Harry Potter 7! 9 Days and Counting...
I went to see the Harry Potter 5 movie yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I guess I'd been setting the bar low enough on the movies in comparison to the books that I actually liked it. I liked all the pieces of the film, but actually cringed every time they had to stop and mention something about the plot.
Umbridge scared the hell out of me. I was writhing in my seat with my eyes over my glasses. The pink! Oh the pink! Luna Lovegood scared me sometimes too... I don't know what to make of her. And so did Bellatrix Lestrange, with all that laughing. (Forget Voldemort, just unleash the freaky women in this movie.)
Radcliffe really improved in this movie! I could actually believe he was being possessed by Voldemort in the end there (I can still remember the bit in the 3rd movie where he was supposed to be crying... yeah, that didn't really work very well). I got annoyed at Emma Watson, though, because they seemed to give her more stuff than Rupert Grint. Grint was all right in this film; they didn't make a fool of him for once. But neither of them really had much to do. Most of the characters didn't have much to do, just Umbridge (soo terrifying!! Xl) and Harry...
***
It got me really excited for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which everyone knows shall be unleashed upon the world on Saturday, July 21, 2007. I will probably be down at the QFC at 11:59 on Friday to get my copy if anyone wants to see me.
I've read up on the speculations at Mugglenet.com and have otherwise done my own thinking. I don't really do meticulous readings of the books; in fact, I've read each book only once through, except the first two which were the shortest. Otherwise, I've just been reading a few choice scenes...
But here's what I'm thinking:
-This book is shorter than Harry Potter 5, and there is a lot to do! Harry has to visit the Dursleys, visit Godric's Hollow and his parents' graves, attend a Weasley wedding, find three Horcruxes, kill Nagini (and these last two items ONLY if Dumbledore is right and we don't even know that much for sure), do something about Snape, and finally defeat Voldemort. Can we really get through that in only 784 pages? I'm hypothesizing some serious double duty for some of these events... but which ones? There is a mystery about the Dursleys that still needs to be revealed... is that going to be one chapter then? Will the visit to Godric's Hollow require another chapter (or two)? I think even the wedding is worth a chapter-- it's a character building moment and could give us some nice levity... unless something happens to the bride/groom/other important acquaintance...
-Kreacher is important. Actually, this was given away by the movie people who reveal that they first cut Kreacher, but Rowling convinced them to put him back in. (And if you look back on the movie, he didn't really need to be there: he was not used as a major plot point, and the cost of CGing him might cut him even if he was.) An elf hand is visible on the UK cover (although, funnily, I haven't seen it myself) and it is usually postulated to be Kreacher's hand.
-RAB... Most people think RAB is Regulus Black... so why wasn't he at least mentioned in the 5th movie? Nor did we ever see his name (the way that we saw Lestrange's). There is no space for him to be mentioned in the 6th movie...
-Harry Potter will go back to Hogwarts. I feel this in my gut, not just because it won't feel like a Harry Potter book if he doesn't. But, as has been said before, Voldemort himself thinks the school is important.
-I want to see more of the veil and Godric Gryffindor's sword.
To think, we shall know all the answers to these questions in less than 10 days. I might just stay up the whole night to read the book out of sheer excitement deluge waiting for me.
And lastly, I wonder if the books have built up enough hype about the ending that everyone in the future will know what it is without reading the books. Like in Star Wars where everyone knows Darth Vader is Luke's father. Are people going to look back at this time and just be like, gosh, everything that happened in Harry Potter was so painstakingly obvious... you guys weren't very bright... heheh
Umbridge scared the hell out of me. I was writhing in my seat with my eyes over my glasses. The pink! Oh the pink! Luna Lovegood scared me sometimes too... I don't know what to make of her. And so did Bellatrix Lestrange, with all that laughing. (Forget Voldemort, just unleash the freaky women in this movie.)
Radcliffe really improved in this movie! I could actually believe he was being possessed by Voldemort in the end there (I can still remember the bit in the 3rd movie where he was supposed to be crying... yeah, that didn't really work very well). I got annoyed at Emma Watson, though, because they seemed to give her more stuff than Rupert Grint. Grint was all right in this film; they didn't make a fool of him for once. But neither of them really had much to do. Most of the characters didn't have much to do, just Umbridge (soo terrifying!! Xl) and Harry...
***
It got me really excited for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which everyone knows shall be unleashed upon the world on Saturday, July 21, 2007. I will probably be down at the QFC at 11:59 on Friday to get my copy if anyone wants to see me.
I've read up on the speculations at Mugglenet.com and have otherwise done my own thinking. I don't really do meticulous readings of the books; in fact, I've read each book only once through, except the first two which were the shortest. Otherwise, I've just been reading a few choice scenes...
But here's what I'm thinking:
-This book is shorter than Harry Potter 5, and there is a lot to do! Harry has to visit the Dursleys, visit Godric's Hollow and his parents' graves, attend a Weasley wedding, find three Horcruxes, kill Nagini (and these last two items ONLY if Dumbledore is right and we don't even know that much for sure), do something about Snape, and finally defeat Voldemort. Can we really get through that in only 784 pages? I'm hypothesizing some serious double duty for some of these events... but which ones? There is a mystery about the Dursleys that still needs to be revealed... is that going to be one chapter then? Will the visit to Godric's Hollow require another chapter (or two)? I think even the wedding is worth a chapter-- it's a character building moment and could give us some nice levity... unless something happens to the bride/groom/other important acquaintance...
-Kreacher is important. Actually, this was given away by the movie people who reveal that they first cut Kreacher, but Rowling convinced them to put him back in. (And if you look back on the movie, he didn't really need to be there: he was not used as a major plot point, and the cost of CGing him might cut him even if he was.) An elf hand is visible on the UK cover (although, funnily, I haven't seen it myself) and it is usually postulated to be Kreacher's hand.
-RAB... Most people think RAB is Regulus Black... so why wasn't he at least mentioned in the 5th movie? Nor did we ever see his name (the way that we saw Lestrange's). There is no space for him to be mentioned in the 6th movie...
-Harry Potter will go back to Hogwarts. I feel this in my gut, not just because it won't feel like a Harry Potter book if he doesn't. But, as has been said before, Voldemort himself thinks the school is important.
-I want to see more of the veil and Godric Gryffindor's sword.
To think, we shall know all the answers to these questions in less than 10 days. I might just stay up the whole night to read the book out of sheer excitement deluge waiting for me.
And lastly, I wonder if the books have built up enough hype about the ending that everyone in the future will know what it is without reading the books. Like in Star Wars where everyone knows Darth Vader is Luke's father. Are people going to look back at this time and just be like, gosh, everything that happened in Harry Potter was so painstakingly obvious... you guys weren't very bright... heheh