The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

I have to say, the first hour or so was quite enjoyable and got me excited for what was to come. But then something suddenly went wrong, as if another director took over, and the story became incredibly predictable. The characters acted foolishly and illogically, and several important things were left unresolved, which suggests a sequel is coming despite the lackluster box office returns. However, I'm not too excited because, at least from a cinematic perspective, it's an overstuffed mess that could be defined as "Harry Potter meets a Gaiman imitator, and they both agree that Twilight and Star Wars are super cool." (01/12/2013)

For how exemplary Lily Collins is as Clary, there's so much disappointment on the whole that it's downright tragic. Jamie Bower is clearly desperately bored in Jace's shoes, the creators forgot to tell the wild Jonathan Rhys Meyers that this was not just another episode of The Tudors, and my favorite Isabelle has turned into a snappy dominatrix. Jessica Postigo may have dutifully read the saga, but she wants to incorporate practically every supporting character with all their motivations into the script, even though in this format it would take up half the running time to explain the entire mythology. Luke and Hodge then merely fill the role of forgettable sidekicks instead of making a proper impact on the plot from time to time. The creators ultimately did not even get the chance to return to the Institute, so no further damage was done. I have a great fondness for the saga of the nephilim world in book form, at least as far as the original trilogy is concerned, so I don't want to delve too deep into this rating on principle, but considering how the outcome could have been, a 50% rating is quite a sad limit. (06/12/2013)