Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Color me impressed! So far, the third movie held the benchmark for the series (a fun mystery, fantastic camerawork, and the series' first turn toward the darker aspects of its story) but I think this one might just have it beat. It's certainly darker (tell me the opening doesn't remind you of 28 Days Later), moodier (Voldemort is finally starting the feel like the Sauron-esque boogeyman that everyone says he is), and much more subtly paced. Sure, it loses a lot of the fun that the earlier entries have, but in its place are a genuinely powerful performance by Radcliffe as Potter, a deliciously forboding atmosphere, and the feeling that all the chess pieces are really sliding into place for the series' big finale. Wonderful stuff!

9 out of 10.

Transformers (2007)

Two hours of explosive, nerd-happy action. Honestly a movie like this doesn't need to be anything more than 140 minutes of Godzilla-bots beating the crap out of eachother. Mission accomplished.

9 out of 10.