Goblet of Fire movie!
So today we celebrated my birthday. Went out for supper at A&W and then saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It r0xxored.
They kept the opening chapter as the opening scene of the movie! *Snoopy dance* I love that part. I'm not sure it made much sense to people who hadn't read the book, and of course I wish it were longer and more detailed, but they didn't just skip it like I thought they might. Woot!
Well, I didn't get either of the best Snape scenes in the book--the encounter with "Moody" and Invisibility-Cloak!Harry on the stairs, and the "Hey, Fudge, look at what I've got on my arm!" bit. But we got a couple of awesome new scenes. One, of Snape accusing Harry of stealing potions ingredients from his personal stores, was sort of in the book but the setting was different and Snape threatening to put Veritaserum in Harry's pumpkin juice was awesome.
The other scene, though, was my favorite. The Trio is gossiping in study hall about their dates for the Yule Ball--and lackthereof--and Snape keeps thwapping them on the head with a composition notebook when he walks by to make them shut up. XD I LOVE it! Bwahahahaha! The rest of the audience did too, judging by the amount of laughter.
Fleur was perfect. Cedric was perfect and TEH HAWT. Krum was good, although a bit more of the big-nose-and-unibrow look would have been better. He won me over, though. Igor was great. Barty Sr. was perfect. Barty Jr. was different than I pictured him but not bad at all. Moody wasn't really like I pictured him, either, but again not in a bad way. I always had a hard time picturing Maxime in my head so it was nice to have a real face to put together with her. Not a pretty one, but a face. ;)
Gred and Forge are great.
Lucius was lovely. Draco's ferret scene was priceless. XD
I wasn't disappointed that they cut out Winky and her subplot. They had to cut something for time, after all, and if they can cut house elves, far be it from me to stop them. ;) Hopefully Grawp will be similarly excised from the next movie.
All in all, they actually did a pretty good job of cutting the enormously thick book down into a coherent movie. Sure, there's always more backstory that could be done, and several places felt rushed, but they got the basic plot and the "feel" of it all down well. It was a more faithful adaptation than Prisoner of Azkaban, anyway. ("Padfoot who? What's a Marauder? Where did that ghost deer come from?" *headdesk*)
Speaking of Prisoner, Sirius' face in the fire...WTF? Bleh. I always pictured it as a flame-version of the "Help me, Obi-Wan!" hologram from Star Wars. Oh well. I thought it was amusing that Gary Oldman got a credit for being in the movie, when he really wasn't, exactly. In person. In the flesh. Er...yeah. It was weird.
I didn't mind the added action sequences in the dragon task at all. Quite to the contrary, the bit on the roof of the tower was cool.
Minerva teaching the kids to dance was a great scene. Poor Ron. LMAO!
The teenage hormones weren't overdone at all. The dynamics were kept in place (sans the Krum-is-rude-to-Harry-because-he-thinks-Harry's-dating Hermione part.)
The Yule Ball was excellent. Great outfits, just the right amount of humor vs. teen angst. Alas, Snape's dress robes are as dark and boring as his usual garb. I wanted to see him in a tuxedo front, dangit! Even better, I wish I could have seen him zapping kids making out in the bushes. XD
Somebody really needs to zap the owl tower with a good Scourgify or two. Man, that place is filthy! :-p
Myrtle is such a perv. I'm both slightly surprised and highly amused at how faithful that bathtub scene was to the book. Bwahaha!
I didn't get a good look but I think they fixed the Riddle tombstone so there's no Malvolo crap and wonky dates. Have to pay more attention next time.
Cedric. Cedric's father. 'Nuff said. ;_;
Peter's hand issues were addressed quite well. I wish he'd done more writhing-on-the-ground-in-agony after cutting it off, but maybe he's more stoic than I thought. ;)
And Voldemort. Ah yes, the Dark Lord.
What I liked:
1. Spiffy billowing black robes.
2. Bald.
3. Noseless.
4. Long, creepy fingers.
5. The way he moved. Sort of a combination of predatory authority and an airy, whispy feel like he wasn't 100% solid yet. Very nice.
What I wasn't crazy about:
1. His voice was too...well, normal...sometimes. Not all the time, but at times it just wasn't maniacal enough.
2. He was nowhere near pale enough. He's supposed to be skeletally-white, but he really didn't look much paler than Lucius.
3. I did miss the red eyes, but I also do understand what the filmmakers were thinking. According to the USA Today last week they didn't want to obscure Fiennes' eyes because actors use their eyes to project emotion and personality and they didn't want to dampen that. I wish there was a happy medium between the two extremes, but I'll live. Besides, there's always Photoshop. ;)
My main complaint was with the Death Eater's attire, though. Pointy hats and skull masks? No. Just...no. No no no no no.
Angry!Dumbledore in Moody's office at the end was good. I like Angry!Dumbledore. He deserves to be that way occasionally instead of the twinkly, everything-is-under-control omniscient Dumbledore. ;)
I also love Severus and Minerva as his right- and left-hand man and woman. The scene in Dumbledore's office as they (and "Moody") discussed the tournament was really nice.
The Pensieve rocked. I knew it would. ^_^
Speaking of Snape and Dumbledore, in the introductory banquet as the Headmaster is making his long "this is what the tournament is, here's who coming to visit, blah blah" speech, you'll notice that in virtually every single shot, Snape is framed just over Dumbledore's shoulder, blurred in the background. The camera angle changes, but they nearly always manage to frame the shot so Snape's lurking back there. Heehee...
I had a sadistic urge to scream "SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!" but I (obviously) didn't. ;) Or "VOLDEMORT KILLS CEDRIC!" Heh.
On the way out of the theater a group of high school girls in front of us were raving about how great it was, and one girl was like, "Ooh, and we got to see James Potter! I have the hugest crush on James Potter!" Much giggling followed. One of her friends said, "I didn't even notice James Potter. Who's looking at him in that scene?" LOL!
Personally, I was thinking two things during that:
1. OMG it's Lily! And it looks like they got Geraldine Somerville back to play her! WOOT, SQUEE LILY/SNAPE 4EVAR!!!!!111eleventyone
2. They had Lily and James emerge from the wand simultaneously. Heh, that avoids the stickiness with earlier printings of the book reversing the order in which they emerge. ;)
And did I mention Severus got to thwap Ron and Harry repeatedly over the head? XD
[EDIT: edeainfj just pointed out an insane omission that I'm ashamed to admit I didn't notice. "Moody" never ONCE yells "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" :( Bummer!]
On a non-Potter-related note...
Birthday loot!
From Kayleen:
-- Manatee puzzle
-- Manatee ornament
-- Cute plush fox
-- Several books from my Amazon wishlist ^_^
From my aunt:
-- New reading light to clip on my bed, since my old one ist kaput.
From Nama:
-- A check in a card and a promise to go shopping soon
From Mom & Dad:
-- Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack (for some future time when I'm not obsessing over WoW)
-- Kyoot snowman stationery
-- Star Wars Episode III DVD
-- Harry Potter book five analysis guide
In fish news, Sammy's doing quite a bit better--the best birthday present of all! I think it may have just been indigestion messing with his swim bladder. He still has moments where he gets all discombobulated, but most of the time he's quite stable in the water. Thank you, God! And thanks to everyone who commented with good wishes and prayers for him, too. :)
They kept the opening chapter as the opening scene of the movie! *Snoopy dance* I love that part. I'm not sure it made much sense to people who hadn't read the book, and of course I wish it were longer and more detailed, but they didn't just skip it like I thought they might. Woot!
Well, I didn't get either of the best Snape scenes in the book--the encounter with "Moody" and Invisibility-Cloak!Harry on the stairs, and the "Hey, Fudge, look at what I've got on my arm!" bit. But we got a couple of awesome new scenes. One, of Snape accusing Harry of stealing potions ingredients from his personal stores, was sort of in the book but the setting was different and Snape threatening to put Veritaserum in Harry's pumpkin juice was awesome.
The other scene, though, was my favorite. The Trio is gossiping in study hall about their dates for the Yule Ball--and lackthereof--and Snape keeps thwapping them on the head with a composition notebook when he walks by to make them shut up. XD I LOVE it! Bwahahahaha! The rest of the audience did too, judging by the amount of laughter.
Fleur was perfect. Cedric was perfect and TEH HAWT. Krum was good, although a bit more of the big-nose-and-unibrow look would have been better. He won me over, though. Igor was great. Barty Sr. was perfect. Barty Jr. was different than I pictured him but not bad at all. Moody wasn't really like I pictured him, either, but again not in a bad way. I always had a hard time picturing Maxime in my head so it was nice to have a real face to put together with her. Not a pretty one, but a face. ;)
Gred and Forge are great.
Lucius was lovely. Draco's ferret scene was priceless. XD
I wasn't disappointed that they cut out Winky and her subplot. They had to cut something for time, after all, and if they can cut house elves, far be it from me to stop them. ;) Hopefully Grawp will be similarly excised from the next movie.
All in all, they actually did a pretty good job of cutting the enormously thick book down into a coherent movie. Sure, there's always more backstory that could be done, and several places felt rushed, but they got the basic plot and the "feel" of it all down well. It was a more faithful adaptation than Prisoner of Azkaban, anyway. ("Padfoot who? What's a Marauder? Where did that ghost deer come from?" *headdesk*)
Speaking of Prisoner, Sirius' face in the fire...WTF? Bleh. I always pictured it as a flame-version of the "Help me, Obi-Wan!" hologram from Star Wars. Oh well. I thought it was amusing that Gary Oldman got a credit for being in the movie, when he really wasn't, exactly. In person. In the flesh. Er...yeah. It was weird.
I didn't mind the added action sequences in the dragon task at all. Quite to the contrary, the bit on the roof of the tower was cool.
Minerva teaching the kids to dance was a great scene. Poor Ron. LMAO!
The teenage hormones weren't overdone at all. The dynamics were kept in place (sans the Krum-is-rude-to-Harry-because-he-thinks-Harry's-dating Hermione part.)
The Yule Ball was excellent. Great outfits, just the right amount of humor vs. teen angst. Alas, Snape's dress robes are as dark and boring as his usual garb. I wanted to see him in a tuxedo front, dangit! Even better, I wish I could have seen him zapping kids making out in the bushes. XD
Somebody really needs to zap the owl tower with a good Scourgify or two. Man, that place is filthy! :-p
Myrtle is such a perv. I'm both slightly surprised and highly amused at how faithful that bathtub scene was to the book. Bwahaha!
I didn't get a good look but I think they fixed the Riddle tombstone so there's no Malvolo crap and wonky dates. Have to pay more attention next time.
Cedric. Cedric's father. 'Nuff said. ;_;
Peter's hand issues were addressed quite well. I wish he'd done more writhing-on-the-ground-in-agony after cutting it off, but maybe he's more stoic than I thought. ;)
And Voldemort. Ah yes, the Dark Lord.
What I liked:
1. Spiffy billowing black robes.
2. Bald.
3. Noseless.
4. Long, creepy fingers.
5. The way he moved. Sort of a combination of predatory authority and an airy, whispy feel like he wasn't 100% solid yet. Very nice.
What I wasn't crazy about:
1. His voice was too...well, normal...sometimes. Not all the time, but at times it just wasn't maniacal enough.
2. He was nowhere near pale enough. He's supposed to be skeletally-white, but he really didn't look much paler than Lucius.
3. I did miss the red eyes, but I also do understand what the filmmakers were thinking. According to the USA Today last week they didn't want to obscure Fiennes' eyes because actors use their eyes to project emotion and personality and they didn't want to dampen that. I wish there was a happy medium between the two extremes, but I'll live. Besides, there's always Photoshop. ;)
My main complaint was with the Death Eater's attire, though. Pointy hats and skull masks? No. Just...no. No no no no no.
Angry!Dumbledore in Moody's office at the end was good. I like Angry!Dumbledore. He deserves to be that way occasionally instead of the twinkly, everything-is-under-control omniscient Dumbledore. ;)
I also love Severus and Minerva as his right- and left-hand man and woman. The scene in Dumbledore's office as they (and "Moody") discussed the tournament was really nice.
The Pensieve rocked. I knew it would. ^_^
Speaking of Snape and Dumbledore, in the introductory banquet as the Headmaster is making his long "this is what the tournament is, here's who coming to visit, blah blah" speech, you'll notice that in virtually every single shot, Snape is framed just over Dumbledore's shoulder, blurred in the background. The camera angle changes, but they nearly always manage to frame the shot so Snape's lurking back there. Heehee...
I had a sadistic urge to scream "SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!" but I (obviously) didn't. ;) Or "VOLDEMORT KILLS CEDRIC!" Heh.
On the way out of the theater a group of high school girls in front of us were raving about how great it was, and one girl was like, "Ooh, and we got to see James Potter! I have the hugest crush on James Potter!" Much giggling followed. One of her friends said, "I didn't even notice James Potter. Who's looking at him in that scene?" LOL!
Personally, I was thinking two things during that:
1. OMG it's Lily! And it looks like they got Geraldine Somerville back to play her! WOOT, SQUEE LILY/SNAPE 4EVAR!!!!!111eleventyone
2. They had Lily and James emerge from the wand simultaneously. Heh, that avoids the stickiness with earlier printings of the book reversing the order in which they emerge. ;)
And did I mention Severus got to thwap Ron and Harry repeatedly over the head? XD
[EDIT: edeainfj just pointed out an insane omission that I'm ashamed to admit I didn't notice. "Moody" never ONCE yells "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" :( Bummer!]
On a non-Potter-related note...
Birthday loot!
From Kayleen:
-- Manatee puzzle
-- Manatee ornament
-- Cute plush fox
-- Several books from my Amazon wishlist ^_^
From my aunt:
-- New reading light to clip on my bed, since my old one ist kaput.
From Nama:
-- A check in a card and a promise to go shopping soon
From Mom & Dad:
-- Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack (for some future time when I'm not obsessing over WoW)
-- Kyoot snowman stationery
-- Star Wars Episode III DVD
-- Harry Potter book five analysis guide
In fish news, Sammy's doing quite a bit better--the best birthday present of all! I think it may have just been indigestion messing with his swim bladder. He still has moments where he gets all discombobulated, but most of the time he's quite stable in the water. Thank you, God! And thanks to everyone who commented with good wishes and prayers for him, too. :)