A new year at Hogwarts is brought to us by a new creative team, building on what has come before, as should be expected. I have found that each successive outing makes it a little bit harder for newcomers. You almost need to have seen the previous four films before going into this one in order to get the full effect. Now, I know that there are probably very few viewers like that, but I found myself feeling a little at a disadvantage, as it has been a while since I've seen Goblet of Fire, but I think I fared pretty well.

This outing picks up with Harry feeling the dramatic effects from the conclusion of the last film, leading us into a world that is getting considerably darker than it had been. The Order of the Phoenix is a step up from the last one, and promises that the true darkness is yet to come.

Goblet of Fire came to a close following a battle between Harry and the returning Voldemort which resulted in the death of fellow student Cedric Diggory. This death and the the danger that Voldemort represents lies heavily upon the head of young Harry. The weight is evident in the very first scene, which is one of the few, so far, to take place away from Hogwarts and its related areas, and occur in the "real" world.

Harry, wearing a face that is much more angst-ridden and weary beyond his years, has a confrontation with his cousin, Dudley, which is stopped short by the appearance of a pair of Dementors on the prowl for the young wizard. Left with little choice, Harry casts a spell to save himself and Dudley, an action which results in his prompt expulsion. You see, it is against the rules for minors to cast spells away from the school.

This brings Harry back together with his permanent companions, Hermione and Ron, and also introduces him to The Order of the Phoenix, a group that is all about putting a stop to Voldemort's advances. All this before they even get back to the school!

Anyway, once they get back to Hogwarts, Harry must go before a council to win back his spot at the school. This sequence goes a long way towards setting up the best conflict of this go-around, that being the one between Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry has been badmouthing Harry and his mentor for claiming the return of Voldemort, so they have been actively attempting to discredit the two, and for a little while it seems to be working.

A couple of new characters are introduced in The Order of the Phoenix, the best being Dolores Umbridge. She enters by way of the revolving door of Professor of the Defence Against the Dark Arts — if you are looking for trouble, this is the first teacher you should look for. She is, essentially, a tool for the Ministry to move into the school, where she employs all sorts of new rules. Imelda Staunton's portrayal of the woman is that of a sweet, but stubborn, woman who really needs a good smacking. I guarantee that by the end of the movie you will want to throttle her — she's terribly effective. The other character is a new student named Luna (Evanna Lynch); I'm not sure where they are going with her, but I found her to be a little bit creepy.

The Order of the Phoenix offers considerable growth in the title character. Gone are the big eyes and smiles of wonder, gone is the "magic" of youth, slowly being replaced with the moodiness of the teenage years. Harry is recognizing the real dangers around him, and he is becoming more of an adult, making decisions and hesitantly taking up a leadership role in the battle that is to come. It is interesting to think of the growth that he has attained over the course of five movies; to see it visualized is quite good. Daniel Radcliffe slips into character like a worn-in coat; he has been playing it so long that it cannot take long to get into that mindset and become this young man who seems to attract danger.

This film is a definite step up from its predecessor; it delivers on a story level that I did not find last time. The stakes are higher, and the darkness is growing. Is the film perfect? No, but it still delivers some excitement. The narrative felt a little choppy at times, but still better than last time, and there seemed to be more actual plot to this one. From the Dumbledore/Ministry conflict to the Harry/Voldemort conflict, to Harry stepping up as something of a leader and the way the friends stick together, there is some great chemistry and forward motion.

Director David Yates brings a stronger vision than Mike Newell did last time, and is more on par with Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban. I am happy that he has been signed to direct the sixth film as well, so we will be able to see how his vision continues as the stakes continue to go higher.

This film also brought in a new screenwriter, Michael Goldenberg, replacing Steve Kloves, who had written all four of the prior films. He developed a nice script, for the most part, that really allowed the characters and their relationships to grow (except for the big kiss, which felt like a throwaway scene just for the fans). There is also a new composer in Nicholas Hooper, who has brought a nice touch to the film with a strong score that successfully builds the emotions throughout.

Bottom line. This is a good movie, not my favorite — that's still Prisoner of Azkaban, but this likely falls somewhere between the first and The Chamber of Secrets. The acting is all quite good (I loved everything featuring Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, and Imelda Staunton). It was quite thrilling as the conclusion came around. Of course, I still have issues with the big stuff only happening during the school year in and around Hogwarts, but it is a conceit I think i can live with. Anyway, go see it, enjoy it, and look forward to the next one.

Recommended.

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about entertainment when he isn’t sitting in a movie theater. He is known around the office as the “Movie Guy” and is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Interests include science fiction, horror, and metal music. His writings can be found at Draven99’s Musings, as well as Film School Rejects.

Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German (2006) is a film noir set in Berlin during the months immediately following the surrender in 1945. The film mainly occurs in July and August. Soderbergh makes excellent use of documentary footage from Berlin in those months. The setting is one of complete devastation, of chaos and disorder. The Potsdam Conference is about to occur, and uncertainty about how Germany will be reorganized, and about how many Germans will be indicted for war crimes, is a constant subtext.

Other themes in the film have to do with the tensions that characterized international relations for the latter half of the twentieth century, especially the impending cold war and nuclear competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. A basic question, investigated from numerous vantage points, is one of responsibility: who is responsible, who must bear blame? — for the War, for the atrocities against the Jews and other groups, for the nuclear threat, for a developing schism between East and West, for a general breakdown in fundamental human decency. The film’s black and white cinematography creates continuity between the documentary footage and the fictional portions of the film — it’s difficult to distinguish them.

The Good German is about the efforts of American and Soviet officials to locate a missing man named Emil Brandt. He was supposedly the secretary of a German rocket scientist whom both the Americans and Soviets want to enlist to build weapons for them. In fact, the Americans already have him in secret custody. We are told that he wants his secretary to accompany him to America, and that for this reasons the Americans want to find him. Although Brandt was reported to have died in the war, he may still be alive. And there may be other reasons why the Americans want him. The film centers on efforts to locate Brandt, and on the characters involved in the search. Like many films in this genre, the motivations and the credibility of characters constantly shift throughout the film.

With Tobey Maguire, George Clooney, Beau Bridges, and Cate Blanchett among the leading cast members, The Good German offers good acting. Maguire does present difficulties. Sincerity and good old American boyishness are basic traits of the Maguire persona. In this film he plays a driver, Patrick Tully, who is exploiting the chaotic post-war situation to his own benefit. He makes clear that money is all that matters to him — the measure of all things. He sells counterfeit goods to the highest bidder and attempts to sell to the Russians the husband of the woman who is his mistress. She is Lena (Blanchett), the wife of Emil Brandt. Tully is nothing more than a gangster who abuses Lena and viciously beats up Clooney, whom he serves as a driver. Yet at a moment’s notice he can transform into the midwestern American boy-soldier, innocent, wide-eyed, and eager to get back to his family and his girl. The fact that he doesn’t know where Brandt is doesn’t matter to Tully. It’s difficult to divorce the characters Maguire usually plays from this one. With his boyish high-pitched voice, sometimes his character doesn’t seem real; at other times he seems all the more sordid and evil.

When Tully’s body washes up on the bank of a river, Clooney investigates the murder. He’s a military reporter, Jake Geismar, who had an affair with Lena before the war and who now wants to help her, or he wants to restart the affair, or he has some other reason — his motives are not entirely clear, but he does come to realize that the Americans assigned Tully to be his driver because they knew of his affair with Lena and wanted Geismar to help them find her husband. Clooney basically plays the same character in every movie he is in, but his persona — that of the manly, easygoing, sometimes brash American — serves him well.

There is a caustic edge to his character here. He’s irritated with the military bureaucracy, especially when he begins to believe it is assisting in the cover-up of a murder it may have instigated. He’s also bothered that the Americans are attempting to enlist the services of a Nazi rocket scientist (similar to Von Braun). Both the Americans and the Russians seem willing to do anything necessary to win this scientist’s services, and this includes covering up crimes more horrendous than one man’s murder. It is, in fact, the nature of these crimes that make the Americans want to find Brandt — to go further would ruin the film, but the outcome is hardly as straightforward as I suggest here. Clooney sometimes seems to be mimicking Humphrey Bogart, especially when he continually insists that it was his stringer he was sleeping with before the war, not his secretary.

The film’s title resonates with several levels of irony that change in meaning at key points. There is probably not a single good German, or any other kind of person, in the film.

The final scene seems a direct replication of the ending of Casablanca (with a few minor notes from The Maltese Falcon thrown in for good measure). Yet there is a difference. In the Bogart film Rick gives up the woman he loves for the larger sake of the Allied cause in the war. In The Good German, Clooney gives up the woman he loves because he can’t accept her behavior during the war, and because he wants to avoid dirtying himself by association. He’s guilty enough as it is, along with every other character, along with the Americans and the Soviets and the Germans.

In the end, The Good German criticizes American willingness to hire ex-Nazis to design and build its weapons following the end of the war. The criticism is valid, of course, but one might well ask what alternative there was. If the Americans didn’t recruit German scientists, they would have gone over to the Soviet side, and in fact both sides did more than their share of welcoming former Nazi scientists to their weapons-building efforts. An alternative would have been placing the scientists on trial for their war crimes. And of course the Russians and Americans could have decided not to develop nuclear weapons and delivery systems, but this film concerns the realities of the 1940s, not should-have-been fantasies.

The Russian and American emphasis following the war’s end, sharpened by the double nuclear bombing in Japan, was on preparing for the new world order. In this regard The Good German is glib and simplistic in its indictment of American willingness to employ Nazi scientists and (by extension) to develop a nuclear weapons program. Or maybe not. Maybe it is simply calling for recognition that American actions following the war’s end implicated us in some of the worst crimes associated with the conflict.

The fact that one director could make this film and Oceans 13 within a single year is a tribute to Soderbergh’s versatility.

On Wednesday's General Hospital:

Sam planned to put an end to the harassment from his mother about dating Lainey by sabotaging their first date by setting it on the roof in the scorching heat and serving beer and burgers. Lainey was up for the challenge, taking everything Stan threw at her, and confronting him over his unwillingness to give her a chance. It wasn't all that long ago Lainey was as disinterested in Stan as he was in her. Is all it took for her to change her tune was for him to be vocal about not thinking they were a good fit?

Patrick and Robin defiantly went against Dr. Ford and operated on an indigent patient (without health insurance) instead of sending him to County. Ford warned they will be punished for the infraction this time. General Hospital: Night Shift premieres on Soapnet tonight at 11:00 pm. where Patrick and Robin are both 'sentenced' to work the ER's night shift for three months for going against hospital policy.

Carly called out Alexis, almost daring her to just ask Jerry out instead of pining for him. I have a feeling there's much more to Carly pushing these two together than was apparent. Later, Ric called Alexis and Jerry to his office to discuss the case, where Jerry slipped he was more than willing to go on the date Carly had suggested – sending Ric off in a tizzy. As Alexis bitingly pointed out to her ex, it wouldn't be the first time she's dated a psychopath.

A conflicted Cooper warned Sonny that Ric was well aware of the shipment he's landing and that he has been ordered to stop it and bust any officers that appear to be working for him. When asked what he should do, Sonny told Cooper that if Ric trusts him, he's his most valuable asset and he should do everything he's ordered to do. Logan, on the other hand was given no warning, and Sonny told Max, "if he's lost in the cross-fire, oh well." (So much for Logan being a valuable asset.) As expected, gunfire broke out when police clashed with Sonny's men. When pushed, Cooper shot at Logan at episode's end.

On Thursday's GH:

• Sonny clashes with Carly. Maxie and Lulu go round and round. Robin and Patrick are moved to the Emergency Room's night shift for three months.

Wife, mother, aspiring novelist, and music editor at BC Magazine, Connie Phillips spends most of her time in a fantasy land of her own creating. In reality, she writes about music, television, and the process of writing, when she’s not cheering on her kids at equestrian events. Contact: Phillips.connie@gmail.com

The producers of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) invited Blogcritics Magazine to go behind the scenes and attend a taping of tonight’s show.

For those not in the know, SYTYCD, now in its third season, was born in 2005 as an inferior American Idol knockoff, but slowly blossomed into a guilty pleasure, and has since evolved into the best reality series on television. Even if, like me, you have an irrational hatred of the pasa doble and too many left feet to master the macarena, this show will make like a mustache and grow on you.

Week after week, the show spotlights young dancers – from ballet dancers to b-boys – performing superbly choreographed routines in genres that span the chasm between krumping and quickstep. This season, the producers have also effectively highlighted the personalities of the dancers such that Thursday’s elimination show is a weekly exercise in heartbreak.

Unlike other reality shows that celebrate humiliation, showcase obnoxious personalities, or force contestants to compete in pointless battles, SYTYCD is the rare show that celebrates improvement, showcases talent, and forces contestants to compete in the realm in which they aspire to retire. The judges are brutally honest but, in contrast to Idol, rarely take delight in stabbing contestants in the heart.

The only thing this writer was unsure about is whether this reality show actually represents reality.

After all, each week, dancers are forced to perform partner routines in genres often outside their element. Imagine a breaker, with no formal training, doing lifts in a contemporary tale or syncopated steps in a foxtrot routine that she only had a few hours to learn. Surely, one would expect to see mangled flips, tangled arms, or strangled necks. Yet, this season, the bloopers and blunders were nonexistent.

Ever the skeptic, I imagined that FOX, which does not air the performance show live, allows retakes until each team delivers the best possible performance of the routine.

I was wrong. And now, I am in further awe of the contestants.

As I entered Stage 46 in CBS Television City, I immediately sensed the community and the cult status that this show has engendered. I passed celebrities like Vanessa Williams and Kids in the Hall comedian Scott Thompson, who were obviously big fans. I spotted two of last season’s finalists, Donyelle Jones and Heidi Groskreutz, making the rounds with old friends, while two of this season’s eliminated contestants, Jimmy Arguello and Jesús Solorio, warmly embraced one another. Even two of the contestants' swing-dancing father, Buddy Schwimmer, who has become known for always holding an electronic LED sign while sitting in the audience, is greeted like a national celebrity.

As I took my seat, Corey, the show’s hypeman, rallied enthusiasm from the crowd. His duties were unnecessary, however, since all the rabid teenagers in the audience worshipped the dancers and screamed at the sight of any of them. Suddenly, I could imagine Beatlemania.

The audience frenzy never distracted me from the amazing fact that this two hour show practically taped in real time. Indeed, no routine was ever performed twice. Only a few pickups from beautiferous host Cat Deeley were ever recorded multiple times.

Up first, Lacey Schwimmer and Kameron Bink nailed the hustle but didn’t out-stun their previous weeks’ routines. Lacey’s bejeweled Wonder Woman headband also helped to distract from Kameron’s unsettling hair. Judging by the multiple Lacey signs around me, the fact that she has never landed in the bottom three, and her seemingly effortless performances, Lacey probably has the best odds of winning the competition … if not for the fact that her brother won last year.

Cedric Gardner, who is clearly the heart and soul of the competition, and partner Shauna Noland turned in a decent mambo that finally convinced judge Mary Murphy that Cedric deserves to stay in the competition. If you ask me, Cedric deserves to stay on the sole grounds that he is the only human who can dance in a way that creates the illusion that he has no bone in his lanky body. Cedric was clearly aided by the more experienced Shauna, who has the intense passion of Alex Owens, which is a Flashdance reference for those too young to remember that steel mill welders can make great exotic dancers.

Russian ballroom dancer Anya Garnis and ballet dancer Danny Tidwell performed a compelling contemporary routine that won rave reviews but also gave the judges an opportunity to point out that Danny’s ego appears to be cashing checks that his sculpted body can’t cash.

B-girl Sara Von Gillern and ballroom aficionado Pasha Kovalev then danced together for the first time since their respective partners were eliminated from last week’s merciless guillotine. Performing a west coast swing to Fatboy Slim’s “Rockafeller Skank,” the newly-formed duo turned in a clear crowd-pleaser.

Next, Sabra Johnson and Dominic Sandoval performed a romantic hip hop routine invented by Shane Sparks, who is undoubtedly the best hip hop choreographer alive today. Not only did Sabra and Dominic stun the crowd with a sexy performance, they seemed rather affectionate off-camera. (In case they’re already in committed relationships, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were just rehearsing their chemistry.) Undoubtedly, Dominic’s family, who was sitting in front of me wearing customized shirts with messages like “Vote For My Nephew – Dominic D-Trix,” were thrilled regardless.

The penultimate couple was Jaimie Goodwin and Hokuto “Hok” Konishi. Hok, the most mesmerizing and humble breaker to ever grace my television screen, looked uncomfortable even before the routine began. Dancing a waltz and dressed in a conservative vest, Hok survived the emotional routine, largely due to Hok's mantastic charisma and Jaimie’s spectacular lines.

Finally, if Neil Haskell and Lauren Gottlied don’t get eliminated this week, they only have one man to thank: choreographer Wade Robson, whose inventive routines have repeatedly mesmerized the judges and the audience. Neil and Lauren’s jazz stomp was easily the most well-received. Unfortunately, Lauren’s nonsensical remark that she pretends to be Asian will probably not play well.

The routines were so brilliantly executed that judge Mary Murphy, off camera, remarked that this was the best show she has seen in all three seasons. Guest judge Adam Shankman, who is the director and choreographer of the upcoming film, Hairspray, also seemed to fall deeper in love with the dancers.

The impact of this show, however, became most transparent when I left the studio. As I followed the crowd to the parking lot, I overheard another young audience member gush, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I touched Danny’s hand.”

This is a good example of what horror fans have to put up with. Horror fans all know about the good horror films that get everything firing on all cylinders, from acting, to story, to the all important scares. Horror fans all know about the bad horror films – the ones that are so inept that they wouldn't scare a child and are plagued by a bad story and even worse acting.

Then there are films such as The Hills Have Eyes II, which, for my money, does a lot of things right, but is tempered by the presence of some awful dialogue and acting. It has a story that we have seen before, but builds enough tension and delivers enough gore to keep us – or me at least – interested until the inevitable conclusion.

Way back in 1977, Wes Craven delivered a film that would become a cult classic. It was followed by a vastly inferior sequel in 1985. So it was inevitable that in this horror remake happy climate being cultivated in Hollywood that someone's dollar sign-filled eyes would turn towards these films. The result was the 2006 film The Hills Have Eyes, helmed by Alexandre Aja, who had proven himself with Haute Tension. The movie actually worked, bringing unease to the big screen. Then came this sequel, which takes the formula used to great effect in James Cameron's Aliens and sucks out everything that made it good, leaving behind just enough to keep the superficiality afloat. Oh yes, it is also not a remake of the original sequel, rather a sequel to the remake, and even then it is by title only. This could have been given a different title and no one would have known the difference.

In a nutshell, you have scientists working on a top secret project, attacked by mutants living in the caves. Rookie National Guardsmen are sent to investigate, they are attacked, and as their numbers dwindle, they must find a way to survive. Sound familiar? It could be used to describe any number of films. If you are going to watch this, you are not going to do it for the originality. Despite all of that, it has some nice cinematography, and a number of good gore effects. I was also happy with the genuine tension that it built up. Despite the awful acting and the predictability of the plot, I still found the survival horror base to be quite effective.

This time around Aja did not return. Instead the directorial reins were taken up by Martin Weisz, making the jump from music videos to the big screen. He does not bring anywhere near the style that Aja did, but still, it was effective enough for the mediocre script from Wes Craven and his son, Jonathan. Then there is the case of the cast, led by Michael McMillian doing his best impression of Eric Forman (Topher Grace from That 70s Show); they don't bring much to the table other than a series of mutant fodder. I think a good alternate title for this would have been Eric Forman Goes to War.

The Hills Have Eyes II is being released in an unrated form, which runs about a minute longer than the theatrical cut. The only change that I detected was a little more gore, nothing in the way of character development (ha) or plot (haha). Still, nothing wrong with a bit more guts.

Audio/Video. I cannot give a final say on the tech qualities as the copy I have for review is a burned promo copy. It does not look or sound bad, but I cannot attest to this being exactly the same as what will appear on store shelves when it is released.

Extras. This disk comes complete with a host of extras.

• Alternate Ending. A little different from what ended up being the ending, it is not bad, but I much prefer the chosen ending and the implication that no one made it out alive.
• Deleted Scenes. About three minutes spread over four scenes, none of which would have added much. My favorite of the lot is the one called "Missy Wakes Up."
• Gag Reel. 3.5 minutes of cut ups that really aren't all that funny.
• Featurette: "Mutants Attack." A 10 minute look into the mutants, their origins, and the mythology, and the effects design. It includes interviews with cast and crew, including Wes Craven.
• Birth of a Graphic Novel. A look into the graphic novel prequel that was designed for the new series. It is called The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, it is not an origin, but a tale before the filmed horrors. This runs north of 12 minutes.
• Featurette: Exploring the Hills – The Making of The Hills Have Eyes 2. This runs for about 13 minutes and has interviews with all the primary cast and crew, and is actually pretty decent, even if there is a lot of backslapping.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School with Wes Craven. A conversation between Craven and three students on the making of the film. It is pretty interesting. This runs 10 minutes.
• Trailer. We get a trailer for the original remake, but not for the sequel, which had a great teaser.

Bottom line. I liked it; it is no masterpiece, it doesn't even live up to its predecessor, but it still has some tension and nice dose of blood and guts. You could do much, much worse than this. Definitely worth checking out, so long as you keep your expectations in check.

Recommended.

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about entertainment when he isn’t sitting in a movie theater. He is known around the office as the “Movie Guy” and is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Interests include science fiction, horror, and metal music. His writings can be found at Draven99’s Musings, as well as Film School Rejects.