 |
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cleolinda | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aw, hell, why not. I'm still too tired to really articulate much, but I did go see it last night, and I did really like it. I'm going again tonight with my aunt, so that should help with the mental processing. The Made of Fail podcast might record next week, if not earlier, and we'll talk about it then; I probably don't need to discuss the movie in too much depth just because I want to save my thoughts for Something Of Which We Will Not Speak Unless You Just Want to Jinx It Utterly, Because These Things Have Gotten Kind of Hard for Me to Write Lately. HBP is actually up there with POA as my favorite books of the series; I purposely didn't reread it so I wouldn't focus on the things they would have to leave out, because they do have to leave these things out; the movie's 153 minutes as it is. I'm pretty easygoing about these things, so while I thought of some odd omissions in retrospect (" I'm the Half-Blood Prince" doesn't actually tell the audience what the hell a half-blood prince is), at the time, I thought it worked as a movie. I mean, yes, I would have liked a shitload of Tom Riddle memory-flashbacks, but I'd also like a million dollars and a pony. We can't have it all. The one problem I really had was with two scenes that were included, because YOU DID IT WRONG tends to bother me more than YOU DIDN'T DO IT AT ALL.* And "wrong" may be overstating the case here. But in both these two scenes, we have exactly the same problem: a moment full of energy and chaos is slooooowed down. The first is the Harry-Ginny kiss, which I loved in the book because it was like they just jumped each other, which (for some reason) just always seemed right to me, and now in the movie it's this really weird, slow, ponderous, almost creepy thing. Like, seriously: the kid's had a hard life. Let Harry have a joyous snog once in a while. They did the same thing in the last movie with the Cho kiss, where it was all slooooow and momentous and whatever, but--well: Cho. I liked Ginny bolting through fire like a moron after Harry in the Burrow scene, because that's so Ginny. Let me take you up to the Room of Requirement and be all weird and stealthy about it, that's not (IMO). * Exception: they left out Dumbledore's line about not being afraid because he was with Harry. This may have been for the best, because I would have bawled if they had left it in.
The other scene with the same problem is Snape and the Death Eaters leaving the school, and it's not so bad--I guess it works on its own, but I loved how helter-skelter the whole thing was in the book. (I'm totally okay with the Death Eaters not actually getting in a big fight with the kids and Aurors, because that's basically the second half of Deathly Hallows anyway--kind of redundant. But when you remove that fight... you don't really have any reason for the Death Eaters to be there. I mean, Draco and Snape pretty much have the Dumbledeath covered between the two of them. But if you don't have the Death Eaters sneak in, you don't have anything to do with the Vanishing Cabinets at all, so you pretty much have nothing for Harry to notice him being suspicious about. So you have to have them sneak in. But now that they don't have anything to do... they're basically just there for moral support. And I don't know about you, but when I think "moral support," I totally think "Bellatrix LeStrange.") So anyway, no one really noticed that the Death Eaters were there, so they can blow away a couple of security wizards and stroll on out, that's fine, but I loved in the book how there was all the running and the taunting and Harry losing his shit and trying to throw curses at Snape and Snape being all like BITCH, SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT, and in the movie, it's like, he knocks Harry over a couple of times while Bellatrix is toasting marshmallows around Hagrid's hut and then rolls on home to Voldemort. Oooookay. Maybe I'll like it better the second time I see it, I don't know. And yeah, the movie is really, really funny--it's a nice mix of light and dark that keeps the movie from being too ponderous. Although you can totally tell that Kloves is back on script duty because suddenly there's multiple scenes about how Hermione is Harry's best friend omg and only they understand each other's lovelorn pain (although I did laugh SO HARD near the beginning when Dumbledore's all like, "So what's up with you and Granger? Icky like a sister, you say? Awesome, just wanted to twist the shipper knife a little before we get started with the actual plot") and Ron's all in the background like, "Remember that last movie, when I actually got to say things? Good times." Anyway. I should probably save it for That Of Which We Do Not Speak. Cough.    Tags: harry potter, m15m, movie discussion, movies
Current Mood:  dozy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, pretty much what you said. And that whole ... cornfield scene, did that happen in the book?
I thought the actual fetching of the false horcrux was pretty great and freaky, although the weird crystal structure of the stuff in the cave reminded me a little too much of the Fortress of Solitude, which made me giggle inappropriately.
I wish there were LOTS more snogging. I recall there was LOTS OF SNOGGING in the book, especially with Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron. I WAS PROMISED SNOGGING.
One connection I never quite got in the book or movie--the horcrux stuff, getting that information from Slughorn. Dumbledore's already destroyed the ring, and he knows Harry's destroyed the diary. And he knows pretty much immediately where to find the locket. So what did he need Slughorn's memory for? To know that there were seven? *confuzzled*
And ITA about the final battle thing with Snape. I mean, Harry's ready to throw down some Unforgivable Curse action! And the way Snape just deflects them, and, yeah, "Say it like you mean it." Yeah.
Anyway. I was prepared to weep a shit-ton (see avatar), but I was mostly dry-eyed until the O-Captain-My-Captain-esque moment in the courtyard with the wands. When McG did it, I was like, oh, this looks like she's raising a lighter at a concert, and I almost snickered, but then LUNA. And NEVILLE. And then WAH. (See avatar.)
I do feel cheated that we didn't get a funeral though.
Eh, I'll probably still watch it a few dozen more times though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Very much in agreement here. I actually really loved all the Harry/Ginny stuff, but I felt that the Ron/Lav kiss took the place of the H/G quidditch kiss, which was disappointing. Ginny is definitely more of the running-through-fire type. That said, she's also very .. solid. and very sure of Harry. So I wasn't totally taken aback by the Room of Req kiss, although it was a little weird.
I didn't like the end, I felt like they totally neutered the whole "Fight back, you coward!" scene. This whole movie really removed a lot of Harry's suspicion towards Snape and Draco, just due to them not showing the trio plotting and talking about it so much. It felt ... tired, like Harry used to hate Snape so now he still does, vs having a legit reason for it. I would have liked to see more of that, more reasoning, and more exposition on the RoR - they didn't explain at all it was for "lost" things, which was unnecessary but helpful information - and Snape's relationship with Draco. I guess there is time for that in DH, where we find out so much more about Snape.
Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love HBP the book, but I think this is a good example of the film being an interpretation - if they had been true to the book it could have made four movies probably. I liked it and I'll see it again but ultimately I'll just go back and read the book again :)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just back from a really nice HP showing (crowded enough that you get the "social event" thing along with your movie, but not so crowded that you can't move or focus on the film due to the shushing people, or even breathe. Had a great time, too. Spoilers below, of course:
I have to say, if you do come up with That Which Must Not Be Named, would you consider keeping in the "Bellatrix roasting marshmallows" bit? I'm LOLing so hard at the idea, and this is coming from someone who detests Bellatrix (although movie!Bellatrix is considerably more interesting than the original).
Re: H/G: I don't know how in-character it was, as I don't think I have Ginny entirely figured out and H/G doesn't really rock my socks, but I liked it, weirdly enough. It weaved in Harry's Ron-related issues and Ginny's spunk, and I found it quite sweet, as a tentative, awkward, we-don't-even-need-to-talk-about-it-if-you-don't-want-to, teenage kiss. Considering how awkward they are around each other up until that point, I'm not sure I'd have wanted them to pounce, Ron/Lavender style.
Had a bit more of a problem with the marshmallow roasting scene, mostly, because it's one of the very few moments where Snape just loses it, and I would have enjoyed a shouty confrontation--if nothing else because the HBP plotline is the film's title, and it was mostly swept under the rug.
On that note, I have a tiny nitpick about the bathroom duel--I liked it as a whole, but Sectumsempra hitting Draco "offscreen" felt like such a cop-out considering the next time we see him he's wounded, but it doesn't look anything like the unwordly amount of damage a powerful curse would cause. If nothing else, they were duelling rather seriously, so you'd expect some gashes here and there. I felt that you never get the sense of just how dangerous Sectumsempra is.
And I LOVE it that we can talk about Death Eaters and the rightness or wrongness of curse portrayal and somehow it feels normal. Ahh, HP, how I'll miss you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You should know that during the New Moon preview before the film, there may or may not have been people yelling DEATH TO SPARKLEPIRES in our audience. *coughs*
(also, when Bella curled up on the ground after Edward said I'M LEAVING KTHXBAI, someone may or may not have yelled "THERE'S MORE TO LIFE THAN BOYS, BELLA." Which may have been followed up by someone else yelling, "Yeah! Become a lesbian!" but that person was not in my party. XD)
Totally with you on all of this. Especially on the slooooooooooooooowness there were a couple of scenes that should have been much more exciting. Also, DON'T CALL ME A COWARD. I--I missed that one. A lot.
STEVE KLOVES. DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE THAT MAN. BECAUSE I HATED HIM. The whole Ron thing was exemplified in the last scene, where he is sitting in the shadows and Harry and Hermione are talking about him like he's not there. WHAT THE HELL. The movie had so many other good "BESTFRIENDZ" scenes with Ron and Harry, and then what? Die, Steve Kloves, die. Harry and Hermione are not meant for each other. Get. Over It.
...*coughs*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Previous Next 
![[info]](http://livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
