fondness for the doomed commuters divides his loyalties, drawing him into a battle with the Fates themselves. With shades of <em>12 Monkeys</em>, <em>Avatar</em> and <em>Groundhog Day</em>, <em>Source Code</em> is also the up-tempo cousin of Jones' debut feature <em>Moon</em>, in which a lonely worker’s right to mortality is also violated by a futuristic organization who, in <em>Moon</em>'s case, would like to cut an ethical corner (and the cost of lunar labour). In the space of these two movies, Duncan Jones has proved he's auteur material and, like the recurring eight-minute sequence at its heart, <em>Source Code</em> feels like the explosion of an exciting new talent--right before it explodes. <em>--Leo Batchelor</em>

Everything you know about aliens from pop culture is true. At least that's the message from <em>Paul</em>, a swift, sharp, and very funny movie from the creative minds that also brought us <em>Shaun of the Dead</em>, <em>Hot Fuzz</em>, <em>Superbad</em>, and <em>Adventureland</em>. The British stars of the first two, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, also wrote the snappy screenplay, and director Greg Mottola shows that he can make human and sentimental both the slapstick and the subtle, self-referential humour the same way he did in <em>Superbad</em> and <em>Adventureland</em>. The premise Pegg and Frost have laid out for themselves as likable, sci-fi fanatic supernerds is a dream vacation starting at Comic Con, then continuing through the American Southwest in an RV visiting historic UFO sites like Area 51, the Black Mailbox, and Roswell, and finishing up at Devil's Tower in Wyoming, the iconic centerpiece from <em>Close Encounters of the Third Kind</em>. After their inauspicious start, they happen upon an escaped alien who is 4 feet tall, and has the big head, classic diamond eyes, and features we've come to recognize as both the benevolent and evil kinds of space aliens from movies and TV. He is also the titular character, and as voiced by Seth Rogen, this CGI creature spouts a never-ending string of wisecracks, insider secrets, and frat-boy humour that comes loud and clear as classic Rogen in tone and attitude. As an aside and terrific example of the very clever throwaway punch lines that run throughout, there's a brief flashback to 1980 showing Paul on a conference call with Steven Spielberg (really), giving him advice about script development issues for <em>E.T.</em>

Paul crash-landed in the late 1940s and has been held prisoner by the government's men in black. They've not only been pumping him for knowledge, they've also leaked the fabric and features of his being to people who want to believe, especially the ones in Hollywood. Now Paul wants to go home, and he's found the perfect getaway with the want-to-believe team of Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), who take him to his rendezvous (at Devil's Tower, of course). The road movie that unfolds is consistently hilarious, moving nimbly through one-off gags and inside jokes, but also creating larger relationships and drawn-out humour that relies on us believing that the little CGI Paul is real. And mostly we do, again thanks to Rogen's delivery and distinctive vocalizing. Paul constantly quips, makes fun, gets drunk, smokes dope, and spouts a steady stream of patter about how aliens have been bowdlerized and reimagined in entertainment and the minds of people like Graeme and Clive. There's a jam-packed supporting cast that complements and complicates the story (in a good way), including Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio as the bumbling men in black, and Jason Bateman as the scary man in black. Also passing through are some fun familiar faces like Jane Lynch, David Koechner, Jeffrey Tambor, John Carroll Lynch, and an iconic sci-fi actress who shall remain unnamed. Especially good is Kristen Wiig as a fundamentalist Christian whose mind is literally blown by Paul. Amid the broad humour and nonstop punch lines there's also a sweetness that stays with each finely drawn character (including Paul) and gives <em>Paul</em> an amiable sentimentality that runs throughout. Everyone clearly had fun making this movie, and that's exactly how it is to watch. <em>--Ted Fry</em>

The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King , merely won 11 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi

The good news is, Dr. Watson does get married. The bad news is, Sherlock Holmes throws his bride off a moving train. Actually, there's even worse news than that--but all will be explained in <em>Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows</em>, the sequel to Guy Ritchie's 2009 hit. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law return to their roles as Holmes and Watson, as the duo take on the world's greatest criminal mind, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), a man whose latest scheme has global implications. Sherlockians who prefer their consulting detective to remain in a traditional mode had best look the other way, for the sequel continues Ritchie's vision of Holmes as a hard-punching action hero hurtling through a barrage of special effects sequences. If you can go with that, <em>A Game of Shadows</em> actually improves on the first film: the story makes a little more sense (or possibly the whole thing moves so smoothly you don't notice the illogic), Harris is a delicious villain, and new cast members Noomi Rapace (from the Swedish <em>Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</em> series) and Stephen Fry (playing Sherlock's brother Mycroft, who calls his sibling "Sherlie") add appeal. It's all frivolous and superficial, but the film's playful attitude and breathless forward motion are skillfully managed--and the final note adds just the right punctuation. <em>--Robert Horton</em>

When Bryan Singer brought Marvel's X-Men to the big screen, Magneto and Professor X were elder statesmen, but Matthew Vaughn (<em>Kick-Ass</em>) travels back in time to present an origin story--and an alternate version of history. While Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher) grows up privileged in New York, Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) grows up underprivileged in Poland. As children, the mind-reading Charles finds a friend in the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Erik finds an enemy in Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), an energy-absorbing Nazi scientist who treats the metal-bending lad like a lab rat. By 1962, Charles (James McAvoy) has become a swaggering genetics professor and Erik (Michael Fassbender, McAvoy's <em>Band of Brothers</em> costar) has become a brooding agent of revenge. CIA agent Moira (Rose Byrne) brings the two together to work for Division X. With the help of MIB (Oliver Platt) and Hank (<em>A Single Man's </em>Nicholas Hoult), they seek out other mutants, while fending off Shaw and Emma Frost (<em>Mad Men's</em> January Jones), who try to recruit them for more nefarious ends, leading to a showdown in Cuba between the United States and the Soviet Union, the good and bad mutants, and Charles and Erik, whose goals have begun to diverge. Throughout, Vaughn crisscrosses the globe, piles on the visual effects, and juices the action with a rousing score, but it's the actors who make the biggest impression as McAvoy and Fassbender prove themselves worthy successors to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The movie comes alive whenever they take centre stage, and dies a little when they don't. For the most part, though, Vaughn does right by playing up the James Bond parallels and acknowledging the debt to producer Bryan Singer through a couple of clever cameos. --Kathleen C. Fennessy