Confession: the juvenilia and wizard bling of the first two Potter movies left me cold. Whatever magic author J.K. Rowling worked on the page evaporated onscreen. Things improved last year with The Prisoner of Azkaban. Alfonso Cuaron, the Mexican director of the erotic road movie Y Tu Mama Tambien, let Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) show evidence of hormones in their third term at Hogwarts. Now director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), the first Brit to direct the Brit franchise, makes further advances. Within limits, of course. Screenwriter Steve Kloves, ever faithful to Rowling, doesn't mess with overt sex. But as Harry and his mates fret over who to take to the Yule Ball, there's no mistaking the stirrings of puberty. Newell also does the action proud, staging an exciting Triwizard Tournament and an underwater chase involving evil spirits. Scariest of all is Ralph Fiennes doing his Red Dragon as Lord Voldemort, the fiend who killed Harry's parents. Freud would have loved this Goblet. With the cast getting looser and the mind games kinkier, it's hard to resist.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”