I will have ORDER!

[space_cadet]

Me, too, Umbridge. Me, too. I will have the Order of the Phoenix engrained in my brain, plzkthx.

Note: When I am overexicted I say 'man' or 'oh, man' a lot. Deal with my inability to express my excitement.


Things I Loved:

1. Tonks. She was perfect.
   
2. The beginning. I love the way it started, the way the dementors came, the running sequence. Gah.
   
3. The broom ride through London. I know it wasn't very canon in that they were in plain sight of muggles, but how much don't I care? The Tonks and Harry sort of playing chicken with the boat was awesome.
   
4. The extendable ears and Crookshanks. Adorable, and true as well. My cat would totally do that.
   
5. Sirius' hug with Harry. Ohmigod. And Lupin just smiling in the background.
   
6. Ron wasn't a simpering weakling! Woo! But he also didn't get many good lines at all and I want to smack down Hermione for getting them all. Their amount of time left alone together was good, even though we didn't get to see it. I think it sort of sets them up nicely, despite the lack of us seeing them.
   
7. NEVILLE FINDING THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT. YESSS.
   
8. LUNA. ROCKED ME LIKE A HURRICANE.
   
9. "This is Loony Love-" Wince. "Luna Lovegood."
   
10. How utterly annoyed Ginny looked every time Cho was around.
    
11. The Ginny goodness. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but it made a lot of sense for her to be better than everyone else (EXCEPT for Harry, which I really, really didn't get. I thought she was just a little weaker than him magic-wise but still better than most?) in the movie. I mean, if you're not going to give the girl many lines or alone time with Harry it does make sense for him to start noticing her out of thin air. At least there's a reason for him to be checking her out instead of just springing it on us in the next one.
    
12. Cho being the sneak. Since they left out all the little reasons to hate her, it was a good move.
    
13. All of the lines from the books. "No one can feel all that at once; they'd explode." "Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon."
    
14. Not a lot (if any) of Capslock!Harry. Which made the twins popping in and going "Are you done yelling?" just seem stupid since he wasn't yelling at all but whatevah.
    
15. The Twin love. When they comforted that boy I almost died, it was adorable. Their leaving scene did leave out the swamp and therefore didn't show how all the teachers were helping the anarchy live on and the fireworks didn't last for days and piss Umbridge the hell off but... still. I almost joygasmed at the Dragon. It was fairly freaking awesome.
    
16. Did I mention Luna? Esp. the ministry scene where her lip's bloodied up and she's just staring in wonder and Neville grabs her and pulls her along. They're my new otp.
    
17. You know, I know people had a problem with the Death Eaters moving like Dementors thing. But I really didn't. They're dark and evil and why the hell wouldn't they know spells and weird magic to do that? It's not strictly canon, but I don't care. It's a movie and it looked great.
    
18. The kittens on Umbridge's walls were creepy. And awesome.
    
19. The ministry fight scene. While it was way too short (addressed below) it looked fuckin awesome, especially the wide shot going over the whole battlefield. Man. OH MAN.
    
20. I loved how they handled Occlumency. Harry's mirror flashback with Snape suddenly appearing? That was made of win.
    
21. I loved the thestrals. Jessi and I decided we want one.
    
22. That Umbridge made all of the DA do lines with that evil quill. Oh my god. You could practically hear them all plotting to kill her as one. Fabulous. It really brought them together, I think.
    
23. The Sirius moments. "After all this, we'll be a proper family" or whatever he says. HOLY SHIT. I started bawling. As quietly as possibly. Embarassing but sad. Poor Harry. I never really liked him much but man.
    
24. Luna's moment with Harry and thestrals. It was nice. Plus she said something that she echoed at the end of lost things having a way of returning... I don't remember what exactly she said the first time (next time I'm bringing along paper and a pen) but I started tearing then, too. I'm hoping it's canceling out the whole 'Avada Kedavra' bullshit.
    
25. Sirius winked. Twice. Mmm.
    
26. Sirius calling Harry "James" at the fight. Oh my god. I bawled. It was just so sad and really hit the canon in the book hard with the whole 'he thinks your like your dad' thing. Ugh. Poor Harry. POOR HARRY. How crushed would that make you feel? Oh, man. It hurts to think about. That was a big emotional thing for me, as I brushed it off in the books. Couldn't brush that, off, though. Oh man. Horrible but perfect.
    
27. PERCY! PERCY PERCY PERCY!!!!! HE WAS IN IT! Even if he didn't have any lines, it was still clear he was the Minister's little bitch and I am so glad they kept in as many characters as they did. The Daily Prophet bits were just PERFECT with the camera work and the transitions and the subtle Percy there in the background. I squeed. Chris Rankin ftw.
    
28. Floo powder. Was I the only one who thought that they really won at life with that stuff this time around? Especially at the end of the fight with the grates filling up and aurors pouring out (who else wants to hop on Dawlish and give him a go?) to Bellatrix slipping away and vanishing? They even got Sirius' head in the fireplace right this time, thank gods. It was just so... pretty.
    
29. Hermione and Grawp. ADORABLE. I loved the bell. So cute. Sooo cute. Too bad there was no "ER MYY NEEE" bit, though :) Hated Grawp in the book, looooved him to death in the movie. Freaking bell is going to kill me with it's adorableness.
    
30. Sirius punching Lucius in the face. Fuck. Yes.
    

Things I Didn't Love So Much:

1. Tonks Time. She didn't get enough screen time at all and I don't think I even saw her and Lupin exchange glances.
   
2. They did not do the whole "How was it?" "....wet..." thing well and this is Katie Leung's fault. She was not crying when they kissed and so basically everyone in the theater went to the dirty place and laughed hysterically. I didn't even get to hear the dialogue because people were busy laughing at the horribleness. I don't even know if Harry even said it was because she'd been crying; completely missed it. Though I did hear the book excerpts after that.
   
3. No Prefects? No Quidditch?? asdoiansdoawen
   
4. NO WEASLEY IS OUR KING?!?!?!?! FUCK YOU. You are killing me as you kill Ron, people. DO YOU HEAR ME? /capslock!Harry
   
5. The Ministry scene was way too short. In fact, the whole movie was. The flow was fabulous and even though it never dwelled long enough to really inhale a scene, this movie should have been that way. The ministry scene shouldn't have, though. They should have gone through the many rooms to get there, not to mention Harry's friends getting knocked the fuck around. Hermione was concussed as I remember it, Ron was basically brain dead from that brain thing, Ginny had a broken ankle and something happened to Luna as well. Neville and Harry were the only ones who really made it through most of the way. The fighting was just too short and Sirius died way too early on for me to really be nervous about it. Sigh.
   
6. The Marauder's Flashback. It was too short, there was no Lily and James just came off as a dick and not a bored teenager with a grudge.
   
7. Dude, Dumbles was so mean it almost made me cry. I loved that he walked away from Harry and ignored him but not the whole "DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE STUDYING TO DO????" thing. Eugh. So crass and harsh. That's not our Dumbles. He shouldn't have been mad. Dumbles is rarely mad. He should have been calm, plotting and looking to take care of the students. Poor acting choice there.
   
8. Ministry letters do not equal howlers. I understand why they did it, but boooo. Also, I would have liked the whole "You are expelled!" "Right then. I'm leaving." "Stay where you are!" "You aren't expelled, but you'll be having a hearing!" "Right then. I'm staying." thing; always makes me laugh.
   
9. SIRIUS DOES NOT GET HIT WITH AVADA KEDAVRA, YOU FUCKING MOVIE MAKERS. He was hit with a red bolt of light and those are STUNNING SPELLS. ASDOIANSEOWIHEOAWHEO:AWUNE. ALSO, THE VEIL WAS LIKE A CURTAIN THING NOT A COOL ETHEREAL WAVY AIR THING. SIRIUS WAS EATEN BY TAPESTRY. Am sort of indignant about this. Just a little.
   
10. Was surprised at how I didn't really like Bellatrix. I tried, but I wasn't really impressed. Meh.
    
11. Kreacher. He was in it for like 5 seconds and while I'm glad they kept him at all as per JK's request for making sense of future movies, I am baffled as to why they didn't make use of him in this movie. It really would have made it all the worse when Harry didn't find Sirius there, when Harry inherits Kreacher etc. Not a huge qualm, just sort of confused. Especially as I felt this movie went by very quickly.
    

Thoughts:
I really liked this movie; I think it was the best so far. Not only was it the closest in spirit to the book it was attempting to represent but it was so beautifully shot. There were a few times where I cried throughout the movie - and I don't really cry at movies. I'm not really sure why it was so emotional, but Dan!Rad's acting has really stepped up a notch. It was quite amazing. In the beginning with the Cedric flashback I teared up. Alot of the Sirius moments leading up his death made me cry because I knew it was coming.

I think what people need to keep in mind is that there is no way any of these can be proper movies. They're more like visual representations of the books who don't quite have all the details but give you some good entertainment with the characters you love and some pretty shots and the occasional new thing. Take them at face value, keep your expectations low and you'll enjoy them. I think you'll enjoy them all the more if you've read the books and have that extra supplementary knowledge to make full sense of everything.

It was an awesome night. After a delicious meal at Daphne's Jessi, Matt, Olly, Alex and myself went over the theater and talked for an hour until the movie started. Then after the movie we walked down to the lower parking lot and talked for another hour and a half. I love these guys so much. LOVE YOU. DO YOU HEAR? Yesah.