(no subject)
We ended up seeing Order of the Phoenix on Thursday night instead of Friday night. Let me just say this: I really loved it, but there were about 3 or 4 scenes that I was very upset about because they were shortened, cut out or changed completely. I usually have that same complaint about all the HP movies, but I felt especially upset about it for this one...probably because there was one scene in particular I was looking forward to more than any of the others, but it was reduced to about five seconds. (I think most people who have seen the movie will be able to figure out which one I'm talking about.) Oh well...I'm starting to think that no Harry Potter movie will ever be as good as the books, even though in my opinion the Prisoner of Azkaban film comes pretty damn close. Here's what I did like about the OOTP movie...
This was definitely the most emotional of the HP movies, which makes sense because OOTP is a very dark, angsty, and emotional book. The scenes between Sirius and Harry I loved and thought were particularly touching -- they really showed their closeness and made me go "aww!" quite a few times. I wish there had been more, but overall the filmmakers and actors did a pretty decent job at showing their relationship. The fact that Gary Oldman really is an idol and mentor of Daniel Radcliffe's made it that much more cute for me.
I was also really happy about all the flirty/shippy scenes between Hermione and Ron. I thought in previous movies they'd made it seem like Harry and Hermione were going to be a couple, but they really played up the Hr/R in this one, which is exactly how it's supposed to be.
Luna was wonderful. When I first saw pics of Evanna Lynch after it was announced she'd been cast, I was kind of disappointed because in those photos she didn't look like the Luna that was in my head. But she was absolutely perfect. I love her soft, dreamy voice and slight Irish accent. I have no problem with the idea of an Irish Luna. :)
Tonks was also really cool, even though she was barely in the movie!! Grrr. They could have actually cut her out from the film, for all the screen time she had. But if they'd done that I would have been even more disappointed. I wish they had shown scenes of her interracting with Lupin, because when the Half-Blood Prince movie comes out, it's not going to seem as plausible that she fell in love with him.
Helena Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix KICKED ASS. She does the evil/crazy/sexy combination extremely well. Once again, I just wish there were more scenes with her!
The scenes with the DA practicing their spells were both funny and exciting.
Last and most of all, the scene in the Department of Mysteries had my heart absolutely POUNDING! The special effects, the acting, it was all superb...I especially loved the evil, "How's mum and dad?" from Bellatrix to Neville. Even though Sirius' death was somewhat anti-climactic, and hardly dealt with at all at the end of the movie -- Harry just seemed to get over it after his (WAY TOO SHORT!) talk with Dumbledore about the prophesy. :-/ But I won't go much further there; I specifically wanted to write about just the GOOD parts of the movie, so I won't drive myself mad by thinking of the parts that disappointed or frustrated me. But I even liked the part that wasn't in the book (I don't think??), when Voldemort possesses Harry's body completely and says something to Dumbledore like, "You've lost, old man." CREEPY.
I was feeling pretty good this weekend (got to see Kelly, Ruth, and Darryll briefly the night before, woot)...until Erika and Scott dropped me back off at my parents' house, and then a couple hours later, for some reason I just got all emotional. I was working on transferring files from my old PC onto my new laptop, and all of a sudden I felt really depressed, like I was going to cry. My dad came over and asked me how the transferring of files was going, and even though he said it really nicely and rubbed my back and stuff, I was just really annoyed and had to bite my lip to keep from saying something surly. And then I felt bad about being irritable, so when he left I cried and dashed off a quick poem about how I was feeing. The sad/irritable combination leads me to believe that it may just be PMS. (Or angsty OOTP-era Harry is rubbing off on me. Heh heh.) So after dinner my mom and dad and I went to Barnes & Noble, and I bought the new Smashing Pumpkins album to make myself feel better. (Yay, retail therapy!) I very nearly got the new Ryan Adams CD or the book The Last Temptation of Christ, but I can get those later, and I would have felt like a bad Smashing Pumpkins fan if I hadn't gotten their CD. I just started listening to it...hopefully it'll work.
ETA: Woah, it's pretty damn so good so far! Very loud and rockin', but not lacking in substance. I miss the slower/more melodic side of the Pumpkins that was showcased on albums like Mellon Collie and Adore, but this is still better than anything that Billy has put out in several years. (I'm not big on the Machina era, I liked Zwan only okay, and I didn't even buy Billy's solo album.) Right now I'm really into the songs "Starz" and "United States." But there's not a song so far that I've disliked, and I'm on track 7 out of 12. [ETA again: "Neverlost" (track 8) is awesome and comes the closest to that "melodic" sound I was talking about.]
This may actually restore my old-school love for the Pumpkins. *goes to find a SP icon*
This was definitely the most emotional of the HP movies, which makes sense because OOTP is a very dark, angsty, and emotional book. The scenes between Sirius and Harry I loved and thought were particularly touching -- they really showed their closeness and made me go "aww!" quite a few times. I wish there had been more, but overall the filmmakers and actors did a pretty decent job at showing their relationship. The fact that Gary Oldman really is an idol and mentor of Daniel Radcliffe's made it that much more cute for me.
I was also really happy about all the flirty/shippy scenes between Hermione and Ron. I thought in previous movies they'd made it seem like Harry and Hermione were going to be a couple, but they really played up the Hr/R in this one, which is exactly how it's supposed to be.
Luna was wonderful. When I first saw pics of Evanna Lynch after it was announced she'd been cast, I was kind of disappointed because in those photos she didn't look like the Luna that was in my head. But she was absolutely perfect. I love her soft, dreamy voice and slight Irish accent. I have no problem with the idea of an Irish Luna. :)
Tonks was also really cool, even though she was barely in the movie!! Grrr. They could have actually cut her out from the film, for all the screen time she had. But if they'd done that I would have been even more disappointed. I wish they had shown scenes of her interracting with Lupin, because when the Half-Blood Prince movie comes out, it's not going to seem as plausible that she fell in love with him.
Helena Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix KICKED ASS. She does the evil/crazy/sexy combination extremely well. Once again, I just wish there were more scenes with her!
The scenes with the DA practicing their spells were both funny and exciting.
Last and most of all, the scene in the Department of Mysteries had my heart absolutely POUNDING! The special effects, the acting, it was all superb...I especially loved the evil, "How's mum and dad?" from Bellatrix to Neville. Even though Sirius' death was somewhat anti-climactic, and hardly dealt with at all at the end of the movie -- Harry just seemed to get over it after his (WAY TOO SHORT!) talk with Dumbledore about the prophesy. :-/ But I won't go much further there; I specifically wanted to write about just the GOOD parts of the movie, so I won't drive myself mad by thinking of the parts that disappointed or frustrated me. But I even liked the part that wasn't in the book (I don't think??), when Voldemort possesses Harry's body completely and says something to Dumbledore like, "You've lost, old man." CREEPY.
I was feeling pretty good this weekend (got to see Kelly, Ruth, and Darryll briefly the night before, woot)...until Erika and Scott dropped me back off at my parents' house, and then a couple hours later, for some reason I just got all emotional. I was working on transferring files from my old PC onto my new laptop, and all of a sudden I felt really depressed, like I was going to cry. My dad came over and asked me how the transferring of files was going, and even though he said it really nicely and rubbed my back and stuff, I was just really annoyed and had to bite my lip to keep from saying something surly. And then I felt bad about being irritable, so when he left I cried and dashed off a quick poem about how I was feeing. The sad/irritable combination leads me to believe that it may just be PMS. (Or angsty OOTP-era Harry is rubbing off on me. Heh heh.) So after dinner my mom and dad and I went to Barnes & Noble, and I bought the new Smashing Pumpkins album to make myself feel better. (Yay, retail therapy!) I very nearly got the new Ryan Adams CD or the book The Last Temptation of Christ, but I can get those later, and I would have felt like a bad Smashing Pumpkins fan if I hadn't gotten their CD. I just started listening to it...hopefully it'll work.
ETA: Woah, it's pretty damn so good so far! Very loud and rockin', but not lacking in substance. I miss the slower/more melodic side of the Pumpkins that was showcased on albums like Mellon Collie and Adore, but this is still better than anything that Billy has put out in several years. (I'm not big on the Machina era, I liked Zwan only okay, and I didn't even buy Billy's solo album.) Right now I'm really into the songs "Starz" and "United States." But there's not a song so far that I've disliked, and I'm on track 7 out of 12. [ETA again: "Neverlost" (track 8) is awesome and comes the closest to that "melodic" sound I was talking about.]
This may actually restore my old-school love for the Pumpkins. *goes to find a SP icon*