logicbutton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
logicbutton) wrote2007-07-13 11:24 pm
logicbutton) wrote2007-07-13 11:24 pm
Entry tags:
OotP movie
So, most of my flist seems to have seen this movie, and now I have, too! Y'all's reactions are all over the place, although everybody seems to have found something to like about it and something to dislike. Though I seem to be getting the general impression that Luna was good, or something.
To start off, something negative thinly disguised as a positive: whatever anyone may say about this movie, it can not possibly be described as dragging in parts, ever. Yeah. Actually, you know what? While we were leaving, my mom asked me to do a recap of HBP, just to refresh her memory, and I think it was actually about as thorough as this movie was. I wonder if the HBP movie will be more thorough than my recap.
I realize the scenes with the Dursleys in just about every book are really no more important to the story than the time they're allotted in the movies, but come on, now. I felt like I was getting whiplash by the time the Order showed up on Privet Drive. And this is the book where the stuff Harry does with them is important! Of course, that's probably the only reason the Dursleys were in this movie in the first place, so I'll leave it at that.
Wait, I just remembered. Did Umbridge ever say that she was the one who sicced the dementors on Harry? Bah.
I didn't really have a problem with the changes made to the story. I mean, it's a movie, concessions have to be made, scenes need to be cut, and when it bothers me that Sirius and Harry are hugging every thirty seconds, I just have to remind myself that "Harry felt a sudden surge of affection for his godfather" has to be cinematically conveyed somehow.
The climactic scene--the whole thing, really--was pretty badass. I loved the way Apparition was portrayed in general, with the smoke and everything, but then when the Order showed up...eeee, I'm thinking about it right now, and how cool it was. Badass. Man. I did not like Sirius's death scene, because there was supposed to be ambiguity about his state of living when he went through that curtain, and even if he was hit with Avada Kedavra he should have had the decency to die instantly, and the arch was disappointing because saying that somebody was "killed by drapery" is much funnier and more absurd than saying that they were "killed by smoke" or, I guess, "killed by Bellatrix". I also did not like the part where Harry manually forced Voldemort out of his body with the deliberate power of his love. It was out of character. I know I said the book-to-movie changes didn't bother me, and generally they didn't, but the internal logic here was inconsistent. There was no reason for Harry to think, "clearly, Voldemort can be forced out of my body with the power of my love! I must ruminate on this, and perhaps he will be driven out!" Though it did help that Dumbledore was kind of egging him on, I guess. Still, Harry just doesn't think about things like that in the heat of the moment.
Speaking of out of character, Dumbledore sounded pretty annoyed when he broke up the party around Trelawney and Umbridge. I don't remember him ever sounding anything but pleasant and indulgent when talking to students. Surely his line could have been something like, "Now, let's not let our books grow cold and lonely!" or some other ridiculous thing.
The music was uninspiring. As you may have gleaned from my previous LJ posts, this is quite significant to me, and I suppose maybe if I download the soundtrack, I'll change my mind. In the interest of fairness, it's on my to-do list.
Tonks was hot. I admit I didn't like her when I first read the book, mostly because she was a new character I wasn't expecting and she just kept showing up and I didn't care. Clearly, she has grown on me. Actually, I've even been thinking about venturing out to look for some G-to-PG13-rated Tonks/Lupin (the smut's fabulous, I'm sure, but at present I'm interested to see them interacting with their clothes on). In conclusion, hot.
Luna was fucking spectacular. Um, see my comments re: Tonks on my initial impressions of her back in 2003. And on my opinion of her now, except for the fic part, although I have read the George/Luna fic![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jamimegan betaed and I loved it. In conclusion, Evanna Lynch.
Lucius Malfoy looked fantastic. No idea why that occurred to me during this movie, and not others, but it did. Bellatrix was awesome and completely and wonderfully insane. And since I might as well confine all my one-line reviews of individual characters and actors to this paragraph, now might be a fine time to mention that Daniel Radcliffe really has gotten to be a fine actor. Perhaps he would like to try a do-over on that crying scene in PoA, eh?
Let me get out my copy of OotP here, to check on this quote..."The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice..." and I could have sworn her voice was once also described as "breathless," but whatever: except for the resemblance to a frog, Dolores Umbridge has absolutely been brought to life in this movie. Excellent. ETA: Found it! "breathy," page 212.
Did Ginny even have any lines at all? No wonder Bonnie Wright did the video game; it basically quintupled her speaking role. I did think it was neat how there were a few hints at H/G thrown in (the way she looked back at Harry and Cho as she was leaving the Room of Requirement, and I think there was another one too).
Speaking of Weasleys, did Ron have many lines? One of you guys said you were glad Ron didn't seem to be comic relief here, which I definitely appreciated too, but man, that's just not good enough. Ron's lack of presence actually made me kind of nostalgic for the first two movies, and that is not something I thought these movies would ever make me say.
I'm glad I played the video game first (by the way, it wasn't actually a waste of money, although that definitely had something to do with the free movie ticket it came with, as well as the gamefaqs forums, which helped me out with the several instances of fake difficulty), because it made me appreciate that Hogwarts exists as a single unit, and every scene takes place in a different part of that unit, as opposed to just a collection of sets, although I suppose that's probably how it actually is when they're filming. Mostly I just had fun thinking, "oh, look, they're going down the stairway to the dungeons!" "oh, they're in the entrance courtyard!" "I wonder if we'll get to see the hourglasses--hey, there they are, and they're empty because it's the beginning of the year!"
I LOVED the flashbacks. One of you said you liked the way it made the movies seem interconnected. This is very true, but it doesn't really get to the heart of why I liked the flashbacks, and that is...something I'm not sure about. Articulativenessbeing was never my greatest strength. I think, though, that it may have had something to with the delightful way in which Voldemort was screwing with Harry's mind, like when he turned into Harry's reflection in the mirror. Harry's fear that he's sort of turning into Voldemort is much more played up here than it ever is in the books, probably because his differences from Voldemort are what is played up in the books, but this was a really neat interpretation of Harry's mindset in OotP. Oh, and Snape showing up in the Mirror of Erised behind Harry's parents. That was cool.
So anyway, that's that. I'm downloading the new chapter of FMA at the moment; it's amazing to think right now that I'm actually interested in things besides Harry Potter, which has become the dominating force in my life recently, and will stay that way until I've read Deathly Hallows. God knows what I'll do once I've gotten off the internet to avoid and not tempt myself with spoilers. Speaking of which!
[Poll #1021188]
To start off, something negative thinly disguised as a positive: whatever anyone may say about this movie, it can not possibly be described as dragging in parts, ever. Yeah. Actually, you know what? While we were leaving, my mom asked me to do a recap of HBP, just to refresh her memory, and I think it was actually about as thorough as this movie was. I wonder if the HBP movie will be more thorough than my recap.
I realize the scenes with the Dursleys in just about every book are really no more important to the story than the time they're allotted in the movies, but come on, now. I felt like I was getting whiplash by the time the Order showed up on Privet Drive. And this is the book where the stuff Harry does with them is important! Of course, that's probably the only reason the Dursleys were in this movie in the first place, so I'll leave it at that.
Wait, I just remembered. Did Umbridge ever say that she was the one who sicced the dementors on Harry? Bah.
I didn't really have a problem with the changes made to the story. I mean, it's a movie, concessions have to be made, scenes need to be cut, and when it bothers me that Sirius and Harry are hugging every thirty seconds, I just have to remind myself that "Harry felt a sudden surge of affection for his godfather" has to be cinematically conveyed somehow.
The climactic scene--the whole thing, really--was pretty badass. I loved the way Apparition was portrayed in general, with the smoke and everything, but then when the Order showed up...eeee, I'm thinking about it right now, and how cool it was. Badass. Man. I did not like Sirius's death scene, because there was supposed to be ambiguity about his state of living when he went through that curtain, and even if he was hit with Avada Kedavra he should have had the decency to die instantly, and the arch was disappointing because saying that somebody was "killed by drapery" is much funnier and more absurd than saying that they were "killed by smoke" or, I guess, "killed by Bellatrix". I also did not like the part where Harry manually forced Voldemort out of his body with the deliberate power of his love. It was out of character. I know I said the book-to-movie changes didn't bother me, and generally they didn't, but the internal logic here was inconsistent. There was no reason for Harry to think, "clearly, Voldemort can be forced out of my body with the power of my love! I must ruminate on this, and perhaps he will be driven out!" Though it did help that Dumbledore was kind of egging him on, I guess. Still, Harry just doesn't think about things like that in the heat of the moment.
Speaking of out of character, Dumbledore sounded pretty annoyed when he broke up the party around Trelawney and Umbridge. I don't remember him ever sounding anything but pleasant and indulgent when talking to students. Surely his line could have been something like, "Now, let's not let our books grow cold and lonely!" or some other ridiculous thing.
The music was uninspiring. As you may have gleaned from my previous LJ posts, this is quite significant to me, and I suppose maybe if I download the soundtrack, I'll change my mind. In the interest of fairness, it's on my to-do list.
Tonks was hot. I admit I didn't like her when I first read the book, mostly because she was a new character I wasn't expecting and she just kept showing up and I didn't care. Clearly, she has grown on me. Actually, I've even been thinking about venturing out to look for some G-to-PG13-rated Tonks/Lupin (the smut's fabulous, I'm sure, but at present I'm interested to see them interacting with their clothes on). In conclusion, hot.
Luna was fucking spectacular. Um, see my comments re: Tonks on my initial impressions of her back in 2003. And on my opinion of her now, except for the fic part, although I have read the George/Luna fic
jamimegan betaed and I loved it. In conclusion, Evanna Lynch.Lucius Malfoy looked fantastic. No idea why that occurred to me during this movie, and not others, but it did. Bellatrix was awesome and completely and wonderfully insane. And since I might as well confine all my one-line reviews of individual characters and actors to this paragraph, now might be a fine time to mention that Daniel Radcliffe really has gotten to be a fine actor. Perhaps he would like to try a do-over on that crying scene in PoA, eh?
Let me get out my copy of OotP here, to check on this quote..."The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice..." and I could have sworn her voice was once also described as "breathless," but whatever: except for the resemblance to a frog, Dolores Umbridge has absolutely been brought to life in this movie. Excellent. ETA: Found it! "breathy," page 212.
Did Ginny even have any lines at all? No wonder Bonnie Wright did the video game; it basically quintupled her speaking role. I did think it was neat how there were a few hints at H/G thrown in (the way she looked back at Harry and Cho as she was leaving the Room of Requirement, and I think there was another one too).
Speaking of Weasleys, did Ron have many lines? One of you guys said you were glad Ron didn't seem to be comic relief here, which I definitely appreciated too, but man, that's just not good enough. Ron's lack of presence actually made me kind of nostalgic for the first two movies, and that is not something I thought these movies would ever make me say.
I'm glad I played the video game first (by the way, it wasn't actually a waste of money, although that definitely had something to do with the free movie ticket it came with, as well as the gamefaqs forums, which helped me out with the several instances of fake difficulty), because it made me appreciate that Hogwarts exists as a single unit, and every scene takes place in a different part of that unit, as opposed to just a collection of sets, although I suppose that's probably how it actually is when they're filming. Mostly I just had fun thinking, "oh, look, they're going down the stairway to the dungeons!" "oh, they're in the entrance courtyard!" "I wonder if we'll get to see the hourglasses--hey, there they are, and they're empty because it's the beginning of the year!"
I LOVED the flashbacks. One of you said you liked the way it made the movies seem interconnected. This is very true, but it doesn't really get to the heart of why I liked the flashbacks, and that is...something I'm not sure about. Articulativenessbeing was never my greatest strength. I think, though, that it may have had something to with the delightful way in which Voldemort was screwing with Harry's mind, like when he turned into Harry's reflection in the mirror. Harry's fear that he's sort of turning into Voldemort is much more played up here than it ever is in the books, probably because his differences from Voldemort are what is played up in the books, but this was a really neat interpretation of Harry's mindset in OotP. Oh, and Snape showing up in the Mirror of Erised behind Harry's parents. That was cool.
So anyway, that's that. I'm downloading the new chapter of FMA at the moment; it's amazing to think right now that I'm actually interested in things besides Harry Potter, which has become the dominating force in my life recently, and will stay that way until I've read Deathly Hallows. God knows what I'll do once I've gotten off the internet to avoid and not tempt myself with spoilers. Speaking of which!
[Poll #1021188]