Oscar nomination reactions coming later today...

Whew! What a whirlwind yesterday was.

The annual joy and ecstasy of parsing through the Academy's choices had me yoyo-ing on emotional highs and lows, ultimately settling on the satisfying high of Mad Max: Fury Road's impressive 10-nomination haul (second only to The Revenant's 12), only to come crashing down to a devastating blue period that lasted most of the day when I heard of the passing of Alan Rickman.

The man himself was never nominated for an Oscar, which pretty much sums up how little awards mean in the grand scheme of things, but a performer of his talent and stature scarcely needed one. He shall be missed.

But we soldier on. Later today I'll finally get around to publishing my own opinions and prediction stats (Foreign, Doc and Animation absolutely destroyed my percentage) from yesterday's madness.

Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

And that, as they say, is that. Ten years and some 7 billion galleons after The Philosopher's Stone first charmed Potterphiles the world over in 2001, J.K. Rowling's magical saga finally fades to black with Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which makes a fitting end to a beloved franchise. While I never felt as consistently invested in the films as I did the books, I can only tip my hat to the series as it takes its final bow, and to The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in particular for leaving on a strong note. It strikes me as an appropriately representative cross-section of the whole; perhaps not as artistically intent as Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban, not nearly as lethargic as Mike Newell's Goblet of Fire, but a balanced mixture of thrill and sentiment that makes it easy to understand why moviegoers were so keen to keep returning to this world.

A token summary of the plot seems unnecessary for a review of this film, as surely anyone who's interested in seeing it will have read the books years ago... at least you had better have, or you'll find yourself inescapably lost. Writer Steve Cloves has ceased making concessions for the casual viewer, omitting anything but essential information and necessitating that we fill in the blanks. Though his resulting screenplay is inevitably less detailed than Rowling's involved tome, it proves a necessary evil; one not exercised enough in The Deathly Hallows' first half, but effectively employed for this closing chapter. The payoff is clear: a refreshing 2-hour run time, making this the most efficiently told entry in the octalogy. In retrospect, the move to split The Deathly Hallows in twain worked out for the better, although I still cringe sceptically at the original motivations behind the decision.