Premiere Part 2
May. 24th, 2004 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI can't even begin to talk about the film without spoilers, so the whole thing is cut. I'm sure that I could write a reasoned, coherent film review here, as after all, I used to do it all the time, but I'm sort of not in the mood, and anyway, I didn't take any notes. Besides, every once in a while I should be able to just be excited about something on my journal. It's not like I'm a squee machine. So don't harsh my mellow, man.
The short answer is, I thought the first two movies were complete crap; I saw them once in the theater and then dutifully bought the DVDs. I have never seen them again on cable and the CoS DVD is still in its shrink wrap; I got PS/SS as a gift from some magazine. But PoA? It's actually a real film. I'm looking forward very much to seeing it again at the IMAX, and I might even see it inbetween time or after the IMAX screening in a calmer environment. So yes, it's that much better.
Wow. From the very first shot, you realize that you are finally, finally in the hands of a real director because OMG, there is actually a visual sense of storytelling! The shots are framed not just for what needs to be in them, but also to look good as a visual. And the first time Dan opens his mouth as Harry, it's to say something snarky. It's like being punched, but in a really good way.
Even in the second scene, when Aunt Marge blows up, the visual style is so gorgeous and so modern and different—and the score? It's like a sore thumb, sadly. John Williams is a hack and I'm very sorry they didn't get a new composer when they got a new director.
(You know, I really think the twee cutesy children's film style of the first two movies wasn't just generally crappy and got bad acting out of the kids. I think it was actually a disservice to the spirit of the books themselves, as magic or no magic, they are relentlessly modern. Finally, with this film, we have a visual style that is just as modern and I wish to all that is holy that the music had been, too, and not the "ooh, it's a magical world" bullshit we've been getting from Williams. Then again, if there is anything I cannot stand it's fake watered down classical music, so there you go.)
And the pacing? This film moves like a bullet train and thank goodness for that as it has a great deal of ground to cover. Events come and go so quickly that before we knew it, it was the day of the shrieking shack scene. There wasn't an Act II lull—there wasn't even a lull! All those pics on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
weatherby's LJ the other week are from a short little scene of the boys just hanging around on their first night back at school—and we have time for those tiny character/lifestyle notes because there isn't dull plot regurgitation. They explain nothing; they just keep going and hope you'll catch up.
Lupin is just, perfection, and again, he is Mr Chips. Someone check this cue: Was that "Sing Sing Sing" he puts on in the boggart scene? I wished we could have had more of that scene just to be able to see all these kids go through their paces while swing played on the grammophone. (And now we know, yes, they do listen to recorded music, thanks.) In fact, he was often listening to swing, which I thought was a dear little detail, as there was definitely something pre-WWII about him. Yes, indeed, Mr. Chips.
Poor Ron still isn't taken all that seriously by the film, I didn't think, and I really felt that decision to give that great line to Hermione wasn't the right one after all, as Ron doesn't have much to do in the film anyway.
Hermione, however, rocks my world. Emma was great, Hermione was strong and smart and every good thing, and PP'ers, the end of the film is everything you want it to be. There they are, working together, and it's just, fabulous. Even if you don't ship them, you have to admit, they make a brilliant team.
Sirius. Was. Perfect. Every single second of him. The dog and the man. There is nothing more to say.
The embrace? Far more than brothers, please. And Snape's comment is that they bicker like an old married couple! Yes, yes, I was in some sort of shippy craze. As I have said in the past, I came out of canon a H/H and S/R shipper, and this reminded me why.
Oh, and why am I okay with Devon Murray? Because now that Columbus is gone, he has stopped playing Seamus as the village idiot, thank you very much. Which reminds, as Josh noted, there are tons and tons of people in this film. I finally get a sense of this school as being a big place with lots of people running about. We didn't see the same kids surrounding them all the time. And my god, I also finally feel that I was brought into another world. Hurrah!
The short answer is, I thought the first two movies were complete crap; I saw them once in the theater and then dutifully bought the DVDs. I have never seen them again on cable and the CoS DVD is still in its shrink wrap; I got PS/SS as a gift from some magazine. But PoA? It's actually a real film. I'm looking forward very much to seeing it again at the IMAX, and I might even see it inbetween time or after the IMAX screening in a calmer environment. So yes, it's that much better.
Wow. From the very first shot, you realize that you are finally, finally in the hands of a real director because OMG, there is actually a visual sense of storytelling! The shots are framed not just for what needs to be in them, but also to look good as a visual. And the first time Dan opens his mouth as Harry, it's to say something snarky. It's like being punched, but in a really good way.
Even in the second scene, when Aunt Marge blows up, the visual style is so gorgeous and so modern and different—and the score? It's like a sore thumb, sadly. John Williams is a hack and I'm very sorry they didn't get a new composer when they got a new director.
(You know, I really think the twee cutesy children's film style of the first two movies wasn't just generally crappy and got bad acting out of the kids. I think it was actually a disservice to the spirit of the books themselves, as magic or no magic, they are relentlessly modern. Finally, with this film, we have a visual style that is just as modern and I wish to all that is holy that the music had been, too, and not the "ooh, it's a magical world" bullshit we've been getting from Williams. Then again, if there is anything I cannot stand it's fake watered down classical music, so there you go.)
And the pacing? This film moves like a bullet train and thank goodness for that as it has a great deal of ground to cover. Events come and go so quickly that before we knew it, it was the day of the shrieking shack scene. There wasn't an Act II lull—there wasn't even a lull! All those pics on
weatherby's LJ the other week are from a short little scene of the boys just hanging around on their first night back at school—and we have time for those tiny character/lifestyle notes because there isn't dull plot regurgitation. They explain nothing; they just keep going and hope you'll catch up. Lupin is just, perfection, and again, he is Mr Chips. Someone check this cue: Was that "Sing Sing Sing" he puts on in the boggart scene? I wished we could have had more of that scene just to be able to see all these kids go through their paces while swing played on the grammophone. (And now we know, yes, they do listen to recorded music, thanks.) In fact, he was often listening to swing, which I thought was a dear little detail, as there was definitely something pre-WWII about him. Yes, indeed, Mr. Chips.
Poor Ron still isn't taken all that seriously by the film, I didn't think, and I really felt that decision to give that great line to Hermione wasn't the right one after all, as Ron doesn't have much to do in the film anyway.
Hermione, however, rocks my world. Emma was great, Hermione was strong and smart and every good thing, and PP'ers, the end of the film is everything you want it to be. There they are, working together, and it's just, fabulous. Even if you don't ship them, you have to admit, they make a brilliant team.
Sirius. Was. Perfect. Every single second of him. The dog and the man. There is nothing more to say.
The embrace? Far more than brothers, please. And Snape's comment is that they bicker like an old married couple! Yes, yes, I was in some sort of shippy craze. As I have said in the past, I came out of canon a H/H and S/R shipper, and this reminded me why.
Oh, and why am I okay with Devon Murray? Because now that Columbus is gone, he has stopped playing Seamus as the village idiot, thank you very much. Which reminds, as Josh noted, there are tons and tons of people in this film. I finally get a sense of this school as being a big place with lots of people running about. We didn't see the same kids surrounding them all the time. And my god, I also finally feel that I was brought into another world. Hurrah!
