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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/!!
