EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

Beyond all that, the real progress that made the movie series tick is the dual-growth of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the three actors that played them.  The classic aspects of teenage coming-of-age storytelling have always been present in the Harry Potter series, but on two distinct fronts.  As the characters, they have grown to find their skill, importance, and desires as to what really matters in the grand scheme of all that has transpired around them.  As actors, Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint have gone from unknown cute-faced children playing borderline stereotypes to mature and capable performers we genuinely care about and root for through this decade within their characters' shoes and robes.

Call it the human condition or whatever you like.  Everyone handles death differently and everyone copes with it differently in very distinctive and personal ways.  In any case, because of those strong personal differences, it is very tough to make a populist, wide-reaching movie about it that everyone can snuggle up together and identify with.  If anyone has the chops to try, it's the great Clint Eastwood with Hereafter.  His newest film follows three parallel stories, each in different countries, of three people affected by death in dramatically different ways.

Iron Man 2 is exactly what's it's supposed to be. It's a glossy big-budget sequel that delivers a continuing post-origin story. While it's not chapter-and-verse based on any comic story and takes a lot of liberties, Iron Man 2 is an undeniably fun piece of comic and summer entertainment.