Yeah I know I just went and skipped CoS and PoA (we didn't watch GoF as we'd seen it really recently, but I'll rewatch it on my own), but truth be told, there wasn't much to say about those movies that I haven't said before. Oh alright, alright, I'll do a small summary.
CoS still makes me crack up because it's shot out of sequence and therefore the actors (Tom Felton in particular) seem to sprout up or shrink from one scene to the other. Ginny was, as expected, much less annoying than I remembered, even though she hasn't much screen time. Aragog still scares me shitless. I'm still utterly in love with Tom Riddle. And the final fight against the basilisk still annoys me to no end because that's not what happens but I guess having Harry kill the beast two seconds after it's out by a stroke of sheer luck (and crying for help the whole time, as any sane 12-year-old boy would do in such a situation) wasn't as impressive on screen. *huffs*
And the end is as stupid as ever, probably the worst HP-ending (and that's saying a lot, isn't it now?). I get so mad every time the students stand up to applaud Hagrid. What the heck, I ask, what the heck? Utter bollocks.
I think it is time for me to mention that I've been reading Julie & Julia for the past few days, which explains my sudden foul-mouth. Apparently that's something that can rub off on people, who would have thought? Anyway, I apologize if all the expletives are grating on anybody's nerves.
As for PoA, I still love it to pieces, even though it's confusing as heck and I still can't understand what possessed them to basically discard two thirds of the book and not explain anything at all, as if everybody had read it before coming into the theater. I remember the look of utter confusion my sister in law threw me once the lights went back on, two billion questions coming out of her mouth and me having to basically re-tell the entire story to her so she could understand what she had just been shown.
Not only did they rip almost every page off and throw them into the fire, they seem to have only kept the boring bits. I haven't read the book in years and even I can remember there was much more to it than what we're shown. As brilliant as the season-transitions are, with the Whomping Willow (which might have the best role in the entire movie), they don't make up for the fact we only get a glimpse of what's happening for one day every four months, something which turns Harry's Patronus-victory into a fluke rather than a hard-won achievement. And don't get me started on the werechihuaha, I've never forgiven them for that.
I still love Hermione though. Especially with that adorable haircut of hers, when she knots her hair in a bun (I cannot seem to find a single screencap of that haircut, though, which is as strange as it is frustrating, she sports it in at least two different scenes after all! :() (power of posting, I finally fell on the right scene, by sheer chance, while not looking for it!). I adore the little tick-tock that's pervading the entire Time-Turner trip (incidentally, this year might be the year I finally get that gorgeous trinket as a bday present *crosses fingers*) (as well as Hermione's wand) (:DDDDD). I adore Hermione's girly reaction to seeing herself from the back. I adore the Malfoy-punch, and the Trio-hug when they think Buckbeak has been killed. There are no words for how much I love the "the spiders! They want me to tap-dance!" scene, which made Romain laugh. The Leaky Cauldron is wonderfully rendered, too. Daniel still can't cry, but it doesn't matter, it's made up for by the "Do you want to move closer? To the shack, I mean" scene (yes I do realize the two are utterly unrelated).
Which brings us...to Order of the Phoenix, since as I mentioned earlier we've skipped GoF.
I actually liked it loads more than I had the first (and second? Had I seen it twice before?) time around. The first time I'd been underwhelmed, which is saying a lot considering how sinfully boring the book is, but this time I could see all the fun bits for what they are, and somewhat glaze over the mistakes (at least the action is a little easier to understand than in PoA).
First thing first, I don't know the name of the poor actor who's playing Dudley, but he's good at what he does. I mean, Dudley's so cow-like that even when he taunts Harry, his face is utterly expressionless. Just two tiny empty eyes burried within mountains of fat, no proper feature at all. That takes talent (well at least I hope it does, and the poor boy is not naturally expressionless).
I nearly cheered when Luna first appeared on screen, and by the end of the movie Romain had joined my fanclub and made banners. She's just an amazingly cool character, and the actress more than does her justice. I love how underestimated she is, by everyone, and yet she's more perceptive than most, and infinitely more kind than all. I'd really love to read some fanfic about her, her background story, her life with her dad, and all that. I'd actually started writing a drabble about her and Ginny, a long time ago; it happened during the war, while the Trio was away, and Luna came to the Burrow after her dad had gotten killed by Death Eaters. She was quiet and did not see Nargoyles anywhere anymore, she was utterly sensible and composed, and it made Ginny ache. I should finish writing that one day. I can't help but think it's got potential.
Another really cool character is, of course, Tonks, who gets cooler every time I watch that movie, except of course she's got next to no screentime, and it only gets much much worse in number 6, to the point where Romain had no idea who she was, and kept asking why she was around. Taking such an empowered female character and turning her into a mere shadow is a pity, if you ask me. But maybe it was a fight between her and Luna, and I guess more!Luna made more sense.
Talking about Luna, I really love her rabbit!patronus, and the special effects that go with it. I still wonder why Hermione's patronus is an otter, though, what it's supposed to tell us about her character. I'm guessing it's just because otters are JKR's favourite animal...
Sidenote there, but on the quick notes I wrote after watching the movie yesterday evening, I didn't pay attention and wrote that Hermione's patronus was...an oyster. This sends me into fits of hillarity, for some reason. I mean, just picture it! You're facing Dementors, you yell "PATRONUS!!!", and poof!, an....oyster? *cackles*
Ginny, on the other hand, still looked very much like a little girl.
The Twins' escape thing is really cool, especially the music. It made me realize I stopped downloading soundtracks after PoA. I have to get my hands on the other ones, because really, it was perfect.
As always (up until n°6, that is), what they capture the most effectively are all the tiny adolescent moments which have no real importance. Despite the utter absence of Harry/Cho (I mean, I can understand why they skipped Valentine's Day, but basically we see them kiss and then she betrays the order instead of her friend, and that's it for Harry's big first taste of romance), there are still quite a few lovely moments, and the "emotional range of a teaspoon" scene is still brilliant, despite the slightly forced laughter at the end.
And finally, I still looooooooove the wands sound-effects, and the Auror/Death Eaters, Dumby/Voldy fights, which are ten shades of brilliant, it's just so...flowing, and the magic feels so natural, it's beautiful.
However, this scene also brings us to what is bad about this movie, first of which, why in heavens did they shorten the Dept. of Mysteries chapter so damn much?? There were such amazing rooms apart from the two we get to see, and come on, I wanted to see Ron get attacked by brains, that scene had me on the edge of my seat when I'd read it!!
Likewise, why did they pretend like Quidditch didn't exist? I know Umbridge ended up crushing it in the end, but still, no Quidditch means no Weasley is our King, which is nothing short of sacrilegous, goddamnit!!! *stomps* Also it makes it really weird to see Ginny standing next to Harry during Quidditch trials the following year, since people who have not read the books (and they exist) have no idea she took his position as Seeker the year before.
Random thought, and not something I particularily missed, but wasn't Firenze a teacher during the 5th year, or is that in 6th? I could have sworn he replaced Trelawney, which would be weird considering the contempt Hum-Hum feels towards centaurs.
One of the biggest problems I have with the pace of the movie is pretty much the same one I have with Patronus lessons in PoA. Be it Harry's recurrent dreams about the corridor (corridor, by the way, not the actual room, damnit!), or his Occlumency lessons with Snape, we get a glimpse of each, and no real indication of their repetitive nature, or how hard Occlumency is. Also, I'm pretty sure that in the book Harry draws the limit at Snake seeing his memory of his first kiss with Cho Chang.
And don't get me started on the suckiness that is Snape's Worst Memory. What the hell was up with that? First of all, it's supposed to be glimpsed in the Pensieve, and second of all, no Lilly? And what's up with Harry's dad? He's so slimey and ugly and reminds me of Tom Riddle, for some reason. I don't like Harry's dad, not the teenager version, but that seemed to go overboard. And young!Snape just looked stupid, but that's a personal view.
I still can't stand Bellatrix/HelenaBC, by the way. Really can't stand her. There are some good moments, a few really good looks, but most of the time she's just overdoing it, I think.
As for Daniel Radcliffe, he's really rather bad in this movie, isn't he? Not that I blame him. Book 5 is by far the trickiest book to act, and he probably did the best he could, repressed anger and all. Talking about anger, I'm really really sad that he didn't trash Dumby's office. I mean come on, that was hillarious in the book, and Dumby had it coming, too. Instead he sits there, all subdued and quiet, and basically lets Dumby get away with murder.
With murder, and we don't even get that gut-wrenching (although belated, if I remember correctly, as Harry's really dense) scene where Harry finds back the mirror Sirius had given him, and hopes to see his godfather in the reflection.
And I'll end this (very poor, but it's hard fleshing out sentences jotted down late last night) by saying how sad I am that we didn't get to see Neville visit his parents in St Mungo's. That scene, with the candy wrapers, had me crying when I read the book. It was one of Neville's big scenes, and it was a lovely, very touching, very tragic moment. I think they could have cut some of the "Filch hammering up yet another frame" and included that in exchange.
And that's it! We watched Half-Blood Prince this afternoon, but I felt so much RAGE at almost everything in it that I will have to watch it again before I can write up a coherent review that isn't just "AaaaaaahwhatdidtheydowhatdidtheyDOOOOOO???!!!".
To finish this post (and go back to Criminal Minds at last), a little bonus!Hermione.