Formerly Known As The Half-Blood Prince

[lynxgriffin]

GUESS WHO WENT AND SAW HALF-BLOOD PRINCE LAST NIGHT

THAT'S RIGHT I DID


I went up to a midnight showing (actually just after midnight) with ghettopeach, gaelic_bohemian and corrielle! Chatted about various movies, sketched, played Pokemons and accidentally took someone else's coffee. D: But then we got to the movie, and got decent seats, too!

One of the previews was for New Moon. I was all ARRRGH TWILIGHT (worse 'cause half the theater was going YAY), but then the trailer basically went like this:
Bella: Lalalala I'm living with my vampire boyfriend!
Edward: OH NO YOU ALMOST DIED I CANNOT DEAL I AM LEAVING FOREVER
Edward: *leaves forever*
Bella: Boo hoo
Vampire: I'm gonna eetchoo now!
Jacob: WEREWOLVES, FUKYEAH
...If just that and nothing else was the whole movie? I could totally get behind that.

But as for Harry Potter itself, man this was such a good movie! Definitely one of the best they've done. There's a few scenes from the book that I wish they'd kept in the movie: in particular the House of Gaunt, as I both think that memory is fascinating, and that it's really helpful understanding the kind of environment that Tom Riddle was exposed to as a kid. More of the fight scene in Hogwarts (like with Fenrir attacking Bill) would've been nice as well. But overall, I think they did a really good job of picking out what needed to be in the movie most while still sticking to the original source.

What I really loved was how many laughs they managed to keep in the movie, all without completely overdoing it. There was a lot of tension throughout the whole movie, and some really terrifying scenes (the Burrow burning down, the inferni coming out of the lake), so they were really smart to temper it with good doses of humor to relieve that tension. A lot of it was mostly relationship-based humor, but it makes sense they'd try to include all that to set up some really important plot stuff in the seventh movie (Ron destroying the locket, anyone?)

All of the actors really did a great job with this movie. You can totally see how they've matured both in their acting and in themselves over the course of this crazy franchise; they've all really grown from being chubby child actors to real actors with potential to do things even beyond HP. Everyone's performance was completely convincing. :D

Funny enough, what actually drew my attention was the cinematography and staging. This is probably because I've been training my brain to look for that sort of "good shot layout" a lot lately, but I just remember there being so many instances where I went "Wow, that is a GREAT shot!" just in terms of lighting and camera and framing of the actors. I also found it interesting how much the film looked desaturated, almost to the point of film noir in some places, without coming across either as overly gothic or too "edgy." I hate how pervasive "edgy" is in everything, but I didn't get that feel here...it still all seemed true to the HP universe, it's just that the universe has matured and grown a little darker along with Harry himself.

I LOVED how creepy the lake scene was. I know a few people screamed at the point where the inferni first popped out of the water. And while the Dumbledore death scene was extremely sad and heavy (almost no dialogue!) for some reason it never quite measured up to Cedric's death scene for me. Maybe just because Dumbledore's was played out much longer, with time to process it, while Cedric's did that terrible deal of plopping Harry and Cedric's body right into the middle of a celebration. Still! It was really good!

So YES, GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Expertly made and an awesome representation of the book itself, so I would happily go see it again! :D


Drawing: Lunargyros

Writing: More tags

Comments

[atoyna-lilsnip.livejournal.com]

The cinematography is really what pulled me too. I mean, the transitions between scenes were amazing... Especially when they transitioned to scenes involving Malfoy.

Most of the theater screamed and jumped at the inferni part... I think it's going to give me nightmares.

I was very pleased with this movie, especially considering the 6th was possibly my favorite book. I will forgive my gripes about Cissy in favor that the actress did a good job and the rest of the movie was pretty wonderful.

And that's funny that your theater was excited for the New Moon trailer... because the bulk of ours was "Boo"ing and hissing for the first half of that trailer, and making snide comments the entire time. XD

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Oh heck yeah, the scenes with Malfoy were really kind of awesome in their own right. :D

6th book wasn't my absolute favorite, but it was way up there. Probably third-favorite or such. XD And man, should've switched audiences with you!

[okroginator.livejournal.com]

The cinematography in movies five and six make me soooo happy~ Yates does such a good job. ♥

My favorite was the Felix Felicis scene, with Dan giving it that hilarious "stoner" type of performance. XD I couldn't stop laughing. "The pincers...*click click*" XDDDDD

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Oh dang I almost forgot about that part, but yeah, the whole Felix Felicis scene got so many laughs because of how he played that! XD

[fenm.livejournal.com]

"Did [Aragog] have any family?"
"Oh, yeah..."

[fenm.livejournal.com]

I know a few people screamed at the point where the inferni first popped out of the water

I could totally see my sister bracing for it when Harry was going down to fill the little seashell thing (I liked that, btw!). We still both jumped anyway... ^_^

I've mentioned a few things on another forum, so forgive a little copy-pasta:

I was a Draco fan for awhile, then it sorta waned. Even reading the 6th and 7th books didn't make me like him much again, but seeing him in this... hmmm... I thought Tom did a great job.

One of the nice things about the movies getting out of Harry's POV is that you get to see the characters being themselves a lot more. I really liked the scenes where the Slytherins would be cheering or booing or whatever was appropriate at the time, and Malfoy would just be... there. He had a bit more to worry about than Inter-House rivalries...

Also, I really liked the scene with Aragog. I think it stands out because I didn't care for it in the book, and was not looking forward to it, but then I found myself really enjoying it. The acting was really good (Harry's "pincers" bit made everyone crack up), and it was... well, a nice quiet scene.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I was bracing for it too, and I STILL jumped. XD

Yeah, the scenes with Draco were really amazing, especially in the context of the earlier movies. He went from being this snobby rich kid to suddenly having horrible adult tasks thrust on him that he really doesn't want as much as he thinks he does, and the way he portrays that is totally believable.

I couldn't help feeling that Aragog looked so much smaller in that scene than in the second movie, but that may have been because he was shriveled and curled in on himself rather than huge and menacing.

And AHAHAHA YES THAT ICON. I just rewatched Prince of Space today. XD

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH BOOT BLACKING WE BOTH LIKE IT VERY MUCH

[fenm.livejournal.com]

adult tasks thrust on him that he really doesn't want as much as he thinks he does

Yeah. It's one thing to say, "Yeah, sure, I'll kill that old git!", but when it comes down to it... BTW, I wish the movie had talked a bit more (if it did at all?) about the fact that Draco was being made to do this to make up for his dad's failures in the Dep't. of Mysteries. Also, he says that if he doesn't do it, Voldie will kill him, but in the book, doesn't he say that Voldie will kill his whole family?

About Aragog: There's also the fact that in CoS, the only frame of reference was two 12-year-old boys; this time it was Harry, who's nearly an adult now (though Radcliffe is actually a bit short), an adult guy, and a half-giant.

I love this icon! I can't recall whether it was made on the MST comm or lol_potter...

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's been forever since I've read the books, so I can't remember exactly what Draco said Voldemort threatened to do to him. Obviously it's enough to leave in crying in the bathrooms, so something pretty bad. XD

Ahh, also true. And I suppose once Slughorn got really close to extract venom from him, you could tell more how huge he was.

[bouncy-erbear.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the movie yet but should be viewing it this Sunday.

At any rate, I rewatched the previous movies recently and I have to say, it's funny how the Cedric death didn't bother me as much in the book as it did in the movie. I didn't cry, but in the movie they did such a good job of having that confusion. Some people still happy and cheerful thinking Harry/Cedric had one the cup to those who were closer to the scene realizing Cedric was dead. Plus, the band was still playing and if I remember they did that 'slow fade of sound' thing.

Based on trailers alone, I'm really excited to see the movie because I know from that it's going to take it to the level of dark that the 6th book really invoked. I can't wait to see how they handled it.

And I'm also glad they've gotten better at picking out the scenes from the book that best help the story move along. My recent Potter moviethon showed me how the first two movies had very sporadic story telling and focused more on individual scenes as opposed to weaving together a plot. The later movies, on the other hand, were better about keeping what was needed to make a decent plot line.

Also, I think I'm rambling, sorry if I don't make any sense XD

[fenm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the scene where Harry brings Cedric back is just... amazing. And I like that it takes a moment for everyone to catch one to what's happening, that seems pretty natural. And after the rather.. awkward, "They were his friends!" scene in PoA, it was good to see that Daniel had learned how to cry really well... that's what really sells the scene, imo.

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Precisely! Just the entire way they did that death scene was kind of unique to the whole series...this very sudden thing that should be happy and exciting suddenly turned tragic, totally a heartbreaking way to show an innocent's death.

Yeah, I think part of that is also a bit of a change of directors. Chris Columbus did the first two, and while they were sweet and magical in their own right, were a bit disjointed in that they tried to show lots of different "favorite" scenes from the books. The problem is, writing for a movie is WAY different than writing for a book, so you really have to make every page count and figure out how to make everything flow together. When that happens, you gotta sacrifice some stuff that people really loved from the books.

[swyrel.livejournal.com]

So going to see it! Do the kiddy actors actually show emotion now? That's one thing that bothered me in the previous movies...

Geeze...I don't even remember HBP anymore. It's been so long since I've read it. I must go read it again!

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

I really think the actors have grown into their roles and into acting, yes. I think all of the performances were totally convincing and that they've gotten much better as time's gone on.

Yeah, it's been forever since I've read it. Funny enough, my parents were both rereading the books since the movie was coming out. XD