Harry Potter Marathon Part 2: Chamber of Basilisk Boogaloo

[aria624]

HP2: The Chamber of Secrets

Yeah okay this really has become a liveblog.  Whatever it's fun.

• Dobby!  DOBBY I LUV YOU.  I wish you were in more of the movies.
• The Burrow is one of my favorite places.  Can I be a Weasley?  GOD Julie Walter's costuming is amazing.  And Mark Williams is delightfully dotty.
• Kenneth Branaugh was the most genius casting in the history of genius.  He is EXACTLY who I thought of for Lockhart.
• Lucious Malfoy.  THAT HAIR.  That voice!   Great character intro.
• Nice continuity moment, getting the same Kings Cross guard.
• I really like the mandrake scene, I thought that was pretty fun.
• I love the multitude of Lockhart portraits in the DADA classroom.  I bet those little vignettes were fun to film.
• Examples of terrible supporting cast acting: Marcus Flint.
• I like the interaction with Hermione and Hagrid here. 
• "Celebrity is as celebrity does, Harry.  Remember that."  <3 
• Okay, I realize they had to make the spiders bigger so you could actually see them, but ew.
• Because the ENTIRE school would randomly end up in that hallway.  That makes TOTAL sense
• "My cat.  Has been petrified!"  Filch is great here.
• I'm glad they gave the Chamber explanation to McGonagall.  Although I always end up watching all the animals in the background.  THERE IS A LEMUR.  I wonder how many times they had to reshoot this cause an animal went all crazy.
• Quidditch always sounded like it would be super fun to play, but I'd probably be terrified out of my wits flying around that fast. 
• I adore Colin Creevey
• Someone had a lot of fun designing props for this.  The Skele-Gro bottle is hilarious.  Can I be on the kind of marketing team that gets to design that stuff?  I love all the candy boxes.
• Dobbyyyyy. 
• I get why they cast Shirley Henderson, I mean, that VOICE.  But really.  She's like, thirty.  She doesn't look like a student at all, no matter how many pigtails and ill-fitted glasses you use.
• God I love the Dueling Club scene.  This is glorious.  I love the restraint in Rickman's voice.
• Aww yeah, Potter vs. Malfoy.  Although, really, Rictusempra is a tickling charm guys.  Not a send you spiraling backwards spell.
• I wonder who came up with the sound of Parseltongue.  I mean, it's pretty good, but where do you start for something like that?
• Sherbet Lemon. :)
• I really wish they'd done a better CGI Fawkes.  It looks like something out of the Labyrinth.
• It's funny, but I've kind of come to associate Harry Potter movies with Christmas.  Maybe it's because there's a Christmas scene in nearly every movie, or ABC family always airs them over Christmas.
• Let's be honest.  I'd totally eat a floating cupcake.  Maybe not one I randomly found floating in the hallway, but still.
• Kudos to props design for those mugs.  Not sure why I really like them.
• Harry, you can't run into a stall to vomit because we need to show the potion working, but we don't have the special effects budget for all three of you.
• Props to the actors playing Crabbe and Goyle here.  They do a good job of not acting like themselves.  Sort of impressive really.
•  I sort of love Malfoy in this scene.
• Catmione. 
• Really, Myrtle's lines are great, and Henderson's delivery is spot on.  If she were just twenty years younger, it'd be perfect.
• So there used to be this animated bible show where a couple of kids would get sucked into the stories through their big bible.  That's what I think of whenever Harry gets pulled into the diary, cause it's virtually the same effect.  SUPERBOOK!
• Mmmm Tom Riddle.  What, he was good looking. 
• I'm never sure if I liked the monochromatic effect or not.
• "Once their acne clears up"  I always loved the descriptions of the mandrakes aging.  In the books, I think they start trying to move into each other's pots. 
• Petrified Hermione was always kind of sad.
• It always amazes me that Fang is a real dog.
• I like Fudge a lot.  He was well cast.  Except his bowler is not green.  This is a major character flaw.
• Isaacs is *so good*.  His delivery is fantastic.  "I have no pleasure being in your...you call this a house?"
• Whyyy are there so many giant spiderssss in this caaastle.  I remember in the books, Ron explaining his fear of spiders always made me laugh hysterically - having your teddy bear turned into a spider would be pretty traumatic.
• Look, I'm just saying, I know the Forbidden Forest is huge, but *someone* would probably notice a frillion spiders living in it.  That whole thing could have been accomplished with half the amount of spiders.
• Wouldn't someone have noticed the *giant* piece of paper in Hermione's hand before now?
• Did...did it ever really make sense for Slytherin to build the chamber entrance in a girls restroom?  
• I like how Lockhart can't refute the "Better you than us" argument.  Like, Yeah, okay, you're right. 
• Myrtle flirting.  See, it's CREEPY.  If she was *actually* fourteen.  It would not be!
• Gosh, those are CONVENIENTLY large pipes.
• Sidenote:  I'm really excited to see the scene where Ron and Hermione come back here in the last film.
• I always liked this set.
• I also noticed that they didn't have the cool custom wands yet.   I'll have to look for those, I think it wasn't until movie 3.
• AWW Yeah Basilisk Fight.
• I liked the effect of stabbing the diary, although it was a little cheesy.  I liked the ink spewing effect.
• Like, really, was Fawkes animatronic?  It's creepy looking
• Dobbyyyy.  (Yes, that's totally my reaction every time.  I love Dobby)
• OOoooo shadowylighting on Malfoy's face effect.  Oooooo
• "YOU SHALL NOT HARM HARRY POTTER!"  Aww yeah Dobby.
• Really?  Was he really about to cast Avada Kedavra?  That always bothered me.
• I cheered like a madman when Hagrid came back.  This whole "reunion" sequence is so cheesy, but adorable.
• Triumphant French Horns!  Introspective Violins! and Cheerful Flutes! 

Oh lord it's already 4pm.  I don't think I'm getting through all these tonight.