Last night, after about an hour or so of back-and-forth decision-making, my friends and I decided that we would in fact not be going out to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, we opted to watch a movie. We decided that we didn’t want a chick flick, but rather something that might force us to think. So someone suggested The Number 23. I’m not going to provide a plot synopsis, or attempt a critique of the film; rather, I’m simply going to discuss some of the things that were on my mind while watching.

The movie starts off kind of slowly, with a Jim Carrey voice-over narrating, but the “eerie” feel of the film is present from the beginning. This movie is completely psychological—both for those on-screen and in front of the screen. It follows the typical scary-movie trend, in that almost every scene takes place at nighttime, and the scenes during the day were ‘creepy’ enough that it didn’t matter that it was daylight. Basically, the movie had me thinking the whole time; attempting to figure it all out before anyone else did.

As I was watching the movie, I couldn’t help but wonder why, if given the freedom to choose absolutely any names for the characters in a story, anyone would ever choose the names Walter, Agatha, and Robin. Interestingly, it didn’t occur to me until a few hours later that Robin, the son, had actually been christened Robin Sparrow. What parents would do that to a child?

The fascination with the number 23 (the premise of the movie) forcefully reminded me of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code. All the symbolism, numerology, and code-breaking from that book weren’t exactly mimicked in the movie, but it was something I pondered over once the movie was finished. All in all, I am inclined to believe that if you want to believe in the 23 Enigma (or any similar theory, conspiracy or otherwise), it only takes a small amount of finagling to be able to connect almost anything to the number. It just depends how much effort you’re willing to put into it; how important your obsession is to you. Although I still couldn’t help noticing that when the movie ended it was precisely 1:22 a.m. (1+22=23!) Maybe there is something to it after all?

Although it sounds like something out of the Quibbler, this rumor isn’t just a load of rubbish anymore. After five, going on six, films, the producers of the Harry Potter movie series are finally giving the fans what they wanted for the last seven years: the whole story.

On Thursday morning, in a press release, rumors were finally confirmed by Warner Bros. that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be filmed and released as two movies. The first half will be released in November 2010 and the second half in May 2011.

As a huge fan of the books and movies, I have to say that this is some of the best news that the Potter fandom could have received. After the letdown that was The Order of the Phoenix (Fact: Order of the Phoenix is the longest book and the shortest film), the news was quite a welcome change in the thought process of Warner Bros. Splitting the book into two films is a win-win for WB. They get to keep the individual movies at a manageable length (while doubling their profits) and the fans get a more detailed movie.

Fans of the books have always wanted longer movies so that the fun, minor plot points could be left in the story. As I read Deathly Hallows, I couldn’t help but imagine the cuts that the producers would make to keep the movie at a manageable length. Just the thought of the cutbacks was enough to make fans around the world cringe. However, the announcement of two movies for one book allows the fandom to rest easy.

The films will be directed by David Yates, making him the director of the final four films in the series. The Deathly Hallows films will be shot simultaneously, a la The Lord of the Rings. This is basically more of out necessity at this point, as Daniel Radcliffe and company aren’t getting any younger. This also assures that the look and feel of the films will be similar, so hopefully the effect will be like the two films were just one with a six month intermission in the middle.

For more information on the Deathly Hallows split, visit: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-potter13mar13,0,7162166.story