My Half Blood Prince movie review
First let me say this. I am so tired. I got coffee today (something I avoid while pregnant) but it's not working. I'm on about 3 hours of sleep. Not only could I NOT fall asleep last night when I went to bed, but I also woke up several times during the night and spent the last hour and a half tossing and turning before my alarm went off this morning. Going to bed after 4am and getting up at 7:30am doesn't seem to agree with my body. Especially not when having to go to work the next day.
I saw Half Blood Prince last night at a midnight showing at the AMC Southcenter 16 theater. We were originally in the first theater showing the movie (when I booked my tickets, there was only ONE screen showing it) but we invited Annalisa to come and when she got her tickets, the first theater was sold out and they had added a second theater. When I went back to check a few days later, the first two were sold out and they had added another 13 screens. I went and picked up my tickets on my lunch break yesterday and asked if we could change theaters so we were all sitting together. I'm so glad I did. When we got in line just about 6pm, there were about 6 people ahead of us. The two girls in front of us were really nice. We talked all things Harry Potter and Twilight. Annalisa stayed in line with me, which I wasn't expecting. Her date showed up at about 7:15. Carl showed up at about 8:15. I got coffee. We went into the actual theater and sat next to the screen we'd be seeing the movie in. You know that line that was 6 people long? Yeah. Apparently the people at the front of the line were holding spots for a shitload of people - who all showed up at about 7 and sat with them. I've done it. I can't say anything bad against it. I at least warn the people behind me. They didn't mention it at all, even though we were talking to them. Rude. Anyway. Thankfully, they were seeing it in a different theater than us so we were front of the line for our theater time. So we sat and waited for our theater to be ready. Fast Forward to movie time (12:01am).
Previews start. There were some odd previews before the movie. Most for movies I'd never heard of (and would probably never see). I was hoping to see a "New Moon" trailer (similar audience, I'd expect) but no dice. So the lights dim all the way and the movie starts. We see a small house and it zooms into a bedroom. We see a pair of guys legs sticking out from the bottom of the bed. They're moving down the bed. Camera zooms out and we see a guy, very obviously pleasuring a woman orally. Um. What? They're talking. We don't recognize the actors. By this point, we're wondering what the fuck we're watching because it's definitely NOT Harry Potter. I have a feeling a PG movie would not show a guy having oral sex with a woman as the opening scene (or any scene). Someone goes and tells management just as the name pops up on the screen. "Away We Go". The name of the movie shown in this theater right before Harry Potter. We saw a grand total of 4 people leave the theater before we were seated. I can now see why. Screen shows the girl now very pregnant and it cuts to black and the lights come on. They fix whatever it is they had to fix up in the projector room and the lights dim again. Previews again. These at least look a little more age appropriate for Harry Potter. Still no "New Moon" trailer though. Boo. But then we see the famous Harry Potter sky, with the WB logo and Hedwig's Theme starts playing. We settle in.
Ok.
Favorite parts of the movie
Watching Rupert Grint go from lovesick puppy (love potion slipped to him) to "OMG What just happened" (antidote taken) to frothing at the mouth (poisoned accidentally) within about 2 minutes of each other.
Harry/Ginny moments.
Harry/Dumbledore in the cave.
Bathroom duel between Harry and Draco.
Least favorite parts of the movie
Hermione's reactions to Ron and Lavender. Yes, she was distraught. But I don't recall her confiding in Harry about it. Maybe that's just my poor memory. It didn't seem in character, though.
Harry/Ginny moments. I put this under both favorite and least favorite. While the moments were cute and appropriate, it's blatantly obvious that Bonnie Wright was unfamiliar with her character. She lacked any...depth.
They left out many scenes I would've liked to see. (battle in Hogwarts? Horcrux memories? Dumbledore's heartbreaking "I trust you" speech to Harry after he's drunk the potion?)
NO DUMBLEDORE FUNERAL. wtf?
And for everyone's information - I found the cave scene MUCH harder to watch than Dumbledore being killed. I cried harder while he was being forced to take the potion than I did when he died. Both were sad, though.
All in all, I give the movie 4 (out of 5) stars for effects and sticking to the basic storyline of the book. This movie is closer (by far) than a few of the others to the series, so I was overall satisfied. I'm looking forward to seeing it again on Saturday. With my brain all sleep deprived, it's hard for me to go into much more detail than this about the movie. If I think of something to add after seeing it again on Saturday, I'll let you know :)
WARNING - Just as with my review under the cut, the comments in this thread MAY HAVE SPOILERS. Do not read the comments or under the cut if you do not want to know specific details about the movie!
I saw Half Blood Prince last night at a midnight showing at the AMC Southcenter 16 theater. We were originally in the first theater showing the movie (when I booked my tickets, there was only ONE screen showing it) but we invited Annalisa to come and when she got her tickets, the first theater was sold out and they had added a second theater. When I went back to check a few days later, the first two were sold out and they had added another 13 screens. I went and picked up my tickets on my lunch break yesterday and asked if we could change theaters so we were all sitting together. I'm so glad I did. When we got in line just about 6pm, there were about 6 people ahead of us. The two girls in front of us were really nice. We talked all things Harry Potter and Twilight. Annalisa stayed in line with me, which I wasn't expecting. Her date showed up at about 7:15. Carl showed up at about 8:15. I got coffee. We went into the actual theater and sat next to the screen we'd be seeing the movie in. You know that line that was 6 people long? Yeah. Apparently the people at the front of the line were holding spots for a shitload of people - who all showed up at about 7 and sat with them. I've done it. I can't say anything bad against it. I at least warn the people behind me. They didn't mention it at all, even though we were talking to them. Rude. Anyway. Thankfully, they were seeing it in a different theater than us so we were front of the line for our theater time. So we sat and waited for our theater to be ready. Fast Forward to movie time (12:01am).
Previews start. There were some odd previews before the movie. Most for movies I'd never heard of (and would probably never see). I was hoping to see a "New Moon" trailer (similar audience, I'd expect) but no dice. So the lights dim all the way and the movie starts. We see a small house and it zooms into a bedroom. We see a pair of guys legs sticking out from the bottom of the bed. They're moving down the bed. Camera zooms out and we see a guy, very obviously pleasuring a woman orally. Um. What? They're talking. We don't recognize the actors. By this point, we're wondering what the fuck we're watching because it's definitely NOT Harry Potter. I have a feeling a PG movie would not show a guy having oral sex with a woman as the opening scene (or any scene). Someone goes and tells management just as the name pops up on the screen. "Away We Go". The name of the movie shown in this theater right before Harry Potter. We saw a grand total of 4 people leave the theater before we were seated. I can now see why. Screen shows the girl now very pregnant and it cuts to black and the lights come on. They fix whatever it is they had to fix up in the projector room and the lights dim again. Previews again. These at least look a little more age appropriate for Harry Potter. Still no "New Moon" trailer though. Boo. But then we see the famous Harry Potter sky, with the WB logo and Hedwig's Theme starts playing. We settle in.
Ok.
Favorite parts of the movie
Watching Rupert Grint go from lovesick puppy (love potion slipped to him) to "OMG What just happened" (antidote taken) to frothing at the mouth (poisoned accidentally) within about 2 minutes of each other.
Harry/Ginny moments.
Harry/Dumbledore in the cave.
Bathroom duel between Harry and Draco.
Least favorite parts of the movie
Hermione's reactions to Ron and Lavender. Yes, she was distraught. But I don't recall her confiding in Harry about it. Maybe that's just my poor memory. It didn't seem in character, though.
Harry/Ginny moments. I put this under both favorite and least favorite. While the moments were cute and appropriate, it's blatantly obvious that Bonnie Wright was unfamiliar with her character. She lacked any...depth.
They left out many scenes I would've liked to see. (battle in Hogwarts? Horcrux memories? Dumbledore's heartbreaking "I trust you" speech to Harry after he's drunk the potion?)
NO DUMBLEDORE FUNERAL. wtf?
And for everyone's information - I found the cave scene MUCH harder to watch than Dumbledore being killed. I cried harder while he was being forced to take the potion than I did when he died. Both were sad, though.
All in all, I give the movie 4 (out of 5) stars for effects and sticking to the basic storyline of the book. This movie is closer (by far) than a few of the others to the series, so I was overall satisfied. I'm looking forward to seeing it again on Saturday. With my brain all sleep deprived, it's hard for me to go into much more detail than this about the movie. If I think of something to add after seeing it again on Saturday, I'll let you know :)
WARNING - Just as with my review under the cut, the comments in this thread MAY HAVE SPOILERS. Do not read the comments or under the cut if you do not want to know specific details about the movie!