In 2006, British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen took America by storm with the release of his feature film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The movie ended up taking over $260 million worldwide, but was followed with controversy, lawsuits and a backlash, leading many people to wonder if a follow up film would even be feasible, let alone profitable.

Cohen's response is an even more outrageous movie based around another one of his alteregos, the gay Austrian fashion critic Bruno. Drawing from his own experiences working briefly as a model out of university, he simultaneously skewers the fashion industry while preying on homophobia and shallowness.

Bruno essentially follows the same formula that set the Borat movie apart from everything that came before it. There are a series of real-world sketches and interviews tied together through a loose, fictional narrative. Much like Borat, Bruno decides to take a trip to America after he finds himself fired from his show on Austrian TV, Funkyzeit mit Bruno. Here he sets off on a quest to become a celebrity by any means necessary, starting with a hilarious TV pilot pitch, building to the adoption of an African baby, and culminating in an attempt to turn himself straight.

As expected, there aren't quite as many interviews with real people this time, and most of the celebrities who appear are in on the joke (Paula Abdul apparently being the one noteworthy exception). There is also a good ambush of Republican candidate Ron Paul, and a discussion between a former Mossad agent and Palestinian politician that is quite amusing.

Bruno is definitely less likable and more of a direct agitator, however. People don't cut Bruno as much slack, and as a result, a lot of the segments don't last quite as long, which can either be good or bad depending on your point of view. Some things, like the terrorist leader meeting, are so short that they are almost not worth including. As a result, there aren't quite as many memorable scenes this time around, but a lot of quick laughs along the way. The major setups still pay off, though, and the cage match at the end is a pretty amazing finale.

In the end, Bruno may not surpass Borat. Still, Bruno comes a lot closer to measuring up than expected. It still feels fresh, but it maintains the majority of the things that made Borat work. Ultimately, Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy still has not yet jumped the shark.

Review by www.filmjunk.com

Everyone's favorite teenage wizard returned to the big screen in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts turns out to be quite the exciting year. First off is the arrival of a new teacher at Hogwarts, Horace Slughorn, who is a bit more useful to Harry than he realizes. Next, Harry obtains a Potions book which used to belong to the very mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Harry finds that the Half-Blood Prince's ancient scribbles are written along the margins of almost every page, giving Harry advice on how to improve greatly on his Potions work, and also teaching him a few helpful (and dangerous) spells along the way.

Amidst this, Harry is starting private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, during which Harry learns the dark secrets of Voldemort's past, hoping that they could use these secrets to find a way to defeat him.

Harry's year gets even more stressful with the suspicious actions of Draco Malfoy, who has been sneaking around the school doing, so Harry assumes, Voldemort's bidding. Harry quickly becomes determined, and slightly obsessed, to find out exactly what Malfoy has been up to and putting an end to it. The incredible action-packed climax is sure to leave the audience stunned and, inevitably, prove that you shouldn't trust everybody who you think is good and also prove that not everyone can manage to survive.

Review by www.imdb.com.