Last night I sat in a packed theater anxiously awaiting the 6th Harry Potter movie. I felt envious of those who have only watched the movies and never read the books, because I knew they wouldn’t be disappointed. I had to keep reminding myself that the movie was probably not going to follow the book, and that they would leave things out due to time constraints, I expected it to be so.

What I didn’t expect was for the director to completely change parts of the story, and to leave out key elements that will make the finale two movies hard to connect. *Spoiler alert*

Here are the parts that really upset me:
1. No fight scene at Hogwarts!! I told my boyfriend, who hasn’t read the books, to expect action, and that this was one of my favorites of the books, based on the fight scene and the Dumbledore/Snape showdown. It was so intense. I think the way they changed the Dumbledore death scene was more confusing than it would have been if they just did it true to the book.

2. The burning of the burrow -there was no point to it, it added nothing to the story, and wasn’t even very well explained after the fact. If I were the director, I would have taken this scene out and added the fight scene at Hogwarts.

3. Harry and Ginny’s kiss-I know this may seem unimportant, but honestly, Ginny is Harry’s true love. Make it passionate, make it memorable. The tiny peck in the room of requirement is ridiculous, when in the book it was so much more hollywood-the dramatic huge kiss he plants on Ginny right in front of Ron. Plus all the conflict Harry goes through over whether or not it’s ok for him to like his best friend’s little sister. It’s a very real issue and they didn’t take it very seriously. Also, he breaks up with Ginny at the end, and they don’t show that either, which is key to the next book/movie.

4. The horcruxes-I know here there was a big time constraint, because the movie was so long, but they should have mentioned the conversation Dumbledore has with Harry regarding what other items he thinks Voldemort made into horcruxes. Otherwise the next movie will just be a wild goose chase for him to find them. Plus, DD needs to get some credit for coming up with it. Potter didn’t just think it up on his own.

There is a lot more I can complain about, but then I think readers would get the wrong impression. I did love this movie, for the sake of it being a stand alone movie. I thought the shots were beautiful; Hogwarts is just how I pictured it in my head. The actors did a great job, especially Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. He brought seriousness to his role, where before he was just a silly bully. I thought that storyline was well done, and didn’t get twisted too much in the film.

I’m not sure what to expect from Deathly Hallows, after seeing this movie. I still think the movies are great, but I will just have to remind myself not to expect them to be anything like the books, and then I will be a lot less disappointed. All in all though, still worth seeing.

A narrator explains that in the future smart people waited to have children, or didn’t have any at all while trying to advance their careers or wait for the right time, while promiscuous degenerate alcoholics spent their days having many offspring with different women, producing idiotic offspring. With this trend continuing, smart people were drastically outnumbered, until the world was full of idiots.

After a turn of events at the hospital (hilarious so I won’t ruin it for you with a recap) Joe lands in prison, where he has to take an IQ test. This sends a red flag up to the President of the United States because Joe scores higher than anyone ever has since the invention of the test, and he discovers he is the smartest person in the world. Meanwhile he finds Rita the prostitute, who has been making money off an idiot citizen and they both try to figure a way to get back to the past.
Probably one of my favorite scenes of this movie is where they go with Frito to the giant wholesale Costco, which is comically oversized. As they pass a Starbucks, Joe says he could really go for a latte, and Frito says, “we don’t have time for hand jobs right now!”. Starbucks has de-evolved into a whorehouse, where you can get all kinds of services. It just cracked me up because the Starbucks were still everywhere, and they still called their services lattes.

This movie was hilarious, but it also had a huge spoonful of truth to it, much like the movie Wall-E. The way the population boom is going, with uneducated people procreating like rabbits, while the educated, high IQ citizens are have 1-2 children, ignorant people are outnumbering smart people already. Also, just looking at TV programming, with reality shows dominating the networks, shows like “Tool Academy” and “Charm School” where idiots are given star status, and celebrating for their ignorance, you can see that Idiocracy is something that could very well happen in our not so distant future.

Still, there were parts that were cute, and I love Sophie Kinsella as a writer, so I won’t say it was a waste. It was such a quick read that even though it wasn’t my favorite, I don’t feel like I wasted my time with it. I still think her book, Can You Keep a Secret was far better than Shopaholic. I still might check out her other books in the series, and see if our main character has grown at all. If she hasn’t matured I think the books will get downright annoying, but if she’s learned something along the way, then it might make for a better read.

I will say that I don’t have any plans to run out and rent the movie adaptation of the book either, despite how adorable Isla Fischer is. I’m afraid the character she plays just might make me hate my beloved actress!

Margaret convinces Andrew to marry her so that she can become a citizen. She pushes this lie to its limits by accompanying him on a trip home to visit his family in Alaska (hence the beautiful nature scenes).
A lot of the storyline is predictable, but not in a boring way. There are a few laugh out loud scenes, especially the one with Margaret dancing around to gangster rap in the woods with Andrew’s Grandma. Plus, Ryan Reynolds takes his shirt off, and that alone is worth the movie ticket price. Sandra Bullock sheds her clothes (no nudity with strategically placed washclothes) and looks amazing. I’m not sure if it’s the work of weight loss pills or just hard work, but either way whatever she’s doing is working. I can only hope I look half that good at 45!

Betty White was the adorable grandma, and she stole a few scenes with her funny lines, and outright wackiness. “It’s like an easter egg hunt!”

I definitely recommend this movie. My only complaint was that it didn’t last long enough for me. There aren’t too many movies that I can say that about. I’m looking forward to renting the DVD and hoping for deleted scenes!

• Wii and Wii accessories. When the weather starts cooling down again, it’d be great to have the Wii Fit to keep in shape and have fun. I like video games where you don’t have to sit still.
• 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Arrested Development, and Scrubs on DVD
• The Outlander Series in hardback (awesome books, can’t put them down)
• All of the Harry Potter DVDS (maybe I should wait till the last two movies are out and get a boxed set)
• New Mattress and bedframe (might be getting this soon)
• Chaco sneakers and sandals. They are the only shoes that I can walk in, because the have arch support. Shoemakers should be required to make all shoes this way.

It was sad to watch, because while I couldn’t care less what happens to these people, I feel so sorry for their kids. Reality shows are ridiculous as a whole, when you’re not involving children who get no say in the matter. As a child of divorce, my heart breaks for these kids, who will literally be able to WATCH their parents marriage fall apart. They are young enough to hopefully forget some of the moments where Kate immasculated Jon in front of them, over and over again. Or when Jon would fire back with his little snippy remarks to her. Anyone who watched this show in the last few seasons could see that the only love these two had was for their kids, not each other. Still, knowing these kids will have complete video footage so that they will never forget the sadness that fame and fortune brought them is just awful.

Of course, for all we know the kids will grow up to write a book, or have their own ridiculous reality show,  Jon and Kate’s 8, The Therapy Years. Hopefully others who strive to become famous for having too many offspring in this already overpopulated world will learn from J & K’s attrocious example. We can only hope.

Of course this movie has the sappy parts where they realize they’re actually falling in love with each other, in spite of all their differences, and the fact that they barely know each other. I think I would have enjoyed this movie more if there had been some chemistry. Unfortunately it was way too much like Pierce Bronsan and Julieanne Moore’s bomb, Laws of Attraction. They get accidentally married in a drunken haze, they stay together under false pretenses, and surprise, they love each other. These couples also had about as much chemistry as two potatoes, therefore making me glad Netflix charges monthly and not per movie. In either case, I should have chose not interested on the Netflix suggestion box.

The story is about a man, Shay Borne, who is convicted of murdering a little girl and her stepfather. He’s sentenced to the death penalty, something that hasn’t been done in New Hampshire in 69 years.

He has one final request-to donate his heart to the sister of the little girl he was convicted of killing. The little girl is dying of heart failure and needs a transplant. He says he has to donate his heart in order to be redeemed. However, lethal injection would stop his heart, making his last request impossible.

Called in to counsel him is Father Michael Wright, a Catholic priest, who intends to help Shay find God, and doesn’t believe organ donation is the way to salvation. Then Shay begins performing miracles in front of inmates, officers, and even Father Michael, and challenges everything the Father believes in.

I won’t spoil this story because I think it should be on everyone’s top ten list to read or listen to on CD. It is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and it really makes you stop and think about the people you judge based on appearances and first impressions. It makes you really wonder if people are what they seem, or if there is something deeper beneath the surface.