Dark And Difficult Times Lie Ahead
An update on my weekend I think... On Saturday Brittany and I got up at 6am and made our way to Great Portland Street to meet the coach for our day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. I'd driven past Stonehenge before but I never actually visited it, even though it was foggy on the way there, it was really clear around Stonehenge and we had a great view and took some pictures. There was an audio tour (those handheld things that you sometimes get in museums) too which gave an insight into the background and mystery surrounding the ancient site, it was really interesting. After an hour or so at Stonehenge, he had an hour-long coach journey through the foggy Wiltshire countryside before we arrived in Bath. I'd visited Bath once before, and after a quick look at the map we made our way to the main shopping area and found a pub where we could have lunch (and that was also shoing the Wigan v Arsenal game of course!). We had burger and chips for lunch and watched most of the 2nd half of the Arsenal game, but we left about 2.30 to have a look around the town. I knew from the look of nearly everyone else in the pub that they were there to watch the rugby and the barman duly obliged literally two seconds before we left, haha now that's good timing. We had a look around the abbey and the town centre, including stopping off in Starbucks(!) for a drink before getting back to the coach for 4.30. We arrived back in central London around 7.30 and met Andrew in a pub called The Green Man opposite Great Portland Street tube station. Over the next 4 hours we trekked down to Oxford Street, stopping off at a few pubs along the way for liquid refreshment and playing Hangman and and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire pub quiz machines. By the end of the night I was absolutely shattered and I was glad to finally fall asleep in a warm bed at Brittany's house.
On Sunday we managed to avoid doing much until the evening when we went off to the cinema to see 'Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire'. Now a few years ago I was very anti-Harry Potter until my friend Liz, who lived opposite me in my final year in halls at uni lent me the first book and virually ordered me to read it. So I gave in and I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually pretty good, and I ended up reading the second book and watching the first film on dvd not long afterwards. Fast forward 3 and a half years and I have a girlfriend who absolutely loves the Harry Potter series, I've read the fourth book in just over a week, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the film... I didn't think I'd ever say that, haha. Onto the film itself; it's altogether darker and more adult in tone than any of its predecessors, mainly due to the content and the situations Harry and the others find themselves in.
From the sheer panic at the Quidditch World Cup at the appearance of the menacing Death Eaters, though the adrenalin-fuelled treacherous tasks of the Tri-wizard tournament, to the first appearance of Voldemort and the graveyard scene, it's not for the faint-hearted. Even though you're expecting it, Cedric's death is both shocking and disturbing as it is sudden, I was surprised how vivid it was. There's also a very emotional scene shortly afterwards when Harry reappears in front of the crowd, crying and clucthing Cedric's body, and Amos Diggory rushes down from the crowd screaming as he realises his son is dead. Fortunately there are more light-hearted moments that help the film along, including one scene adapted slightly from the book where Harry and Ron are talking to Fred and George during a study period, overlooked by Snape, and Fred asks out Angelina, it's very funny.
As a film in it's own right it is pretty good, if a little choppy in places. As an adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel, it leaves a lot to be desired; it tries to cram in too much without suffient character development and exploration of the numerous subplots. Various characters are changed or left out completely: The Dursleys, The Weasleys, Dumbledore, Dobby & Winky & the other house elves, Barty Crouch Snr & Barty Crouch Jr, Ludo Bagman, Karkaroff, Rita Skeeter, Sirius, Cornelius Fudge, Dementors and Blast-ended skrewts. There are also glaring alterations and/or omissions to the plot that really didn't help the film at all, I guess that because I finished the book a few days ealier it enabled me to spot them easier. It's an almost impossible task to squeeze a book that is over 600 pages long into a 2 and a half hour film; in my opinion they should have stuck with the original plan and split the film into two parts, each 2 and a half to 3 hours long, and made it more faithful to the book. I've heard they're due to begin filming of the Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix' in February, I wonder if they've found a director yet...
On Sunday we managed to avoid doing much until the evening when we went off to the cinema to see 'Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire'. Now a few years ago I was very anti-Harry Potter until my friend Liz, who lived opposite me in my final year in halls at uni lent me the first book and virually ordered me to read it. So I gave in and I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually pretty good, and I ended up reading the second book and watching the first film on dvd not long afterwards. Fast forward 3 and a half years and I have a girlfriend who absolutely loves the Harry Potter series, I've read the fourth book in just over a week, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the film... I didn't think I'd ever say that, haha. Onto the film itself; it's altogether darker and more adult in tone than any of its predecessors, mainly due to the content and the situations Harry and the others find themselves in.
From the sheer panic at the Quidditch World Cup at the appearance of the menacing Death Eaters, though the adrenalin-fuelled treacherous tasks of the Tri-wizard tournament, to the first appearance of Voldemort and the graveyard scene, it's not for the faint-hearted. Even though you're expecting it, Cedric's death is both shocking and disturbing as it is sudden, I was surprised how vivid it was. There's also a very emotional scene shortly afterwards when Harry reappears in front of the crowd, crying and clucthing Cedric's body, and Amos Diggory rushes down from the crowd screaming as he realises his son is dead. Fortunately there are more light-hearted moments that help the film along, including one scene adapted slightly from the book where Harry and Ron are talking to Fred and George during a study period, overlooked by Snape, and Fred asks out Angelina, it's very funny.
As a film in it's own right it is pretty good, if a little choppy in places. As an adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel, it leaves a lot to be desired; it tries to cram in too much without suffient character development and exploration of the numerous subplots. Various characters are changed or left out completely: The Dursleys, The Weasleys, Dumbledore, Dobby & Winky & the other house elves, Barty Crouch Snr & Barty Crouch Jr, Ludo Bagman, Karkaroff, Rita Skeeter, Sirius, Cornelius Fudge, Dementors and Blast-ended skrewts. There are also glaring alterations and/or omissions to the plot that really didn't help the film at all, I guess that because I finished the book a few days ealier it enabled me to spot them easier. It's an almost impossible task to squeeze a book that is over 600 pages long into a 2 and a half hour film; in my opinion they should have stuck with the original plan and split the film into two parts, each 2 and a half to 3 hours long, and made it more faithful to the book. I've heard they're due to begin filming of the Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix' in February, I wonder if they've found a director yet...