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exsequarDear Harry Potter & Co.,
HOLY SHIT.
All my love,
Me.
I have so much to say. SO MUCH TO SAY. I'm going to go see it again tomorrow because it was THAT GOOD.
Overall, as a movie, IT KICKED ASS. It was amazing, mindblowing, a rollercoaster ride that had me locked in from start to finish. That doesn't mean I don't have my nitpicks, so those are behind the cut as well, but I. LOVED. THIS. MOVIE.
Now that's said!
I have no idea how to order my thoughts, so I'm just going to start talking. Things will occur to me as they occur to me, and you're just gonna have to try to keep up *g*
The pacing of this movie was phenomenal. A bit fast, yes, but you simply can't expect anything else out of a gigantic book squashed into a relatively short movie. But it was elegant in its speed. Transitions made sense, plots within the plot had a clear beginning, middle, and end, there was cogent emotional continuity for all the characters, and nothing felt out of place or forced. It flowed really damn well, and I was never yanked out of it by awkward omissions OR additions. UnlikeGobletofFire. Which could have been a fucking FABULOUS movie, dammit. Rar.
Anyway!
Oh god oh god where do I START. I loved Sirius. I loved Sirius with all my bursting fangirl heart. Crazy Gary Oldman, YOU WIN. He had such a sparkling warmth to him, a wisdom and love that radiated off him in waves every time he spoke to Harry. There was also mischief dancing in his eyes, real life and vigor. I didn't quite fully get the sense of his feeling really trapped at Grimmauld Place, which is very much emphasized in the book, but that's okay. It didn't actually occur to me until just now, so obviously it didn't affect my experience of the film.
While I'm on Sirius, I must say that his death was actually... really anticlimactic for me. I fully expected to burst into tears, but I don't know, something about the pacing of THAT moment didn't quite do it for me. I think I simply built it up for myself far too much. Also, I was distracted by Sirius calling Harry "James" right before - what terrible timing! It felt a bit off. (Did that happen in the book, at all or at that point? I forget.) However, what really got me in the gut was the newspaper articles about the insane murderer Sirius Black, how he was behind the Azkaban escapes, all sorts of nonsense that just broke my heart. Sirius is such a desperately tragic character, all the more so because I am so completely in love with his young Marauder self, and for him to be so profoundly misunderstood and hated by the entire wizarding world snaps my heart in two.
But at least he has his Remus! Bringing me to my one huge disappointment in the film. WHERE WAS REMUS? More accurately, WHERE WERE REMUS'S VOCAL CHORDS? He talks *exactly* once. In the entire goddamn movie. What the fuck? I'm really quite disappointed by this, because I adore David Thewlis as Remus to tiny itsy bitsy pieces and I wanted to see MORE MORE MORE of him! Bah. And y'all really built up the Remus/Sirius to ridiculous levels - yes, they were extremely gay, but... for all of 5 seconds total. Sigh! But all that said, my favorite image in the entire film, the one I want as my journal layout and a poster and a tattoo on my forehead, was Remus in the doorway smiling over Harry hugging Sirius. I swear my heart grew ten sizes every time it was shown in Harry's flashbacks and whatnot. That almost makes up for the complete lack of Remus. Almost. (Oh and the other fantastic Remus moment - when he sort of whooshed into the battle at the end. He looked BEAUTIFUL. ♥) (Oh and one more! When he was holding back Harry? I broke inside a little bit.)
I really, really need to reread Shoebox. A lot.
Onwards! DanRad REALLY picked up his game in this film. He really, really did. I am so pleased and proud. And in terms of Harry the character, I actually think the film did a better job than the book itself! We all joke about CAPSLOCK!Harry because he was angry and emo to truly ludicrous proportions in the novel. The movie distilled that sense of malaise into something more withdrawn but just as, if not more, intense. His sense of crushing loneliness brought tears to my eyes multiple times, just as his various moments of healing by his wonderful, wonderful friends did. His sheer joy in teaching the D.A. was infectious, and every single conversation he had with Luna made my heart sing.
Which brings me to the darling Loony Lovegood! She was just as phenomenal as you all said she was. Evanna IS Luna. Absolutely fantastic. She was so wise and kind and perfect with Harry. And that's kind of all I have to say - she was just great.
The Trio was SO SWEET. I think that they played Harry's estrangement from them, followed by a cautious letting down of his walls, building up to the climactic moment of triumph when he realizes that their love is what gives him strength, absolutely gorgeously. (What an awkward sentence, sorry!) My favorite scene between them was the "emotional range of a teaspoon" one - the way they all just crack up at the end, it's unbelievably sweet, and one of the most genuine moments we've gotten of them as friends. People always talk about "the trio," and they sure are wonderful and inseparable and truly best friends in the book, but I've always felt their actual friendship took a backseat to the drama in the previous films. Not so here. Yates handled it deftly, with real grace and eloquence. Marvelous.
And since I mentioned it, I'll say now that my favorite part of the movie, hands down, was that last climax when Harry battles off Voldemort with thoughts of his friends and how they are his saving grace. It plucked every single one of my heartstrings with its sheer power and beauty. It was just such an incredibly resonant moment. A large part of the reason is that I genuinely don't remember that happening in the book - honestly, everything in the book after Sirius's death is a blur, both literally and figuratively. Every time I've read the book, I am SOBBING from the veil onward, so it's really hard to pay attention to anything else. So I had no expectations for anything afterwards, hadn't imagined how it might look, so everything, including Dumbledore and Voldemort's fight, was just shiny and new and glorious to me. Did this part happen in the book, like that? Voldemort controlling Harry but Harry fighting him off with the love of his friends? (It sounds SO CORNY when I say it like that, but you get it. I hope.) I honestly don't remember.
And Dumbledore and Voldemort's fight itself was SPECTACULAR. Breathtaking and intense and really just so gorgeous. I lovelovelove Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort. He's perfection. The effects were glorious, and the rhythm of the whole thing just stole my breath away. Mmmph.
Back to more mundane things - ships! Okay. Here's the thing. I am hardcore Harry/Hermione. I love them and they will always always always have a special place in my heart. I have talked about this many times before, but it boils down to my personal belief that your lover is also your best friend. And Harry and Hermione care about each other a lot, and are actually emotionally mature enough to show it, so that's what I respond to. Ron, on the other hand, is a typical adolescent boy to the girl he likes - i.e., an uncomfortable git. I never, ever saw the appeal of him and Hermione together. I honestly didn't.
Until - wait for it - until... now. In this movie, they were not assholes to each other! I was so pleasantly surprised! Instead, they were cute and shy and awkward and cute! THIS is what I had not been seeing at all. They totally hit the nail on the head in terms of how I think crushes should act around each other. They weren't bitter and angry like in GoF, which just makes NO SENSE to me for two people who are crushing on each other, but instead all toe-scuffing, head-ducking ADORABLE. Aw. So now I won't throw my 7th book out the window if they get some sappy happy ending. And I am pleased about this :) I have hopes that Yates can actually make me enjoy their tension in movie six as well, because their interaction in book six actually made me loathe the ship, at least up to closer to the end, where it's more cute, but dude. ATTACK OF THE BIRDS? *flings hand into the air* Yeah. So! Yates to my rescue, apparently!
As a related tangent, I really really liked Ron in this movie. I've never been a huge Ron fan - never felt particularly strongly about him either way, actually. But I LOVED how he stood up for Harry to Seamus, how he stood steadfastly by Harry's side at every turn. He was assertive and brave and said things other than "bloody hell" and was generally fantastic. I'm very glad about that too.
Back to the ships - Harry/Cho was pretty cute, but I'm glad they kept it limited. That kiss was actually really gross and went on way too long, ew. Haha.
As for Ginny, um. Did she say ANYTHING except for a couple spells? In the entire movie? I honestly don't think so. I could more easily be converted to Harry/Ginny if Ginny had, you know, A PERSONALITY. I hope Yates will also deal with that better than Rowling did, because lets be honest, Rowling's idea of "romance" fits a cheesy young adult paperback more than anything. Blech.
Because I can't not talk about them - Harry/Hermione! Of course I love Hermione flinging herself into Harry's arms. I love that that was one of the first memories Snape yanked out of Harry's head, like it was at the front of his thoughts. I love how goddamn relentlessly supportive Hermione is - she is the best friend of ever EVER. Encouraging Harry to teach the DA, cheerleading him, if a bit excessively. Even her Cho comment made me smile, because she's HAPPY for him, and that is just so marvelously sweet. I looooved her whole scheme to distract Umbridge because she couldn't possibly bear to see Harry tortured - and I love that that was lifted practically verbatim from the book. SO PERFECT. We got more of Harry and Hermione dashing around in the Forbidden Forest together, yay! Basically I love them forever and ever, even as just friends. ♥
Let's see, I know I have a billion other things to say.
Snape's Worst Memory - about 10 seconds. Meh! Oh well. It's not like I could have expected them to pick up on the subtle-but-totally-there Remus/Sirius stuff in the full-fledged version in the book, even if they had made it longer, so whatever.
Umbridge - FANTASTIC. She and Luna are both such extreme characters in the books, and I always had a really hard time imagining them as real people. Both of their castings are absolute triumphs. Imelda Staunton has the perfect blend of perky cheer and disturbing sadism, which is the fucked up Umbridge in a nutshell. Absolutely marvelous.
Dumbledore in the movies continues to rather baffle and annoy me. They didn't get the casting right either time, but Dumbledore as he is in the books is rather indefinable - this weird blend of goofy/silly and complete dignity, so, you know, it's a rather tall order. I did miss his conjuring a pouf to sit on in the Ministry hearing *g* At least he didn't beat Harry up this time! Def. an improvement. In the scene near the end, Harry and Dumbledore talking, I was just not understanding his logic at ALL, thinking he was being so dumb, but then he said "I cared about you too much." and I went "Oh." So his behavior was redeemed for me in that moment.
The Department of Mysteries - must admit I'm disappointed with how much they trimmed down here. That sequence is one of my favorites in the entire book series. I love the surreality of it - all the bizarre rooms they find, the brain with the film that tries to strangle Ron, the time trapped in a glass case, all kinds of absurd and wonderful things. It's such a head trip. And the book version feels more intense and dangerous, with the chases through the different rooms, oh and HERMIONE ALMOST DYING. That's one of my favorite moments ever ever, the panic whining in Harry's ears as he thinks she's almost dead, and the overpowering relief when she's not. So I'm sad that whole sequence essentially got eradicated. But I do understand. The Hall of Prophecy itself was pretty amazing looking, so, it's all good.
LUCIUS! Luscious Lucius! Jason Isaacs is amazing, all sleekly evil and gorgeous. Mmph. I loooove when he pulls his mask off with his wand. In fact, I loved every moment he was on screen!
Bellatrix's role was rather small, but marvelously batshit. I love Helena in Fight Club, where she has a similar fucked up manic quality to her, and she really worked it here in the precious few moments she was given. Thumbs up!
God, there's so much more. The Weasley products, and their spectacular jailbreak! Cedric!!! Neville being made of WIN! Seamus's apology! Snape! The centaurs! Filch! Everybody's adorable patronuses! The fantastic Thestrals! There was just SO DAMN MUCH to love in this movie. Every moment was precious in its own way, and I was always completely immersed in the story, completely engrossed.
In conclusion, I love this movie. It makes 1, 2, and 4 look like crappy TV movies, and I would say it elbows out PoA as best movie of the series. PoA was actually incredible for some very different reasons, and I love them both, but as a MOVIE, OotP just wins. God. WOW.
Definitely must see again tomorrow.
*flailyhands* \o/!!
HOLY SHIT.
All my love,
Me.
I have so much to say. SO MUCH TO SAY. I'm going to go see it again tomorrow because it was THAT GOOD.
Overall, as a movie, IT KICKED ASS. It was amazing, mindblowing, a rollercoaster ride that had me locked in from start to finish. That doesn't mean I don't have my nitpicks, so those are behind the cut as well, but I. LOVED. THIS. MOVIE.
Now that's said!
I have no idea how to order my thoughts, so I'm just going to start talking. Things will occur to me as they occur to me, and you're just gonna have to try to keep up *g*
The pacing of this movie was phenomenal. A bit fast, yes, but you simply can't expect anything else out of a gigantic book squashed into a relatively short movie. But it was elegant in its speed. Transitions made sense, plots within the plot had a clear beginning, middle, and end, there was cogent emotional continuity for all the characters, and nothing felt out of place or forced. It flowed really damn well, and I was never yanked out of it by awkward omissions OR additions. UnlikeGobletofFire. Which could have been a fucking FABULOUS movie, dammit. Rar.
Anyway!
Oh god oh god where do I START. I loved Sirius. I loved Sirius with all my bursting fangirl heart. Crazy Gary Oldman, YOU WIN. He had such a sparkling warmth to him, a wisdom and love that radiated off him in waves every time he spoke to Harry. There was also mischief dancing in his eyes, real life and vigor. I didn't quite fully get the sense of his feeling really trapped at Grimmauld Place, which is very much emphasized in the book, but that's okay. It didn't actually occur to me until just now, so obviously it didn't affect my experience of the film.
While I'm on Sirius, I must say that his death was actually... really anticlimactic for me. I fully expected to burst into tears, but I don't know, something about the pacing of THAT moment didn't quite do it for me. I think I simply built it up for myself far too much. Also, I was distracted by Sirius calling Harry "James" right before - what terrible timing! It felt a bit off. (Did that happen in the book, at all or at that point? I forget.) However, what really got me in the gut was the newspaper articles about the insane murderer Sirius Black, how he was behind the Azkaban escapes, all sorts of nonsense that just broke my heart. Sirius is such a desperately tragic character, all the more so because I am so completely in love with his young Marauder self, and for him to be so profoundly misunderstood and hated by the entire wizarding world snaps my heart in two.
But at least he has his Remus! Bringing me to my one huge disappointment in the film. WHERE WAS REMUS? More accurately, WHERE WERE REMUS'S VOCAL CHORDS? He talks *exactly* once. In the entire goddamn movie. What the fuck? I'm really quite disappointed by this, because I adore David Thewlis as Remus to tiny itsy bitsy pieces and I wanted to see MORE MORE MORE of him! Bah. And y'all really built up the Remus/Sirius to ridiculous levels - yes, they were extremely gay, but... for all of 5 seconds total. Sigh! But all that said, my favorite image in the entire film, the one I want as my journal layout and a poster and a tattoo on my forehead, was Remus in the doorway smiling over Harry hugging Sirius. I swear my heart grew ten sizes every time it was shown in Harry's flashbacks and whatnot. That almost makes up for the complete lack of Remus. Almost. (Oh and the other fantastic Remus moment - when he sort of whooshed into the battle at the end. He looked BEAUTIFUL. ♥) (Oh and one more! When he was holding back Harry? I broke inside a little bit.)
I really, really need to reread Shoebox. A lot.
Onwards! DanRad REALLY picked up his game in this film. He really, really did. I am so pleased and proud. And in terms of Harry the character, I actually think the film did a better job than the book itself! We all joke about CAPSLOCK!Harry because he was angry and emo to truly ludicrous proportions in the novel. The movie distilled that sense of malaise into something more withdrawn but just as, if not more, intense. His sense of crushing loneliness brought tears to my eyes multiple times, just as his various moments of healing by his wonderful, wonderful friends did. His sheer joy in teaching the D.A. was infectious, and every single conversation he had with Luna made my heart sing.
Which brings me to the darling Loony Lovegood! She was just as phenomenal as you all said she was. Evanna IS Luna. Absolutely fantastic. She was so wise and kind and perfect with Harry. And that's kind of all I have to say - she was just great.
The Trio was SO SWEET. I think that they played Harry's estrangement from them, followed by a cautious letting down of his walls, building up to the climactic moment of triumph when he realizes that their love is what gives him strength, absolutely gorgeously. (What an awkward sentence, sorry!) My favorite scene between them was the "emotional range of a teaspoon" one - the way they all just crack up at the end, it's unbelievably sweet, and one of the most genuine moments we've gotten of them as friends. People always talk about "the trio," and they sure are wonderful and inseparable and truly best friends in the book, but I've always felt their actual friendship took a backseat to the drama in the previous films. Not so here. Yates handled it deftly, with real grace and eloquence. Marvelous.
And since I mentioned it, I'll say now that my favorite part of the movie, hands down, was that last climax when Harry battles off Voldemort with thoughts of his friends and how they are his saving grace. It plucked every single one of my heartstrings with its sheer power and beauty. It was just such an incredibly resonant moment. A large part of the reason is that I genuinely don't remember that happening in the book - honestly, everything in the book after Sirius's death is a blur, both literally and figuratively. Every time I've read the book, I am SOBBING from the veil onward, so it's really hard to pay attention to anything else. So I had no expectations for anything afterwards, hadn't imagined how it might look, so everything, including Dumbledore and Voldemort's fight, was just shiny and new and glorious to me. Did this part happen in the book, like that? Voldemort controlling Harry but Harry fighting him off with the love of his friends? (It sounds SO CORNY when I say it like that, but you get it. I hope.) I honestly don't remember.
And Dumbledore and Voldemort's fight itself was SPECTACULAR. Breathtaking and intense and really just so gorgeous. I lovelovelove Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort. He's perfection. The effects were glorious, and the rhythm of the whole thing just stole my breath away. Mmmph.
Back to more mundane things - ships! Okay. Here's the thing. I am hardcore Harry/Hermione. I love them and they will always always always have a special place in my heart. I have talked about this many times before, but it boils down to my personal belief that your lover is also your best friend. And Harry and Hermione care about each other a lot, and are actually emotionally mature enough to show it, so that's what I respond to. Ron, on the other hand, is a typical adolescent boy to the girl he likes - i.e., an uncomfortable git. I never, ever saw the appeal of him and Hermione together. I honestly didn't.
Until - wait for it - until... now. In this movie, they were not assholes to each other! I was so pleasantly surprised! Instead, they were cute and shy and awkward and cute! THIS is what I had not been seeing at all. They totally hit the nail on the head in terms of how I think crushes should act around each other. They weren't bitter and angry like in GoF, which just makes NO SENSE to me for two people who are crushing on each other, but instead all toe-scuffing, head-ducking ADORABLE. Aw. So now I won't throw my 7th book out the window if they get some sappy happy ending. And I am pleased about this :) I have hopes that Yates can actually make me enjoy their tension in movie six as well, because their interaction in book six actually made me loathe the ship, at least up to closer to the end, where it's more cute, but dude. ATTACK OF THE BIRDS? *flings hand into the air* Yeah. So! Yates to my rescue, apparently!
As a related tangent, I really really liked Ron in this movie. I've never been a huge Ron fan - never felt particularly strongly about him either way, actually. But I LOVED how he stood up for Harry to Seamus, how he stood steadfastly by Harry's side at every turn. He was assertive and brave and said things other than "bloody hell" and was generally fantastic. I'm very glad about that too.
Back to the ships - Harry/Cho was pretty cute, but I'm glad they kept it limited. That kiss was actually really gross and went on way too long, ew. Haha.
As for Ginny, um. Did she say ANYTHING except for a couple spells? In the entire movie? I honestly don't think so. I could more easily be converted to Harry/Ginny if Ginny had, you know, A PERSONALITY. I hope Yates will also deal with that better than Rowling did, because lets be honest, Rowling's idea of "romance" fits a cheesy young adult paperback more than anything. Blech.
Because I can't not talk about them - Harry/Hermione! Of course I love Hermione flinging herself into Harry's arms. I love that that was one of the first memories Snape yanked out of Harry's head, like it was at the front of his thoughts. I love how goddamn relentlessly supportive Hermione is - she is the best friend of ever EVER. Encouraging Harry to teach the DA, cheerleading him, if a bit excessively. Even her Cho comment made me smile, because she's HAPPY for him, and that is just so marvelously sweet. I looooved her whole scheme to distract Umbridge because she couldn't possibly bear to see Harry tortured - and I love that that was lifted practically verbatim from the book. SO PERFECT. We got more of Harry and Hermione dashing around in the Forbidden Forest together, yay! Basically I love them forever and ever, even as just friends. ♥
Let's see, I know I have a billion other things to say.
Snape's Worst Memory - about 10 seconds. Meh! Oh well. It's not like I could have expected them to pick up on the subtle-but-totally-there Remus/Sirius stuff in the full-fledged version in the book, even if they had made it longer, so whatever.
Umbridge - FANTASTIC. She and Luna are both such extreme characters in the books, and I always had a really hard time imagining them as real people. Both of their castings are absolute triumphs. Imelda Staunton has the perfect blend of perky cheer and disturbing sadism, which is the fucked up Umbridge in a nutshell. Absolutely marvelous.
Dumbledore in the movies continues to rather baffle and annoy me. They didn't get the casting right either time, but Dumbledore as he is in the books is rather indefinable - this weird blend of goofy/silly and complete dignity, so, you know, it's a rather tall order. I did miss his conjuring a pouf to sit on in the Ministry hearing *g* At least he didn't beat Harry up this time! Def. an improvement. In the scene near the end, Harry and Dumbledore talking, I was just not understanding his logic at ALL, thinking he was being so dumb, but then he said "I cared about you too much." and I went "Oh." So his behavior was redeemed for me in that moment.
The Department of Mysteries - must admit I'm disappointed with how much they trimmed down here. That sequence is one of my favorites in the entire book series. I love the surreality of it - all the bizarre rooms they find, the brain with the film that tries to strangle Ron, the time trapped in a glass case, all kinds of absurd and wonderful things. It's such a head trip. And the book version feels more intense and dangerous, with the chases through the different rooms, oh and HERMIONE ALMOST DYING. That's one of my favorite moments ever ever, the panic whining in Harry's ears as he thinks she's almost dead, and the overpowering relief when she's not. So I'm sad that whole sequence essentially got eradicated. But I do understand. The Hall of Prophecy itself was pretty amazing looking, so, it's all good.
LUCIUS! Luscious Lucius! Jason Isaacs is amazing, all sleekly evil and gorgeous. Mmph. I loooove when he pulls his mask off with his wand. In fact, I loved every moment he was on screen!
Bellatrix's role was rather small, but marvelously batshit. I love Helena in Fight Club, where she has a similar fucked up manic quality to her, and she really worked it here in the precious few moments she was given. Thumbs up!
God, there's so much more. The Weasley products, and their spectacular jailbreak! Cedric!!! Neville being made of WIN! Seamus's apology! Snape! The centaurs! Filch! Everybody's adorable patronuses! The fantastic Thestrals! There was just SO DAMN MUCH to love in this movie. Every moment was precious in its own way, and I was always completely immersed in the story, completely engrossed.
In conclusion, I love this movie. It makes 1, 2, and 4 look like crappy TV movies, and I would say it elbows out PoA as best movie of the series. PoA was actually incredible for some very different reasons, and I love them both, but as a MOVIE, OotP just wins. God. WOW.
Definitely must see again tomorrow.
*flailyhands* \o/!!
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 07:12 am (UTC)Yeah, one of those. :-)
I've been hedging my bet about seeing this one, between that and the most common point of praise being "It's even better than PoA!"
PoA = Heather's favorite "HP" book. Consequently, PoA = Heather's least favorite "HP" movie.
But I dunno. You're just so cute and adorable and infectious in your review! I wanna see now.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 08:39 pm (UTC)Aw really, you didn't like GoF that much? That's so strange, cause I always regarded that as my favourite of the movies until now because it captured the spirit of the book (though I think OotP might have replaced it at the top of my list). I've heard other people say they weren't fussy on GoF as well. I didn't realize it was another one that people either loved or hated. Hm.
Poor Sirius' death was such a disappointment in more ways than one. I brought Kleenex with me the first time I saw it and I didn't even need them, which was upsetting. I think it was a mixture of anticipation and the fact that it all happened so very fast that ended up in disappointment. It just seemed like Harry was screaming with Lupin holding him and then chasing Bellatrix in the same minute. =\
"We all joke about CAPSLOCK!Harry because he was angry and emo to truly ludicrous proportions in the novel. The movie distilled that sense of malaise into something more withdrawn but just as, if not more, intense."
I have to agree there! At first I was like, "WHERE IS MY CAPSLOCK!HARRY? ;_;" but upon reflection, I think they might've struck gold with keeping him a little less angry and a little more depressed/lonely.
"My favorite scene between them was the "emotional range of a teaspoon" one - the way they all just crack up at the end, it's unbelievably sweet, and one of the most genuine moments we've gotten of them as friends. [...] but I've always felt their actual friendship took a backseat to the drama in the previous films. Not so here."
YES! Totally agree. It's always been in the back of my mind that these three are best friends, but it's never really been SHOWN to me until now. I've never felt elated and gleeful by trio scenes like I have in this movie.
"Every time I've read the book, I am SOBBING from the veil onward, so it's really hard to pay attention to anything else."
Oh man, it's so true. The main thing I always remember from OotP is Sirius' death and the only parts that ever come to me after that are 1) Luna's line about the veil and 2) Harry being on outside on the Hogwarts grounds just grieving and being completely lost. All the stuff with Dumbledore and the prophecy never stick out to me, so I had no expectations whatsoever for the eic Dumbledore VS Voldy duel.
"I was so pleasantly surprised! Instead, they were cute and shy and awkward and cute! THIS is what I had not been seeing at all. They totally hit the nail on the head in terms of how I think crushes should act around each other."
EXACTLY! All of the H/Hr-ers on LJ that I know have all been pleasantly surprised by how much they actually enjoyed the R/Hr stuff, and I think it was definitely the fact that they weren't at eachother's throats. If R/Hr were like this in the book I'd DEFINITELY have less of an aversion to them. Holy crap.
As for H/Hr, I loved that they showed that tackleglomp at Grimmauld more than once, and that we got to see the CoS hug again. It made my heart soar a little bit. Again, there were lots of subtleties to H/Hr that I'm glad they kept in and didn't try to eliminate completely because 'we're not supposed to ship that way,' or whatever.
"At least [Dumbledore] didn't beat Harry up this time!"
XD for realz. I HATE Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. To me, Richard Harris is the one and only Dumbledore. I still read PoA, GoF, Ootp, etc with him in mind and not this stupid hippy they have now. He plays Dumbledore's lightness too silly and his sternness too angry. Oh well, we don't have to put up with him much longer. ;) (XD, that's horrible, I'm horrible... but it's sorta true.)
"Bellatrix's role was rather small, but marvelously batshit."
AMEN! The casting was perfect on that. I think somewhere in my head Bellatrix always looked like Helena Bonham Carter anyway.
[/END EPIC NOVEL-SIZED POTTER RESPONSE]
no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 08:51 pm (UTC)Aw really, you didn't like GoF that much? That's so strange, cause I always regarded that as my favourite of the movies until now because it captured the spirit of the book
See, I enjoyed GoF the book and I didn't HATE the film (sorry if I made it seem that way) - but it never stuck out to me for any particular reason. I don't know why. It's my third favorite of the books, I suppose, but I don't know, I guess I just don't have any strong feelings about it. The pacing of the movie was completely insane and was not satisfactory to me at *all*, so that was really the main reason I didn't like it. I DID however love that it was chock full of HHr *grins*
Poor Sirius' death was such a disappointment in more ways than one.
Oh I'm glad I'm not the only person saying that. I feel a little bit cheated, but not really, because I guess nothing could live up to the gutpunch that is his death in the books. I should have realized that it wouldn't have the same kind of power because I was expecting it. It couldn't really be anything other than anticlimactic. This is in contrast to Serenity, in which I sobbed so hard for the last half hour that I thought maybe my heart had actually shattered. That was because it was a complete surprise. (Being vague in case you haven't seen it.) So... disappointed with it, but not really upset.
EXACTLY! All of the H/Hr-ers on LJ that I know have all been pleasantly surprised by how much they actually enjoyed the R/Hr stuff, and I think it was definitely the fact that they weren't at eachother's throats. If R/Hr were like this in the book I'd DEFINITELY have less of an aversion to them. Holy crap.
I'm also interested to hear that other people had the same reaction that I did. It's not like I didn't want RHr because I didn't WANT to like them, it was that I genuinely disliked their relationship! But I'm very much open to enjoying it, and the way Yates handled it allowed me to do that for the first time. Yay for him :)
Again, there were lots of subtleties to H/Hr that I'm glad they kept in and didn't try to eliminate completely because 'we're not supposed to ship that way,' or whatever.
Yes! Yes yes yes. Harry and Hermione, within the trio dynamic, have a very special connection. There's a very powerful love there, and I'm so glad they're not afraid to portray that, because even as a platonic duo, their relationship is very powerful to me, and I'm so glad they did that justice. Yay!
All in all, SO FANTASTIC, and I'm seeing it again in a couple hours YAY. *beams*
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Date: 2007-07-17 05:11 pm (UTC)I just finished rereading the book, so the differences (and sometimes improvements) and similarities are very obvious to me. I was delighted at just how much of this movie is lifted verbatim from the book. Even the scenes that look like moviemaking filler come from the book somewhere. (Ron standing up for Harry in front of everyone? That happened.) Umbridge, Luna, and Bellatrix were EXACTLY like their book characters. I kind of prefer this Harry to CAPSLOCK!Harry, but I think CAPSLOCK is more in character for an angry 15-year-old, if my younger brother is any indication. I want frame-by-frame screencapping of Snape's Worst Memory.
As far as shipping goes, I don't ship at all, so I'm free to pick up on what's there (Harry/Luna, anyone?). Sirius/Remus is so present in the books that it's impossible to ignore, so I'm glad it got its moments here. I thought it was cute that Ginny made faces at Cho the whole movie, but it's actually OOC for her at this point since in OotP she finally gives up on Harry and dates other boys for once, and I missed that. I also missed Weasley Is Our King. :(
But the best thing about this movie is that, completely unlike the other movies, it took things that didn't work as well in the book and made them work for the movie. Case in point: I didn't mind Grawp. That's HUGE.
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Date: 2007-07-18 06:09 am (UTC)I agree with you, the BEST part was the Dumbledore/Voldemort fight, it srsly gave me goosebumps and wowowowowowowow!! And YES! The flashback things were SO good and so powerful and well shot and edited and just WHOA! What a fine specimen of film in that very scene alone!
Luna is so adorable, it just, kills me. Now, I read the first couple of chapters of OotP before I saw the movie, and I thought Luna had SO much potential but I was afraid she'd be just crap in the movie... WRONG! The actress is SO perfect, odd without being crazy, blissfully content without being braindead, and she does give you the feeling that she knows more about what's going on than everyone else. The actress is cute!! They didn't cast this stunningly gorgeous girl, her looks are definitely different (exactly the way I thought she would from the books) but I thought she was pretty!! Her voice ♥
PoA is definitely the winner, and probably always will be. It's been SO long since I read the first 3 books, but I really enjoyed the 4th, and I thought GoF (movie) was pretty good, too. Probably second in the movies. It's also been forever since I've seen the first 2 movies, but I know that PoA is by far my fav.
Remussssss/Siriusssss!! Two great actors, two great characters! (made for hat role, y/y?!) I've heard LOTS about shoebox, and I think I shall read it sometime :D
I agree, I dunno what to make of Dumbledore in the movies, he's so... awkward compared to the books? :( It's really too bad.
Ron is the sweetest guy, omg, how he protects Harry and stands up for him and just SO many Ron/Hermione moments ♥ that I was really expecting to lead somewhere! *pout* We got Harry/Cho instead :( Boo.
This leads me to: I should probably get on reading the book, eh???
Ok! Will stop spamming your comments! ♥