VM and HP
I've been a bit lame (or swamped, depending on your view of things, I suppose) and haven't posted anything of note lately. Unfortunately, my sleep depravation skills have come to the point that while I'm actually shaking from exhaustion, I'm still too wide awake to sleep, and so I've decided to post something that isn't an update on how I'm doing in my novel. Because, let's face it, people get bored with that after a while, and it's not like I'm far enough along to post snatches.
Needless to say (but I'm saying it anyway): Spoilers Ahoy!
Veronica Mars: Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner
I just finished watching this episode which shows you how lame I've been since I don't remember the last time I didn't watch a VM episode the night it came out. I've read mixed reviews on it and that has, perhaps, colored my take but I do have mixed feelings to go along with it.
The secret hideaway in the vents is starting to be a tad cliche. I'm expecting parents over Neptune to start searching the vents after the start of the Echolls trial. That said, I think the last part of the episode - with minimal dialogue especially - was very well written and acted. And the music just killed me.
Before that? Eh. I'm surprised Veronica didn't even VO about how weird it was that Duncan was snooping through Meg's things - even if she would have done the same in his stead. He's supposed to be the normal one, right?
I'm also not buying what Kendall's selling. ww1614 has mentioned that she feels they're misusing her, and I'm starting to agree. She could have been a lot more than a common slut. I do have to admit that seeing Beaver & Dick's real mom was also a plus - it's nice to see what's going on there. Cassidy's such a mama's boy, and that so incredibly unsurprising. I'm kind of disappointed she's not a hippie living in Florida like some fanfic I had read had her.
Wow... my own sentences hurt me.
I think Logan's method of getting Veronica's attention was beautiful. He is probably the one character that reminds me most of fucked up teenagers, at this point. The rest seem to have aged and angsted overmuch before their time.
Honestly, I can't say I enjoy the way this season's going, but it is still probably one of the best-plotted shows on TV today - BSG excluded as being at the top (for now). That Rob Thomas can do that with the number of episodes he has all the male leads for is fantastic, that he doesn't ever let a thread drop until it's tied into a bow, superb. I may not always like the shape of the bow, but I gotta admire the guy for doing it.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
So I'm not one of the people who had a problem with the movie - I liked the length, if only for the fact that I was watching it at midnight and wanted to get home and sleep as soon as possible. I did take issue with the Pensieve scene, and the fact that Crouch Jr. was at Ye Olde Riddle House, but I chalked it up to time. How they're going to work Bellatrix into Book 5 without the exposition in the Pensieve makes me wonder. I do look forward to them chopping and hacking OotP to pieces, if only because Angsty!Harry will have to get a sizeable reduction by necessity.
They really ought to have kept Rita in long enough to get the relevant bits for Book 5, but I suppose they can work around it (Hermione can find out blackmail material on her later? Eh?) Bill and Charlie were missed - though I didn't mind the lack of Quiddich World Cup - or, for that matter, the lack of quiddich entirely. Or the lack of house elves entirely - they bore and annoy me in equal measure, and are expensive to animate to boot. The bit with the dragon was carried on too long, and the time could have been used for plot... but such things are not to be, alas.
I didn't remember that Victor was Imperio'ed in the Maze. I thought it was just the Maze - silly me.
Also, Voldemort and the whole of the graveyard scene were both much more frightening in my head. Yes, Radclliffe won my love when he walked out from under that tombstone, but I just didn't feel the same panic for him that I had before. I loved his acting, though, by far his finest performance.
Voldemort, I felt, was a natural transition from Tom, though not nearly authoritative enough. Coulson owned it and strutted it much more effectively than Fiennes did. Too much movement, not enough anger and control. The voice was vintage Tom, but not Voldemort.
I do have to say though, seeing him in all that make-up, I can't believe even Bellatrix Lestrange (neé Black) would tap that ass. ;-P
What else? I loved all the stuff with the Yule Ball - solnishka and I were holding hands and I was trying not to cry from all the laughter. Hagrid & Madame Maxime were just grand, as were the Weasley twins, especially in the studying scene. I did feel terribly bad for the Patil twins, though. And I liked Hermione a lot through that sequence, and the one where she's on that bridge (which sure got repaired mighty quickly) with Harry. I'm glad they're comfortable enough to joke like that - though it did give me shippy vibes that just don't belong.
I adored Neville. In addition to being ridiculously glad for the lack of Dobby & Winky, I'm extremely pleased with what they did with Neville in this movie. His transition in OotP seems more natural now, and the "I killed Harry Potter!" was just hilarious to me, if only for the South Park echo.
Like lareinenoire, I was waiting for "Remember Cedric Diggory." and was incredibly sad not to have it. I also would have appreciated a further explanation of why Priori Incantatem happened from Dumbledore, perhaps they could have shortened the dragon sequence for that.
I'm sure I had more comments, but sleep is finally descending upon me, and I think I'll stop there.
Needless to say (but I'm saying it anyway): Spoilers Ahoy!
Veronica Mars: Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner
I just finished watching this episode which shows you how lame I've been since I don't remember the last time I didn't watch a VM episode the night it came out. I've read mixed reviews on it and that has, perhaps, colored my take but I do have mixed feelings to go along with it.
The secret hideaway in the vents is starting to be a tad cliche. I'm expecting parents over Neptune to start searching the vents after the start of the Echolls trial. That said, I think the last part of the episode - with minimal dialogue especially - was very well written and acted. And the music just killed me.
Before that? Eh. I'm surprised Veronica didn't even VO about how weird it was that Duncan was snooping through Meg's things - even if she would have done the same in his stead. He's supposed to be the normal one, right?
I'm also not buying what Kendall's selling. ww1614 has mentioned that she feels they're misusing her, and I'm starting to agree. She could have been a lot more than a common slut. I do have to admit that seeing Beaver & Dick's real mom was also a plus - it's nice to see what's going on there. Cassidy's such a mama's boy, and that so incredibly unsurprising. I'm kind of disappointed she's not a hippie living in Florida like some fanfic I had read had her.
Wow... my own sentences hurt me.
I think Logan's method of getting Veronica's attention was beautiful. He is probably the one character that reminds me most of fucked up teenagers, at this point. The rest seem to have aged and angsted overmuch before their time.
Honestly, I can't say I enjoy the way this season's going, but it is still probably one of the best-plotted shows on TV today - BSG excluded as being at the top (for now). That Rob Thomas can do that with the number of episodes he has all the male leads for is fantastic, that he doesn't ever let a thread drop until it's tied into a bow, superb. I may not always like the shape of the bow, but I gotta admire the guy for doing it.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
So I'm not one of the people who had a problem with the movie - I liked the length, if only for the fact that I was watching it at midnight and wanted to get home and sleep as soon as possible. I did take issue with the Pensieve scene, and the fact that Crouch Jr. was at Ye Olde Riddle House, but I chalked it up to time. How they're going to work Bellatrix into Book 5 without the exposition in the Pensieve makes me wonder. I do look forward to them chopping and hacking OotP to pieces, if only because Angsty!Harry will have to get a sizeable reduction by necessity.
They really ought to have kept Rita in long enough to get the relevant bits for Book 5, but I suppose they can work around it (Hermione can find out blackmail material on her later? Eh?) Bill and Charlie were missed - though I didn't mind the lack of Quiddich World Cup - or, for that matter, the lack of quiddich entirely. Or the lack of house elves entirely - they bore and annoy me in equal measure, and are expensive to animate to boot. The bit with the dragon was carried on too long, and the time could have been used for plot... but such things are not to be, alas.
I didn't remember that Victor was Imperio'ed in the Maze. I thought it was just the Maze - silly me.
Also, Voldemort and the whole of the graveyard scene were both much more frightening in my head. Yes, Radclliffe won my love when he walked out from under that tombstone, but I just didn't feel the same panic for him that I had before. I loved his acting, though, by far his finest performance.
Voldemort, I felt, was a natural transition from Tom, though not nearly authoritative enough. Coulson owned it and strutted it much more effectively than Fiennes did. Too much movement, not enough anger and control. The voice was vintage Tom, but not Voldemort.
I do have to say though, seeing him in all that make-up, I can't believe even Bellatrix Lestrange (neé Black) would tap that ass. ;-P
What else? I loved all the stuff with the Yule Ball - solnishka and I were holding hands and I was trying not to cry from all the laughter. Hagrid & Madame Maxime were just grand, as were the Weasley twins, especially in the studying scene. I did feel terribly bad for the Patil twins, though. And I liked Hermione a lot through that sequence, and the one where she's on that bridge (which sure got repaired mighty quickly) with Harry. I'm glad they're comfortable enough to joke like that - though it did give me shippy vibes that just don't belong.
I adored Neville. In addition to being ridiculously glad for the lack of Dobby & Winky, I'm extremely pleased with what they did with Neville in this movie. His transition in OotP seems more natural now, and the "I killed Harry Potter!" was just hilarious to me, if only for the South Park echo.
Like lareinenoire, I was waiting for "Remember Cedric Diggory." and was incredibly sad not to have it. I also would have appreciated a further explanation of why Priori Incantatem happened from Dumbledore, perhaps they could have shortened the dragon sequence for that.
I'm sure I had more comments, but sleep is finally descending upon me, and I think I'll stop there.