(no subject)

[ebonlock]

Have you ever had such a wonderful weekend that you don't even know where to start describing it? I'm faced with that very problem today. I admit I went into this busy, busy weekend with a bit of trepedation. I mean I haven't had the energy to face a full 48 hours packed with stuff in a long while. I guess I keep expecting my body to fall apart again and leave me curled up fetal somewhere for a good portion of the time.

Not dealing with nausea, pain and fatigue is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Despite not slowing down since leaving work Friday I feel utterly energized today, excited, ready to take on almost anything. It helped that before I left Friday I got an update on the work my team's been doing on my first big game production and I was utterly floored. I have the best people working for me in the entire world, bar none. Between them, my exquisitely talented writer and my frighteningly good artist I couldn't be happier.

Zoomed down from work to pick up ravenmb, and after a little miscommunication at the terminal we were on our way. Stopped at tersa's to change into our Hogwarts costumes, then off to the Mercado. Parking was dicey, but after about 10 minutes of driving around we lucked into a spot and made it to the restaurant pretty much on time. rexluscus joined the gang a bit later and we had a wonderful meal, and delightful conversation. The line wasn't bad at all when we got into it, and we amused ourselves during the wait without any difficulty. We also amused many others in line and some folks just passing by as well. I must coax tersa into uploading them because the dueling Gryffindor/Slytherin shot needs to be an icon rather badly. She got a sneaky one of me too which I call "Portrait of a Ravenclaw with cell phone". I may caption it, "What do you mean I only get one bar at Hogwarts?"



Overall I'd sum the movie up this way, first 3/4 = excellent, last 1/4 = disappointing. I will say that much like the book, this is a story for grownups not kids, and anyone taking a child under the age of 12 to see it is daft, or utterly clueless. But hey, if you want to deal with the nightmares afterwards that's your business.

Sure the beginning of the flick was rushed, but it's a helluva lot to get through story-wise and they were trying to cram the whole thing into 2 1/2 hours, so I forgive the loss of a lot of the Quidditch World Cup. Though just seeing the magical encampment and the arena itself was more than satisfying enough. It was also the scene that had me thinking, "I'm seeing this in IMAX. Oh yes, yes I am." Of course just seeing Draco in that black suit was enough to convince me of that. Oh my sweet lord he was almost painfully hawt in this film.

The Death Eater attack was fucking scary, man, and the fact that it took maybe a dozen of them to completely decimate the entire encampment had my jaw dropping. After they got finished the place looked like Dresden after the bombing. And I have to give some big props to the design team for making the Dark Mark look a lot less silly than it does in the drawings in and on the books. I loved the constantly moving snake aspect of it. Made it look a lot less like something a 15 year old boy would get tattooed on his butt and regret for the rest of his life.

The acting overall was superb, and I definitely agree with everyone who's been heaping praise on the portrayal of Mad Eye Moody. Though no "Constant vigilance!"? WTF? I was also astonished at how much screentime Barty Crouch Jr. got. The clues to lead audience members to the identity of the bad guy were a bit obvious, but not painfully so, though some of the more interesting clues were left out entirely.

I was sad to see Rita, the foe glass, and of course Snape being totally underused in this film. What we did get to see of them was interesting, but thoroughly unsatisfying. The Rita storyline was kind of just dropped and we totally missed the Hermione subplot end as satisfyingly as it did in the books. I assume this means she won't be back in the next one? In any case Miranda did a fantastic job with her and I was sad that she didn't get more screentime. And Cedric could've used more development to give his death some actual meaning. Though big thumbs up for the actor who turned dropping Harry a clue about the egg and the Prefect's bathroom into one of the slashiest sounding invitations I believe I've ever seen in a film.

And, um, Harry in the tub...I'm so going to hell for impure thoughts about a teenager.

Of course the real tragedy was the fact that Severus ended up being a very background character, doing little more than giving Albus some ridiculously bad advice, having fun with the kids, and threatening Harry about the missing Polyjuice ingredients. Now I have to say that with so little to work with Alan was absolutely amazing. That man can take even the simplest dialogue or gesture and just make it so much more than the writers could've dreamed.

What destroyed me, though, and definitely took away from the end of the film was the removal of my favorite scene in the book. Fudge is being a twit about the return of Lord V- and Severus stalks over to him, rips up his left sleeve and shoves it under the man's nose. I wanted to see the Dark Mark on his arm so badly I could taste it. And oh my god I wanted to see what Alan would do with Snape's response to Albus asking him to return to spying on the Dark Lord. He would've made it downright magical I'm sure.

So they basically cut out all the intro stuff for Order of the Phoenix for no reason that I can conceive of. I mean I enjoyed all the fun sequences they put in beforehand to play up the humor aspect so the film wouldn't be grindingly sad and frightening. The Ron/Harry break up was utterly believeable and deftly played. Hermione's chance to shine was quite nice, and her breakdown at the end of the Yule ball all too familiar to any woman who remembers what it was like to be a teenaged girl. And I can't say enough about Neville's development, just superb, that at least sets up his actions in OftP in a way that the other characters really didn't get.

I was also a bit surprised at just how out of control and frightened Albus was in this film. He was distracted, indecisive, and profoundly scared for most of the flick, which is an odd choice I think. He constantly seemed to be trying to play catch up, too distracted by his own memories and concerns to really address what was going on around him in any meaningful way. Was it foreshadowing for HBP? Are we meant to believe that Albus was slowly falling apart this whole time and that this is what leads him to completely misjudge Severus and end up dead? I had no doubts when I read the books that Dumbledore was in charge and that his death was all part of the plan, but now I'm not so sure. Is this JK's way of telling us something or just a major red herring?

I just don't know.

In any case, a big thumb's up for the flick overall, though I'd say that PoA is still the better film when it comes right down to it. I laughed a lot, was frightened just enough, and like Harry was left saying, "I love magic!"

So of course we've got tickets to see it Friday at the SJ Tech museum's IMAX theater because it must be done. Getting to oggle costumes and check out details like who the hell was in that one shot of the foe glass will be really wonderful.

Oh and before I end this, I've decided I have two major fic needs after seeing the film:

1) Snape/Karkaroff - 'nuff said.
2) Please somebody either write or point me at a fic that handles the missing scene between Snape and Barty when everyone else leaves them alone together. Pretty please?

Edit: Also Ralph Fiennes was one badass Lord V, and I dug his robe big time.


Saturday I had some time for errands and laundry (yay!), then met up with the gals to watch tersa and ravenmb play the GoF game, then Aelf joined us and we took off for dinner and a little shopping. Then there was hockey, which started off badly, but then the Pod Sharks came out on the ice in the second period so it became a lot more interesting. It's always sad to lose in a shootout, but I'll take that over a complete shut out, you know?

Yesterday we had brunch at Baji's, which is quickly becoming a tradition, before splitting up. I procured IMAX tickets (yay!), did a bit of packing over at J- and J-'s place, then zoomed home to change for dinner. We had the restaurant to ourselves for most of the evening, which meant pretty attentive waiters and a nice relaxing chance for ravenmb, jimweasel, Aelf and I to chat. Our dancer for the evening was Parri, and as there were very few people by the time she arrived, we got a great deal of her attention. Suffice to say that everyone at our table got their shot at the spotlight. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. She came over and joined us after the show, and mentioned some dance opportunities for Aelf so that was cool. We also got caught up on the latest dance gossip :)

And that's about it, I got home around 9:30, just in time to snag some earrings that Aelf needed for a gift since she was trapped on 17 hell, poor thing. Tonight I clean my apartment, tomorrow's packed with work stuff, then Wednesday I have some cat sitting to attend to and that's about it before the holiday, woo!

Comments

[divine-debris.livejournal.com]

So glad to hear that you enjoyed the film...not to mention your weekend! We liked it too although it was very Sirius and Snape light. I really wish that Franz Ferdinand had made an appearance at the dance, even though Jarvis Cocker is a nice replacement. Ralph Fiennes was the ultimate though, could he be more brilliant in...well...everything!? We certainly felt that the ending lacked the gravity and melancholy that the book did though, seemed like everyone just kind of shrugged off Cedric really. Of course, the 3rd book is my favorite and I think the third movie is still my favorite film but this was fun. Really looking forward to #5, although I am bound to be a wreck when Sirius travels beyond the veil.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a little worried about movie 5, given what they felt could be cut out of this one. I mean are we going to get the Occlumency classes? Are we going to get "Snape's Worst Memory"? What's going to be left on the cutting room floor? I'm almost afraid to find out at this point.

[divine-debris.livejournal.com]

I would think they would *have* to put that stuff in since it would make people *think* he was just petty and vindictive enough to administer the dirt nap on Dumbledore. Right? Who knows though, they seem to pick and choose the strangest things to focus on, I realize they only have 2 1/2 hours to get a lot in but come on!