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Post by GoldenFleece on Jul 18, 2011 6:52:03 GMT -4
The same way Voldemort didn't die in front of any witnesses or leave a body? People are supposed to believe that he's really dead this time because...
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Nov 24, 2024 6:41:23 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 9:49:37 GMT -4
OK, I have slept now, and I am ready to dish. Overall, I liked it- I loved seeing some of my favorite scenes brought to life on the screen. I thought that the trio was EXCELLENT. They have really become wonderful actors. But I must be a purist because I did not like the changes to the timeline, and how Kloves seems to change things for ego and for the sake of changing them. It was better the way Jo wrote it. They have said that they have changed aspects of the books to make the films more streamlined and dramatic- and I say bullshit. Like jynni said, there was so much drama and suspense in the last battle in the book. It would have been awesome to see that onscreen. Yes it would have been shorter, but then there would have been time to film Fred's death, and expand Molly and Bellatrix's duel (which was still awesome, my theater cheered). And there would have been time to, I don't know, maybe give Ron more lines and not reduce him to the comic sidekick again? Or maybe given them time to cast the whole Weasley family! They never even mentioned the existence of Charlie! Ron and Hermione's kiss- I loved it, but it was too fast. I really did not like that Harry told them that he had to die before going into the Forbidden Forrest. Once again, Kloves was just changing things for the sake of changing them. It would have been much more heartbreaking for them to be beside Ginny and realize that Harry had turned himself in. It would have given Rupert and Emma a chance to shine, and the changes made that anti-climatic. Speaking of Movie!Ginny. Sigh. Once again, relegated to standing around with a confused look on her face. I cannot decide if Bonnie Wright is such a poor actor that they could not give her anything to do, or if they made a conscious effort to reduce her character to the background. I love Book!Ginny. I think that they lost an opportunity to tie together the Chamber of Secrets with Deathly Hallows and make her more of an important player. I am absolutely a H/G and R/H shipper, so I also liked the epilogue. It could have been cheesy, but DanRad sold it. I also think that they aged him the best, but probably because he already has a mature face. Poor Ron, his appetite finally caught up with him. The Prince's Tale.......I tear up just thinking about it. Alan Rickman can DO NO WRONG. If I go and see it again, I will be seeing it for this part. All of the adults (well, except Tonks and Remus, but they were given the short end of the stick in the book too) had their moment to shine, but this movie belonged to Snape. One change that I did not mind was switching his death scene from the Shrieking Shack to the boathouse. Watching through the window was horrifying. I also loved BAMF Neville. I have been looking forward to his scenes since I read Deathly Hallows in 2007, and they delivered. I was afraid that Kloves was going to have Hermione kill Nagini and that would have absolutely ruined the movie for me. Matthew Lewis was another favorite for me, he shined. I know a lot of people do not like Chris Columbus and what he did with the first two movies. I did not either for a long time, but he made some really smart casting choices. He cast kids who turned into really great actors. But with Kloves totally mucking up the story, I actually would like to see a reboot in about ten years. As we were leaving, MrB remarked that he would have thought that Rowling would have objected to the changes, after all, she was an executive producer. I want to see a more faithful adaption of the series. And as much as I love DanRad, and even though I think he did a fantastic job, he does not resemble the Harry in my head. I think that the biggest challenge would be recasting the adults- to me, HBC is Bellatrix, Gary Oldman is Sirius, Julie Walters is Molly, Alan Rickman is Snape and on an on........... All in all, even though I have some criticisms, I still loved it, and I was still on the edge of my seat. I can't believe that it is finally over. I started reading the books when I was single and 23 and working in Nashville. I was a district security trainer for a retail chain, and I was training new personnel at one of our stores. I picked up a Harry Potter book off the shelf while demonstrating how to blend in and act like a shopper. I later started reading it out of curiosity during my lunch break, and I was hooked. Now, I am 33, married, and the parent of two. Harry Potter has been a big part of the last decade for me. One of the highlights of my life was meeting JK Rowling in 2007. I'm not ready for Harry to be over yet.
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Nov 24, 2024 6:41:23 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 11:26:39 GMT -4
Speaking of Movie!Ginny. Sigh. Once again, relegated to standing around with a confused look on her face. I cannot decide if Bonnie Wright is such a poor actor that they could not give her anything to do, or if they made a conscious effort to reduce her character to the background. I love Book!Ginny. I think that they lost an opportunity to tie together the Chamber of Secrets with Deathly Hallows and make her more of an important player. To be fair, JKR didn't do much with Ginny and the link between CoS and DH in the books. Ginny says that she knows what it's like to be possessed by Voldemort and you think that's going to be important in some way and then it's not. I was always thinking Ginny would become an important player in the books (after CoS I thought she would join H/R/H and they would become a foursome, after HBP I thought she would go looking for the Horcruxes with them) but it just never happened.
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Nov 24, 2024 6:41:23 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 14:36:22 GMT -4
Just got back from watching it and I liked it until the King's Cross scene which was nicely done but completely pointless the way Kloves reduced it. After that, the movie fell completely apart for me . Seriously, Harry just breaks the Elder Wand into two pieces and that's it? The battle between Harry and Voldy was so stupid. I get that they wouldn't include the super long dialogue from the book (because that was actually good) but it really felt like watching the Michael Bay version of Harry Potter. Sigh. These movies could have been great with a writer who didn't change things just to change them (and to give their favourite actress more scenes). And WHAT was up with Harry looking on all smug and approving when Hermione/Ron walked in hand in hand? Who was he supposed to be, Dawson Leery? Of the three main actors, Rupert Grint is to me far and away the best. I really liked him during the first scene at Gringotts, and of course during the later scene in the main hall... But I have a grudge for life against Kloves. Are Ron and Harry best friends? You wouldn't know it from Kloves' script. JFC. ITA with all of this. Once again Rupert was great but had, again, almost nothing to do. What a shame that they didn't use a really good actor for an actually great character (if MovieRon had been similar in any way to BookRon). And no, in the movies there was absolutely nothing about the Harry/Ron friendship. ETA: Sorry for the whiny tone of this post. I didn't hate everything, it's just thos final 25 minutes that kinda ruined it for me. On a more positive note: how good was Helena Bonham Carter as Hermione (as Bellatrix)?
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Post by MrsCatHead on Jul 18, 2011 15:09:17 GMT -4
Kloves sucks. I have no idea why he wasn't fired earlier.
I thought this film was one of the worst. But I'm always really critical the first time I watch a HP. With subsequent viewings, I mellow out and just enjoy the crazy ride.
Stuff we laughed about:
Snapes' makeup. Seriously. What was with the Robert Smith look? Too much.
The frisbee Pensieve. I giggled so hard. I couldn't help myself.
The Adam Ant wannabe head snatcher guy who leads the charge. I wanted to sing, "We're just fo-llo-wing ancient hi-sto-ry..."
Voldy's Avada Kedavra sounding like a yawn. Now, LittlestCatHead and I love to say, "Aaaaaavada Kedaaaavra, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill you. I was just yawning."
Loved the Malfoy's just walking off into the sunset. Sort of. Hilarious. They were like, "Okedokee. You keep on fighting. We're just gonna get our kid outta here." I like that even though they were an ebil couple, they loved their kid./spoiler
and then, stuff we loved:
LOVED Neville's BAMF moments. He needed more of those in the previous films.
Mrs. Weasley had her measely one cool line.
McGonegal. Want to be her when I grow up. Loved her little giggle when she said, "I've always wanted to do that spell."
Little stuff bugs me so when Nagini was b/t Ron and Hermione and then suddenly they are both running downstairs ahead of the snake? I laughed. I scoffed, actually.
What the hell was wrong with everyone's acting, though? Most of the cast just seemed to not know how they wanted to play the scenes. Like we were watching scenes that needed to be re-shot but weren't. It was choppy.
Oh and in the epilogue, did you notice that they made Ginny chunkier but Hermione got to be still skinny like she was when she was a teen ?
ETA: Yeah, Ginny's wig was distracting, just like Alan Rickman's face.
Also, did anyone get a "we don't need no education" vibes from the intro and the marching children?
The brown-eyed Lily BUGGED me. Intensely.
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Post by LurkerNan on Jul 18, 2011 16:24:13 GMT -4
WTF moment: Hermione got to grow up with frumpy housefrau hair, while Ginny apparently snatched the wig off of some republican's wife from the 70s. Blegh... Did they assume growing up means not having money for hairdressers?
I notice Harry mentioned Lupin & Tonks kid growing up knowing his parents sacrifice, but at the beginning of the movie they cut off Tonks from giving them all some good news, which I am assuming was that she was pregnant. So apparently the kids were wandering the wilderness long enough for her to have a kid that was never mentioned until it was an orphan. So much left out from the book...
And there really should have been a bigger deal made of the Hermione/Ron kiss... it's been eight frikkin' movies this attraction has been building, they could have given it a minute or two, you know? On the other hand, I could care less about Ginny & Harry... they are the blandest couple that ever pretend existed.
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Post by GoldenFleece on Jul 18, 2011 18:59:15 GMT -4
I think they reduced her character to the background because Bonnie Wright in the HP movies has been such a...mellow presence (I'll be nice), which was perfect as for Ginny the little sister in the background who blushes and puts her elbow in the butter dish around Harry. When Book!Ginny turned into the popular, feisty, sporty girl who makes Harry's "chest monster" roar at night, offers herself to him as a birthday gift, and has Slytherins and Death Eaters praising her beauty even as they try to hex her...well, the movies could have either let Bonnie have a go at playing that Ginny, or else they could have taken stock of her talents and her chemistry with DanRad and said, screw it, not even our special effects team can create that kind of magic. Do we recast? Eh, we don't need the headache from the purists. Even most of them don't like Harry/Ginny nearly as much as Ron/Hermione anyway. Let's just scrap all the heavy kissing for Harry/Ginny and...tell Kloves we need to give Dan more scenes with Evanna and Emma! Lifetime's JKR biopic premieres tonight: Magic Beyond Words! The preview does makes it look better than the William and Kate movie.
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Post by MrsCatHead on Jul 18, 2011 19:24:46 GMT -4
Also, Emma's body language during The Kiss was all, "get off me, Rupert!"
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Post by GoldenFleece on Jul 18, 2011 19:30:11 GMT -4
The blocking for the kiss was so strange. Rupert's head was in the way and half of it seemed to be a wide shot. WTH, Yates? Also Emma has always insisted both Dan and Rupert were like brothers to her, but funny you mention Emma's "get off me" body language with Rupert, when IIRC didn't Dan describe her as really going at it and being like an animal when they had to kiss? That was so funny when she was mortified when he said that and he was like, "But it's a compliment!" *sniff* No more cast interviews during HP press junkets! It's over!
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Post by bklynred on Jul 18, 2011 21:13:02 GMT -4
I loved it all. I'm damn near praying for an extended edition. I'm sure there's lots of good stuff that had to be cut. For example, Dumbledore's story was interesting in relation to the books, but there wasn't that much about him and his story in the film, so why suddenly talk about his dead sister and his friend in Azkaban?
I can't pick this apart. I thought Snape's death was especially horrid (didn't he just get an AK in the book?) and my whole theater (at the 10:30 am showing) gasped every time there was an attack. I thought his current look was meant to be harsh...dude has been a double agent for what, 17 years? That'll weigh on someone over time, I'd imagine.
I think they fit in everything they could under time constraints. Did I miss the desks and knights coming to life? Sure. But these are 600+ page books... When they're both out in DVD, I'd like to watch the whole DH saga at once. I was satisfied with the end (and thought it was fitting that Draco looked like sh&t as a dad), but I'm seriously having HP withdrawal. I'm not depressed or anything, there's just that emptiness. No more dates to mark on the calendar! No more all-night reading sessions. No more crying over f*cking elves and veils, for god's sake!
I wonder how kids are handling it vs. adults. Are they just onto the next series? I wonder if they feel it's an end of an era, or if it was just a fun trip & they're onto the next book on their reading list. I'm just glad I was a part of it. When I worked at the company that published the books, we'd find each new hardcover on our chairs the morning they were available for sale. We dolled up our back street as Diagon Alley. Later, I'd wait til a minute after midnight and countdown how soon book stores would open so I could grab my copy (most memorable--taking a cab to a small independent bookstore at about 9 am wearing dark glasses and almost whispering if they had Deathly Hallows...the rep was like, "Um, we have about 800 copies, you're in luck!") I slapped down my money at the same time *another* 30-something shuffled in, wearing what looked like his pajamas, also wearing shades and asking about HP in a low voice. You would've thought we were in a porn video shop. I took a bus back home & was genuinely fearful someone might grab the book from me so I held a death grip on my bag till I made it back home.
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