Harry Potter 6, and the insane evening that was.
I do have a long entry about my weekend in Regina all ready to be typed up (I wrote it in the car on the way home haha) but I figured that while it's still fresh in my mind, I would focus on the incredibly important issue at hand: The midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I was thrilled to see that the midnight release had broken records, although it's no surprise if the Grant Park theatre in Winnipeg was any indication of the rest of the world! I'd gotten tickets early on for myself, Megan and Lauren (the folks who attended the 5th movie premiere). At that point there was only one midnight showing at Grant Park. A couple of days later when Chelsea got tickets for herself and a friend, there were already two more shows added and the first two had sold out! I took this as a bad sign for us being in the same theatre and was really happy that Chelsea had someone to go with!!
Tuesday was a crazy fun evening in itself. I had dinner with Care and her parents which was really nice, then she and I watched the season finale of Canada's Next Top Model, (Side note: SO exciting!!! Go Meaghan from Winnipeg!!!! :D) followed by the All-Star Game. It was actually a really good game! I had to leave a bit before the conclusion, but was unsurprised to learn that the American League had won for the millionth time in a row haha.
Then it was time for Harry Potter! Lauren, Megan and I got a bit of a later start than anticipated and ended up getting to the theatre at 11:00, which wasn't the best idea ever as it was already pandefreakingmonium. I've never seen it so crazy!! And I've gone to the midnight premieres for the last two movies! (Maybe PoA as well? Not sure about that one...) There were four lines set up for the different theatres, but the instructions didn't reach the back of the crowd, so around the front doors of the mall the lines dissolved into a blob. Finally we got into the right line and were herded in. We ended up in the fourth row, which actually is still quite decent at Grant Park, so that was good! We took some photos and argued about the colour of Care's wallet while we waited for the film to start and I attempted not to pee myself in anticipation. You know, I kept feeling sort of sad about how ridiculously, pathetically, child-like anything HP related renders me, but at the same time I'm sort of glad that something still exists that can get this sort of reaction out of me.
I was definitely concerned about this movie going in, since I'd heard many reports that it takes more liberties with the text than any of its predecessors, which is potentially terrifying given GoF. Fortunately, I was mostly okay with what they did and enjoyed myself immensely! I'll be thrilled to see it many more times in the theatre as I always do! Haha. I'm actually quite interested to hear the opinions of people who see it without having read the book though, because in retrospect, there are a couple of things that actually make no sense whatsoever with the changes they've made (see below for spoilerish details). I may even notice more on repeated viewings! :P I am definitely really pleased with the end result though. And even happier now that they're splitting Book 7 into two films so that my insanity can continue on for two more years! :)
I got home at about 2:50am, and was too wired to sleep much, so I was working off about 2 hours during my 8am conflict resolution course. Good times! Well worth it though ;)
Nitpicks
The removal of the beautiful scene with Dumbledore at the Dursleys right at the beginning is understandable, but still really sad.
Throw Romilda Vane in for two scenes and don't give her any spoken lines? Odd.
Throw Lupin and Tonks into one scene and acknowledge their surprising relationship with one word? Also odd.
Continuing with the trend of underused minor characters, I might as well mention the two seconds Wormtail is on screen, and the absurdity of introducing the character of Fenrir Greyback without giving him any back story whatsoever. I can only assume that if he gets time in films 7 and 7.5, it'll be as an extra scary Death Eater instead of a voluntary werewolf, but I guess that's alright really.
I really wish they had put in more of the story surrounding Harry's obsession with the Half-Blood Prince and the trio's search for his identity. I can understand why it was cut, but it made the title of the movie a little less significant haha.
And lastly, really Dumbledore? You thought you'd send Harry on a search for Horcruxes without even mentioning what you think they might be? Really? Haha.
Bigger-picks
I'm sorry, did Harry Potter just leave Draco Malfoy lying bleeding to death on a bathroom floor with NO REPERCUSSIONS?? WHAT???? Lol. Great message for the tiny children. I'm the chosen one, so now I really can get away with murder! Snape lets Harry run away from this scene with nothing more than a stink-eye when not only has his charge just been attacked, but he's clearly figured out that Harry has his book? WHAT??? That's sure in character!! Lol.
And of course I'm sure this is going to be the biggest piss-off for all big fans - the replacement of the battle at Hogwarts with the totally bizarre attack on the Weasley house at Christmas. I read in Entertainment Weekly that the filmmakers thought that two big battles at Hogwarts would be repetitive, so they replaced the one from book 6 with this lovely little scene. I guess non-fans of the books probably won't dig too deeply into the lack of protection on this house that would be an amazingly obvious target. Or why the burning in general would even be a problem given that Dumbledore put a house back together in two seconds at the beginning of the movie. But oh well. I guess that scenes was sort of fun? However, what they replaced the actual battle at Hogwarts with...
Well it was fine. And enjoyable to watch. In fact, I was actually totally satisfied with it at the time. Watching Bellatrix merrily cause destruction for no reason is fun! But then the next day when I actually put some thought into it... So they're telling me that Draco spent an entire year labouring himself sick over the mending of a Vanishing Cabinet so that a couple of Death Eaters could arrive, giggle, hang out, break things...and leave? That's IT? The point of that was....??? That helped him in his quest to kill Dumbledore....how??? Lol! So amazingly ridiculous!! Again, I doubt that anyone who isn't a big fan will put any thought into this, but when it occurred to me I was pretty amused.
I realize that all of this rambling makes it sound like I didn't love the movie. I really really did. I was concerned with the level of cheese there could potentially be considering the focus on the adolescent relationships, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. Freddie Stroma who plays Cormac McLaggen was totally hilarious, not to mention all of the blatant sexual innuendos that surrounded him! (Don't even get me started on the homoeroticism between Snape and pretty much everyone). Jim Broadbent is yet another perfectly cast professor. Megan pointed out how impressive Tom Felton was in this movie as well. I don't think he's really had much of a chance to display any acting chops before this, and he really did a great job. The cuts that were made to Quidditch and the Tom Riddle memories were a little sad, but reasonable in my opinion. I was surprised that they cut out most of the Harry and Ginny relationship, but honestly I probably would have preferred in the book if it had been kept to one stolen kiss, so that was alright haha. I loved how they handled the final scene with Dumbledore too. Having Harry not immobile, but actively making the choice to trust Snape (As he does that totally delicious and homoerotic "shh". Sorry, how could I not mention? ;P) would make the character feel even more responsible and murderous than in the original scenario. WOO! I would have liked to see a bit more of Dumbledore talking Draco down in that scene though, that seemed a little rushed.
And amazingly, that's all I can think of to say right now! Thanks for indulging my insanity ;)
Tuesday was a crazy fun evening in itself. I had dinner with Care and her parents which was really nice, then she and I watched the season finale of Canada's Next Top Model, (Side note: SO exciting!!! Go Meaghan from Winnipeg!!!! :D) followed by the All-Star Game. It was actually a really good game! I had to leave a bit before the conclusion, but was unsurprised to learn that the American League had won for the millionth time in a row haha.
Then it was time for Harry Potter! Lauren, Megan and I got a bit of a later start than anticipated and ended up getting to the theatre at 11:00, which wasn't the best idea ever as it was already pandefreakingmonium. I've never seen it so crazy!! And I've gone to the midnight premieres for the last two movies! (Maybe PoA as well? Not sure about that one...) There were four lines set up for the different theatres, but the instructions didn't reach the back of the crowd, so around the front doors of the mall the lines dissolved into a blob. Finally we got into the right line and were herded in. We ended up in the fourth row, which actually is still quite decent at Grant Park, so that was good! We took some photos and argued about the colour of Care's wallet while we waited for the film to start and I attempted not to pee myself in anticipation. You know, I kept feeling sort of sad about how ridiculously, pathetically, child-like anything HP related renders me, but at the same time I'm sort of glad that something still exists that can get this sort of reaction out of me.
I was definitely concerned about this movie going in, since I'd heard many reports that it takes more liberties with the text than any of its predecessors, which is potentially terrifying given GoF. Fortunately, I was mostly okay with what they did and enjoyed myself immensely! I'll be thrilled to see it many more times in the theatre as I always do! Haha. I'm actually quite interested to hear the opinions of people who see it without having read the book though, because in retrospect, there are a couple of things that actually make no sense whatsoever with the changes they've made (see below for spoilerish details). I may even notice more on repeated viewings! :P I am definitely really pleased with the end result though. And even happier now that they're splitting Book 7 into two films so that my insanity can continue on for two more years! :)
I got home at about 2:50am, and was too wired to sleep much, so I was working off about 2 hours during my 8am conflict resolution course. Good times! Well worth it though ;)
Nitpicks
The removal of the beautiful scene with Dumbledore at the Dursleys right at the beginning is understandable, but still really sad.
Throw Romilda Vane in for two scenes and don't give her any spoken lines? Odd.
Throw Lupin and Tonks into one scene and acknowledge their surprising relationship with one word? Also odd.
Continuing with the trend of underused minor characters, I might as well mention the two seconds Wormtail is on screen, and the absurdity of introducing the character of Fenrir Greyback without giving him any back story whatsoever. I can only assume that if he gets time in films 7 and 7.5, it'll be as an extra scary Death Eater instead of a voluntary werewolf, but I guess that's alright really.
I really wish they had put in more of the story surrounding Harry's obsession with the Half-Blood Prince and the trio's search for his identity. I can understand why it was cut, but it made the title of the movie a little less significant haha.
And lastly, really Dumbledore? You thought you'd send Harry on a search for Horcruxes without even mentioning what you think they might be? Really? Haha.
Bigger-picks
I'm sorry, did Harry Potter just leave Draco Malfoy lying bleeding to death on a bathroom floor with NO REPERCUSSIONS?? WHAT???? Lol. Great message for the tiny children. I'm the chosen one, so now I really can get away with murder! Snape lets Harry run away from this scene with nothing more than a stink-eye when not only has his charge just been attacked, but he's clearly figured out that Harry has his book? WHAT??? That's sure in character!! Lol.
And of course I'm sure this is going to be the biggest piss-off for all big fans - the replacement of the battle at Hogwarts with the totally bizarre attack on the Weasley house at Christmas. I read in Entertainment Weekly that the filmmakers thought that two big battles at Hogwarts would be repetitive, so they replaced the one from book 6 with this lovely little scene. I guess non-fans of the books probably won't dig too deeply into the lack of protection on this house that would be an amazingly obvious target. Or why the burning in general would even be a problem given that Dumbledore put a house back together in two seconds at the beginning of the movie. But oh well. I guess that scenes was sort of fun? However, what they replaced the actual battle at Hogwarts with...
Well it was fine. And enjoyable to watch. In fact, I was actually totally satisfied with it at the time. Watching Bellatrix merrily cause destruction for no reason is fun! But then the next day when I actually put some thought into it... So they're telling me that Draco spent an entire year labouring himself sick over the mending of a Vanishing Cabinet so that a couple of Death Eaters could arrive, giggle, hang out, break things...and leave? That's IT? The point of that was....??? That helped him in his quest to kill Dumbledore....how??? Lol! So amazingly ridiculous!! Again, I doubt that anyone who isn't a big fan will put any thought into this, but when it occurred to me I was pretty amused.
I realize that all of this rambling makes it sound like I didn't love the movie. I really really did. I was concerned with the level of cheese there could potentially be considering the focus on the adolescent relationships, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. Freddie Stroma who plays Cormac McLaggen was totally hilarious, not to mention all of the blatant sexual innuendos that surrounded him! (Don't even get me started on the homoeroticism between Snape and pretty much everyone). Jim Broadbent is yet another perfectly cast professor. Megan pointed out how impressive Tom Felton was in this movie as well. I don't think he's really had much of a chance to display any acting chops before this, and he really did a great job. The cuts that were made to Quidditch and the Tom Riddle memories were a little sad, but reasonable in my opinion. I was surprised that they cut out most of the Harry and Ginny relationship, but honestly I probably would have preferred in the book if it had been kept to one stolen kiss, so that was alright haha. I loved how they handled the final scene with Dumbledore too. Having Harry not immobile, but actively making the choice to trust Snape (As he does that totally delicious and homoerotic "shh". Sorry, how could I not mention? ;P) would make the character feel even more responsible and murderous than in the original scenario. WOO! I would have liked to see a bit more of Dumbledore talking Draco down in that scene though, that seemed a little rushed.
And amazingly, that's all I can think of to say right now! Thanks for indulging my insanity ;)