an evening at the Pacific Science Center.
Nov. 18th, 2005 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideSeriously, wow.
The whole entire freaking night was a smash. Emily arrived at my office and I bustled her in briefly to finish a few things. We walked toward the garage and had to pass the final wine and truffle reception, which was lovely. They were serving a particularly fantastic Seurat. What was even nicer was we ran into Jeff and Bill and Kat and they were apparently talking about me and how fabulous I am and then continued to do so after I got there. Which, can't hear enough of that, I say. We chatted for a bit and then set out.
As Emily and I walked up to the main entrance of the Boeing Theatre, we saw a fairly decent line. I peered at the kids sitting there, trying to find our friends. No luck. Getting to the front I saw that these were the poor bastards waiting for the 12:01 showing. It was cold out there, I was glad they had blankets. Em and I moved on to a second line where Jeanne, Judy, and Sarah were at the very front. Jeanne was knitting, using I believe toothpicks, a teeny, tiny, adorable baby hat.
This was about 5:45ish, I think. I keep forgetting my damn watch at home so I never know what time it is. Anyhow, we're all fairly hard-y fans. We've waited for hours in line, in the cold, in the rain. But, man, I've never been treated to such a spectacular movie ...event.
First, they let us in. I mean, not 30 minutes before, but an hour and a half before. We could actually go inside, sit, and be comfortable. Because we'd paid $25 for this, they gave us free popcorn (which was actually quite perfect) and sodas. The entry-way was papered with bricks and the Hogwarts Crest. Very, very cute. Jeanne led the way to the best seats in the house. Since we were among the very first group to enter, we picked dead-center, nicely up high. We settled in for the next hour. Jeanne was the first to discover Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom. Then, as we sat, we caught on that the ads playing on the PA were...Diagon Alley shop ads. Ads for Ollivander's and Madame Malkin's Dress Shop. It was amazing. They were done so well. Jeanne and Em (both enormous Potter fans) were adorable and infectious with their excitement. We kept chirping at each other and munching our popcorn.
And then the movie started.
Wow. Just WOW. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't think it was perfect. Historically, I've not liked the Potter movies (but love the three kids starring in it, so continue to go). The first two directed by Chris Columbus were just plain badly done. Home Alone Meets Hogwarts. But the third showed promise, thanks to Alfonso Curan, and this one, helmed by Mike Newell, was my favorite so far. It was very entertaining, the kids were adorable, I mostly agreed with the cuts/changes they made, because damn that's one packed book.
I don't think these movies will ever be to the books what I found Fellowship and Two Towers to be to the LotR books. But, it was entertaining and pretty and shiny. The experience was fun, and it was nice to be back at Hogwarts.
I could respect the decision to keep introducing Barty Crouch, Jr. throughout as the villain and keep the audience aware of him. As much as I prefer the book's richer story, it made sense. Also, no problem with no Ludo Bagman. Jeanne pointed out that without winning the 1,000 Galleons, Harry doesn't have that money to give to Fred and George to open their Joke Shop, but I thought that was okay, too. They may have other plans for those two. I thought it was interesting that they toned down the Barty Crouch, Sr. guy. He wasn't half as severe as he's supposed to be, and just a bit mentally scatty. I think since they didn't have time to go through the whole back-history, they just made him kind of strange. I was also okay with toning down the Rita Skeeter ad. Miranda Richardson played her to tacky perfection, but I was glad to not watch Harry go through that whole thing, it wasn't relevant enough to the central storyline, so it was a fair cut.
The one thing, oddly enough, that bothered me the most, was during the Defense Against the Dark Arts, when Moody is crucio-ing that poor spider, in the book it's Neville who shouts at him to stop. And since it was his parents who were crucio-d to death, I really thought he should get to own that. In the book it was a huge deal for pale, quiet Neville to make a stand like that, and I was disappointed to see it go to Hermione. A small thing, but it annoyed me. I don't know where they'll go in the movie with that, but in the book it was a real character point for Neville.
Edited to add: Jeanne pointed out to me that my memory was a bit off, and it really was Hermione who shouted at Moody to stop because Neville was freaking out. As soon as she said it, I realized I was wrong. So I really can't complain about that part!
Positives:
- I thought both Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint did particularly excellent jobs in this film
- The kids, all of them, especially Neville, were absolutely adorable
- There was no Winky (I feel sorry for her in the books, but Dobby drove me nuts in the second film; too jar-jar-y)
- They cut most of the prelude section and jumped right into the story which I think was a good choice
- I will never forget some of the stunning scenes, including: all the scenes around the Quidditch World Cup, especially the part where they panned in onto the stadium--absolutely jaw-droppingly-good; the miniature dragon that Fleur pulls out was a perfect detail, though I can see why they didn't have the time to show them all, or show any of them besides Harry competing; the entrances for both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; Malfoy the Bouncing Ferret was priceless; it was great to see the dragon fight visualized (even if it went on a tad too long), and the Black Lake challenge, and more that I can't remember
- I liked the more restrained Snape shown in this film, but wished there had been more of him
- lots of excellent humor (god bless Rupert Grint, his scenes were priceless, Filch hopping through the dining hall)
- I loved seeing George ask Angelina out, it's a random beloved bit for me in the books
- Rafe Fiennes was fucking creepy as Voldemort, Cedric's death was done exactly as it should have been done (and made me sniffle),
Negatives:
- I'm not crazy about the direction Michael Gambon's Dumbledore has taken. He's supposed to be a kind, wise, father-figure, not some deranged lunatic who has crazy-eyes.
- I love Emma Watson and think she is cute as a button, but I think they need to show some subtlety to her and tone down the drama, though it served certain parts ("I'm not an owl!!!") very well
- The maze scene went on too long, particularly because it didn't have all the wonderful little complexities in it, just swooping bushes and fog. And no sphinx! Boo!
- Because they had to cut so much, I found some of the transitions overly choppy, but this I can easily forgive considering how much material they had to shove in
?:
- Once Sarah whispered, "George and Fred look just like Allison Janney!" I really couldn't see them as anything else
- Madame Maxine looked like an overly large Miss DiPesto and that kept distracting me
After the movie, we unfurled our bodies from the chairs. I felt bad for Jeanne, who really loves the books as much as I do. She liked it, but was disappointed with some of the choices they made. That's always a bummer. We walked out, jabbering about the movie and the previous movies, and finally forked off to our individual directions. I gave Sarah and Em a ride to Sarah's and finally drove myself back home.
Also, I just realized that if I want to wear a skirt, dress, or similar to the event tomorrow night, I'm going to need to actually shave my legs. Which, WAH. I wish my nice black dress slacks weren't needing both dry-cleaning and hem-repair.
I am staying in bed on Saturday until like 3pm.
The whole entire freaking night was a smash. Emily arrived at my office and I bustled her in briefly to finish a few things. We walked toward the garage and had to pass the final wine and truffle reception, which was lovely. They were serving a particularly fantastic Seurat. What was even nicer was we ran into Jeff and Bill and Kat and they were apparently talking about me and how fabulous I am and then continued to do so after I got there. Which, can't hear enough of that, I say. We chatted for a bit and then set out.
As Emily and I walked up to the main entrance of the Boeing Theatre, we saw a fairly decent line. I peered at the kids sitting there, trying to find our friends. No luck. Getting to the front I saw that these were the poor bastards waiting for the 12:01 showing. It was cold out there, I was glad they had blankets. Em and I moved on to a second line where Jeanne, Judy, and Sarah were at the very front. Jeanne was knitting, using I believe toothpicks, a teeny, tiny, adorable baby hat.
This was about 5:45ish, I think. I keep forgetting my damn watch at home so I never know what time it is. Anyhow, we're all fairly hard-y fans. We've waited for hours in line, in the cold, in the rain. But, man, I've never been treated to such a spectacular movie ...event.
First, they let us in. I mean, not 30 minutes before, but an hour and a half before. We could actually go inside, sit, and be comfortable. Because we'd paid $25 for this, they gave us free popcorn (which was actually quite perfect) and sodas. The entry-way was papered with bricks and the Hogwarts Crest. Very, very cute. Jeanne led the way to the best seats in the house. Since we were among the very first group to enter, we picked dead-center, nicely up high. We settled in for the next hour. Jeanne was the first to discover Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom. Then, as we sat, we caught on that the ads playing on the PA were...Diagon Alley shop ads. Ads for Ollivander's and Madame Malkin's Dress Shop. It was amazing. They were done so well. Jeanne and Em (both enormous Potter fans) were adorable and infectious with their excitement. We kept chirping at each other and munching our popcorn.
And then the movie started.
Wow. Just WOW. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't think it was perfect. Historically, I've not liked the Potter movies (but love the three kids starring in it, so continue to go). The first two directed by Chris Columbus were just plain badly done. Home Alone Meets Hogwarts. But the third showed promise, thanks to Alfonso Curan, and this one, helmed by Mike Newell, was my favorite so far. It was very entertaining, the kids were adorable, I mostly agreed with the cuts/changes they made, because damn that's one packed book.
I don't think these movies will ever be to the books what I found Fellowship and Two Towers to be to the LotR books. But, it was entertaining and pretty and shiny. The experience was fun, and it was nice to be back at Hogwarts.
I could respect the decision to keep introducing Barty Crouch, Jr. throughout as the villain and keep the audience aware of him. As much as I prefer the book's richer story, it made sense. Also, no problem with no Ludo Bagman. Jeanne pointed out that without winning the 1,000 Galleons, Harry doesn't have that money to give to Fred and George to open their Joke Shop, but I thought that was okay, too. They may have other plans for those two. I thought it was interesting that they toned down the Barty Crouch, Sr. guy. He wasn't half as severe as he's supposed to be, and just a bit mentally scatty. I think since they didn't have time to go through the whole back-history, they just made him kind of strange. I was also okay with toning down the Rita Skeeter ad. Miranda Richardson played her to tacky perfection, but I was glad to not watch Harry go through that whole thing, it wasn't relevant enough to the central storyline, so it was a fair cut.
The one thing, oddly enough, that bothered me the most, was during the Defense Against the Dark Arts, when Moody is crucio-ing that poor spider, in the book it's Neville who shouts at him to stop. And since it was his parents who were crucio-d to death, I really thought he should get to own that. In the book it was a huge deal for pale, quiet Neville to make a stand like that, and I was disappointed to see it go to Hermione. A small thing, but it annoyed me. I don't know where they'll go in the movie with that, but in the book it was a real character point for Neville.
Edited to add: Jeanne pointed out to me that my memory was a bit off, and it really was Hermione who shouted at Moody to stop because Neville was freaking out. As soon as she said it, I realized I was wrong. So I really can't complain about that part!
Positives:
- I thought both Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint did particularly excellent jobs in this film
- The kids, all of them, especially Neville, were absolutely adorable
- There was no Winky (I feel sorry for her in the books, but Dobby drove me nuts in the second film; too jar-jar-y)
- They cut most of the prelude section and jumped right into the story which I think was a good choice
- I will never forget some of the stunning scenes, including: all the scenes around the Quidditch World Cup, especially the part where they panned in onto the stadium--absolutely jaw-droppingly-good; the miniature dragon that Fleur pulls out was a perfect detail, though I can see why they didn't have the time to show them all, or show any of them besides Harry competing; the entrances for both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; Malfoy the Bouncing Ferret was priceless; it was great to see the dragon fight visualized (even if it went on a tad too long), and the Black Lake challenge, and more that I can't remember
- I liked the more restrained Snape shown in this film, but wished there had been more of him
- lots of excellent humor (god bless Rupert Grint, his scenes were priceless, Filch hopping through the dining hall)
- I loved seeing George ask Angelina out, it's a random beloved bit for me in the books
- Rafe Fiennes was fucking creepy as Voldemort, Cedric's death was done exactly as it should have been done (and made me sniffle),
Negatives:
- I'm not crazy about the direction Michael Gambon's Dumbledore has taken. He's supposed to be a kind, wise, father-figure, not some deranged lunatic who has crazy-eyes.
- I love Emma Watson and think she is cute as a button, but I think they need to show some subtlety to her and tone down the drama, though it served certain parts ("I'm not an owl!!!") very well
- The maze scene went on too long, particularly because it didn't have all the wonderful little complexities in it, just swooping bushes and fog. And no sphinx! Boo!
- Because they had to cut so much, I found some of the transitions overly choppy, but this I can easily forgive considering how much material they had to shove in
?:
- Once Sarah whispered, "George and Fred look just like Allison Janney!" I really couldn't see them as anything else
- Madame Maxine looked like an overly large Miss DiPesto and that kept distracting me
After the movie, we unfurled our bodies from the chairs. I felt bad for Jeanne, who really loves the books as much as I do. She liked it, but was disappointed with some of the choices they made. That's always a bummer. We walked out, jabbering about the movie and the previous movies, and finally forked off to our individual directions. I gave Sarah and Em a ride to Sarah's and finally drove myself back home.
Also, I just realized that if I want to wear a skirt, dress, or similar to the event tomorrow night, I'm going to need to actually shave my legs. Which, WAH. I wish my nice black dress slacks weren't needing both dry-cleaning and hem-repair.
I am staying in bed on Saturday until like 3pm.
