Hero worship: James Bond, Harry Potter and the big-movie machine. (The Critics Film).

AS IF IN ANSWER TO A SPEcial, seasonal wistfulness silently voiced by the movie-going public, the film industry seems to hit us each fall with a couple of hero-centered megafilms. Die Another Day is the latest James Bond flick, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second movie made from the world-beating series of books by J.K.

Rowling. Both the heroes are dark, English and privately educated, and both the films are sumptuous: From the blistering action sequences (Bond in his car, Potter on his broomstick) to the thespian blue bloods hired to add class (Bond has Judi ...

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