LOL. Coming back to read this entry, I realized that I had it on private all along. Ooops! Oh well, better late than never although it's now March.
Updating my journal to express my hatred of Order of the Phoenix. Movie spoilers ahead, obviously. It lived down to my expectations of being the most boring thing I've watched in years. I was going to say it was okay and give it a 5.5/10 and then Hermione opened her mouth and said "That was really clever, Ron" and Ron returned "It's been known to happen." Hated that so much! Ron is clever 85% of the time and I really hate them dumbing down his character just so others can look smarter. It was also a dumb way to escape instead of the fighting they did in the book. Somehow the DA found Fred and George's candy to feed the Inquisitional Squad? Huh? Why couldn't they have fought their way out again? Fucking stupid. Definitely lowered the movie to a 3.5/10 thus making it the worst Harry Potter movie I have ever seen...by far. I'm beginning to think that Chris Columbus has not been given enough credit because only Cuaron has done a better job in telling the story in my opinion. GOF wins Columbus only with better scenes not better story telling.
It occurred to me while watching the movies that again, enough attention is just not being paid. It also became very clear that I and many others were correct in that the Quidditch storyline should have remained in the movie. Sure we never had to see Ron or Harry or Ginny play but it would have relieved the stark boredom that was Order of the Phoenix somewhat. I think the movies need to step back in trying to make them darker and darker. I think the darkest they should be is GOF.
Interesting things I noted:
1. This movie was very Ron/Harry. Did anyone else see that? I'm pretty sure Ron embraced Harry in the pretence of protecting him no less than 3 times. We also have the definite Ron/Harry when Harry wakes or is twisting from his dream and the camera cuts to Ron sitting in bed staring intently at Harry. Hello voyeuristic!Ron. When Lucius talks about killing friends the camera seemed to linger on Ron to the point where I wondered if they didn't plan to show his other friends. I swear that in the end when Harry turned to Ron and said "We have something Voldemort doesn't" and Ron returned "What?", for a brief moment I expected Harry to lightly touch is cheek and say breathlessly say "You". I honestly thought they were going there given the way the film progressed.
2. Dan is so short. Was anyone distracted by his size while watching him writhing on the floor at the Ministry while he tried to fight Voldemort's possession? It was all I could see and so it took away from the scene for me because he almost seemed like a dwarf. It was weird.
3. Yates, make-up or whoever brushed the movie with an ugly stick. Even my darling Rupert looked unattractive in most scenes to me. It seemed like the camera caught him at a bad angle almost all the time. Emma who is always so very pretty these days actually did look like a very plain Jane Hermione she's playing except with smooth hair and Cho, ugh what happened? Katie is one of the most gorgeous girls ever but she looked decidedly unattractive in the movie. The only people that looked better in the movie than I expected were Bonnie (who was so pretty in the movie) and Evanna. I'm not saying the movies need to give Hermione another movie ala the IMAX poster but the gray wash that was all over this movie made almost everyone look horrid.
The actors:
Dan - His acting was definitely an improvement over all the others. Maybe because he was the only one with a real role that required acting. His leap is as big as the leap he made from COS to POA which remains the movie I was most impressed by. I saw no improvement in GoF. He's definitely a proper actor when it comes to somnolent movies like this. I saw him struggle to show emotions in some scenes where I was positive he should actually be expressing a different emotion but the movie was so dour, boring and uninteresting that his expressionless face actually worked for me.
Rupert - By far my favourite of the bunch...but not in this movie. Ron! I was very disappointed with Rupert in this movie. I don't understand what happened. Maybe he was sabotaged. I always have conspiracy theories. I simply could not hear him. He seemed to mumble for almost the whole movie and it was really annoying because his lines were the best I'm sure because I . It was so frustrating! However, I should point out that not hearing what Rupert is saying still doesn't detract from the fact that he's definitely a good actor. I just couldn't hear him. I also despise this director and screenwriter for having Ron looking on when clearly he should have said something. Ron talks a lot fucktards!
Emma - Great in this movie too from what little I could see. However, she's great in a terrible movie so I can't really compliment her too much. Also, my ability to hear her well and not hear Rupert began to grate on my nerves. Felt like sabotage. I loved when she shouted to Grawp but just like the Harry/Cho kiss, this came out of no where. There just didn't seem to be any development to her decision to shout at Grawp. I found it weird to watch although the acting was good it just didn't flow for me.
Bonnie - Wow. I'm usually just looking for Rupert as Ron while watching the movies so it was quite a surprise to actually notice her. She was lovely in the movie. She really stood out. I think it's her hair. I saw pics of her and I thought she was cute but not outstanding but she was really pretty in the movie and I thought that was great.
Positives:
1. Umbridge was awesome. The movie should have just been. Voldemort is kind of a pussy when compared to her. Seriously, Voldemort does not appear that villainous. My friend that watched the movie with me, who doesn't know much about Potter says she just doesn't understand why Voldemort is purported as so powerful and evil when he's hardly that.
2. Snape. He had my favourite line in the movie when he said "No idea". Alan Rickman is brilliance personified and if they don't increase his role exponentially for HBP I don't know what I'll do.
3. The newspapers telling the story. Brilliant way to get across a load of material.
Hated:
1. Ron and Hermione were great together in the movie and this just seemed to amplify the fact that the movie would have been so much greater if they actually had large roles and Harry's were reduced. Harry's story is boring and dreary and not in the Sixth-Sense-Haley-Joel-Osment-this-is-soooo-interesting-to-watch kind of way but in a really dull I'm-going-to-scratch-my-eyes-out-any-second-now-to-take-away-the-pain kind of way. The movie needed more cheering up and Ron and Hermione were playing very well off each other and that's why if Quidditch and maybe more Hermione/Luna interactions and just Luna being weird had been kept in this could have been a far superior movie. Therefore, hated the underusuage of Ron, Hermione and Luna for comedic effect.
2. Harry/Dumbledore scene with regards to the prophecy. It wasn't terrible. It was completely in line with the dullness of the rest of the movie. However, it became really bad because it came off a really exciting fight scene at the Ministry. It seems clear to me that the scene should have been played out similarly to the book. Maybe they feared another "HE WAS THEIR FRIEND!!" debacle from Dan but I think Dan proved clearly that he can act somewhat so I think he should not be underestimated.
3. Harry/Cho. Way to make Harry seem like a complete shit. Firstly, the movie had absolutely no build up to the kiss. WTF?! Harry just saw a girl he liked practically crying over her dead boyfriend and he just moved in for the kill. Ugh. Next they made Harry seem like a complete jerk when she tattled on the Ministry.
4. The movie was too gray. I think the Harry Potter pictures need to be a little prettier. Sure scenes with Voldemort, etc can look really dark and dour but I think other scenes should look prettier. I get that Yates was probably trying to make the grey oppressive to everyone but I think he did too good a job because he didn't only show Harry's oppression; he made me feel oppressed as well.
There was just so many things wrong with this movie I'll probably need to make another journal entry.
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