wow... i used to post frequently...
today was my half birthday. i didn't even remember till about a couple hours of being awake. i dont think anyone else remembered (half birthdays dont seem to popularly celebrated) or noticed, because no one wished me happy half birthday till i told them to :-). to celebrate my 16 and a half years of exsistence, i treated myself to yet another viewing of harry potter IV, 4th times the charm eh? after seeing it this many times, and listening to the book on tape again, i feel obligated to give
so i've compiled a list of things i very much enjoy, and things that just plain piss me off. before i list them off, i would like to explain that i am fully aware that if the movie included everything from the book, it would be 6 hours long... and, most of the stuff below is my opinion, you can totally have your own, dont base whether you see or like the movie based on me, i would probably feel bad if you did... nevertheless- i must rant.
(-) bad
(--)really shitty and pisses me off (probably the things they should have kept in the movie, if only for clarity's sake)
(+) good
(++) damn good and is what keeps me going over and over
- no ludo bagman. i know he adds alot of extra backround and thus more movie time, but in the book hes a good character nonetheless
- no dursleys, thus no ton tongue toffees, thus no hint that fred and george want to start a joke shop :(
- the quidditch world cup lasts like 2 seconds, with no game time whatsoever. i guess they couldnt spend any more time on that huge stadium that dwarfs the senate's chamber in star wars.
- rita skeeter is hardly in the movie, while in the book, she ruins reputations. quintessential national requirer reporter. plus, shes akward! akward! akward!
- in all the tasks harry is wearing the equivalent of an adidas hogwarts sports jacket. and there are hogwarts hoodies. those seem more like merch, not things they would use in the actual movies.
- no blast ended skrewts.
- the goblet of fire is huge, it just bothers me cause i think its an insinuation at the "size matters" thing. i think i just liked it in the book that it was small, but was extremley magically powerful, ya know, constituting a binding magical contract and all that jazz...
- no veela, thus no explination of everyones fixation on fleur.
- i didnt really like how they made durmstrang and beauxbatons into single sex schools... what can ya do? i suppose it was easier that way.
- this is true of all the movies, but this one especially, snape isnt as evil as he is in the books, i know he doesnt have much screen time, but the time he does only has one scene where he shows his loathing towards harry (the veriteserum scene)
- wormtail chops off his hand, but then just acts like he didnt do anything. if you cause your body that much damage, you go into shock, writhe on the ground in agony, or at least act like you cut yourself.
-- NO HOUSE ELF LIBERATION FRONT! i know, i know, probably first thing to get cut, but come on! activism! direct action!
-- theres a shot of karkaroff walking into the room with the goblet of fire, looking conspicuous, so it makes you think he put harrys name in, but obviously he didnt, so what the heck was he doing in there?
-- despite the fact there is hinting why neville freaks out about the cruciartus curse ( "i know for a fact that this person took place in the capture, and by means of the cruciartus curse, torture of frank longbottom and his wife...") its never fully explained, so may leave folks confused.
-- they dont explain that hagrid is half giant. just makes me angry, cause in the next movie, unless they take out his little half brother (whos a giant) theyll have hurried explaining to do.
-- the dementors kiss isnt performed on barty crouch jr, so if you havent read the books, you just assume he returns to azkaban, waiting to be realeased with the rest as voldemorts greatest and most loyal servant, when in the book, he becomes more or less a zombie, worse than dead, no good to voldemort anymore
-- krum obviously has the imperius curse on him in the maze, but who puts it on him? its never explained.
-- they fucked dumbledore up so badly. im the book hes always calm and on top of things and even though he doesnt know everything, he gives off a feeling of comfort and calm. there are 2 instances in the movie that make me hate the screen dumbledore. first is where he grabs harry and shakes him yelling "did you put your name in the goblet of fire???!!" dumbledore would never
do anything like that, he would just ask calmly. then in the scene with the pensieve, harry asks a a question and dumbledore answers and then says "why do you ask?" in a "you shoudlnt be asking " tone. when in the books its perfectly clear dumbledore believes in the right to curiosity and always answers questions when possible, without hesitation.
-- theres no scene where dumbledore and fudge have that huge argument about whether voldemort has come back to power, so i guess its just assumed that fudge wont believe him?
--(this one just makes me irate) "professor, when i was in the graveyard there was a moment, where voldemort's wand and mine sort of connected..." "Priori Incantatum..." good job dumbledore, thats a wonderful place to stop the conversation, dont tell harry why that happened... he wont be confused at all. he wasnt asking you why that happened. god fucking dammit.
+ the special effects were good, i.e. the dragon was great, as were the merpeople.
+ harry gets nekkid (well, at least from the waist upwards)
+ the pensieve was just as i imagined it. like in the books it says something like "it was like light made liquid, or wind made solid" something like that sounds hard to make digitally, but they did a pretty good jorb with that swirly junk.
+ the crazy emo shot of the stain glass window "crying" (the rain pouring on it from outside) was fucking insane and made me laugh
+ ron totally says "piss off" which is one of my favorite britiscisms
+ harry, ron, fred and george all have long hair, which is cute.
+ i liked the fact that since they couldnt make the maze full of obstacles such as animals or spells, they made it into a sort of psycological mind trap. freaky shit.
++ cedric, cho, krum, and fleur were all fucking hawt, especially fleur. i say goddamn, goddamn!!!
++ they did mad-eye moody's character extremley well, he had all the little crazy mannerisms, and he was funny.
++ the insane quintessential prom shot! the crazy pop rock slow song in the backround with hermione falling to her knees crying about ron. come on now...
++ hogwarts mosh pit!
++ the scene where harry and cedric(deceased) return to hogwarts after voldemort kills cedric and attempts to kill harry. the happy music, the cheering, and then the slow burning realization that he's lying there dead, the cheering becomes screaming, and the happiness just turns to horror. it made me cry (well, the 4th time...) and i usually dont cry at movies.
++ this is hard to describe without a picture. theres a moment where voldemort says to harry "dont run from me harry potter, i want to see you when you die" because harry is hiding behind a tombstone, but after voldemort says that, harry (well, i should say daniel radcliffe) makes this face that is like hes resigning to death, but refuses to do it cowardly. he realizes hes about to die, but he doesnt want to die hiding like a little kid. it completely sums up the passage from the book that says something like "he was not going to die here crouching like a child playing hide and seek, he was going to die upright and ready like his father, trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible." and he just sums that up with his facial expression. pity it only lasts about 2 seconds.
++++++++++++++++ and finally, VOLDEMORT! he was honestly the best character in the movie. i love that actor. hes just so good at playing pure evil. i mean come on "after tonight no one will ever again, question my powers. after tonight, if they speak of you, they will only speak how you begged for death, and i being a merciful lord, obliged" BEST FUCKING LINE! god hes just so creepy. the whole "youve been taught how to duel? first we bow to each other ::he bows, but harry doesn't:: come now, the niceties must be observed, dumbledore wouldnt want yout to forget your manners, i said bow!" and he makes him bow with some spell. hes just so elegant and terrible at the same time. he never really yells, which i think makes him more terrifying. he just has a presence of all things evil, and im really fucking happy they picked that actor, because they really could have fucked it up, but he was perfect. i cant explain how much i love that character and actor right now.
there were other thing i dont know how to feel about them.. like how the death eaters were clearly klansman... or how barty crouch sr looked like hitler. the one thing im most torn on is how harry is sobbing when he brings cedric back. its logical that hes sobbing, hes witnessed someone die, and almost died himself. but in the book i think they make it seem like hes more in shock. and hes supposed to cry on mrs. weasley's shoulder as she hugs him. but shes not in the movie, and im sure its harder to portray shock than it is devastation.
so yea... i might have more bad points down, but i do genuinley enjoy the movie, and i want to see it again. most of the bad stuff i listed is book related and im a HP nerd and dont like stuff missing, but yea, the movie cant be 6 hours long, well, i wouldnt mind, but i know most people would :-D, instead of the "i liked it, but there were parts..."
after the movie, i trekked through snow-dusted, postcard-esque oak park to borders to check how much harry potter V and VI are on tape.. seeing how i dont own them and books on tape occupy me away from tv, which i feel is slightly better. 45 dollars each... yeesh. then i strolled to whole foods, and despite freezing cold gusts of wind, bought a pint of soy delicious peanut butter chocolate swirl ice cream, as i was about 5 dollars short to buy temptation, and whats a birthday celebration without sugary sustinence?
so i sat on the back of the bus in my harry potter specs, eating spoon after spoon of ice cold, the nutty soy aftertaste biting at my tongue, chicago soydairy, you are my only love. well, besides harry potter.
holy shit. in exsactly a year and a half from now, ill be a legal adult. fucking scary.
so i've compiled a list of things i very much enjoy, and things that just plain piss me off. before i list them off, i would like to explain that i am fully aware that if the movie included everything from the book, it would be 6 hours long... and, most of the stuff below is my opinion, you can totally have your own, dont base whether you see or like the movie based on me, i would probably feel bad if you did... nevertheless- i must rant.
(-) bad
(--)really shitty and pisses me off (probably the things they should have kept in the movie, if only for clarity's sake)
(+) good
(++) damn good and is what keeps me going over and over
- no ludo bagman. i know he adds alot of extra backround and thus more movie time, but in the book hes a good character nonetheless
- no dursleys, thus no ton tongue toffees, thus no hint that fred and george want to start a joke shop :(
- the quidditch world cup lasts like 2 seconds, with no game time whatsoever. i guess they couldnt spend any more time on that huge stadium that dwarfs the senate's chamber in star wars.
- rita skeeter is hardly in the movie, while in the book, she ruins reputations. quintessential national requirer reporter. plus, shes akward! akward! akward!
- in all the tasks harry is wearing the equivalent of an adidas hogwarts sports jacket. and there are hogwarts hoodies. those seem more like merch, not things they would use in the actual movies.
- no blast ended skrewts.
- the goblet of fire is huge, it just bothers me cause i think its an insinuation at the "size matters" thing. i think i just liked it in the book that it was small, but was extremley magically powerful, ya know, constituting a binding magical contract and all that jazz...
- no veela, thus no explination of everyones fixation on fleur.
- i didnt really like how they made durmstrang and beauxbatons into single sex schools... what can ya do? i suppose it was easier that way.
- this is true of all the movies, but this one especially, snape isnt as evil as he is in the books, i know he doesnt have much screen time, but the time he does only has one scene where he shows his loathing towards harry (the veriteserum scene)
- wormtail chops off his hand, but then just acts like he didnt do anything. if you cause your body that much damage, you go into shock, writhe on the ground in agony, or at least act like you cut yourself.
-- NO HOUSE ELF LIBERATION FRONT! i know, i know, probably first thing to get cut, but come on! activism! direct action!
-- theres a shot of karkaroff walking into the room with the goblet of fire, looking conspicuous, so it makes you think he put harrys name in, but obviously he didnt, so what the heck was he doing in there?
-- despite the fact there is hinting why neville freaks out about the cruciartus curse ( "i know for a fact that this person took place in the capture, and by means of the cruciartus curse, torture of frank longbottom and his wife...") its never fully explained, so may leave folks confused.
-- they dont explain that hagrid is half giant. just makes me angry, cause in the next movie, unless they take out his little half brother (whos a giant) theyll have hurried explaining to do.
-- the dementors kiss isnt performed on barty crouch jr, so if you havent read the books, you just assume he returns to azkaban, waiting to be realeased with the rest as voldemorts greatest and most loyal servant, when in the book, he becomes more or less a zombie, worse than dead, no good to voldemort anymore
-- krum obviously has the imperius curse on him in the maze, but who puts it on him? its never explained.
-- they fucked dumbledore up so badly. im the book hes always calm and on top of things and even though he doesnt know everything, he gives off a feeling of comfort and calm. there are 2 instances in the movie that make me hate the screen dumbledore. first is where he grabs harry and shakes him yelling "did you put your name in the goblet of fire???!!" dumbledore would never
do anything like that, he would just ask calmly. then in the scene with the pensieve, harry asks a a question and dumbledore answers and then says "why do you ask?" in a "you shoudlnt be asking " tone. when in the books its perfectly clear dumbledore believes in the right to curiosity and always answers questions when possible, without hesitation.
-- theres no scene where dumbledore and fudge have that huge argument about whether voldemort has come back to power, so i guess its just assumed that fudge wont believe him?
--(this one just makes me irate) "professor, when i was in the graveyard there was a moment, where voldemort's wand and mine sort of connected..." "Priori Incantatum..." good job dumbledore, thats a wonderful place to stop the conversation, dont tell harry why that happened... he wont be confused at all. he wasnt asking you why that happened. god fucking dammit.
+ the special effects were good, i.e. the dragon was great, as were the merpeople.
+ harry gets nekkid (well, at least from the waist upwards)
+ the pensieve was just as i imagined it. like in the books it says something like "it was like light made liquid, or wind made solid" something like that sounds hard to make digitally, but they did a pretty good jorb with that swirly junk.
+ the crazy emo shot of the stain glass window "crying" (the rain pouring on it from outside) was fucking insane and made me laugh
+ ron totally says "piss off" which is one of my favorite britiscisms
+ harry, ron, fred and george all have long hair, which is cute.
+ i liked the fact that since they couldnt make the maze full of obstacles such as animals or spells, they made it into a sort of psycological mind trap. freaky shit.
++ cedric, cho, krum, and fleur were all fucking hawt, especially fleur. i say goddamn, goddamn!!!
++ they did mad-eye moody's character extremley well, he had all the little crazy mannerisms, and he was funny.
++ the insane quintessential prom shot! the crazy pop rock slow song in the backround with hermione falling to her knees crying about ron. come on now...
++ hogwarts mosh pit!
++ the scene where harry and cedric(deceased) return to hogwarts after voldemort kills cedric and attempts to kill harry. the happy music, the cheering, and then the slow burning realization that he's lying there dead, the cheering becomes screaming, and the happiness just turns to horror. it made me cry (well, the 4th time...) and i usually dont cry at movies.
++ this is hard to describe without a picture. theres a moment where voldemort says to harry "dont run from me harry potter, i want to see you when you die" because harry is hiding behind a tombstone, but after voldemort says that, harry (well, i should say daniel radcliffe) makes this face that is like hes resigning to death, but refuses to do it cowardly. he realizes hes about to die, but he doesnt want to die hiding like a little kid. it completely sums up the passage from the book that says something like "he was not going to die here crouching like a child playing hide and seek, he was going to die upright and ready like his father, trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible." and he just sums that up with his facial expression. pity it only lasts about 2 seconds.
++++++++++++++++ and finally, VOLDEMORT! he was honestly the best character in the movie. i love that actor. hes just so good at playing pure evil. i mean come on "after tonight no one will ever again, question my powers. after tonight, if they speak of you, they will only speak how you begged for death, and i being a merciful lord, obliged" BEST FUCKING LINE! god hes just so creepy. the whole "youve been taught how to duel? first we bow to each other ::he bows, but harry doesn't:: come now, the niceties must be observed, dumbledore wouldnt want yout to forget your manners, i said bow!" and he makes him bow with some spell. hes just so elegant and terrible at the same time. he never really yells, which i think makes him more terrifying. he just has a presence of all things evil, and im really fucking happy they picked that actor, because they really could have fucked it up, but he was perfect. i cant explain how much i love that character and actor right now.
there were other thing i dont know how to feel about them.. like how the death eaters were clearly klansman... or how barty crouch sr looked like hitler. the one thing im most torn on is how harry is sobbing when he brings cedric back. its logical that hes sobbing, hes witnessed someone die, and almost died himself. but in the book i think they make it seem like hes more in shock. and hes supposed to cry on mrs. weasley's shoulder as she hugs him. but shes not in the movie, and im sure its harder to portray shock than it is devastation.
so yea... i might have more bad points down, but i do genuinley enjoy the movie, and i want to see it again. most of the bad stuff i listed is book related and im a HP nerd and dont like stuff missing, but yea, the movie cant be 6 hours long, well, i wouldnt mind, but i know most people would :-D, instead of the "i liked it, but there were parts..."
after the movie, i trekked through snow-dusted, postcard-esque oak park to borders to check how much harry potter V and VI are on tape.. seeing how i dont own them and books on tape occupy me away from tv, which i feel is slightly better. 45 dollars each... yeesh. then i strolled to whole foods, and despite freezing cold gusts of wind, bought a pint of soy delicious peanut butter chocolate swirl ice cream, as i was about 5 dollars short to buy temptation, and whats a birthday celebration without sugary sustinence?
so i sat on the back of the bus in my harry potter specs, eating spoon after spoon of ice cold, the nutty soy aftertaste biting at my tongue, chicago soydairy, you are my only love. well, besides harry potter.
holy shit. in exsactly a year and a half from now, ill be a legal adult. fucking scary.