31 posts tagged “harry potter”
(note: this is a copy of an email i sent to some of my BFFs who are into Harry Potter. sorry for the sloppiness of it but i didn't feel like editing it!)
i have been talking about this all weekend so be prepared for a rant...
as i was watching the movie, i thought it was very entertaining and was delightful. during it, i noticed a few changes that i THOUGHT i could live with...basically i thought i could live with this changes right until the last scene of the movie where they totally fucked up the ending - this then started to unravel the whole movie for me.
1) what they really failed to do overall was capture dumbledore's essence in this movie. the half-blood prince is basically a novel devoted to harry and dumbledore's relationship and just how much they mean to each other. i felt like they cheapened their relationship - instead of harry and dumby talking to each other about he is his fav student and harry's loyalty for dumbledore - they would have dumby throw in some comment about how harry needs to shave or talk to him about how hermione might be dating harry???? come on, first of all dumbledore always knows what's going on so he wouldn't even need to ASK harry if he was dating hermione or not. it was just really weird and i felt like it lessened the importance of their relationship. it almost felt like they were cheapening dumbledore's image so that when he dies, the audience doesn't feel the magnitude of his death as much - basically so the little kiddies wouldn't cry when he dies. he is one of the best characters ever written and to have him say all this nonsense just took away from the glory of dumbledore.
2) THEY DIDN'T EVEN EXPLAIN WHY SNAPE IS THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE!!!! are you freaking kidding me? if i didn't read this book, i would be totally confused and be like WTF. that last scene where snape cheesily yells, "I'M THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE!" ok, well there should have already been a confrontation between snape and harry after harry uses sectumsempra on draco in the bathroom - snape is supposed to confront him about how he learned the sectumsempra spell. they cut that scene out...i dont know how or why they didn't explain snape's background and how he is the halfblood prince, it doesnt even make any sense - everyone would be like what does "half blood" have to do with it? stupid - it could have been easily explained with one extra scene. (which makes me mad because they included that burrows scene that wasn't even in the book but they couldn't just put in more scenes so that the movie would actually make sense! i mean seriously, its the TITLE of the movie - at least explain it fully!)
3) this goes along with the above, but there were supposed to be scenes about voldemort's mom merope and grandfather and uncle. you don't even know why they are going to look for that necklace because they never included this scene (merope sold the necklace after she ran away). you also don't even know where that ring came from b/c they don't show the flashback scene! in addition, this scene lead harry to speculate about who the half-blood prince is and he suspected it was voldemort because of voldy's muggle father. once again, i don't know how anyone would understand this movie if they hadn't read the books...
4) of COURSE i love the romance in this book but it was entirely too much. not to mention, that THEY DID IT WRONG!!!! the moment where harry and ginny kiss is one of the most pivotal moments in the history of all of the books and they had to fuck it up! first, they fucked up the lucky potion b/c harry is supposed to have one day where he takes a sip of the lucky potion and then accidentally bumps into dean and ginny and then ginny thinks dean is pushing her so ginny and dean subsequently break up. later on, after harry does sectumsempra (this goes along with #2) harry is supposed to have the confrontation with snape and he then gets detention and misses the quidditch game because of detention. he can hear the game from the detention but doesn't know who wins until he goes back to the common room, sees that ginny won the game for the team, marches up to her and kisses her in front of EVERYONE! it is an amazing kiss and an amazing moment and i really just do not see how they had to fuck it up. they cant even blame it on not having enough funds to make another quidditch game b/c they could have shown it from harry's perspective and not even show the quidditch game at all.
also side note, when they are at the burrows and ginny and harry almost kiss at xmas - i literally go to will in a funny voice, "hey harry can i suck your DICK?" and then lo and behold, two sec later ginny is on the floor tying his shoes in her bathrobe????? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!
5) basically all of the above i could have lived with if they had gotten the ending right but noooo, as usually they have to fuck it up!
first, harry is supposed to have been stupefied by dumbledore under the invisibility cloak. there is no way that harry would stand there and let dumby be killed if he had the ability to do something. and by having snape go up to harry and shushing him and then go up to finish the job - it just proves that snape isn't really all bad and that ambivalence that the audience is supposed to feel has been messed up. i remember reading half blood for the first time, and after you are done with the book you are like FUCK YOU SNAPE!!!! that is how you are supposed to feel about it - you are supposed to be bewildered by his actions. by having snape protect harry, it basically explains that snape is on their side by not revealing harry to the rest of the deatheaters for him to be killed too.
also the delivery that snape gives at the end where he reveals that he is the halfblood prince - it was one of the most cheesiest deliveries i have ever seen! and this is appalling to me because alan rickman is a genius actor.
ok i know that is a long rant - here are some things that i DID like about the movie:
slughorn was absolutely delightful! he pretty much made this movie for me - like when he spills his beer on hermione? i thought that was hilarious! i was giggling at just about everything he says, excellent casting choice! i also thought it was hilarious when ron drank the poison and dropped to the floor (even though it was scary to watch him have a seizure).
i thought lavender did a brilliant job, i was laughing hysterically at her antics too. and in general, everyone's acting has GREATLY improved with this film. i was really impressed with the three main leads - but there was something off about ginny. will thinks that shes not pretty enough to be ginny - i dont think that's true, but she's just not a strong actor and doesn't have a strong personality (oh wait this reminds me of another problems i have - how harry is supposed to break up with ginny at the end of school and never does!) also, i lovvvvved the quidditch scene with ron - it was one of the best quidditch scenes they have done. also liked how they did the unforgivable curse bit, that was cool to watch too.
me and will jumped and screamed at the part when the inferi reaches out for harry s hand! it was so funny cause will's arm was around me and i could feel him still shaking from being scared after it happened. when dumbledore casts the fire, that shit was insane! also side note: me and will saw the movie at the drive-in DURING A LIGHTNING STORM! it was just drizzling rain but their was lightning lighting up the sky for the entire movie - it was absolutely amazing to watch this along with the movie, esp. that last scene! talk about ambiance!
ugh just reminded of another thing - how they didn't talk about how bill and fleur are together!!!! how are they going to start off the next movie with their wedding if we don't even know about they are dating? also if they burned down the burrow, are they going to even have a wedding now? (i'm assuming the burrows will be restored with magic) also, this wasnt super important to have in the movie but i thought it would have been cool to show how harry sees the diadem when he is hiding the half blood prince's book in the room of requirement.
ok i know this was a long rant, i tried to warn ya haha! i mean, overall, the movie was entertaining - prob the best movie so far. i could have lived with a lot of the changes but i just felt like they underestimate their fans or frankly, just don't care about what the fans appreciate. i know that j.k. rowling has some sort of creative control over these movies but i really question just how much control she really has because i feel like she would not have wanted some of those scenes to be played out the same way (or maybe i'm giving her too much credit). maybe they care more about making these movies appeal to people who haven't read the books, then to people who have - but with that said, i think the movie is STILL really confusing for people who haven't read it!
but i am NEVER satisfied with any of the movies so i don't know why i would be for this one! i guess i just need to finally accept that the movies aren't going to be as emotionally satisfying as the books!
i am mere hours away from seeing harry potter and the half blood prince on the big screen - i seriously have been waiting for this for SOOOOOO long! it took all my strength not to go to the midnight showing when it was first released. my sister said i am crazy for waiting this long but i didn't want to see the movie and go through this whole emotional journey and then have to go immediately to sleep when i got out of the movie cause i have work the next day. will and i are going to the drive-in to see it - its the perfect place to go! we can eat what we want, talk as loud as we want, AND lay down while we are watching! i don't know what i will do when summer ends and i can't go to the drive-in anymore - its the only way that i want to watch movies now!
i have been listening to some wizard rock to get me psyched up for the movie. can't get this song out of my head! the song is about harry potter asking cho chang to the yule ball and getting rejected. oliver boyd and the remembralls is one of the BEST wizard rock bands there is - his voice is superb! i really hope this boy "makes it" one day because he is so gifted!
enjoy!
i don't know how it is even possible for me to get *MORE* excited for the film release of harry potter and the half blood prince...but warner brothers just keeps releasing more trailers that turn my panties into a bunch again!
omg, omg, omg! i still cannot get over the fact that i ACTUALLY got to see daniel radcliffe in Equus last weekend!!! i am still dizzy and excited over the experience...it was truly magical!
we knew that there would be a snow storm that day so we figured we should do as little driving as possible so will and i took the metro-north train from new haven into grand central. it was a good thing too cause the snow already started to fall before we even got to the train station.
richard griffiths, the man that plays mr.dursley in the harry potter movies, played the main character in the play - the psychiatrist that has alan (daniel radcliffe) as a patient. richard was truly remarkable - he had the audience completely under his spell as soon as he walked on stage. his delivery was excellent - i found myself laughing through out the entire show, which was a surprise for me because it is also a very serious story. both will and i were also surprised to see kate mulgrew in the show, playing the court magistrate that takes pity on alan. i knew i recognized her from somewhere and will said i probably knew her from star trek voyager.
ok, so lets talk about daniel! first off, he is short - like really short! i really think he can't be much taller then me and i am 5'3. secondly - he is a fucking AWESOME actor! i know that harry potter is not the most challenging role in the world but the character of alan definitley is not an easy role to handle. he had to convince the audience that he was insane but also play it in a way so that we would sympathize with his character. he really had some tough scenes to act out and he was so impressive to me - i'm not even saying this because i'm a fan-girl, he REALLY was amazing! he had moments where he was supposed to make the audience laugh (he did!) and also moments where he was crying and screaming and being really emotional.
...and then there was the moment when he took ALL OF HIS CLOTHES OFF!!!!!! that was the very last scene of the play so everything was leading up to it. when he took his clothes off, i could not even breathe!
***i should also mention at this point that i brought some binoculars to the show. i was using them all throughout the play to get a better view of the actors. and i am dead serious on this - about midway through the first act, i SWEAR richard griffiths looked RIGHT AT ME and gave me the evil eye for using binoculars. it was either the evil eye or total bewilderment that someone in the fifth row would even need binoculars. i figured if anyone made a big fuss over it, i would just tell them that i'm vision impaired or something.
***i should also mention that about eight hours after we saw the show, when were lounging in our hotel room - it suddenly occurred to both will and i that maybe it was a leeeeeeeetle inappropriate to bring binoculars to the show. we both started laughing hysterically at the absurdity of it all! but hey, even if richard griffiths DID give me the stink eye - i would STILL do it again!
during the curtain call, some of the audience stood up to applaud daniel and richard. i was hooting and hollering and clapping with my hands over my head. as daniel went to exit the stage, i SWEAR TO YOU that he looked at me - i really am convinced that he did! i thought it might have been wishful thinking on my part but will told me that he DID look at me because everyone else had sat back down in their seats and i was the only one still standing and applauding! so yes - harry potter looked at me!!!! hopefully he didn't notice the binoculars hanging around my neck...
Show us the last book you read.
will left for washington d.c. this morning to spend christmas with his mom so we decided to open our gifts to each other last night. i think that is the one tradition that me and will have created together - opening presents early! whenever we get each other something, neither one of us can stand waiting till the actual date to open it. whether its christmas or our birthdays or valentine's day, we always manage to sneak our presents early.
we told each other not to spend a lot of money on presents since we are trying to save up money right now for our move to california...so i just bought will a dvd. will apparently didn't remember to not spend a lot of money or decided to ignore that condition and bought me....TWO TICKETS TO SEE EQUUS IN NYC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that's right folks!!! i'm going to get to see daniel radcliffe perform equus AND i get to see his wang!!!!!!!
my boyfriend is awesome - not only for spending much more money on me then he should have...but he's not even intimidated by the fact that i'm going to see my harry potter crush totally naked!!!
we are also going to try to get a hotel room either in the city or back in connecticut after the show. we have not had quality alone time since we moved back in with my parents and we DEFINITLEY need some!
ohhhh i can't wait for january 10th to come!
me and will spent last weekend in brooklyn having a fantastic time! that is really rare of me to say about NYC because as much as i love the excitement of the city, i always come home feeling exhausted and drained. this weekend was just the opposite! we spent a relaxing saturday night catching up with my friends julie & kathy and then on sunday, we headed down to the public assembly to attend the first wizard rock festival held in NYC.
then on sunday, we said our goodbyes and headed out to the wrock show. the show ended up being right near this park on the brooklyn shore and we got these amazing shots of the city. i had never been to this part of the city and it was so nice to see a "green" area (sometimes all the buildings in the city overwhelm me). i think the best times to visit NYC are in the spring or the fall because its not too hot and its not too cold to be outside.
just have to write one last post before i'm officially on vacation.
the boyfriend sent me this amazing and touching video montage set to oliver boyd and the remembrall's tune open at the close. (for all you potter fans, i'm sure you know what open at the close means!)
i seriously just started crying at work listening to this song...anything pertaining to the deathly hallows turns me into a blubbering fool.
