Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Welcome to my Harry Potter countdown! We're now 11 days away from the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, so in continuing with my theme of 12 days of Harry Potter (yesterday I asked you which book is your favorite), I have some more fun for you: a new game! Just identify the photos from either Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or the upcoming Deathly Hallows. You'll get a new set of photos each time, so be sure to keep playing to quiz yourself. Click here or below to play, and have fun!

This morning I gave you a little taste of the nominees for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards with the Best Kiss contenders, but now the full list is out! Naturally, the Twilight kids are all over these categories, but New Moon also gets some lofty competition from movies like The Hangover, The Proposal, and Avatar. With categories like "Best WTF Moment" and "Best Scared-as-S**t Performance," we're definitely not in Oscar season anymore, but with the show's history of shenanigans and Aziz Ansari playing host, it should be a night of fun.

Voting is now open so be sure to give some love to your favorite contenders — but good luck trying to edge out the Twi-hards. Check out the full list of nominees when you read more

Want a new movie to curl up with this week? Today's DVD releases offer something for everyone. (And If you've seen a film you love lately, give it a review in the Movie Reviews Group — I may even feature it on the site!)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
With anticipation building for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — did you check out my sneak peek? — I fully intend on watching the most recent chapter one more time. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hasn't been my favorite movie in the series, thus far, but I still enjoyed it due to the special effects and the raging hormones between the main characters, which was fun to watch. This time Harry is coping with his godfather's death and the pressure of Hogwarts, so the themes are decidedly darker (and at times, even scary). If you're a fanatic, check out the two-disc version which includes a peek at Universal's "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" theme park. I've already seen a short preview of the place, but I'm excited for a more in-depth look!

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Two more DVD releases to check out when you read more

Though the Judd Apatow movie Funny People opened in first place at the box office this weekend with a respectable $23.4 million, that number is "the lowest tally for a No. 1 film this Summer." It's an interesting season when Bruno's opening weekend surpasses that of a Judd Apatow-Adam Sandler-Seth Rogen film.

After the guinea pigs in G-Force took the box office crown from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last weekend, the two hit films nearly tied this time around with both hovering around the $17 million mark. Harry Potter beat G-Force by less than $1 million. The latest in family-friendly entertainment, Aliens in the Attic, took in a dismal $7.8 million over its opening weekend, though it did come in fifth at the box office, just after The Ugly Truth.

The best news comes from the indie film arena, as 500 Days of Summer and The Hurt Locker continue to have impressive per-screen averages.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

In perhaps the first showdown ever between guinea pigs and wizards, the guinea pigs won out this weekend, as Disney's animated G-Force edged out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the box office. The little furry guys grossed $32.2 million to Potter's $30 million, though Half-Blood Prince has now accumulated a total of $221.8 million domestically.

The Gerard Butler-Katherine Heigl rom-com, The Ugly Truth, had a strong opening weekend as well, coming in third place with $27 million. The fourth movie in the box office top five took in dramatically less: scary movie Orphan was No. 4 with $12.7 million. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs rounded out the top five with $8.2 million.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

It's no big surprise that audiences flocked to theaters all weekend long to welcome Harry and the gang back to the big screen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I thought Warner Bros. and David Yates did a fine job with the film, but there are always a few gripes, especially when you're a huge fan of the book series.

What did you think of the latest installment of the franchise? Was it a home run, or were there too many deviations from the original story? Are you still loving all the movies, or are you over the mania? Tell me what you loved, what you hated, and what you would have changed!

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.