I Actually Liked a Harry Potter Movie! (this is big)

So it deviates from the book. What else is new with the Harry Potter movies? Since it's been a decently long time since I've read the books, I didn't freak out at any of the changes. And because of this, I actually got to enjoy this Harry Potter movie. Although, I have to say, the Harry/Ginny romance was frustratingly tame. What happened to the snogging in the book? It's not like they get to see each other AT ALL during the next book, so you can't be holding off any epic snogging for that. My only other complaint is that the Snape/Harry tension wasn't revisited properly. Considering it is so important in this installment, I am surprised at how few chances Harry and Snape got to seethe at each other. I've always been disappointed by the lessons being left out in the movies, but that's understandable as they would get boring and repetitive. But a couple Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, or at least one, would have helped to cement Snape and Harry's hatred for each other, which would have made the final chase much more dramatic. Harry's confrontation with Snape at the end of the movie lacked the same passion and drama it had in the book.

But that's really my major complaint. Although the burning burrow scene was a bit useless and ridiculous, there's no reason for me to be upset about it. Considering how much Weasley subplot they've cut out and how we're not seeing any wedding there since Bill never appeared and Fleur's been absent since forever, why not burn the place down? So whatever, I don't give a rat's ass about that scene. It wasn't particularly productive, but it was a nice moment of drama, so I can't really complain. I've given up being a Book Purist. So long as it's good and keeps the general story alive while being entertaining and doing it well, I'm happy. And I think HBP: The Movie did a pretty good job of that.

Mind you, my friend and I spent half the movie making sex jokes. I blame it all on a friend of mine who, once upon a time, spent ages trying to convince me that Harry was in love with Draco based on the happenings of Half-Blood Prince, as Harry obsesses over Draco. It's all her fault.

But all in all, the movie was shot very well. The special effects were brilliant, and the acting was good. Honestly, this is the movie I think the kid actors finally hit their stride in. For the first time, I was not distracted by Emma Watson's eyebrows! In every other Harry Potter movie, her eyebrows are a massive distraction for me, but I didn't notice them this time, so either I didn't pay very close attention (I'll rewatch the movie and keep you posted) or else she actually started acting without them. MAJOR kudos to her if she stopped abusing her (lovely) eyebrows. Daniel Radcliffe, whose acting pissed me off in Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix (but that one's not his fault; Harry is OBNOXIOUS in OotP), did a good job this time. The Felix Felicis scene was pretty darn awesome, I have to say.

So overall, for once, I was genuinely pleased by a Harry Potter movie. It isn't the book in the least and I definitely like the books far more than the movies, but I enjoyed the movie and would deem it a job well done. Hardly OSCAR-worthy, as some critic baffled me to say (maybe save the effects, of course), but good. I could nitpick for ages, but that'd be useless. Good work. You finally got me, Warner Bros.

Also: HOLY SHIT @ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's gross revenue thus far. It ALREADY broke $100 mil!? I mean, that's worldwide, but still... oh no, don't tell me The Dark Knight's records are going to go bye-bye this soon. D:

Stealing From My Livejournal Part XVII

As I use my livejournal for little else except for movie rants and decided to switch over here, I thought I'd recruit some older posts so as to show a history. I'll bother with new ones as they come to me.




From December 30, 2008:

"So because I am a movie nerd, I follow the Entertainment Weekly's website's Oscar blog which posts some stuff I don't care about, but mostly talks about the possible noms and other award shows, which does interest me (if you couldn't tell from the majority of my posts). I assume that most people who read Entertainment Weekly in the first place are similar enough to me that they like movies, and typically they like movies for less common reasons, but not too cynical reasons, because EW is neither total fluff nor is it hardcore serious.

So what baffles me is, well, there is this one most recent blog post that the guy made about box office and award consideration and if one influences the other (this was in relation to Benjamin Button's higher per-theatre average against Frost/Nixon's). Now, this was genuinely interesting to me so I felt like, for probably the first time, I'd make the comment. I started skimming the comments already there, seeing the opinions of others. Now, what baffled me was that I kept reading comments about people bitching about the Oscars, saying how they were stupid and no one cares, people bitching about the movie industry, people just generally bitching about movies that were mentioned, and people bitching about pretty much everything that blog was about.

And I'm sitting here, thinking, why the fuck are people who don't like a) award shows, b) the movie industry, and/or c) award-magnet movies reading this blog in the first place (or this magazine/website)?"