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Jun. 5th, 2004 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phineasjonesi have a mini sirius action figure sitting by my computer as i write this morning, given to me by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dorrie6's husband. ♥. actually, starbuckle picked sirius but i traded her for my hermione.
i had a fantastic time last night. it was so excellent to see so many valley fangirls (and their boys) again. we were, undoubtedly, the loudest crowd in line. silly and obnoxious and having a great time of it.
i'm having a hard time gathering concrete thoughts about the movie. i thought it was amazing, beautiful, thrilling. so different from and so much better than the first two that it almost doesn't bear comparison. just the fact that i feel strongly - in positive and negative ways - about this adaptation of the book indicates that it was, in fact, an adaptation. after the first two, i just kind of shrugged and thought about how adorable rupert grint is. but i will now try to say some less general things. it's not all positive, so read at your own risk. it is also very scattered and random as i have no orderly thoughts at the moment.
-omg dan radcliffe. you are a mini-man. i have shame-inducing, inappropriate thoughts about you. ::facepalm::
-also on the subject of dannyboy, at random points throughout the movie, i would think, who is he reminding me of? and then it would hit me. ephram. ah, the universality of teen angst.
-at the dursleys': this was all it took to assure me that we were in good hands. in the books and the first two films, the dursley parts are always so tedious and painful. this was perfect. it was fast paced and short but managed to tell us all we really needed to know. we got that harry had to do his studying on the sly, that they treated him like shit still, that the one thing that sends him over the edge is insulting his parents. and that he flew out of there in a fury. but everything about it was masterful - the filming, the look of the house. the acting was better right away. yes. yes.
-the acting from all the children was just a thousand times better. cuaron! i mean, the twins in the first movies give the impression they couldn't act their way out of a paper bag but here, though they don't have a lot of screen time, they use it so well. and they act and talk like the book!twins. alxamdulilaay.
-felton seems to have lost his speech impediment. woot.
-another general thing... it's occurred to me that a major difference between the way this movie was made and the way the first two thing were is that, in PoA, more than one thing happens at one time. snape is talking while draco send alove note love note, for example. magic is always happening, in an everyday way (like it should be) while they're walking or talking or whatever. whereas columbus gave us one event... grand pause... another event... etc. which is, i think, one reason that the pacing in this movie kicks the others' asses.
-on that same point though, i often felt way too rushed when important things were coming out. most especially the scene at the three broomsticks. i don't care that it wasn't the way it happened in the book, but i care that it was so frantic and there was barely time to observe what was being said. and that they didn't lay it out a little more clearly. i wanted mcgonagall to say, 'sirius and james were the best of friends' or 'sirius was best man at james and lily's wedding' or something like that. it comes across later, but i really wanted it laid out. also rushed was the whole shrieking shack scene. it made it exciting and a little scary, which was good, but i felt a little time to drive home some of the key points would not have gone amiss.
-yeah, the missing mwpp background was a mistake. straight up. i was very aware of all that was different and left out since i had just read the book. and most of it was necessary and cleverly done. but not that part... it leaves out essential information. i do not agree with the choice. the movie could have handled being 5 minutes longer to work that all in somehow.
-the teenager-ness of this whole movie was so right on. harry's angstiness was beautiful. ron and hermione's awkwardness together was funny and not overdone. the boys hanging out in their dormitory... squee.
-loved the 'where did she come from?' moments. perfectly understated yet reiterated. and funny. thumbs up.
-much with the h/d in this movie. in really fun ways. felton's draco was finally there. in a nasty bully, simpering coward kind of way. in the winter scene, he reminded me of the bully from 'a christmas story,' you know, with the hat and all.
ok, i'm kind of avoiding the closer to home topics, can you tell? here they are then...
-i did not like thewlis' lupin. not a scrap. and i was trying my absolute hardest to be open-minded about it. i was almost tempted to lie here and say i thought he was ok just so i don't sound so stubborn and all. but i won't lie. i didn't like him at all. he was... well,callmesandy brought up and i completely agree that the way he suddenly gushes forth with thoughts about lily etc is ooc as well as being strange and out of place. lupin in the books and in my heart and head is economic with his words. and in the book, he's reluctant to reveal his relationship to harry's parents - and through them, sirius. in the movie, he's all blah blah blah yada yada. not that it wasn't poignant and all for harry to hear nice things about him mum, it just shouldn't have happened like that.
and that is part of my larger issue with this lupin. he was a little too... easy with harry. i missed the tense quiet that surrounds their book interactions. and he was so... large. so hunched over with his cane. so pasty. really, this issue is that he is so old. and we've all had this discussion, so i won't go on about it. but where i look at rickman's snape and think, he's too old but he's so great in that role, i look at thewlis and think, he's too old.
so, it wasn't like movie!faramir. he wasn't unrecognizable in character. i can see that he was someone's take on remus. i just really, really didn't like it.
-oldman's sirius, however, surprised and delighted me. i didn't expect to like him, but i loved him. he's not exactly 'my sirius' either, but he was one i could understand and support. his mania in the shrieking shack was brilliant and very different from how i had pictured it would be. in the book, i feel like he's more tired and quietly insane. oldman's sirius was kind of spastic. it worked.
generally, i wasn't quite prepared for how seeing sirius on screen would affect me. even from the posters and the newspapers... my heart was in my throat. and then seeing him stand there and hearing him talk, god, i was so emotional about it. (whereas, i couldn't force myself to feel that way about lupin)
and his scenes with harry were so sweet. and then his last scene. twist the knife, much? ::cries::
-and seeing sirius and remus together was something else entirely. it was so hectic anyway that i didn't have to think about what thewlis was doing to lupin. it was just sirius and remus, together. and oh. the look when they first see each other. the embrace. the way they are in perfect sync after 12 years apart. the married couple line.
and the transformation. i couldn't even take it in, it was just too much. in the right way.
whew. of course there's more but i'll have to say it later. i left the theater feeling a little disconcerted. a little conflicted. mostly because of lupin, honestly. i knew and i know that this is a great movie and i'm so grateful that it was so well done. i want to see it again, like now. but i can't now. i think if i see it again, knowing my reaction to lupin beforehand, i'll be able to feel even better about all the other parts.
dorrie6's husband. ♥. actually, starbuckle picked sirius but i traded her for my hermione. i had a fantastic time last night. it was so excellent to see so many valley fangirls (and their boys) again. we were, undoubtedly, the loudest crowd in line. silly and obnoxious and having a great time of it.
i'm having a hard time gathering concrete thoughts about the movie. i thought it was amazing, beautiful, thrilling. so different from and so much better than the first two that it almost doesn't bear comparison. just the fact that i feel strongly - in positive and negative ways - about this adaptation of the book indicates that it was, in fact, an adaptation. after the first two, i just kind of shrugged and thought about how adorable rupert grint is. but i will now try to say some less general things. it's not all positive, so read at your own risk. it is also very scattered and random as i have no orderly thoughts at the moment.
-omg dan radcliffe. you are a mini-man. i have shame-inducing, inappropriate thoughts about you. ::facepalm::
-also on the subject of dannyboy, at random points throughout the movie, i would think, who is he reminding me of? and then it would hit me. ephram. ah, the universality of teen angst.
-at the dursleys': this was all it took to assure me that we were in good hands. in the books and the first two films, the dursley parts are always so tedious and painful. this was perfect. it was fast paced and short but managed to tell us all we really needed to know. we got that harry had to do his studying on the sly, that they treated him like shit still, that the one thing that sends him over the edge is insulting his parents. and that he flew out of there in a fury. but everything about it was masterful - the filming, the look of the house. the acting was better right away. yes. yes.
-the acting from all the children was just a thousand times better. cuaron! i mean, the twins in the first movies give the impression they couldn't act their way out of a paper bag but here, though they don't have a lot of screen time, they use it so well. and they act and talk like the book!twins. alxamdulilaay.
-felton seems to have lost his speech impediment. woot.
-another general thing... it's occurred to me that a major difference between the way this movie was made and the way the first two thing were is that, in PoA, more than one thing happens at one time. snape is talking while draco send a
-on that same point though, i often felt way too rushed when important things were coming out. most especially the scene at the three broomsticks. i don't care that it wasn't the way it happened in the book, but i care that it was so frantic and there was barely time to observe what was being said. and that they didn't lay it out a little more clearly. i wanted mcgonagall to say, 'sirius and james were the best of friends' or 'sirius was best man at james and lily's wedding' or something like that. it comes across later, but i really wanted it laid out. also rushed was the whole shrieking shack scene. it made it exciting and a little scary, which was good, but i felt a little time to drive home some of the key points would not have gone amiss.
-yeah, the missing mwpp background was a mistake. straight up. i was very aware of all that was different and left out since i had just read the book. and most of it was necessary and cleverly done. but not that part... it leaves out essential information. i do not agree with the choice. the movie could have handled being 5 minutes longer to work that all in somehow.
-the teenager-ness of this whole movie was so right on. harry's angstiness was beautiful. ron and hermione's awkwardness together was funny and not overdone. the boys hanging out in their dormitory... squee.
-loved the 'where did she come from?' moments. perfectly understated yet reiterated. and funny. thumbs up.
-much with the h/d in this movie. in really fun ways. felton's draco was finally there. in a nasty bully, simpering coward kind of way. in the winter scene, he reminded me of the bully from 'a christmas story,' you know, with the hat and all.
ok, i'm kind of avoiding the closer to home topics, can you tell? here they are then...
-i did not like thewlis' lupin. not a scrap. and i was trying my absolute hardest to be open-minded about it. i was almost tempted to lie here and say i thought he was ok just so i don't sound so stubborn and all. but i won't lie. i didn't like him at all. he was... well,
callmesandy brought up and i completely agree that the way he suddenly gushes forth with thoughts about lily etc is ooc as well as being strange and out of place. lupin in the books and in my heart and head is economic with his words. and in the book, he's reluctant to reveal his relationship to harry's parents - and through them, sirius. in the movie, he's all blah blah blah yada yada. not that it wasn't poignant and all for harry to hear nice things about him mum, it just shouldn't have happened like that. and that is part of my larger issue with this lupin. he was a little too... easy with harry. i missed the tense quiet that surrounds their book interactions. and he was so... large. so hunched over with his cane. so pasty. really, this issue is that he is so old. and we've all had this discussion, so i won't go on about it. but where i look at rickman's snape and think, he's too old but he's so great in that role, i look at thewlis and think, he's too old.
so, it wasn't like movie!faramir. he wasn't unrecognizable in character. i can see that he was someone's take on remus. i just really, really didn't like it.
-oldman's sirius, however, surprised and delighted me. i didn't expect to like him, but i loved him. he's not exactly 'my sirius' either, but he was one i could understand and support. his mania in the shrieking shack was brilliant and very different from how i had pictured it would be. in the book, i feel like he's more tired and quietly insane. oldman's sirius was kind of spastic. it worked.
generally, i wasn't quite prepared for how seeing sirius on screen would affect me. even from the posters and the newspapers... my heart was in my throat. and then seeing him stand there and hearing him talk, god, i was so emotional about it. (whereas, i couldn't force myself to feel that way about lupin)
and his scenes with harry were so sweet. and then his last scene. twist the knife, much? ::cries::
-and seeing sirius and remus together was something else entirely. it was so hectic anyway that i didn't have to think about what thewlis was doing to lupin. it was just sirius and remus, together. and oh. the look when they first see each other. the embrace. the way they are in perfect sync after 12 years apart. the married couple line.
and the transformation. i couldn't even take it in, it was just too much. in the right way.
whew. of course there's more but i'll have to say it later. i left the theater feeling a little disconcerted. a little conflicted. mostly because of lupin, honestly. i knew and i know that this is a great movie and i'm so grateful that it was so well done. i want to see it again, like now. but i can't now. i think if i see it again, knowing my reaction to lupin beforehand, i'll be able to feel even better about all the other parts.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-05 10:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-10 12:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-05 10:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-10 11:59 am (UTC)