head over heels in love with harry again
Oh my god, you guys. You guys. This was the best Harry Potter movie to have been ever made. (Yet.)
"LOOK AT THIS AWESOME MOTHERFUCKER FUCK YEAH" THINGS:
01. THE MOVIE BUDGET-- oh wait I mean the images. Seriously, everything in this movie is gorgeous, from the Death Eaters disapparating like a swirl of black cables and smoke to the way the memories fade in and out like blobs of ink (and in particular when the young Tom Riddle becomes Lord Voldemort in that first memory of Dumbledore's a;sdlfkaj oh mygod so awesome), the unicorn tapestry, the two birds in a cage within a cage (to symbolize Draco, no I'm fucking serious, the way he is trapped in a cage within a cage within a cage), to Draco's returned obsession with apples in the movie, and the lighting, and the colors, and the wild clutters of things everywhere in the movie (Arthur's shed, Dumbledore's office), endless loops everywhere (the Hogwart's clock, the round hanging loops that go into the level below, the Unbreakable Vow, Dumbledore's spiralled fire, loops and loops and loops), and just how the movie is so quiet all the time, and shadows, and lines, and the camera angles, how they pan from window to window to show you Ron and Lavender kissing to Draco on a balcony watching the sun rise, and augh I have to stop talking.
02. THE DIALOGUE. The bit where the Trio laugh about Dumbledore's age. Hermione smacking Harry on the head for saying that he is the Chosen One. FELIX FELICIS, EVERYTHING ABOUT HARRY ON FELIX FELICIS IS INSTANT COMIC GOLD, Ron and Harry talking about girls' skin, there's so much I'm missing, but everything is good, it's all good.
03. The comedy! Kara already talked about this, but CORMAC LICKING CHOCOLATE OFF HIS FINGER AHAHAHAHAH. Harry standing up when Ginny shows up at the dinner table! Harry laughing because he's the only one who knows what a dentist is! The opening scene at the Burrow when everyone wonders where Harry is! LAVENDER BROWN. Lavender Brown. CORMAC VOMITING ON SNAPE. HOW COULD I FORGET.
04. The Trio have grown up and they're all so beautiful and guys, guys, I love Harry so much. I know I make a fuss and yell about how stupid he is and how much he pisses me off in OotP but in this movie, guys, he's perfect. When he smiles at Hermione after he reveals that he didn't give Ron Felix after all. When he awkwardly comforts Hermione after Ron goes off with Lavender. When he says to Slughorn, "Sir", trying to get him to come with him to Hagrid's. When he says "The bowl will remain empty." When he hesitates to take Dumbledore's arm. And Ron, when he blocks all those goals in that Quidditch game, oh he's so lovely. And Hermione, Emma's so beautiful in this movie it actually makes my chest hurt, and when she gives Ron funny looks, and worries over Harry, and cries out miserably, "Oh why didn't I think of that!" and is wearing that orange dress and hiding behind the curtain with Harry and eating dragon tartar.
05. How careful every scene with Draco is. Tom Felton is such a big boy now, it's scary, but the way he wears that suit, and the way he walks carefully, and how the camera always pans to him on the edge of a scene, hidden by a pillar or tucked away in a doorway and how it does the same with Harry when Harry is chasing after him. The apple, because he ate them constantly, I feel, in the first movie. Him carrying his dad's walking stick (PIMP CANE) to Hogwarts. How horrified he is when he sees Katie Bell, and the way you can just see his blurred figure creep into the scene from behind Harry. FUCK THIS-- I love how everything is so careful in the movie. How carefully Harry and Ginny kiss in the Room of Hidden Things. How carefully Harry approaches Hermione when she is crying. How carefully Dumbledore pours Slughorn's memory out. How carefully Snape puts his finger to his mouth. How carefully Harry carries around the Half-Blood Prince's book, to make sure it's never out of sight. How carefully Ron touches Hermione on the corner of her mouth. How carefully those birds are used, two birds, one black and one white, and cages within cages, and how the white one dies first, like Draco's innocence, and the black one is the one that Harry frees. How carefully Draco takes in the last time he sees the Great Hall, when the candles are snuffed out. How carefully Harry lays his hand on Dumbledore's chest. All that care. So much care.
06. I love the feeling that everything is ending in the magical world. But also that everything is beginning for all these kids who are just now turning into adults. I love this feeling that they are all grown up, and Draco especially who was forced into his black suit and black tie with a round (probably family crest) tie pin and his adult briefcase. How much older Ginny looks, and how she smiles mischeviously at Hermione after stealing Harry's Potions book and telling them all it belongs to the Half-Blood Prince.
07. Also can I give a shout out to Bellatrix's craziness. MAN IT WAS AWESOME.
"DAVID YATES HERE IS A 50,000 WORD ESSAY ON MY THOUGHTS ON YAOI" THINGS:
01. I... am not feeling the Harry/Ginny relationship here at all. I am totally feeling the Ron/Hermione, which I'm supes happy about, even when I squee over every Harry/Hermione bit in the film. (You know, I don't blame Ron for getting paranoid about them being together behind his back, especially when you watch this movie. He catches them sitting knee to knee when he goes off with Lavender, they're holding hands in the last scene while he just sort of watches them, :/ it's all very... well you know.) Like, I love the fact that Ginny is the first to break up that moment after Dumbledore dies, to hug Harry, and I love the Room of Hidden Things kiss, it's perfect, but it felt like to me that she was sleep-walking through the relationship. She wasn't-- she wasn't red-blooded enough for me. That's what I loved in the books, that she was so real and so there and so ready to kick some ass and take names.
02. So Snape's HBP reveal... gets one sentence in the last fifteen minutes of the movie. Excellent.
03. This is so petty of me but AUGH I REALLY STILL DON'T LIKE MICHAEL GAMBON'S DUMBLEDORE, OKAY. He's just not eye-twinkling enough, not floaty enough, not odd enough, not piercing enough for me. I don't know why. I just feel like Gambon is too abrupt all the time. Like when Dumbledore walks off with the knitting magazine. I expected him to be a little bit more jovial. Instead I just get this constant feeling of, IDK, removed impassive placidity. Which is fine and all, but still not how I imagine Dumbledore. I do love Gambon's acting during the final scene with Draco, though. AND HOW CONTROLLED ALAN RICKMAN IS okay, I'll shut up.
04. Where did the Ministry subplot go!! And Bill and Fleur!! And the Gaunt substory! And mostly the awkward scenes with Scrimgeour brining Percy back to the Burrow, ugh, that was one of my favorite parts of the book. Also "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT DRACO MALFOY IS DOING INSIDE YOU." ;_;
Overall, though, I'm not just making it up when I say that this is one of the best book to movie translations of the series so far, right? It felt like, to me at least, tight and smooth and actually enjoyable instead of laborious, and guys, guys, it is beautiful for its aesthetic value alone. THE TWO BIRDS. IN TWO CAGES. TWO CAGES.
edit// rashaka is brilliance when she talks about the movie here, and loftily has always been fabulous about everything HP, and bookshop is throwing an H/D party, and quigonejinn WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE BECAUSE IN JUST FIVE MINUTES OF TALKING TO YOU, YOU SAID MORE TRUE THINGS ABOUT IT THAN I HAVE FOR LIKE, 1500 WORDS.
"LOOK AT THIS AWESOME MOTHERFUCKER FUCK YEAH" THINGS:
01. THE MOVIE BUDGET-- oh wait I mean the images. Seriously, everything in this movie is gorgeous, from the Death Eaters disapparating like a swirl of black cables and smoke to the way the memories fade in and out like blobs of ink (and in particular when the young Tom Riddle becomes Lord Voldemort in that first memory of Dumbledore's a;sdlfkaj oh mygod so awesome), the unicorn tapestry, the two birds in a cage within a cage (to symbolize Draco, no I'm fucking serious, the way he is trapped in a cage within a cage within a cage), to Draco's returned obsession with apples in the movie, and the lighting, and the colors, and the wild clutters of things everywhere in the movie (Arthur's shed, Dumbledore's office), endless loops everywhere (the Hogwart's clock, the round hanging loops that go into the level below, the Unbreakable Vow, Dumbledore's spiralled fire, loops and loops and loops), and just how the movie is so quiet all the time, and shadows, and lines, and the camera angles, how they pan from window to window to show you Ron and Lavender kissing to Draco on a balcony watching the sun rise, and augh I have to stop talking.
02. THE DIALOGUE. The bit where the Trio laugh about Dumbledore's age. Hermione smacking Harry on the head for saying that he is the Chosen One. FELIX FELICIS, EVERYTHING ABOUT HARRY ON FELIX FELICIS IS INSTANT COMIC GOLD, Ron and Harry talking about girls' skin, there's so much I'm missing, but everything is good, it's all good.
03. The comedy! Kara already talked about this, but CORMAC LICKING CHOCOLATE OFF HIS FINGER AHAHAHAHAH. Harry standing up when Ginny shows up at the dinner table! Harry laughing because he's the only one who knows what a dentist is! The opening scene at the Burrow when everyone wonders where Harry is! LAVENDER BROWN. Lavender Brown. CORMAC VOMITING ON SNAPE. HOW COULD I FORGET.
04. The Trio have grown up and they're all so beautiful and guys, guys, I love Harry so much. I know I make a fuss and yell about how stupid he is and how much he pisses me off in OotP but in this movie, guys, he's perfect. When he smiles at Hermione after he reveals that he didn't give Ron Felix after all. When he awkwardly comforts Hermione after Ron goes off with Lavender. When he says to Slughorn, "Sir", trying to get him to come with him to Hagrid's. When he says "The bowl will remain empty." When he hesitates to take Dumbledore's arm. And Ron, when he blocks all those goals in that Quidditch game, oh he's so lovely. And Hermione, Emma's so beautiful in this movie it actually makes my chest hurt, and when she gives Ron funny looks, and worries over Harry, and cries out miserably, "Oh why didn't I think of that!" and is wearing that orange dress and hiding behind the curtain with Harry and eating dragon tartar.
05. How careful every scene with Draco is. Tom Felton is such a big boy now, it's scary, but the way he wears that suit, and the way he walks carefully, and how the camera always pans to him on the edge of a scene, hidden by a pillar or tucked away in a doorway and how it does the same with Harry when Harry is chasing after him. The apple, because he ate them constantly, I feel, in the first movie. Him carrying his dad's walking stick (PIMP CANE) to Hogwarts. How horrified he is when he sees Katie Bell, and the way you can just see his blurred figure creep into the scene from behind Harry. FUCK THIS-- I love how everything is so careful in the movie. How carefully Harry and Ginny kiss in the Room of Hidden Things. How carefully Harry approaches Hermione when she is crying. How carefully Dumbledore pours Slughorn's memory out. How carefully Snape puts his finger to his mouth. How carefully Harry carries around the Half-Blood Prince's book, to make sure it's never out of sight. How carefully Ron touches Hermione on the corner of her mouth. How carefully those birds are used, two birds, one black and one white, and cages within cages, and how the white one dies first, like Draco's innocence, and the black one is the one that Harry frees. How carefully Draco takes in the last time he sees the Great Hall, when the candles are snuffed out. How carefully Harry lays his hand on Dumbledore's chest. All that care. So much care.
06. I love the feeling that everything is ending in the magical world. But also that everything is beginning for all these kids who are just now turning into adults. I love this feeling that they are all grown up, and Draco especially who was forced into his black suit and black tie with a round (probably family crest) tie pin and his adult briefcase. How much older Ginny looks, and how she smiles mischeviously at Hermione after stealing Harry's Potions book and telling them all it belongs to the Half-Blood Prince.
07. Also can I give a shout out to Bellatrix's craziness. MAN IT WAS AWESOME.
"DAVID YATES HERE IS A 50,000 WORD ESSAY ON MY THOUGHTS ON YAOI" THINGS:
01. I... am not feeling the Harry/Ginny relationship here at all. I am totally feeling the Ron/Hermione, which I'm supes happy about, even when I squee over every Harry/Hermione bit in the film. (You know, I don't blame Ron for getting paranoid about them being together behind his back, especially when you watch this movie. He catches them sitting knee to knee when he goes off with Lavender, they're holding hands in the last scene while he just sort of watches them, :/ it's all very... well you know.) Like, I love the fact that Ginny is the first to break up that moment after Dumbledore dies, to hug Harry, and I love the Room of Hidden Things kiss, it's perfect, but it felt like to me that she was sleep-walking through the relationship. She wasn't-- she wasn't red-blooded enough for me. That's what I loved in the books, that she was so real and so there and so ready to kick some ass and take names.
02. So Snape's HBP reveal... gets one sentence in the last fifteen minutes of the movie. Excellent.
03. This is so petty of me but AUGH I REALLY STILL DON'T LIKE MICHAEL GAMBON'S DUMBLEDORE, OKAY. He's just not eye-twinkling enough, not floaty enough, not odd enough, not piercing enough for me. I don't know why. I just feel like Gambon is too abrupt all the time. Like when Dumbledore walks off with the knitting magazine. I expected him to be a little bit more jovial. Instead I just get this constant feeling of, IDK, removed impassive placidity. Which is fine and all, but still not how I imagine Dumbledore. I do love Gambon's acting during the final scene with Draco, though. AND HOW CONTROLLED ALAN RICKMAN IS okay, I'll shut up.
04. Where did the Ministry subplot go!! And Bill and Fleur!! And the Gaunt substory! And mostly the awkward scenes with Scrimgeour brining Percy back to the Burrow, ugh, that was one of my favorite parts of the book. Also "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT DRACO MALFOY IS DOING INSIDE YOU." ;_;
Overall, though, I'm not just making it up when I say that this is one of the best book to movie translations of the series so far, right? It felt like, to me at least, tight and smooth and actually enjoyable instead of laborious, and guys, guys, it is beautiful for its aesthetic value alone. THE TWO BIRDS. IN TWO CAGES. TWO CAGES.
edit// rashaka is brilliance when she talks about the movie here, and loftily has always been fabulous about everything HP, and bookshop is throwing an H/D party, and quigonejinn WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE BECAUSE IN JUST FIVE MINUTES OF TALKING TO YOU, YOU SAID MORE TRUE THINGS ABOUT IT THAN I HAVE FOR LIKE, 1500 WORDS.