tempestuously (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tempestuously) wrote2007-07-14 08:51 am
tempestuously) wrote2007-07-14 08:51 am
I wish I could talk like crazy-ass Luna
I again have Net time and sanity so you get review posts.
But first a note from Tom: "Peter O'Toole scares the shit out of me!"
I know most people are bitching about the changes, but I enjoyed most of them. I think the one thing this movie did much better than the book was the relationship between Sirius and Harry, which I could never really feel in book!Order. I got the sense that these two really cared about each other and wanted to be together in the movie. Sirius also wasn't as retardedly reckless as book!Order but still had his moments of spontaneity. The end fight also worked a lot better. I don't care what anyone says. Rowling cannot write fights, and the director was working with what he had. Ok so the curtain-thing was randomly placed, but what else are you supposed to do with it when it has to be in the middle of this epic battle. At least Sirius got to go out doing something cool. I admit the killing curse does further complicate the issue of whether Sirius is still alive. Also, this battle was arguably one of the best done scenes in the series. It's just so much fun to watch, and both sides look really good.
I also liked the cameos that bothered most people. Rowling did cameos too, especially with the Order, briefly mentioning them for a page or two. It was funny how Kingsley was the only new Order member who got screen time. Tonks bothered me and only because the scenes they chose to give her were completely pointless. The hair-changing for one. I liked Kretcher randomly popping up to bitch about things. I also liked the efforts to make Cho and Harry less emotionally retarded. No it doesn't get in the way of whoever Harry ends up with; it's a first love fling ok. Put down your pitchforks. I could have done without the kiss of eternity though.
More love to the new Luna -- I still say Luna and Harry would be a fun couple, the thestrals, Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore's excellent escape.
My only problems lie in loose ends. As Tom mentions, Cho is vindicated near the end, but there is no closure. Trelawney is allowed to return to Hogwarts, but we never see her again. Ginny is like a summon that appears at random moments with an awesome spell and then vanishes just as quickly so that you ask yourself was she even there. Tom did enjoy how she would pop up during Harry's romantic moments to subtley hint at her growing feelings. At least, someone knows how to do foreshadowing. Umbridge received a little too much screentime being a crazy bitch, although she was still wonderfully acted, and the cat plates were beautiful. Sirius' death itself was very anticlimactic, but so was the book. Harry's struggle against Voldemort and Voldemort's escape was also anticlimactic.
Other than that, I think the main problems the reviewers have with the movie is not reading the book and realizing that Order is a very dark and unhappy novel so the movie wouldn't be able to deviate too greatly from its source.
Ratatouille was also a delight, with all its plotlines going at once, the awesome food critic played by O'Toole, the dorky camaraderie between the protagonist Linguini and his "little chef" the rat, the crazy antics of the main chef, the adult human interspersed within -- the small penis joke XD -- the wild camera angles, the rendering of the food and of course the completely unexpected ending. This is definitely more than a movie about a rat who wants to be a chef.
Oh and the baseball game I went to last night, they won. Yay.
But first a note from Tom: "Peter O'Toole scares the shit out of me!"
I know most people are bitching about the changes, but I enjoyed most of them. I think the one thing this movie did much better than the book was the relationship between Sirius and Harry, which I could never really feel in book!Order. I got the sense that these two really cared about each other and wanted to be together in the movie. Sirius also wasn't as retardedly reckless as book!Order but still had his moments of spontaneity. The end fight also worked a lot better. I don't care what anyone says. Rowling cannot write fights, and the director was working with what he had. Ok so the curtain-thing was randomly placed, but what else are you supposed to do with it when it has to be in the middle of this epic battle. At least Sirius got to go out doing something cool. I admit the killing curse does further complicate the issue of whether Sirius is still alive. Also, this battle was arguably one of the best done scenes in the series. It's just so much fun to watch, and both sides look really good.
I also liked the cameos that bothered most people. Rowling did cameos too, especially with the Order, briefly mentioning them for a page or two. It was funny how Kingsley was the only new Order member who got screen time. Tonks bothered me and only because the scenes they chose to give her were completely pointless. The hair-changing for one. I liked Kretcher randomly popping up to bitch about things. I also liked the efforts to make Cho and Harry less emotionally retarded. No it doesn't get in the way of whoever Harry ends up with; it's a first love fling ok. Put down your pitchforks. I could have done without the kiss of eternity though.
More love to the new Luna -- I still say Luna and Harry would be a fun couple, the thestrals, Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore's excellent escape.
My only problems lie in loose ends. As Tom mentions, Cho is vindicated near the end, but there is no closure. Trelawney is allowed to return to Hogwarts, but we never see her again. Ginny is like a summon that appears at random moments with an awesome spell and then vanishes just as quickly so that you ask yourself was she even there. Tom did enjoy how she would pop up during Harry's romantic moments to subtley hint at her growing feelings. At least, someone knows how to do foreshadowing. Umbridge received a little too much screentime being a crazy bitch, although she was still wonderfully acted, and the cat plates were beautiful. Sirius' death itself was very anticlimactic, but so was the book. Harry's struggle against Voldemort and Voldemort's escape was also anticlimactic.
Other than that, I think the main problems the reviewers have with the movie is not reading the book and realizing that Order is a very dark and unhappy novel so the movie wouldn't be able to deviate too greatly from its source.
Ratatouille was also a delight, with all its plotlines going at once, the awesome food critic played by O'Toole, the dorky camaraderie between the protagonist Linguini and his "little chef" the rat, the crazy antics of the main chef, the adult human interspersed within -- the small penis joke XD -- the wild camera angles, the rendering of the food and of course the completely unexpected ending. This is definitely more than a movie about a rat who wants to be a chef.
Oh and the baseball game I went to last night, they won. Yay.